Notes of a meeting of the Compact Working Group held on
Monday 12th December at 3pm at Grenfell Housing Association.
Present: Councillor Andy Coles (Chair), Robert Bowler and Sue Neville
(LBM); Janie Conlin (PCT) and Andy Norrell, Sarah Wilson, Carole
Beighton, Lola Barrett and Chris Frost (VCS).
Apologies: Councillor Margaret Brierley, Sue Tanton, Ray Hautot,
Russell Humphries, Elizabeth Kawonza, Jatinder Bhuhi, Helen
Bell, Michael Wood
In Attendance: Manmohan Dayal (LBM), Brian Thomas (Roehampton
University), Abdool Kara (LBM)
Agenda
Item
1.
2
Compact
Way of
working
1. Welcome and introductions
2. The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and everyone
introduced themselves.
3.
Notes of the last meeting and matters arising
The minutes were agreed as an accurate record.
Matters Arising:
Agenda Item 3: Making Sense of all the Changes
There has been a big take-up of the proposed workshop –
approximately 50 officers from the Council and PCT. MVSC
will be sending out dates to this group and Compact
Working Group members.
Action: Chris Frost
3.
Local Development Framework
Manmohan Dayal gave a briefing to the group outlining the
development and consultation concerning Merton’s Local
Development Framework (LDF). This will replace the
Unitary Development Plan, taking effect in 2007 for 15
years. The Framework will cover a number of areas
including housing, schools, hospitals, diversity, growth and
development, employment. This will obviously impact upon
the voluntary sector and the Merton residents they work for
and represent. There was some concern that there had
been a high level of consultation recently ie; for the
Community Plan and time for further consultation maybe
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limited. Manmohan emphasised the fact that all current
plans and policies will also be represented within the LDF.
One area of direct impact on the voluntary sector is a
potential change in usage of D1 registered council buildings
ie; some community centres are in disrepair and on valuable
land – is there a need for re-development? The group felt
that any change or development would need to be to
improve the quality of the services offered to the local
community. Some form of community hub is essential and
the LDF needs to recognise this. The group also considered
how important it is to ensure a mixed use of land ie;
residential, employment and community resources.
The first phase of the consultation ends on 13th Jan 06.
However 2nd and 3rd phases of consultation will take place
up to August 06.
A number of Compact Working Group members offered to
be part of this consultation or wanted further information.
Contact Manmohan Dayal – 020 8545 4847 or
manmohan.dayal@merton.gov.uk
Action: All Group
During this discussion, the document “Making the Case for
Merton” was mentioned. The group felt that this was a
useful document. Chris thought that it had been updated
and would chase this.
Action: Chris Frost
4.
Volunteering Research Report
Brian Thomas and Andy Norrell presented the findings of the
research to the group. In particular the group were pleased
to hear that at least ½ the population of Merton are doing
“something”. This could be formal or informal volunteering or
some form of civic role.
Further group discussion also occurred concerning the fact
that it was difficult for the researcher to find reliable
information on the breadth of community activity as there
was no single list ie; covering all community groups, faith
groups, statutory services and so on.
The group also discussed the barriers to volunteering as
highlighted by the research but felt that the research would
support action for change.
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Andy Norrell to email Sue Neville a copy of the presentation
to circulate to group members. Any further questions and
comments can then be made directly to Andy by email
(andy@volunteercentremerton.org.uk)
Action: Andy Norrell and Sue Neville
5.
Community Cohesion
Abdool Kara presented the main issues concerning the upcoming development of a Community Cohesion Strategy.
The Home Office definition of Community Cohesion
describes a sense of belonging, common vision, all
backgrounds are appreciated and valued, all are able to
take similar life opportunities and positive relationships are
developed between different groups. Community Cohesion
goes beyond previous view on race and equality.
