Business Plan 2009

1. Executive Summary

1.1 Over recent years the Trust has spent an inordinate amount of time dealing with retrospective issues. Nevertheless, activities have continued at an increasing level to help tackle the effects of deprivation in the Townhill ward as a Communities First area. We hope that by September 2009 legal agreements with the C&C Swansea will be finalised and signed off.

1.2 The Trust aims not only to cover our costs but also to create a surplus through trading activities to reinvest in the area to further tackle deprivation and to reduce dependency on grant income.

1.3 The foundation for this plan was laid by the Moving Forward Scoping Exercise 2005-2007. ‘Moving Forward’ produced 60 key action points all of which have been completed or seen significant progress.

1.4 This business plan is the strategic overview of the Trust. It contains operational plans for each of the Trust’s ‘Strategic Business Units’ (SBUs): the Phoenix Centre, Paradise Community Nursery, New Phoenix Café, Communities First and Mayhill Community Development.

1.5 Financial Projections: It is envisaged that HCDT will deliver promising financial performance between 2009 and 2011. We make a few assumptions in our projections: Townhill C1st Grant Recipient Body from October 2009, expanded nursery capacity for 2010 and no core grant for the Phoenix Centre in 2011. We hope that 2012 will see a capital investment in a Mayhill Community Development Project.

1.6 We recognise that a well-trained and motivated staff team will improve our overall performance.

2. Mission Statement

2.1 The Phoenix CDT Ltd (now the Hill CDT Ltd or HCDT) was incorporated in September 2000 as a company limited by guarantee with charitable aims.

2.2 Our Memorandum of Association clarifies that the Trust exists to serve Townhill/Mayhill (which includes the Gors community) and was established

To relieve the effects of poverty and promote regeneration;

To advance education particularly among the unemployed;

To promote and provide training in skills of all kinds to assist residents in obtaining paid employment;

To promote and provide training in skills to help people live a healthy lifestyle and;

To promote, establish and operate other charitable schemes to benefit the community.

2.3 Put succinctly our mission is:

To reduce deprivation and improve the quality of life for people living on ‘the Hill’.

2.4 Looking ahead to the future HCDT also has a vision:

To empower the community and engage a wide range of colleagues in the common aim of making the Hill a wealthier, happier, healthier and safer place to live and work.

2.5 Overall the aim of the board and the staff team is to work with the community to reduce deprivation, improve the quality of life and raise the expectations of this Communities First area.
3. Brief History

3.1 As the decades following the Second World War passed prevailing socio-economic conditions saw unemployment rise along with crime, and the Townhill ward became a less attractive place to live. By the end of the 1980s there were approximately 350 empty Council houses in the area and ‘the Hill’ had a reputation in the media as an unwelcoming socially disadvantaged community.

3.2 The Urban Community Initiative was a European pilot programme which aimed to engage local communities in the finding of solutions to their problems. Urban was all about taking a bottom up approach. Townhill was the only ward in Wales to be given Urban status.

3.3 The Trust was incorporated in September 2000 as a vehicle to build on the foundation laid by the Urban Community Initiative. The company can have up to 21 directors at any one time – 10 from the community, 10 from partner agencies and an independent Chairperson. The Trust also benefits from the support of key partners who attend meetings as advisors. HCDT is acknowledged by the Welsh Assembly Government as the Communities First Partnership for the Townhill ward (Townhill, Mayhill and Gors).

3.4 Following our 2008 Annual General Meeting HCDT has 14 directors – half of whom live on the Hill. (see Appendix 2 – Directors and Advisors February 2009)

3.5 The Trust employs 30 staff and a funds secured through the Trust for Townhill Communities First are used to pay for a further 8 posts which are line managed by the City and County of Swansea. (See Appendix 3 – Staff structures).

3.6 Since 2002 the Trust has been successful in securing over £2m in government grants from Europe and the Welsh Assembly Government to continue the development of key projects on ‘the Hill’.

3.7 Income generation through hire charges and unit rental at the Phoenix Centre has always been a key economic development aspect of our work and since 2001 we have generated over £900,000 all of which has been reinvested in salary and overhead costs to support our work.

3.8 In 2006 we took over the Phoenix Community Day Nursery when our application to the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales (CSIW - CSSIW from 1.4.07) was successful. We held a Name the Nursery Competition and the winner from 119 entries was Paradise Community Nursery.

3.9 In January 2008 we opened the New Phoenix Café within the Phoenix Centre after Brian Cullen decided to surrender his tenancy.

3.10 In 2008 the Trust changed its name to ‘The Hill CDT Ltd’ in order to reinforce our focus on Townhill, Mayhill and Gors and to enable people more easily to see the separation between the Trust as a legal entity and the Phoenix Centre as a physical building.

3.11 In 2009 we decided to produce our own Feasibility Study on the future of the Hill in the hope that this would act as a springboard for further discussion in the context of the Strategic Regeneration Area Plan for Swansea. That study has since become ‘Townhill – Towards 2012: a forward thinking development plan for the Townhill, Mayhill and Gors communities.

