Agenda and minutes

Councillor Toby Neal – Portfolio Holder for Community and Customer    Services

Ethel Anderson  - Chase Community Lunch Club

Yasser Farook   -Muslim Community Organsiation Nottingham

Greg Feltham  - Sneinton Tenants and Residents Association (STARA)

Greg Foister   - Neighbourhood Development Officer

None.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2017

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 November 2018 were agreed as a true record and singed by the Chair.

Verbal update from Community Representatives

Community Representatives took the opportunity to update the committee on their group’s activities since the last meeting:

(a)  Sneinton Tenants Outreach Programme is running a cycling awareness course, they have set up a walking group which will be first meeting on 20^th April and are hosting events through the Parklives funding;

(b)  Friends of Colwick Woods are holding another star gazing event which is a way to make use of a not so lit up part of the city. The project to complete the disabled access rout is now complete;

RESOLVED to thank the Community Representatives for their attendance and to note their update to the Committee.

Inspector Donna Lawton, Nottinghamshire Police

Inspector Donna Lawton provided a verbal update to the Committee on Policing within the area. She highlighted the following points:

(a)  There is still an issue with vehicle crime in the area. It is important that residents do not leave valuables on display in their vehicles and ensure that they are secured. It is especially important that all power tools are removed from vans overnight. A capture vehicle has been used 7 times in the last 6 weeks but as yet to attract the attention of criminals;

(b)  Violence has increased across the area, which is reflective of violent crime across the City. There has however been a reduction in weapons confiscations. Targeted work continues around knife crime;

(c)  Drugs related offences have reduced and Operation Yearling will be running again in the upcoming months. The invitation to members of the public still stands to accompany Police during the operation and see how they work;

(d)  Sneinton now has 4 special constables who are attached to the Sneinton beat team. They were recently involved in an operation to tackle speeding which will be replicated across the area;

Following questions and comments from the Committee further information was highlighted:

(a)   There are a number of different ways that the Police provide support and help to citizens who have given evidence, reported a crime, given statements etc. It is possible to meet with witnesses and victims at local centres, or attend their homes out of uniform to avoid unwanted attention.

RESOLVED to thank Inspector Lawton and Chief Inspector Pearson for their attendance and to note the content of their report.

Update from the Portfolio Holder for Community and Customer Services

Apologies were received from Councillor Toby Neal and so this item was withdrawn.

Councillor Neal had previously indicated that he will contact committee members directly to inform them of what he had been intending to present at the meeting.

Presentation by Cherry Underwood – Chief Executive Renewal Trust

Cherry Underwood, Chief Executive of the Renewal Trust gave a presentation updating the Committee on the work involving the Area Based Grant. She highlighted the following points:

(a)  Partners within Area 6 have remained static for the last 3 years which has provided consistency for people accessing the activities and services provided;

(b)  There are three areas of focus:

·  Employment and Skills

oNow one provider within each ward

oFacilitated over 400 Jobs clubs, provided over 800 1:1 support session, helped 90 people into paid employment and 37 people to access training.

·  Community Cohesion

oHosted community events

oProvided meeting venues for 56 community groups

oSpecial event days such as bonfire night and Halloween

oSignposting to specific services

oCreated  30,000 volunteer hours

·  Children and Young People

oDuring term time provided 5 sessions per week to up to 320 unique young people.

oProvided 79 holiday sessions over the main school holidays with over 3700 attendances at the sessions

oOver 700 hours of outreach work provided

o27 “hotspots” visited

oIdentified 9 previously unknown young people for targeted work

(c)  The focus going into the future will be better monitoring, looking at the quality and stability of the employment people are finding etc;

(d)  Funding has been secured for 2018/19, however it is likely that there will be reduction in funding streams;

Following questions and comments from the Committee the following information was given:

(e)  The block grant funding for maintenance of community centres currently sits within the area based grant. Consideration is being given to returning the funding to the community centre teams 

(f)  Key to ensuring continuity of work is working more cohesively with other existing provision. Consortium funding may be an additional option to consider;

RESOLVED to thank Cherry Underwood for her attendance and to note the content of her presentation.

Presentation by Shamila Majid, Community Engagement Officer

Shamila Majid, Community Engagement Officer, gave a presentation on Nottingham Together. She highlighted the following points:

(a)  Nottingham Together is a City Council project funded by central government and is about social integration and working to bring different communities together;

(b)   The project works with nearly 100 different groups across the city;

(c)  Future plans include developing community champions, supporting and encouraging Community events and cultural festivals and developing a programme of “drop in” sessions, training and other resources that groups can use;

RESOLVED to thank Shamila Majid for her attendance and to note the content of her presentation.

