2. A THIRD SECTOR COMPACT

• Ryde Town Council invests £230K annually in the work of local voluntary, community, arts and youth organizations. The capacity of this contribution to build year-on-year public benefits in the civic life of the town is unfulfilled because there is no guiding plan or manifesto that underpins funding decisions. General support for important local organizations, aiding their survival and sustaining their work, is an important objective, but without a framework for ensuring a wider, planned, social and community benefit, the full impact of the town council’s investment cannot be realised.

• The networks of public realm project locations proposed, and the 6 zones that connect them, provide a convenient and effective route to cumulative public gains. If a performance organization is asked to deliver some part of its event programme at one or other of the public project sites, for example, or a community advice team a public drop-in, then both the cultural capital of the town’s third sector, and the social capital of its neighbourhoods, are increased.

• One approach would be to establish compacts with relevant grant recipients such that there is an agreement that they will contribute an amount of their time and work to building a more coherent shared endeavour. The connection made by RTC between Network Ryde and the management of the skatepark is an example of this approach that could be expanded.