A NEW ‘deal’ between a council and residents is intended to move power away from the civic centre and into communities.
That’s what a senior council officer told councillors during a meeting to set out how a shift in the way the authority operates will be explained to the public.
Deputy chief executive David Leech said: “It’s really important we start to move resources from I, as an officer, making suggestions and out into the community and grow the resources we give to community groups but give a clear steer of what we think those challenges are. We want to work with communities on the impact we want to see those resources having.”
Torfaen Borough Council is proposing what it’s calling ‘The Deal’ as a way of overhauling how it operates in response to rising demand and budget pressures and an acknowledged loss of public confidence in local government and public alienation.
‘The Deal’ is based on an approach developed by Wigan Council and is intended to be easily understood and a change in how the council works with an emphasis on communities supporting themselves.
The council has also started a federation with neighbour Blaenau Gwent, which includes Steven Vickers as joint chief executive and also sharing some senior managers. It will also propose its own deal with its residents, community groups and businesses as part of the same approach.
Mr Vickers told councillors ‘The Deal’ isn’t “a council project. It’s a movement. It’s a mindset.”
Torfaen has already started on some initiatives to work with local groups and partners rather than directly providing services itself, with the idea that where it does provide funding it would also assist with information and data so that services are targeted at those most in need and communities get the support they need.
“You might have a community that needs more support to get people involved in litter picking but is successful at supporting older adults,” said Mr Leech as an example.
Council leader Anthony Hunt said: “We’ve got some great stories to tell but we want to make that more systemic.”
He also said the deal should be about enabling the council to work with people and to “get away from that old paradigm of public services being done unto you.”
Neil Jones, the council’s public relations manager, said there are successful examples of it devolving budgets and how it wants to work in the future.
“There are fantastic examples across the borough. The Ponthir hub, the park green flags.
“Six of the nine green flag parks are from the community. The litter pickers like Llantarnam, they’ve taken the time to invest in their park.”
He also cited revamped tennis courts in Blaenavon and Cwmbran as examples of how a new approach could work and of the council playing an “enabling role rather than a delivery role.”
The council will continue discussing how the plan could work with councillors, staff partner bodies, including town and community councils throughout September and October when it will also hold talks with residents before considering feedback in December and January.
The proposed ‘Deal’ will then be publicised from Marc,h including how groups can “do a deal” for their communities.