Housing and the Environment
Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 22nd June 2006 at Groundwork Creswell
NOTES OF THE LOCAL STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
HOUSING AND ENVIRONMENT GROUP
GROUNDWORK CRESWELL OFFICES, CLOWNE
22ND JUNE 2006
PRESENT
T Trafford (TT) AHEAG
C Cooke (CC) DCC
S Roberts (SR) Fire Service
N Price (NP) BLSP
T Oliver (TO) BDC
J Sherwood (JWS) BDC
G Stokes (GS) SMVRA
D Betts (DB) New Houghton Association
K Sharpe (KS) Langwith Society
J Neeve (JN) Involve
D Row (DR) Clowne Wildlife Group
D Pollard (DP) Groundwork Creswell
S Taylor (ST) BDC
R Colgrave (RC) BDC
1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
J Derricott NED PCT
S Kekus Environment Agency
A Hill English Heritage
H Ward BDC
J Lewis BDC
T Glover Junction Arts
T Witts Groundwork Creswell
M Cox Involve
D Kelly Pinxton Community Forum
J Ritchie BDC
2/3. NOTES OF MEETING HELD 18TH MAY 2006/MATTERS ARISING
Kath Sharpe asked that her name be spelt correctly with an ‘e’.
D Betts name be added to the list of apologies.
Page 2, Item 5 Phase 2 Commissioning – Grot 2 Green
TT confirmed that the paperwork would be with Involve shortly.
Page 3, Item 5 Combined Fuel Poverty/Micro Generation/Fire Prevention/Renewal Area Project
The small working party had not yet been formed and this would be discussed at a later date.
Page 3, Item 5 Green Compost
Adie Lowery to be requested to submit details for the second commissioning brief.
Page 4, Item 9 Any Other Business
3rd Para – Sue Taylor had taken up the post of Principal Enforcement Officer post within Planning Services and Sue was welcomed to her first meeting.
4th Para - A report had been submitted to Committee on the 21st June 2006 in regard to the planning design changes which were coming into force on the 10th August 2006 . There would be no formal consultation process.
4. 2005/06 SELF ASSESSMENT – PARTNERSHIP AND ACTION GROUP
TO spoke about the process of self assessment which is a means of feeding back information on the groups activities to Central Government. The self assessment is scored on a traffic lights system. The partnership overall has self assessed themselves as green and the Housing and Environment Group were also assessed as green. This would enable year on year progress comparisons to be made.
NP circulated the self assessment document and also an action plan arising from that. One area which had been identified for improvement was to engage RSL and private sector landlords. It was noted that there was no representative from these groups although it acknowledged that they were difficult to engage. It was agreed that we would invite these groups to attend a sub group meeting with a view to seeking one rep from each group to attend the full meeting.
JWS confirmed that BDC would be convening a Landlord’s Forum which could feed into the action group.
The objectives for liveability were further discussed. It was agreed the NP would bring figures to the next meeting for fly tipping and it was reported that there had been two prosecutions from BDC for fly tipping.
Green Flag Park
JWS advised that the Patch Management Group was looking at Green Flag park status for one of BDC’s parks. CC advised that DCC were looking to bring Shipley Country Park up to Green Flag Park standard. CC would bring the criteria back to the next meeting for further discussion. It was agreed that this item may be not be given high level priority and could be resubmitted in the following year.
Questions would be put forward to the Citizens Panel the resultant information would be used to achieve baseline data and this could be reviewed annually. This would enable information to be gathered for the following liveability objectives:
Households in poor quality environment, Resident satisfaction with local parks and Resident satisfaction in place where they live.
JN queried whether if the village appraisal could be done by the Community Action Groups and it was suggested that he take this idea back to Involve.
5. REVISED ACTION PLAN
TT had reviewed the Action Plan based on the current community strategy. Section 1 and 2 had previously been agreed and approved. Discussion took place on targets.
It was agreed that the content of the ‘2010 social housing’ item would be amended. The fuel poverty item had been duplicated and this would be merged with the original. It was noted that the installation of the fire detectors was duplicated, however, TT would like to keep this in as it was a cross-cutting achievement. It was noted that the Fire Service fitted 10 year battery operated detectors and new build are hard wired detectors as required under the Building Regulations. TO commented that BDC has a rolling programme for rewire for their properties and this includes the provision of hard wire fire and carbon monoxide detectors.
The Neighbourhood Management scheme had been rolled out to other areas and the funding had been mainstreamed. The team were trying to facilitate community schemes in other areas of BDC. Discussion took place on the community initiatives where community houses had not been originally placed. A report was requested from Julie Lewis on ongoing support.
