The Mid Sussex Partnership has just produced a Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) for the area. It is a requirement on such Partnerships that they set out their plans for the future.
The aim of the Sustainable Community Strategy is to deliver local priorities as identified by local residents, organisations and groups, and thereby improving the quality of life in the District. To bring together this plan, Mid Sussex District Council has been working closely with many local organisations including West Sussex County Council, Mid Sussex Association of Local Councils (representing Town and Parish Councils), Sussex Police and Fire Services, West Sussex Primary Care Trust, representatives from local voluntary organisations and business sectors. It also engages with the full range of other statutory, voluntary and private sector organisations in its work.
Working in this way brings together, at a local level, the representatives of public, private, community and voluntary sectors. Their aim is to make sure that different initiatives and services ‘join up', so they can work together more effectively - and deliver what local people need. Partnerships are not single organisations and they do not have their own staff or budget but they work together to shape the area according to local concerns and needs.
“The Partnership has recently been applauded for its approach to delivering on priorities the strategy sets out,” said Councillor Christopher Snowling, Cabinet Member for Health and Community. “ We undertook a risk assessment to identify the areas where we can really make a difference. This approach was recognised as ‘best practice’ by the Progress through Partnership (PtP) programme, which supports Local Strategic Partnerships, such as the Mid Sussex Partnership, in the South East. The risk assessment included interviews with key partners and a workshop session at the March 2009 Mid Sussex Partnership Conference and has been described as an innovative and successful process. Now that the Sustainable Community Strategy has been published we can really start to work towards improving the 4 key areas of the strategy: Protecting and Enhancing the Environment; Cohesive and Safe Communities; Economic Vitality and Healthy Lifestyles”.
The strategy document has been printed and is now available at Police and Fire Stations, libraries, help points, Town and Parish Councils as well as on the Mid Sussex District Council website at www.midsussex.gov.uk/msp