Minutes of South East Area Panel 18 October 2005

SOUTH EAST AREA PANEL

Meeting held 18th October 2005 at the Birley Spa Bath House,
Birley Spa

	PRESENT:		Councillors David Barker, Majorie Barker, Helen Mirfin-Boukouris, Mike Peat, Ian Saunders and Sam Wall

			Also in attendance:
			Councillor Martin Lawton, Pete Marshall (Development Services), Doug Low (Jobnet), Kitty Turnell (Sheffield Futures and Connexions), Dave Elliott (Sheffield Libraries), Ken Matthews (Lead Manager), Dianne Hurst (Area Co-ordinator), Hannah Isherwood (Area Panel Support Officer) and 24 members of the public
............

1.		APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR
		RESOLVED: That, in the absence of the Chair, Councillor Ian Saunders be appointed Chair of this meeting.

2.		APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
		Apologies for absence were received from the Chair (Councillor Chris Rosling-Josephs) and Councillor Mike Pye.

3.		SILVER ECO-SCHOOLS AWARD
		The Chair (Councillor Ian Saunders) presented the Silver Eco-Schools Award, together with a cheque for £1,000, to pupils of Mosborough Primary School and he stated that the school was one of only three in the area to achieve the award.
		Two pupils from the school addressed the Panel and described the work that they and their fellow pupils had carried out to improve the environment of their school grounds. They also extended an invitation to Councillor Saunders and Members of the Area Panel to visit the school and see the work that had been done.
		RESOLVED: That (a) the staff and pupils of Mosborough Primary School be congratulated on achieving the Silver Eco-School Award and encouraged to keep up their good work; and
		(b) the invitation now extended for Members of the Area Panel to visit the school be accepted and the Area Co-ordinator be requested to make the appropriate arrangements.

4.		MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
		The minutes of the meeting of the Area Panel held on 26th July 2005 were approved as a correct record.

5.		MATTERS ARISING
		Woodhouse Retirement Village
		The Area Panel noted that construction work had now started in relation to the Woodhouse Retirement Village.

		South East Active Communities Summer Programme
		The Area Panel noted that, due to illness, Stuart Rogers had been unable to attend this meeting but would be invited to attend the next meeting to be held in December 2005.

6.		PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
		Adult Education Centre
		A member of the public who lived on Longstone Crescent reported her concern about the vandalism that was occurring to the Adult Education Centre which bordered Longstone Crescent. She stated that on one occasion in the summer months, youths had climbed on the roof of the Centre and had been throwing missiles from there into her garden and at her baby. They were also setting fire to wheeled bins and there had been allegations about drug dealing from the premises. She stated that she felt very disheartened that nothing had been done.
		The Area Co-ordinator responded that the City Council owned the site but was negotiating with Sheffield College for them to take over the lease of the building. She understood that Sheffield College intended to put high wire security fencing around the building and they were working with the Police, who had been called out on a number of occasions.
		Inspector Richard Dove, South Yorkshire Police, stated that arrests had been made and he would work with the Area Co-ordinator and Sheffield College in relation to making the building secure.
		RESOLVED: That (a) the information now reported be noted; and
		(b) the Area Co-ordinator be requested to liaise with the local resident, the South Yorkshire Police and others and report back on progress to the next meeting of the Area Panel.

		Rainbow Forge School
		Maureen Stoneman, School Governor, reported that public meetings had been held with Clive Betts, MP and local residents about concerns regarding car parking around the school. The school was in the process of creating a “walking bus” in an endeavour to stop parking around the school but there were concerns about the speed of traffic on Beighton Road. Maureen Stoneman added that Rainbow Forge School had also experienced incidents of anti-social behaviour until security fencing had been erected.
		The Area Co-ordinator stated that, following discussions with representatives of the Hackenthorpe Tenants’ and Residents’ Association about the speed of traffic through the area, she had referred the matter to the Director of Development Services so that he could examine the options that were available.
		RESOLVED: That (a) the information now reported be noted; and
		(b) the Area Co-ordinator be requested to liaise with Inspector Richard Dove with regard to traffic speeds in the area.

		Air Quality
		Maurice Littlewood, Handsworth Community Forum, reported that, for the last three years, he had been monitoring air quality from Orgreave to Darnall and was anxious that a similar survey should be carried out in Woodhouse in view of the major impact the development at Waverley would have on the community.
		Councillor Marjorie Barker responded that she would arrange for the Woodhouse Councillors to speak to Maurice Littlewood about his proposal.
		RESOLVED: That the Area Co-ordinator be requested to speak to Maurice Littlewood and submit a report to the next meeting of the Area Panel.

		Mosborough Village
		A member of the public referred to a meeting that had taken place at Mosborough Primary School to discuss a clean up of the area and stated that Swallows Lane, Mosborough Village was in a poor state and blocked with builders’ rubbish.
		Councillor Mike Peat referred to the issues discussed at that meeting and stated that he had ascertained that the toilets on Station Road were owned by the Rugby Club and a letter had been sent asking them about their intentions with regard to the building.
		RESOLVED: That (a) the information now reported be noted; and
		(b) the Area Co-ordinator be requested to report on the condition of Swallow Lane to the next meeting of the Area Panel.

