Minute of the Building Stronger Communities Group
held on Thursday, 24th January 2013
Committee Room 2, 14 City Square, Dundee
Present: Alice Bovill - Strathmartine Forum
Alison Anderson - Environment Department
Bryan Harris - Community Planning
Claire Myles - City Development (Planning)
Gladys Ramsay - Lochee Forum
Gordon Reid - City Development (Planning)
John Berry - City Development (Transport)
John Hosie - Regeneration & Health
Kenny Lindsay - Children & Young People
Nancy Farquharson - Housing Department
Paul Davies - Dundee Partnership Team
Peter Allan - Community Planning (Chair)
Rena Smith - East End Forum
Ron Neave - North East Forum
Apologies: Joy Watson - Hillcrest Group
Morna Wilson - Dundee Voluntary Action
Action1. / Introductions & Apologies
Peter welcomed everyone to the group and a round of introductions was made for new group members.
2. / Minute of December Meeting
Minute was agreed as accurate.
3. / Matters Arising
Noted that the March meeting sees the return to local community venues at the Bharatiya Ashram Centre.
Alice commented that due to annual leave, the July meeting scheduled to take place in Strathmartine may need to be relocated / swapped with another Ward. Paul to check details / PAD
4. / Youth Work 2013-14 – Kenny Lindsay
Kenny outlined the DCC Youth Work Programme to the group (see also attached update)
· All work done by the local youth work teams is done in partnership with somebody – either staff in other groups or with additional funding support
· All work is tied to the underpinning SOA objectives (mainly Outcome 3)
· Priorities for the next few years include:
o Health & Wellbeing, including drugs and sexual health
o Personal & Social Development
o Employability, including Blast Off, work with Dundee Employability & Aftercare Project, support into volunteer opportunities, increased use of The Shore
o Involving young people in decision making, including the Youth Council, Scottish Youth Parliament and linking these better with LCPPs, regeneration forums, Green Space consultations, etc. In addition, young people have their own ideas e.g. the ‘It’s No Fare’ campaign relating to increased fares from age 16
o Diversionary work, including the range from 1:1 work to work with larger groups
· The Youth Bus has had its problems, particularly relating to garage space with an appropriate power supply. It is hoped this will be back on the road in April (see timetable in attached update) following offer of assistance from Dundee Museum of Transport. The aim was initially to focus on ‘hot-spots’, but these generally haven’t been arising, so will tour the city instead
· Overall, the aim is to help young people into positive destinations
· In some areas, funding for staffing is needed as a priority, with the teams looking to the forums as one source of this
Discussion followed in which various questions were raised / comment made;
· Is it known where young people are more likely to come forward from to participate in discussions?
o The Youth Parliament is one source, and eight candidates are currently up for election (done via schools, colleges and universities) with two members to be elected to each of the two Dundee constituency areas
· Is the Environment Department being linked with youth work relating to green space, e.g. Community Growing Areas?
o Some links do exist already, but these could be improved
· Comment made that in many cases children move from group to group as they get older, but also go back to volunteer support to groups they were part of
· What partnerships are there with schools?
o There are existing close links with schools and these are likely to become even stronger in coming years to help focus resources. There is also an aim to get schools more involved in their communities
· Comment made that some young people do participate in the regeneration forums for a few meetings, but find that exams, etc. take priority so sustained involvement is difficult
The group agreed that an annual update from Kenny at this time of year would be welcomed. Kenny also offered to respond to the group on any specific items of interest that arose during the year.
5 / Priority Updates
5.1 / Fairness – Peter Allan
Group agreed to defer this until the February meeting.
5.2 / Community Facilities – John Hosie
With the festive break, there hasn’t been a great deal of change from the previous update
· Broughty Ferry – Architects drawings to be done by the end of March, for community consultation in April to August, looking at an extension to the local library
· Lochee – The Lochee Pathfinder project is looking for a co-location building for the area and is holding discussions with architects and others
· Arthurstone – plans are progressing, with a lift to the first floor planned. The use for the basement is yet to be finalised, taking Health & Safety issues into account. The first floor room is to have a movable partition to accommodate a range of uses
· Coldside – an architect has been appointed to the project board
Any questions arising to be sent to John who can then discuss with Doug Rennie
· Query raised as to what local involvement there is in plans at Arthurstone
o Activity is being led by Judie Dobbie. John will check with Stuart Fairweather on this, as Stuart is also involved
Ron commented that plans for the car park at the Finmill Centre have been to the P&R Committee being held on the 28th January / JH
5.3 / Strategic Housing – Nancy Farquharson
An update from Nancy had previously been circulated covering several topics;
Regeneration
· Several new developments are planned in Community Regeneration Areas by Registered Social Landlords
· The small amount of additional funding already announced by the Scottish Government hasn’t allowed items in the Strategic Housing Improvement Plan (SHIP) to be brought forward, but further funding is expected to be announced soon
· The Private Developers Programme (via the Scottish National Housing Trust) looks to promote development of mid-market housing. Locally this includes 16 units on The Ferry and 99 units at Lilybank
Energy Efficiency
· The Greener Homes Funding Scheme is open to all, pilots new initiatives using green technology. At present two bids have been submitted across Dundee
· External insulation is being installed at sites in St. Mary’s and west Kirkton
· The Community Energy Savings Programme has moved on to work on the Lochee multi’s. the previous work has been shortlisted for two awards
· A pilot for the Energy Company Obligation Programme (ECOP) and National Retrofit Programme is going ahead at the Kirk Street multi’s and low-rises
Consultation
· Has now ended for the Local Housing Strategy
· Has now ended for the DCC Rent Review
· Consultation on a new Housing Panel is to start – see attached executive summary for more details
Five Year Capital Budget
· Details will be influenced by the outcome of the DCC Rent Review
Discussion followed including a number of queries and comments;
· Energy efficiency is to be discussed at a SMART meeting, should this meeting be made open to others?
o A wider meeting is also planned for the area. Nancy to check details and feedback to Alice
· Could an update on the SHIP be given at the April meeting?
o Yes, Nancy will arrange for Robin Shields to attend and give an update
· Meetings have been diarised with local representatives prior to the next round of LCPP meetings to discuss relevant local issues
· More information was sought on the Green Deal proposals
o These are being worked on, though the impact on tenants is not yet clear. Ongoing Welfare Reform complicates calculations. See also additional response after the meeting from Heather McQuillan:
Green Deals will technically be available to Council tenants. However, as with all tenants, whetherof social housing organisations or private landlords, an important part of the Green Deal process willinvolve theirasking their landlord's permission before signing the Green Deal. Informally, this Council has decided that permission for Green Deals will NOT be given to Council tenants. The reason for this is that we believe that the Golden Rule calculation which is done to establish the level and repayment periodfor Green Deal will overestimate the fuel bill savings tenants can make through insulation; that is becausemany of our tenants under-utilise their heating because of fuel poverty and repaying a Green Dealcould put them in a worse financial position than they were previously.
It is our intention to pursue as much ECO funding as possible to carry out the insulation work on our properties at a subsided price so that tenants benefit from the fuel bill savings without having a Green Deal levy put on their electricity bills. We will also watch all developments in this area so that we can identify all sources of subsidy for owners and tenants of other landlords so that we can make them aware of them. Beyond this, there isinsufficient clarity at present for any decisions to be made about the Council's potential role in any managed scheme for non-Council residents. / NF
NF
5.4 / Travel Networks – John Berry
John circulated a hand out (copy attached) covering a range of topics. He also indicated that he would be happy to visit any local groups to discuss transportation issues;
Accessibility
· Dundee has two private companies providing a bus service. They will meet Disability Discrimination Act standards for single deck buses by January 2016, and double decker buses by January 2017
· DCC are responsible for bus stops (900 of them) and improvements have been made e.g. raising of kerbs, with about half done to date and completion expected over the next 3-4 years
Provision / Availability
· The map on the hand out colour codes the city by time taken to reach various district centres
· The city is generally very well connected, but if gaps are identified then steps can be taken to address them
Quality
· The aim is to have a punctual, reliable service, with information readily available e.g. real-time bus information at stops
Ticketing
· The National Entitlement Card is a useful innovation and in use for those of pension age. It may be able to be developed for ‘integrated ticketing’ but the two bus companies need to have a separation legally so as to not be seen to be colluding on ticket prices
Demand Responsive Transport
· This aims to cater for older / disabled people
· At present a taxi-card scheme is in use that gives those eligible £2 off a taxi fare but this can still be expensive
· The DRT is likely to be car-based and aim for 50-100,000 trips per year. There is a potential comparison with the Community Car Scheme being developed by DVA, but the two schemes are quite different
Active Travel
· Low uptake across the city at present, but work is being done to improve this including infrastructure improvements, promoting behaviour change
Discussion followed including a number of queries;
· How many people walk or cycle to work?
