Reading Faith Forum

This group is for all those interested in hearing more about Reading 2020 – the Local Strategic Partnership for Reading Borough Council area.

The network has been developed so that you can communicate with each other and with our Faith Representative Tim Clewer.

Join the group as a member and hear more and ask questions about what the LSP is doing.

Making Sense of Reading 2020 - the Local Strategic Partnership

Reading 2020 – Is the Local Strategic Partnership for Reading Borough Council area. It is an overarching partnership that includes Reading Borough Council, Thames Valley Police, Berkshire West PCT, Fire Services, Business, the community and voluntary sector. The Council is the lead partner responsible for developing the partnership in collaboration with the other partners. Local strategic partnerships were first established as a requirement under the Local Government Act 2000, for neighbourhood renewal areas but since then most local authorities now have one such body. They were set up to facilitate the co-ordination of a wide range of strategies, initiatives and partnerships required to improve the well being and prosperity of residents, workers and businesses in Council areas. As part of the Council’s leadership role they were charged with the responsibility of producing a community strategy for their areas. The engagement and involvement of the voluntary and community sectors as well as businesses is vital to the success of local strategic partnerships.

The Partnership Framework

Reading 2020 – Has a partnership board chaired by the Council Leader and under the board, there are seven (7) delivery groups or sub-partnerships. These include Children and Young People; Culture, Leisure and Sport; Greener and Cleaner Environment; Healthy People and Lifestyles; quality and Affordable Housing; safer and Stronger Communities; thriving Economy and Skills; Transport and Accessible spaces. The most effective representation will require voluntary and community sector representatives to sit on all delivery groups or to influence them via other mechanisms. The local area agreements (LAA) now presents another layer of delivery mechanisms to be integrated into the current operational framework based around the 4 blocks of the LAA.

What is a local area agreement?

Local area agreements are contracts negotiated between central Government and local Government for the provision of services. They have been introduced with the intention of improving co-ordination between local authorities, the local agencies of central government – such as Primary Care Trusts, Police and Job Centre Plus and their partners (Business and Voluntary and Community sectors) to plan and provide the very best services for local people. The Government has made it clear that this means Councils must “empower and encourage representatives of the voluntary, community and business sectors to be involved in the negotiation process of local area agreement. The LAA should be negotiated and agreed on by the local strategic partnership (Reading 2020) and in most cases negotiations will focus around four blocks of central government funding that flows into an area:

• Children and young people;
• Safer and stronger communities;
• Healthier communities and older people;
• Economic development and enterprise.

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