Report of the Chief Executive, Nottingham City Homes

Will Morritt, City Housing Manager, introduced the report updating the Committee on Nottingham City Homes activity within the area. He highlighted the following points:

(a)  The programme of planned high-rise safety improvements continues to progress. There will be engagement events with the residents of high rise properties taking place prior to work starting on new sprinkler systems;

(b)  NCH has been listed for a number of awards, including the continued work around tenant involvement and also for Landlord of the year;

(c)  NCH continues to work with a number of different agencies including  Nottingham Credit Union, housing associations, housing benefits and children’s services around universal credit to reduce the number of families facing eviction;

Following questions and comments from the Committee and residents present the following information was highlighted:

(d)  Owner occupier residents of the blocks of flats known as the “Courts” are still very concerned about the total charges for works relating to various schemes and  improvements and the payment options currently being discussed;

(e)  There will be consultation events with affected residents in the near future where details of the payback options will be discussed along with payment caps and optional works;

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Note the update and performance information in Appendices 1 and 2 as distributed with the original agenda;

(2)  Note the allocation of funds for 2017/18 as below;

and

(3)  Approved the Area Capital programme funding request set out in Appendix 3, distributed as a second supplement agenda and circulated in paper format at the Committee meeting.

Report of the Director, Neighbourhood Services and the Corporate Director, Commercial & Operations

Eddie Curry, Head of Parks, Open Spaces & Investment Funding introduced the report on the Parks and Open Spaces Investment Plans. Along with James Dymond, Parks & Open Spaces Development Manager they highlighted the following points:

(a)  The investment plan allows Nottingham City Council to demonstrate an ongoing need for investment in Nottingham City’s parks and open spaces to developers and other sources of funding;

(b)  The plans have been drawn up in consultation with Ward Councillors and will allow for quick identification of schemes when funding becomes available;

(c)  The plan will be annually updated to reflect the changing need for investment;

Following discussion and comments from the Committee the following points were made:

(d)  The schemes in the plan are not listed in any order of priority. This can be added to the plans on an area by area basis;

(e)  Alterations and amendments to the plan can be made and suggested and fed back to the Parks and Open spaces team

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Endorse the investment plan to guide the future development of the City’s parks and open spaces;

(2)  To endorse the use of section 106 open space contribution totalling £8,109.98 linked to planning permission reference 13/01946/PFUL3 towards the café development works at Colwick Country Park

(3)  To endorse the use of£27, 268.26 from the section 106 open space contribution totalling £32,268.28 linked to planning permission reference 07/01185/PFUL3 towards the café development works at Colwick Country Park; and

(4)  To endorse the use of £5,000 from the section 106 open space contribution totalling £32,268.26 linked to planning permission reference 07/01185/PFUL3 towards play area improvement at Marmion Park.

Report of the Director, Neighbourhood Services and the Corporate Director, Commercial & Operations

Cherry Underwood, Trustee, Nottingham Open Spaces Forum (NOSF) gave a presentation introducing the Committee to the work being done by the Forum. She highlighted the following points:

(a)  NOSF has recently become a registered charity and acts as a forum to bring together groups and community initiatives dedicated to looking after the open spaces within Nottingham;

(b)  The forum acts as a support network for the small and medium sized groups and offers help identifying and applying for different funding streams;

(c)  Another function of the forum will be to help the smaller groups identify and gain insurance for community events which will encourage more events in the City’s open spaces;

RESOLVED to note the content of the report on the Nottingham Open Spaces Forum and endorse the work of the NOSF.

Report of the Corporate Director Commercial & Operations

Michelle Graley, Neighbourhood Development Officer, presented the report on the Area Capital Fund 2017/18 programme asking councillors to approve the new schemes as detailed in the non-shaded rows of the appendix published with the agenda. In addition to these schemes she asked Councillors to consider an additional scheme as detailed in an amended appendix circulated at the meeting and appended to these minutes.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  Approve the new schemes prioritised by the Ward Councillors since the last Area Committee Meeting as detailed below:

Dales Public Realm Schemes:

Dales Withdrawn Schemes:

Mapperley LTP Schemes:

St Ann’s LTP Schemes:

St Ann’s Public Realm Schemes:

(2)  To note the monies available to the Dales, Mapperley and St Ann’s Wards for 2017/18 as detailed below:

Dales:  £0.00

Mapperley:  £18,802.00

St Ann’s:   £ 30,270.00

Report of Director of Community Protection

Fi Cusick and Michelle Graley, Neighbourhood Development Officers, presented updated from their wards and from Dales ward on behalf of Greg Foister. They focused on the current priorities and issues affecting each ward and details of forthcoming activities within the wards.

RESOLVED to note the information within the report and to thank Fi Cusick, Michelle Graley and Greg Foister for the update

Report of the Director of Community Protection

Fi Cusik, Neighbourhood Development Officer presented an update on the Councillor Ward Budget and spends within each ward.

RESOLVED to note the actions agreed by the Director of Community Protection in respect of projects and schemes within the Dales, Mapperley & St Ann’s Wards detailed below: