(i)

there had been a continued decrease in crime overall, with a reported 23 percent reduction on the year to date;

(ii)

work was currently being undertaken focusing on those matters that had been raised by the community;

(iii)

there had been a robbery in Taunton Avenue where a bag had been snatched; a person had subsequently been arrested for this crime;

(iv)

the dangerous dog hearing had been adjourned but would be heard later in March 2010;

(v)

a consultation event with the community had been held at the Southway shopping precinct;

(vi)

the officers involved in the road traffic accidents were now back at work and had been joined by an additional PCSO;

(vii)

three youths had damaged the newly painted wall at the Phoenix Centre in Honicknowle;

(viii)

there had been five drug warrants issued in Ernesettle;

(ix)

the Southway PACT meeting would be held on 24 March 2010 at 1pm; the decision to change the time of the meeting had been taken due to the low attendance experienced at the evening meetings.

(x)

the police held a surgery in Tesco, Transit Way every two weeks;

(xi)

the dates of the PACT meetings in Ernesettle would be made available.

(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 –

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Community Safety

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Children and Young People

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Health and Adult Social Care

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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 were not cost effective; locality working was being introduced to encourage more public participation in local issues, to improve service delivery and the way in which the council worked with other service providers. If locality working proved to be less successful, the situation would be reviewed after 12 months of operation;

(b)

the existing Area Committee system would be replaced by neighbourhood level community engagement;

(c)

one of the benefits of locality working was that services included within the locality service co-ordination teams would be able to share resources;

(d)

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

(e)

all six localities would have its own team which would be led by a senior locality team manager, who could be appointed from the council, the police or the health service;

(f)

members of the public had been consulted on this proposal with presentations at Area Committee meetings, council meetings open to members of the public, PACT meetings, ward councillors and via the council’s website;

(g)

there were 43 neighbourhoods within the City and members of the public would be entitled to attend any of the PACT events whether it was in their local area or not;

(h)

either PACT meetings, panels, surgeries or street surveys would be held, dependent on what worked best in a particular area; this forum would allow the involvement of local people.

(i)

consideration of the use of Chaucer Primary School, which was being closed, as a community centre;

(ii)

the damage being caused to vehicles with the poor state of the roads, not just in the Whitleigh area but City-wide;

(iii)

any progress with the provision of a community facility as part of the housing scheme for Whitleigh.

(iv)

with regard to (i) above, Councillor Lowry advised that the school had been severely damaged by local youths stoning the windows and breaking the lights and radiators; the parts of the building that were not occupied would be demolished and made secure, however, other parts of the building could be  used to provide a community facility;

Councillor Lowry agreed to liaise with the Head of Capital and Assets, regarding his response on the provision of a community facility on the site of Chaucer Primary School;

(v)

with regard to (ii) above, the Chair advised that he was currently waiting for a response from Amey regarding the maintenance of the roads;

(vi)

with regard to (iii) above, Councillor Drean advised that this matter was being investigated.

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work to reduce and thin the oak tree situated outside of 82 Ringmore Way, West Park;

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plant up the planters outside of the Honicknowle shops.

(1)

when disposing of the Chaucer Primary School site, serious consideration is given in the sale of agreement to the provision of some form of community facility;

(2)

the work to reduce and thin the crown of the oak tree situated at 82 Ringmore Way, West Park is approved at a cost of £600 to be funded from the Honicknowle Local Environment Fund allocation;

(3)

the work to plant up the planters outside of the Honicknowle shops is approved at a cost of £550 to be funded from the Honicknowle Local Environment Fund allocation.