MEA Community Planning Partnership - 3rd Statement of Progress p2
The Approach
The first Putting People First Community Plan contained five themes (these have been reduced to 4 themes following review (see pag 13), Sustainable Jobs and Tourism; Good Health and Wellbeing; Progress in Education; Community Safety and Cohesion and Our Environment.
Initially in order to progress to the implementation and delivery of actions, some short-term and medium-term priorities were identified via a scoring matrix.
The actions prioritised were the ones that demonstrated clear collaborative gain to build momentum and public confidence in the Community Planning process.
They also required minimal funding or legislative change and had lead partners readily identified.
Going forward, following review we will focus on priority actions for the next four years.
It is also important to note that the Community Planning Partnership has tried to avoid including any business-asusual work and instead focused on areas of work requiring a collaborative approach to improve the quality of life for all.
As lead partner, Council is fully committed to implementing the statutory duties under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
A requirement to carrying out its functions, it has due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between - persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status, or sexual orientation.
The screening of all community planning actions has allowed Council to promote equality of opportunity, take further consideration of any potential equality impacts, and apply measures to mitigate and further promote equality of opportunity.
Following the publishing of the first Statement of Progress in November 2019, attention turned to the process for the review of the community plan.
A paper outlining our approach to the review along with a draft timeline was developed for presentation and approval to the Strategic Alliance in March 2020.
The scheduled meeting of the Strategic Alliance in March 2020 was cancelled due to the onset of Covid-19 and the introduction of lockdown.
At that point the community planning partnership leaned heavily on the strong working relationships developed through the community planning journey and utilised them to make a swift and robust response to the pandemic.
As a result of Covid-19 timescales shifted and thus our review process took place in 2022 and a reviewed plan was produced which took cognisance of the change in landscape post-pandemic.
Our Community Planning Partnership
The Local Government Act 2014 requires Councils to facilitate the development of a Community Plan in partnership with Community Planning partners.
The Community Planning Structure for Mid and East Antrim was designed with the involvement and engagement of the community planning partners, including the community and voluntary sector organisations.
The membership of the Community Planning Partnership includes the designated statutory partners set out in the legislation, community representatives included elected members and a range of other groups and organisations.
This has established a broader partnership which has been integral to the initial development and ongoing delivery of the community plan.
The Delivery Structure
Within the Community Planning Partnership, there are a number of key groups directly involved in influencing the delivery of Putting People First:
Strategic Alliance
This is the key overarching strategic partnership body for Community Planning.
It includes the 12 designated statutory partners, government departments, elected representatives, representatives from the Community Panel and additional voluntary support organisations identified by partners as having potential to make a valuable contribution to the process.
Community Panel
This group represents the community voice for Mid and East Antrim Borough and provides 12 community representatives, elected members and sectoral representatives the opportunity to input into all parts of the Community Planning Partnership structure.
They supplement the work of the local community activity in relation to community planning objectives.
Thematic Groups
There are currently 5 thematic groups (will reduce to 4 following review), one for each of the 5 overarching themes in the Community Plan.
These are the key operational groups for the Community Planning Partnership, informing and supporting strategic decisions made by the Strategic Alliance.
The groups prioritise the work stream actions and prepare delivery action plans.
These groups do not operate in isolation, as there are many interrelationships between the themes and their combined contribution help to achieve better results.
Delivery Groups
These are special purpose working groups tasked with taking forward the day-to-day activities involved in delivering the short-term actions.
Membership of these remain flexible and responsive and will change depending on those required for delivery at each stage.