Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from

Councillor Klein (ill health)

Stuart Bell – Right Track

John Hancock  - CRESTA

Michelle Cooke – Bestwood Partnership

None.

Last meeting held on 10 December 2014 (for confirmation)

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2014, were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

Report of Strategic Director of Commercial and Neighbourhood Services

Celia Knight, Neighbourhood Development Officer, presented the report which outlined the role and selection of Community Representatives to the Committee and informed the Committee of two new representatives.

RESOLVED to note the appointment of Robin Goodwin, representing Top Valley Tenant’s and Resident’s Association,  and Michelle Cooke representing Bestwood Partnership.

Report of Corporate Director of Development and Growth

John Lee, Rights of Way Officer, presented the report which, following requests from residents in the area and consultations with local citizens, sought authorisation to enable a dead-end foot path to be permanently closed.

RESOLVED to authorise the Corporate Director for Growth and Development to:

a)  make a Public Footpath  Extinguishment Order under Section 118 of the Highways Act 1980 in respect of the parts of the path shown marked ‘AB’ on Appendix 1 to the report;

b)  to confirm the above Order if unopposed;

c)  to refer the above Order to the Secretary of State for confirmation if opposed.

Report of Director for Economic Development

Danny Goodwin, Employment and Skills Officer, presented the report which has the Area 1 and 2 Jobs Plan attached.

The following points were highlighted in addition to the report:

(a)  Right Track, which is also the Lead Organisation for Area 1, is funded to co-ordinate employment and skills activity in the Bulwell and Bulwell Forest wards. Activity includes:

o  developing community jobs plans,

o  support recruitment job opportunities;

o  pre-recruitment training;

o  and developing work with partners to create bespoke provision relevant to priority groups;

o  developing local solutions for clients;

(b)    activity and achievements will be co-ordinated through the employer hub to prevent duplication with other organisations and ensure monitoring of performance and quality;

(c)  Right Track will involve schools in helping to support employability;

(d)  ‘Step into Work’ is the program designed to support citizens into employment by identifying barriers to employment within neighbourhoods, such barriers can then be addressed;

(e)  after 2 years of ‘signing on’– the Bulwell Job Centre, a person becomes the responsibility of an external organisation which will aim to find work training or education (WTE) for that person;

(f)  if the external organisation cannot support a person into WTE, after 3 years in of being unemployed, that person is required to sign on at the job centre in Bulwell every day and a further, more detailed support and investment package is made available to identified barriers which are preventing people becoming job ready’;

(g)  barriers to WTE may include self-confidence and lack of identification, including a birth certificate or a bank account. support is provided to overcome such barriers;

Comments from the Committee included:

(h)  the drop in the numbers of people claiming benefits is welcomed but this may not necessarily be due to people finding WTE. It is possible that a significant number of young people may not be signing on but are working unofficially within the casual economy. Many of these young people will not attend the job centres but do have an income and they may not realise the longer benefits and facilities available to them by registering at the job centre;

(i)  apprenticeships are an ideal route for many young people to gain experience of work and in a trade. Work references from an apprenticeship can prove valuable in securing further work;

(j)   it is a concern that some apprenticeships paid the national minimum apprenticeship wage of £2.73 per hour. It is that Nottingham City Council apprentices are paid the minimum wage.

In conclusion, Danny Goodwin urged members of the Committee to encourage people to register and engage with Bulwell Job Centre, even if they were not formally signing on, as the programmes available are open to everyone and can prove beneficial in the long term to gaining stable employment that offers training and the opportunity to progress.

RESOLVED to note the report and Jobs Plan and receive an update in six months time.

Report of Director of Public Health.

Alison Challenger, Public Health Consultant to present.

 Allison Challenger, Consultant in Public Health, presented the ‘Directory of Public Health Commissioning Services’ document which provides detailed information on the wide range of services provided by Public Health and the statistical health information relating to the population of the Bulwell and Bulwell Forest Wards.

The following points were highlighted during the meeting:

(a)  since April 2014, Public Health has been the responsibility of the City Council;

(b)  the document, which has been compiled with input from NHS and other partners, enables a ‘population approach’ by highlighting health issues within specific areas;

(c)  the analysis of the population’s health enables specific issues and risks to be targeted and ensures that the best possible value and benefit can be provided;

(d)  it is widely acknowledged that the level of deprivation impacts on the health and life expectancy of a population and that Area 1 has high levels of deprivation;

(e)  the key points from the analysis are as follows:

(i)  smoking prevalence is high with 28% of the adult population in Area 1 smoking (nationally 20%) but within Bulwell, 36% of adults smoke;

(ii)  obesity is high which impacts on other illnesses;

(iii)  life expectancy within the area is lower than the national and city average with people in Bulwell Ward expected to live 5 years less than those in Bulwell Forest, where life expectancy is in line with the national average;

(f)  now that this comprehensive information is available, the next step is to identify the behavioural and health attitudes of local people and, on some issues, the City wide population and seek to change people’s behaviours to address and prevent poor health patterns;

(g)  some diseases can be linked to known issues, such as diabetes which is often linked to obesity, it is likely that a proportion of sufferers have not yet been identified/diagnosed. Work will be planned to address this;

(h)  telephone counselling to improve health will be considered for the next round of health service commissioning;

(i)  it is acknowledged that Health and Social Care do need to better integrate to ensure that they can work together effectively for communities;

(j)  health needs to be considered at within all community focused services.

