(i)

the purpose of locality working was to improve public engagement and improve the way in which service providers worked together, particularly in respect of jointly commissioned services; 

(ii)

six Locality Service Co-ordination Teams were being set up across the City comprising practitioners from the following key services –

?

Community Safety

?

Children and Young People

?

Health and Adult Social Care

?

Street Services

(iii)

in the interim period, Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meetings would be used as the principle forum in which residents would be able to make their views known about service provision. Information would also be shared via the Council’s website, schools and libraries and, in regard to health and adult social care matters, opportunities were being explored to publicise material in pharmacies.

(a)

Area Committees were not well attended across the City and locality working was being introduced to try and encourage more public participation in local issues.  If locality working proved to be less successful the situation would be reviewed after 12 months;

(b)

a benefit of locality working was that services would be sharing resources; 

(c)

residents would still be able to contact their ward councillors with any concerns;

(d)

ward members would agree amongst themselves which of them would attend each PACT meeting;

(e)

the PACT meetings would involve cross agency working including ward members, police representatives and health providers; this forum would provide an effective way in which to raise issues;

(g)

the provision of the Local Environment Fund would continue in its existing format with Councillors being allocated a sum of £1754.

(i)

a dream scheme was a community youth development scheme which was based on a simple concept of work, points and trips which enabled young people to carry out community based work projects for which they earned points that could be exchanged for trips and activities of their choice;

(ii)

one of the key benefits of such a scheme was the reduction in anti social behaviour and the knock on effects such as policing, improved living environments, raised expectations of the young people and improved communications and relationships between residents;

(iii)

youth related issues were of prime importance to residents of all ages and the scheme’s approach to involve the whole community could address problems;

(iv)

the scheme provided a sense of belonging and enabled young people to serve their community;

(v)

the dream scheme had been developed in Stonehouse and had engaged the Youth Services, Plymouth Community Homes, police, local residents and the residents association;

(vi)

the scheme looked at specific issues relating to Flora Court such as the lack of space to play, parking and the lack of colour in the community;

(vii)

currently Plymouth Community Homes were investigating the feasibility of providing parking permits for residents which would create more space to provide a designated play area;

(viii)

the Plymouth Arts Centre had designed a mural which made a statement about the community;

(ix)

the Lord Mayor had attended a community event to celebrate the achievements of the scheme.

(a)

the dream scheme for Eggbuckland was progressing well with training sessions being arranged;

(b)

members of the public were encouraged to volunteer for the scheme;

(i)

where anti social behaviour problems had been identified the service worked with the tenants, residents and Councillors to address these issues;

(ii)

the service had undertaken the following work –

?

impact days on drug and alcohol;

?

sexual health and infections;

?

providing work experience opportunities;

(iii)

a total number of 14 play parks would be upgraded over the next 12 month period.

(i)

this was a £1.06 million partnership project which sought to deliver improved opportunities to access green space in and around the city, over a 4 year period; the project was being funded by the Big Lottery Changing Spaces programme; 

(ii)

the project had a unique vision to deliver the ‘Outdoors for All’ agenda; it sought a future where local urban green spaces were promoted as the first step on the journey to experiencing the wide ranging benefits of accessing nature;

(iii)

the Stepping Stones to Nature’s vision had three components –

?

local urban green spaces; encourage local communities to contribute to improvements and to develop and participate in activities within these spaces;

?

encourage explorations and build confidence in accessing natural areas within the city but outside of the ‘comfort zone’, eg local nature reserves;

?

opportunities to experience, encourage exploration and build confidence in visiting one of the many unique natural environments that surround the city, eg Dartmoor National Park and the Tamar Estuaries;

(iv)

the Forder Valley Nature Reserve was an important green expanse within the local community which held significant value for wildlife, landscape and use; funding was available to encourage more people to enjoy and play in the reserve;

(v)

since November 2009, work has been undertaken with residents, Leigham Primary School and Youth Services to install natural play features to encourage children to interact with the environment, weather permitting it was anticipated that the play area would be complete by the end of March;

(vi)

engagement with residents and local groups regarding improving access, paths, signage and seating for a range of ages will continue over the next few months – phase 1 access improvements hope to be completed by the end of April;

(vii)

work would be undertaken over the forthcoming weekend to install den frames, picnic tables and a log bridge;

(viii)

training sessions were being held in the delivery of water surveys which was a national initiative; as part of this initiative the pond at Forder Valley would be looked at;

(ix)

a community event was held to clean up the edge of the reserve and within one hour a skip had been filled;

(x)

a core group of people had expressed an interest in establishing a ‘friends group’ to support activities on the site and encourage ongoing maintenance;

(xi)

the Stepping Stones to Nature project was working with Plymouth Transport and Highways in partnership with the Sustainable Transport team to encourage more people to walk and cycle;

a review of the comments received from the consultation previously undertaken with residents, Leigham Primary School and ward members regarding the cycleway/footway has resulted in the proposed route being amended;

a further consultation event has been planned for Wednesday 31 March 2010, 4pm to 7pm at Leigham Primary School; this would provide the opportunity for residents and parents to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

(i)

the proposal to provide additional car parking spaces on the open space at the rear and between the two terraces of addresses 36 – 60 Churchstow Walk had been investigated; 

(ii)

residents were individually contacted to advise them that the proposed scheme had been approved; following this approval a signed petition from residents had been received opposing the scheme;

(iii)

the consultation exercise resulted in the overwhelming rejection of the scheme by residents and would therefore not be progressed.

(i)

work had been undertaken to increase the car parking area at the Fort Austin Depot to prevent cars from parking on the road and blocking access to residents’ properties; the car park would be locked at 6pm to prevent anti social behaviour;

(ii)

currently Plymouth Community Homes leased Fort Austin depot; there was an option in the lease to terminate it after three years; if the lease was terminated then it would be difficult to redevelop the site due to its listed building status and should it remain empty it could attract anti social behaviour;

(iii)

the site of Chaucer School was located within the Honicknowle Ward and not Eggbuckland; due to the economic downturn there had been no interest in developing the site; the Council may seek, as part of a planning application, the provision of a  community facility;

Councillor Bowyer undertook to liaise with the Honicknowle Ward Councillors regarding the siting of a temporary mobile unit on this site for community use;

(iv)

pupils of St Edward’s Church Primary School and the police had been involved in a speed trap exercise along Fort Austin Avenue; nine cars had been stopped in one hour; those drivers stopped were asked a series of questions put to them by the pupils; this exercise had attracted publicity from the Evening Herald and Pirate FM;

(v)

a camera car would be deployed in Fort Austin Avenue, in order to capture incidents of irresponsible parking around St Edward’s Church Primary School; motorists found to be parking irresponsibly would receive a fine.