o Numbers are fairly good as we’re a compact city, but this could be improved. This would be a useful addition to the SOA – John Berry to send relevant figures to Bryan for inclusion
· Comment made that kerb raising is only useful if the buses stop at the kerb, but not all do either due to cars parked on the approaches to stops, or poor driving
o At many stops road markings have been changed to ensure that the approach to the stop is kept clear of parked vehicles, and the raised parts of the kerb are much longer than the door width to make alignment easier
· What contact is there with schools?
o Contact centres on encouraging children to walk to school where possible, which will help cut down on dangerous parking at schools in the morning and afternoon as well as having health benefits. John to update on this in his next update / JB
JB
6. / Dundee Community Regeneration Fund
6.1 / Grant Applications
All forum recommendations on grant applications were agreed.
6.2 / Projects Failing to Report
Following reminder emails and letters, the following project had not provided a report on activity by the time of the BSC meeting and so was ineligible for further DP Community Regeneration Funding:
· Rosebank Sheltered Housing Complex (C007)
The above outstanding report has now been received but the below groups remain ineligible at present. Community Workers will be asked to follow these up at the next Community Regeneration Information Sharing Meeting:
Highwayman Management Group, Funky Feet Dance Sessions (C001)
Sidlaw View PS Boys Football Team (S014)
6.3 / Funding for 2013-14
DP Community Regeneration Forum funding has been agreed for one year at £125,000 for each of the six Wards with Community Regeneration Areas. It was also agreed that any underspends from the 2012-13 allocation may be carried forward for allocation in 2013-14.
7. / Chairs Group - Issues and Information Sharing
Members of the Chairs group have requested that they be sent BSC papers as not all of them attend BSC, but this is often a focus of discussion at the group. Paul to arrange.
DP Community Conference – the Chairs Group agreed that Welfare Rights is a suitable topic to cover and that they would consult with their forums on whether a Gathering was required before the conference and who to invite along if it was. The conclusion reached was that if the DP Community Conference is brought forward to March, there would be no need to hold a Gathering beforehand. Peter and Paul to discuss feasible dates and inform the Chairs Group.
· Nancy asked whether it would be useful to let RSLs know about the conference. Peter explained that it would, but that the conference is for community members and so they wouldn’t be invited. There may be a need for a similar event for officers / staff in various agencies
· Nancy added that of 300 people informed that they would be affected by the imminent changes to Housing Benefit, only six responses have been received to date / PAD
PA/PAD
8. / Local Community Planning
· Draft Asset Transfer Policy. More in relation to benefits to communities is to be added to the policy, which also needs to include examples of good practice (such as the community garden in Shettleston) and be written in a more user friendly way. It will be discussed at the Decentralisation Briefing on the 1st March
o The group in Douglas could be the ‘guinea pigs’ for implementation of the policy
· Community Learning & Development (CLD) have an HMI visit covering the Grove catchment area during week commencing 25th February
· NHS Tayside Cash for Communities meeting this week noted that there are an increasing number of applications for Dundee. The application form is available via John or Lucy Rennie or online at http://www.nhstayside.scot.nhs.uk/Cash4Communities/ . The process is shorter for grants up to £10,000, but more involved and so taking longer for larger grants
· CLD Event on the 28th January covering the Community Engagement Strategy. Participation of more community representatives would be welcome (only one at present). Rena and Gladys to be sent further information with a view to attending. The event is likely to be followed up in each Ward with local discussions in February / March / PAD
9. / Single Outcome Agreement 2012-17
· Bryan stated that the timetable for completion remains as previously stated
· A briefing was held for Theme Group chairs to assist them in reviewing content in the current draft of the SOA and make useful changes to it
· The SOA Delivery Plan is also being drafted, with a completion target of the end of February. A draft will be circulated for comment prior to this / BH
10. / AOCB
None raised.
11 / Date of Next Meeting
Thursday 21st February, Committee Room 2, 14 City Square
Attachments: