Shaping the Future - Conference report

Up to 70 participants from across Kensington and Chelsea’s voluntary and community sector mixed with councillors and local statutory officers at Shaping the Future, the Social Council Conference and AGM on Thursday 17 November.

The outlook for the local sector was the theme of the day and discussion focussed on how organisations could continue to support local residents in the years ahead.

Morning presentations by Lord Victor Adebowale, Chief Executive of Turning Point and equalities expert Leander Neckles set the scene for a lively panel discussion featuring Andy Gregg of the Charities Evaluation Service, Anna Waterman, Senior Public Health Manager for the local NHS and Colin Prescod, local activist and chair of HistoryTalk.

Our role as campaigners, the pressure to prove outcomes and adapt to commissioning and questions over Big Society, were all issues that arose with informal discussion continuing into the lunch break.

Cllr Rock Feilding-Mellen kicked off the afternoon session by presenting his views and responding to questions on Localism before the day concluded with a workshop in which delegates identified key issues facing residents and discussed how the local voluntary sector could work towards resolving them.

Affordable housing, benefit cuts and reduced access to services are all issues that we felt will impact on local people. It was clear from contributions that localism and our capacity to take advantage of new legislation will be a key factor in our ability to empower residents. More integrated services including signposting and referral systems across the voluntary sector were also seen as a way that the people we support can receive the best possible service.

We wish to thank everybody who attended for making the day a success. A fuller write up of the day and our conclusions will appear shortly.