Voluntary and Community Sector Map
High Peak and Derbyshire Dales
This page maps out the informal structure and inter-relationships for organisations that have a role in assisting the work of local voluntary and community groups. The aim is to help identify who is doing what, in order to increase understanding of how the local voluntary and community sector (VCS) works and to guide those seeking assistance.
The page is intended to be in a readable format that takes you on a trail through the VCS organisations from local to national level. The companion Links page covers most of these and further organisations, listed with brief descriptions and logos, and is searchable by keyword, category and geographic area.
Local Voluntary and Community Infrastructure
There are estimated to be around 1500 voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) in the area of High Peak and Derbyshire Dales, 5000 in Derbyshire as a whole, and 36,000 in the East Midlands region.
Local infrastructure organisations (LIOs) have as their main aim and activity the development and support of voluntary and community groups local to their area. They are sometimes referred to as ‘umbrella’ or ‘second tier’ organisations, because they cover a wide range of front-line organisations that deliver services directly to the community.
The infrastructure organisations may be described as ‘generalist’ (or ‘generic’) where they provide a range of services to any type of local group. This contrasts with ‘specialist’ infrastructure organisations which focus on providing support to a particular category of groups or offer only specific types of services.
Generalist Infrastructure Organisations
The key generalist local infrastructure organisations are Derbyshire Dales CVS and High Peak CVS. The name CVS goes back to the 1920’s, meaning Council for Voluntary Service. The word ‘Council’ can be misleading, so many CVS have changed their name to better reflect what they do – High Peak CVS stands for ‘Community and Voluntary Support’.
High Peak CVS and Derbyshire Dales CVS will work with any community or voluntary group that is in their area, offering a range of services to assist in setting up or developing a group. Typically this assistance will be to find funding, generate income, write a constitution, make policies, manage projects, loan equipment, use computers, training, publicity, and other general and specialist forms of help. However, the CVS also have the broader roles of representing the interests of the local VCS, making policy, campaigning, and co-ordinating voluntary and community action.
In some areas of the UK the roles of CVS and Volunteer Centres have been combined. For Derbyshire Dales and certainly in High Peak, the Volunteer Centres are distinctly separate organisations, though they work closely with the CVS. As such, the Volunteer Centres in Derbyshire Dales (Ashbourne), Buxton, Glossop and New Mills deliver some forms of infrastructure support to local groups. The most obvious service is to help groups with recruiting and managing volunteers. However, they may also provide information, advice and facilities on a formal or informal basis.
So there is not necessarily a clear separation between the roles of second-tier organisations such as the CVS and frontline organisations like the Volunteer Centres. The CVS offer some frontline services and the Volunteer Centres provide some infrastructure services.
Specialist Infrastructure Organisations
It is useful to identify the specialist help offered to VCS groups by a range of local infrastructure organisations, though there is not necessarily a strong distinction between this and aspects of support offered by the generalist infrastructure described above. Some of this specialist help is delivered by partnerships of organisations that have related interests.
Rural concerns are the specialist focus of two local organisations. Peak District Rural Deprivation Forum (PDRDF) undertake research into hidden deprivation in their area and implement projects to tackle it. This work connects them into range of community and voluntary activity by other organisations. Their Amethyst Project is specifically directed at working with women and women’s groups in the Peak District and North Staffordshire Moorlands. Derbyshire Rural Community Council (DRCC) offers a range of support to groups in rural communities across Derbyshire, with a particular focus on combating disadvantage. This takes the form of assistance with developing community plans, setting up community facilities and services, transport and housing needs, social enterprise and rural business, youth work, guidance and training for parish councils, partnership work with government bodies. DRCC is part of the national network Action with Rural Communities in Rural England (ACRE).
Groundwork Derby & Derbyshire aim to build sustainable communities through joint environmental action, by encouraging local people, businesses and organisations to become involved in practical projects. They employ a team of landscape architects, graphic designers, digital media workers, environmental education professionals, ecologists and community and youth workers. The Groundwork Peak & Dales Team will be the first of their geographically focussed teams, dedicated to rolling out a programme of regeneration projects aimed specifically to address rural issues.
