As chairman of HCERA, I get invited to quite a few consultative meetings on such
arcane topics as
the Local Development Framework or the Local Area Agreement. Last August, I
attended a Better Neighbourhoods Conference, a follow-up conference in December
and in January, a "Neighbourhoods Agenda Stakeholder Group" meeting.
These three meetings were concerned with the interrelated matters of
Neighbourhood Management and Neighbourhood Hubs. What, you may well ask, is all
that about? The driving force is the Central Government, which set out its
policies in the White Paper "Strong and Prosperous Communities". The
Government is legislating to require local authorities to secure the
participation of local citizens and communities.
Something is going to happen and these meetings are to help determine what.
Should Swaythling have its own parish council? That is only one possibility and
the pros and cons of five different models are being looked at. Decisions will
be made after the May elections.