Agenda item

To seek approval to the ‘Connecting Communities – A Strategy for Community Hubs and Libraries’ appended to the report.

Cabinet considered a report seeking approval for the Authority’s new

‘Connecting Communities - A Strategy for Community Hubs and Libraries’

as appended to the report .

On 28 May 2019, Cabinet agreed to explore the Authority’s approach to Community Hubs as part of its Customer Service Programme. A further report was received on 22 February 2021, on the progress of the Customer Service Programme which had been significantly shaped by the Authority’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Authority’s Covid-19 Recovery Programme directly informed the Customer Service Programme priorities and approach.

At its meeting of 17 October 2022, Cabinet reviewed progress of the Customer Service Programme, including progress to develop a Community Hubs Strategy for the Borough.

Currently, there were four Customer First Centres located across the Borough, each featuring a library and customer service offer to residents. There were also two community centres situated in the northwest of the Borough (John Willie Sams and the Oxford Centre).  These two centres offered a range of services delivered by the Authority or by partners in the NHS and community and voluntary sector, to support residents to improve their health and wellbeing and access vital support to improve their lives.  A further eight branch libraries provided access to the library service in local areas across the whole of North Tyneside.  There was also a wealth of additional Authority, voluntary, healthcare and other partner providers already operating services in and around the localities served by Customer First Centres and Libraries.

The Authority appreciated that people and communities were using its buildings differently, impacted in part by the Covid-19 pandemic and increasing digital approaches to accessing services such as government welfare benefits. The Authority had seen a significant increase in people choosing to access information, advice and support online, however, it was not the experience of everyone; residents had told the Authority that buildings and face-to-face services were sometimes still needed and were important to them.

The Connecting Communities Strategy had been developed with the purpose of bringing a range of services together in one location. Essentially, a ‘one stop shop’ for finding out about or using a wide range of services.  These services would focus on promoting good health and wellbeing and strengthening community cohesion.

The Authority over the years, had been building and developing the social infrastructure required for the Connecting Communities Strategy. This included delivering town centre libraries as part of the four Customer First Centres, an extensive network of branch libraries, state of the art sport and leisure facilities, a vibrant cultural offer, investment in excellent parks and an ongoing commitment to the Borough’s public realm, which was part of the Ambition for North Tyneside agreed by Cabinet in 2018.

Strong partnerships such as those with the voluntary and community sector and NHS were mature and tested. In particular, working alongside the Northeast and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, to prioritise prevention and shift funding towards more preventative services, as well as delivering a proportionate universal offer for all residents.

The Connecting Communities Strategy builds upon the great work that had already been achieved and provides a vision and plan for the future of Community Hubs to ensure they continued to meet and respond to resident need on a local level.  The Strategy had the following five strategic aims:

       i.          Prioritising prevention; helping to reshape existing funding away from acute health and care services and into preventative action, to tackle long-standing health disparities, improve quality of life, sustain independence, and reduce costs.

      ii.          Proportionate universalism; being part of a universal offer across all stages of people’s lives, with targeted support where inequality gaps are the widest.

    iii.          Facilitating digital inclusion; supporting residents to get online and engage with digital services by choice, rather than being forced online or left behind. 

    iv.          Valuing communities; as active partners, ensuring services are able to respond and be flexible to  evolving need.

     v.          Making best use of the Borough's social infrastructure, including open spaces, to help people be physically active and connect with others.

The scope of the Connecting Communities Strategy which was summarised in section 1.5.4 of the report, sets out an ambition for six reimagined Community Hubs developed from existing services at; Wallsend Customer First Centre; North Shields Customer First Centre; Whitley Bay Customer First Centre; The White Swan Centre, Killingworth; John Willie Sams Centre, Dudley; and The Oxford Centre, Longbenton.  Each Hub would value their local communities as active partners and listen and respond to evolving needs. The Hubs would play a vital role in the delivery of the Our North Tyneside Plan, making the Borough an even greater place to live, work and visit.

An 18-month Delivery Plan would be developed, and progress would be monitored by the North Tyneside Health and Wellbeing Board, as part its monitoring of the Equally Well 2021-2025, action plan. This Strategy was part of the work to create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities and would be monitored by this subgroup of the overall Board. A detailed benefits realisation plan would also be developed as part of the Delivery Plan, to ensure that close attention can be paid to how progress was being delivered against the stated outcomes for the strategy and the Hubs.

Cabinet considered the following decision options: either to agree the recommendation as set out in section 1.2 of the report,to not accept therecommendations, or alternatively, torequest officers to make amendments to the Connecting Communities Strategy and bring a further report to Cabinet for it to consider those amendments.

Resolved that the ‘Connecting Communities – A Strategy for Community Hubs and Libraries’ as appended to the report, be approved.

(Reasons for decision: North Tyneside’s Health and Wellbeing Strategy Equally Well 2021-2025, makes clear the challenge of health inequalities in the Borough. The strategy will ensure that the Authority’s buildings and services are focussed on meeting local need, continually reviewing and targeting support where its most needed helping to reduce the underlying causes of health inequalities.

The Connecting Communities Strategy also provides a refreshed plan for Libraries.)