th
Section 1: Record of attendance:
1.1 43 in attendance:
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27 Members of the Public
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2 Councillors and
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14 staff
1.2 Recorded attendance:
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Martin McCartney (Maydown Community Association)
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Karen Scrivens (ACE)
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Nina Ling
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Liza Lau
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Joan Doherty
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Meabh Mackel (Tar Abhaile)
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Tony Millar (Tar Abhaile)
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Flavio Oboti (action with Effect)
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Lorraine McWilliams (DRD)
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Jacqueline Garnon (North West Volunteer Centre)
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Steven Garnon (Foyle Parents and Friends)
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Deirdre McLaughlin (libraries NI)
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Andrea O’Donnell (Lough Foyle Canine Association)
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Tricia Ward (Libraries NI)
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Junior Morrison (Peace Walls Programme)
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Helen Henderson (St Columb’s Park House)
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Jeanette Warke (Cathedral Youth Club)
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Eamonn O’Donnell (Enagh Youth Forum)
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Paul Hughes (Enagh Youth Forum)

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Agnieszka Luczak (NICEM)
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Max Petrushkin (NICEM)
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Geraldine Crompton (Waterside Women’s Centre)
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Alison Wallace (Waterside Neighbourhood Partnership)
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Claire Russell (Irish Street Community Association)
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Mark Meenan (Irish Street FC)
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Councillor David Ramsey (DUP)
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Councillor Hilary McClintock (DUP)
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John Kelpie, Chief Executive, Derry City and Strabane District Council
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Colm Bradley, Community Places
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Claudine Doherty, Community Places
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Gerard McCleave, Director Regeneration and Planning, Ilex
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Rachelle Craig, Change Manager, Derry City and Strabane District Council
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Noel Munnis, Head of Culture, Leisure and Community Services, Derry
City Council
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Christopher Gray, Derry City and Strabane District Council
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Stephen Gillespie, Director of Business and Culture, Derry City and
Strabane District Council
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Carol Stewart, Community Relations Officer, Derry City Council
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Angela Askin, Community Relations Officer, Derry City Council
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Amanda Biega, Good Relations Officer, Strabane District Council
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Gerard McFadden, Strabane District Council
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Judith Gray, ILEX
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Mary O’Dwyer, ILEX

Section 2 Record of comments and questions from those in attendance following presentations and during discussions:
2.1 Table Discussion – Focusing on what you have heard about community planning: what are you looking forward to about it?
Action – Doing things differently e.g. in relation to working with and for Ethnic
Minority Communities.
Partnership working, more transparency and accountability.
Rural V Urban relationship
Community voice at the table
Legislation for accountability
Inclusion and representative of all groups ‘made visible’
Sharing of resources
Social justice approach
Needs to be ‘live’ so can be adjusted or added to based on arising need.
Very positive approach to inclusion – especially from community and voluntary sector.
Benefits to be felt locally
Local people influential in decision making.
2.2 Please agree 2 questions from your table for feedback
Q How will we do things differently?
Q Can central Government ignore Community Planning?
Q How will the community planning team make strategic decisions including the community involvement?
Q Concern about budget – How will it be funded and how do you prioritise.
Q Very different areas – How do you ensure you bring them together / it’s fair?
Q How will local priorities feed into the overall community plan?
Q Timescales – will there be a transition between current structures and community planning?

Q What will happen with the One Plan – if there is a new plan will it be in the
Programme for Government.
2.3 Comments:
John Kelpie – In terms of the approach that “we will take and how it will work, the short answer is we don’t know. We are looking at how it works elsewhere and learn from that. We have an idea of how it will work but we do not have the exact answer to that but we are ensuring that it is as open and transparent as possible”.
Alison Wallace asked how local plans will feed into the community plan and what happens to the One Plan now
John Kelpie responded by saying that “in terms of local plans and how they feed into the overall community plan. We are unsure yet how many local plans there will be, themes for them, areas that they will cover, etc. It may be that there is a local plan for each DEA (i.e. 7) but local plans must be based on local planning and partnerships. They must meet local objectives and contribute to the strategic objectives of the community plan. All statutory partners will have to adhere to the local priorities in the local plan and ensure that any actions therein for them are included in their plan of work and decision making. The One plan must drive ahead and not lose momentum at this stage but eventually the One plan will converge with the Community Plan in the future”.
Alison Wallace asked about how Neighbourhood Renewal will fit into the new
Council Structure? John responded by saying that at the moment NR is not transferring until April 2016 but it will align with council services over the next year in preparation for that. This is where collaborative advantage will be seen through agencies working much more closely together.

