Appendixofficers Report

Community Involvement APPENDIXOfficers Report April 2017 Introduction. This report is based on the mapping work of three Community Involvement Officers (CIO) within the areas outlined on the map below. It represents 8 months’ work following the agreed roles and responsibilities of the Officers under the joint project between Medrwn Môn, Anglesey Council and Horizon Nuclear Power. The scope of the project was to increase the participation of the residents of Anglesey in the consultation work and planning processes around Horizon’s PAC 2, by using varied and alternative methods of engaging and capturing information that would help to inform the wider information gathering processes being used through the formal consultation period. The concept of the Community Involvement Officers joint project was to share information, skills and learning around the different ways of engaging the groups and individuals that would typically be classed as hard to reach including deaf communities, older people, homeless people and those with protected characteristics under the Equalities legislation. The workers are employed as follows: 1x full-time Officer employed directly and based within Horizon Offices 1x part-time Officer based within Medrwn Mon 1x part-time Officer based within Anglesey County Council It was envisaged that the separate and independent skills and specialities within each organisational sector (Private, Public and Third Sector) would be shared and developed as a matter of good practice to be used in any further engagement & consultation. All work gathered by the Officers is reported to the Joint Engagement & Consultation Board established between Anglesey Council and Medrwn Môn, and would follow the principles and structures adopted (see The National Principles of public Engagement in Wales (http://www.participationcymru.org.uk/national-principles ). Remit and Process. The agreed areas of the engagement work of the Officers was split into 8 key areas across the Island. The areas were identified as those most likely to be affected by the development of the Power Station or its associated developments and are outlined in the diagram below. 3 2 1 4 4 6 5 7 8 Areas 1-4 were covered by the CIO for Horizon and included: 1: Amlwch, Burwen, Boderwyd, Porthllechog, Bull Bay, Carreglefn 2: Cemaes, Tregele, Llanfechell, Mynydd Mechell, Llanbadrig 3: Llanfairynghornwy, Llanrhyddlad, Rhydwyn, Llanfflewyn 4: Llanfaethlu, Llanfwrog, Llanfachraeth, Llanddeusant, Elim, Llantrisant Areas 5-8 were covered by the CIO’s for Medrwn Mon and Anglesey Council and included: 5: Valley, Caergeiliog, Bodedern 6: Holyhead 7: Llangefni 8: Llanfair PG and Menai Bridge The model used for engaging people in these areas was the Building Communities Model developed by the Community Voice Project at Medrwn Mon and Anglesey Council in a previous project working in the South East of the Island. This detailed evidence aims to provide comprehensive picture of what life is like living within the 8 chosen communities and an accurate assessment for the need for provision of future services in line with the new legislation requirements of both the Social Services and Wellbeing Wales Act and the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015. To ensure maximum engagement the CIO’s created an extensive timetable of all activities, groups and services happening in each of the 8 areas and concentrated their efforts on attending each group, activity or event to carry out the mapping exercises. On top of this workers also set up engagement exercises in the receptions at leisure centres, schools, colleges, at entrances to supermarkets and carried out conversations on the street and in Llangefni and Holyhead Markets. The Model is an ASSET BASED APPROACH to mapping the people The engagement method varied . and networks, knowledge and skills, depending on the target audience, each was adapted to the groups’ skill building and green spaces, and base, time available and venue. services (third sector and public) in a geographical area The following methods were used: 1. Visual Mapping of an area- using an OS map and linking assets described to categories placed around the map on a board, linking services and areas to provide a clear picture of the area in terms of assets, gaps and priorities 2. ‘Future Street’ Voting Boxes- encouraging participants to discuss which services they found most important to save or spend on in a time of reduced public spending. Each box relates to an individual service area i.e. education, health, transport etc 3. Ideas Wall- identifying assets and solutions/ideas to problems using a brick wall and post-it notes 4. Online SNAP Survey- a short questionnaire asking people to let us know about the services they have available in their village/town, and exploring the lessons learned and effects of previous large developments on the Island such as Magnox Wylfa Power Station and Anglesey Aluminium 5. Events- the workers facilitated an event in conjunction with Ben Cave Associates on behalf of the