ACTIVE BRIDGEND - LOCAL AUTHORITY PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT - PHASE TWO

Background Information

Bridgend County Borough Council have coordinated the development of phase one of the local authority partnership agreement with an emphasis on partnership working and the capacity building of key stakeholders to deliver on the sport and physical activity agenda within Bridgend County Borough.

The first phase of development has made significant progress and has included the engagement of partners such as Bridgend County Youth Service, Communities First, Welsh Gymnastics, Bridgend College, Disability Sport Wales, Bridgend Association of Voluntary Organisations. Additionally, the core funded elements of the partnership agreement have been evaluated by Sports Council officers and recognised as achieving their objectives.

Policy and Strategy

During the phase one of the local authority partnership agreement, Bridgend County Borough Council has produced its draft strategic plan entitled ‘Better Health …… Successful Sport’. This was produced following the receipt of consultants reports from Knight, Kavanagh and Page and also Just Solutions. An extensive consultation exercise of stakeholders and the general public has followed and will be presented for consideration by Council in October 2009.

The draft strategic plan has recognised the need for working in different ways if we are to increase the rates of participation in sport and physical activity. In summary, the key themes of changes are as follows:

• Modernisation of the scale and quality of leisure infrastructure including leisure centres and swimming pools;
• Creating flexibility in revenue budgets that can be used to develop outreach development programmes;
• Developing a mixed economy of sport and physical activity providers including voluntary, statutory and commercial sector provision;
• Developing a model of entitlement to access facilities and services from our residents ranging from doorstep opportunities through to County strategic provision.

Issues of Governance

During phase one the emphasis has been on mobilisation of a broad range of partners to deliver sport and physical activity programmes that address the identified priorities with Bridgend County Borough.

The development of a management board to approve proposed action and to evaluate performance was identified from the beginning of the partnership agreement. It was also recognised, that the local authority partnership agreement should link with the major strategic plans and partnerships within the County Borough.

• A management board with terms of reference is now operational with an annual schedule of meetings established. The board is chaired by the Head of Healthy Living and includes members from Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Partnerships, Bridgend County Borough Council Regeneration, National Public Health Service, Sport and Physical Activity Service and Children and Young Peoples Partnership.
• The local authority partnership agreement is reported on a scheduled basis by the Head of Healthy Living to the Health, Social Care and Wellbeing Partnership Board.
• At local authority level, the objective of growing the local membership of the partnership is a target within the performance agreement with the Welsh Assembly Government.

Partnership and Commissioning

• Bridgend County Borough Council have progressed an innovative approach to utilising the additional investment by Sports Council for Wales as part of the local authority partnership agreement.
• Having communicated the developmental priorities of the local authority based on identified need, partners have been invited to design and submit project delivery proposals that are compatible.
• Each project that was supported by Sports Council for Wales as part of the phase one portfolio has been allocated a local authority ‘caseworker’ and provided with project development and financial management support to enhance partnership working.
• A strong sport and physical activity delivery network is evolving with quarterly scheduled meetings. There are opportunities to develop more collaborative working between supported partners during phase two on the ‘Making the Connections’ philosophy.
• The commissioning approach involving proposals by partner organisations has been continued within the development of the phase two portfolio with an expanded number and range of applications reviewed by the management board.

Phase Two Programme Proposals

Based on the thematic areas of development identified by Sports Council for Wales the following categorisations are capable of being applied to the phase two partnership proposals. It should be noted that some proposals will involve more than one thematic area.

Supporting detail of the aforementioned projects, targeted outputs and proposed budget is provided in the next section. Following consideration and approval by the Sports Council for Wales Board and detail of approved elements an operational plan will be produced for monitoring and evaluation as per the model produced for 2008 – 2009.

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