Great Yarmouth People: Steering Group Minutes 10/07/08

Great Yarmouth People

Steering Group

Minutes of the meeting 10th July 2008

Jargon Buster   BWCF        Borough Wide Churches Forum CC              Community Connections GYVSP      Great Yarmouth Voluntary Sector Partnership CG             Community Grants CDW                   Community Development Worker DCLG        Department for Community and Local Government GYST         Great Yarmouth Support Team CP              Community Partnership GO-East    Government Office – East of England GYBC        Great Yarmouth Borough Council GYIA          Great Yarmouth International Association GYLC         Great Yarmouth Learning Community GYLSP      Great Yarmouth Local Strategic Partnership GYP           Great Yarmouth People GYPSG      Great Yarmouth People Steering Group LAA            Local Area Agreement LSP            Local Strategic Partnership NCC           Norfolk County Council NM              Neighbourhood Management         NRF           Neighbourhood Renewal Fund SCS           Sustainable Communities Strategy SSCF         Safer and Stronger Community Fund WNF          Working Neighbourhoods Fund  NM              Neighbourhood Management NRF           Neighbourhood Renewal Fund SSCF         Safer and Stronger Communities Fund  VSP           Voluntary Sector Partnership

 

Mike Hewitt welcomed us all to the meeting and we all introduce ourselves around the table

Attendance: Mike Hewitt (North Yarmouth Rep), Peter Paine (Port Chaplain), John Drinkill (Finance Officer CC),Tim Leonard (LSP Officer)Stephanie Vincent (Gorleston Central Rep),Alison Tyler (Sergeant Partnerships Norfolk Constabulary), Paula Driscoll (M.A.P Connexions), Jo Chaplin (GY V), Margaret Ward (Waterside Rep), Brian McDonnell (OPN), Lindsey Seward (Disability Forum) John Watt (Disability Forum) David Wilkinson (South Yarmouth1), Tracey Souter (CC Admin) Alan Ellison (Mag Rep),  Jacky Hughes (Children & Families), Simon O’Leary (VSP Development Worker) Michael Collins (CDW Team Leader), David Hutchison (CDW) Ben Sampson (VSP)

Apologies: Judith Edmonds (BWCF), Pam Cranston (GYVC) Paul Cheeseman (VSP), Peter Kirkpatrick (Rural 2), Nick Davey (CY Rep) Diana Baxter (GFS Platform),Trish Aydin (CC).

Minutes were checked and one amendment is needed. Lindsay Seward notes that her comment on GYP Representation at the Learning Forum was missing from the minutes. She is the only rep from GYP who attends the Learning Forum Meetings, and requests that there is another rep available to attend. The Learning Forum meets every 3 months and a 2nd rep is needed to attend with Lindsay or in place of Lindsay if she is unable to attend. Please can someone volunteer for this position or nominate someone who they think can attend.

Michael is new in post and is looking to set up a planning and coordination committee for next year’s event. As this will be Michael’s first year of planning an event, he requests that he has input and help from all GYP Members. Mike asks Tim if this is something that the LSP wants to get involved with and Tim agrees that because the event was such a huge success, the LSP express an interest in getting involved again next year. The coordination and planning team will include Mike Hewitt, Peter Paine, and Michael Collins, and other GYP members may be called upon for their assistance if they are able to give support at next years event.

The Maritime Festival is to be held on Sat 6th Sept and Sun 7th Sept 2008 on the South Quay, GT Yarmouth.

Peter Paine informs the group that the Royal Navy have pulled out of this years festival but it will still be a good turn out with the smaller vessels that are taking part. The event will have information stands, but at present there is a waiting list for organisations wanting to be a part of the event. There is the possibility of using the Town Hall for an information stand as the South Quay side is full already.

Lindsay asks if there will be entertainment in the market place again this year. Peter replies that the focus is on the Quay and not in town.

For future events and festivals, early booking is essential as places fill up very quickly. If Community Connections / GYP wish to have a stand at next years festival, then a place needs to be booked as soon as this years has finished.

