Agenda for Castle, Hyson Green & Arboretum and Radford Area Committee on Wednesday, 11th March, 2020, 5.30 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ground Floor Committee Room - Loxley House, Station Street, Nottingham, NG2 3NG. View directions

Contact: Mark Leavesley 

Items
No. Item

38.

Chair

Minutes:

In the absence of Councillor Choudhry (Chair), Councillor Khalil (Vice-Chair) Chaired the meeting.

39.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

None.

40.

Declarations of interests

Minutes:

None.

41.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 1 MB

Last meeting held on 08 January 2020 (for confirmation)

Minutes:

The Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting held on 08 January 2020 as a correct record and the Chair presiding at the meeting signed them.

42.

Ward Health Profiles and Local Health Priorities pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Alison Challenger, Director of Public Health, and Josephine Guha, Clinical Director, to report

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Dr Josephine Guha, Clinical Director, and David Johns, Consultant in Public Health, gave a joint presentation summarising the Ward Health Profiles and Local Health Priorities for the wards, and introducing the Primary Care Network for Nottingham and the locality. The main points were as follows:

 

i.  there have been numerous changes within the NHS in recent years, and it is important to keep up with the health issues that are affecting citizens at a ward level;

 

ii.  the County of Nottinghamshire, excluding Bassetlaw, has been divided into 3 partnership areas - City, South County and Mid Notts. Within the City partnership there are 8 Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and these mostly align with the City Council area boundaries;

 

iii.  Ward Health Profiles are available on-line and aim to start, and inform, discussions with partners regarding the health demographic for each ward;

 

iv.  there is an 8-year gap in life expectancy between the least deprived and the most deprived areas of Nottingham City, with male life expectancy being 77 years, and female life expectancy being 81.1 years. Both of these figures are less than the England average, by 2.6 and 2 years respectively;

 

v.  healthy life expectancy is also below average, with females born in Nottingham having a healthy-life expectancy of 53.3 years, 10 years less than the England average, meaning females born in Nottingham can expect to spend more than a third of life in poorer health;

 

vi.  the impact of environmental factors on health should not be underestimated. Risk conditions such as poverty, unemployment, lack of social support, isolation and poor social networks all contribute to ill health;

 

vii.  the proportion of binge-drinking adults in all of this Committee’s wards is higher than the Nottingham average, with the highest proportion in Nottingham being in the Radford ward (34.5% of all adults);

 

viii.  a lower proportion of children in Radford and Hyson Green & Arboretum have reached a good level of development at the end of the reception year than the Nottingham average – this is a measure of school readiness;

 

ix.  9 out of the 10 GP Practices within the wards record significantly higher prevalence of severe mental health illness than the England average;

 

x.  Ward Health Profiles are designed to give a snapshot of the demographic of the wards and to give an overview of health priorities.

 

In response to questions and comments from the Committee, the following information was given.

 

xi.  PCNs in this area are not currently as well staffed as other areas, but that is being addressed and staffing levels are steadily increasing;

 

xii.  a range of measures, both locally and across the city as a whole are being introduced to address health issues, but it is still reliant on the public to help in ways such as stopping smoking, stopping binge drinking, eating more healthily and taking exercise on a more regular basis;

 

xiii.  in an ideal world, incidents of poor mental or physical health would be at zero, but being realistic, PCNs and health  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

43.

Selective Licensing pdf icon PDF 450 KB

Report of Selective Licensing Manager

Minutes:

Further to a request at a previous meeting, David Hobbs, Selective Licensing Manager, updated the Committee on the Selective Licensing scheme in the city, the main points of which were:

 

·  the scheme runs for 5 years, starting in August 2018 and ending in July 2023, is one of the largest of its kind in the country, and was introduced as part of a vision of ‘Quality housing for all’;

 

·  it is run by a team of 75 staff, covering 12 different roles;

 

·  so far there has been over 6,000 applications in this Committee’s wards, with an expectation over the 5 years of in excess of 24,000 application being made across the city as a whole;

 

·  across the city up to February 2020, there has been 660 properties inspected, with 202 ‘interventions’ (warnings / suggested improvements etc), and 41 prosecutions / civil penalties;

 

·  to engage with landlords, 30 events were organised at libraries and community centres, including for those with English as an additional language, and these were attended by 400 landlords and agents;

 

·  5 larger events (including an upcoming one in May 2020) were each attended by over 100 landlords and agents;

 

·  since August 2018, the council has issued 19 civil penalties and 22 prosecutions to those not complying with their legal obligations under their licence, or not applying for a licence;

 

·  officer visits to properties have uncovered issues such as disrepair and non-working, or not even installed, fire alarms;

 

