John Anderson (Howwood Sports and Hobbies); Anne-Marie Balfour (Elderslie Community Council); Councillor Bill Binks; David Blair (Renfrewshire District Scouts);  Sandy Clark (Bridge of Weir Community Council); Councillor Audrey Doig; Councillor Natalie Don; Margaret Dundas (Brookfield Community Council); James Fletcher (Brookfield Bowling Club); Meg Gilzean (Bridge of Weir Tenants’ and Residents’ Association); John McEvoy (substitute for Nigel Hobbs) (Houston Community Council); Councillor James MacLaren; Stirling McGee (Renfrewshire Youth Voice); Linda O’Malley (Rays of Hope); Neil Thomson (Brighter Bridge of Weir); and Brenda Whitelaw (Howwood Community Council).

Councillor Natalie Don, Chair, presided.

O Reid, Head of Communities and Public Protection (Lead Officer); A Armstrong-Walter, Strategic Partnerships and Inequalities Manager, S Graham, Partnerships Planning and Development Manager and S Kraft, Planning and Policy Development Officer (all Chief Executive’s); F Taylor, Youth Services Manager and J Kennedy, Community Learning Officer (both Communities, Housing and Planning Services); and E Currie, Senior Committee Services Officer (Finance & Resources).

A McNiven, Chief Executive (Engage Renfrewshire) and Sergeant McGee (Police Scotland).

Councillor Derek Bibby; Councillor Jacqueline Cameron; Councillor Andy Doig; Councillor Alison Jean Dowling; Councillor John Hood; Councillor Alistair Mackay; Councillor Colin McCulloch; Councillor Emma Rodden; Councillor Andy Steel; and Fiona Stewart (Kilbarchan Community Council).

There were no declarations of interest intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.


Prior to the start of the meeting, Councillor Don welcomed Stirling McGee, Renfrewshire Youth Voice, to his first meeting of the local partnership.

There was submitted the Minute of the meeting of this Local Partnership held on 20 June 2019.

In relation to Declarations of Interest and item 4 – Applications for Local Partnership Grants – it was noted that Meg Gilzean declared an interest in application FR1175 – Bridge of Weir Festival Committee and not application FR1215 – Bridge of Weir Community Council as stated.

DECIDED: That the Minute, as amended, be approved.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the Celebrating Renfrewshire Youth Participatory Budgeting exercise.

The report intimated that the Youth Challenge Fund component, renamed Celebrating Renfrewshire: by young people for young people, of The Villages Local Partnership budget had been allocated during September 2019 by a participatory budgeting exercise for young people aged 12 to 25 years.  Young people co-produced the process of voting and 147 young people from the villages area voted. 

The results of the Celebrating Renfrewshire Participatory Budgeting exercise for September 2019 was appended to the report.

Adrian McKechnie, a member of the Youth Steering Group, gave a presentation to members on the outcome of the youth participatory process.  There followed a question and answer session.

DECIDED:  

(a) That the outcome of the youth participatory budgeting exercise for this Local Partnership be noted;

(b) That the presentation be noted; and

(c) That further information in relation to the application by Johnstone Burgh Football Team and to the number of schools used as voting platforms be provided to the next meeting of the Local Partnership.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to the local priorities agreed at the meeting of this Local Partnership held on 21 March 2019.

The report intimated that these local priorities should help develop the agenda and workplan for the Local Partnership moving forward and recommended that members discussed the local priorities and agreed how they wished to progress their agenda.

It was anticipated that the Local Partnership might want to refine their local priorities as the Local Partnership developed and this was the opportunity to review and refine the local priorities prior to the allocation of grant funding in 2020/21. 

Members worked in groups to review the local priorities for the area.  After discussion, and following feedback from groups, the following local priorities were identified; the Transport Bill; village identity; assistance to local groups; a villages bulletin board; civic clarity of villages; planning applications and community benefits; involvement in the local development plan; infrastructure; community minibus; shared resources; and street cleaning. The Strategic Partnerships and Inequalities Manager grouped the reviewed local priorities under key themes of village identity; transport; planning; infrastructure; community benefits; environment and parks; and council plans.

Based on the key themes and discussion at the meeting, the Strategic Partnerships and Inequalities Manger advised that the local priorities identified would be grouped under each of the key themes and that this information would be circulated to members of the Local Partnership.

It was proposed that the following Council officers be invited to future meetings of the Local Partnership: Fraser Carlin, Head of Planning and Housing Services, and Sharon Marklow, Strategy and Place Manager, to provide further information on planning applications in the Local Partnership area and community benefits that could be associated with these applications; and how communities could be more involved in the local development plan; Nicola Drummond, Senior Environment Co-ordinator, to provide further information in relation to the Council’s Communities, Housing & Planning Greenspaces and Play Areas and Villages Investment Fund; and in relation to the Council’s Team Up to Clean Up campaign and how local groups could become involved and develop projects that could receive funding; and that a representative of South West Community Transport be invited to a future meeting of the Local Partnership to deliver a presentation on locally-based community transport.  This was agreed.   

It was further proposed that Engage Renfrewshire provide information to members on how Engage Renfrewshire could assist groups to access funding available to them. This was also agreed. 

