The Council is proposing to make cuts to the Community Assemblies in its 2013/14 budget in an attempt to make the savings required by Central Government.
The North East Community Assembly, one of 7 serving the city, represents 4 wards in our area: Burngreave; Firth Park; Shiregreen and Brightside and Southey.
The budget for the North East team currently supports the work of 4 Council officers who deal with the activities of the Assembly and 2 Councillors, Peter Price, who is the Chair and Ibrar Hussain, who is the deputy chair.
Each Community Assembly is responsible for administering grants to spend on local projects called ‘discretionary grants’. They also bring together local representatives, councillors and officers from the statutory services to meet and discuss matters of interest with the community at public meetings.
Changes to consider
The Council have presented a number of proposals for the future of Community Assemblies. These are aimed at cutting spending on the service and include the following:
That Community Assemblies cease to exist as part of Sheffield City Council’s formal decision making structures but the geographical boundaries of the existing Community Assemblies will be kept to build on the strengths of the partner panels.
Setting up a ward based structure to support partnership working and delivery of some City Council services. This would also support local City Councillors in their community leadership role, working closely with the communities and groups they serve.
Put £280,000 per year into a new team of Council Officers and stop funding Community Assembly and Locality Management teams at a combined cost of £995,000. This Team would be centrally managed, linked to groupings of wards and support the area based structures.
Ending the £1.6 million Community Assemblies Discretionary Grant budget allocated across the 7 Assemblies and instead setting up a £300,000 ward based fund for the city.
In summary, the Council wishes to consider:
To cease the £2.6 million investment in Locality Management and replace with an investment of £580,000 per year (£280,000 for staffing and £300,000 for discretionary grants). This will generate £2 million savings per year.
Consultation – offering your views
Community Assemblies are seeking the views of the public on these proposals. Comments can be given by either:
Completing an Electronic Form online at: http://surveys.lasos.org.uk/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=94M0576
Requesting a paper copy Feedback Form from Christine Appleby (or downloading the form attached). Tel: 273 6751/273 4486 or Email: Christine.Appleby@Sheffield.gov.uk)
Telephoning 0114 273 5299 and giving us your opinions, or completing a questionnaire over the phone with a member of staff.
Deadline
The deadline for comments is 28th January 2013 so that feedback can inform the budget decisions in February/March 2013.
Once the Council has confirmed its budget for 2013/14 in March 2013,there will be a further consultation on the details of the changes to Assemblies. This Consultation will be between April 2013 and August 2013.
More information
For more information go to the Council's website:
https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/in-your-area/community-assemblies/consultation.ht ml