Members Present: Cllr Richard May, Michael Lilley, Georgie Carter, Alison Pearce (Community Development Officer), Rebecca Swan (Network Ryde Representative), Liz Dutton (RTC Representative)
Apologies were received from Cllr Jess Higgins, Toby Eaglen (Sovereign), Diana Conyers (Community Representative), Steve Johnson (Aspire)
Michael Lilley declared an interest in relation to being a trustee of Ryde Community Development Trust and a trustee of Community Action.
The minutes from the meeting on 22 November 2023 were agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.
The social media post regarding the Uniform Swap Shop had not gone out due to the passage of time.
Job Description had now been given to the Personnel Panel.
The coffee machine for the library was no longer necessary as tea and coffee had now been made available.
Other items were covered in the Community Development Worker’s report.
Consideration was given as to whether the remit of the Sub Committee and that of the Community Development Officer should be more strategic and sharply focused. It was noted that the Community Strategy to be developed by this Sub Committee should feed into RTC’s Corporate Plan. It was agreed to add a second objective to the terms of reference ie the subcommittee would develop and have a strategic oversight of the Community Development Strategy.
It was hoped to encourage those Cllrs with availability and capacity to put themselves forward at the forthcoming Annual Council meeting. It was noted that there was currently 1 vacancy to be filled by a community organisation and it was suggested to raise this at a meeting of
the Ryde Community Forum. Discussion also took place around the need for outreach policies and risk assessments and the need to check public liability insurance for outside groups and venues.
It was noted that under delegated authority the Community Development Officer had delegated power to spend up to £2,000. Anything over that amount would need a recommendation from this Subcommittee to Full Council or the Personnel Panel whichever was deemed to be more appropriate or timely and that should be added to the terms of reference.
Requests for supermarket vouchers had slowed and this was put down to the fact that referrals were only eligible to receive vouchers once in each tranche of funding. Any unspent funds would need to be returned by the beginning of April. It was noted that data collected as part of the scheme would be helpful in identifying where any gaps were, and this could be useful to feed into the development the Community Strategy.
Age UK had been running digital workshops aimed at residents in Oakfield and these had been held at Johns Club and were well attended by people from all over Ryde. An update was given regarding funding from Southern Housing for community lunches at Johns Club.
Alison provided an update on the production of the next edition of the Ryde Community Guide. Initial work indicated that it would be possible to get it delivered by Royal Mail at an approximate cost of 35p per household. Any shortfall would be met by an increase in the cost of advertising or the community development budget. Although arranging volunteers to deliver the Guide had worked well, it had been very time consuming. It was recognised that there no way of knowing of when and if the Guide had actually been delivered. It was agreed the next edition would aim to be published in September. There was a discussion on whether information on homelessness and universal credit should be included. However, it was viewed that the level of detail required would be difficult to get right and if information or the process changed, the Guide would become out of date. It was also regarded this would be a level of duplication.
The Committee wished to thank Alison for the work done so far.
Alison explained the principle of Timebanking. This was where individuals offered their time
e.g. dog walking, shopping, or spending time with someone who was feeling isolated, with people offering the skills they enjoyed. These hours could be banked and used later – everyone’s hours were valued the same and no money exchanged hands. There was no regular time commitment and members could dip in and out when it suited. It was important to involve local groups as there was the option of having organisational members who could donate their credits to the organisation. Alison explained the DBS checks would be carried out where necessary (ie someone would be visiting a member who classed themselves vulnerable).
Membership to the national organisation would allow access to the software which would record member details along with their skills and banked hours. Alison confirmed that Liz would be handling the administration and the Committee wanted to know details around capacity along with costs that would be incurred. It was also important to consider how Timebanking would fit into the Community Strategy. The Committee also recognised that once set up and established, the project would need to move towards becoming self- supporting or run with minimal input from RTC.
Organisations that attended last year’s Meet the Funders event would be asked if holding a Community Networking Day would be beneficial to them. The event would focus on enabling organisations to help themselves by encouraging them to exchange ideas, knowledge and resources with a view to empowering them to support each other and grow together. It was recognised that RTC would need to communicate with Community Action to avoid duplication as they were planning a meet the funders event in April. Joel had offered to run a training session in Ryde.
Michael updated the committee on his annual pancake day activities. An update was received on RCDT. The name had now been changed but work was still taking place to register the charity with the Charity Commission.
Library of Things – It was suggested that this could be investigated and run alongside Timebanking.
The dates for future meetings were confirmed as
Thursday 7 March 2024 at 9.15am – Developing a Community Strategy – informal meeting
Thursday 9 May 2024 at 9.00am
CHAIR: