A group photograph of Board Members was taken to mark the launch of the Sustainable Communities Strategy. 

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 29 May 2008.

Matters Arising

·                    The Chairman welcomed Ian Clarke as a new Member of the Board.

·                    Distribution of the Sustainable Communities Strategy had begun – a copy was passed to each Board member.

·                    An Access for Life presentation was on this agenda.

·                    Health and Wellbeing and Economic Prosperity reports were on this agenda.

·                    Rob Walker had checked with North Norfolk and they were expecting a drop in Second Homes Council Tax based on a decrease in enquiries received, therefore next years budget might be affected.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Debbie Bartlett, John Gretton, Valerie Jenkins and William Nunn.

To note whether the Chairman proposes to accept any items of urgent business.

None.

Members are asked at this stage to declare any interests they may have in any of the following items on the agenda.

David Ovenden declared a personal interest in Agenda Item 7, as he was the Board’s representative on the Access4Life Steering Board.

John Dixon also declared an interest in this item as a major partner in the project.

To receive an update on the Local Government Review.

Trevor Holden told the Group that the consultation phase had begun and the Boundary Commission would only accept representations with regard to the proposal they had put forward.  Once this phase closed at the end of September the proposal would be put to the Secretary of State and a decision would be expected early next year. 

The Secretary of State had the following options: 

·                    to accept the proposal,

·                    to amend the proposal,

·                    to reject the proposal or to

·                    come up with a new proposal.

If the proposal was accepted the next step would be the signing of the Implementation Order.  As soon as this was done Local Authorities would be constrained financially.  The Order would contain restrictions with regard to the transfer of assets (of £1 million or more) and entering into contracts (of £100,000 or more).  There would also be restrictions with regards to decisions which would outlive the Authority.

Once the Order was signed it would move through the Parliamentary process.  The Group was advised to check the DCLG website for more details as Bedford, Shropshire and Cornwall had already received Implementation Orders.

Rob Walker suggested that there was an opportunity for the Group to make a joint representation to the Boundary Commission if agreement on its content could be reached by all partners.

To receive a presentation by Louise Cornell, Norfolk County Council.

Louise Cornell, a Senior Transport Planner from Norfolk County Council was welcomed by the Chairman.

She gave a presentation on what the Access4Life project had achieved so far and thanked the LSP Board for their support.

The project formed part of the Norfolk Local Transport Plan which contained an accessibility strategy.  Transport was only one element, other services were involved and the key was partnership working.   To be able to make improvements it was important to understand the problems and she had Project Officers working in the communities to gather this information.

Similar schemes had already been run in North Norfolk and Broadland.

In Breckland the project area covered about 29 parishes, containing approximately 4,000 households.  A Partnership Working Group had been set up comprising representatives from such organisations as the Dereham Partnership, Norfolk Constabulary, Youth Groups and Older People’s Forums.  This broad partnership allowed for a range of views to be put forward. 

A consultation exercise was planned for September when a survey would be sent to every household.  Community groups and parish councils would also be contacted.  Research would take place in each parish to identify key services (such as Post Offices, food shops, facilities such as the mobile library and transport services) and to find out what groups were already in existence.

Certain groups would be targeted to find out their access issues; among these would be migrant, youth and older people’s groups.

Once all the information had been collected it would be analysed and key access issues would be identified.  Work would then take place to develop initiatives to overcome access barriers and to alleviate problems.  From experience it was clear that sometimes only small amendments to timetables or opening times could make a great difference. 

Once initiatives were identified there would be another phase of consultations to receive feedback from communities about the proposals.  Finally the aim was to develop an Action Plan by April 2009.

The project area was clarified.

A member asked if it was the intention to extend this project countywide as there were lots of isolated rural areas.  It was hoped that once a good model was established the initiatives might be rolled out countywide.  The aim was to deliver improved service by integrating outreach resources.

The Chairman thanked Louise for her presentation.

To receive the attached report.

Trevor Holden told the Group that the papers handed out at the last meeting had been modified and an amended version was tabled.  He encouraged members to support this project.

David Hatherly, a Director of Wayland Community Radio, was introduced and he thanked the Group for their invitation. 

He said that Wayland Community Radio was attempting to bring something unique to the area.  They had already completed four successful broadcasts.  Current regulations limited their broadcasts to 25 Watts which meant that some people had complained about the poor signal, otherwise feedback had been good. 

The target audience was people in rural communities around Watton, aged 45 plus, (although younger people were catered for with a programme aimed at teenagers on Friday evenings). 

They had received permission from Ofcom to apply for a full time license and were seeking letters of support to accompany their application.