7.		SHEFFIELD DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
		Pete Marshall, Development Services, gave a presentation on the Sheffield Development Framework and circulated a guide to the Statement of Community Involvement, which set out how the Council aimed to involve people and organisations in planning for sustainable development.
		He stated that the Sheffield Development Framework (SDF) would be a family of planning documents which would cover all Sheffield, except for that part of the City which was within the Peak District National Park. The planning documents would contain the City’s planning policies and guidelines and would cover new developments, protect the environment and help to shape the places where people lived, worked, shopped and visited.
		The process and timetable for preparing the SDF were detailed in the guide and Pete Marshall listed a number of ways in which people and organisations could become involved in preparing the documents. He stated that the Council would use local newspapers and radio to publicise new documents and consultation events, such as public meetings. Contact details of over 200 individuals and around 1000 organisations had been registered with the Council and they would all be contacted at key stages, informing them of the publication of documents, notifying them of consultation events and explaining how they could contribute to the process. In addition, information would be given at meetings of the Area Panel and intensive community involvement would be sought at the Preferred Options stage of the Core Strategy, City Policies and City Sites documents and this would include a City conference for stakeholders, as well as presentations to local forums and regeneration partnerships.
		All the SDF documents would be published on the Council’s website at www.sheffield.gov.uk. The documents would also be available for inspection at First Point reception centres at Howden House, Hillsborough and Chapeltown and at all branch libraries. There would also be exhibitions at key stages and questionnaires would be used to seek people’s views.
		Comments on the SDF documents could be sent via the website, by e-mail or by post and all comments received (including those made at public meetings) would be logged, analysed and assessed by planning officers. The Council’s response would be published at each key stages of the process. Everyone who had made written comments on a document would be informed about the consultation reports when they were published.
		Pete Marshall stated that the guide detailed how the community would be involved in the planning application process, how they were informed about decisions and what kind of development proposals would have substantial, extra public consultation. This could include pre-application consultation on the most significant development proposals.
		The Council was endeavouring to reach out to all members of the community and he urged people to register their interest in the Statement of Community Involvement.
		Members of the public asked a number of questions, to which Pete Marshall responded as follows:-

		· The precise details of how wide the consultation would be in respect of large scale developments was not yet known, but best practice was to carry out a wide ranging consultation on such matters.
		· If a proposed development was likely to generate large volumes of traffic or other environmental impacts, the Director of Environment and Regulatory Services would be required to carry out an environmental assessment and the appropriate traffic planning and other measures would be taken into account when the planning application was considered.
		· Site notices would continue to be issued in regard to planning applications and, whilst it was accepted that it was sometimes difficult to position these so that they could be easily read by the general public, every effort was made to publicise applications by other means as well.
		· When large scale developments which could impact on Sheffield were proposed in adjoining authorities, the responsibility was on those authorities to seek Sheffield City Council’s views on those proposals. There were formal channels by which this was done at an early stage.
		· The SDF Proposals Map and the associated City Policies and City Sites documents would not be adopted until 2009.

		In response to a question about the proposed Waverley development, Councillor Ian Saunders stated that meetings were taking place between Clive Betts, MP, local Councillors and Members and Officers of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.
		RESOLVED: That the information now reported be noted and Pete Marshall be thanked for his presentation.

8.		JOBNET – WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE SOUTH EAST
		Doug Low, Centre for Full Employment Limited, gave a presentation on a new job service that was to become available within the South East area. He stated that full employment had not yet penetrated down into some neighbourhoods, which were suffering very high pockets of unemployment and the role of Jobnet was to match unemployed people in those neighbourhoods with suitable employers.
		He stated that this was a Government initiative to tackle the unacceptable culture of worklessness. There were employers in the City who were unable to fill vacancies and Jobnet aimed to act as a recruitment service within communities.
		Doug Low stated that he would be engaging employers in order to promote their vacancies to the wider community. He explained that most employers used recruitment practices that were formulated in the 1980s but were not working in the twenty-first century and these would be examined to consider how they could be made more effective.
		The programme was entitled Full Employment Sheffield and involved many different projects, of which Jobnet was one. It was funded through European and Regional Government monies.
		It was proposed that there would be a central Jobnet in the area, based at Crystal Peaks, with a series of outreaches. Jobnet would be established in the area in the next six weeks and would also work with providers who were looking to improve people’s skills. This would replicate what had been done successfully in other areas of the City.
		Members of the public asked a number of questions, to which Doug Low responded as follows:-

		· The first aim would be to reach the economically inactive and when the target had been reached it was intended to look at people in low paid jobs and to provide a service for people in work.
		· The Jobnet centres would be based in areas where there was a high density of people unemployed and outreach facilities would be available so that people did not have to spend money travelling in order to access help and advice.
		· The aim was to work with employers and to match people to jobs, whether their requirements be for full or part-time work.
		· The service would be voluntary and people would be registered on a skills register.
		· The age range was from 16 to 64 but if the person was 16, the Officer would contact Connexions so that they could have an input.
		· There were specialist Officers within Jobnet to work with people with mental health problems.
		· Work was taking place to encourage those people who had taken early retirement and wished to return to the labour market.

		RESOLVED: That the information now reported be noted and Doug Low be thanked for his presentation.

9.		DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING
		It was noted that the next public meeting of the Area Panel would be held on Tuesday, 20th December 2005 at 1.30 p.m. at Mosborough Methodist Church, Cadman Street.

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