AGENDA ITEM NO: 10
REPORT TO:
REPORT NO:
DATE:
LEAD MEMBER:
LEAD OFFICER:
SUBJECT:
WARDS:
CONTACT OFFICER:
Executive Board
HAED/25/11
20 September 2011
Councillor Rodney Skelland
(Regeneration and Corporate Governance)
Head of Assets and Economic Development
Rebeccah Lowry (Tel: 292455)
Communities First – Consultation Response
Cartrefle, Gwenfro, Hermitage, Plas Madoc,
Queensway, Smithfield, Whitegate, Wynnstay
1. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
For Members to approve the Council’s response to the Welsh Government’s consultation regarding the future of the Communities First programme.
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2.1 Communities First is the Welsh Government’s flagship community regeneration programme. It was launched in 2001 aiming to address the causes of disadvantage in Wales ’ most deprived communities. Initially the programme covered Caia Park, Queensway, Plas Madoc and Gwenfro; the programme was widened in 2007 to include Hightown.
2.2 The Welsh Government (WG) last consulted on changes to the Communities
First programme in 2008, when it sought to consolidate the programme and increase its focus on more tangible outcomes for communities. The amended programme remains in place with funding committed from WG to Wrexh am’s four Communities First Partnerships until 31 st March 2012.
2.3 On 5 th July 2011 the WG issued its consultation on the future of the
Communities First Programme (summarised at Appendix 1 ). The document contains the rationale for change and a series of proposed key developments, explained in principle rather than in detailed form. The developments include a focus on wider populations beyond the traditional geographical boundaries of the current programme, fewer but larger clusters of communities first areas,

2 and greater efficiencies in the way the programme is managed at community, local authority, regional and all-Wales levels.
2.4 Officers have worked with Members, colleagues and community representatives to produce the Counc il’s response to the consultation ahead of the consultation’s end date of 26 th September 2011. The details outlined in the consultation have also been considered by the Environment and
Regeneration Scrutiny Committee at its meeting in July. The response is attached at Appendix 2 .
2.5 The consultation response is broadly welcoming of the WG’s proposals, being supportive of the relaxation of boundaries, of the locally-driven priority setting and locally managed delivery arrangements, and of the increased focus on demonstrating impact. However, the response also queries the balance between administrative efficiency and local impact, and asks for the coordination body arrangements to be decided ahead of the cluster compositions.
2.6 The consultation does not (in itself) require a response that details how the
Council is to move forward with the programme. The WG has asked that formal proposals covering both the communitylevel ‘clusters’ and local authority/regional level ‘coordination’ arrangements are submitted by summer
2012 latest; interim arrangements allowing for existing arrangements to be extended are being offered to Communities First Partnerships to ensure continuity.
2.7 The consultation process has prompted discussions with colleagues in
Flintshire County Council about the notion of shared coordination arrangements to support the programme’s aims consistently across the two
Local Authority areas.
2.8 Officers propose that the consideration of the implications of the revised arrangements and discussion regarding the proposed operational arrangements in Wrexham County Borough and for potentially shared coordination arrangements with Flintshire take place at an All Member
Workshop in November. With further consideration being given by the
Council’s Environment and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee in January, ahead of finalisation and approval by Executive Board in spring 2012.
3. RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 That Members: i) authorise the Head of Assets and Economic Development to submit the consultation response on behalf of the Council by 26 th
September 2011; ii) deal with this matter as an urgent item of business in accordance with Standing Order 43(1) of the Council’s Standing Orders; iii) authorise the Head of Assets and Economic Development to facilitate discussions with local stakeholders to develop
‘cluster’ proposals in the County Borough;

3 iv) agree to an All Member Workshop on 8 th November 2011 to allow discussion to take place regarding the implications and opportunities of the revised arrangements in Wrexham County
Borough; and v) to progress discussions with Flintshire County Council regarding shared coordination arrangements for the Communities First programme, reporting back to the Executive Board recommendations
REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
To provide a response to the Welsh Government’s consultation on the future of the Communities First programme for closing date of 26 September 2011, and to enable plans to be compiled to determine how the new programme will work in
Wrexham County Borough.
Stephen Bayley
Head of Assets and Economic Development
4. BACKGROUND INFORMATION a) Introduction
4.1 The Welsh Government (WG) launched the Communities First programme in
2001; it aimed to address the causes of multiple deprivation and reduce disadvantage in Wales ’ most deprived communities as identified through the
Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) 2000.
4.2 Caia Park, Queensway, Plas Madoc and Gwenfro were amongst the 100 most deprived communities in Wales at this time and hence became part of the
Communities First Programme. Later changes to the WIMD in 2007 identified further ‘pockets’ of deprivation across Wales seeing an extension to the number of communities gaining support from the programme.
4.3 As a result of these changes the communities currently targeted in Wrexham are: Plas Madoc, Gwenfro, Hightown, Queensway and Caia Park. Funding from the WG is committed to deliver the programme in these areas until April
2012.
4.4 The WG has committed to continuing the programme beyond this date and have now launched a consultation document ‘Communities First – The Future’ outlining a number of proposed changes. The consultation started on 5 th July.
Responses are requested by 26 th September 2011. Appendix 1 is our locally produced summary of the full consultation document. Appendix 2 is the proposed response.