Rapid Health Impact Assessment. The Building Communities Model is a model which follows a conversation style and look at the following: Assets Assets could be anything that the residents Conversations can look at how assets value and use in a given geographical are used, by who, when etc. community from buildings & green spaces, to Alternatively they can be discussed in skills and knowledge of residents, to terms of how they could potentially be particulars services (libraries, transport etc) used more effectively within a community. Gaps and Conversations identify how working in Where conversations identified good Service partnership community groups, third sector, practice in joint working already Areas public or private sectors can address gaps in happening in their communities we services and activities. The term ‘service explored how this could be shared and areas’ is used to describe the links between replicated. one or more services that are needed to work Where gaps were identified we asked together i.e. third sector, social services and communities to offer potential health to ensure activities in Community Hubs solutions for addressing those gaps. help to reduce impact on front line health services through support community activity, redirecting community service such as community pharmacists etc Priorities Conversations always looked at how priorities Evidence looks to identify similarities or and solutions can be explored on a whole across the 8 areas in order to provide solutions community approach- encouraging public, private and third sector services communities to look at how services and with both an overall view of gaps and community activities are linked and to priorities as well as area specific encourage joint working as opposed to quick, information. individual fixes i.e. sharing community (see excel sheets) buildings, spaces and resources to avoid duplication, competition for funding Over the 8 months period the 3 CIO’s engaged over 2390 people in the process across the 8 areas (groups visited, numbers recorded and issues highlighted in each area are attached as an appendix). These interactions have all been recorded independently of the information recorded by Horizon during their PAC 2 consultation. The CIO’s have however incorporated some of the issues and discussions captured by other local consultations such as the Public Service Board’s Wellbeing Needs Assessment, and Anglesey Council’s Population Needs Assessment and Budget Consultation. During the busier times of the engagement process the CIO’s were supported by Community Voice project Staff and Local Asset Co-ordinators (in Llangefni and Holyhead). TRAINING As part of the initial funding for the CIO’s and to increase the skills set within Medrwn Môn, Anglesey Council and Horizon funding was allocated to organise, attend and hold training relating to a specific set of skills needed to engage meaningfully with hard to reach groups. This suites of training was organised by the CIO for Medrwn Môn and included the following: 1. Training on the Future Generations Act 2015 2. National Principles of Public Engagement 3. Working with hard to reach groups 4. Results Based Accountability 5. Equality and Diversity Training 6. Active Listening Staff members from each of the partner organisations were invited to attend, along with community members and staff from third sector organisations. This was to ensure consistency in understanding and approach and to develop a wide reaching skills set as a legacy within the organisations involved. KEY THEMES AND MESSAGES 1. A PICTURE OF ANGLESEY The Building Communities PLACE is a key way that Model identifies how resilient people think about and independent a geographical how to deal with, challenge and change social issues. community is in terms of assets, Connection to a place can to all round wellbeing and much extent influence the economic activity and creates a decisions they make or platform for solution-based the way they experience things conversations between service providers and service users about long-term planning and future proofing of services. From the evidence gathered during the engagement process it is clear that for the people living on Anglesey there is a deep sense of place and of community; feeling connected and safe within a community is directly linked to resilience and the ways in which communities use and view local services. This evidence demonstrates how residents inevitably support each other and how they prefer to be supported by local services and the third sector. It is important to note that whilst a sense of place Nature and open spaces are often relates to the social and cultural aspects of extremely important to me…. living on Anglesey, for many- particularly in the context of large developments on the Island- We have access to beaches and green spaces, infrastructure and the environment forests on our doorstep. If I contribute heavily to a feeling of quality of didn’t have that I wouldn’t leave life.

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