Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received from Councillor A R Martin.

The Leader of the Council welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the Dartford Locality Board and commented on the exciting opportunities this body offered in terms of partnership working, particularly with Kent County Council. He paid tribute to the Leader of Kent County Council for taking the locality agenda forward in Kent. However, given the somewhat lengthy gestation period for the Locality Board it was felt that the terms of reference agreed by the Cabinet in October 2011 would benefit from amendment to reflect current requirements and an addendum had been tabled with suggested changes for agreement.

No declarations were made.

To appoint a Vice-Chairman for the current Municipal Year from among the County Council representatives on the Board.

It was noted that one of the changes to the terms of reference related to the appointment of the Vice-Chairman. The terms of reference had provided for the Locality Board to elect a Vice-Chairman from one of the County Council representatives whereas this appointment would be made by the Leader of Kent County Council who had given notice that he wished Mrs A D Allen to be the Vice-Chairman. The appointment was duly noted.  

To consider the Locality Board Meeting Protocol and approve the draft terms of reference of the Dartford Locality Board.

The Leader of the Council explained the proposed changes to the Locality Board Protocol and terms of reference which were contained in the tabled addendum, attached as an appendix to these minutes. In particular he stressed the desire for Locality Board meetings to be held in public whenever practicable but at the discretion of the Chairman. It was also proposed that requests for items to be placed on the agenda should require the support of any two members of the Locality Board, with at least one being a Borough representative and one a County representative, as it was felt that as the Board was a joint forum there should be agreement from both parties for an item to be placed on the agenda. The appointment of a Vice-Chairman from the County representatives by the Leader of Kent County Council would also be incorporated in the Locality Board Protocol and terms of reference.

RESOLVED: That the Locality Board Protocol be revised to reflect the changes contained in the addendum tabled at the meeting (attached to the minutes) with the addition of the provision that the Vice-Chairman be appointed by the Leader of Kent County Council from among the County Council representatives.   

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The Leader of the Council explained that it was important that the Locality Board determined its own agenda for future business in order to ensure that the Board operated effectively. A “shadow” meeting of the Board had decided that the first two topics for discussion should be youth services and highways as there were important opportunities for collaborative working on these issues.

Mr Hill, Kent County Council Cabinet member for Customer and Communities, outlined the background to the report on the Transformation of Youth Services in Dartford. Mr Hill explained that Locality Boards also fell within his portfolio and that they had developed differently across the County according to local needs and that progress so far had exceeded expectation. The Boards provided an opportunity to shape services in response to local priorities and to reflect the needs of the community. It was important that youth services were tailored to local needs but within a co-ordinated framework. KCC had carried out a widespread public consultation into the delivery of youth work activities in Kent in autumn 2011 and all of the Locality Boards in Kent had been consulted to get a sense of direction and to identify local issues. As a result a plan and a blueprint for Dartford had been developed and a preliminary key decision had been taken on the future of Youth Work provision in January 2012. The purpose of the report was to obtain the Board’s endorsement of the plan to inform decisions by the KCC Cabinet and a further key decision by the Portfolio Holder by the end of April 2012. Detailed work would then begin on implementation of the new model which would commence in January 2013. All of the other Locality Boards in Kent had endorsed the proposals.    

Mr Baker, KCC Head of Integrated Youth Services, presented the report to the Locality Board and explained that lead officers from Dartford had had an input to producing the report.  Mr Baker explained that the purpose of the paper was to provide an opportunity for the Locality Board to discuss and agree on the shape of youth work delivery for Dartford including the locations for delivery and key outcomes for young people. This would include the delivery of open access youth work activities, primarily for Kent’s 13-19 year olds and the outcomes which youth work delivers to support young people in making a positive transition from childhood to adulthood. The proposals aimed to encourage and enable the development of local providers to deliver youth work services within their communities, with the County Council continuing to be a direct provider of youth work to support young people whilst also building capacity with local providers. Whilst the delivery of youth services by the County remained an important part of local youth work provision, the report recognised that a wealth of activities are delivered by a broad sector of providers within the voluntary and community sector including uniformed organisations, faith groups and community youth provision. It  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.