4. Current Activity

4.1 Governance Issues: New directors have joined the board and this has helped to strengthen the Trust significantly. New directors have wide experience of the Townhill and Mayhill community, of the trade union movement, of financial management and of the commercial sector. This has helped to ensure that all the operations of the Trust and protection of its assets, are properly managed and monitored.

4.2 Sub Committees: Our sub committees help to reduce the length of the monthly full board meetings, they give members the opportunity to follow up areas of specialist interest and momentum is maintained across all areas of activity. There are 4 key areas for sub committees:

a. Finance	b. Human Resources
c. Planning and Strategy	d. The Hill Community Forum

4.3 Grants Review: Consideration of grants received, activities supported and the period of grant award has enabled the Trust to plan ahead to replace grant income. In addition this has helped to establish exit strategies for activities not likely to be supported by grant income in future. The aim is to reduce dependency on grant income as our capacity to generate higher levels of trading income increases.

4.4 Strategic Business Units: HCDT has 5 SBUs:

The Phoenix Centre Conference rooms … 13 Business Units … IT suite at Unit 2 … Library … All Weather Sports Pitch … Playground … (café and nursery are within the centre). Extending the building to the front and/or rear would help to provide more activities and to increase trading income		Paradise Community Nursery Full day care with restrictions due to limitations of space … Caters for children from birth to 8 years …Up to 14 children … Up to 6 hours per day … Capital grant hoped for to expand to unrestricted full day care for 25 children or more
New Phoenix Café Community café … catering service for users of the Phoenix Centre plus an external catering service …		Townhill Communities First C1st Support Team (to 31.3.12) … Older and Younger People Projects (to 31.3.10 and 31.3.12 respectively) … 3 year planning 2009 – 2011 …
	Mayhill Community Development C1st office base within Mayhill community centre … Feasibility study 2004 … Major community regeneration project in Mayhill Park is proposed

4.5 Projects: the Trust supports specific projects in a variety of ways. This can include projects run directly or by offering support services to local groups and clubs.

5. The Way Ahead

5.1 HCDT aims to encourage ownership of its overarching strategic business plan and of the operational business plans which relate to each SBU. This sense of ownership needs to be felt by the partnership board and the entire staff team. Everyone needs a clear understanding of the piece they represent in the jigsaw.

5.2 The Balanced Scorecard [1] management system has been adopted as a way of encouraging an understanding of how the different aspects of the Trust all work together towards the same ends.

It is an effective method of enlisting the hearts and minds of employees and centres on 4 perspectives of the organisation. Each perspective is supported by objectives, measures of achievement and initiatives: (see section 6)

The Learning and Growth Perspective Staff training, mentors and tutors, staff appraisals, staff meetings, communication between the management and staff team KEYWORD - FULFILMENT	The Business Process Perspective Internal business processes – taking bookings, receiving and making payments, organising meetings, answering the phone KEY WORD – EFFICIENCY
The Customer Perspective Meeting needs, customer satisfaction and feedback, customer records ad regular supportive contact KEY WORD - SATISFACTION	The Financial Perspective Provision of accurate and timely information, trading and grant income, monitoring, cost reduction and risk management KEY WORDS – INCOME & EXPENDITURE

5.3 Each SBU works towards the attainment of the following goals:

	SBU	Goal
1	The Phoenix Centre	To provide a first-class multi-use facility for the community and key partners.
2	Paradise Community Nursery	To provide a nurturing, welcoming and homely environment for children.
3	New Phoenix Cafe	To provide low cost top quality food through the café and catering service.
4	Townhill Communities First	To take a holistic approach to reducing deprivation through the engagement and empowerment of local people and key partners.
5	Mayhill Community Development	To focus on the socio-economic regeneration of Mayhill.

5.4 The Trust monitors performance through regular meetings of the full partnership board and also through its sub committees.

5.5 Maintaining awareness of those already engaged with Communities First and raising awareness of the programme amongst local residents and partners who are not actively engaged is a key aim especially in areas of particular deprivation as suggested by the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2008 (WIMD) and in accordance with the thematic approach of Communities First.

5.6 There has been significant progress in increasing income and monitoring costs. This focus has to be maintained by limiting head office costs and making the most efficient use of grant funding.

5.7 In 2008 the Trust supported Communities First Plans for our Support Team, TOPIC and the Hill Young People’s Group to address key areas of work for the three year period beginning April 2009. Discussions are being held to secure funding for TOPIC in 2010 and 2011.

5.8 This approach will aid consistent monitoring by the Trust with support from the Council.

5.9 We aim to establish a more structured, efficient and community focussed operation which makes best use of funding opportunities to engage the community in the tackling of clearly identified deprivation issues.

[1] Developed by Kaplan and Norton in the early 1990s. See www.balancedscorecard.org