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4.5 The current consultation has implications for the way the Communities First programme will develop in Wrexham. The implications are at two levels:
(i) local areas – affecting Queensway and Caia Park, Hightown, Gwenfro and Plas Madoc; and
(ii) programme management – affecting the Council and its strategic partners. b) Local area implications
4.6 Communities First has consistently used the Welsh Index of Multiple
Deprivation (WIMD) to identify the communities to target. When the programme started the 2000 version of WIMD used wards as its geographical unit, and at that time the wards of Caia Park, Queensway, Plas Madoc and
Gwenfro featured within the most deprived 100 (of 890) in Wales. As a result they were included in the Communities First programme from the outset.
4.7 Later versions of WIMD (2005 and 2008) saw a change in the way geographical areas were being measured, using smaller areas (lower super output areas, or LSOAs) to give greater accuracy and to counter inconsistencies in sizes of wards across Wales. LSOAs typically have between 1200 and 1500 residents.
4.8 Measuring multiple deprivation at this level identified pockets of deprivation that had been previously missed due to the analysis of information taken across a larger community.
4.9 In 2007 following the publication and analysis of WIMD 2005 the Welsh
Government invited applications from the communities now identified within the top 10% most deprived to become Communities First areas. As a result of this Hightown was successful in gaining support for community development through the Communities First programme.
4.10
As a result of new communities coming into the ‘top 10% most deprived in
Wales’ some communities also moved out of the top 10% and were therefore
’technically’ outside of the scope of the Communities First Programme. This has been the case for the Gwenfro Ward since 2007. Whilst it was acknowledged that this would ultimately result in the loss of support from the programme, WG have not previously called for this to be acted upon. This could change in the next phase of the Communities First Programme.
4.11 The current communities targeted by the programme are Plas Madoc,
Gwenfro, Hightown, Queensway and Caia Park. The Welsh Gove rnment’s proposals for the future of the Communities First programme are centred around the concept of ‘clusters’ of communities with a total population of between 12,000 and 15,000. A cluster that might include Hightown,
Queensway and Caia Park would fit within this definition, but a second cluster comprising only Plas Madoc and Gwenfro would not appear to be viable.
4.12 WIMD 2011 will be published at the end of August 2011. The next phase of the programme will see WIMD
’s significance in identifying local programme areas continue but the WG is keen for additional sources of evidence of need

5 to be put forward. This presents scope for Wrexham to use data from the
Council’s Community Regeneration Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to show how some areas, whilst not currently amongst the most deprived 10%, appear to be worsening statistically and could therefore benefit from inclusion within a broadened Communities First programme.
4.13 The WG is also keen to avoid cases where LSOA boundaries serve to divide natural communities. Local school catchment areas, location of health services, major employment areas, and other aspects such as rurality, could all be used as factors to influence the shape of ‘clusters’ that form part of the new programme.
4.14 These areas of flexibility will allow for local knowledge to influence the proposal for communities to be included in the Communities First Programme, potentially supporting the case for a broader second cluster that stretches along the County Borough’s western hills to include Plas Madoc and Gwenfro as well as other communities that display symptoms of high (and in some cases increasing) levels of deprivation. c) Programme management implications
4.15 In the new phase of Communities First WG propose a reduction in the overall number of Grant Recipient Bodies (GRBs). These organisations receive and account for the grant for the programme from the WG, and employ the staff who deliver the programme locally. In Wrexham the Council is GRB for both the Gwenfro and Hightown areas; in Caia Park the GRB is Caia Park
Communities First Ltd; and in Plas Madoc the GRB has recently changed to
AVOW.
4.16 There are more than 40 GRBs across Wales currently, underpinning more than 150 individual Communities First Partnerships. The WG is looking to reduce the number of GRBs to between 7 and 15 across Wales. There is also a proposed change of terminology from ‘Grant Recipient Body’ to
‘Coordination Body’, reflecting a move to strategically lift the position and profile of the programme within the public sector.
4.17 These developments link with the outcomes of the Simpson Review, suggesting that collaboration for delivering Communities First most effectively should be considered at a regional level. It may be possible to agree a single coordination body for North Wales, perhaps aligned with the boundaries of
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, but given that a number of collaborative arrangements are now in place that link Gwynedd with Anglesey,
Conwy with Denbighshire, and Wrexham with Flintshire, it may be more achievable to collaborate on this ‘paired county’ basis. Initial discussions with
Flintshire at officer level have shown its keenness to work with Wrexham to take Communities First forward.
4.18 Although local authorities seem to be well positioned to become coordination bodies the consultation document provides scope for other bodies, including county voluntary councils, to emerge as the best placed organisations to coordinate the programme over broader geographies.

