Welcome to the South Gloucestershire Partnership website
The Partnership is a non-statutory body made up of public, private, community and voluntary organisations which aims to work together to promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of the people in South Gloucestershire. It has been working together since 2002 and it's vision is
"South Gloucestershire - a great place to live and work.
The next meeting of the Partnership will be on 1st May 2012 (Council offices, Thornbury) - PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A SPECIAL MEETING OF THE PARTNERSHIP TO DISCUSS ONE ITEM (The impact of the change to Council governance on the partnership) all are welcome. To view the agenda and minutes from previous meetings, please go to MEETINGS, AGENDAS AND MINUTES. Topics for discussion at future meetings are found on the workplan at the end of the agenda. Agendas and any reports for future meetings are published on this site 5 days prior to the meeting. If you have any questions about the partnership or any agenda items, please contact Stephanie on 01454 863868 or stephanie.kruse@southglos.gov.uk
Future Meetings
1st May 2012, 2.00 p.m. Monday Council st Offices Thornbury
12th July 2012, 2 p.m.Thursday Council Offices Kingswood
12th October 2012, 9.30 a.m Friday to be confirmed
NEWS
APRIL 2012
It is with great sadness we say goodbye to our Director of Public Health Dr. Chris Payne. He has been a stalwart supporter of the Partnership almost from day one and his contribution to the Board and to all the strategic partnerships will be greatly missed.
Chance for voluntary and community groups to get involved in the South Glos Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) update
South Gloucestershire’s shadow health and wellbeing board is updating the local Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). This follows on from the first report in 2008, and an update in 2010. The JSNA is a process that identifies current and future health and wellbeing needs and informs future service planning. This includes services provided by the voluntary and community sector (VCS). It identifies the big picture in terms of the health and wellbeing needs and inequalities of a local population. There are real opportunities for the VCS to feed into the JSNA. The Care Forum would like to hear from the health and social care VCS to ensure its views and knowledge are represented in the JSNA. Keep an eye out for more information about some focus group meetings on the JSNA in June and early July 2012, aimed at the VCS. In the mean time, if you are a representative of a voluntary or community group, and would be willing to be interviewed by email or telephone, or have any views about gaps in the JSNA, or any data you have that could inform the JSNA, contact vcsinfojsna@thecareforum.org.uk
The current JSNA documents can be viewed here: http://www.ourareaourfuture.org.uk/JointStrategicNeedsAssessment.htm
MARCH 2012
There are still some places remaining at the Partners' Conference (see below in February 2012) so if you would like to book a seat please contact 01454 863868 or email strategy&partnerships@southglos.gov.uk
FEBRUARY 2012
This year's Partners' Conference will take place on 30th March at the Holiday Inn, Hambrook Road, Filton and will be on the theme of Localism. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Jonathon Carr-West Director of Policy Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) and there will be 4 workshops on -
Volunteering - corporate and community social capital Examples of volunteering in action through sharing case study examples within the business and voluntary and community sectors to explore how we could encourage and support more sustainable engagement and grass roots volunteering.
Community assets and social enterprises South Gloucestershire has a history of supporting communities to take over the running of community assets and setting up social enterprises. A local group will share their experiences of what went well, what didn’t and the steps in the process
Opportunities for communities Localism presents many opportunities for local people to get involved in shaping their areas, finding solutions, running services and influencing decisions. This workshop will discuss how all the pieces of the jigsaw fit together and how we can communicate these opportunities, energising and engaging groups, organisations and individuals
Delivering public services Drawing on the various policies and legislation that seek to put more choice and control in the hands of individuals and neighbourhoods, this workshop will look at the opportunities and risks from a partnership perspective and the support that might be needed to enhance the ability of groups and organisations to respond to and benefit from the changing environment.
Places are limited so if you would like to come please contact 01454 863868 or email strategy&partnerships@southglos.gov.uk
JANUARY 2012
Happy New Year to you all, and to start 2012 on a very positive note I am pleased to announce the revised
Sustainable Community Strategy 2012 
was adopted by the South Gloucestershire Partnership at it's meeting in January.
This is the shared vision of the people who live, work and visit South Gloucestershire; working together to meet today’s requirements without damaging the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It has been put together and will be monitored by the South Gloucestershire Partnership* which is made up of private, public, voluntary and community groups who work with communities to identify and tackle key long, medium and shortterm local issues. It sets out the context for the area’s four key priorities and their high level outcomes and provides a framework for integrated delivery by partnerships and communities.
This strategy has been updated in response to the new opportunities and challenges presented by local and national policy and socio-economic changes. It will be used to meet the needs and deliver the aspirations of local people, maintaining the area as ‘a great place to live and work’.
Hard copies will be available towards the end of February 2012. In the meantime, if you have any queries on the Strategy or the Partnership please contact the Corporate Strategy and Partnerships team on 01454 863868
December 2011
Thank you to everyone who got involved in the consultation on the Sustainable Community Strategy. Everyone's comments have been looked at and the Partnership held a special meeting on 1st December to dicuss appropriate changes to the strategy. The amended version will be presented at the next meeting of the Partnership on 11th Jan 2012 (see above for meeting papers).
October 2011
It is with great sadness we say farewell to Chief Superintendent Andy Francis, Avon and Somerset Constabulary who is soon to become the new Head of Communciations for the force. He has been involved with the Partnership since 2003 and has been a very supportive and committed member which has been much appreciated. He will be replaced by the incoming Chief Superintendent Sarah Crewe who takes up her post on 1st November 2011 and we look forward to working with her.
The partners would also like to show their appreciation to Rev Jon Doble who has stood down as the Faith Groups' representative after nearly two and a half years with the Partnership. His replacement Dr. Simon Bale is a former representative on the Bristol Partnership.