This is the launch of a new High Profile international festival called “Out There” and is taking place between 25th of October to November 2nd (Half term Week).”Out There” will be combining international, regional and local talent, and will be bringing the wider diverse community together. Joe from Seachange Arts came to the last GYP meeting in June to discuss the festival. Please see minutes from last meeting. More details can be found at www.seachangearts.org.uk

Trish circulated copies of the Employment & Skills action plan at the last meeting. Requests were made by Margaret Ward, Jacky Hughes and David Wilkinson to receive copies. Tracey will post copies to all members who were absent from the previous meeting.

The employment and Skills Group was formed and consists of 8 members including, Trish, Rob Gregory and Paul Cheeseman. The group look at how WNF can be commissioned.

Tim explains that £7.1 Million has been awarded because of high level of unemployment. The employment plan majors on work, getting people into work and giving them the right training, such as confidence building, to enable them to look for work. A high number of people living in Great Yarmouth are receiving benefits, 2100 people are currently on Job seekers allowance and 5500 are currently on Incapacity Benefit.

Lindsay asks if there any members on the Employment & Skills Group who are in receipt of benefits?

Tim replies that there are currently no people on the group who are receiving benefits, but there could be possible future representation from benefit claimants. Tim has said that he would take the suggestion to the group, and feedback at the next GYP meeting.

Adrian Barnes – Presentation – Play Development & Play Survey

(Adrian’s presentation was held later than the scheduled time) Adrian introduces himself to the group as there are some new faces since his last involvement with GYP. Adrian is the new Play Development Worker employed by the Borough Council funded by BIG Lottery money. Adrian circulated an article in the Sports Link Publication which highlights his role within the Borough Council. Great Yarmouth drafted a Play strategy to

identify the children’s play needs in the Borough. He wants to find out what is available, what is needed and what the children and parents want to see in their community. Adrian is now conducting a play survey which is being circulated to all schools and community groups to gain knowledge of the existing play equipment and facilities for children aged between 3 and 11. Adrian would like these surveys circulated at events, partnership meetings etc to gain a widest possible response from children and families within Great Yarmouth. 

Surveys can be obtained from Adrian Barnes on adrianbarnes@gyslt.com and he will happily email a copy for distribution.

 Michael Collins handed out the “Community Empowerment Network Good Practice Guide to Communicating and Sharing Information” which is to be read and bought to the next GYP meeting for discussion.

This strategy was written over 2 years ago and is due for revision. It has been highlighted in past GYP meetings that communication is the key to getting the communities voice heard at government level.

Tim highlights that feedback coming from grass roots level needs to be forwarded to the LSP through the GYP Steering Group. The statutory sector needs to have these issues and concerns voiced to enable them to take action.

Brian Mc Donnell points out that some issues within the community are not relevant to GYP so they are not voiced. Individual issues specific to individual groups, ie, Pension Credits are applicable to the OPN and taken to LSP but are not applicable to be raised at GYP meetings.

Tim informs that there is always an agenda slot at the LSP meetings for GYP Feedback, but if no feedback is given, nothing can be reported. Margaret raises the issues of the possible Boundary change, if there is to be just one LSP for Norfolk, how can community groups and grassroots issues be raised? If the LSP is county wide, then smaller issues within Great Yarmouth Communities will not be heard.

Lindsay thinks that there should have been a longer consultation period before boundary draft proposals were submitted. The Local groups, CEN’s and Forums were not aware of these proposals until they were made public on Monday morning.

John says that Boundary Change is a major issue and decisions and feedback on the Boundary Commission Document cannot be discussed at the present GYP meeting. The proposals have been drafted, GYP cannot influence a decision that has already been made. Partnerships will have to voice their concerns as to how the boundary change will affect them and then bring those concerns to GYP. There is now a period of 12 weeks during which views and issues can be submitted to the Boundary

Committee. The deadline for these concerns and issues is the 28th of September 2008.

Margaret is concerned at the plans have been made and the first that residents and communities knew of it was when the plans were announced on Monday.

The LSP want a more adequet was of consulting the public, timescales for consultation periods are too short. Tim informs the group that this will be raised at the next LSP Exec meeting.

Lindsay is unsure what information is taken to the LSP meetings, she then proposes that something is put as a standing item on the Agenda. Possibly titled, “What GYP want taken to the LSP” this can then be documented and forwarded to the LSP Board and Exec.