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4.19 The sharing of coordination arrangements and the expectations of greater strategic support for the programme both imply added complexity. The consultation document outlines a typical ‘Central Team’ that the WG would support in each Coordination Body, a small team of staff comprising programme management, policy, performance monitoring and financial management functions, to help meet these challenges.
4.20 The WG are seeking to focus the programme more acutely (but not exclusively) on issues relating to employability, learning and skills, and health.
It will be important therefore for the strategic fora and partnerships that oversee these thematic plans to be well integrated within Communities First coordination structures. d) Next steps
4.21 Alongside the consultation the WG has indicated some key milestones over the next year, including a deadline for receipt of interim arrangement applications (November 2011) and a window for cluster and coordination body proposals (from November 2011 to July 2012). Initial discussions with
Flintshire have suggested we could jointly work towards a submission date of late March. The following outline timetable is therefore proposed:
September 2011
September/October

Consideration of WIMD 2011 and other data to indicate future coverage of programme.

Further discussions with Flintshire, AVOW and
FLVC regarding potential coordination body arrangements.

Initial meetings of potential cluster partners.

Workshops to shape clusters.
November/December
January 2012
March 2012

8 th November – Executive Board Workshop

Produce cluster descriptions
– explaining their focus, their coverage, their partners, and any specific roles.

Produce coordination body description.

Discussion of coordination body and cluster proposals with Environment and Regeneration
Scrutiny Committee

Finalisation of proposals and authorisation to submit from Executive Board

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4.22 Ahead of decisions relating to coordination body arrangements, the WG has informally asked Community Regeneration teams within Local Authorities to facilitate local discussions about clusters, their priorities, composition, and leadership.
4.23 Communities First will remain a community led programme involving partners from across the community, voluntary, private and public sectors. Officers will be working closely with existing Communities First Partnerships, GRBs, community groups, local stakeholders and partners to devise the future structures to deliver Communities First in Wrexham.
5.
CONSULTATION
Local Members for the wards covered by the current Communities First programme have contributed to this response. The response reflects comments from a range of Officers across the Council. Although they have been consulted about the Council’s response and have therefore contributed to it each of Wrexh am’s four current CF partnerships are making their own responses directly to the Welsh Government.
6. SCRUTINY COMMITTEE COMMENTS
The consultation document was discussed with the Environment and
Regeneration Scrutiny Committee on 25 July 2011. Members were supportive of the principles that the consultation proposed but were concerned about how the detail would follow. Members had the following comments specific to the Consultation:
'Clusters'

In seeking clarification regarding the proposal for 'clusters', Members acknowledged that the majority of wards in the County Borough had
'pockets' of deprivation and therefore a cluster could represent a wider geographical area. They acknowledged that the flexibility of this approach allowed for local knowledge to influence the proposals for areas to be included in the Communities First Programme in the future.
Strategic Outcomes

Members acknowledged that WG proposed to adopt a more robust approach to assessing outcomes by introducing results based accountability to demonstrate Communities First's impact and to show how the Programme is contributing to the three strategic outcomes of
Prosperous Communities, Learning Communities and Healthier
Communities.

The need to ensure that outcomes are met and the Council's priorities are aligned through 21st Century Schools Programme and to ensure facilities are available to bring about improvements in educational attainment and to increase potential for young people to secure employment in future. It was suggested that consideration be given to focusing on education/skills to improve employment prospects for individuals' educational aspirations and achievement.

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Resources

Members queried the resource implications for the Council in respect of the proposals.

Members commented upon the importance of building upon improvements carried out through the Urban II Funding Programme and the need to pursue European Funding in the future.

There was a general consensus view of members in support of collaboration with Flintshire rather than working in isolation for the future delivery of the Communities First Programme.
Members have asked that detailed proposals that describe how the programme will work in Wrexham beyond 2012 are discussed with Scrutiny before their submission.
7.
IMPLICATIONS
7.1 Policy Framework – Community Regeneration is a key aspect of the
Council
’s work to in support of the Community Strategy’s aim for Wrexham to be ‘an economically prosperous place’. Communities First is the most significant programme in this field, providing an intense focus on the most deprived areas of the County Borough.
7.2 The existence of the programme allows the Council to take a broader approach to tackling deprivation, supporting areas that fall outside the
Communities First programme’s scope. The loss of the Communities First programme would compromise the Council’s ability to provide this broader base of support. The significance of the programme is articulated in the
Council ’s Community Regeneration Strategy which was agreed by Executive
Board in November 2009.
7.3 Budget – There are no immediate budget implications arising from the consultation. Coordination body and cluster proposals are likely to have significant budget impact, and these will be discussed in due course.
7.4 Legal - There are no immediate legal implications arising from the consultation. Coordination body and cluster proposals have the potential to have legal impact, and this will be discussed as necessary.
7.5 Staffing – There are no immediate staffing implications arising from the consultation. Interim / transition arrangements have the potential to extend current staffing arrangements to 30 September 2012. Coordination body and cluster proposals have the potential to have significant staffing impact, including possible TUPE considerations, and these will be discussed as necessary.
7.6 Diversity (Equalities) – Future activity resulting from any changes to the
Communities First Programme will be Impact Assessed in line with the
Council
’s procedures.
BACKGROUND PAPERS LOCATION
‘Communities First – The Members’ Library
Future’
WEBSITE INFO. http://wales.gov.uk/consu ltations/housingcommunit y/futurecommfirst/?lang= en