Agenda for Area 8 Committee on Wednesday, 12th February, 2014, 7.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ground Floor Committee Room - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. View directions

Contact: Noel McMenamin  Constitutional Services Officer (44) 0115 8764304

Items
No. Item

30.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Reverend Sarah Clarke  -  Churches Together in Clifton

Colin Mackie  -  Silverdale Community Association

Carol Moseley  -  Monday Club

Robert Moseley  -  Clifton Community Association

Dee Whitworth  -  Arkwright Meadows Community Gardens

 

31.

DECLARATIONS OF INTERESTS

Minutes:

Councillor Malcolm declared an interest in item 7 ‘Area 8 Area Capital Fund – 2013-15 Programme’ (see minute 36 below) as a member of the Clifton Village Hall Trust. He withdrew from the meeting while the item was discussed.

 

Clare Ashton, Good Companions, declared an interest in item 7 ‘Area 8 Area Capital Fund – 2013-15 Programme’ (see minute 36 below) as a member of the Clifton Village Hall Trust, but, as a non-voting member of this Committee, remained in the meeting while the item was discussed.

 

Note – when the item on Area Based Grants was discussed (see minute 37 below) councillors made the following declarations:

 

Councillor Gibson declared a personal interest as a member of Highbank Community Association, and remained in the meeting while this item was discussed.

 

Councillors Edwards and Heaton declared a personal interest as former directors of the Meadows Partnership Trust , and remained in the meeting while this item was discussed.

 

Councillor Heaton declared a personal interest as a member of Queen’s Walk Community Association, and remained in the meeting while this item was discussed.

 

32.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 48 KB

Last meeting held on 13 November 2013 (for confirmation)

Minutes:

The Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 13 November 2013 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

33.

AREA 8 FAMILY COMMUNITY TEAM pdf icon PDF 407 KB

Presentation by Bronwen Barradell, Community Family Support Manager and Ben Thurley, Targeted Family Support Manager

Minutes:

The Committee received a presentation on the work of the Area 8 Family Community Team. Bronwen Barradell, Community Family Support Manager and Ben Thurley, Targeted Family Support Manager provided the presentation, making the following points:

 

(a)  the Family Community Team has 2 distinct parts – community and targeted services. The ‘community’ element offers universal support and activities for children aged 0-19 and their families, Children’s Centre provision from antenatal services to 5 years, play and youth activities for ages 5-19 and family support services;

 

(b)  services delivered at the Meadows Children’s Centre and Clifton Children’s Centre included antenatal courses and postnatal support, breast feeding, healthy bonding early learning and development, nutrition;

 

(c)  specific sessions run in Children’s Centres include ‘Baby PEEP’, emphasising the importance of talking, listening, playing and engaging with under 1s, ‘Moving Tots’, supporting children with activities like walking, jumping, using a pencil and getting dressed, and ‘Musical Moments’, using music and movement to help children with delayed speech and language skills;

 

(d)  the Service has responded to parents’ concerns in Clifton about access to the Children’s Centre by running sessions at Green Lane Youth Club, with increased attendance and satisfaction;

 

(e)  the Play and Youth Team offers a range of activities for children and young people aged 5-19 years, but resource pressures mean having to work smarter to achieve measurable outcomes with reduced staffing and budgets;

 

(f)  Targeted Services provision covers Child Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), Family Support, the Education Welfare Service and portage (home visiting educational service for pre-school children with additional support needs);

 

(g)  the presentation provided several case study examples of the issues addressed by the Targeted Services Team, and the positive outcomes achieving through intervention, including improved communications skills, behaviour, school attendance and social inclusion.

 

The Committee welcomed the work carried out by the Family Community and Team and raised the following issues:

 

(h)  a community representative explained that councillors and community representatives are involved with the Advisory Boards steering and reviewing the work of Children’s Centres. There was a difficulty in getting parental feedback on services provided at the centres. Ms Barradell advised that the Family Community Team asked for parental feedback at each session and this could be shared with the Advisory Board;

 

(i)  the Committee noted that childhood obesity was a significant issue in Nottingham, and that breast-feeding, nutrition and weaning sessions looked to change longer term parental behaviours to help address the issue;

 

(j)  specific activities in the Meadows and Clifton included a sleep routine pilot to help address Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, and work was ongoing to develop drop-in sessions for the portage service to reduce social isolation for children and parents.

 

RESOLVED to note the presentation, and to thank Ms Barradell and Mr Thurley for their attendance.

34.

