Agenda item

The Community Cohesion Manager presented the report and informed the Committee of how the Strategy had been developed and the objectives and key messages that the Strategy contained.  The Strategy was about how cohesion shared values would be promoted all over Peterborough.  The language used in the strategy was bespoke and the photographs used in the draft strategy were temporary but the final document would contain pictures that reflected all of the diverse communities across Peterborough.   A number of cohesion partners who had helped to produce the strategy were also in attendance to explain their work and their involvement in pulling the strategy together.

Community Cohesion had been embedded across Peterborough for some time through various documents but this strategy was a new document which provided a definition of cohesion and the aims, values, vision and priorities of the Cohesion Partnership.  Action plans would underpin the document.

Brian Gascoyne, Chairman of the Millfield and New England Regeneration Partnership, informed the committee that the title “Home in the Meadows” was derived from the word Meadshampstead which later became Peterborough.  The city had always been a place where different people from different backgrounds had come together and was built on migration from both within the United Kingdom and from outside.  Cohesion was a key part of the city and needed to be recognised.  Peterborough was a city of culture and an example of this was the fact that there was 109 different languages spoken in Millfield.

Bryan Tyler, Disability Forum Manager, spoke about the work that had been achieved through partnership working to bring a Changing Places toilet to Peterborough which would be built next to the toilets in the Car Haven car park.  A logo had been designed that would reflect disabled facilities and the changing places toilets and the Department of Transport had picked up on the logo and wanted to use it country wide.

Jean Hunt, Chairman of the Senior Citizens Forum and a Governor at City College Peterborough, spoke about how young and old people were working together.  She had attended a recent project at the Green Backyard to talk to students with special needs from the City College about the war and digging for victory, which the young people had found very interesting.  She had also helped to set up the first committee for male senior citizens in the central ward, along with a committee for women. 

Mahebub Ladha, Director of Peterborough Racial Equality Council, stated that cohesion was about giving everyone the same life chances and outcomes and not about communities leading parallel lives.  The strategy had been designed to be a living and readable document which was updated regularly.  The priorities of the Cohesion Board were updated annually and this year’s priorities were:

·         Young People and NEETS – 15% of young people today were NEETS.  One group of young people that had not made much progress was poor white people and there was a need to understand why this was happening.

·         Poverty issues – vulnerable localities and families – Councillor Walsh was leading on this issue.

·         Hate Crime – there were 429 hate crimes committed last year

·         Gypsy and Travellers

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

·         Members felt overall that the strategy was a very good document, however they felt that the wording  ‘Giving everybody similar life opportunities’ which was under the vision statement might be difficult to achieve and suggested that it be reworded to reflect that the aim was to get everyone to achieve their potential.

·         Regarding bullet point 2 under the ‘Our Values’ list - Respectfulness towards age, gender, race, religion or beliefs, disability, sexual orientations and cultural differences, Members felt that there was a need to widen the definition to reflect that there was a desire for a society that respected all people no matter what their differences might be.

·         Councillor Fletcher made a statement about illegal encampments in the South Bretton area. The Chair advised Councillor Fletcher that this was not the appropriate forum to discuss these issues and suggested that he contact the relevant officers outside of the meeting.  Councillor Fletcher advised that he was not satisfied with that response.

·         On page 10 under the section ‘Preventing Extremism’ it mentioned ‘Targeting all kinds of extremism including Al-Qaida inspired ideology and far-right wing extremism’, Members asked why Al-Qaida had been mentioned specifically as they felt that one area of extremism should not be mentioned above others.  The Community Cohesion Manager advised that Al-Qaida had been specifically mentioned because the Government had advised that they were currently the main threat, however members of the public who had been consulted on the document had also made similar comments.

·         Members felt that the title of the document ‘Home in the Meadows’ did not reflect cohesion and that people would not understand its relevance.  Members were advised that by using the word ‘Home’ people would feel that Peterborough was a place they could settle and the word ‘Meadows’ went back to the historical name of Meadhampstead.

·         Members felt that the vision should be called The City of Peterborough’s vision and not just Peterborough’s vision.  The Community Cohesion Manager advised that if the vision title were to change in that way the rural communities may not feel included.

·         Members wanted to know how many of the general public had been consulted on the strategy.  Members were advised that consultation had taken place through websites, newsletters, newspapers, the radio and at the Cohesion Board Away Day where 30 people from various community groups attended.  There was a youth group called ABC who would be asking 70 young people for their views on the strategy.  There had also been an equality impact assessment which was due to completed soon.

·         One of the priorities listed was - working closely with young to promote cross-community, how did the Board intend to achieve this?  Members were advised that the contribution of young people was very important and there was a need to recognise the wider contribution of young people.  The older and younger generations could learn from each other and examples of this were already happening across the city.

·         Brian Gascoyne pointed out that during the discussion different communities had been mentioned and he wanted people to feel that Peterborough was one community.   Councillor Todd felt that the heading needed to reflect that and Members suggested that the title of the Strategy could be ‘One City, One Community’ or something similar.

Councillor Fetcher requested that it be minuted that he felt that he had not been able to represent the views of his constituents and left the meeting.

The Committee supported the strategy and requested that the document be brought back to the Committee when the consultation had finished.

ACTIONS AGREED

That the Community Cohesion Manager considers the comments made by the Committee and brings back to the Committee at a future meeting the final Community Cohesion Strategy after the consultation process had been completed and all comments had been considered.