CABINET In the Community sessions have been hailed as a game changer for Tameside Council.
Executive members hold events across the borough, where they go to the people rather than the people going to them.
And leader, Cllr Eleanor Wills, believes they are bringing benefits to the different areas, exemplified by the scheme involving Hollingworth Community Centre.
That will be declared surplus and offered to local groups looking to take it on through a community asset transfer, in which a local organisation can take a 20-25-year lease from the council for a nominal rent, with that group responsible for the occupational costs.
And the fact that came from a Cabinet in the Community event, where residents asked for more local facilities, convinced Cllr Wills they are worth doing.
She told a meeting of Tameside Council’s executive cabinet on Wednesday, November 26: “It took a lot of resource from officers and cabinet to be able to engage with all our nine town, but I felt it was really important when I set out as leader that we start to open up those channels of engagement, look at how we do that differently and what happened prior to this.
“It’s clear to me that people identified as a town as opposed to a ward or a neighbourhood.
“For me, Hollingworth Community Centre felt personal as this was a personal interaction that I had as part of the Cabinet in the Community session with a group that basically said, ‘We love our community, we love where we live there are lots of good people here wanting to do lots of positive things but we don’t have any space. We don’t have a community space to call our own.’
“Yes, we’re here to listen but also where we can we’re absolutely here to do as well. It can’t just be another talking shop.
“I went to the community centre myself and there was already somebody having a look outside talking about some of the wellbeing work they currently do in Broadbottom and are looking for equivalent opportunities, so I’m really heartened by it.”