Agenda and minutes

Gusharan Nijran, Neighbourhood Development Officer

Stuart Bell, Right Track

Last meeting held on 30 September 2015 (for confirmation)

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 30 September 2015 and they were signed by the Chair.

Report of Alison Michalska, Corporate Director for Children& Adults, Nottingham City Council; Colin Monckton, Director of Commissioning, Policy and Insight, Nottingham City Council; Alison Challenger, Interim Director of Public Health, Nottingham City Council; Dawn Smith, Chief Operating Officer, Nottingham City Clinical Commissioning Group.

James Rhodes, Strategic Insight Manager, Nottingham City Council, introduced the report on behalf of health partners and gave a presentation on the development of the priorities for the next Health and Wellbeing Strategy, due to be launched in June 2016. 

He informed attendees that there is a toolkit for groups to run their own engagement sessions and an online survey on the Health and Wellbeing website to feed in views. James also made paper copies of the survey available at the meeting.

Social isolation and loneliness has emerged as the most common issue from engagement sessions run so far.  Other key issues include the cost of living; mental health, knowing what services are available, lifestyle factors and the disproportionate impact of poor health on BME communities.

The following points were raised in discussion:

a)  Social isolation and the difficulty in addressing it, as it is difficult to know who to target; the potential involvement of the Independent Living Co-ordinators in tackling social isolation and the possibility that older men may be more isolated than older women;

b)  Poor attendance, particularly of children, at dentists;

c)  The usefulness of the graphics in the slides presented by James, detailing key factors affecting the health of Nottingham city citizens, and how it would be helpful for this to be displayed in a range of locations across the area;

d)  The importance of the involvement of the Fire Authority more in health and wellbeing work;

e)  The need for councillors to be aware of what is going on in their communities and to have their say on how services should be shaped.

RESOLVED to note the report and to signpost and promote any engagement and consultation events/ activities amongst citizens in Area 2.

To approve verbal proposals from the Chair of the Committee

The Chair informed the Committee that the Deputy Leader has asked all Area Committees to put forward key priorities for their area.  The following issues were identified for further development in each ward and discussed to identify shared priorities for the area:

Basford

Crime and grime

Productive activities for young people

Involvement of older people

Basford Crossing

Improving the visual appearance of the area

Bestwood

Youth provision

Derelict and vacant sites

Improving the visual appearance of the area

RESOLVED to agree the following priorities for an Area 2 action plan:

a)  Youth provision;

b)  Social isolation for older people;

c)  Bringing derelict sites into use;

d)  Crime and grime.

Reports of Chief Executive, Nottingham City Homes

Wade Adams, Tenancy and Estates Manager at Nottingham City Homes (NCH) updated the Committee on key issues and themes that link back to local priorities and performance as described in the report.

Wade outlined previous scheme approvals and noted that there were no additional schemes to approve at this meeting.

NCH is making progress in tackling anti-social behaviour. The company won two awards at the National ASB Annual Conference on 10 November - Team of the Year and Best Project for Strelley KO Boxing Club.

RESOLVED to note current performance as detailed in the report and congratulate Nottingham City Homes on its achievement of two National ASB Awards.

There were no environmental schemes to be approved at this meeting.

Report of Corporate Director of Commercial and Operations

Dale Griffin, Neighbourhood Development Officer (NDO) for Bestwood ward introduced the report of the Corporate Director of Commercial and Operations, highlighting achievements and emerging issues in each ward.

The following issues were raised in discussion:

a)  Joint working on youth issues – partners, including Right Track and the Council’s Family and Community Teams have started to work together to identify what is happening in the area, what is working and what needs to change;

b)  The importance of and the success of ward walks, which bring councillors into direct contact with citizens, who are then able to discuss their views of the area.

RESOLVED to note the ward performance report and to thank Dale Griffin for all her work in relation to ward performance.

Report of Inspector Bruce Clarke, Neighbourhood Policing Team

Inspector Bruce Clarke introduced himself as the new Police representative reporting to the Committee.  He has been involved in neighbourhood policing for several years and noted the significant improvements in crime levels in Area 2 in recent years. 

The following issues were raised in discussion:

a)  Concern about enforcement of the 20mph limit on local roads - portable gun operations to check speed have not identified a significant problem.  It may be a perception of speeding, but it may also be that there is a need to check speed early in the morning and later in evening, which is when citizens report that they are most disturbed;

b)  Crime has reduced in the area, particularly in dwelling burglaries, motor theft, criminal damage and anti-social behaviour;

c)  Increases have been seen in sexual offences, violence (particularly domestic violence) and burglary ‘other’ (eg of sheds).  Violence now includes harassment (ie not necessarily physical contact), which may account for the increase;

d)  Police priorities are to focus on shed break-ins in Basford and environmentals (as crime is so low) in Bestwood;

Councillor Linda Woodings left during this item (17.45).

RESOLVED to note the information provided by Inspector Clarke and ask him to publicise the enforcement of 20mph speed limits.

Report of Corporate Director of Commercial and Operations

Dale Griffin, Neighbourhood Development Officer for Bestwood ward, introduced the report of the Corporate Director of Commercial and Operations, detailing the latest spend under the Area Capital Fund.

There were no new schemes to approve, but Dale drew attention to a decommitment of funding from the Bestwood budget as the Eden Glade scheme is not going ahead.

RESOLVED to:

(1) note that the following funding is available:

    Basford  £87,014

    Bestwood  £39,285;

(2) approve the decommitmentof funding from the Bestwood budget as the Eden Glade scheme is no longer going ahead.

Report of Corporate Director of Commercial and Operations

Dale Griffin, Neighbourhood Development Officer for Bestwood ward, introduced the report of the Corporate Director of Commercial and Operations, detailing decisions made under delegated authority within Basford and Bestwood wards.

RESOLVED to

(1) note the actions taken under delegated authority by the Director of Neighbourhood Services in respect of projects and schemes in Area 2 as follows:

Basford

Bestwood

(2) Note the new delegated funding allocations for 2015/16 of £5,000 for each councillor.

Report of Right Track in the Community

In the absence of any representation from Right Track, Heidi May, Locality Manager, noted that the commissioning process for local services funded from area-based grants will soon begin.  Grant Panels will make recommendations in February 2016 with a view to having signed agreements in place and delivery from March 2016.  This round will focus more on outcomes than on outputs. Area chairs and vice chairs will be involved in the process to ensure that ward plan priorities are taken into account.

RESOLVED to note the report.