Exeter Board

Thursday 24 September 2015

Present:-
Exeter City Council
Councillors Sutton (Chair), Denham, Edwards and Owen
Devon County Council
Councillors Hannaford, Hannan, Hill, Leadbetter, Morse, J Owen and Westlake
Associate Members Simon Bowkett and Superintendent Perkin

Also Present
Diana Moore - Exeter Community Forum

Appointment of Deputy Chair

RESOLVED that:-

Councillor Prowse continue as Deputy Chair of the Board for 2015/16, the County Council to be requested to endorse his appointment under its Appointment to Outside Bodies Procedure in place of Councillor Leadbetter; and

Councillor Leadbetter stand down as a Member of the Exeter Board Funding Group.

Apologies

These were received from Councillor Foggin, Phil Atwell and Jude Taylorson.

Minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 2015

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 30 July 2015 be taken as read and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

Open Forum

No representations or questions had been received under the Open Forum on issues relevant to the work of either Council.

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Exeter Community Forum

The Chair welcomed Diana Moore, Co-Chair of the Community Forum, to the meeting.

As a member of the Alphington Community Association she referred briefly to recent discussions with the City Council on the planning process and supplementary planning document for the area in light of proposals for residential development. The Association was one of a number of organisations comprising the newly formed Exeter Community Forum. As Co-Chair of the Forum she described its raison d’etre and objectives.

The Forum had been created to provide a stronger voice for all community organisations in the City with now over 25 full members. These organisations could be divided into those which were organisations of place such as Community Associations and communities of interest such as young people’s groups and the BME Forum, some of which were City wide. The Forum was working closely with the City Council’s Community Involvement and Inclusion Officer and the voluntary sector on a Community Development Strategy which, it was hoped, would be in draft form by May 2016.

She welcomed the City Council support for the Forum and it was noted that, with the reductions in local government funding, the emergence of the Forum reflected the increased role for the voluntary sector and communities themselves in helping with services and shaping places. The St James Community Forum, the St. David’s Neighbourhood Partnership and the new Newcourt Community Association were good examples of vibrant community groups active in the City. It was hoped to take advantage of funding available through the Community Infrastructure Levy CIL - 15% or £3.7 million over ten years to be devolved for neighbourhood use earmarked.

She responded as follows to Members’ queries:-

there were between 25-30 full Members drawn from communities of place with associate members including Exeter Community Initiatives, Transformation Exeter and Exeter CVS, all were welcome to participate in the formulation of the Exeter Community Strategy;

Information sharing was an important aspect of the Forum and would include all local groups with formal links to be established with the media;

the potential for appointing a fund raising officer would be investigated;

remit of Forum would also include stewardship of assets;

the results of the boundary review could have an impact on the Forum as it could re-define the geographical areas currently covered by community bodies and this would feed into the development of the strategy, as appropriate; and

recognised that some community groups might emerge in response to single issues and that others could be dominated by pressure groups.

Members welcomed the formation of the Forum, recognising the work of existing associations in Alphington, St. David’s and St. James in particular, and the role the Forum could have in developing best practise especially where areas lacked representation on a community wide basis. Reference was also made to the ‘Exeter City Futures’ project, which was looking to use pioneering technology to solve many of the issues facing the city including transport, energy etc. within which the Forum could have a role.

RESOLVED that the Exeter Community Association be appointed as an Associate Member, one representative to attend meetings.

Wat Tyler House Hub

Simon Bowkett, the Chief Executive of Exeter CVS, spoke on the background, philosophy and development of the new Hub. Exeter CVS had with Devon Doctors (delivering local NHS primary care services to vulnerable groups) and Working Links (delivering Community Rehabilitation under the Transforming Rehabilitation Programme) secured £440,000 from Public Health England’s Recovery Capital Fund to transform Wat-Tyler House into the Exeter Engagement Hub.

A systems review of the services was being undertaken to deliver an integrated health and well being hub for people with a range of needs and capacities covering substance misuse, mental health and offender management services integrated with adult learning, volunteering programmes, housing advice and finance and debt management.

