Communities First Powys Conference - 8th November 2007
20th Dec 2007
Partnership Working –
Building Communities To Be Proud Of
Powys Communities First Conference - 8th November, 2007
Renewed Commitment to Communities First
Over 80 people from all over Powys gathered at the Royal Welsh Showground on Thursday 8th November to witness representatives of the County Council, the Local Health Board and Dyfed Powys Police renewing their commitment to joint working in the Communities First programme in Powys. Mark Kerr, Chief Executive of Powys County Council, Dr. Julie Bishop, Director of Public Health, Powys Local Health Board, and Chief Superintendent Steve Mears, Divisional Commander Dyfed Powys Police made their commitment on behalf of the three authorities.
Dr Julie Bishop, Mark Kerr, Superintendent Steve Mears
The significance of this was put into context by presentations from some influential speakers: Paul Dear, Head of the Communities First Programme at the Welsh Assembly Government spoke of the vision for partnership working in the three Communities First areas in Powys, Bro Ddyfi, Oldford Estate in Welshpool and the Town Ward in Ystradgynlais. 
He said of the conference “ I was impressed by the strong support shown for the Communities First Programme in Powys at the Conference on 8th November. It was very encouraging to have a good attendance both from community members from each partnership area in the County and from public sector agencies. The public expression of commitment to the Programme from the Chief Executive of Powys County Council, the Director of Public Health and the Chief Superintendent was especially welcome and I look forward to seeing the practical effect of this in months and years to come as the Programme moves into its Communities Next phase with an increased emphasis on delivering visible benefits to people in the most deprived areas in Wales.”
Click here to see Paul Dear’s presentation (PowerPoint 54kb) The audience also heard from Richard Bromiley of the University of
Glamorgan speaking about the Joseph Rowntree Foundation ongoing research 
into social inclusion in some CF areas and Chris Johnes of the Communities First Support Network spoke about ways to improve service delivery in these areas.
Click here to see Chris Johne’s presentation (PowerPoint 139kb) The day also promoted and celebrated the hard work and activities being carried out the teams working in each of the Communities First areas in Powys using presentations, workshops and discussions. For more information on the work in the three Communities first areas visit:
Mark Kerr, Chief Executive of Powys County Council said: “This is a really important day for the Communities First programme in Powys. We’ve renewed our commitment to the programme and we’ve heard from a number of very interesting speakers who have given us a new insight into what Communities First can achieve. In particular it can be a pilot for a much better understanding and appreciation between service providers, service users and residents and it can often be the catalyst in situations where perhaps an understanding hasn’t been quite as good as it might have been for making things better. So this renewal of commitment today is very important for us and will I hope lead on to ever greater successes in the future.” 
Chief Superintendent Steven Mears also commented that “Dyfed Powys Police are committed to working in partnership to make Powys a Safer place to live. The recent Communities First conference gave us the opportunity to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to The Communities First Programme, however it was also pleasing to note that the conference was well attended by both community members and other agencies and this demonstrated the widespread commitment to the programme. Our Neighbourhood Policing teams will continue to work closely with the coordinators to support resolving issues raised by the communities and to build on the good work already carried out.”
Powys Communities First Staff and Trustees
Those who attended were given the opportunity to give their opinions on the conference using a visual target
the results of these are shown below.
Over ¼ of those attending expressed their views.
© 2007 Communities First Powys