The importance of community partnerships and planning
Developing and providing services for the people of East Sussex is the responsibility of many organisations including:
- statutory organisations (councils, police, fire and health services)
- charities
- community and voluntary groups
- private businesses and business support groups.
With so many different agencies involved, coordination is vital to ensure efficient and effective services. The following initiatives help ensure that these organisations work in partnership for the people of East Sussex.
The Sustainable Community Strategy and Local Strategic Partnerships
Councils are required to develop a Sustainable Community Strategy for their local area. This sets out long term priorities over the coming decades to improve the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the area.
The County Council and the local district and borough councils established Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) to take forward this work at a local and county level. More details of the local LSPs are available from the district and borough council websites:
LSPs co-ordinate activity within an area to deliver improved services. They are made up of representatives from local government, the Police, Fire Service, health organisations such as Primary Care Trusts, local businesses and the voluntary and community sector. The membership of each LSP should reflect local priorities, eg rural organisations may have representation in rural areas but not urban areas.
East Sussex Strategic Partnership (ESSP)
The East Sussex Strategic Partnership is the LSP at county level. It comprises a number of organisations from the public, business, voluntary and community sectors.
ESSP is responsible for producing and implementing Pride of Place – the Sustainable Community strategy for East Sussex.
For more about the central role of ESSP in the issues that matter to local people, visit the ESSP website.
One integrated strategy for East Sussex – Pride of Place
In East Sussex, the six Local Authorities and six Local Strategic Partnerships have worked together to produce one, integrated strategy – Pride of Place.
You can read the key issues by subject and by area, and find out how the strategy was developed from the ESSP website – Pride of Place.
Our Local Area Agreement
The East Sussex Local Area Agreement (LAA) is one of a number of ‘action plans’ that will help deliver the priorities set out in the Sustainable Community Strategy for East Sussex, Pride of Place.
An LAA is a three year agreement between central government and local government setting out the priorities for a local area and how these will be tackled in partnership.
The East Sussex LAA runs from 1 April 2008 until 31 March 2011, and replaces the first LAA (2006–08).
It has 33 targets to tackle a range of priorities including unemployment; housing; climate change; education and skills; health and well-being; community safety; community strength and leadership; and culture, sports and leisure. It also includes 16 mandatory targets addressing education and early years priorities.
The Agreement is monitored on a quarterly basis. and performance reports are presented to the East Sussex Strategic Partnership for approval. It is ‘refreshed’ once a year to reflect changes in priorities and to improve the performance of the LAA.
Read the agreement in full from the ESSP website – Local Area Agreement.
Statutory, voluntary and community groups working together – the Compact for East Sussex
The Compact is an agreement between organisations in East Sussex which aims to improve joint working, communication and collaboration.
It was drawn up in consultation with statutory, community and voluntary sector organisations in East Sussex, and organisations that have not already signed up are encouraged to do so.
You can find out more about this agreement, and how to sign up, on our page A Compact for East Sussex.
