Agenda item

Councillor Willmott submits a report which details the consultations that have been undertaken on the previously agreed proposal to develop 10 neighbourhood forums as part of the Revitalising Neighbourhoods Project. The report also recommends guidance and boundaries for the forums which have been informed by the consultation. The Cabinet is asked to note the findings of the consultation on neighbourhood forums, and ask Council to approve the ‘Guidance for Neighbourhood Forums in Leicester’, approve the boundaries for 10 new forums subject to final confirmation of new ward boundaries and amend Part 3 of the Council’s constitution to include the guidelines on objectives for neighbourhood forums, in line with Article 10.01 of the Council’s constitution. The Organisations Working Party is also considering this report, their views will be reported as soon as they are available.

Councillor Draycott submitted a report which detailed the consultations that had been undertaken on the previously agreed proposal to develop 10 neighbourhood forums, as part of the Revitalising Neighbourhoods Project. The report also recommended guidance and boundaries for the forums, which had been informed by the consultation. All those who took part in the consultation were thanked for their comments.

It was noted that the Organisations Working Party had considered the report at its meeting on Wednesday 13 November 2002 and Councillor Draycott circulated a summary of their comments to Members of the Cabinet.

The relevant minutes extract of the Organisations Working Party had also been circulated.

In particular it was noted that the Working Party had requested that further work be done on the roles and responsibilities of Area Forums and on eligibility for membership of forums. Although the Working Party supported the non-voting status of Councillors on the Forum, it was noted that some opposition members had specifically registered that they did not support this.

A resolution of the Finance, Resources and Equal Opportunities Scrutiny Committee held earlier in the afternoon was also circulated to Cabinet Members. The resolution stated:-

“The Scrutiny Committee is extremely concerned at the lack of detail available to it associated with the proposals on the Revitalising Neighbourhoods project being considered by the Cabinet this evening. This it sees as symptomatic of the disregard being paid to the legitimate role of the Scrutiny function and the contribution it can make to the operation of this Council.

It requires a further, more detailed report to be brought to its meeting on 19 December”

Cabinet Members commented that there had been a lengthy consultation process on which all members of the Council had been invited to comment. A number of consultation meetings / briefings had also taken place at which members of the Council were given the opportunity to be informed about the project. There had also been a number of meetings of the Organisations Working Party which included Councillors from all groups on the Council.

There were also large amounts of information and detail about the Revitalising Neighbourhoods Project, available to all Councillors in the Members Library.

Cabinet Members therefore expressed surprise that the Finance, Resources and Equal Opportunities Scrutiny Committee felt it had not been sufficiently informed.

Councillor Willmott referred to his having attended the special Finance, Resources and Equal Opportunities Scrutiny Committee earlier in the afternoon, in order to answer questions about the project. He reiterated that the Cabinet were keen for Scrutiny to be involved and the Cabinet Lead Members and he were willing to attend to respond to questions as requested.

RESOLVED:

(1)that the findings of the consultation on neighbourhood forums be noted;

(2)that the ‘Guidance for Neighbourhood Forums in Leicester’ be approved, taking into account the discussions at the Organisations Working Party but recommending that Councillors be non-voting members of the forums;

(3)that the boundaries for the 10 new forums, as shown at appendix B of the guidance be approved; and

(4) that Council be recommended to amend part 3 of the Council’s constitution to include the guidelines on objectives for neighbourhood forums, in line with Article 10.01 of the Council’s constitution;

(5)that the papers on Guidelines and Boundaries for Neighbourhood Forums be forwarded with a covering progress report to the Finance, Resources and Equal Opportunities Scrutiny Committee meeting on 19 December 2002.