Two new community resource centres and training for community leaders are among a number of new initiatives that are being developed by St Albans City and District Council and its partners to enable residents to contribute to local community life.

They form part of a new Inclusion Strategy that provides residents in the District with ways to engage with the Council and to become more involved with community life in the District. A number of the new initiatives have been developed with organisations from the St Albans and District Local Strategic Partnership such as the Centre for Voluntary Service, the police and Oaklands College.

Recently launched, the Strategy explains that residents can:

• respond to consultations on local issues through the Engage with Us section on the homepage of the Council’s website at: http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/
• join in specific consultation events such as those on the development of the Marlborough Pavilion in Sopwell, St Albans in March
• ask questions at council meetings about local services and issues
• celebrate the District’s culture and heritage at the St Albans Festival 2011 and at other events
• come along to the Mayor’s Civic Pride Awards on 28 April, which recognise individuals’ contributions to the community
• find out about the Council, including how it works and spends its money at: http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/your-council/
• contact the Council by email at [email protected]

It also sets out what the Council is doing to promote inclusion in the District.

Plans include:

• the development of a local services hub with public and voluntary partners to provide a one-stop shop for information and customer service queries
• the development of two new community resource centres in the District, one at the Marlborough Pavilion at Sopwell, St Albans and the other in the former Cunningham Library in Cell Barnes Lane, St Albans.
• new activities and opportunities for residents to meet local councillors as part of Local Democracy Week
• the launch of the Getting Involved project which aims to equip people with necessary skills to be active in their local community and become school governors, trustees, magistrates and councillors.

The full Inclusion Strategy is available to view on the Council’s website at: http://www.stalbans.gov.uk/community-and-living. Posters setting out how residents can become more involved in the community and what they can do will also be displayed at key information points across the District, including libraries, leisure facilities and other public buildings.

Cllr Robert Donald, Leader of St Albans City and District Council, said: “It is important that St Albans City and District is an inclusive community where everyone can take part in and contribute to community life. The Inclusion Strategy helps promote opportunities to residents by setting out how they can have their say on local issues and get involved with community life.”

The Inclusion Strategy also operates as a check on whether or not the services and money provided by the Council and its partners in the public, private, education, voluntary and community sectors are focused on the needs of the community and the issues that matter most.

More than ninety per cent (93%) of those responding to the online survey agreed with vision for the Strategy of “an inclusive community where everyone has the opportunity and capability to take part and contribute to community life”.