Communities First

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Welsh Assembly Government’s Department for Social Justice and Regeneration established the Communities First programme in 2002. The programme operates within 142 communities in Wales, some of these are geographical – based on County Council wards or specific parts of wards, and others are based on other disadvantaged groups such as minority ethnic and sensory impaired communities.

The programme is designed to increase participation and develop the capacity of communities to makes decisions and run projects themselves.

The Welsh Assembly grew concerned that many of Wales’ communities were suffering from lack of investment, stagnation and apathy and embarked on research in order to identify the areas in need of most attention. The year 2000 saw the release of the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. The WIMD measured six ways how County Council wards compared. These were:

· Income · Employment · Health · Education · Housing · Access to Services

There were a total of 865 County Council wards when the report was written and the Social Justice and Regeneration Department chose to make the 100 most deprived wards Communities First areas. The Communities First areas are spread throughout Wales with eighteen local authorities having Communities First areas within their borders. The remaining four local authorities that do not have wards within the one hundred most deprived are Conwy, Ceredigion, Monmouth and the Vale of Glamorgan, although some of these local authorities have areas of interest based on disadvantaged groups such as geographically isolated communities.

The Communities First Programme is designed as a “bottom up” approach meaning that major strategic decisions are left to the Communities First Partnership and are merely facilitated by the Communities First support teams and other stakeholders outside the community such as business and voluntary organisations.

The makeup of most Communities First Partnerships is based on one third of members being residents of the community itself, one-third as representatives of statutory bodies; the remaining third come from the voluntary and business sectors.

Although the partnerships are there to oversee the strategy of the programme in each individual area, the Welsh Assembly Government has given guidance in the main subjects that should be considered by the Partnerships. These are based on the subject areas covered in 2000’s Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. The six Key Themes are:

· Jobs and Business · Education and Training · Environment · Health and Well being · Active Community · Crime and Community Safety

Member wards include:

• Gaer, Newport
• Stow Hill, Newport
• Bettws, Newport
• Monkton, Pembrokeshire
• Llanion, Pembrokeshire