Services included the Clock Tower GP service, the probation service, substance misuse support, SHOT, Eddystone (HIV/STD etc.), Bicton College and Julian House (street homeless). These bodies were represented on a Management Steering Group including representatives of the City and County Councils.

Ivan Jordan, the architect, had designed the building based on (and shaped like) a river reflecting a life’s journey from potentially chaotic beginnings to more placid and settled futures with an “ocean of opportunities”. One end of the building focused on crisis management and, moving through the building, advice and guidance was provided on housing, training, education and skills etc. to help build better futures. The physical layout of the interior promoted connectivity between the agencies with shared meeting spaces to facilitate the exchange of information. There was no reception desk, everyone entering the building being greeted by an individual, usually a volunteer, to ensure the individual is re-assured and helped immediately as well as providing some security for the building and staff. Other examples of assistance included John Lewis which had committed staff to train volunteers in customers care skills.

The Project had received national recognition with presentations made to national bodies as well as visits by Minsters, the Cabinet Office and Police forces. Phase I would be completed by Mid October with work on the remainder of the building to be completed by April 2016. He responded to Members’ queries:-

because of the physical constraints of the building it had not been possible to accommodate other providers in the City such as St Petrock’s, Gabriel House etc;

addressing homelessness was a key element and Simon served on the ICE Board with work also being undertaken through the Homelessness Strand and the Homelessness Strategy Task Group which included St Petrocks; Exeter Community Initiatives, Big Issue, RISE and, Gabriel House. One of the aims of ICE was to strengthen the care pathway for the homeless on release from hospital etc.

the Hub had been designed to be user friendly so that clients were encouraged to engage with all services on offer. The presence of a range of services would help provide immediate assistance with other agencies as there were ongoing concerns that delays of three months could occur in some cases before treatment;

access to mental health treatment was a particular concern and the need for dual diagnosis was vital in many cases. Gabriel House employed mental health specialists within its Mental Health Crisis Outreach, as did SHOT;

work with the Big Issue Foundation who had set up a pilot scheme – “Enterprise Zone” offering both work placements and enterprise, the latter proving more successful because of the nature of individuals within this cohort; and

Bindu Arjoon, the City Council’s Assistant Director Customer Access, was developing an appropriate governance model for the Hub.

The Chair thanked Simon for his presentation.

Youth Service Update

The following updates were provided on progress with the continuation of youth service provision in the City:-

Beacon - Knight Club (Councillor Morse)

The temporary licence had been replaced with a long lease now signed by ISCA. Progress was very positive with a youth worker appointed and the facility being used by a number of groups, with additional activities launched such as Age Concern Over 55 ‘s “youth club”. Work had commenced on the re-decoration of the building. Although highly visible in the community, targeted outreach work was yet to be developed.

Phoenix Club (Councillor Hannan)

Discussions between the County Solicitor and the Phoenix Solicitor were on-going to clarify terms and conditions of the lease. In order to function as a multi-purpose centre, capital works would be required and a bid to Invest in Devon was expected. As it was not running as a youth centre, Councillor Hannam had used his locality budget to fund a travel subsidy to get young people who would have previously visited the Phoenix Centre for youth club sessions to make use of the 100 Club.

The 100 Club Countess Wear was serving as a youth hub for the whole of Exeter and as an administrative centre for the Youth Service both of which, it was suggested, could be impinging on local community use. Further, there was no clear evidence that use was being made of the 100 Club as a City wide facility.

West Side (Councillors Hill and Hannaford)

There had been lengthy discussions with Exeter YMCA about the future of the former Devon Youth Services youth facility at Buddle Lane (Westside), Councillor Hill having committed his locality budget to the YMCA. Local Members and the County Council had provided access to significant funds in an attempt to make the facility operational and viable, including replacement of the roof. However, due to a substantial increase in the estimated cost of that work, - the initial estimate having increased by over £40,000 to over £90,000 - the funds available were insufficient to make the centre a sustainable proposition for the YMCA.

The Board was not in a position to provide any more funding but remained committed to examining how it would be possible to support youth provision in this area through other means. Concern remained that, until West Side was up and running, there was an urgent need for outreach youth work in the St. Thomas Area and this issue would be raised by local Members at the Devon County Council meeting on 1 October and there would be further discussions between the two local authorities and partners. It was vital that the future use of the building should, if possible, benefit the local community in some way.

