Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies received and no declarations of interest.

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the Community Select Committee held on 13 June 2024.

It was RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meetings of the Community Select Committee held on 13^th June were agreed as a correct record.

To receive a presentation on the work of the Neighbourhood Wardens. The Committee last considered this policy area in November 2021 - CSC 30 November 2021 - Neighbourhood Wardens Presentation

The Committee received a presentation updating Members on the work of the Neighbourhood Wardens providing background info on the role and the current team, designations including the differing functions between a Community Development Officer and a Neighbourhood Warden

Officers explained that originally the Neighbourhood Wardens were “working in silos” which meant they were unable to offer cover to other areas of the town. This has since been addressed and the Neighbourhood Wardens were now able to carry out town wide projects within each other’s areas.

Officers explained the Neighbourhood Wardens role was now split into two parts and their working week divided to cover this, there was however flexibility within this dependent on the pressure from each work area. The first area of their work was: Business as usual (BAU) This involved all the town wide areas of work including things like the town wide projects, abandoned vehicles, your say complaints, report it and fly tipping issues, assessing which of these issues were then passed on for enforcement to the Community Safety Team.  The second area of their work was their Area Based Role (ABR) which was specific for neighbourhood areas, providing support for the Community Development Officers and support for residents in an area.

BAU (Business as Usual) also included responsibilities such as resident issues, defibrillator and bleed control kit checks and upkeeps, update area noticeboards, neighbourhood centre audits, housing residents’ involvement, attendance and support at corporate events, support in the town centre and the Building a Better Bedwell project and support to the community payback projects.

The Building a Better Bedwell Project was funded by the Police Crime Commissioners Office through their Safer Streets programme. Funding for the project runs until March 2025. The project covers the Tower Block area of Bedwell on Silam Road, including Harrow Court, Brent Court, and High Plash.  In addition to the replacement of the doors and upgrade of CCTV in the blocks, the project has three community phases to it:

·       Park-guard our evening warden and Patrol partner

·       BBB Neighbourhood Wardens

·       Continuous support offering cohesion and engagement with residents

Officers provided further details of the Building a Better Bedwell project. The project was created to encourage community engagement through evening and weekend patrols, improve community awareness of reporting mechanisms and processes, increase reporting of issues to statutory bodies through engagement with the community, and building Cohesive Communities. The Wardens provide provision of events, development of projects to improve wellbeing of Tower Block residents, developing a resident’s association for the Tower Blocks, supporting an annual programme of community led events and maintaining relationships with communities to sustain and improve communication with statutory bodies.

Officers stated the next steps were to develop the community gardens ; build up resident consultation; to support and encourage the resident to form a resident committee which would continue engagement with residents; refurbishment of the community room in Harrow Court and partnership working with the Housing Tenancy Officer.

The SPARX Charity was also formed through the Build A Better  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

To consider the Committee’s Action Tracker and whether Members wish to receive any further monitoring updates from previous reviews agreed recommendations.

The Scrutiny Officer provided an update on the Community Select Committee Action Tracker. It was explained all relevant officers were asked to produce an update on the work at hand e.g., Housing Repairs and Housing Voids which would be updated within the action tracker and circulated to members for Oct/Nov 2024.

The Chair explained to the committee that she would like a brief update on where the Council/Regeneration section is with the New Towns Heritage Centre project? The Chair also asked for an update on Resident Engagement and to keep Members in the loop with the work into Damp and Mould. It was reiterated by the Officer to read the document and if they required any further updates to email the Scrutiny Officer.

It was RESOLVED that the Committee noted the Community Select Action Tracker.

To consider any Part I business accepted by the Chair as urgent

There was no urgent Part I Business.

To consider the following motions:

1. That under Section 100(A) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the ground that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as described in paragraphs 1 – 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act as amended by Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006.

2. That Members consider the reasons for the following reports being in Part II and determine whether or not maintaining the exemption from disclosure of the information contained therein outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

It was RESOLVED:

Not required.

To consider any Part II business accepted by the Chair as urgent

There was no urgent Part II business