Issue - meetings

Cabinet received the Overview and Scrutiny report and recommendations and will respond in due course.

Councillor Yates introduced the report of the Task and Finish Group.  Councillor Wilson commented that the work of the Task and Finish Group had commenced in July 2009 and it had been discovered that there was no single policy for community centres.  In this case Overview and Scrutiny were helping to formulate future policy.  The Task and Finish Group believed that assets should work for local communities.  There appeared to be no standard contract in the case of self-management and one community centre had been discovered that no-one was aware of.  A standard self-management contract should establish a common baseline and prevent the restriction on groups using the facilities so it would also encourage better community management and proper leases which in turn would allow the local community to bid for funding.  Councillor Wilson thanked all those that had been involved with the Task and Finish Group.

Councillor P D Varnsverry thanked Councillor Wilson and the Task and Finish Group for a thorough piece of work on a long overdue area of activity.  He also thanked the members of the public for the evidence they had provided.

The Chair commented that he was minded to suggest that a cross party Cabinet Advisory Group should be established to examine the recommendations and their implementation.

RESOLVED:         That the report and recommendations be received and that a response would be reported in due course.