Signpost September 2008
From Norfolk RCC
Neighbourhood Meetings in South Norfolk – make your community safer
SNAPs (Safer Neighbourhood Action Panels) are community meetings, held in each neighbourhood with a panel of councillors, the Police and community representatives. SNAP meetings are open to everyone to discuss local issues and agree priorities for improvement.
Eastern River Valleys SNAP Wednesday 19th November 2008, 7.00pm at Poringland Community Centre Northern River Valleys SNAP Tuesday 18th November 2008, 7.00pm at Costessey High School Tas Valley SNAP Wednesday 8th October 2008, 7.00pm at Bunwell Village Hall Waveney Valley SNAP Thursday 11th December 2008, 7.00pm at Apollo Club, Harleston Wymondham and West SNAP Tuesday 21st October 2008, 7.00pm at the Studio Theatre, Wymondham High School
For more information contact the Neighbourhoods team at South Norfolk Council on FREEPHONE 0808 168 2000, e-mail neighbourhoods@s-norfolk.gov.uk or visit the South Norfolk Council website www.south-norfolk.gov.uk
Putting people first - meeting the underlying needs and aspirations of vulnerable people
Space East’s annual regional conference on supported housing, homelessness and related services in the East of England. 3rd & 4th November 2008, Peterborough We have put together a busy and exciting schedule for our conference this year, with plenty of opportunities for networking and information sharing. The programme begins on Monday 3rd November at 4pm with a debate in the style of the BBC Question Time format, followed by the Space East AGM, a drinks reception, dinner and entertainment. Day 2 will be spent in professionally facilitated and highly participatory discussions leading to clear actions to take away and practically apply. The sessions will be led by Mick Kain, Independent Facilitator and Trainer, and the day will involve and be shaped by active participation from service users with a range of perspectives. We will focus on a fundamental question - How do we keep the service user at the centre of everything we do? For further information about this event please visit http://www.space-east.org/events.html, email laura@space-east.org or phone 01603 617299.
Unitary Government and rural Norfolk
We held a General Council Meeting of Norfolk RCC on 10 September at Signpost House, Dereham. The subject matter was "Local Government Review: Unitary Proposals" - not necessarily a subject to make the heart beat faster, but it did attract some very important speakers. We asked each of the districts and the county council to send someone to give their view on the proposals being put forward by the Boundary Committee. We asked that they particularly address the effects on rural areas. They were all represented - three chief executives and four others, and they covered all of the alternatives between including leave it all as it is. They stimulated a debate with the audience and each other which has helped me to pull together a Norfolk RCC response to the Boundary Committee proposals summarised as follows:
There seems to be a substantial body of opinion in the rural areas supporting no change to the present three tier structure of county, district & parish. However, we need to recognise that there may be no choice in the matter. The addition of Lowestoft also does not seem to have an awful lot of support and was not expected. The Boundary Committee's proposal for a single unitary council for the whole county raises questions of size. Norfolk Unitary would be the second largest by population after Birmingham and many question how this would work in such a wide geographic area. The challenge is how to ensure that councillors with 9,000 voters in their constituencies would be in touch with their communities especially in remoter rural areas. David White, for Norfolk County Council, proposed a solution by the creation of community partnership boards based much more locally and involving parish and town councils to make local decisions.
Of the two alternative proposals, the first is known as "The Wedge" because it covers an area bounded by Norwich in the west and Great Yarmouth with Lowestoft in the east as one part - an urban-focused unitary authority. The rest of the county is in the other part - with a strong rural focus. This may make sense for the main urban areas in the east, but not many people seem convinced that it does much for the rest including the rural areas. Most assume that King's Lynn would be the headquarters for the non-urban authority and this is a long way from those parts of North Norfolk that surround the urban "Wedge". Jane Ratcliffe of Great Yarmouth BC supported this proposal and had given us all more information than the Boundary Committee.
The second alternative proposal is known locally as "the Doughnut", again because of its shape. This has a "greater" Norwich unitary and the rest of the county as another unitary. This is not popular with many of the parishes around it Norwich which will be swallowed up by the enlarged city mainly because of the assumed increased community charge likely to ensue. There is also a more general view that as an important economic driver for the county, separating Norwich off from the rest of Norfolk is not a good idea. Paul Spencer, Norwich City Council supported "the Doughnut" proposing that different leadership was needed for the city from the rural areas.
Ray Harding of King's Lynn spoke on behalf of the other districts suggesting that all of the proposals were flawed and brought no overall added value to the current structure. He suggested that we leave well alone and continue to work more collaboratively together to provide services to the people of Norfolk.
Our conclusion is that there is no easy answer. We are not convinced that either the main proposal or the two alternatives are without problems for rural communities. However, we do recognise that more simplified local government has advantages. Current developments through the local strategic partnerships and the Local Area Agreement would seem to go some way to address this together with an enhanced (and supported) role for parish councils in rural communities. There does not seem to be any advantage for rural communities in the inclusion of Lowestoft into the Norfolk unitary proposals.
