1. Purpose

1.1 This report is to outline the areas of business that will fall within the remit of this Committee.

It is important that Members have clear responsibility to connect strategy and delivery of services within the committee remit, and their contribution to delivery of the priority outcomes within the Corporate Plan.

It is therefore proposed that the service planning, allocation of resources, performance, and service opportunities relating to the areas outlined in Key Functions will be all reported to the Neighbourhoods and Communities Committee.

1.2 This is in line with the decisions taken at Council on 03 April 2023 with regards to good governance changes and the Scheme of Delegation.

The focus of this is to ensure that Council and Committees, through all Members, can drive the strategic direction and resource allocation against priorities but enabling officers to deliver services on a day-to-day basis in a streamlined and seamless way.

2. Background

2.1 The following are the service functions that fall within the remit of the Neighbourhood and Communities Committee:

Key Functions

• Environmental Health
• Leisure Centres and Sports Development
• Community Planning
• Good Relations
• PCSP’s
• Community Centres
• Community Development
• Destination Parks and Parks Development
• Tourism
• Culture, Arts and Heritage

• Registration
• Licensing
• Water Quality
• Animal Welfare and Dog Control
• Environmental Health (Food Safety, Health & Safety At Work, Consumer Protection, Environmental Protection, Public Health and Housing)
• Leisure Centre / Community Centre Operations including pricing
• Community Planning
• Neighbourhood Renewal, Areas @ Risk
• Cultural Celebrations Management
• Play Parks
• Outdoor Recreation
• Public Rights of Ways
• Biodiversity
• Park development
• Sustainable Food
• Woodland improvement
• Volunteering/In-bloom
• Weekly markets
• Bathing water operator
• Visitor Attractions
• Tourism Marketing
• Tourism Business Engagement and Training
• Tourism Product Development
• Visitor Information Centre provision (VICs)
• Museum Services
• Culture, Arts and Heritage provision
• Tourism Strategic Regeneration

3. Key Issues for Consideration

3.1 The role of the Neighbourhood and Communities Committee is the following:

• To review and monitor policies and procedures to ensure delivery in line with corporate priorities;
• To review performance on the relevant service areas, making recommendations for course correction when performance is not meeting targets;
• To consider opportunities for innovation and best practice to ensure continuous improvement and quality service delivery;
• To consider funding opportunities to assist in the delivery of corporate objectives;
• To approve strategies that are focused on the ambitious outcomes for residents e.g., third sector engagement and involvement, health and well- being, leisure provision, tourism visitor attractions and our approach to arts and culture, community centres and neighbourhood support, strong and integrated partnerships and collaborative working, destination parks, play parks and outdoor recreation, environmental health, Anti-Social Behaviour, animal health and wellbeing, and food safety;
• To direct available resources for the remit of services to achieve effective outcome improvement;
• To review fees and charges of all relevant services;
• To oversee regulatory services (except Planning) with the relevant delegations;
• Afforded delivery of a presentation from the approved list of external bodies and to consider requests from external organisations to present to a future committee meeting;
• To approve consultation responses;
• To approve the annual Tourism Marketing action plan.
• To approve the annual Tourism Product Development action plan.
• To approve the annual Arts and Culture action plan.
• To approve the acceptance of Culture, Arts and Heritage donations into Councils archives and collections;
• To approve the acquisition of Culture, Arts and Heritage assets into Councils archives and collections.