Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED to appoint Councillor Mohammed Ibrahim as Chair for the municipal year 2017-18.

RESOLVED to appoint Councillor Brian Parbutt as Vice Chair for the municipal year 2017-18.

Councillor Jane Urquhart – other council business

Carol Mee

None.

Minutes of the meeting held on 1 March 2017, to be confirmed

The minutes of the meeting held on 1 March 2017 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The following updates were provided by Community Representatives:

(a)  the Seeds Foundation has been providing successful activities for children in Forest Fields Community Centre, such as a homework club, and plans to teach Urdu;

(b)  the new play equipment on Forest Recreation Ground has had positive feedback and is already being used a lot by local parents and children. It will officially be opened on 27^th July;

(c)  the Great Get Together weekend had many great events across both wards with lots of participation;

(d)  Sherwood Art Week was a success again thanks to the amount of community involvement.

Verbal update

Inspectors Robert Wilson and Christine Busittil gave a verbal update on local policing, highlighting the following:

(a)  in Sherwood there have been 92 offences which is similar to last year Burglary has increased which is expected as it now includes outer buildings, and vehicle crimes have increased predominantly due to a number of stolen motorbikes;

(b)  theft from motor vehicles has reduced and stabilised, but other theft, such as mobile phone theft, has increased;

(c)  there are no local links to recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester. However, there has been a reassessment of working practice following these, with police officers giving talks at mosques about crime prevention, national issues, community concerns and hate crime, along with interviews on Radio Dawn and Notts TV;

(d)  in general there were few incidents of crime associated with Ramadan, and the Eid celebration at Forest Recreation Ground was very successful;

(e)  there has been a significant crime rise in the Berridge Ward compared to last year. This is partly due to new types of crime such as cyber-crimes being recorded, but also an increase in the reporting of domestic violence;

(f)  there was a problem with knife crime in the New Basford area but this has improved thanks to significant multi-agency work;

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

(g)  residents have reported long waiting times when ringing 101 to report crimes. The police do have to prioritise calls to 999, but all calls to 101 will be answered if callers persist;

(h)  there is no straightforward answer to why domestic violence levels have increased, and it may be that victims are more confident to report these. All reports are recorded as a crime, and the police encourage victims to come forward at an early stage;

Flora Cameron, Senior Community Protection Officer (CPO), gave an update on Community Protection in the area, highlighting the following:

(i)  130 flytips have been investigated, and 44 successful warning notices issued. There has also been regular littering operations around Hyson Green and CPOs look to prosecute where possible for all flytipping;

(j)  CPOs have been working positively with street beggars in the area, and encourage the public o donate to homeless charities rather than direct to beggars.

RESOLVED to note the information and thank Robert, Christine and Flora for their updates.

Report of the Chief Executive of Nottingham City Homes

Joanne Smith, Area Housing Manager, Nottingham City Homes (NCH), introduced the report providing updates on key issues and themes which link back to local priorities and the strategic themes for Nottingham City Homes. The reports provide summary updates on the following key themes:

·  capital programme and major work;

·  area regeneration and environmental issues;

·  key messages from the Tenant and Leasehold Congress;

·  Tenant and Residents Associations updates;

·  area performance;

·  good news stories and positive publicity.

Following the Grenfell fire in London there will be a reassurance meeting and letters will be written to residents at Woodthorpe and Winchester Courts. NCH is very confident that all cladding is safe on these blocks.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the update and performance information in appendices 1 and 2;

(2)  note the allocation of funds for 2017/18, detailed below:

(3)  approve the Area Capital Programme funding request set out below:

Verbal update

Jawaid Khalil, Manager, NG7 Training, Employment and Advice, gaver a verbal update to the Committee on use of the Area Based Grant in the Berridge and Sherwood wards:

(a)  year 1 of the 3 year programme has been completed and targets have been exceeded in most areas;

(b)  in employment and skills all targets were exceeded except for one. Out of a target of 200 job club sessions 390 were delivered, 91 ESOL training places have been created out of a target of 91, 49 new English classes have been created out of a target of 39, 3 work clubs were created which was on target with 850 people accessing these out of a target of 400, and 75 people were got into work out of a target of 60. 23 work placements were created when the target was 30;

