Developing a community plan

First meeting for the North East

The first public Community Assembly meeting for the area will take place on Wednesday 17 June at Longley Park Sixth Form College, with a chance to meet councillors and the team.

The aim of the Community Assemblies is to give local people the opportunity to have their say about how services are delivered earlier in the decision-making process. The Assemblies will be able to set priorities for some services – at first this will be for parks, street cleaning and libraries, but in the future other services could be influenced.

The Community Assembly meetings will be different to the Area Panel’s, as the councillors will have more power to make decisions about Council services. However there will still be the opportunity to ask questions, raise issues and present petitions at the beginning of the meeting.

In September a Community Plan for the area will be published. The plan will look at what major issues affect the area, such as crime, health, employment and education. It will also contain ‘citizen’s targets’ which will address smaller issues that may just affect one street or a small area, such as fly tipping.

What goes into this plan will be developed from feedback from the local community, the priorities of local councillors, information from local services and data about the area. The new team will be at the Abbeyfield and Fir Vale festivals this summer, ready to explain the new ways of working and listen to what local people want. This will help us develop the Community Plan.

More than just meetings

It’s expected there will be four main meetings across the Community Assembly area. Alongside these, there will be further events or meetings which will take place in the different wards. These events will be called ‘You Say’ so please look out for them being advertised. There will also be other opportunities to give feedback, for example through the internet.

The 12 locally elected Councillors for the assembly are:

• Burngreave – Cllr Jackie Drayton, Cllr Ibrar Hussain, Cllr Steve Jones

• Firth Park – Cllr Joan Barton, Cllr Alan Law, Cllr Chris Weldon

• Shiregreen and Brightside – Cllr Jane Bird, Cllr Peter Price and Cllr Peter Rippon

• Southey – Cllr Leigh Bramall, Cllr Tony Damms, Cllr Gill Furniss

The North East Community Assembly staff team are:

• Alison Rayner, Community Assembly Manager

• Vicky Williams, Planning and Performance Officer

• Hannah Isherwood, Assembly Officer

• Lisa Moran, Safer Neighbourhood Officer

• And a Team Support Officer

The Assembly will also be supported by a team of people from other Council services and partner organisations to ensure that residents within the North East Community Assembly receive the best, and most appropriate, services.

The first North East Community Assembly meeting will be held on Wednesday 17th June at 6-8pm at Longley Park Sixth Form College, Horninglow Road S5 6SG (buffet provided from 5.30pm).

In the meantime, if you would like to find out more, please contact the North East Community Assembly on 203 7562 Firth Park Library, 443 Firth Park Road, S5 6QQ or via email – communityassemblynortheast@sheffield.gov.uk

If you need transport to get to the meeting, please contact us at the office on 203 7562.