1. That, whilst the Overview and Scrutiny Committee endorse the continued use of the Community Partnerships model to provide support to communities within East Suffolk, Cabinet be recommended to consider the following:
(a) Incorporate the suggestions made by the SALC representative as follows:
- Request SALC include Community Partnerships within their training for new Parish Clerks.
- Review the Council’s website to ensure the information on Community Partnerships was up to date, especially the Communities Officers’ details.
- Regularly review the grant application process to ensure it was user friendly for community groups.
- Make grant outcomes available to share learning.
(b) Review the involvement and role of Councillors within Community Partnerships and encourage more community groups to get involved so that CPs were not perceived as being Councillor-led/heavy meetings.
(c) Review the number and geographical split of the Partnership areas, particularly those Parishes who might prefer to be in a different Community Partnership such as Waldringfield.
(d) Investigate the provision of a dedicated communications resource to support and promote Community Partnership activities.
2. That, as part of the Local Government Re-organisation discussions, Cabinet be recommended to stress the need for the new Unitary Authority covering East Suffolk to continue with the Community Partnerships model and to investigate the possibility of having a funding commitment beyond March 2027 and into the first few years of the new Unitary at least, to ensure that East Suffolk communities remained supported during the transition / transformation period.