The South Gloucestershire Partnership Annual Report 2010/2011 was approved at the meeting in Ocotber. This report details the work of the partnership over the past year in relation to its objectives as set out in the partnership framework (Terms of Reference). If you would like a hard copy or have any questions about the report or the partnership, please do not hesitate to contact Stephanie on 01454 863868 or stephanie.kruse@southglos.gov.uk.
Please note the new Police non-emergency telephone number is now 101. In emergencies, still ring 999.
September 2011
The Sustainable Community Strategy is currently being updated in response to the new opportunities and challenges presented by local and national policy and socio-economic change. It will be used to meet the needs and deliver the aspirations of local people, maintaining the area as 'a great place to live and work'.
Consultation on the draft strategy runs from 6 September 2011 until 18 November 2011. Please read the draft strategy and tell us your views by completing our online survey.
August 2011
Thank you for taking part in the ‘Tell Us What You Think’ survey. A report providing a breakdown of responses has been published. Click here to see the results which have been used to shape and inform the review of the Sustainable Community Strategy 2026.
July 2011
The Core Strategy, the spatial planning document for South Gloucestershire, has now entered the last stage of its formal production. The strategy was presented to the Secretary for State on 31st March 2011 and is now in the examination phase. A Planning Inspector has been appointed to lead the public examination process and the first public meeting was held 29th June 2011. Part of this examination is a consultation on the position statement around the potential development of Filton Airfield following its recent closure announcement. The consultation closes on 29th July 2011 so if you have any comments to make please follow this link http://www.southglos.gov.uk/NR/exeres/b971e920-bcbe-4811-b6b5-b94ac44f4711
Further information about the Core Strategy, its progress and things that have/ are happening can be found here http://www.southglos.gov.uk/NR/exeres/99affbab-2714-4578-9d10-886983548a6c
and more about the Examination in Public here https://consultations.southglos.gov.uk/inovem/consult.ti/corestrategyexamination/consultationHome
July 2011
At the first meeting of the Partnership in the new municipal year, the new Chair Cllr Helen Goddard thanked the previous chair Cllr John Godwin for his excellent work directing the partnership over the past four years and also thanked the outgoing vice-chair Helen Black (Chief Executive of CVS South Glos) for her help and support throughout her term of office. Rachel Robinson (Chief Executive of The Care Forum) was nominated and elected to replace Helen and was welcomed as the new vice-chair of the Partnerhsip.
May 2011
Many thanks to all of you who responded to our recent survey. What you have told us will be used as part of the evidence base for the development of the new Sustainable Community Strategy. The next stage of the process is to put a draft document together which will then go out for formal consultation later in the year. Once again, thank you for your help.
April 2011
Throughout April, views are being sought from a wide variety of groups and organisations throughout South Gloucestershire to find out what people think the big issues are that are facing the area. There has been a lot of change recently which coincides with the renewal of the Sustainable Community Strategy (a key strategy which directs the work of partners to ensure South Gloucestershire remains 'a great place to live and work'.) and the partnership wants to make sure key priorities are included in the new strategy. Please see above for a link to the survey and let us have your views on what you think is important. The consultation finishes on April 30th 2011. If you have any queries please contact the Strategic Partnerships team on 01454 863868. Thank you
March 2011
The latest South Gloucestershire Partnership's newsletter Our News Spring 2011 has been published. If you require hard copies or have any queries on anything in the newsletter, please contact Sophie Maher 01454 863862 or on sophie.maher@southglos.gov.uk
The South Gloucestershire Quality of Life report has now been produced. This annual report shows how aspects of life in the area are getting better or worse. These are measured through a variety of set indicators most of which have been monitored for several years making it possible to track changes over time. If you require a hard copy or have any queries on the report, please contact Sophie Maher 01454 863862 or on sophie.maher@southglos.gov.uk
Each year, the Director of Public Health (DPH) Dr. Chris Payne publishes an annual report on the state of South Gloucestershire's health. This year, a comparison has been made with the 1972 DPH's annual report as, at that time, the health service was on the brink of it's largest reorganisation since 1948, with the country facing a huge economic challenge - a situation which we can all appreciate today.
Chris says in his introduction " The 1974 changes saw public health transfer from Gloucestershire County Council to the NHS: the current changes will see responsibility for public health transferring back to the local authority. Public health, in some respects, is returning to its roots. For this reason I have chosen to pick up the story from the 1972 report and provide a 40 year update.
The old report is fascinating. It was written the year before I went to medical school and despite the feeling that some problems never change, there have, in fact, been huge changes in health over the intervening period. Some sentences could be cut and pasted into a 2010 report: others make the reader’s jaw drop."
February 2011
This year’s South Gloucestershire Partners' Conference proved a great success starting with a comprehensive and insightful speech from Tony Travers, director of the Greater London group; part of the London School of Economics.
The title of Tony’s speech was “"Opportunities at a time of radical change". He outlined the government’s policies in relation to deficit reduction and public sector reform and gave his considered views on the impacts on local communities. He finished by stressing the need for partnerships to continue work together to deliver the best possible services at a challenging time.
His speech raised awareness among the 110 plus delegates - some of whom knew some of the story but few knew it all - and broadened their understanding of the whole picture. It provided a very useful foundation for the workshops which followed his speech which looked at how to promote the civil/big society and encourage community leadership, how to mainstream sustainability into all areas of our work, how joined up early intervention and prevention work could continue to make a real impact and how economic priorities will continue to be delivered in the changed landscape.
Details of the presentations and the notes from the workshops can be found in Partners Conference 2011 or if you would like any more information please contact Stephanie Kruse, Strategic Partnership Officer on 01454 863868
or
stephanie.kruse@southglos.gov.uk.