VIC DALBERT

I attended the Area Partnership Chairs meeting on tuesday. The main item on the agenda was the review of Area Partnerships. Area Partnerships replaced the Area Boards and whilst there has been some clear improvements to how they operate and their effectiveness there has remained concerns about some issues hence the review.

I was dissapointed with the report that we received. By the time we got the report the biggest proposal was to change the name to Team Prestwich etc. The current Area Partnership Chairs generally disliked the name change so that stays the same for now.

The main reason for dissapointment was the fact that an opportunty has been missed to delegate more powers, resources and responsibilities to the Partnerships for services provided in their townships.  In addition there was precious little in the report to improve the links with community members who represent voluntary groups etc. I would like to see them exert more influence and feed there issues through to the Partnerships.

There were some good things - such as proposals to develop community members, encouraging greater support from our partners and improving the effectiveness of the Partnerships - the rest will have to wait at least until the further review promised for the autumn.