Purpose of the Local Strategic Partnership

Oversee the preparation, delivery, monitoring and review of the Sustainable Community Strategy for the Derbyshire Dales and High Peak (Peak District subregion) and the reporting of progress on implementation back to the wider community.
Co-ordinate and rationalise partnership activity and ensure that the work of the Local Strategic Partnership builds on the work that is already going on in local communities.

Principles to guide the establishment and operation of the Local Strategic Partnership

A single Local Strategic Partnership will cover the Derbyshire Dales and High Peak (Peak District subregion).
Encourage appropriate partnerships and partners to deliver specific community priorities identified in the Sustainable Community Strategy.
Identify strategic gaps in partnership activity and service delivery and seek to establish mechanisms to address them.
Be as inclusive as possible, whilst at the same time ensuring the process is manageable – this will mean engaging and involving different groups and organisations at different levels within the structure.
Link the structure with the main themes of the Sustainable Community Strategy.
Allow the Local Strategic Partnership structure to develop and adapt over time.
Each partner organisation will retain its own decision-making powers, with the Local Strategic Partnership recommending joint actions for the partnership.

Local Strategic Partnership Structure

The Local Strategic Partnership operates at three levels, each having a clear role:

Local Strategic Partnership Board (for making recommendations to partners on priorities).
Stakeholder/Forum meetings (open meetings for raising issues and providing feedback to and from the wider community).
Theme Groups (for project delivery and monitoring).
The Local Strategic Partnership is given limited support by a small joint Secretariat provided by High Peak Borough Council and Derbyshire Dales District Council.
An Executive comprising the Chair and Vice Chairs with support from the Secretariat and other officers ensures decisions of the Board are implemented.

1. Board

The board is responsible for:

Overseeing the preparation, delivery, monitoring and review of the Sustainable Community Strategy and feedback on progress to the wider communities
Making joint recommendations to partner organisations
Identifying and encouraging existing partners or partnerships, or rationalising existing working arrangements, to deliver specific priorities of the Sustainable Community Strategy
Managing stakeholder/forum meetings to ensure they are constructive, inclusive and add value to the community planning process
Reporting progress to stakeholder/forum meetings.

Membership

To include the main public service providers in the Peak District subregion, and other core partners in a position to influence service delivery and improve the quality of life
To reflect the Local Strategic Partnership's responsibility to improve the economic, social and environmental well-being in a way that is sustainable, ensuring interests in all 3 areas are represented
To be kept relatively small in number to ensure it does not become unwieldy – this will mean, in some cases, one organisation representing others (for example, one Primary Care Trust could represent both Primary Care Trusts in the area)
Local authority representation to be at political level; it would be for other organisations to decide who should represent them
The Board will have a Chair and two Vice Chairs drawn from the Board membership to reflect its mix of statutory and voluntary/community sector agencies.

Board Membership - 17 members:

2. Stakeholder / Forum Meetings

Role:

Influence the content and direction of the Sustainable Community Strategy
Ensure a broad and inclusive input into the community planning process
Raise and debate new issues; and
Provide feedback to and from the community on how well the Sustainable Community Strategy is working on the ground.

Membership:

Open to all organisations, groups and individuals that wish to participate.

Meeting cycle

Community Forum events held quarterly at various venues across the Peak District subregion to provide feedback and to influence Strategy reviews.
Other stakeholder events held to coincide with the major consultation stage of the Community Strategy preparation.
All partners must be prepared to contribute to the successful management and working of the meetings (e.g. through facilitation, presentations, and breakout sessions).

3. Theme Groups

Role:

Implement Action Plans to meet the vision and the aims of the Sustainable Community Strategy
Prepare progress reports and presentations for Stakeholder/Forum and Board meetings
Establish working sub-groups for specific tasks, as appropriate.

Membership:

Any appropriate organisations, interest groups and partnerships to achieve the objectives of the task.
Theme Groups may be existing partnerships or groups, or they may come together, for a limited or sustained period, to address a specific issue.
Each Theme Group should have a lead partner 'champion' at Board level to co-ordinate and drive forward its work and to report progress to the Local Strategic Partnership Board.
The groups should work across the whole Peak District subregion.

Meeting cycle:

As and when required in order to get the business done. Sometimes meetings will need to be arranged to fit in with the cycle of Local Strategic Partnership Board meetings and stakeholder/forum meetings.

Secretariat

Role:

Co-ordinate the programme of Local Strategic Partnership Board meetings
Organise and service Local Strategic Partnership Board and Executive meetings
Report to the Local Strategic Partnership Board
Co-ordinate publicity and communications.

The Local Strategic Partnership will need to be supported by all partners but particularly by the public sector partners with responsibility for service delivery and the Council for Voluntary Service to facilitate communications between the voluntary sector and the Local Strategic Partnership.

High Peak Borough Council and Derbyshire Dales District Council (as the lead authorities) will be responsible for the main support and servicing arrangements (professional and administrative), where possible from within existing resources.