Community Conference at Telford College – 14 June 2011

There was a healthy turnout from local people and other stakeholders to discuss the direction NEN should take. These are brief notes taken at the meeting. We also carried out a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, which has been published separately. The meeeting was ably facilitated by Maggie Mellon, for which we aere very grateful. The Board got lots of ideas for the way forward, and we will be working on them. We will keep you informed.

There was general agreement that the NEN represents:

• An information hub for the community
• A voice for local people
• It helps build community well-being

The meeting went on to discuss four key areas: content, funding, marketing and communication.

CONTENT
There should be:
• Local stories from local people
• Pictures
• A place for comments
• Local information
• Advertising
• A place for young people
• A topic of the month
• Campaigns
• Community contact list

FUNDING
We felt that the Board needs to develop a business plan, with short, medium and long-term objectives. Suggestions were:
• Identify big advertisers in the area
• Work closely with Scottish Business in the Community
• Board to build relationships
• Clarify community council grants
• Develop tactic for funding applications, support and expertise
• Identify key local partnership meeting dates for funding applications
• Aim for a “Funday” re-launch
• Consider location options for NEN
• Monthly sponsorship possibilities?
• Web-site development and investment to attract funding and readership
• Consider skills required to implement funding

MARKETING
• Identify who we are, where we are going, etc.
• Keep people informed
• Raise awareness – give people a voice

COMMUNICATION
• Positive identity – NEN should promote positive identity and values
• Local communications hub – It should provide information/communication for the community
• Community development – it should involve the community and help development

The Board will reflect on these views and implement a plan to see the paper published once again.