Agenda and minutes

Apologies had been received from Councillor Simons.

At this point Members must declare whether they have an interest, whether personal or prejudicial, in any of the items on the agenda. Members must also declare if they are subject to their party group whip in relation to any items under consideration.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes of the Strong and Supportive Communities Scrutiny Committee meeting held on 9 March 2011 were approved as an accurate record.

The decision notice for each decision will bear the date on which it is published and will specify that the decision may then be implemented on the expiry of 3 working days after the publication of the decision (not including the date of publication), unless a request for call-in of the decision is received from any two Members of a Scrutiny Committee or Scrutiny Commissions..  If a request for call-in of a decision is received, implementation of the decision remains suspended for consideration by the relevant Scrutiny Committee or Commission.

There were no requests for Call-in to consider.

The Head of Neighbourhood Services introduced the report and informed the Committee that the report would be supported by additional information in the form of a presentation.  Officers attending with the Head of Neighbourhood Services gave the Committee information on their various services areas which included key issues, achievements and priorities for 2011/2012.

Key areas of the presentation covered:

•          National context including the Localism Bill. 

•          Local context including
- the Single Delivery Plan which consisted of Seven programmes of work:

1.         Creating jobs through growth and improved skills and education

2.         Supporting the most vulnerable families and tackling causes of poverty

3.         Safeguarding adults and children

4.         Helping people and organisations live more healthy and sustainable lives and reducing energy consumption

5.         Empowering people and creating cohesive communities

6.         Reducing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour

7.         Using our resources more efficiently and effectively

Members were informed that Programmes 5, 6 and 7 fell within the remit of the Committee.

•          Neighbourhood Management which included:

•          Tackling quality of life issues in communities, the delivery of which was led by Neighbourhood Managers.

•          Housing, regeneration, growth, environment, cohesion, social capital, service design, value for money, community safety, ASB, education, employment, community facilities and many more.

The priorities for 2011-2012 for each service area were:

Safer and Stronger Peterborough Team:

•          Implement the Neighbourhood Committee review outcomes

•          Deal with the outcomes of the ‘Citizen Power’ programme review

•          Develop the integrated approach to offender management (tackling those small number of offenders who commit the most crime)

•          Continue the work in making roads and users of roads safer

Strategic Housing Team:

•          Homelessness Strategy

•          Peterborough Homes Allocation Policy

•          Supporting People Commissioning Strategy

•          Empty Homes Strategy

Regulatory Services Team:

•          Tackling age restricted sales (e.g. alcohol, tobacco, fireworks, knives etc)

•          Rutland CC Shared Service delivery

•          Verge parking

Cohesion Team:

•          Implementing a new community cohesion strategy focussed on:

–        Tackling hate crime and reducing tensions in the city

–        Engaging young people who are not in education, employment or training

–        Improving access and take up of services in deprived neighbourhoods

–        Promoting better understanding and harmony between Travellers, Gypsies and the wider community

Social Inclusion Team:

•          Financial Inclusion

•          Voluntary and community sector

•          Gypsies and Travellers

City Centre Team:

•          Investigate the feasibility of creating a BID  (Business Improvement  District) for  Peterborough City Centre, collating evidence of whether or not a BID could work for Peterborough

•          Secure income/sponsorship for city centre activities. Continue to build on established relationships and capitalise on new leads

•          Remodel  Women’s Enterprise Centre, transforming current offer to an Enterprise Centre accessible to all, this will include a procurement exercise to source new provider

•          Olympic 2012 - Produce in partnership with City stakeholders an Olympic 2012 campaign

Suggested topics for the Committee to Scrutinise were:

•          Progress and performance in delivering relevant Single Delivery Plan priorities:
- Empowering people and creating cohesive communities
- Reducing crime  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The report provided information on the work undertaken by the Committee during 2010/2011 and recommendations made.  The Committee were asked to identify items for monitoring during 2011/2012 and any new items for the work programme.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

·         Councillor Burton requested that there be a standing item on the agenda for an update report on Neighbourhood Committees.

·         Members agreed that as a large number of items had been identified for Scrutiny during the presentation from the Head of Neighbourhood Services and his team that all suggested items for the work programme should be discussed at the next Group Representatives meeting.

ACTION AGREED

That a list of suggested topics highlighted for inclusion into the work programme for Scrutiny by the Committee be brought to the next Group Representatives meeting to discuss which items should be included in the 2011/2012 work programme

The Committee received the latest version of the Council’s Forward Plan, containing key decisions that the Leader of the Council anticipated the Cabinet or individual Cabinet Members would make during the course of the following four months.  Members were invited to comment on the Plan and, where appropriate, identify any relevant areas for inclusion in the Committee’s work programme. 

ACTION AGREED

The Committee noted the Forward Plan and agreed that there were no items for further consideration.

Wednesday, 20 July 2011