DECIDED:

(a) That it be agreed that the local priorities for The Villages Local Partnership be; the Transport Bill; village identity; assistance to local groups; a villages bulletin board; civic clarity of villages; planning applications and community benefits; involvement in the local development plan; infrastructure; community minibus; shared resources; and street cleaning and that the key themes of village identity; transport; planning; infrastructure; community benefits; environment and parks; and council plans be approved;

(b) That the Strategic Partnerships and Inequalities Manger group the local priorities identified under each of the key themes and circulate the information to members of the Local Partnership; 

(c) That Fraser Carlin, Head of Planning and Housing Services, and Sharon Marklow, Strategy and Place Manager, be invited to a future meeting of The Villages Local Partnership to provide further information on planning applications in the Local Partnership area and community benefits that could be associated with these applications; and how communities could be more involved in the local development plan;

(d) That Nicola Drummond, Senior Environment Co-ordinator, be invited to a future meeting of The Villages Local Partnership to provide further information in relation to the Council’s Greenspaces and Play Areas and Villages Investment Fund and in relation to the Council’s Team Up to Clean Up campaign and how local groups could become involved and develop  projects that could receive funding; 

(e) That a representative of South West Community Transport be invited to a future meeting of the Local Partnership to deliver a presentation on locally-based community transport; and

(f) That Engage Renfrewshire provide information to members on how Engage Renfrewshire could assist groups to access funding available to them.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive advising that at the meeting of The Villages Local Partnership held on 20 June 2019, £51,191 had been awarded to 33 local projects.

An infographic giving the flavour of some of the key projects funded and indicating how these related to local priorities for The Villages Local Partnership was appended to the report.

DECIDED: That the report be noted.

There was submitted a budget monitoring report by the Director of Finance and Resources relative to The Villages Local Partnership 2019/20.

Anne-Marie Balfour advised that, at the meeting of this Local Partnership held on 20 June 2019, Elderslie Community Council was awarded a grant of £3,371 for Christmas lights in Main Road, Elderslie. This money had not been made available to the Community Council and officers within the Council’s Community Planning Team had advised that this money would not be made available to the Community Council as the Council had taken a decision not to facilitate any further enhancement to Christmas lights events.

Anne-Marie enquired as to whether this money would be given to Elderslie Community Council to use on other projects or whether it would be returned to the Local Partnership budget therefore leaving a balance of funds for the Local Partnership to consider awarding to other organisations should they apply for the funding. 

The Strategic Partnerships and Inequalities Manager advised that she would investigate this matter and advise Anne-Marie Balfour of the position and report the outcome of the discussions to the Local Partnership.

DECIDED: 

(a) That the budget monitoring report be noted: and

(b) That the Strategic Partnerships and Inequalities Manager investigate this matter and advise Anne-Marie Balfour of the position and report the outcome of the discussions to the Local Partnership.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to a review of Local Partnerships.

The report intimated that following establishment in September 2018, it had been agreed that there would be a review of arrangements after a year of operation and it was anticipated that the review would begin in January 2020.

Since January 2019, Local Partnerships had agreed their membership, identified some initial local priorities and distributed their grant funding.  In addition, the Youth Challenge Fund had been distributed across all seven Local Partnerships using a participatory budgeting approach.
The report proposed that the Local Partnership review cover the key areas used throughout the consultation and development of the Local Partnership model. This allowed for consistency and comparison with previous engagement and consultation exercises as well as fair consideration of the proposals implemented which included function; membership; boundaries; meetings; and grants.

It was important that a wide range of views could be heard as part of the review and the report suggested that the following methods be used in order to gather feedback: a review of all correspondence and feedback received since the establishment of the Local Partnerships; a further invitation for all Local Partnership members to input to the review on all topics in writing, with the opportunity to do this online, on paper or face-to- face; and an opportunity for wider community members to feedback online or on paper.

Local Partnership members were asked to contribute their views on the scope of the review to make sure it covered all the necessary areas.  In addition, members were asked to provide views on how the review should be carried out.

DECIDED: That members of the Local Partnership provide views, to Community Planning, on both the proposed scope and approach for the Local Partnership review, as outlined in section 3 of the report.

There was submitted a report by the Chief Executive relative to meetings of The Villages Local Partnership in 2020.

The report intimated that, when formed, it was agreed that Local Partnerships would meet three times per year.  In 2019, Local Partnerships met four times, in recognition that there was additional business required to get Local Partnerships up and running. 

The report proposed that meetings in 2020 be held around the months of April, August and November; that grant funding allocations for the 2020/21 financial year be made at the April meeting; that wider engagement events be held in early 2020; that an event be carried out in each Local Partnership area which would be open to the wider community to attend; and that a ‘roadshow’ style event visit different villages in The Villages Local Partnership area to engage with a range of village communities.  

DECIDED:

(a) That meetings of The Villages Local Partnership be held around April, August and November and that members be advised of the date, time and venue for these meetings; and

(b) That members of The Villages Local Partnership provide feedback to Community Planning on the proposed approach for the engagement events in early 2020, and where appropriate, express an interest in the development of these events.