Minutes 21st May, 2003

	NORTH AREA PANEL


	Meeting held 21st May, 2003 at Grenoside Community Centre, Grenoside

			PRESENT:			Councillors David Baker (Chair) and Graham Oxley.

			Representatives of Panel Partners:-
			Alison Brelsford				-	Stocksbridge Town Council
			Alan Hooper				-	Ecclesfield Parish Council
			Kath Grainger				-	Ecclesfield Parish Council
			Jeanette Miller				-	North Primary Care Trust
			Sgt. Tony Earnshaw				-	South Yorkshire Police
			Station Officer John Edwards				-	South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service
			Kevin Seaman				-	Sheffield Futures
			Jill Moore				-	Chair of Governors, Grenoside School
			City Council Officers:-
			Anne Blantern				-	North Area Co-ordinator
			John Charlton				-	Lead Manager
			Kieron Williams				-	Area Support Officer
			Julie Tasker				-	Community Safety Team
			Lisa Casey				-	Community Safety Team
			Paul Walton				-	Housing Services
			Tracy Lovett				-	Housing Services
			Daniel Swaine				-	Committee Secretariat

			10 members of the public attended the meeting.
		……………

1.		APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR
		It was noted that Councillor David Baker had been appointed by the Council at its meeting earlier that day as Chair of the North Area Panel.
		Councillor Baker stated that he had recently been elected to represent the South Wortley Ward and he was familiar with the North Area as he was a previous resident of Oughtibridge.

2.		APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
		Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Victoria Bowden, Kathleen Chadwick, Arthur Dunworth and Pat Fox.

3.		MINUTES
		The Panel received and approved the minutes of the meeting held on 16th April, 2003, and arising from consideration of these minutes it was noted that (a) Graham Broadhurst, Street Force, had investigated the concerns expressed regarding the footpath between Rodney Hill and Woodstock Road and the matter had been referred to the appropriate officers of the Parks, Woodlands and Countryside Service who had implemented measures to remedy this problem, (b) the Area Co-ordinator had undertaken an investigation and located the site of the boundary wall which was being damaged by motorcyclists and had requested Street Force to contact the owner of this wall so that measures could be introduced to remedy the damage, (c) the next Environmental Network meeting would be held on 28th May, 2003, at Grenoside Community Centre, (d) it would be necessary to give further consideration to the proposed traffic calming measures for High Green at the Panel's next meeting to be held on Wednesday, 18th June, 2003 and this would provide an opportunity for local residents to raise their concerns with the Highways Link Officer, Andy Bennett, Planning, Transport and Highways, (e) the potential development proposals at Low Road, Oughtibridge, for properties to accommodate more than 20 residents would be subject to a planning gain agreement to finance the implementation of improvements to Oughtibridge Primary School, however, consideration would be given to requesting an officer from Planning, Transport and Highways to provide further details of this process at a future meeting of the Panel and (f) the High Green Community Forum had met on 12th May, 2003 at Angram Bank Primary School and the event had been well attended by local people and discussions with the Forum had enabled a Memorandum and Articles to be drafted and representatives from the Open Forum for Economic Regeneration (OFFER) would continue to provide the Forum with advice and guidance.

4.		PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
		The following questions were raised by members of the public and responses were provided as follows:-

		Q			Would the planners designing the new school in Grenoside give consideration to the Council's Plan 4 Walking in the development of safe routes to the new school?

		R			The Chair of the Panel stated that it would be appropriate to give the new school development further consideration at a future meeting of the Panel. He added that this would enable local residents to raise their concerns regarding the proposed development with the appropriate Council Officers. Jill Moore, Chair of Governors, Grenoside School, stated that any proposals for the new school development would incorporate measures to provide safe routes to the school and acknowledged that the new school development could be given further consideration at a future meeting of the Area Panel.

		Q			A local resident expressed concern regarding an alleged nuisance tenant who was potentially breaching the Council's tenancy agreement and asked if action could be taken regarding this problem.

		R			In response, Paul Walton, Housing Area Manager, Housing Services, outlined the procedures for dealing with issues of this nature and stated that it would be necessary to discuss this issue further with the questioner in order that the concerns now expressed could be investigated.

		Q			Could action be taken to address the problems caused by motorcycling on the footpaths in Grenoside Woods and in particular the hazards created by motorcyclists using the local roads?

		R			In response, members of the Panel acknowledged the questioners concerns and the Chair stated that this issue would be given further consideration when the item on the agenda regarding Community Safety in the North Area was considered

		Q			Could action be taken to remedy the obstruction of the pavement in Market Square, Chapeltown caused by retailers displaying goods outside their shop frontages?

		R			The Chair stated that this issue would be referred to the appropriate officers of the Council if the questioner provided further details after the meeting.