Eamonn O’Donnell asked about the benefits of the City of Culture? John responded saying that Collaborative Advantage was evident here as DCC were able to refurbish the Guildhall over a much shorter period than was originally envisaged as they managed to lever in £5M for this because of the City of
Culture. Also the Peace Bridge and refurbishment of Ebrington were achieved through this approach. There is now the potential to do things differently and achieve big results like these.
Paul Hughes asked about the potential for the DOE retaining powers for
Strategic planning – this is a concern in the community specifically in terms of the proposed Gasification plant in Strathfoyle.
John responded by saying that as far as he is aware that this will not happen and the specific plant mentioned would be a waste management plant which would be the remit of the local authority.
Gerard McFadden asked how will we do things differently and can central
Government ignore Community Planning seeing as they are not mentioned in the list of statutory partners?
John answered the question about how we will do things differently by stating that this is the start of doing things differently. “The Community Planning process to date has been different than what went before and this is a good thing for everybody. The values of the new organisation have already been approved by politicians and have been communicated to all staff. Community planning and the community plan (once developed) will be the key document to guide the work on the new council. He also stated that openness and transparency are key values of the new council and this has been demonstrated in practice by the fact that the shadow committees have been meeting since last June and between 95-98% of the business has been conducted in open meetings. He concluded that ultimately communities will have a big say in how we do things”.

Colm then addressed the question on whether Central Government can ignore community planning and by saying that they can’t as there is legislation in place to state that they must have regard to it and this is the minimum that they must do. He said that he is hopeful that they will do more as they have been responsive to the Community Planning process so far. They have also been looking at community planning models from other areas in terms of involvement of Central Government in it.
Paul Hughes advised that CFNI have a social justice approach to community planning and that it is very good for low capacity groups. He advised that they have produced a toolkit for it and it is very helpful.
Emma Johnston asked if the video from the presentation was available as she works with young people and feels that it could be really good for this. She was advised that it was.
Section 3: Evaluation Form Feedback
3.1 Fourteen Evaluation Forms were received.
3.2 Please detail how satisfied you are with the event
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Excellent (5 marks)
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Very good (8 marks)
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Satisfied (1 mark)
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Poor
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Very Poor
1 comment stated that Ethnic Minorities are not really included in the plan.

3.3 What did you like most about the event?
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Honest Approach
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The fresh feel about the whole approach
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Openness, encouraging, informative
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Being able to get a grasp of all the changes about to take place.
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Informative presentations
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Video presentation – It highlighted the information very well. This discussion around actions and improved way of doing things.
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Get informed about the changes
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A lot of information – very comprehensive
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Good delivery from people with good knowledge base – good questions asked, sessions relevant.
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The whole event – very helpful, well explained, questions answered.
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Excellent. Simplified intro by CEO. Reassuring how community can be involved.
3.4 What could have been improved?
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4pm difficult start time leading to so many leaving
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More info on how low capacity groups can be included
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Heating
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The room was too small
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I don’t think icebreaker exercises are necessary at this type of event.
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Some more meetings to see the progress and evidence of the change that has been made

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No improvements
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Better advertising of event – I found out on Facebook - not good enough
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Probably little at this stage but perhaps more detail added to presentations as more is certain
3.5 Any other comments?
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I feel motivated and much more reassured after today’s session and I hope everything moves forward as planned.
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Low capacity groups must be reached - CFNI have an excellent track record in supporting such groups. Effective working groups must be reached. Grassroots involvement must be encouraged.
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Hope the new setup works as we hope
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Still a lot of questions, a lot of thinking to be done, issues to be resolved.
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Unfortunately, I was mistakenly booked on a session that was not actually scheduled to take place. This meant the only session I was able to attend when this was realised was this one and I was unable to stay for the full session. I would like more information on how to feed my views on the community plan. My interest is the focus of the themes, rather than fine detail of staffing, rates, etc. I want to ensure that
‘Legacy of the conflict’/’dealing with the past’ is reflected in the focus of the new council, as this area has seen considerable conflict in the previous decades. I believe the issues relating to this have not yet been resolved!
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Make the difference. I would like to see BME representation on the
Council. A Multi-culture share centre in the merged council area.
Visibility of BME in the planning process. BME issues part of the agenda. Older people issues – loneliness, isolation, social, a place to meet and share memories. Councillors know the communities and

individuals also communities and individuals know the councillors because I only know 9 out of the 40!
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The one plan must be part of the community plan going forward. We do not want to lose the commitment of the Programme for Government.
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Look forward to it. Probably not the forum for me to address the misguided Dog Control Strategy. I will find another way!
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Thank you
The meeting concluded at approximately 17:50