PERFORMANCE AND
OVERVIEW COMMITTEE
COMMUNITY
RECORD OF MEETING
HELD ON 29TH NOVEMBER 2006
Present:
Councillor G Griffiths; Chair
Councillors D Bebbington, D H D Charlesworth,
J Lewis, M A Martin and S J Mottram
In Attendance:
38 DECLARATIONS
OF INTEREST
No Member made any declaration of
interest in any item of business on the agenda.
39 RECORD OF
MEETING
AGREED: That the Record of the
Meeting held on 18th October 2006 be approved as
correct.
40 WHIPPING
DECLARATIONS
In accordance with Paragraph 18 of the
Performance and Overview Procedure Rules, Members were invited to
declare in respect of items where the whip had been applied.
No such declarations were made.
41 BOARD
BUSINESS
41.1 Board Meeting –
30th November 2006
Members were invited to comment on those
reports falling within the remit of the Committee, which would be
considered by the Board at its meeting on 19th
October.
(5) Local
Area Agreements
(10) Corporate
Self-Assessment
(11) BVPI
and LPI Monitoring (All Committees)
(12) 2006/2007
Financial Monitoring – to 30.September.06
(17) Crewe
and Nantwich Strategy for Play
(22) Air
Quality Management Area, Hospital Street, Nantwich
(23) Gambling
Act 2005
(24) Race
Equality Scheme 2006-2008
(25) Adoption
of New Bye-laws (Acupuncture etc.)
AGREED: That no comments be made
on any of the reports above.
(18) Young
Persons Housing Strategy
This report was also to be considered by the
Board at its meeting on 30th November 2006.
The Strategy detailed the current
accommodation and housing services available to young people
between the ages of 16 years and 24 years in the Borough and made
recommendations to improve the provision. Amanda Boffey,
Supporting People Liaison Officer, was in attendance and made a
presentation to the Committee. The following issues were
covered -
Purpose of the Strategy: (a) to
identify the housing needs of young people in Crewe and Nantwich;
(b) to identify the support needs of young people in need of
accommodation; and (c) to provide evidence to the Housing
Corporation to support bids.
Development Process: The Strategy
had been developed through a small Steering Group comprising
representatives from the Council, Wulvern Housing and the
YMCA. In addition, focus groups had also been used.
Results During the development
process, it had emerged that homelessness in respect of young
people was continuing, there were no mediation services, and young
females were particularly vulnerable.
Prevention: Work was being undertaken
to reduce the percentage of young people who presented as
homeless. Mediation services were to be developed to try to
work with families as a whole.
The Future All key partners,
agencies and young people supported the strategy and there was now
evidence to support the need for provision of such services.
Specific models of accommodation and support would now be
developed.
Following the presentation, Members asked
questions which included the following -
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The need was met, to some extent, in
Crewe; had consideration been given to addressing the needs
of young people in Nantwich or the rural areas?
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The need was acknowledged, but it would be
unlikely that the Council would receive any subsidy to provide for
Nantwich and the rural areas.
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As the Council became more sophisticated in
dealing with homelessness, was there a likelihood of an increase in
demand?
Homelessness was, to an extent “hidden”, and
the improvement of services could result in a greater demand.
As people became more aware of the services, there could be more
people presenting as homeless.
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In response to a question about community
interface with young homeless people, the Committee was informed
that each homeless person was allocated a “Key Worker” to support
them. The Hungerford Road Centre was cited as a good example
of the community supporting the young people; both the corner
shop and the doctors’ surgery gave priority to their needs.
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Which agency had the primary responsibility
for funding/provision for young homeless people?
The “Supporting People” programme had a
national budget of £22m which could be accessed locally through a
commissioning body. At a local level, the Borough Council was
involved and represented on the commissioning body by the Head of
Housing.
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AGREED: That no comments be made
to the Board on this report.