·  Council Tax data is used to contact ‘responsible persons’ at their ‘away address’, and currently this totals around 10,000 properties;

 

·  due to the scheme, the council has seen a significant increase in the number of Energy Performance Certificates issued in the private rented sector, and the proportion of private rented homes with an energy rating below ‘D’ has reduced from 25.9% in 2018 to 15.6% in 2019;

 

·  following the Grenfell disaster, and the increased scrutiny on ‘blocks’, the council is working with the Fire Service to audit / inspect the blocks in the city to ensure safety;

 

·  going forward, the Selective Team have created a 12-month plan and this includes:

 

o  moving towards compliance by becoming area based, neighbourhood focussed, working with locality partners and engaging with Neighbourhood Action Teams;

 

o  using a business analyst to become data-led using evidence;

 

o  developing further the council’s ‘MyProperty’ webpages, such as including mapping applications / licenced property identification;

 

o  continuing enforcement and awareness-raising;

 

o  creating a Landlord and Managing Agent Liaison Group.

 

In response to questions, David also stated that:

 

·  since introduction of the scheme, a number of properties that would have needed a licence have been sold;

 

·  any landlord discriminating in any way, such as asking for benefit log-in details etc, would have their licence revoked;

 

·  landlords living abroad usually have an agent, so that is who the team deal with;

 

·  Selective Licenses only apply to the building, so issues such as parking are not covered by them, although any waste issues can be reported to Community Protection, who  ...  view the full minutes text for item 43.

44.

Parks & Open Spaces Investment Plan updates pdf icon PDF 215 KB

Report of Corporate Director of Commercial and Operations

Additional documents:

Minutes:

James Dymond, Parks and Open Spaces Development Manager, presented the report, detailing the updated investment plans for parks and open spaces in the area to bring them up to Green Flag status and identify any future funding needs.

 

The following comments were made by the Committee:

 

·  due to a change in ward boundaries, development-specific funding in one area/ward may not now be available to that same ward, hence the ‘n/a’ in the list in section 4 of the report;

 

·  Section 106 (S106) funds from a development in a specific ward should only be spent, and benefit, that ward;

 

·  local Councillors should be involved in decisions on where to spend any S106 monies at a much earlier stage than they are currently.

 

Resolved that the Committee endorses the following:

 

(1)  the updated Investment Plan, which guides future development of the City’s parks and open spaces;

 

(2)  the use of S106 funding as proposed in section 4 of the report (as below):

 

Source of S106

Amount (£)

Ward

Spend

 

Bowman House

Talbot Street

 

11/00801/PFUL3

62,532.45

(former) Arboretum

Arboretum - £20,000

Wallen Street - £20,000

Bobber’s Mill playground - £5,000

St Peter’s Churchyard - £5,532.45

Tree works - £12,000

 

Rocky Mount

Barrack Lane

 

14/01401/PFUL3

26,863.66

(former) Radford and Park

Sandpiper Way park - £10,000

John Carroll open space - £10,000

Tree works - £6,863.66

 

Sandfield Centre

 

17/01772/PFUL3

136,565.06

n/a

Ronald Street

Lenton and Radford Recreation Grounds

(as S106 agreement)

 

Pearl Assurance

 

18/00846/PFUL3

18,138.00

n/a

Queen’s Walk Recreation Ground

(as S106 agreement)

 

Councillor Webster requested that his abstention from voting on the above be recorded.

 

At this point, Councillor Roberts left the meeting and took no part in the remaining items.

45.

Future Parks Accelerator Project pdf icon PDF 226 KB

Report of Corporate Director of Commercial and Operations

Additional documents:

Minutes:

James Tilford, Future Parks Accelerator Project Manager, presented the report, the main points of which were as follows:

 

·  the Future Parks Accelerator Project (FPA) was a national project aimed at finding new and innovative ways to manage and fund parks and open spaces;

 

·  it is jointly funded by the National Heritage Lottery and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and supported by the National Trust;

 

·  it has 4 key development areas – commercial opportunities, community engagement and volunteer programmes, charitable foundation and future governance;

 

·  the report to Committee explains how the Council, via the FPA Team, will work with Park Services, partners, local communities and individuals over the life of the 2-year project (ending May 2021) to create a 25 year strategy, identifying key areas / opportunities to change how the council deliver parks and open spaces;

 

·  as part of the work, numerous consultations and activities will take place, such as at Area Committee meetings, in the ‘Arrow’ publication, at community centres, libraries etc.

 

The Committee noted the report.

46.

Issues raised by Community Representatives

Please contact the Neighbourhood Development Officer at least 3 days before the meeting if you have an issue you want to raise

Minutes:

No issues were raised.

47.

