Council chiefs want to hear your views

Shake up on community area committees

And council bosses want to hear from as many people as possible about the committees that help run various wards in Renfrewshire by issuing grants and liaising with police over community safety.

In a document issued to Local Area Committee members, Renfrewshire Council says it wants to “review Local Area Committees as a model of community-level governance, and make recommendations for the future form and function of community-level governance”.

The review will include the assessment of the provision of community grants and the number and geographies of the committees. The review will look at :  The purpose of Local Area Committees – what should they be for?

 How Lo c a l A re a Committees strengthened

 The size, shape and boundaries of Local Area Committees

 How Local Area Committee meetings are run

 The effectiveness of grant funding arrangements.

So far, the review has looked again at information f rom previous reports, investigated other councils’ local engagement models and started consultation with people with an involvement in can be the committees.

The document issued to councillors says for the purpose of the review it is important to hear from as many people as possible with different views.

A survey has also been issued to people attending the committees, as well as to community grant applicants.

Responses will be taken until the end of this month.

So far, 50 submissions have been received.

Focus groups will then be set up in early September and an open invitation to get in touch to give views about the committees will be issued.

The review is due to be completed in December, with the deadline having been extended from September in a bid to allow additional time to take views into account and “develop proposals for effective arrangements”.

Formal agreement on the review is expected to come from Renfrewshire Council, also in December.