Minutes
Forth Neighbourhood Partnership Business Meeting
9.30am, Monday, 17 February 2014
Present
Cllr. Cammy Day (Convener); Cllr. Alan Jackson; Cllr. Vicki Redpath; Roy Douglas and Jan Moore, Muirhouse & Salvesen Community Council; Fred Marinello and George Gordon, Granton and District Community Council; Richard Scott, Trinity Community Council; Willie Black and Liz Hair, West Pilton West Granton Community Council; Helen Bourquin, Community Learning and Development; Peter Strong and Jim Pattison, Services for Communities.
Apologies
Cllr. Steve Cardownie; Christine Mackay, Total Craigroyston; Jen Fairgrieve, NHS Lothian; Inspector David Happs, Police Scotland; Steve Harkins, Fire Service
1. Convener
1.1 The Convener welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies were noted.
2. Declarations of Interest
George Gordon declared a non pecuniary interest in item 5.2 as he lives in Granton Place and he and Liz Hair declared a non pecuniary interest in item 5.3 as they are on Board of Granton Youth Centre. Jan Moore declared a non-pecuniary interest in item 5.3 as she is a member of the Pilton Community Gardeners group.
3. Deputations
None
4. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
Decision:
To approve the minutes of Forth Neighbourhood Partnership Business meeting of 3 December 2013 as a correct record.
4.1 Matters Arising:
None
5. Neighbourhood Partnership Business
5.1 Participatory Budgeting
5.1.1 Consideration of Participatory Budgeting (PB) report.
Jim spoke to the previously circulated report on PB.
The report proposed that the Partnership consider using some of the CGF fund for 2014/15 to run a Participatory Budgeting event similar to the Leith Decides event. It was suggested that £16,000 of the anticipated budget of £26,444 be used for the PB event – leaving the balance of £10,444 to be allocated in the normal manner to support Partnership priorities.
During discussion the following points were made;
· Some CGF funding should be reserved for allocation in the normal manner to take account of summer programme activities
· Is the £1,000 proposed maximum grant for a PB event too low?
· A new Forth Gala is being discussed and we might want to earmark some funding from 2014/15 budget for this.
· Could we look at bringing the old co-op building in Muirhouse shopping centre back into community use?
Following further discussion it was felt that it may also be appropriate to use a proportion (e.g. 5K) of the CGF to support activities specifically aimed at young people and to discuss how this could operate with the North Edinburgh Youth Forum.
If a PB event is to go ahead it was suggested that Edinburgh College (Telford Campus) would be a good venue. It was also suggested that we consider combining the event with the new Forth wide community gala currently being discussed.
It was also agreed that Jim should set up a small working group to work up a firm PB proposal consisting of Councillors, 1 representative from each Community Council and staff from CLD and SFC.
The outcome of discussions with the Youth Forum will be fed back to a future meeting.
5.2 Forth Neighbourhood Environment Programme 2013/14
5.2.1 Neighbourhood Environment Fund Report
Peter spoke to the previously circulated report and the following projects were discussed:
Project 26 (Muirhouse Shopping Centre) has £50,000 earmarked for the removal of the shopping centre roof. The Council has now acquired ownership of the shopping centre and Corporate Property is in the process of developing an improvement plan. They have confirmed that the roof removal remains an integral part of developing the shopping centre, and have requested that the Forth NP £50,000 NEP award (along with match funding from HRA capital) is transferred to Corporate Property in this financial year, although physical work on the roof would not commence until later in 2014/15 at the earliest.
There was discussion about the timescale for the improvements and some concern that the NP could end up committing funding for next year and then very little happens.
Following discussion the NP agreed to this transfer but asked that someone from CEC Corporate Property be invited to a future Business Meeting to discuss the improvement plan – particularly the timescale.