Funding advice and assistance is available from DRCC and the CVS, however, Derbyshire Community Foundation specialises in managing a wide range of funds and can give direct advice on them. For example they manage the Local Network Fund aimed at benefiting young people, by dealing with applications and administering distribution of awards.
Accessibility to buildings and services is covered in the High Peak by the four town groups of Access Buxton, Access Glossop, Hope Valley Access and New Mills Access. These meet together as a joint High Peak Access group to deal with access issues covering the whole of the High Peak. In Derbyshire Dales there are Access groups in Ashbourne and Bakewell. The Access groups form a useful resource for any organisation needing advice on meeting the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act and can provide informal accessibility auditing of premises. Concerns of access groups throughout the county are brought together by the Forum of Derbyshire Access Groups (not to be confused with Derby and Derbyshire Local Access Forum, which is to do with rights of way). Broader issues of disability rights and the development of services and policies to meet the needs of disabled people are dealt with by Derbyshire Coalition for Inclusive Living based in Ripley, but with a suboffice in Chapel-en-le-Frith.
Assistance with general rights under the law is available from High Peak Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB), which has a connection to the local VCS through this advice role and their use of volunteers.
High Peak Community Arts work with groups as well as individuals to generate participatory arts projects across the High Peak from their base in New Mills. Bridgehead Arts in Buxton bring together groups of local artists to share learning and collaborate in projects. Derbyshire Arts Partnership between the Arts Council, Derbyshire County Council and the nine district councils, seeks to achieve an integrated approach towards support and development of the arts in the county.
Hope Valley and High Peak Transport Partnership (HVHPTP) is a consortium of local authorities, transport providers, community groups and businesses which share the common aims of promoting and enhancing public transport services in their area. Ashbourne Community Transport, Glossop Community Transport and Bakewell & Eyam Community Transport provide affordable transport for community groups on a regular or occasional basis.
Business Link Derbyshire is part of a national advice service run by the DTI Small Business Service to provide straightforward business information and access to a wide network of business support. For VCS organisations that are Social Enterprises local advice is available from infrastructure support at High Peak CVS and DRCC, or at regional level from Social Enterprise East Midlands (SEEM).
Training in specific subjects is available from many of the above organisations and more generally from CVS and Volunteer Centres. Derbyshire Learning and Development Consortium of VCS training providers enables voluntary organisations to identify, develop and deliver high quality learning opportunities. College of the Peak works in partnership to promote and develop new learning opportunities across the Peak, Dales and Staffordshire Moorlands, particularly in the areas skills, crafts and cultural traditions. It is part of the LEADER+ programme – a European Community Initiative to assist rural communities in improving the quality of life and economic prosperity through innovative community-led projects that give priority to women and young people. Sportstrain is a partnership project providing and promoting training in sports, from short introductory workshops to full-time higher education courses.
Partnerships and Consortia
Peak Partners for Rural Action is an example of a group of voluntary and community organisations working together to increase there effectiveness and promote and develop the infrastructure and sustainability of the local VCS.
Derbyshire Consortium is a grouping of around 30 VCS infrastructure organisations, including the CVS and volunteer centres, to direct capacity building of the infrastructure across the county through the investment of the government-funded ChangeUp programme.
Ashbourne Partnership, Bakewell Project Partnership, Buxton Partnership, Chapel-en-le-Frith Regeneration Partnership, Glossop Town Partnership, New Mills Town Partnership and Whaley Bridge Regeneration Partnership are town partnerships of various forms that have been created in liaison with Town and Borough councils to promote and develop their towns. These partnerships often have significant involvement from local voluntary and community organisations and work with them to achieve objectives. Hayfield Development Trust has a similar role in their village.
Statutory Organisations and the VCS
Local government and statutory organisations have strong relationships with the VCS through direct funding and development support, but also by interaction in partnerships and provision of public services.
Derbyshire County Council is the highest tier of local government at county level, providing services of education, policing, social care, highways. High Peak Borough Council and Derbyshire Dales District Council are the next level with services of planning, community housing, leisure centres, waste mangement, parking, etc. Some towns have further local provision of services through Town Councils - Chapel-en-le-Frith, New Mills, Whaley Bridge. Borough and district councils work closely with CVS infrastructure and also have community funding programmes for a range of other local VCS organisations. Town councils also offer support for local groups and work with a range of community organisations. Relations of the VCS with the County Council range from formal service level agreements for provision of services to informal interaction of the type general citizens have.