General

Members discussed the overall position of youth services in the City which had suffered from the recent County Council cuts across Devon and, as far as Exeter was concerned, appeared to be worsening. There were great concerns that there could be an increase in anti social behaviour as youth work was considered to be a key preventative measure. The position was exacerbated by the delay in the creation of a staff mutual for County youth workers. The Board had previously requested the County Council to establish two youth hubs at Westside and the Phoenix and had also called for a working group to be set up to develop a youth strategy for Exeter – this had not been progressed.

RESOLVED that:-

the County Council be asked by local Councillors at its meeting on 1 October to address the above concerns; and

Councillors Edwards and Westlake seek an urgent meeting with Councillor Hart, Leader of Devon County Council, to discuss the deteriorating position of youth provision in the City.

Funding Sub Group Update - Minutes of the meeting held on 1 September 2015

RESOLVED that:-

(1)	the minutes of the Funding Sub Group of 1 September 2015 be noted;

(2)	Councillor Denham replace Councillor Leadbetter on the Funding Sub Group, Membership of the Sub Group to now comprise the Chair (City Council), Deputy Chair (Councillor Prowse County Council), Councillors Denham (City Council), Edwards (City Council), Hannaford (County Council), J. Owen (County Council), and Westlake (County Council) (Three City Councillors and four County Councillors);

(3)	Funding Sub Group Members appoint substitutes to attend Sun Group meetings when they are unable to attend; and

(4)	the following be noted:-

ExeAccess (Min. No. 23c) - support from Exeter BID was anticipated;

Devon Disability Collective (Min. No. 23f) – Open Day arranged for 16 October; and

Exeter Green Partnership (Min No. 23e)	- an awards evening for the Exeter participants in this year’s Britain in Bloom competition was to be held on 30 September 2015. It was noted that the Britain in Bloom judges had commented during their visit to Exeter on the preponderance of weeds around the City.

Grants Criteria

The Chair introduced the tabled paper prepared by the Funding Sub working group which had met on 20 September to update the criteria and guidance notes.

RESOLVED that the revised criteria and guidance notes be adopted.

Feedback from Member representation on Multi Agency Groups

Exeter Health and Wellbeing Board

The Board noted the minutes of the meeting held on 2 September 2015.

Councillor Owen reported that, following a meeting of the Leisure Facilities and Playing Pitch Strategy Group, it had been agreed to establish a Greater Exeter Sports Board. It was anticipated that the first Board meeting would be in November. He also reported that the embargo on the Sport England announcement of the results of the Bid would be lifted on 1 October.

Community Safety Partnership

The Board noted the minutes of the meeting held on 22 July 2015.

Superintendent Keith Perkin reported that the recent Freshers Week had passed without serious incident. A co-ordinated approach and pre-planning by the City Council, the Police, the University and the Guild had ensured a significant improvement on the 2014 Freshers Week when the level of disturbances, anti social behaviour etc. had been high.

Both he and Councillor Owen praised Simon Lane, the City Council’s Environmental Health and Licensing Manager, for his hard work on this issue.

Councillor Owen also referred to positive feedback from Mr Brownbridge, who had raised this issue through the Open Forum facility at the meeting of this Board on 28 April 2015.

Dates of Meetings and Future Business

RESOLVED that the following dates for meetings of the Board be noted:-

Thursday 19 November 2015

Thursday 14 January 2016

Thursday 28 April 2016

Thursday 28 July 2016

Thursday 22 September 2016

Thursday 17 November 2016

Thursday 2 February 2017

Thursday 20 April 2017

Thursday 27 July 2017

Thursday 21 September 2017

Members agreed the following topics for discussion and presentation to a future meeting:-

Child Sexual Exploitation – 19 November 2015 – Superintendent Perkin

Modern Day Slavery in Devon – 14 January 2016 – Superintendent Perkin

Transition Town Exeter and Economic Development Strategy

Exeter Cultural Strategy

Exeter Respect

(The meeting commenced at 5.30 pm and closed at 7.40 pm)

Chair