East Kent Local Strategic Partnership

Working together to improve the quality of life of those living and working in East Kent.  

Brief Background to Local Strategic Partnerships

The Local Government Act 2000 gave local authorities the duty to prepare a Community Strategy for their area, in partnership with other stakeholders. The Community Strategy is a long-term vision and sets out how to improve the quality of life and services in a local area.

Local authorities were encouraged to set up non-statutory, multi-agency Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP), to develop this long-term vision. A LSP brings together at a local level the different parts of the public, private, community and voluntary sectors.

A combination of organisations, and the community, working together as part of an LSP will have a far greater chance of meeting the needs of local communities, improving public services and delivering economic, social and physical regeneration.

The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 extended the duty to develop Sustainable Community Strategy to other public sector organisations, principally including the Primary Care Trust, Police Authority and the Fire & Rescue Service.

The LSP also delivers the improvements in the Local Area Agreement.

A new performance framework, the Comprehensive Area Assessment, will assess how well these key partners work together.

What is the East Kent Local Strategic Partnership?

Shepway District is now part of an East Kent Local Strategic Partnership, covering the geographical area of Canterbury, Dover, Shepway and Thanet. The proposal for an integrated East Kent LSP received strong support in a range of consultation activities culminating in a stakeholder conference in December 2007.

The East Kent Local Strategic Partnership (EKLSP) was formally established on the 1st April 2008. The partnership brings together the public bodies, businesses and voluntary and community sectors in a voluntary partnership to work towards a prosperous and caring community.

The partnership has an independent Chair, Geoff Miles, and has recently appointed a new Partnership Director, Janice Wason.

A management group oversees the day-to-day operations and steer of the partnership. This consists of key partners with a "duty to co-operate", namely the four District Councils, Kent County Council, SEEDA, Kent Police and the Eastern and Coastal Kent Primary Care Trust.

To find out who sits on your East Kent LSP, please see the EKLSP website: http://www.eastkentlsp.org.uk/

What will the East Kent Local Strategic Partnership do?

The purpose of the East Kent Local Strategic Partnership (EKLSP) is to promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area, improving the quality of life for all.

The partnership will be the strategic body under which specific partnerships (such as Community Safety Partnerships) and initiatives will tackle key projects and priorities.

It will be the role of the EKLSP to reach consensus on the key areas for focus.

The EKLSP is responsible for:

• Developing and delivering an East Kent Community Strategy identifying common issues and priorities and clearly supporting the Vision for Kent (Kent County's Sustainable Community Strategy). 
• Contributing to the delivery of Kent Agreement 2.

Please see the Sustainable Community Strategy pages for more details.

Further information

Please see the EKLSP website http://www.eastkentlsp.org.uk/

You can also contact Marie Hamm, Partnership Support Officer, East Kent LSP for more details.

Tel: 01227 862358; Fax: 01227 764955; E-mail: marie@eastkentlsp.org.uk

Contact

E-mail:  policy@shepway.gov.uk