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South East Area Panel Minutes 20th April 2004
SOUTH EAST AREA PANEL | ||
Meeting held 20th April, 2004at Woodhouse Library, Tannery Street, Woodhouse | ||
PRESENT: | Councillors Chris Rosling-Josephs (Chair), Marjorie Barker, Bryan Lodge, Angela Smith and Sam Wall | |
Also in attendance: | ||
Stuart Rodgers (South East Active Communities Co-ordinator), Eugene Walker (Deputy Director of Finance), Jackie Ainsworth (Older Persons’ Housing Strategy), Julie Warnes, Terry Charles and Ken Dunn (City School), Dianne Hurst (Area Co-ordinator), Andrea Peers (Area Panel Support Officer) and approximately 40 members of the public. | ||
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1. | APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE FROM MEMBERS OF THE PANEL | |
Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Barbara Belcher and Mick Rooney and the Lead Officer, Ken Matthews. | ||
2. | PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS | |
Section 106 Monies | ||
In response to a question from a member of the public concerning the allocation of Section 106 Planning Gain monies in the South East, the Area Co-ordinator stated that Officers in Planning, Transport and Highways were preparing a quarterly monitoring report which would be submitted to the next meeting of the Panel. | ||
The Area Plan noted this information. | ||
Public Toilets in Market Square, Woodhouse | ||
The Area Panel noted that Officers had examined whether a “Superloo” could be installed in the Market Square at Woodhouse but had found that it would not be possible because there would be insufficient income generated. | ||
3. | MINUTES | |
The minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 17th February 2004 were approved as a correct record. | ||
4. | POLICE SURGERY | |
The Chair (Councillor Chris Rosling-Josephs) thanked Sgt. Andy Wilson from Moss Way Police Station for attending the surgery prior to the meeting in order to respond to the questions and concerns of members of the public. Sgt. Wilson stated that the session had been useful and he would endeavour to attend some Panel meetings in the future, although it would not be possible to attend every meeting. | ||
The Area Panel noted this information. | ||
5. | SOUTH EAST ACTIVE COMMUNITIES |
Stuart Rogers, South East Active Communities Co-ordinator, gave a presentation on the progress that had been made on the Active Communities Project which began in September 2003. | |
He stated that it was a three year, externally funded, project which was managed by Officers from Sport and Community Recreation. The aim of the project was to increase opportunities for people to participate in physical exercise by introducing innovative activities and making it accessible for all members of the community. | |
Stuart Rogers stated that Officers were working with partners such as the Tenants’ and Residents’ Associations, Community Forums, Sheffield Futures, Schools and the Area Panel to provide a range of services. | |
The activities that had taken place so far included a sports camp at Handsworth Grange and Westfield Schools, a play scheme at Scowerdons during February and the Easter holidays, a street dance class at the Scowerdons Community Centre, a keep fit session at Westfield Community Centre, supported health walks, football coaching and sessions linked with Sheffield Futures. | |
The project was funded equally by Sport England and the Area Panel and the projects that were planned to be held between June and August included golf development, activities around a sports van, a three month mobile BMX/Skateboard project, play schemes and various outdoor activities. | |
Members of the public asked a number of questions, to which Stuart Rogers responded as follows:- | |
· The activities would be publicised widely. | |
· The activities would take place across the area and would not create problems for local people. | |
· It was likely that the BMX activities would take place on school premises. | |
· Officers were working with Birley Golf Club on the golfing activities and there would be a pathway for young people to further develop their game. | |
· Officers were looking at holding some activities at the Beighton Miners’ Welfare Centre. | |
· An audit was being compiled of the various sporting activities that were taking place in the South East. | |
· There were around 96 football teams in the South East and information on these was being obtained. | |
· The Handsworth walks would start at the Parish Centre. | |
· Officers were working with the Birley Community Forum and would examine the possibility of including angling in the programme. | |
· The new Westfield School would provide community facilities to a wide area. | |
Members of the public congratulated Stuart Rogers on the initiative and commented that the incremental approach that was being adopted appeared to be very successful. | |
RESOLVED: That (a) the information now reported be noted and Stuart Rogers be thanked for his presentation; and | |
(b) copies of the presentation be made available to members of the public, on request, via the Area Co-ordinator (telephone number 2640100). | |
6. | CITY COUNCIL BUDGET 2004/05 |
Eugene Walker, Deputy Director of Finance, gave a presentation on the City Council’s budget for 2004/05. | |
He stated that the gross revenue budget in respect of 2004/05 was £1,077m and, out of this, the Council covered its day to day expenditure such as running the cost of its services, paying its workforce and the running costs of its buildings, offices, vehicles and other facilities. The capital budget was £195m and the Council used this to maintain its assets such as buildings, roads and Council housing. Eugene Walker circulated a brochure which showed where the money came from and where it was spent. | |
