Community Engagement Strategy
130404 Central Bedfordshire Community Engagement Strategyfinalv3.0(2).doc
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121121 The future of community engagement v0.4.doc
The Central Bedfordshire Community Engagement Strategy was developed in partnership by Central Bedfordshire Together.
What is the Community Engagement Strategy?
Our Community Engagement Strategy (CES) helps to deliver greater added value to our citizens by understanding their needs and issues, and giving them a greater involvement in the decision-making process and access to public sector services.
All of the key statutory partners including Health, Police, Police Authority, Fire and Rescue Service and the Local Authority have visions that place the citizen at the heart of everything they do.
Our CES enhances the community engagement activities of our partners, including Town and Parish Councils and Voluntary and Community Sector organisations.
The current CES is based on five key principles, which are:
Giving more people more opportunities to influence decisions by increasing the opportunities and mechanisms to enable a wider range of people to get involved in decision-making, and identifying opportunities for local people to decide how some services are delivered in their community.
Enabling Ward Councillors to be leaders in and for their communities by: supporting Councillors to communicate and engage with the people they represent and provide Councillors with up-to-date, relevant information about activities in their wards.
Enhancing the role of Town and Parish Councils through community-led planning, supporting clusters of Local Authorities to work together to resolve common issues, and identifying opportunities to devolve services to Town and Parish Councils.
Building the capacity of local people to engage by developing the skills and confidence of local people to engage, increasing communication and cooperation, supporting the voluntary and community sector, and increasing volunteering.
Ensuring a strategic and joined-up, coordinated partnership approach by sharing appropriate data, intelligence and information to save money, avoid duplication, reduce the number of community consultations, and develop a clear and consistent ‘One View’ amongst all statutory agencies about what our communities really want, including customer insight.
The current CES ended in March 2013.
We are preparing a new Community Engagement Strategy for 2013-16
You can download the latest draft, and our ’Issues and Options’ report at the top of the page.
Our new CES for 2013-16 will take forward the achievements of the current strategy, and ensure that engagement with local communities is at the heart of our various business strategies; delivering positive outcomes for our residents.
It will reflect new government legislation; in particular Localism and the new Community Rights, as well as national best practice and local aspiration.
Feedback from partners tells us that the current CES has worked well and is fit for purpose.
If you’d like to be involved in shaping our new CES, or you’d like more information, please contact Sarah Hughes, Community Engagement Manager, Central Bedfordshire Council on 0300 300 6166.
Want to find out how we’re planning to deliver? View our Community Engagement Delivery Plan 2010-13 here