AREA 8 PERFORMANCE pdf icon PDF 440 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Neighbourhood Services, presented by the relevant Neighbourhood Development Officer (NDO) for each individual ward, detailing performance against strategic themes in the Nottingham Plan 2020 and against local priorities. The main points, and Committee comments, were as follows:

 

(1)  Bridge – Abdul Ghaffar (NDO)

 

(a)  crime is up slightly (3%) compared to the December 2012 figure but year-to-date (April-December 2013) saw a reduction of 17% against 2012 levels;

 

(b)  anti-social behaviour reports are down 30% on the previous year to date, and the December 2013 rates are down by 6% from December 2012;  

 

(c)  the Cleanliness Index score of 90 is slightly down on the previous year, and but up against the neighbourhood target of 86;

 

  (d)  reports of graffiti and fly tipping for December 2013 were 44 (a decrease of 6) and   52 (an increase of 20) on December 2012;

 

(e)  unemployment is at 4.9%, down almost 19% over the last year, putting the ward 10th in the City;

 

  (f)  there were 4 deliberate fires in the ward in the year to date;

 

  (g)  key recent successes included the December 2013 Your Choice Your Voice event including the popular Dragon’s Den initiative to support local projects, allocation of individual bins on the Terraces, increased community protection activity, delivering a programme of Christmas events, enforcement action against problem Homes in Multiple Occupancy, successful prosecutions following a drugs operation in the Bridgway Centre, and a swift response to fallen trees following stormy weather;

 

(h)  main issues identified by citizens remained tram works and associated diversion of buses in the Meadows and graffiti, primarily hate/homophobic grafitti;

 

(2)  Clifton North – Parbinder Singh (NDO)

 

(a)  year-to-date (April-December 2013) crime is up 6% against the same period in 2012, though the December 2013 figure was down slightly on the December 2012 figure;

 

(b)  anti-social behaviour for December 2013 is up 53% (10 more calls) on the December 2012 figure, and the year-to-date figure is up 6%;

 

(c)  the Cleanliness Index score of 93 is well above the neighbourhood target of 86, though is down slightly on the previous year’s performance;

 

(d)  reports of graffiti and fly tipping for December 2013 were 5 (a decrease of 3) and 10 (an increase of 3) on 2012 figures respectively;

 

(e)  unemployment is at 3.8%, down 0.5% on the previous month;

 

(f)  there were no recent deliberate fires in the ward, and the year to date figure remains at 2;

 

(g)  key successes included the re-opening of Wilford Lane just before Christmas 2013, the big Christmas Light Switch-on in conjunction with Clifton South, and the Good Companions Christmas Party and Silverdale Over 50s Get-Together;

 

(h)  the key issue for citizens minimising the disruption of tram works and ensuring sustainability of local businesses.

 

(3)  Clifton South – Prairie Bryant (NDO)

 

(a)  crime is down 18% on the previous year, with a 23% decrease in the year-to-date (April-December 2013) figures when compared to the same period in 2012;

 

(b)  anti-social behaviour  ...  view the full minutes text for item 34.

35.

AREA 8 DELEGATED AUTHORITY PROJECTS pdf icon PDF 68 KB

Report of Director of Neighbourhood Services

Minutes:

RESOLVED to note without discussion the report on actions agreed by the Director of Neighbourhood Services in respect of projects and schemes within Area 8.

36.

AREA 8 AREA CAPITAL FUND - 2013-2015 PROGRAMME pdf icon PDF 156 KB

Report of Director of Neighbourhood Services

Minutes:

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Neighbourhood Services, presented by Parbinder Singh, Neighbourhood Development Officer. The report updated the Committee on the latest position in respect of highway and footpath works undertaken using funding from the Area Capital Fund.

 

Mr Singh pointed out that, in addition to the schemes in the report, there were 2 additional schemes (Uppingham Gardens/Robin Hood Way and Bathley Street/Wilford Grove Safety Audit and Bridgeway Centre Tree Guards), and a revised estimated value for Bridgeway Centre artwork painting, detailed below, before the Committee for approval.

 

RESOLVED to

 

(1)  note the monies available to Bridge, Clifton North and Clifton South wards as outlined at Appendix 1 and 2 to the report;

 

(2)  approve the Area Capital Fund Local Transport Plan and Public Realm schemes for Bridge, Clifton North and Clifton South as follows:

 

Location

Type

Estimate (£)

Details

Meadows Way East

Crossing

15,000

Contribution to crossing project

Lamcote Grove

Lining

200

Consultation to extend double-yellow lines

Kelso Gardens

Footpath

10,973

Full resurfacing

Castleton Close

Carriageway

8,758

Full resurfacing

Royston Close

Carriageway

8,386

Full resurfacing

Meredith Close

Carriageway

8,618

Full resurfacing

Kirkby Gardens

Carriageway

35,072

Full resurfacing

Thrumpton Drive

Footpath

28,268

Full resurfacing

Old Meadows Footpaths

Footpath

 

Cut metal grilles to kerb line

Queen’s Walk Community Centre

Lighting

233

External light for walkway leading to car park

Queen’s Walk

 

Story Pole feature

2,000

Preparation, treatment and installation

Old Meadows Street name plates

Name plates

2,800

Re-painting 50 street name plates

Uppingham Gardens

Footpath

1,653

Remove concrete bollards, install knee-high rail and reflective bollards

Robin Hood Way/Meadow Bank

Footpath

806

Knee-high rail to prevent damage to verge

Bathley Street/Wilford Grove

Notice

1,221

Community Notice Board

Bridgeway Centre artwork

painting

3,850

Paint metal artwork and fencing

Bridgeway Centre Christmas Tree

Power supply

3,500

Install power supply/foundation

Bridgeway Centre shop fronts

lighting

10,000

Lighting/soffit improvements

Uppingham Gardens, Robin Hood Way and Bathley Street/Wilford Grove

Safety Audit

250

Safety audit for 3 schemes

Bridgeway Centre

Tree Guards

3,902

Removal of 14 metal tree guards

 

 

 

 

 

(3)  to note a reserved footpath project at Beardsley Gardens for £20,305.