Eugene Walker explained that the Council’s strategy was to improve the Council’s financial stability by ensuring that it had adequate reserves and that it did not overspend. Great strides had been made in this regard in recent years and the Council’s prudent approach had enabled savings to be made in a number of areas and the interest charges on the existing capital debt had been reduced. In addition, the management of the Council’s property portfolios and been improved and the Council had been rated “good” by the auditors who had carried out a Comprehensive Performance Assessment of the Council’s services. | |
However, despite improved stability and an increase in Government funding in recent years, there were still pressures on the revenue budget such as the increasing demand for Council services, particularly in regard to Education and Social Services. Eugene Walker explained that, whilst the Government had increased the amount of money it had given the Authority to support its services, this had generally been prioritised to spending on Education and it would be passed on to schools. The extra money that was needed to pay for other services would have to be found from elsewhere, funded from an increase in the Council Tax or from a combination of the two. | |
The Council was anxious to keep the Council Tax increase as low as possible and it would be necessary to ensure that efficiency and other savings would continue to be made so that frontline services could be protected and improved. As a consequence, the Council Tax that had been agreed was an increase of 4.95% which was the lowest it had been for ten years. The contributions required from the South Yorkshire Police and the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service would increase this figure to 5.3%. | |
In conclusion, Eugene Walker stated that the budget would allow the Council to deliver on key national and local priorities, particularly in regard to Education and Social Services. There would also be improvements in recycling rates, increases in the budgets for Libraries, the “Cleaner, Greener and Safer” programme, the “Closing the Gap” strategy and targeted capital programme investment. | |
Members of the public asked a number of questions, to which Eugene Walker responded as follows:- | |
· There was an extremely complicated formula which was used by the Government to assess how much grant each local authority should receive to spend on Education, Social Services, highways and other services. Successive Governments had tried to reform how it worked but, generally, local government was too dependent on Governing funding. | |
· The establishment of Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMO) would enable the Council to borrow money from the Government to fund capital investment in public sector housing. The City Council would be responsible for covering the interest repayments on the debt but the capital amount would be given to the ALMO. | |
· Sheffield received appreciably less than the other core cities, apart from Leeds, but had kept its Council Tax increase below the national average. | |
· In response to a question about what constituted “other services”, Eugene Walker stated that he would provide a full answer to be circulated with the minutes of the meeting (see footnote). | |
· It was agreed about 7/8 years ago that the local authority would contribute 15% of each Officer’s salary to the South Yorkshire Pension Fund. | |
· The Council had very little scope in the way it allocated funding to Education and Social Services because this was largely determined by the Government grant regime. However, in response to feedback from the public, the Council had invested more money into street cleansing and the “cleaner, greener” agenda. | |
· Because there were limits on the overall funding that was available, the Council had been unable to put as much money as it would have wished into highway maintenance. | |
Councillor Angela Smith added that if the Council had more money to spend, improvements to the highways would be a high priority. However, there had been major investment in the City’s schools. | |
RESOLVED: That the information now reported be noted and Eugene Walker be thanked for his presentation and for responding to the questions of the Board. | |
(Post Meeting Note: Eugene Walker has reported that “the figure of £126m on “other services” is gross spending, i.e. before income grants and service charges. The bulk of this (around £75m or 60%) is the cost of housing and council tax benefits paid to claimants. The balance is made up of:- | |
· Costs of administering benefits payments and council tax/business rate collection | |
· levies that the authority has to legally pay towards the cost of other bodies, e.g. Magistrates Courts | |
· pension costs of former employees | |
· cost of central departments (finance, legal, IT, property, personnel, communications, cost of central office accommodation etc.) The net cost of these is less than 2% of the Council’s gross spending. | |
One other point to note is that £126m is the gross cost of these services – the net costs after income is actually a lower figure of £40m. Benefits payments in particular are largely funded by central Government grants.”) | |
7. | WOODHOUSE RETIREMENT VILLAGE – PROGRESS REPORT |
Jackie Ainsworth, Older Persons’ Housing Strategy, circulated a report on the progress that had been made on the Woodhouse retirement village project. She stated that the development was a partnership between the City Council, Arena Housing and the Extra Care Charitable Trust. However, it also involved the local community, older people’s groups, the Primary Care Trust, the voluntary sector and businesses. | |
The aims of the project were to allow residents to retain their independence, whilst meeting their care and support needs, and also to encourage and provide social and recreational activities. Facilities at the retirement village would include a restaurant, shop, woodwork centre, greenhouse, hair and beauty salon, fitness gymnasium and IT facilities and members of the local community would be able to use some of these on a membership basis. | |