5.		COMMUNITY SAFETY
		The Area Co-ordinator referred to the North Area Plan and commented that a key priority of this Plan was community safety issues in the North area and she introduced Sgt. Tony Earnshaw, South Yorkshire Police and Julie Tasker and Lisa Casey from the Council's Community Safety Unit, to provide a presentation on this issue.
		Sgt. Earnshaw provided details of the operational arrangements for policing in the Grenoside area. He referred to the local community police team and the area police constables and referred to charts that provided a breakdown of crime in the locality. With regard to the North Sheffield Police District he confirmed that there were 230 police officers in the District and this figure included both uniformed and plain clothed officers. He referred to the policing priorities and outlined the actions to address these priorities and he referred to the weekly tasking and co-ordinating meetings that enabled the problem areas identified by local people to be addressed.
		With regard to instances of anti-social behaviour, Sgt. Earnshaw referred to a number of measures which were used to provide an effective remedy to instances of anti-social behaviour. With regard to crime, he stated that South Yorkshire Police were keen to undertake high profile events to target activities such as car crime, burglary and criminal damage, and raising the profile of these events would help to deter activity of this nature.
		Lisa Casey, Community Safety Officer, informed the Panel that she was one of four Community Safety Officers employed by the City Council that had been seconded to the South Yorkshire Police to work closely with the Area Panels to address the issue of crime reduction at a local level. She referred to the Sheffield First for Safety Partnership which was the Strategic Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership for the City supported by the City Council's Community Safety Team. The Sheffield First for Safety Partnership had produced a 3-year strategy of crime reduction with four priority areas of burglary, vehicle crime, violent crime and anti-social behaviour.
		Members of the Panel noted that the Community Safety Team would assist in setting up multi-agency problem solving groups to address local issues by engaging agencies, communities, organisations and community groups and local people in the process of developing plans which would help to reduce crime. With regard to High Green, Lisa Casey stated that a Community Safety Group, which met every quarter, had been established in March, 2002, and a range of stakeholders attended meetings of the Group. She stated that meetings of the Group enabled local people to contribute to plans for crime reduction in the High Green area and she outlined a number of achievements that had been made possible through the Group's activities.
		With regard to Stocksbridge and Ecclesfield, it was noted that a Community Safety Event had been held on 8th March, 2003, and consideration had been given to a number of issues, in particular the provision of facilities for young people in order to help reduce anti-social behaviour. It was noted that consultation and engagement with local young people had enabled the provision of additional funding to finance sporting activities for young people to be provided at half term at Stocksbridge Leisure Centre. Member of the Panel noted that partnership working between all the appropriate agencies would help to address community safety issues in both Stocksbridge and Ecclesfield and engaging local people in this process would enable local views to be considered in the development of action plans to address local problems.
		Julie Tasker, Principle Community Safety Officer, Community Safety Unit, Sheffield City Council, referred to the 3-yearly crime reduction strategy which highlighted strategic priorities by giving consideration to the views of residents regarding community safety issues. She stated that the Council's four Community Safety Officers would work closely with South Yorkshire Police, the Area Panels and local residents in order to develop plans to address the issue of crime reduction at a local level.
		Arising from this presentation the following issues were raised:-

		(a)		With regard to the concerns expressed regarding motorcycling, Sgt. Tony Earnshaw stated that consultation between South Yorkshire Police and the Parks, Woodlands and Countryside Service of the Council would continue in order to develop specific measures which could target this problem. Julie Tasker stated that discussions would continue regarding the potential development of a site to be used by "off road" motorcyclists, and it was acknowledged that such a site could alleviate the problems being experienced, however, some illegal motorcyclists would not use a legitimate facility and cases of this nature required the development of a strategy to prevent and deter the hazard they created to local residents.

		(b)		It was recognised that the provision of facilities for young people in the North area would help to reduce the problems caused by anti-social behaviour and the Chair commented that it was necessary to involve representatives from the local community in the development of such facilities.

		(c)		In response to concerns expressed regarding the reduction of policing in the North area, Sgt. Tony Earnshaw referred to the proposals to implement the Neighbourhood Police Initiative in the North Sheffield District but stated that he was unable to provide any further details regarding these proposals.

		(d)		Concerns were expressed that operational changes to policing in the North area could considerably damage the Police's relationship with local young people and Sergeant Earnshaw stated that concerns of this nature should be referred to the Chief Constable, South Yorkshire Police.

		The Chair of the Panel stated that effective policing was based on communication with local residents and the consultation process would help to involve local people in developing measures to address problems in the North area. Having considered this issue Members of the Panel requested that the Area Co-ordinator should write to the Chief Constable, South Yorkshire Police, outlining the concerns now expressed regarding the intended operational changes to policing in the North District and its potential impact on local communities in the area.
		The Panel noted the comments of Sgt. Tony Earnshaw, Lisa Casey and Julie Tasker and thanked them for their presentation.

6.		PARISH COUNCIL ISSUES
		Parish Councillor Alan Hooper expressed c, o, ncern that a number of benches in the Ecclesfield area had deteriorated and they were not being maintained by the City Council and asked if action could be taken to investigate this problem. The Lead Manager stated that he would investigate this issue and report his findings directly to the Clerks of Bradfield and Ecclesfield Parish Councils and Stocksbridge Town Council.
		In response to an enquiry from Parish Councillor Kath Grainger, the Lead Manager stated that he would investigate the concerns expressed regarding the litterbins in Nether Ley Avenue and provide a response directly to her.

7.		DATE OF NEXT MEETING
		It was noted that the next meeting of the Panel would be held on Wednesday, 18th June, 2003, at 7.00 p.m. at St. Mary's Church Hall, High Green.

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