July 05, 2003

Is the LSP a sham?

Just as people are starting to understand what the Local Strategic Partnership is all about, someone decides to not only go and rename it, but to implement a whole new working structure.

The LSP will now be known as the Civic Partnership. How much will be diverted from funds that were intended to benefit you will now be spent on an expensive relaunch? Watch this space.

Secondly, some members of the newly named Civic Partnership not satisfied with changing its name, have also now decided to change the entire structure.

So how will this differ from the old structure?

Principally, what we know as the Local Strategic Partnership, which is a body of representatives, representing various strata’s from business, the NHS Trust, Primary Health Care, voluntary, faith and community groups and Community Forums will effectively become a talking shop that will meet 4 times a year.

They won’t really make any decision about Neighbourhood Renewal Funds because the real decisions would have already been made behind closed doors, by a small group of people – of which the community is represented by 1 person and the Council by 4.

Executive Board

The new structure of the Civic Partnership will mean that all decisions will be made through an Executive Board. Membership of which is currently subject to debate.

NVSC is left wondering whether the voluntary, faith or community reps genuinely have a role to play, how they will be able to participate in the wider LSP "family"? And how they can really effect change.

Why have a Civic Partnership in the first place if the Executive Board is where all the decisions are going to be made. What will be the purpose of the 34 Civic Partnership Members? To merely rubber stamp the paperwork?

What partnership?

Yes it is a sham, as whilst on the surface there appears to be a wave of community participation we’re afraid it seems as though the partnership mandate is a farce. Although there have been 2 away days to discuss the proposed changes, and there were many positive changes that we agreed in principle, the actual details were not agreed. We now find we are in a position were we appear to have devolved power to a few, simultaneously excluding the majority. The level of community “control” has been tightened to the detriment of the basic principals originally set down.

Who is driving the agenda for the Civic Partnership? If a ‘partnership’ was the intention of the LSP, Civic Partnership, someone forgot to tell the majority of representatives of the LSP it was not an equal one.

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