Planning and other approvals in respect of the scheme had been received and 209 flats and 9 bungalows would be built on the site of the former Grammar School, Station Road, Woodhouse. Interest in the scheme was high, with over 5,000 people registering their interest, including around 600 from the Woodhouse/Handsworth area. | |
Jackie Ainsworth outlined the position with regard to the sale of the land and the relocation of the sports facilities. She stated that a Community Facilities Steering Group, comprising local community representatives and Officers of the Council, had been meeting on a regular basis to discuss the type of facilities they would like to be provided and how these might be sustained. The Group had also appointed consultants from Sheffield University to assist in the development of the vision for community facilities and the best means of consultation with the wider community. This work would link with the wider local action plan. | |
Jackie Ainsworth spoke about the work of the Calvert Trust, which was a charitable organisation that provided various activities such as abseiling, canoeing, rock climbing and many others for age groups ranging from 16/100. She stated that the Trust had been particularly successful in helping people with Alzheimers Disease to take up and enjoy physical activities. A number of people from Woodhouse had taken part in the activity weeks and had stated how much they had enjoyed the experience. | |
In conclusion, Jackie Ainsworth stated that the Appeal Group for the Retirement Village had met twice and the aim was to reach £1.1m. The official launch of the Appeal would take place on 17th June 2004 at an event at the Cutlers’ Hall. | |
Members of the public asked a number of questions, to which Jackie Ainsworth responded as follows:- | |
· It was anticipated that 66% of the people who moved into the village would not have care needs and the care needs of the remaining 34% would vary. | |
· It had not yet been decided how the database would be used to select residents from the 5,000 expressions of interest that had been received. | |
· The work done by the Calvert Trust was impressive and had proved extremely beneficial for the participants. | |
RESOLVED: That the information now reported be noted and Jackie Ainsworth be thanked for attending the meeting and responding to questions. | |
8. | CITY SCHOOL AND THE FUTURE |
Julie Warnes, Head Teacher of City School and her colleagues Terry Charles and Ken Dunn, gave a presentation on the vision they had for the future of City School. | |
They stated that City School had to compete with other schools in terms of the product which it gave to its students and staff had been examining what needed to be done to make the school more attractive and enable it to contribute more fully to the South East community. | |
In order to inform the process, staff had examined statistics relating to the area from the census and had been able to map issues such as the health of the area, the number of people unemployed and the number of people who had no qualifications. Julie Warnes stated that staff believed that the School’s responsibility went beyond the 11/16 remit and that it should be supporting the needs of learners throughout their lives. | |
It had been decided that City School should have a Business and Enterprise Campus to support students in their career path for the future and to provide a centre that would offer learning for life, support communities and promote sound moral values for business and the community. | |
As part of this philosophy, the School was committed to appointing non-teaching posts from the local area and working with other schools and businesses in the area. | |
Terry Charles, Business Manager at the School, stated that part of his brief was to identify partners to work with the school and he referred to Ben Bailey Homes, who had made a donation of £16,000 which had enabled the school to prepare a promotional booklet and CD on the school. | |
Ken Dunn, a teacher at the School, stated that he had been working with local businesses to obtain grants to transform the school playing fields. He stated that the school wished to instil environmental awareness amongst its pupils and he referred to links with a community in West Africa which had provided an enriching experience for a number of pupils who had taken part in a visit in May 2003. With the funds that had been raised before the school visit, it had been possible to buy a wind turbine so that electricity could be supplied to the school in West Africa. Art work from that school would be displayed at City School during July 2004 and a project was being developed with local printers to market the art work and thereby raise funds for the school in Africa. | |
Members of the public asked a number of questions and, in response to a question about accessibility to disabled people, Ken Dunn stated that this was of concern to the staff. The school was built in the 1960s and, without a massive capital investment, it would not be possible to make the whole school fully accessible to wheelchair users. In response to a question about litter, he stated that the School was meeting with Officers from Street Force in an endeavour to address this issue. | |
Councillor Marjorie Barker welcomed the presentation from City School on its vision for the future. | |
RESOLVED: That (a) the information now reported be noted and the staff from City School be thanked for their presentation; and | |
(b) Julie Warnes and her colleagues be requested to attend a future meeting of the Area Panel so that more detailed consideration can be given to the work that is planned and the item be placed first on the agenda. | |
9. | BIRLEY SPA OPEN DAY |
The Area Panel received and noted details of the Birley Spa Open Day to be held on 22nd May, 2004. | |
10. | DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING |
RESOLVED: That the next meeting of the Area Panel be held at the end of June/beginning of July 2004 on a date to be announced. |
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