Project 15 (West Pilton Community Garden) had been unable to progress until Pilton Community Gardeners, the group developing the community garden, completed a lease agreement formally taking over responsibility for the land. The lease has now been signed, allowing NEP funds to be released, and work is now progressing to erect a container and install a water stand pipe on site.
Project 28 (Starbank Park) - the NP board had agreed not to fund this from the 2013/14 NEP programme due to lack of match funding, but to ring fence £29,000 from the 2014/15 NEP programme, proceed with establishing a Friends of Park group and explore the availability of revenue funding to fund smaller scale improvements in the short term. Management of revenue budgets within the local environment budget has allowed the bulk of the work contained in the NEP proposal to go ahead – including path works - in the current financial year, and consequently this project has been withdrawn from the 2014/15 NEP project bank.
Project 29 (Victoria Park) - the NP board agreed to retain £37,500 for this in the 2013/14 NEP programme in order to continue negotiations with Sports Scotland on the possibility of obtaining match funding for upgrading either basketball or tennis courts. Unfortunately Sports Scotland was unable to commit match funding in 2013/14 but advised that it would be worthwhile reapplying for match funding in 2014/15, and it was recommended that £37,500 be ring fenced for this project in the 2014/15 NEP programme.
Following discussion the NP agreed to this approach and to consider setting up a Friends of Victoria Park group.
In order to fully expend the 2013/14 NEP budget it was agreed that the following projects with the next highest priority be brought forward from the project bank for completion in 2013/14:-
· Project 7 (landscaping at Granton Place/Boswall Loan) £10,775
· Project 10 (gates at Crewe Road West) £8,654
· Project 19 (landscaping at Salvesen Crescent) £8,944
It has recently been confirmed that following re-profiling by Finance, the roads element of the NEP budget for Forth in 2014/15 will be around £94,072, subject to final costing of the roads element in the 2013/14 budget. The HRA capital element (£327,570 in 2013/14) has not yet been confirmed.
The 2013/14 NEP programme was constructed following the priority setting events held in each of the Community Council areas, as well as proposals made directly by Community Councils and Registered Tenants Organisations, and by elected members. The board were asked whether a similar approach should be adopted for the 2014/15 NEP programme.
Following discussion it was agreed:
· To prioritise schemes generated by the local community rather than officers.
· Peter to consult with each community council about the best way to organise local priority setting events in their areas.
5.3 Community Grants Fund
5.3.1 The Community Grants Fund Report
Jim spoke to the previously circulated report summarising the CGF budget for 2013/14.
The CGF allocation in 2013/14 is £26,044 and a grants of £16,361 have already been awarded, leaving a balance of £10.083. Further applications have been received as follows:
Granton Community Gardeners – Community Meals
This organisation has submitted an application for £2,700 to fund a range of activities to help develop a Community Meals initiative – involving helping local people grow their own food and provide nutritional meals for other community members.
Following discussion it was agreed to award £2,700 to cover the cost of sessional hours to plan and develop the initiative, including volunteer support and for sessional hours to coordinate the group’s activities. It also includes an amount for £450 to meet the cost of insurance for all of the group’s activities.
It was also agreed to bring a report to a future business meeting on the lessons learned from the community food growing project funded through NEP, particularly the relative value for money achieved through this more sizeable award compared to the smaller amounts awarded through CGF.
North Edinburgh Alcohol Collective (PYCP)
This organisation has submitted an application for £2,340 to run a 6 month cooking project within clubs run on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings at PYCP which aim to provide diversionary activity for young people at key times where they may be involved in risk taking behaviour.
Following discussion it was agreed to award £2,340 to meet costs of cooking sessions over the 6 month period at a cost of £20 per session (£1,560), and the cost of a health and food expert to supervise some of the sessions at £780.
It was also agreed that Councillor Day would contact the Police and Licensing to raise concerns expressed about local shops selling alcohol to underage children.
North West Carers
They have submitted an application for £375 to meet the cost of taking 25 Young Carers, predominantly from Forth NP area, to a cinema outing. This outing will let them be children for a short while (instead of the adult caring role they normally hold), give them a break from caring and help reduce social isolation.
