Walsall Council met yesterday evening (Monday) for the last full council meeting before the local elections on Thursday 22nd May.

On the agenda was a report of the work of the Communities and Voluntary Sector Portfolio for which I have responsibility as the cabinet member. A copy of the report can be accessed here: http://bit.ly/1qCIYnX

This report talks about the outcomes of decisions taken last year to begin to address the issues of inequality with the adoption by Walsall Council of the Marmot Objectives http://bit.ly/1gy1cQV as a direct result of Liberal Democrat demands at the time of the formation of the Coalition administration with the Tories back in June 2012. The Marmot Objectives now drive decisions of the Council.

One of the outcomes of this has been to give power back to our communities through the six Area Partnerships which are now properly constituted committies of the Council. Prior to our involvement Area Committees were nothing more than talking shops. The move to Area Partnerships has made it possible to begin the devolve decion making on some of the council’s spending away from the centre at Walsall to the six Area Partnerships.

This move has also made Councillors more accountable for their actions and has enabled residents to have a say in decisions which directly affect them in their lacal area using a process known as Participatory Budgetting http://bit.ly/1iRyMSC . This has included such issues as consultation on the Council Tax, Verge Parking projects and in the case of Willenhall and Short Heath’s Area Partnership, has involved local community groups bidding for small grants to launch projects. It is our intention to roll this out further to include the local environment.

As promised last year work has begun re-building the voluntary sector. This work is vital given the continuing austerity measures as the Council comes to terms with having to find a further £108 million reductions in its gross budget.

Work has also progressed to bring together other partner organisations across Walsall in order to explore closer working, cutting duplication and making better use of our shrinking resources.

Central to the devolution agenda is the work going on to build resiliance in our local communities firstly through two community hub pilot projects, one in Moxley, the other in Ryecroft. Each is evolving differently reflecting the needs and wants of the communities in which they are based.

Secondly, two pilot projects on Local Area Coordinators have just got underway, one in Bentley North Darlaston the other in Brownhills  http://bit.ly/1iSbfSF . Local Area Coordination is a powerful innovatiion in the way in which communities ensure everyone has enough support to be a full citizen. It reverses the current pattern in which the welfare system starts by providing services which often ends up by cutting people out of their own communities. Walsall’s approach is different from others across the country as it is being driven through the communities agenda as opposed to social care.

Certainly working within the communities and voluntary sector in Walsall has been both interesting and very challenging.

As Liberal Democrats it is our view that in order for all these initiatives to be successful they need to be driven from the grass roots up. We need to help people to take control of their own lives giving them the power to influence what goes on around them, in their own communities, rather than has happened all too often in the past by having things done to them by those at the centre.

Looking to the future, Liberal Democrats on Walsall Council will be pressing for more devolution giving more powers to Area Partnerships with a view to them taking on the role of Local Councils. We want to continue the work we began in 2012, helping the voluntary sector to be self supporting, making a major contribution to the future of our diverse communities. We also want to develop further much closer working between all the various agencies which operate in our town cutting out duplication, sharing information and decision making.