Merton’s Community Cohesion strategy will build on
previous reports (Cantle and Denham) following
disturbances in some northern towns. Although there are
some differences in relation to Merton – there are some key
issues to learn and draw from:
- the high degree of residential and school segregation
- unequal employment opportunities
- a number of “losers” in the regeneration programme,
in particular “outer-cities”
- Policing was less of an issue
- Press and media (incl. Local) exacerbate tensions
- Young people did not have enough or relevant
services neither were they involved in decisions
- Civic and community leaders did not give a strong
enough anti-racism message
Relevant issues in Merton:
- 24% of the population is BME
- 160 languages are spoken
- Merton is 4th safest London Borough there is a
disproportionate amount of young people involved in
racially motivated crime
- 55% of racially motivated crime is against the asian
population
- The BNP is still prominent in St Helier
Proposed Actions for the development of the Community
Cohesion Plan:
-
All council departments to take a self-audit of how
they contribute to Community Cohesion
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-
-
MVSC asked to manage small scale community
cohesion programme £30,000 of cross-cultural
funding to spend by the end of the financial year
A re-think of the role of the inter-faith forum
Possibly a young people’s inter-faith forum
Communications ie; branding
Celebration of key world religion days
To improve how we identify and picture our
community ie; research and stats
Training for counsellors and staff
Development of a Community Cohesion Strategy and
Charter
This work has been given “Effective Merton Status”.
Comments and Questions from the group included:
-
-
-
6.
MVSC will be running an inter-faith event early next
year
Lots of groups are being set up to support their own
community’s need, how can we ensure they work
“together” too and are supported to carry out their
work
Could a condition of grant aid be having or
developing a Community Cohesion strategy?
Volunteering could play a big part ie; the Volunteer
Centre has been funded by the lottery to run a
project, which brings different community and faith
groups together. Andy Norrell will be meeting with
Abdool Kara concerning this.
It is important to ensure that this is mainstreamed
across council departments as well as in
communication to external groups.
SKEIN
Rob briefly described what SKEIN (Skills for Economic
Inclusion Network) was and that being part of this could
bring further funds to Merton. It was decided that the
Compact Working Group would not sign up to SKEIN at this
point as there were concerns that the group did not know
enough about the partnership and the impact it may have on
access to other funding opportunities.
It was agreed that it would be passed onto the Funding and
Procurement Group and Rob could ask someone from
SKEIN to come to the next Funding and Procurement Group
meeting.
Action: Rob Bowler
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7.
Items on Compact Working Group Representation and
Compact Achievements
Due to time constraints, these were not discussed in great
detail. However MVSC’s mailing addresses both issues and
is being distributed widely across the borough. Further
interest from Voluntary and Community organisations maybe
raised, possibly resulting in others wishing to be involved.
Representation can then be discussed at the next Compact
Working Group. Sue N to include this on the agenda.
Action: Sue Neville
8.
Compact Week Feedback
Chris Frost gave a brief update to the group regarding the
events and press coverage. Certificates for the gold
commendation will be sent for each partner.
The label produced by the Wimbledon Guild is now being
used by the national compact body.
We need to learn from this year’s events and improve
consultation on event dates and we need to keep logging
achievements.
Overall Compact Week was a very positive experience.
9.
Funding and Procurement Group Feedback
The Funding and Procurement Group minutes from the last
2 meetings have been sent to the full Compact Working
Group. Everyone was happy with the work achieved so far
and there were no particular concerns or questions.
10.
Community Engagement Feedback
Chris Frost gave a brief update to the group:
- The initial community engagement report has been
presented to the LSP board
- Recommendations are for some form of Community
Empowerment Network but this would not have the
money invested in Neighbourhood Renewal areas
- There were some concerns regarding how members
of this network would be recruited
- The report will be circulated in January 06
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11.
Communications Review
It was discussed that the Compact Working Group did have
a strategy early on and we do need to ensure that others are
aware of what we are doing. We need to ensure
accountability of the group and how we communicate to
those we represent.
We also need to review how often we meet and how we run
meetings ie; should we be directly involved in consultations,
simply guide the compact and/or make decisions?
It was agreed that this needs to be an item on the agenda
for discussion at the next Compact Working Group meeting
(10-15 minutes). Sue N to put on agenda.
Action: Sue Neville
6.
Any Other Business
Due to time constraints there was no any other business.
Andy Norrell requested that Employee Volunteering be
put on the next Compact Working group agenda.
Action: Sue Neville
7.
Date of Next Meeting
To be arranged.
(It was agreed that we would ensure that timings would be
put on the next agenda to ensure that the meeting
does not run over and covers all essential items
adequately)
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