Agenda and minutes

This was received from Phil Atwell.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held on 25 November 2014 be taken as read and signed by the Chair as correct.

It had been agreed at the Board meeting in September that the Chair, Deputy Chair and Councillor Hannaford meet with the Association to discuss the potential for securing a more secure, on-going financial commitment from the County and City Councils. This would now be arranged.

The minutes of the Sub Group meeting of 12 January 2015 were tabled for Members’ information.

Questions on the following topics were put to the Board under the Open Forum arrangements.

Policing and Enforcement - Aled Davies

In addition to the circulated answer, Superintendent Perkin provided the following statistics for Exeter:-

70 patrolling constables, 10 sergeants and 1 Inspector

16 Neighbourhood beat officers with 25 community support officers, 4 Neighbourhood Team Leaders and 1 inspector

Support of other officers such as CID, etc

He offered to speak further to Mr Davies on the issues raised.

Exeter City Council’s repair project for damp council flats – John Murphy

Noting the specific problem referred to of an elderly lady who had incurred significant costs in the purchase and use of a de-humidifier and was seeking re-imbursement, the Portfolio Holder confirmed that this claim would be examined as assessments were undertaken of individual cases which might merit special support. Residents had been advised of the budget for the works and would be informed of the contract start date, which was due to commence in April.

Bin Collection - Syahrul  Hidayat

The Portfolio Holder confirmed that the allegation of fly tipping was being looked at by officers but that, without evidence, it was difficult to ascertain the true position. The ward Councillor, present at the meeting, agreed to look into the matter.

The questions and replies from the Chair (in italics) are appended to the minutes.

Mark Lane updated the Board on progress with the continuation of youth service provision in the City:-

Knight Club

A three year interim lease to allow further development and testing of the ICSA Church business plans was proposed, the County Council committed to repair the leaking roof and to transfer a sum of money to help towards the costs of mitigating the ongoing flooding issues caused by poor highway drainage in the vicinity.

Following their property survey, ISCA had raised some additional queries prior to contract relating to the property which had been responded to and a transfer was anticipated by mid January.

Phoenix

The YMCA wished to take on the Centre, but wanted to use the building for other community purposes to generate enough income to cover building running costs and, ultimately, costs of delivering youth services.

The agreement of the Wonford Community and Learning Centre (WCLC) trustees was necessary for the lease arrangements to be changed to allow both centres to be run for youth and community activities and this was being negotiated with the City Council and the Centre as well as the potential of the YMCA running some youth provision from the Centre on limited available evenings in the interim.

The County Council and the YMCA had agreed that, as an interim measure, the County Council grant a short term lease with a break triggered by the City Council reversing the temporary change in permitted use. This change would help the trustees of the WCLC decide if the proposals were acceptable.

West Side

The City Council had indicated that it would agree to a re-assignment of the County Council lease to the YMCA in principle. The YMCA site survey had identified significant repairs to the roof which was a large capital expenditure item but had been advised to make an application to the new Invest In Devon Youth Capital Fund to meet the cost. A replacement boiler was required and would be funded by the County Council.

The County Council would grant the YMCA a long sub lease with an initial break option and the County Council had instructed the preparation of a draft lease.

It was anticipated that the YMCA would take possession at the beginning of April 2015.

RESOLVED that the position be noted.

Nicola Forsdyke, Exeter City Council’s Housing Options Manager and Adrian Staegemann and Ruth Tune of the Street Homeless Outreach Team reported on the results of the rough sleepers count in November 2014, the possible causes and solutions. The total number of homeless people sleeping on the streets had been counted at 34 - a 48% increase with 50% having a local connection to Exeter. Of the 34, two were female, 10 believed to have endured mental health issues, six with alcohol issues and two using legal highs and 10 entrenched in rough sleeping. The remaining 24 required assessment before placement and, of these, 11 had been identified as only wanting self contained accommodation but had very high support needs. The increase in female rough sleepers was a concern which was attributable, in part, to the closure of the Esther project for vulnerable women.

Exeter, along with East Devon, Mid Devon, Teignbridge and Torbay had obtained Single Homeless funding to assist this client group over the next year. Renewed efforts around the Making Every Adult Matter (MEAM) approach would focus on encouraging agencies to come together and resolve individual’s circumstances. Nicola confirmed that Exeter would receive the largest share of resources as it had the highest level of need.

Adrian and Ruth summarised the work of SHOT which undertook outreach work to those sleeping on the streets five nights and early mornings a week. The primary solution was to provide accommodation at Gabriel House which catered predominantly for those with complex needs, some 90% relating to alcohol and 95% with offending histories. It was constantly full with a current waiting list of 20.

Rough sleeping had been a problem for many years in Exeter and was increasing across the country with no easy solution to this complex and challenging problem. As with other urban areas, rough sleepers gravitated to Exeter where there were greater support opportunities for their lifestyle including health and accommodation resources.

It was becoming more difficult to work with some rough sleepers and the SHOT were seeing an increase in chaotic behaviour, some of which was linked to unmanaged substance misuse and mental health problems. Reductions and changes in service provision and a lack of outreach support in terms of health, mental health and substance misuse workers, was often resulting in non engagement by clients. Referring to the vulnerability of rough sleepers Superintendent Perkin mentioned the need to have regard, as far as possible, to their security. A more rigorous approach to discourage City Centre locations could lead to sanctuary being sought in more secluded and dangerous locations. Simon Bowkett referred to a number of organisations supporting the homeless across the country who were facing severe financial challenges and to the estimated cost of supporting one rough sleeper in Exeter, which, at £8,391, would total £285,000 for the 34 identified in November. He also reported a joint agency capital bid for £500,000 funding from Public Health England to assist in setting up a multi agency hub at Wat  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Dawn Rivers reported on progress with the mapping of community facilities in the City. Following discussions that have evolved from a number of different grant making groups in the City, including New Homes Bonus Fund and the Exeter Board Funding Sub Group it had felt necessary to have a good understanding about community facilities in different parts of the City. This resource would also be useful in discussions with communities about community assets and potential of joint working with other groups in their areas. Further mapping would take place to ensure that all venues that had the potential for community use were included, such as Church Halls, School Halls and Social Clubs. Local Members and community groups would be consulted to ensure comprehensive coverage.

The County Council had recently launched its (Beta) Community website  https://beta.devon.gov.uk/community that forms part of the Community Resilience work to “Help people to help themselves”. This site included information about use of buildings across the county to see if they could be better used and delivered in a different way.

The City Council would be looking to develop this work in conjunction with colleagues from Devon County Council, also other statutory agencies including the police and ambulance services as part of having greater involvement with communities to discuss options and solutions for service delivery in the different areas.

Members recognised the value of the exercise as the existence of a comprehensive database of the City’s community resources would assist planning and funding decisions and go some way in eliminating duplication. 

RESOLVED that a further report on community engagement as part of the Devon Local/Community Resilience be made to the next Board meeting.

(a)  Exeter Health and Wellbeing Board

Minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2014.

The Board noted the minutes of the meeting of the Exeter Health and Well Being Board held on 11 November 2014.

RESOLVED that the following dates and venues for meetings be noted:-

Tuesday 28 April 2015 - County Hall

Thursday 30 July 2015 - City Centre

Thursday 24 September 2015 - County Hall