North Yorkshire Council

HARROGATE AND KNARESBOROUGH AREA COMMITTEE

COMMUNITIES AND VOLUNTARY SECTOR WORKING GROUP

Notes of the virtual meeting held on Wednesday 10 July 2024, at 10:15.

Working Group Members Present:  Councillors Peter Lacey (Working Group Chair), Chris Aldred, and Monika Slater.

Officers Present:  Liz Meade (Communities Area Manager (Central)), Suzy Sweeting (Communities Locality Lead), Edward Maxwell (Senior Democratic Services Officer) and Paul Preston (Senior Democratic Services Officer.

Apologies:  Councillors Sam Gibbs and Michael Harrison.

1. Members heard an update from the Communities Area Manager, outlining the result of the new structure which had been implemented in the Localities Team.  The new structure had been in place since May 2024, and had seen three teams set up matching the Parliamentary constituency boundaries which had been in effect before the July 2024 General Election:

a. Central:  Harrogate and Knaresborough, Selby and Ainsty.

b. West:  Skipton and Ripon, Richmond (Yorks).

c. East:  Scarborough and Whitby, Thirsk and Malton.

There remained some vacancies in the team, in particular the Community Development Officer post which was to be advertised in the autumn.

2. There followed a detailed update on the establishment of Community Anchor function for Harrogate.  The aims included the prevention and reduction of health inequalities, improving community resilience, and promoting social regeneration.  The importance of ensuring the schemes arose organically as an accepted part of the community.  The positive example of the Chain Lain Community Hub in Knaresborough was cited, which worked closely with the Knaresborough Together forum to respond to flooding in the town in May 2024.  The organisation was well established and thus had capacity to provide an initial response while a wider NYC response was co-ordinated.  It was confirmed that the aim of funding was to support existing organisations and improve their capacity, rather than set up new ones.

3. The Harrogate neighbourhood relational maps, produced by Harrogate and District Community Action, were discussed in detail and the slides were shared with members.  The slides focussed on areas around Harrogate, highlighting information points, cafes, community sports facilities, and places of worship.  The application for the town centre area was being progressed first, in order to scope out the concept.  Work was ongoing in the Localities team to map councillors to each neighbourhood area.

4. Locality working will be part of a whole council approach, as part of the structure for the new North Yorkshire Council a central corporate localities team has been established to enable and support the vision as set out in the Council Plan to encourage more involvement from local people and partners by championing local action and creating opportunities for local communities to come together to identify local solutions and develop their own priorities.

Members thanked officers for the information, and it was agreed that a further meeting would be set up in the autumn.