Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2014, were approved as an accurate record.

The Commission was considering the development of a Rural Strategy for Peterborough to have a framework within which to highlight and support the strategic needs of rural communities across the city. The report was introduced by the Performance and Information Analyst to provide Members with a proposed structure for this strategy.

            The Performance and Information Analyst and the Community Development Manager delivered PowerPoint presentation to the Commission. The following key points were highlighted:

·         Peterborough’s Rural areas was made up of:

-       5 Wards

-       24 Parishes

-       21,776 residents = 12% of the total population

-       26,307 Hectares = 77% of the total land mass

-       Growth in population over the last 10 years of 2,678 people (10% of the overall city growth)

·         Rural areas had a higher rate of population in all age bands over the age of 40 than the citywide average.

·         Rural areas consisted of 93% White British compared to a citywide distribution.

·         According to the 2001 – 2011 Census, the areas that noticed the most significant increase in their White British population, with the exception of the planned growth in the Hamptons, was predominantly in rural areas.

·         Over the next 20 years, rural areas of the city were expected to grow in population by a further 15% with an anticipated overall population of 25,000 people.

·         Two thirds of the growth would be in the next 10 years.

·         There were currently 9,250 dwellings in rural wards, this was forecast to increase by 14% (1,300) to 10,550 in the next 20 years.

·         According to the 2011 Census, there was a disproportionately lower rate of people living in Social Rented houses within rural wards than their urban counterparts.

·         The rural wards of Peterborough typically accounted for 5.3% of all crime, and 5.6% of victim based crime across the city.

·         The disproportionate anomalies of significance were Burglary non-dwelling (9.6%), Theft from Vehicle (9.3%) and Vehicle Crime (9%).

·         Offences which assisted in these increased proportions were theft of heating oil and diesel.

·         Anecdotal evidence suggested that these offence types remained considerably unreported and were likely to have higher rates than what crime data could actually provide.

·         There were 24 wards in Peterborough. The 5 rural wards were all inside the top 10 least deprived wards in Peterborough.

·         All bar one of the rural wards had lower deprivation than the national average score of 18.39 (and Eye and Thorney was only 0.17 greater than the national average).

·         Glinton & Wittering and Northborough and fell within the top 20% of the national chart of deprivation, with Barnack narrowly missing out on this. The other 2 rural wards, Newborough and Eye & Thorney, were outside the top 50% of this national chart.

·         If all 5 wards were fused in to 1 ward it would be comfortably within the top half nationally and would also be half as deprived as the average for Peterborough.

·         It could be argued that Glinton & Wittering, Northborough and Barnack were the least deprived wards in Peterborough.

·         Barriers to Housing (Physical and financial  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Assistant Director of Communities and Targeted Services introduced the report to update the Commission on proposals for reviewing the joint Scrutiny in a Day on the impacts of Welfare Reform.

The Commission were asked to agree to hold a further joint scrutiny event on 9 January 2015, to review the progress made against the lines of enquiry developed at the Scrutiny in a Day event.

ACTION AGREED

The Commission noted the report and agreed to the proposal of a further joint scrutiny event.

The Commission received the latest version of the Council’s Forward Plan of Executive Decisions, which contained key decisions that the Leader of the Council anticipated the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would make during the course of the forthcoming month.  Members were invited to comment on the Plan and, where appropriate, identify any relevant areas for inclusion in the Commission’s work programme.

ACTION AGREED

The Commission noted the latest version of the Council’s Forward Plan of Key Decision and requested further information on the following decisions:

·         Extra Care Housing

·         Award of Contract for Build of a Waste Transfer Station

·         Award for of Contract for Build of a Household Recycling Centre

·         Future of Solar and Wind Projects

·         Libraries and Community Centres

Members considered the Commission’s Work Programme for 2014/15 and discussed possible items for inclusion.

AGREED ACTION

Members noted the work programme and agreed for the Cabinet Member for Housing and planning Services, who now had a new responsibility for rural communities, to be invited to future meetings.

12 January 2015

The next meeting was scheduled for Monday, 12January 2014.