Minutes of Darnall Area Panel 2 November 2006

DARNALL AREA PANEL

Meeting held on 2nd November, 2006,
at the Living Waters Centre, Main Road, Darnall

PRESENT:		Councillors Mazher Iqbal (Chair), Harry Harpham and Mary Lea.

		Representatives of Panel Partners:-
		Mark Boyles	-	Age Concern
		John Shilito
		Adrian Fox	-	South Yorkshire Police
		Craig Adinal

		Also in attendance:-
		David Curtis	-	Lead Manager
		Stella Mekonnen	-	Area Co-ordinator
		Debbie Merrill	-	Development
		Sarah Thomson	-	Committee Secretariat
		Jennie Hall	-	Development Team
		Shabana Ahmed	-	Early Years Education and Childcare Services
		Kate Clark	-	Darnall Green Spaces

		Approximately 17 members of the public and representatives from local community groups attended the meeting.
…………………..

					Action
1.	APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE FROM MEMBERS OF THE PANEL
	There were no apologies for absence from Panel Members.

2.	MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
	The minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 20th July, 2006, were approved as a correct record.

3.	AGE CONCERN – OLDER PERSONS LINK OFFICER
	Mark Boyles, Community Link Worker Manager, gave a presentation on the Partnerships for Older People’s Project (POPP), which he reported was an initiative being led by the Department of Health, that provided £60m funding to council based partnerships to set up innovative pilot projects to provide person centred and integrated care for older people and to encourage investment in preventative approaches which promoted health, well being and independence for older people.
	The Project was a two year project which aimed to make a lasting difference to the lives of older people by working alongside local people, professionals and service providers, to devise sustainable methods of identifying older people at risk of rapid decline and to address the barriers they face to accessing local services, facilities and resources available to them to maintain their quality of life.
	Mr Boyles reported that Sheffield had received the largest share of funding from POPP and 16 neighbourhoods had been selected each employing a full time Community Link Worker.
	Each Community Link Worker would work with vulnerable older people and would refer those elderly residents within the community who had long term health conditions and and those who were not in touch with services. Elderly residents would be offered health screening and health promotion advice, the provision of ‘fast track’ to Community Matrons, sign posting, assess for and supply assistive technology and actively facilitate access to other services. The Community Link Worker would ensure that a suitable referral was made for each individual to the most appropriate source/service to meet their needs.
	A number of questions were raised and comments made in relation to:-

	· How were elderly people informed of the Community Link Worker Services – through local newsletters, by word of mouth, neighbours and referrals from the police and other agencies.
	· How could the Community Link Worker be contacted – Leonora Charles-Loughrey, Darnall Community Link Worker could be contacted directly on tel: 07894755302 or Haqnawaz Sarwar, Handsworth Community Link Worker on tel: 07894755307.
	· Did the Community Link Workers have a budget – a budget was available to pay for translation services where language was a barrier., when working with a client.
	· What age did elderly people qualify for Age Concern support – no age limit had been established.

	The Panel thanked Mr Boyles for his presentation and noted the information reported.

4.	DARNALL CHILDREN’S CENTRE
	Shabana Ahmed provided an update on the Children’s Centre. She reported that the Government had launched an initiative to ensure that children aged 0-5 years received a better start to their education.
	The Children’s Centre would offer the provision of support to parents through health access and childcare facilities within the same building and offer nursery places for children within that designated area.
	The Centre would also assist in recognising through early intervention children with Special Educational Needs and inform those individuals and their families of the relevant services available to them and would be part of the Greenlands School site, and would offering 38 nursery school places to children aged between 0 – 5 years of age.
	Ms Ahmed anticipated that the Planning Application for the Children’s Centre would be submitted to the City Centre, South and East Planning and Highways Area Board by the end of November, 2006.
	Once the Application had been approved the City Council would tender for the building developer, with the building hopefully being completed by January 2008.
	Jennie Hall reported on the changes to the design of the building which now incorporated a green roof and heat pump.
	Councillor Mary Lea reported that the green roof was an Eco friendly roof, which would help to reduce energy resources and provide a living garden for wildlife.
	Jennie Hall reported that the Early Years Education and Childcare Services had discussed ideas with the Darnall Community Nursery for the exterior of the Children’s Centre Building, which included proposals for grassed play areas and a pond and allotments to provide children with a wide range of educational learning opportunities.

