Agenda and minutes

Councillor Toby Neal

Leigh White – Neighbourhood Development Officer

Robin Stalvies – Carrington Residents Association

Anita Wakefield – Sherwood Arts Week

None.

To confirm the minutes of the last meeting held 25 September 2014

The Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 25 September as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Reports of the Director of Public Health

Lynne McNiven, Consultant in Public Health, presented information on Public Health to the Area Committee. Public Health are able to offer health and fitness support, and hoped to start a conversation with Area Committees about the direction and priorities for each area. Lynne provided the following information on areas that Public Health is already keen to support, and actions already taken:

(a)  Many of Public Health’s desired outcomes are social, such as educational attainment, reducing worklessness, improving housing and improved transportation. These aims all impact greatly on public health.

(b)  The ward profiles will be available on Nottingham Insight, and will be updated approximately every 18 months.

(c)  School nursing, sexual health, and health services are all being commissioned by Nottingham City Council.

(d)  More work surrounding children’s services is planned, and this information will be added to the profile for 0-4 year olds.

(e)  The ward health information is delivered in 16 school group clusters. The profiles include poverty and attainment. Health improvements and educational attainment often go hand in hand, and one cannot be achieved without the other.

(f)  There are young people in Nottingham City with significant morbidity. There are high levels of emotional and mental health issues, sexual health issues, and weight problems across all school profiles.

(g)  Some interventions can have a significant impact. For example, the introduction of free school meals for Key Stage 1 pupils is already showing better behaviour and concentration. Food For Life is a campaign being introduced across all city schools, which helps pupils to understand food provenance.

(h)  Whilst mental health services are not being directly commissioned by public health, it is a huge area of priority.

The Committee provided feedback, comments and questions:

(i)  It is very useful to have all the Public Health information in one place, and it reveals a greater picture of all the issues facing citizens across the area.

(j)  Gardening clubs are offered in some primary schools with available land, and are very popular. There could be scope to link up with primary schools without the resources to host their own gardening clubs. Gardening clubs promote healthy eating, encourage exercise, and provide greater knowledge of where food comes from. Better use could also be made of waste ground and community gardens.

(k)  Children’s dental health is also a key issues. A recent national study showed that the inequality link between dental health and poverty was weaker with 3 year olds than with 5 year olds. Public Health commission dental health promotion, rather than direct dental health services. They are currently out to tender for a new promotional service. Scotland’s strong dental health promotion has taken 10-12 years to show a marked benefit.

(l)  More babies, toddlers and young children need to register with dentists. Education and knowledge of early registration is important, but there is often a lack of promotion of early registration within dentists surgeries. Not all parents access children’s centres, where the importance is often highlighted. As dentists  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

Report of the Corporate Director for Community Services and the Director of Sport, Culture and Parks

James Dymond, Parks Development Manager, presented the report of the Corporate Director for Community Services, and the Director of Sports, Culture and Parks to the Committee, highlighting the following points:

(a)  Through consultation with local people, three parks in Sherwood have been selected for significant improvements as the existing infrastructure on them is becoming tired and outdated: Pirate Park play area, Mansfield Road, Valley Road Park play area and Peggy’s Park play area, Edwards Lane.

(b)  Working with Groundwork Greater Nottingham, a bid has been submitted for £50,000 of external WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd) funding to improve the Pirate Park site, particularly the bank slide and wooden play equipment. A further £10,000 of Area Capital has been committed to the scheme and the Parks Service has agreed to pay the £5,500 third party funding. A decision on the external funding is expected in December 2014 and if successful, work will start on site in spring 2015.

(c)  In recent years, Valley Road Park has seen many improvements including a skatepark, outdoor gym, multi-use games area and Petanque courts. It is now proposed to install a new children’s play area on the site, near to the skate park. This will replace the very tired and out-dated play area further along Valley Road. £49,999 has been secured for the project by Groundwork Greater Nottingham, who also hold £18,000 of funding from the previous Valley Road projects. It is proposed to start works on site as soon as the ring-road works at the Hucknall Road roundabout are complete.

(d)  A bid for external funding from WREN funding for improvement works at Peggy's Park was submitted on 29th October and if successful, will mainly be used to fund works to improve the play equipment on site. This will include removal of existing equipment and surfacing, installing new playground equipment to cater for a wider age and ability range at more suitable locations with the park, and improving seating for the new play area locations with benches and picnic tables. A decision on the WREN bid will be made in April 2015. £50,000.00 of funding will also be provided by Nottingham City Homes towards these improvements.

Comments were provided by the Committee:

(e)  It is good to see these projects going forward, in particular the proposed Valley Road Park play area improvements. It has been a long running project and it is good to see its ongoing development. The Peggy's Park improvements have been driven by aspirations from the local community, and increased demand from the new housing nearby.

(f)  It is important to protect, grow, improve and support green spaces in the City. The improvement projects are a positive step.

(g)  There has been a lot of hard work put in from everyone in the Parks Team. Pirate Park is very old and due for a refresh. The new housing nearby could mean the current improvements are just the first phase, if section 106 funding can be secured.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Thank James  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

Report of the Manager of NG7 Training, Employment and Advice

Bill Husband, Project Manager of the Lead Organisation for Berridge and Sherwood (NG7), presented a progress report to the Committee, highlighting the following points:

(a)  The main strategy has focused on early intervention, with targeted support for children and young people. Children and Young People have been targeted with diversionary activities, to draw them away from anti-social behaviour. Services are spread across the area and city.