37.

AREA BASED GRANTS

Verbal update by Jackie Dobson, Meadows Partnership Trust

Minutes:

Councillor Gibson declared a personal interest as a member of Highbank Community Association, and remained in the meeting while this item was discussed.

 

Councillors Edwards and Heaton declared a personal interest as former directors of the Meadows Partnership Trust , and remained in the meeting while this item was discussed.

 

Councillor Heaton declared a personal interest as a member of Queen’s Walk Community Association, and remained in the meeting while this item was discussed.

 

The Committee considered a report and received a presentation from the Meadows Partnership Trust on the allocation of Area Based Grant funding in Area 8 in 2013/14. Jacky Dobson of the Meadows Partnership Trust introduced the report and presentation, making the following points:

 

(a)  the total funding allocation for Area 8 is £98,755.55, to spend on targeted and diversionary youth projects, community centres and employment and skills initiatives;

 

(b)  youth activities accounted for more than half of the funding allocation, and representatives of the Enthusiasm Trust, one of the partner organisations, spoke about their engagement activity, including skateboard sessions, citizenship and leadership development sessions, and community events;

 

(c)  employment and skills activity included work clubs, work experience , volunteer/training projects and help with travel and associated costs for local people seeking employment;

 

(d)  the Area has 5 community centres – 1 in the Meadows and 4 in Clifton. Targets for usage, opening hours engaging under represented groups are on track or being exceeded. A significant number of community events delivered within the Area used the community centres as a venue or focus;

 

(e)  Groundwork expects to report on its work to deliver work around identifying gaps in youth provision in Clifton by the end of March 2014.

 

(f)  as the new Third Sector funding allocation regime became more established, the Trust will identify and fill gaps in service provision, look to tap into external funding streams and continue to build strong partnership working arrangements.

 

The Committee made the following comments in the discussion which followed:

 

(g)  in response to a community representative’s question, Dorothy Holmes, Local Manager South, explained that the organisations receiving funding had previously delivered projects under the old funding regime, and so had a track record of delivering community based projects. Ms Holmes also explained that colleagues from the City Council’s Children and Families Department had helped map youth provision to minimise duplication;

 

(h)  Ms Holmes explained that Switch Up CIC was a boxing organisation, engaging nearly 50 young people across the Area, and was a successful model for diversionary youth provision;

 

(i)  a councillor commented that the report showed that there was significant youth provision in Area 8, despite public perceptions expressed at Have Your Say events that this wasn’t the case;

 

RESOLVED to note the report and presentation.

38.

SCHOOL ENFORCEMENT PROGRAMME 2014-15

Verbal update by Susan Thorpe, Senior Officer, Traffic and Safety Section.

Minutes:

The Committee received a verbal update from Sue Thorpe, Senior Officer, Traffic Management, on a new rolling school enforcement programme being introduced across Nottingham. Ms Thorpe made the following points:

 

(a)  a working group was set up with Police colleagues in 2013 to look at the traffic and safety issues around Nottingham’s schools and a pilot ‘week of school enforcement action’ took place in September 2013;

 

(b)  it is now planned to have a rolling programme of school enforcement action by Area across Nottingham. Areas will be have a week of co-ordinated enforcement on a rota basis covering the whole committee Area over the course of one week;

 

(c)  schools and councillors will be informed one week before action is taken in their Area, and leaflet drops may take place in particular hotspots;

 

(d)  proposed enforcement action includes morning or afternoon visits from the Civil Enforcement Response Team, Police Community Support Officers, Community Protection Officers, a camera surveillance car and Traffic Officers. Compliance checks for the Workplace Parking Charge may also take place.

 

The Committee raised several issues in the discussion which followed:

 

(e)  Ms Thorpe explained that this action will provide a consistent approach to enforcement across Nottingham, and will work alongside existing school traffic management plans. The City Council has a statutory responsibility to reduce congestion;

 

(f)  there was no single ‘silver bullet’ solution to school road traffic congestion, but co-ordinated action, including walk-to-school campaigns as well as enforcement, helped address the problem;

 

(g)  Ms Thorpe acknowledged issues to do with tram construction and its effects on schools needed handling sensitively.

 

RESOLVED to note the presentation and the Committee’s comments.