The SCS was first drafted and called 20/20, David Stannard has since then revised it and it has been renamed the Sustainable Community Strategy. This document was sent borough wide to collate views and opinions of great Yarmouth Residents on the future of Great Yarmouth. David has now enlisted the help of Pam Fox, a consultant for the Borough Council, to revise the SCS. This is to be more focused on Community Cohesion. The previous strategy was drafted focusing on Planning and regeneration of Great Yarmouth but the Government want to see more Community Involvement. Pam is to spend time with Trish, Paul Cheeseman and others from the Third Sector to gain community Information.

Tim is frustrated at present as no decision has been made for the funds allocation. A commissioning process is being drafted for the distribution of funds. The WNF focuses on Worklessness, Skills and Enterprise. Giving Communities the tools and training to be able to actively seek work, to have the confidence to get a job and to support and guide people to come off benefits and get back into work.

John informs the group that GYP is funded through the interim funding until WNF is distributed. £274,000 interim funding has been given to cover costs of GYP Expenses, Community Connections, Running of the Community Partnerships, Annual Meeting and Training.

Community Connections need to provide evidence of how it has used the money and what has been done with it. This funding is very “numbers orientated”, and John has to provide WNF with a figure of now many people the funding has reached, how many people it has had an impact on, and how many people have been targeted. Community Connections provide CDW’s with set targets of how many people they have to target per quarter. All organisations who have received the interim funding are going to be asked what has been done with the money, and they will be audited on their work

Trish will be taking this over to the LSP Exec and Board for discussion. Community Connections has to present to WNF that GYP is essential for Communities within Great Yarmouth, and it is essential that WNF is to be used on empowering the community back into work by providing the necessary tools and training to allow this.

Tim reminds the group that the Area Based Grants has 4 elements to it, WNF, Cleaner Safer Greener, LEGI and Cohesion.

John reports that the annual running costs for GYP is £65,000 and that Trish would look into funding GYP from the Cohesion Element of the funding.

Simon O’Leary sends apologies on behalf of Paul Cheeseman. He is unable to make this meeting but will be present for next months meeting. Paul has drafted a document with the key points to Working Neighbourhood Funds. This was distributed amongst the group and will be included with the minutes.

Mike would like views and thoughts from GYP members on the key themes that have been identified.

Community Engagement has not been identified as a separate theme, but Michael feels that because Community Engagement is such an important factor in the work we do, it should not be overlooked. Community Engagement is one of the main factors in so many projects and areas of work, it is felt that it should not be subsumed within the other identified key themes.

Paul is now working on a draft proposal for the delivery of the WNF. £274,000 has been paid in the form of an interim payment, this is part of £2 million to be spent, according to targets set by the LSP for the spending of WNF money.

2nd Homes Council Tax Update (2HCT):

Tim reports that the second homes council tax money has been allocated to the Environmental Rangers and the “Out There” International Cultural Festival in October. The 2HCT money was either going to benefit the rural areas or the entire Borough and It was decided on Monday that the money should be spent to benefit all of Great Yarmouth. A decision was made that £50,000 would be awarded to the environmental Rangers and the remaining £80,000 is to be used for the running of the festival in October. This decision was suggested by Marie Hartley due to the criteria that was set 2 years ago for spending of 2HCT money. That criteria stated that the spending had to be on a “visual” thing for Great Yarmouth. The Festival will bring together all communities within Great Yarmouth with the hope of further festivals taking place. Tim reports that next years 2HCT may not be as much as people are avoiding paying 2HCT by registering the home as a business, e.g., renting out the home.  Tim also reports that there is no more 2HCT money to be spent until next year.

Margaret was very concerned that such a huge amount of money was being spent on a festival when there are youth groups and deprived areas that could benefit greatly from this money.

Tim informs the group that at the meeting there were 30 members present and 2 votes were recorded against using the money for a festival.

John reports that most of the finance concerning GYP has been covered already within this meeting. Please can all expense claim forms be sent to John Drinkill.

Brian reports that the Chairman of the OPN, Jim, passed away and will be greatly missed. Condolences are passed on to his family.

The Disability Forum informs us of a questionnaire that is being circulated to ask of issues within the disabled community. A consultation with Norfolk Coalition of Disabled People to find out what they want from Social Services and the PCT. That consultation ends at the end of September.

Judith was unable to attend but her report is attached.

