The first meeting of a new community focused North Herts District Council cabinet panel will take place virtually on Wednesday at 730pm.

The cabinet panel on community engagement and cooperative development has been created to give people in our area a platform to speak directly to the council about ideas or issues with community, commercial and enterprise projects.

The panel, which will meet six times a year, is advisory and will act as a sounding board, providing direct access to advice and support on how to set up and grow community or cooperative groups.

It will also offer an opportunity for networking between similar groups, sharing of experiences and peer to peer learning while guest speakers will also be invited and take questions.

The theme of the first meeting celebrates cooperatives in the local area and will provide an insight into how new cooperatives can be set up, benefits of cooperatives and tips on how to grow a thriving cooperative for the community.

Cooperatives are run by local people with a common goal to benefit the community in which they live. Examples of these are community food banks, community pubs, cafes and clubs.

Councillor Judi Billing, Co-Chair of the Panel and NHDC's executive member for community engagement said, "We are very excited to launch this cabinet panel.

"Not only will it give us a way of directly helping cooperatives and community focused organisations, but it will also prove invaluable in helping the council learn, understand and gain insight into how we can improve upon the way we work with the local community."

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The cabinet panel on community engagement and cooperative development can be contacted at [email protected]