Alison asked that members of the Committee comment on whether they believed that the information provided was, with their knowledge of the local area and local people, is accurate, and how best Public Health could work towards changing the behaviours and attitudes which brought about poor health;

Comments from the Committee included:

(k)  another layer of data analysis is required to provide more accurate information as although one GP surgery may reports a high level onset diabetes’, it is possible that this is not peculiar to this area if there is a larger than average population of older people;

(l)  the root causes of poor health need to be identified and information provided is accessible and attractive format with advice and support available to ensure that people can make informed choices;

(m)  with an estimated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Sergeant Nev McGeehan to verbally present

Acting Inspector Christine Busuttil delivered a brief update on the reported crime, issues raised through the on-line consultation system, the Local Action Groups and Tenant and Resident meetings.

Bulwell Ward

(a)  there have been several distraction burglaries of elderly people’s homes, including repeat victims. It is harder to change the behaviour and habits of some older people but information on how better to protect themselves is being distributed. A female has been arrested;

(b)  the number of shop thefts has risen and shop keepers are asking for the return of ‘shop watch’ but funding has to be found to support the scheme;

(c)  reported numbers of violent crimes and domestic violence have risen but this is believed to be partly to heightened awareness and encouraging people to report such crimes.

Bulwell Forest Ward

(d)  there have been several break-ins of sheds and garages, as is to be seasonally predicted;

(e)  theft of motor bikes and bicycles has risen as these are easy targets. Criminal damage is down against the same period last year.

The number of recorded offences will rise as stronger action is taken against offences following the new powers of the Ant-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

RESOLVED to note the update.

Presentation by Nottingham City Homes Community Sport Officer

Siobhan Reilly, from Nottingham City Homes Tenant and Leaseholder Involvement Team, informed the Committee of the ‘Fit-In’ scheme which is hosted by Nottingham City Homes for the benefit of its tenants and also the wider community.

The scheme aims to encourage citizens to engage in low cost or free exercise and activities with local people being trained to deliver sport activities within their local area.

Consultations on lifestyles help citizens identify the barriers which are preventing them from accessing fitness activities and help them overcome those barriers and engage in appropriate fitness, some of which may include subsidised activities such as swimming or exercise classes. Cost is not necessarily the largest barrier as even when activities are provided free of charge, engaging citizens can be a challenge.

Partnership working is important to prevent duplication but also to ensure the greatest benefit with referrals are received from partner agencies.

The scheme has operated effectively in the Aspley, St Ann’s  and Hyson Green areas of the City, engaging the often difficult to reach groups of society, and will be available to citizens within the Bulwell area during this summer.

The Committee’s questions were responded to as follows:

(a)  all community deliverers of the scheme are trained and DBS checked (formerly CRB) prior to working in the community;

(b)  citizens taking part in the scheme are asked if they have any health issues and measures are taken to adapt exercise appropriately;

(c)  the scheme is promoted by Housing Mangers linking with community and tenant and resident groups. In addition a news letter is distributed. Further work is to be done to identify how best to spread the message and engage the wider community beyond tenants although it is recognised that the majority of community group members are residents and not tenants;

(d)  volunteer providers do need to be NCH tenants due to finding stipulation but the activities are open to everyone. There other routes for training via partners but that is on an individual basis.

Members of the Committee have been impressed by the use of the ‘out door gym’ on Southglade Park’ and suggested that it may be a good contact point to engage the community.

RESOLVED to note the presentation.

Report of Chief Executive of Nottingham City Homes

Nicky Jarvis, Tenancy and Estates Manger, introduced Toni Smithurst who will be taking over from Nicky as part of the Estates Managers re-organisation.

Toni presented the report of the Chief Executive of Nottingham City Homes which included a scheme for the consideration of the Committee and outlining key performance updates on programme and activity within the area.

RESOLVED

(1)  to approve the following scheme in Bulwell Forest Ward:

(2)  to note the performance information.

Report of Strategic Director of Commercial and Neighbourhood Services

Suki Shergill and Celia Knight, Neighbourhood Development Officers, briefly outlined the main issues raised as concerns in the report which include dog fouling, inappropriate parking, and fly tipping.

In response to community representative’s suggestions to install CCTV, the Chair responded that adequate funds were not available at this time but it could be considered in the future. Until then, if an offence was witnessed, as much information as possible should be gathered and passed to Community Protection.

RESOLVED to note the report.

Report of Strategic Director of Commercial and Neighbourhood Services

Celia Knight, Neighbourhood Development Officer, presented the report which proposes Area Capital and Public Real schemes.

RESOLVED

(1)  to approve the following schemes:

(i)  Bulwell

(ii)  Bulwell Public Realm

(iii)  Bulwell Forest Public Realm

(2)  to note the following:

(i)  Bulwell

(ii)  Bulwell Forest

To note the proposed future meeting dates of :

17 June 2015

23 November 2015

18 November 2015

17 February 2016

RESOLVED to note the following proposed future meeting dates:

17 June 2015

23 September 2015

18 November 2015

17 February 2016

Report of Strategic Director of Commercial and Neighbourhood Services

Celia Knight, Neighbourhood Development Officer, presented the report which updated the Committee on the actions agreed by the Director of Neighbourhood Services in respect of projects and schemes with in Bulwell and Bulwell Forest, and the remaining funding available.

It is noted that several schemes which received Councillor support in principal are yet to complete the formal process required.

RESOLVED to note

(i)  the following actions agreed by the Director of Neighbourhood Services:

(ii)  the updated financial position:

  Bulwell Ward

  Bulwell Forest Ward