What is Nottingham Community Network? We are one of 88 Community Empowerment Networks set up in the most deprived parts of the country.  It is our job to link voluntary and community groups to the Local Strategic Partnership so that people most affected by poor service delivery can get involved in discussing and planning how the services should be changed. Ok, what’s the Local Strategic Partnership? Good question. Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP) were set up by Government as part of a national strategy called Neighbourhood Renewal. Our LSP is One Nottingham and they bring together organisations such as the council, health service, local businesses and voluntary and community groups to work more effectively with each other through better planning.  This means the issues that really matter to local people are properly dealt with. So, I keep hearing about Neighbourhood Renewal - what does that mean? Neighbourhood Renewal is a national strategy from the Government to tackle deprivation across England.  This means more employment and less poverty, reducing crime, improving education and health, better housing and cleaner, safer, greener public areas.  These different issues are the focus for One Nottingham’s seven Theme Partnerships - for more information on these partnerships click here or join us at our regular open meetings. Ok, quickly explain why the Community Network is important. One Nottingham use the Community Network to communicate with voluntary and community groups to make sure their views are being considered in any important decisions.  This means that we often ask you for your opinions and comments on a policy or a strategy.  Without the Network, many decisions would be made in Nottingham without the input of voluntary and community groups.