Local Strategic Partnerships and Sustainability
Filed under: Planning, Policy & Networks
This article is intended as an introduction to Local Strategic Partnerships for people involved in voluntary organisations and community groups who have an interest in sustainability issues. It covers national policy developments and their implementation at borough level.
What are Local Strategic Partnerships?
Local Strategic Partnerships bring together people from public, private and voluntary and community sector organisations - formally on an equal basis. They operate at local authority level. The idea is that will allow them to make strategic decisions - while still being close enough to individual neighbourhoods for the strategy to be determined by local communities.
LSPs originated in the National Strategy for Neighborhood Renewal, which applies to the 88 most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK. They have already been established in the twenty London boroughs that fall into this category. LSPs have since become a key component of the Governments mainstream local government reform programme, so all boroughs will have one eventually.
What will they do?
Government guidance sets out four key tasks for LSPs:
- Prepare a community strategy for the area, identify and deliver the most important things which need to be done, keep track of progress, and keep it up-to-date;
- Develop and deliver a local neighbourhood renewal strategy to secure more jobs, better education, improved health, reduced crime, and better housing, narrowing the gap between deprived neighbourhoods and the rest and contributing to the national targets to tackle deprivation;
- Bring together local plans, partnerships and initiatives to provide a forum through which mainstream service providers (local authorities, the police, health services, central government agencies, and bodies outside the public sector) work effectively together to meet local needs and priorities;
- Work with local authorities that are developing a local public service agreement (PSA) to help devise and then meet suitable targets.
Where does sustainability fit in?
There is no explicit government statement that LSPs must promote sustainable development. However, community strategies provide a link to the LSP agenda for those interested in promoting sustainability.
The Local Government Act 2000 gives local authorities a duty to prepare community strategies, for "promoting or improving the economic, social and environmental well-being of their areas, and contributing to the achievement of sustainable development in the UK". However, it is recognised that their development and implementation will require co-operation from different agencies and sectors, so the statutory guidance on community strategies puts LSPs at the heart of the community planning process. One of the four guiding principles is that they will "be prepared and implemented by a broad local strategic partnership through which the local authority can work with other local bodies". The guidance also says "it will be vital to ensure wide local ownership of the community planning process, which should therefore be predominantly bottom up rather than top down".(1)
Voluntary and community sector involvement in LSPs
Community engagement in the work of LSPs is also seen as important way to ensure that public spending is targeted effectively at the people who need it most.
Neighbourhood Renewal Boroughs - LSPs include places for voluntary and community sector representatives selected by Community Networks (2) of formal and informal community groups. The Government has established a Community Empowerment Fund (CEF) worth �336 million over three years to support them.
Examples of the sorts of activities that the CEF might fund include:
- Outreach work to raise awareness of the LSP and encourage groups to participate in it;
- Helping communities form and articulate their views;
- Training and supporting people to participate effectively in LSPs.
The CEF is being distributed by Government Offices for the Regions through local second tier voluntary organisations, or a consortium of organisations.(2)
Decisions about the form and nature of the sectors representation on an LSP and its community networks are made a borough level. However, LSPs are subject to an accreditation procedure, including an assessment of the way they have engaged the voluntary and community sector. This year, all 20 LSPs in the boroughs eligible for Neighbourhood Renewal Funds were accredited.
The Government has also established a Community Chests programme to provide grants of up to �35,000 in order to stimulate grassroots community activities.(2)
Non-Neighbourhood Renewal Boroughs - LSPs are at much earlier stages of their development because central governments timetable for distributing of the Neighbourhood Renewal Funds is not a factor. There is no accreditation process, no Community Empowerment Fund to support voluntary and community sector engagement and no Community Chests fund. However, according to the Government Office for London, many boroughs do seem to be working within the spirit of the LSP guidance for areas eligible for the NRF.
Voluntary and Community Sector Experiences of LSPs
At the end of June, LVSC held an event to look into voluntary and community sector involvement in LSPs and we will be publishing a report on it at the beginning of August. Experiences varied but the general impression of those attending the conference was that LSPs tend to be dominated by local authorities and other statutory partnerships. Consequently, it was felt that accreditation must be more rigorous if it is to be worthwhile. There were also concerns about inadequate Black and Minority Ethnic representation. This experience is reflected nationally and Urban Forum has responded by calling for the voluntary and community sector to be formally involved in the accreditation process.
LSPs have the potential to provide voluntary and community groups with more opportunities for effective and inclusive involvement in important local decisions than they have had for many years. LVSC intends to promote this outcome by encouraging communication and sharing of best practice, facilitating informed discussion and lobbying for change at the regional and national level.
Further information:
Preparing Community Strategies Government Guidance to Local Authorities
www.local-regions.odpm.gov.uk/pcs/guidance
Local Strategic Partnerships - Government Guidance Summary
www.local-regions.odpm.gov.uk/lsp/guidance/
Neighbourhood Renewal & Regeneration (Government Office for London)
www.go-london.gov.uk/nrandregeneration/index.php
Neighbourhood Renewal & Regeneration (National)
www.neighbourhood.odpm.gov.uk/
Action link Information for London's Voluntary Sector
www.actionlink.org.uk
References:
(1) Preparing Community Strategies Government Guidance to Local Authorities.
(2)To find your local contact for the Community Network, Community Empowerment Fund and Community Chests fund call the Government Office for London Neighbourhood Renewal Team on 020 721 73076. Your local CVS should also have this information.
Andrew MacKie
Policy Officer
London Voluntary Service Council
andrew@lvsc.org.uk
0207 700 8107
September 2002.