(c)  with young people all targets were exceeded. 375 youth sessions were delivered out of a target of 210, and 49 holiday youth sessions were delivered out of a target of 25;

(d)  New Basford Community Centre has used funding to engage an external consultant who has improved and reorganised the centre. The New Basford area as a whole has had interventions around knife crime, with street work and making finance available to local organisations;

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

(e)  the Area Based Grant is aimed at over 29 year olds, nut NG7 alos has a Youth Employment Initiative, with a database of jobs and training opportunities, events and job clubs for 18-29 year olds;

(f)  newer migrant communities can be easier to engage as they are actively looking for work, whereas more established communities can become more disconnected, such as white British, Pakistani, and Afro-Caribbean;

(g)  the new football pitches at the Forest Recreation Ground have been very successful and are used by many local groups.

RESOLVED to note the update and thank Jawaid.

Jane Richardson and Helen Barnett, Early Help Services, gave an update on the Early Help Central 2 Team’s work in the Berridge and Sherwood wards, highlighting the following:

(a)  children’s centres provide open access and targeted services. A new city-wide matrix ensures that provision across the city is similar. Targeted services include group intervention such as parenting programmes as well as individual one-to-one cases;

(b)  volunteer programmes have seen success as a step towards work, though there is a temporary pause on new volunteers at the moment;

(c)  youth and play sessions are available in New Basford and Forest Fields Play Centre. These are very popular but the number of sessions is restricted due to limited resources;

(d)  the offer of activities during the summer is different from that in term-time in order to engage more with the communities and whole families. These include family community days and city trips;

(e)  in New Basford a pilot project is taking place in conjunction with the Youth Offending Team and Football in the Community to tackle knife crime through football;

(f)  where numbers at a session are low, outreach is used to try and engage more participants.

RESOLVED to note the information and thank Jane and Helen for the update.

Report of the Director of Neighbourhood Services

Debbie Royle, Neighbourhood Development Officer, introduced the report providing the Committee with the latest spend proposals under the Area Capital Fund including highways and footways.

RESOLVED to

(1)  approve the Area Capital Fund programme of schemes for Berridge and Sherwood wards as set out below:

Berridge LTP schemes

Berridge Public Realm schemes

Berridge withdrawn schemes

Sherwood LTP schemes

Sherwood Public Realm schemes

Sherwood withdrawn schemes

(2)  note the commitment of funds in the Berridge and Sherwood wards as set out below:

Berridge ward

2017-18 LTP allocation      £70,100

LTP carried forward from 2016-2017    £0

2017-2018 Public Realm allocation    £42,100

Public Realm carried forward from 2016-2017  £14,145 

Total available 2017-2018 ACF    £126,345

Less LTP schemes  -£22,821

Less Public Realm schemes  -£37,397

Decommitted funds  +£6,545

Remaining available balance  £72,672

LTP element remaining  £53,824

Public Realm element remaining  £18,848

Sherwood Ward

2017-18 LTP allocation      £54,100

LTP carried forward from 2016-2017    £1,780

2017-2018 Public Realm allocation    £32,400

Public Realm carried forward from 2016-2017  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Report of the Director of Neighbourhood Services

Debbie Royle and Leigh Plant, Neighbourhood Development Officers, introduced the report focussing on current priorities and issues facing the Berridge and Sherwood wards and giving details of forthcoming events and activities. It also highlights the latest issues now being addressed in a variety of ways including regular Neighbourhood Action Team (NAT) meetings.

Councillors suggested that in future trends could be shown rather than the figures as in this performance data.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the programme on ward priorities and other supporting information including the issues being addressed by each Neighbourhood Action Team;

(2)  note the progress made against the Ward priorities;

(3)  note the current performance data shown in Appendix 4.

Report of the Director of Neighbourhood Services

Leigh Plant, Neighbourhood Development Officer, introduced the report advising the Committee of the use of delegated authority by the Director of Neighbourhood Services for projects funded by Ward Councillor budgets.

RESOLVED to note the actions agreed by the Director of Neighbourhood Services in respect of projects and schemes within the Berridge and Sherwood wards, as detailed below:

To agree that the Committee meet on the following Wednesdays at 6pm at Loxley House:

27 September 2017

29 November 2017

28 February 2018

RESOLVED to meet on the following Wednesdays at 6pm:

27 September 2017
29 November 2017
28 February 2018