Peter reports for the Faith Community informing the group that 55 South Beach Parade is no longer available to use and they were looking for other possible locations to have their offices. The back office at the Runham & Vauxhall CLIP office was a suggestion and possibly Cobholm and Lichfield Resource centre. Peter needs other possible locations for offices, any suggestions, please let Peter know.

Peter reports of the Network Yarmouth Website being very successful receiving over 30,000 hits a month.

South Yarmouth Partnership is holding a walk in discussion session with the PCT on the 29th of July at the Library.

The next Environmental Forum meeting is to be held 2nd of September, but require agenda items to be discussed The environmental Forum had not met as there were no pressing issues that had been identified.

This concerns Margaret as GYP do not know what is being discussed at the individual forums. She requests a possible list being drawn up of the topics that have been discussed at past meetings. She does not require detailed descriptions of what has been discussed, just a list of topics if possible. 

Margaret also asks why there is no standing item agenda for 1st East Updates. This is because GYP has not received any updates or reports from 1st East. The Local newspaper reports of 1st East Activities involving the Nelson Bridge and pedestrian crossings, but GYP was not made aware. Margaret requested to obtain an update from 1st East on their current activities. Economic forum met and decided that another meeting was needed to decide which direction they were taking. This meeting will be held on the 14th of August.

The LSP Board report was tabled by Mike and will be included with the minutes. Mike also circulated NRF Under spend.

The Partnership for Health’s meeting is next week, Brian is no longer member on the partnership and Lindsay is now looking at a process of who will be a representative.

Runham and Vauxhall – Mike tabled report, to be included with minutes. Library Update: There is currently no Library update.

At the last meeting, I reported that BWCF, Industrial Mission and Port Chaplaincy were due to move on 30/06/08. That was unable to happen as the premises became unavailable to us. Since then we have had two offers of office accommodation, both of which we are currently investigating for suitability and cost

BWCF held its latest Open Forum at All Saints Church on 19th June, with the theme of 'church at work'. Investigating the role of the workplace Chaplain with talks given by Norman Pierpoint, Great Yarmouth College Chaplain, and Rev Peter Glanville, whose chaplaincies include the James Paget Hospital and answering the questions:

We also had a discussion regarding the draft constitution which had to be curtailed due to a lack of time and a subcommittee was appointed to bring forward the final draft to the October meeting

Network Yarmouth continues to grow, achieving 29,115 hits in June

RUNHAM VAUXHALL FAIR SHARE PANEL

The Report of the last meeting, 24th June 2008

This report is taken from the Minutes as unfortunately I was unable to attend.

Old Garage Site:   John had contacted owner in an attempted to improve the look of the site. Looking at environmental improvements.

Disabled Access: Waiting to clarify start date. Agreement has been reached on remedial work within this financial year. Fair Share may be able to fund any additional work if needed

Wherry Sails Landscape - Work should have started, but a unmapped sewer has been found on the site.

Vauxhall Bridge - A meeting called by the Police on 1st May was mainly about security issues. The main problem is finding a organisation/company to lead the project.

The Village Sign is moving ahead and the improve railings are all ready.   This is one project and the work has to be completed at the same time for funding purposes.

These included: Speed Limit Sign, Green Space Scheme, Footpath & Drainage North River Road. 

Sue who is the Norfolk Lead, gave a presentation on the new C.A.A. Audit.

This is area based, covers all sectors, looking forward. Based around the 7 LSP’s looking at local issues. Outcome focus will depend on local priorities and once a framework has been agreed a annual report will come out each November. 

About 40% of people on Incapacity benefit that we know about, are of a mental health issue. A number of people on high income, work in the town but live outside. There are concerns around the targets and obtaining the correct feedback.

A Delivery Plan is being produced, to comply with the government guidance. To meet the requirements of the new Comprehensive Area Assessment for 2009. To make it a practical document that would inform the actions of those agencies involved in the LSP. This work is to build on David Stannard’s draft paper.

We received the papers on the next steps in implementing the agreement.

A. We received the latest draft action plan.

1. Needs Analysis. 2. A delivery framework was received. 3. Another Employment event planned for October. 4. NRF reported on final funding. 5. Transitional funding on projects carried over from NRF to continue.

Agreed to Rural Transport Project. Out There International Festival to be funded from past under spends.

Local Government Re-Organisation - First plans issued just prior to meeting.

Mike Hewitt GYP - Community Member