A key part of both the process and programme for Keighley SRB has been widening involvement. This has applied as a philosophy throughout its lifetime and can be demonstrated in the following ways:
Bid Development: Local people within the proposed area were both consulted on the aims and content of the programme and encouraged to form working groups. These working groups were open to anyone and took a key part in shaping the bid submission.
The Keighley Regeneration Partnership Association (which now has over 1500 members) was formed and a Partnership Board was constructed to oversee the programme
Decision Making: The working groups were transformed into implementation groups, one for each of the 5 strategic themes of the programme covering, Community and Health, Enterprise Support, Education and Training, Crime and Community Safety and Housing.
These groups are open to anyone and make recommendations to the Partnership Board on matters of policy, programme implementation and project approval.
The Partnership Board is made up of representatives from different agencies involved in the area along with 5 community representatives, which were elected by the Association.
All meetings of these groups and the Partnership Board are open for anyone to attend. We adopt Bradford Metropolitan District Council’s (the Accountable Body for the scheme) policy on ‘Declarations of Interest’. This particularly applies if anyone is making a project submission for funding where they are encouraged to make a presentation to the Implementation Group but excluded from the decision making process. In the case of Partnership Board meetings any one can attend as observers only and would be excluded for confidential items if the occasion arose.
Partnership Board decisions are reported to the Council’s Area Panel Committee and then duly reported in the Keighley News.
Programme Implementation: The programme is implemented through a range of projects delivered by private, public and voluntary agencies based or involved in the SRB Area. Each project has to justify the need and explain how the local community will be involved as part of its submission. Projects have a variety of mechanisms in place for discussing progress and future strategy with their users and local people. These range from surveys and feedback forms to participation in management committees etc. A good example of this is the Council Housing Improvement Programme where tenant representatives are part of the decision-making process allocating funds to priority areas.
In addition we now produce quarterly newssheets, which give information about what is happening with the programme. These are distributed widely about the Town. SRB Staff also visit all of the neighbourhood forums in the SRB area to give progress updates and respond to issues raised about the programme.
On-going Developments: The Highfield SRB programme is still in its early stages but as with the Keighley SRB programme community involvement is crucial. A range of meetings and other consultation exercises have been carried out. A specific Committee has been set up made up of residents and other interested parties. This group will have a representative on the main Partnership Board. In addition a range of issue and project based working groups are being set up to develop the programme.
The Partnership Board is also in the process of recommending changes to the constitution that will widen community participation at Board level and also open up the position of Chair to any Board Member (at present this must be an Elected Member of Bradford Metropolitan District Council).
On a final note some areas of the scheme have to be confidential for example; when protecting the interests of specific local businesses but we try to keep these to a minimum.