RC will ensure TT’s name is on the list for the cultural and sporting activities forum and he would be invited to an event in July.
TT asked for any suggestions and further thought on the content of the action plan.
It was agreed that JWS and TO would amend the Housing items, CC offered to include outputs from the BCP which would be useful for scoring purposes. CC to insert bullet points which will give means of measuring targets.
NP will add a couple of items to the improvement plan following the self assessment.
TO noted that there was nothing in the Action Plan about engaging Private Sector Landlords.
Liveability items required examples of projects which could be used such as Grot 2 green, litter pick, townscape initiatives.
6. RESERVE COMMISSION PROJECTS
TT confirmed that all the first tranche of funds had been allocated however it was thought prudent to have reserve schemes in place.
CC spoke about BCP schemes as follows:
Alterations to the Rowthorne Trail in order to alleviate anti social behaviour problems and improved security at a cost of £27,000. BCP may have some funding in place from Chatsworth Estates and the Police Authority.
Improvements to Rowthorne Trail such that it would be suitable for cyclists and link in with Hardwick Park cycle routes at a cost of £68,000.
Creswell Multi-user Trail to join up with a trail at Creswell Crags.
Negotiations are taking place with Welbeck Estates at the moment. The cost would be £60,000.
In the south of the district where the Five Pits Trail crosses the High Street at Tibshelf there is at the moment the original railway bridge in place. This is a popular meeting place and anti-social behaviour is a problem. It had been decided to remove and infill and take the trail over it. This work would be at a cost of £200,000 however £100,000 had been sourced and there may be additional funding streams to tap into. CC will send on details to of the above to SAS.
TT thought the Crime and Disorder Action Group would be interested in
supporting the Rowthorne Trails and the Tibshelf Railway Bridge schemes.
DP reported that would forward his suggestions direct to TT.
TT confirmed that he would submit a combined list of suggestions to Laura Khella.
TT had not approached Pam Brown about former housing bids. There had been 3 or 4 bids which although not successful last year had scored well.
It was agreed to discuss the reserve commission projects at the next meeting.
7. DATA COMPILATION FOR TEN SYSTEM
NP circulated a document entitled Action Group Performance Management Reps.
NP explained that 1 or 2 reps from each group were required to form a sub group.
NP gave details of the TENs system and explained that it was envisaged that the Action Groups would take responsibility for project delivery and progress against targets. The reps would input data into the TENs system and act as a link between the Performance Management Group and their Action Group.
The level of work would involve meeting on a 6 monthly basis with additional meetings as necessary.
Data would be updated annually and as information was not released at the same time the updates would be completed on a gradual basis. There were two options available in order to input the data one of which was directly online or secondly, in a spreadsheet which would then be imported. Discussion took place on this as the Group generally felt that this was too onerous a task for volunteers to take.
TT agreed to raise the concerns of the Group at the ESG meeting.
JWS agreed that he would input the information if it was readily available to do so. He noted that he was not prepared to chase the information up. TO had volunteered to input into the excel spreadsheet and run the conversion provided the TENs deadline was after the deadline that BDC had set for PIs.
TT wanted it noted that this work would be done with the proviso that there was not a major workload involved and he wanted time limits and an understanding that it is a limited commitment.
8. REPORTS BACK ON BCP
CC reported that BCP were working closely with Clowne Access Group to undertake surveys of public footpaths with a view to improving those which can have improvements and accessibility improvements carried out easily.
Improvements had been undertaken at the Peter Fidler Nature Reserve.
Motorbike operations were taking place in conjunction with the Police and BDCs CAN Rangers. BCP are working with BDC on issues of litter and fly tipping within the area.
Employment contracts had been extended for the Countryside Ranger and Andy Heath for a further 2 years.
Grot 2 Green
Involve had placed an advert in the local press aimed at community associations to seek ideas for future projects. A proposal form was also to be dispatched.
Involve are working in partnership with BDC and have now received litter picking equipment which would be distributed to the community associations.
Opportunities to use section 215 was discussed. A question was raised about specific gardens which are constantly a problem in terms of upkeep and littering at New Houghton. ST confirmed that she would need to look at the criteria for each case.
9. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
JWS confirmed that £51,000 had been carried forward for the fire lighting scheme. The total funds available for the scheme this financial year are £201,000.
TO asked about the £3,000 which had been awarded to each group and queried whether this had been rolled forward from last year. Advice to be sought from Laura Khella.
TT asked for 2 or 3 reps to stay behind after the meeting to score the formal application for the green composting scheme.
10. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Thursday 17th August 2006 at 1430hrs, Groundwork Creswell Offices.