Following discussion it was agreed to award £375 to cover the cost of cinema tickets for 25 young carers and 3 staff, transport and refreshments.
Granton Youth Centre
This organisation has applied for a grant of £2,000 to support the delivery of a programme of Youth Peer Education focussing on young people’s access, use, safety and personal management of social media platforms.
Following discussion it was agreed to support this project but due to the pressure on the grants budget, an award of £1,198 was agreed as a contribution.
Pilton Community Gardeners
This organisation has submitted an application for £2,770 to fund to support the development of the gardening group at West Pilton, encourage community participation, create a local food growing space and provide cooking events.
The funding would cover the cost of sessional work (£1,200), tools, building materials and plants (£600), insurance (£400), cooking events (£200) and advertising/signage (£300).
Following discussion it was agreed to support this project but to reduce the amount in the sessional budget to £900 to reflect the decision that a rate of £15ph is more appropriate to bring it into line with rates being paid in similar initiatives, and more generally to remind projects receiving CGF to cover sessional costs that those individuals getting paid should declare their income.
North Edinburgh Young People’s Forum
This organisation is developing an application to fund a range of ‘reverse consultation’ events to help young people in Forth engage with the Neighbourhood Partnership and to plan and take part in a North area event celebrating the activities and achievements of young people.
A final application has still to be worked up but is likely to include engaging with the partners in a range of imaginative ways around issues such as:
· State of the streets
· Health and well-being
· Crime
· Bullying
· Youth unemployment
The project will build on the success of ‘The Matter’ newspaper and will promote young people’s understanding of local policy issues while assisting the Young People’s Forum in their aim of encouraging young people to play a part in local democratic processes
It was agreed to award £1,000 to facilitate this process, and to seek information from Total Craigroyston on the level of support they were giving the Youth Forum.
As a result of these decisions the CGF budget for 2013/14 has now been fully spent.
5.4 Local Community Plan 2014-17
5.4.1 Local Community Plan Report
Jim spoke to the previously circulated report on the development of the Forth Neighbourhood Partnership Local Community Plan for 2014-17 and the associated priorities.
The 2011-2014 Local Community Plan is nearing the end of its cycle and a new Plan has to be developed for 2014-17 showing the priorities for action during this period and how progress will be monitored and measured. The timescale is to have a new plan ready for publication by September 2014.
It was noted that the Neighbourhood Partnership began this process in 2013 when it agreed the need to refocus its activity on a smaller number of achievable objectives, which could then be refined and developed into a new Plan.
Four priority setting events were held between February and April 2013 – one in each Community Council area – and an online survey ran throughout April, emailed to contacts, on the Neighbourhood Partnership website and on Twitter, to allow further consultation and a further 62 responses were received via this method.
With the exception of Children and Young People, the key concerns raised during the 2013 events all related to SfC services (in conjunction with the Community Policing Team in the case of community safety).
In recognition of this the Partnership agreed to hold a number of themed consultation and awareness events for Health, Young People and Community Safety to get feedback on some of the more strategic issues identified in the earlier Plan. A Public Meeting to get views on specific health related issues was held in November 2013 and plans to hold others on Community Safety and Young People are being discussed for early 2014.
While we have still to hold events on Community Safety and Young People, it is clear that they have already been identified as priority issues. As such it was noted that the broad priority areas for a new Plan would be similar to those identified in the previous plan and could be summarised as:
· Creating a healthier community
· Creating a cleaner, greener and more attractive environment
· Improving Community Safety
· Improve employment and training opportunities – particularly for young people
· Improving services for Children and Young people
It was agreed, however, that the Partnership needed to be clearer about what it would do locally to progress these priorities, and that we should develop an action plan which would show 2 or 3 key actions that the partnership would take under each broad priority.
The Action Plans should detail:
· A small number of specific actions on each priority.