Derby & Derbyshire Economic Partnership is one of seven Sub-regional Strategic Partnerships set up by the East Midlands Development Agency in 2003 to develop a range of sustainable economic opportunities. They provide direct funding to some VCS organisations for project work. DDEP works closely with the Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs). Derbyshire Dales & High Peak LSP is a partnership that brings together public, private and voluntary and community organisations to plan and develop services to meet community needs. The DDEP Peak District Rural Action Zone (RAZ) seeks to create a high skills and high wage economy in the Peak District. RAZ manages the European Community Initiative LEADER+ Programme for Peaks, Dales and Moorlands. Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) funding for Derbyshire has been delegated to DDEP to distribute - the aim of the funding is to enhance the quality of life for people living in deprived and disadvantaged areas. DDEP handles a range of other regional development funding streams and projects.
Peak District National Park Authority works with local people, businesses and organisations to make sure the Peak District can be enjoyed today in ways that look after it for the benefit of future generations. They own and manage Losehill Hall, the Peak District National Park Centre for Environmental Education. This and the PDNPA work with and support some VCS projects related to the Peak Park.
Derbyshire Learning and Skills Council is part of a national LSC organisation that is responsible for all 16+ education in England (with the exception of universities), including the planning, funding and reviewing of Further Education colleges: sixth forms: work based learning, workforce development, adult and community learning, information, advice and guidance for adults and Education Business Links.
High Peak & Dales Primary Care Trust aims to improve the health of the local population by delivering the best standards of integrated health and social care planned in partnership with local communities. They provide direct funding to certain voluntary organisations and their projects. North Derbyshire Voluntary Action (NDVA) distributes funding to the VCS on behalf of three north-Derbyshire PCT and DCC Social Servives.
Regional VCS Support
For infrastructure and frontline voluntary and community organisations there are further levels of general and specialist support at regional and national levels.
Engage East Midlands is an independent organisation that works with partner agencies to support the voluntary and community sector in contributing to the development of the East Midlands region. As an example of their work, they manage the £6m ChangeUp investment in developing VCS infrastructure.
Engage are part funded by East Midlands Development Agency (EMDA), one of nine Regional Development Agencies in England, set up by government in 1999 to bring a regional focus to economic development. The work of EMDA is scrutinised by the East Midlands Regional Assembly (EMRA), responsible for the development and delivery of a successful economic strategy for the East Midlands. The hub of central government in the region is the Government Office for the East Midlands (GOEM), responsible for implementing certain government policies at regional level.
Regeneration East Midlands is a charity aiming to improve the delivery and effectiveness of regeneration in the region. They work in partnership with EMDA, GOEM and EMRA.
Social Enterprise East Midlands (SEEM) promotes and supports social enterprise development in the region.
VOICE East Midlands seeks to enable the Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) VCS to influence the regional agenda for the benefit of BME organisations and communities.
National VCS Support
Three key independent national organisations work on behalf the VCS. The National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA – formerly NACVS) is the national voice of local voluntary and community sector infrastructure in England. The work of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations relates to all aspects of the voluntary sector, down to frontline organisations, supporting and promoting the sector nationally through representation, campaigning, policy forming and production of information, advice, research, conferences, networking etc. Volunteering England has a similar spectrum of activities, but with more of a development role. They manage the Volunteer Centre network and the Volunteering Hub.
There are six national Hubs of expertise under the ChangeUp programme – Finance, Governance, ICT, Performance, Volunteering and Workforce. The ChangeUp programme of infrastructure investment is managed by Capacitybuilders, an agency at arms length to government, led by a board of sector experts.
Prominent independent organisations working in the VCS are: BASSAC, a membership organisation that represents and .supports organisations helping deprived neighbourhoods across the UK; Action with Communities in Rural England (ACRE) promoting a healthy, vibrant and sustainable rural community sector that is well connected to policies and initiatives at national, regional, and local levels.