41.2 Provisional
Items (Board’s Forward Plan)
The Committee received the Board’s Forward
Plan for 4th and 11th January and
8th February 2007. It was noted that the Social
Inclusion Strategy and Youth Nuisance Policy and Procedures were
scheduled for consideration by the Board on 11th
January. A view was expressed that these were closely related
and the Committee should be considering these in more detail,
rather than as part of the Board agenda only. It was
suggested that the appropriate Officer attend the Committee meeting
in January to outline the proposals in each of the documents.
AGREED: (a) That, at
its meeting on 10th January 2007, the Committee discuss
the following documents scheduled for consideration by the Board at
its meeting on 11th January –
Social Inclusion
Strategy
Youth Nuisance
Policy and Procedures
(b)
That the appropriate Officer attend the meeting to outline the
proposals in each document.
41.3 Responses from
the Board/Council
At its meeting held on 18th October
2006, the Committee did not submit comments to the Board on any
item of business for its meeting to be held on 19th
October. Consequently, there were no responses from the Board
on this occasion. There were no referrals from Council.
42. PERFORMANCE
MONITORING – BVPIs AND LPIs
The report submitted provided service
performance information on the agreed basket of key national
Performance Indicators for the period April to September 2006.
A query was raised on PI 126 (Domestic
Burglaries per 1000 households) and it was AGREED
that David Burns, the Safer Communities Manager, be asked to
clarify the statistics and notify Committee Members by e-mail.
43. AFFORDABLE HOUSING
– TASK GROUP (LOCAL ECONOMY &
ENVIRONMENT PERFORMANCE AND OVERVIEW COMMITTEE)
Members were reminded of the establishment of
a Task Group on Affordable Housing which had been set up by the
Local Economy & Environment (LEE) Performance and Overview
Committee. The Task Group had reported back to its Committee
on 28th November.
Councillors M A Hollins and D N Bebbington
represented the LEE Committee on the Task Group. Councillor M
A Martin had been appointed to the Task Group in 2005/2006.
AGREED: That Councillor M A
Martin be re-appointed to the Task Group on Affordable
Housing.
44. PRIVATE SECTOR
HOUSING STOCK CONDITION SURVEY
Mr Rob Dickson from Michael Howard Associates
made a short presentation to the Committee on the results of the
Private Sector Housing Stock Condition Survey 2005.
The survey had been undertaken in Crewe,
Nantwich and the rural areas and 800 surveys had been
completed.
The presentation covered –
-
survey information
-
private sector housing stock profile
- stock
conditions
The final report would be made available in
the Members’ Room.
AGREED: that the
Committee not the results.
45. PRIVATE SECTOR
HOUSING ASSISTANCE COMMITMENT
The Committee received, for information, the
report of the Head of Housing which detailed the amount of
expenditure on the four main housing renewal grants or assistance
to 25th October 2006.
46. WORK
PROGRAMME
Members considered the work programme agreed
by the Committee at its meeting held on 19th July
2006.
A Member asked about the possibility of the
Committee reviewing Police services. He was asked to consider
the scope of the review and an expected outcome for consideration
by the Committee. The Member who raised this topic would not
be available at the next meeting, but agreed to provide information
for the following meeting.
Members briefly discussed the Work Programme
and agreed that an in-depth review of its work was required and
that this topic be considered as an early item on the agenda at the
next meeting.
It was suggested that the Committee may wish
to conduct a review of the use of CCTV in the Borough, from the
perspective of its location and its management. Members of
the Committee were invited to give consideration to topics which
the may want to review, and make suggestions at the next
meeting.
The following items were agreed for discussion
at the meeting to be held on 10th January 2007 –
§
In-depth review of Work Programme for the Committee.
§
Social Inclusion Draft Strategy
§
Youth Nuisance Policy and Procedures
§
Local Area Agreement – receipt of full document
It was further agreed that a Review of the
Community Strategy be undertaken at
the meeting to be held on 7th February 2007.
47. DATE OF NEXT
MEETING
10th January
2007
……….……………….………….
Chair