The city council’s newly formed Communities and Neighbourhoods Committee will discuss the effectiveness of Neighbourhood Partnerships at a meeting at the City Chambers later today. The committee will examine the good practice of Neighbourhood Partnerships and look at ways to increase their positive impact on communities.
A review of the work of the 12 Partnerships in the Capital has been completed and aims to develop ways in which they can be strengthened and developed.The review focuses on improving community participation and increasing the influence of Partnerships, with a significant commitment from a range of public sector and voluntary organisations to respond to locally identified needs and priorities.
Residents and representatives from the public and voluntary sector actively collaborated on identifying the improvements needed. Members of the Communities and Neighbourhoods Committee will consider the options presented in a report today (May 7).
The range of options include increasing communication about the work of Neighbourhood Partnerships and Community Councils, developing the use of online participation, and strengthening the links between organisations.
Councillor Maureen Child, Convener of the Communities and Neighbourhoods Committee, said: “’Neighbourhood Partnerships allow for dialogue between the community, the voluntary sector, the local authority and public sector agencies. They have the potential to give people the chance to have their say, and have an influence on matters which are important to them in their area, or to express themselves about something that interests them.
“Feedback from online and workshop consultation found that 70% of respondents agreed that the role of Partnerships should be increased, which corresponds with the Capital Coalition’s pledge to do so. Increasing community involvement in the democratic process can empower local people and organisations and encourage community pride.”
For some, the consensual, collaborative ways of Neighbourhood Partnerships has worked well. Drylaw Telford Community Council chair Alex Dale is a member of Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership.
He said: “I find them an effective way of communication with the local communities, using vehicles like the conferences that are held in Inverleith and the positivity that comes out of these events. We are lucky in Inverleith that we have four councillors who seemed to blend together as a working group for the benefit of the community, and not for political gain – although on occasions this may happen!
“For me, the main bonus is the sub-groups: in Inverleith the members are all community based people who’s main aim is to improve their environment. The main sub group is Neighbourhood Environment Panel (NEP). This panel is an excellent example of effectiveness of Neighbourhood Partnerships, by allowing local communities to make decisions on projects within their Partnership. In the past these decisions would have been made by some ‘faceless mandarins’ locked up in a dark hole in Council HQ!
“The main framework is there, it is how the partnership use it that’s important. We are lucky in Inverleith that all the sub-groups operate on a non political viewpoint, unlike some in other partnerships not too far away. I would like to see all Partnership groups citywide chaired by a CEC employee who can control and advise the group in a non-biased way.
“Communication is a problem and this was highlighted at the recent review where a lot of delegates there claimed they did not now what the partnerships are about. I did raise the point that vehicles like our NEN newspaper could be used, and other media such as twitter, Facebook was also put forward.
“How can we encourage more people to get involved? Well that’s a hard questions to answer. We have good Conferences that seem to be well attended, Leith had the “ Leith Decides” which seemed to be popular but people only get involved when something directly affects them. We have to get the message across that the Partnerships do work and it is not ‘all talk and no action’ as it is perceived to be.”
While Alex is positive about the role of Neighbourhood Partnerships in communities, there are others who believe they are little more than talking shops. Muirhouse resident and activist Robert Pearson was a founder member of Tenants and Residents in Muirhouse (TRIM), and he thinks Neighbourhood Partnership meetings are dominated by officialdom and so irrelevant to most local people.
He said: “Just what is Neighbourhood Partnership? That is the question most people would ask you if you mentioned it. Unless you’re in a group, agency or organisation then you will not know about the Forth Neighbourhood Partnership.
“This could be improved by them telling people in terms they understand what it’s all about, how to get involved, what difference it will make to THEM and others. The website is very daunting as the homepage tells you all about the Councillors and then immediately goes on about representatives from Police, Council, NHS Lothian ETC. Now why the hell would locals want to sit in with ‘suits’?
“You have to go digging on the site to see that anyone can attend their meetings, When in fact that should be the first thing on their site. They need to start using email, Twitter, and Facebook to engage with everyone. The whole thing needs an overhaul and brought up to date.”
Roy Douglas, chair of Muirhouse salvesen Community Council, has mixed views about the effectiveness of Neighbourhood Partnerships. He said: “Over that past couple of years I think the Partnership have been somewhat engaging with communities but at times it looks like tokenism, why? Meetings are official lead, and it seems that some points that communities raise do get actioned – but if there is no budget, it’s left.
“I also think that we don’t have a community engagement process that always reflects what the community think; sometimes suggestions can be swayed by officials. Gone are the days of listening to the community – Neighbourhood Partnership open meeting are mostly prescripted and are looking at discussions on outcomes they want to hear about”.
Neighbourhood Partnerships – greatest thing since sliced breid or boring talking shops?
Have you attended Neighbourhood Partnership meetings? What did you think?
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