	A number of questions were raised and comments made in relation to:-
	· Concerns regarding the sustainability of the green roof – the Panel agreed that the Project Architect would attend the next Area Panel meeting to be held on 7th December, 2006 to answer questions regarding the design of the building.
	· The reduction in the number of available child places from 50 to 38 – the number of nursery places was reduced in October, 2005 and was linked to the revenue available for sustaining the number of nursery places and the resources available.
	· Other facilities in the Centre - the project planners were seeking to develop the vacant rooms in the Centre to meet the needs of local people.
	· If provision at the Centre was solely for the needs of vulnerable children – there would be 11 Children’s Centres across the City with some being situated within deprived areas and others in more affluent areas, with children in more affluent areas receiving minimal core services as the need for such services is not required.
	· If there would be specialist health provision – there will be provision for Health Visitors and midwifes to be based within the Centre.
	· Would the Children’s Centre building be sustainable for 20 years or more – the Centre had been designed to last with space to extend the building if required.

	The Chair thanked Ms Ahmed and Ms Hall for their contribution to the meeting.

5.	DARNALL AND TINSLEY SAFER NEIGHBOURHOOD TEAM
	John Shilito informed the Panel of the latest crime statistics across the City and figures in relation to the Darnall area.
	Mr Shilito reported that the Darnall Safer Neighbourhood Team had recently employed an additional 14 Police Constables plus two Supervisors to patrol the local area.
	In respect of Operation Mischief the Panel noted that there had been a reduction in firework related incidents since the introduction of the Government Legislation where young people under the age of 18 were issued with an £80 fine for the possession of fireworks.
	With regard to house burglaries across the City, Mr Shilito reported that out of approximately 267,000 dwellings 4,450 burglaries had been reported for 2005/06, with 38 being reported in the Darnall area.
	Mr Shilito commented that car crime was the most common reported crime, adding that the majority of incidents could be prevented if members of the public ensured that their possessions were locked in the boot of their vehicle.
	In respect of other building related burglaries across the City, 4,279 crimes had been reported with 107 incidents reported in the Darnall area.
	A number of questions were raised and comments made in relation to:-
	· Whether there was an increase in crime during a specific month – there were peaks and troughs throughout the year in relation to crime figures but especially during the ‘fresher’s’ week, where students arrived in the City and the Christmas period.
	· Whether the Police retained data of elderly people living alone – the Police did not maintain information of elderly people living alone, but relied on neighbours to report any concerns to the Police.
	· Public perception was that the Police did not respond to telephone calls made by the public, therefore there was no point in reporting crime related incidents – the Safer Neighbourhood Teams had been established to get the Police back into the Community and patrolling the streets to highlight a police presence in the area and respond to emergency calls.
	· Was evidence available to determine whether the 202020 local police telephone service had improved – the system had improved but members of the public could call the local Safer Neighbourhood Team on 252355 if they were experiencing difficulties in accessing the 202020 number.
	· Would improved street lighting assist in reducing neighbourhood crime – the City Council had received funding from the Private Finance Initiative to replace or repair street lighting columns across the City and intended to replace lighting where necessary with white metal hay lights which provided brighter lighting compared to the existing street lighting.

	The Chair thanked Mr Shilito and his team for their contribution to the meeting.

6.	PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
	Concerns were raised in relation to the closure of the Shirland Residential Nursing Home and Councillor Mary Lea indicated that she awaited a response from officers regarding this issue and would provide a report on this matter at the next meeting of the Area Panel.				Cllr Mary Lea

7.	PHILLIMORE PARK
	Kate Clarke reported that Phillimore Park Community Association had been successfully short-listed for the Big Lottery’s ‘People’s Millions’ Grant Scheme for the Phillimore Park Youth Facilities Project. The project would be up for public vote with another short-listed project on ITV Calendar News on Monday the 13th November between 6.00 pm and 6.30 pm and she requested that the Panel supported this project.

8.	DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
	It was noted that the next meeting of the Panel would be held on Thursday, 7th December, 2006, at 6.00 pm at a venue to be confirmed.

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