Nottingham City Homes update pdf icon PDF 137 KB

Report of Chief Executive, Nottingham City Homes

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Katie Sharp, Area Housing Manager, presented the report, which detailed key issues and themes linked to local priorities and strategic themes, and provided updates on capital programme and major works, area regeneration and environmental issues, key messages from the Tenant and Leaseholder Congress, updates from Tenant and resident Associations, area performance and good news stories and positive publicity.

 

In response to a question from a local resident, Katie stated that in respect of a recent well-publicised case involving the death of a resident in a Nottingham City Homes (NCH) property, the Coroner had found no fault in the way NCH processes were applied / followed, nor had any recommendations been made in respect to changes required in those processes.

 

Resolved to

 

(1)  note the performance to date, detailed in appendices 1 and 2;

 

(2)  approve the following Radford ward scheme:

 

Venue

Scheme

Cost

 

Clapham, Dulwych, Croydon and Norwood Roads

 

Install new metal gates and railings

 

42,946.23

 

(3)  in light of the approval in (2) above, note that Castle, Hyson Green & Arboretum and Radford wards all now had a zero remaining unallocated balance.

48.

Police and Community Protection update pdf icon PDF 93 KB

Minutes:

(a)  Rough Sleeping

 

Further to a request at a previous meeting, Kimberley Pike, Operations Manager, Rough Sleeping, gave a presentation to the Committee in respect of rough sleeping in the City. The main points were as follows:

 

·  homelessness nationally has increased over the last few years, in part due to austerity and a housing crisis;

 

·  Nottingham saw peaks in May and September 2019 of 55 rough-sleepers, although in February 2020 the figure had reduced to 24;

 

·  from 2017 onwards, Nottingham has been successful in bidding annually for Government funding to tackle the issue, and was recently awarded £1.4million for 2020/21;

 

·  the ‘Rough-sleeping Initiative Project’ involves the Council working with many organisations, including Outreach Teams, Housing Aid, Community Protection, the Homeless Health Team, Emmanuel House and The Friary and Street Pastors;

 

·  some of the main issues around rough-sleepers are mental health, substance abuse and begging.

 

The Committee thanked Kimberley for her attendance and noted the informative update.

 

(b)  Police and Community Protection update

 

Inspector Riz Khan, Nottinghamshire Police, and Rupinder Kooner, Tom Lynk and Ben Parrington, Senior Community Protection Officers, updated the Committee, and responded to questions, in respect of policing matters and crime statistics in the wards.

 

The Committee noted the updates.

49.

Ward Performance Report pdf icon PDF 451 KB

Report of Director of Community Protection

Minutes:

Gursharan Singh Nijran, Neighbourhood Development Officer, presented the report, which detailed current priorities and issues facing the wards and forthcoming events and activities and highlighted the latest issues being addressed through Neighbourhood Action Team meetings.

 

The Committee noted the report.

50.

Area Capital Fund 2019-20 pdf icon PDF 347 KB

Report of Director of Community Protection

Minutes:

Gursharan Singh Nijran, Neighbourhood Development Officer, presented the report, which detailed the latest spend proposals under the Area Capital Fund, including Local Transport Plan (LTP) and Public Realm (PR) schemes.

 

Resolved

 

(1)  to approve the following schemes, noting there were no approvals required for Castle ward:

 

Ward / street

Scheme

Cost (£)

 

 

 

Hyson Green and Arboretum

 

 

 

 

 

Portland Road area (LTP)

Residents parking

25,000

Berridge Road West (PR)

Bollard installation

1,793

 

 

 

Radford

 

 

 

 

 

Independent Street (LTP)

Install road sign

250

Footpaths - various (LTP)

Improvements

20,000

Independent Street / Bloomsgrove Road (LTP)

 

20,000

Forster Street playground (PR)

Improvements

10,000

Bramcote Street area (PR)

Improvements

15,000

 

(2)  in light of the approvals in (1) above, to note the remaining LTP and PR available balances of respectively £34,800 and £7,800 (Castle), £35,831 and £16,235 (Hyson Green and Arboretum) and £19,650 and £10,870 (Radford).

51.

Ward Councillor Budget pdf icon PDF 146 KB

Report of Director of Community Protection

Minutes:

Gursharan Singh Nijran, Neighbourhood Development Officer, presented the report, which detailed the latest ward councillor budget spend taken under delegated authority by the Director of Community Protection.

 

The Committee noted the report.

52.

Meeting dates

To note the proposed meeting schedule for 2020/21 municipal year of 5.30pm at Loxley House as follows (to be agreed at June meeting):

 

2020  2021

10 June  10 March

16 September

16 December

Minutes:

The Committee noted the proposed provisional dates for the municipal year 2020/21.