John Dixon Chief Executive Officer
CSV Make a Difference Day
This autumn, people across the country will be organising activities for CSV Make a Difference Day, the largest single day of volunteering in the UK! The date this year is October 25th, although activities can take place from October 18th until November 2nd. It's a fantastic opportunity to make a difference in your community! To find out more, or to register an activity and receive free resources, visit www.csv.org.uk/difference.
BROADS & RIVERS LEADER+ COMMUNITY CHEST
Sara Muldoon joined Norfolk Rural Community Council as the Administrator for the Broads & Rivers Community Chest in October 2003, initially on a three year contract. The role was to administer the Community Chest – a small grants scheme to allow voluntary groups and charities in rural areas to access European LEADER+ funding. The scheme covered parishes in Broadland, Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk and South Norfolk Councils, in an area to the east of Norwich from Bacton in the north to Bressingham in the south.
In the first three years approximately 80 grants were distributed – amounts ranging from a few hundred pounds to the maximum allowable - £5,000. The application process was kept simple and decisions were made and communicated as swiftly as possible.
Initially applications were slow to come in and Sara spent a lot of time promoting the scheme to parishes, Women’s Institutes, faith organisations, parish councils and special interest groups. It was found that the best way to reach local groups was through community magazines and through district council newsletters – both go to every household. Contacting parish councils directly rarely worked – parish clerks are hard pressed enough as it is!
Gradually the applications started to come in and what was amazing was the diversity of schemes that the Community Chest was able to fund – from farmers’ markets to wildlife gardens to footpaths, sport and play opportunities and information boards and leaflets. This was real ‘grassroot’ funding – enabling small groups to make changes or develop schemes in their communities in a very direct and lasting way.
Quotable quotes include:
“Children are showing a wider appreciation of habitats and a more caring attitude – the children are now doing their own projects at home to encourage wildlife into their gardens. We feel we have provided a wonderful educational and inspirational resource for both the school and the wider community to use”. Thurlton Wildlife Project
“The Trail brought a substantial number of people into the Harleston and Waveney area, with financial and cultural benefit to the area. The profile of local artist/craftworkers was considerable raised”. Harleston & Waveney Art Trail
“This has been a really satisfying project that everyone can enjoy and it has brought something back to the village which had been in decline. It (the Chapel Pond area) is now a defined place to stop and visit instead of just being a car park”. Hickling Chapel Pond Project
In the first three years the scheme was so successful in getting funding to rural communities that the project was extended for a further two years, to 2008. Now that the scheme is completed, approximately 120 separate grants have been distributed, totalling £260,600 of European funding. This in its turn has generated match funding from public and private sources. Each scheme represents many hundreds of hours of voluntary effort by the community involved, from fund-raising, organising the project and making sure that all within the community know about the scheme and can participate if they want to.
Full information about the Broads & Rivers Community Chest will be placed on the website: www.broadsandrivers.org.uk and a DVD about the Broads & Rivers LEADER+ scheme will be available soon. This can be obtained from Patrick Goss: patrick@broadsandrivers.org.uk, telephone 01603 627328 or contact Sara on community.chest@norfolkrcc.org.uk or phone 01362 698216.
Community News & Events
Scarning Pre-school is holding a Grand Opening Day to celebrate their newly refurbished facilities, made possible by a lot of hard work and money from various sources, including the LNF fund. Saturday 4th October 2008 2.00pm – 4.30pm. The theme is a Mad Hatter Tea Party (Fancy Dress optional). Come along and join in the fun, activities include Name the Bear, Stalls, Raffle, Hook the Boat, Lucky Dip and Refreshments. A representative from Usborne books will be there with books available to order. For further details call 01362 699360.
St Margaret’s Church, Thorpe Market Harvest Supper and Entertainment on Saturday 11th October in aid of our new roof. Good food, our own ‘Boy John’ entertainer and dancing to ‘Village Folk’ band. Tickets £10.00, call 01263 833465 to book. St John’s Housing Trust, the local charity supporting homeless people in the Lowestoft area, is holding a ‘spook-tacular’ Halloween Ball, Friday 31st October 8pm- 12.30am at the Hotel Victoria, Lowestoft. Tickets £15.00 including complimentary drink and buffet, with proceeds going towards a community project that will benefit many people in the town. For further information or to buy a ticket ring Rachel Harris 01502 509853 or Joel Saggers 01502 580511
Rebecca’s Wishes, We are a charity called Rebecca's Wishes and we help local children in Norfolk who are suffering from cancer. We provide special holidays, presents, equipment, parties and any other wish the children may have. Our Ball is being held at the Ramada Hotel in Kings Lynn on the 11th October. 7.00 for 7.30pm start and finishing at 1am. There will be a 3 course meal, drink on arrival and dancing to Razor Sharp. We will also have a few games throughout the evening. Tickets cost £40 per person but if you book a table of 10 we are offering a 5% discount. We have no paid staff and all the money we raise goes directly to the children. Tickets can be purchased from Claire on 01328 856450 or 07847 142545
If you would like us to publicise your event email claire@norfolkrcc.org.uk
Volunteer Required
Volunteer(s) needed to help with research and advocacy on disability issues. Must have a very high standard of literacy. Can pay travel and some expenses. For more information please contact Ms Linney, 5 The Railway Freehouse, Station Road, North Elmham, NR20 5HH (01362) 667033.