(b)  Funding has also gone to local community associations to help with employment initiatives. There is a small amount of this budget still unallocated, as the New Basford Community Centre has not signed up to deliver services in partnership with NG7. The Council-run Forest Field community Centre features an un-lit outdoor area, and is losing opportunities for evening activities. The lighting can be funded by re-allocating the money not being used by the New Basford Community Centre.

(c)  The Needs Analysis conducted for each area is now publicly available. Previously, the priorities were3 set by the City Council. There wasn't any reason to change the previous priorities, and with no further funding available, any increase in spend on one priority would have involved taking money from another priority.

(d)  A project tackling 18-24 year old unemployment was started in April, and has a long lead-in time. It will potentially be extended to account for the slow start. Issues include tackling barriers to employment and benefit complacency. Six young people have moved into employment with the programme, which given the extensive issues they faced is impressive.

(e)  If anyone would like to offer any insight on priorities and areas to focus on for the next needs analysis in March, they can direct suggestions to Bill Husbands: bill@ng7tea.org.uk

There were then some further questions and comments from the Committee:

(f)  There has been some progress and positive achievements in the last year, which will hopefully continue, especially with health and social improvements.

(g)  It was noted that KK Sports are receiving a large amount of the funding. However, they operate in 3 centres in Berridge and 1 in Sherwood, so they reach a wide audience with their activities. Funding is based on staff time and engagement of young people, so there can be confidence that organisations are achieving value for money, even for those organisations receiving a higher amount of funding.

(h)  Better promotion is needed for the youth diversionary activities, but better promotion often requires further funding.

RESOLVED to thank Bill Husband for the update on Area Based Grants and additional funding in the Berridge and Sherwood Area.

Report of the Director of Nottingham City Homes

Paul Howard, Tenancy and Estate Manager for Nottingham City Homes, presented the report of the Chief Executive of Nottingham City Homes to the Committee. There were no questions or comments from the Committee.

RESOLVED to thank Paul for the information, and note the performance update in appendix 1.

Report of the Director of Neighbourhood Services

Inspector Annie Yates of Nottinghamshire Police, provided a verbal update on crime and policing in the Berridge and Sherwood wards, highlighting the following points:

(a)  Op Graduate was introduced as a result of high levels of burglary in student areas. A review of burglary patterns resulted in an Op Graduate micro-beat in the Forest Fields area, with resources moving according to need. In the weeks running up to Christmas, the micro-beats will continue on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, with teams moving around to add a visible presence. There was a significant impact on crime levels as a result of the Op Graduate micro-beats last year.

(b)  November is often a high risk month for acquisitive crime. A proactive team has looked at enforcement options across the whole central locality, with targeted patrols throughout November in areas of concern. There have been good results so far.

(c)  A small micro-beat has been introduced on Sherwood Rise, with some funding also available for greater security in the area.

(d)  There has been an individual loitering and rough sleeping in the New Basford area. He has not committed any offences, but has been approaching people and causing concern. The Police are aware of him and have sought an anti-social behaviour order. The Police are working with Framework and Outreach to try and offer help, but the individual is not cooperative.

(e)  Three arrests have been made in connection to "throwovers" at Nottingham prison. The Police have been working with the prison to improve cameras and netting, and with the housing patch manager to tackle problem households.

(f)  There has been a spike in household burglaries in Sherwood, particularly Sherwood Rise. An arrest has been made and the problem seems to have stopped.

(g)  Funding is now available for a car for community safety. The car will be available for use by the community for speed-watch related activities.

Following questions and comments from the Committee, further information was provided:

(h)  Whilst there has been an improvement in levels of anti-social behaviour and cleanliness, there are some levels of concern for crime, with a significant increase on previous years. There has, however, been an increase of all crime across all beats in the City.

John Marsh, Central Locality Manager, then provided updates on other areas of performance to the Committee, highlighting the following points:

(i)  Cleanliness levels across both wards have been maintained, with a trend for graffiti decreasing, particularly in Berridge. All graffiti incidents have been removed within 48 hours of reporting.

(j)  There has been a large decrease in levels of fly-tipping. Earlier in the year there were over 100 incidents per month. In October there were fewer than 50 incidents.

(k)  Work is being done with the local Roma community. Strong links have already been established with community leaders through the Roma Working Group. A community event was held, with over 250 attendees. Training has also been provided for frontline workers, and knowledge shared with Derby Council. The possibility  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.

Report of the Director of Communities

Beth Hana, Neighbourhood Development Officer, presented the report of the Director of Neighbourhood Services, detailing decisions made under delegated authority within Berridge and Sherwood.

RESOLVED to note the actions taken under delegated authority, as follows:

Berridge Ward  Cost

Interactive sessions  £1000.00

NCVS Volunteer Awards Evening  £150.00

Support for Forest Fields Community Centre  £2,000.00

Parking Sign  £12.00

Hyson Green Library Festive Events  £200.00

Hyson Green Christmas Lights Switch On event  £645.00

Community Bicycle Repair Project  £300.00

Sherwood Ward  Cost

No new actions  Nil