Agenda item

To receive a report from the Head of Environmental and Community Health Services seeking the adoption of the Huntingdonshire Town and Parish Council Charter and Voluntary Sector Compact.

Ms H Williams, Chairman of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Association of Local Councils and Mrs J Farrow, Chief Executive of Hunts Forum of Voluntary Organisations will be in attendance for consideration of this item.

20 Minutes.

(Mrs J Farrow, Chief Executive of Hunts Forum of Voluntary Organisations, and Mr I Dewar, County Secretary for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Association of Local Councils, were in attendance for consideration of this item). 

With the aid of a report prepared by the Head of Environmental and Community Health Services (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book) the Panel was acquainted with the terms of the Huntingdonshire Town and Parish Charter and Voluntary Sector Compact for Huntingdonshire. Both documents were still subject to final agreement with town and parish councils and the voluntary and community sectors in Huntingdonshire.

In introducing the report, the Healthy Communities Manager reported that both documents set out to achieve the objectives of the Localism Act 2011 by establishing a framework to allow the County and District Councils, town and parish councils and the voluntary and community sectors to work together in partnership to improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of Huntingdonshire for the benefit of the local community. The County Secretary for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Association of Local Councils and the Chief Executive of the Hunts Forum of Voluntary Organisations then delivered an explanation of the benefits of both documents and the obligations placed upon the three tiers of local government and the voluntary and community sectors to cooperate with one another. It was acknowledged that both documents would evolve with time given that the essence of localism was to promote cultural change. As the Cabinet would be reviewing its previous decision in respect of Local Joint Committees (LJCs), it was suggested that reference should be made within the Charter document to LJCs as an example of an appropriate forum in which to engage with communities.

In response to a question raised by a Member, it was confirmed that to date, Huntingdonshire was the only Cambridgeshire authority to have developed Charter and Compact documents. Neighbouring local authorities were now looking to Huntingdonshire to guide the introduction of their own documents. Following a brief discussion on engagement with both the town and parish councils and the voluntary and community sectors, Panel Members were encouraged to note the participation levels which had been achieved during the process to develop the documents.

In response to questions, the Panel received details of the County Council’s commitment to and support for both documents, the benefits that a local Compact would bring to the voluntary and community sectors such as the encouragement of more open and transparent procedures and the challenges that would arise to embed new working practices within organisations. Members stressed the need to be mindful of the existing pressures on town and parish councils, the importance of identifying Compact Champions to encourage acceptance of the agreement within organisations, the advantages of employing closer working practices between organisations and the outcomes that the Compact document would result in for the end user.

In noting that the documents were yet to be formally endorsed by the local authorities and the voluntary and community sectors, it was agreed that Members would have sight of them again in September 2013 prior to their submission to the Cabinet. In addition, it was agreed that the Panel would monitor the implementation of both documents; however, the form that this work would take would be determined at a future meeting.

RESOLVED

(a)  that the content of the report now submitted be noted; and

(b)  that the Panel have further sight of the Charter and Compact in September 2013 prior to their submission to the Cabinet.