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Working in partnership with local people is our most important task. SAP does not seek to compete with or duplicate the work of any other organisation. We are here to promote greater co-operation and understanding between the very wide range of statutory and voluntary organisations and community groups which are already operating in Sherborne and the surrounding area, as well as to promote or assist in joint actions as outlined in the new Sherborne Area Action Plan 2010-2013 due to be launched at the next Third Sector Network Community Lunch in September. See their section of the website for more information.
Local Forums that are already established but are independent of the Sherborne Area Partnership and welcome our participation include the Chamber of Trade & Commerce (COT), the Transport Action Group (TAG) and Sherborne Area Partners and Communities Together (PACT). We also have close links with the SHARP Learning Project based at the Gryphon School whose manager, Lizzie Kingsbury, also facilitates the Sherborne Area Children, Young People & Familes Partnership (see below).
All the Forums in the following list are managed by SAP. They are open to anyone who would like to attend.
Sherborne Area Tourism Forum brings together a wide range of people and organisations from Sherborne, the surrounding area and further afield who want to increase the potential of Sherborne as a tourist destination. With the new Sherborne Community Arts Centre in the offing as well as an exciting new vision for Sherborne House as a Regional Arts Exhibition Centre as well as many other initiatives designed to make Sherborne even more attractive as for visitors as well as local residents, new members are always welcome so contact us on 01935 816961 for more information. Our last meeting was on Thursday 10th June. Our next meeting will be at 2.30pm on Thursday 16th September in the Council Chamber, The Manor House, Newland.
Sherborne Area Equality Forum is for local people who have experienced exclusion as a result of their disability, gender, faith or ethnic origin as well as for representatives from the statutory and voluntary organisations that work with and for them. The Forum is concerned about public attitudes to people with disabilities and hopes to play an active part in the PACT initiative being lead by Dorset Police. At SAP's AGM on 25th September 2008, Lizzie Kingsbury (SHARP Learning Manager at The Gryphon School), presented "Know the pavements" an Access Survey to the centre of Sherborne on which she had been working for the previous few months. Our last meeting was on Monday 17th May in the Community Room at Richmond Green Sheltered Housing Scheme. We last met, in conjunction with the Sherborne Area Housing Forum, on 8th July and will meet with them again on Thursday 16th September in the Council Chamber to hear from Siobhain Hann of Dorset Supporting People Team about the housing strategy for people with mental health problems.
The Sherborne Children,Young People & Families Partnership is managed by Lizzie Kingsbury, SHARP Learning Manager based at The Gryphon School, so contact her on 01935 810152 for more information. It last met on Thursday 23rd June in the Gryphon Conference Centre.
Sherborne Area Housing Forum was launched in October 2006. We were actively involved in the consultation being undertaken by WDDC on the Barton Farm development in Sherborne (see http://www.dorsetforyou.com/bartonfarm). We are also monitoring the progress of Buckland Newton Community Land Trust who plan to build affordable housing for local people on an exception site in the village that we hope will lead to similar planning applications for exceptional sites in villages elsewhere in West Dorset, including the Sherborne Area. Our last big event event (see the report on Identifying New Sites for Affordable Housing in Sherborne Consultation) took place on Wednesday 21st October. For more information about the 3 categories of sites see Priority Sites, Sites with Contraints and Large SHLAA Sites. It was attended by well over 100 local people who came along to express an opinion about which of the 20 potential sites we had identified should or should not be built on. The 3 photos show the consultation under way as well as the size of the aerial photo of the town that we were using. Our last meeting was a joint one with Sherborne Area Equality Forum on 8th July. Our next meeting will be at Oborne House, who provide accommodation for young adults, with residents and support staff as well as staff from the RendezVous, Magna Housing and others with an interest in the housing problems of the younger age group. The following meeting, on Thursday 16th Septeber, will once again be a joint one with the Equality Forum (details above). For information about affordable home ownership in Dorset, see www.search4myplace.co.uk
We worked with Dorset Police's Sherborne Town & Rural Safer Neighbourhood Teams to launch PACT during 2008. The last PACT meeting on Monday 7th June at the Gryphon Conference Centre brought together representatives from Sherborne and the surrounding villages to discuss issues of concern to both. Partner organisations (including SAP) will be working together to address them before reporting back to the next PACT meeting at 7.00pm on Monday 13th September.
Sherborne was awarded a Silver Gilt Trophy as well as the prize for the best Market Town in the South West in the SW in Bloom Competition 2006, following our initial effort in 2005. We worked with a range of local organisations and individuals to do even better in 2007, so were absolutely delighted to be awarded the Gold Trophy for our class, as well as two others. Sherborne won 3 more trophies in 2008, this time in competition with larger towns such as Wells (the overall winner), including one for the involvement of local schools (The Gryphon School) and one for successfully engaging with the local community. See the Sherborne in Bloom section of this website for more information, including about how to get involved. Judging took place on Tuesday 13th July and the results of the whole South West in Bloom Competition will be announced in Bath in September. Sherborne was delighted to win Gold again in 2009, a year in which only a few towns (and no others in our category) were similarly successful. We have high hopes for this year, too, after a fantastic turnout by local people and businesses. Come and join us as a competitor, volunteer and/or fundraiser if you would like to take part in 2011.
Sherborne Area Environment Forum works with a wide range of local groups with a diverse range of interests, so the challenge is to make them even more effective in achieving change as well as in educating the general public on the crucial issues at stake. A number of projects are being promoted in association with Transition Town Sherborne and others. See www.sherbornegreen.org for more information about what is going on locally. The Forum last met on 22nd July and will meet again at 2.30pm on Thursday 23rd September in the Council Chamber.
Sherborne Area Health Forum met for the first time on 15th May 2008. The Dorset LINk county-wide health and social care consultation process started operation on 1st April 2008, managed by Help & Care, so the Health Forum should be able to provide an opportunity to participate in it for people living in this area. See www.makesachange.org.uk and http://www.helpandcare.org.uk/join-us/local-involvement-networks-li.aspx for more information about Dorset LINk. We last met on Thursday 20th May with guest speakers Anita Busby, POPP's Community Development Worker - Volunteer Driver & Car Schemes and Kelly Squire, Carers' Support Worker for DCC Adult & Community Services. We will be meeting again at 2.00pm on Thursday 9th September at the Durrants Close Sheltered Housing Scheme Community Room. Our guest speaker will be Sarah Peters from Dorset LINk talking about their joint work with the Dorset Health Scrutiny Committee.
You can also contact us on n.engert@sherborne-tc.gov.uk or 01935 816961 for further information about any of these activities.