He told the Group that they had one more Restricted Service License (RSL) for 28 days and were seeking funding support.  He explained that the 28 day license cost £4,500 (whereas a twelve month license cost £2,500) and with other expenses added equated to an operating cost of £6,500 for the month. 

They could meet the six criteria that Local Authority Partnerships needed to address:

1. Welcoming and Bridging – Provide broadcasts in Portuguese and Polish, Publicise and promote multi-cultural events
2. Provision of Information – Interviews and discussions, phone, text and e-mail feedback, Promote efficient use of services
3. Identifying Community Needs – Use community links for the benefit of Breckland Council, Encourage dialogue with the community
4. Active Citizenship & Volunteering – Promote the role of Councillors, etc and the activities and organisations in the Breckland area
5. Tension Monitoring & Contingency Planning – Provide immediate response to community issues and incidents
6. Sustainability – Publicise and promote new services and sustain and improve existing services

He suggested that the Partnership could purchase air time and distributed information on charges for services such as Information Point, Interviews, etc.

In response to a question David confirmed that Wayland Community Radio did broadcast on the internet and could be found at www.waylandradio.com.  They were hoping to get a Media Box grant to enable them to do regular Friday night youth programmes as young people also suffered from isolation in rural areas.

A Member asked if increasing their output to 100 Watts would increase the area they covered.  This was not the intention.  They were just hoping to improve the quality of the signal to their existing audience.

Another Member was disappointed by this as she said that Thetford had a large migrant population and would also benefit from the Reading for the Blind service.

David explained that in future they may be in a position to apply to Ofcom for a Repeater to enable them to broadcast further afield, but currently they were concentrating on the Wayland area.

RESOLVED that the sum of £2,500 be granted to Wayland Community Radio to support an Information Point feature.

To receive the attached report by Rob Walker, LSP Officer.

Rob Walker told the Group that he had recently been appointed as Sustainable Communities Manager which left the LSP Development Officer post vacant.

He reminded the Group that in November 2007 they had agreed to fund the LSP Development Officer post until the end of 2009, and explained that the cost of advertising and recruiting to the vacancy would be available within this budget.

RESOLVED to advertise for and recruit a new LSP Development Officer for the period up to and including December 2009.

The Group was then asked for a volunteer for the recruitment panel, which would hopefully sit within the month.  John Dixon volunteered.

To receive the attached report by Mark Stokes, Pride in Breckland Project Director.

Rob Walker told the Group that following the first meeting of the Pride in Breckland Project Board a Service Plan had been drafted.  Some amendments had already been made and more might follow the launch. 

Ben Holt was introduced to the Group, he was in post until the Project Co-ordinator was appointed and he had already done a lot of good work.  His contact details were: Tel: 01362 656344 and e-mail (which would be the same for the Co-ordinator when appointed) prideinbreckland@breckland.gov.uk

The Pride Line was already in operation using an existing facility, but would not be publicised until a more sophisticated answer-phone was in place.  This would allow people to anonymously report things like fly-tipping, but also gave them the option of speaking to someone if they so wished.  The Pride Line number was 01362 853296. 

Members were asked to attend the launch events which would take place as follows:

Thetford                29 July                  Market Place

Dereham              01 August             Market Place

Watton                  03 August             Watton Show

Attleborough        07 August             Market Place

Swaffham             16 August             Market Place

Partners were encouraged to attend for at least part of the day and told that any promotional material related to the Pride theme could be distributed at the events.

The Chairman urged Members to support these five events.

RESOLVED to endorse the Pride In Breckland Service Plan.

To receive the attached report by Martin Seymour, Health and Wellbeing Lead.

Martin Seymour told the Group that this Service Plan had been drawn up with the aim of providing a holistic approach for better health all round.

RESOLVED to endorse the Health and Wellbeing (Falls Prevention) Service Plan.

Rob Walker explained that all the Service Plans were being presented on this agenda and that their progress would be monitored at the next meeting.

To receive the attached report by Mark Stanton, Economic Prosperity Lead.

Rob Walker presented this report in the absence of Mark Stanton.

He told the Group that there had been a productive meeting with ESOL related agencies and the focus was now on pre-ESOL training and improving links to more formal training.  The request for money for a Co-ordinator had been taken out of the report.

ICT grants and a training scheme package for micro and small businesses were still included but did not involve funding for officer time.

A lot of partnership building needed to be done and local businesses would be encouraged to fund some training for ESOL.

In conclusion the project had been significantly re-jigged and the amount of funding requested had been reduced to £21,500.

RESOLVED to approve the BELA 2 project and funding as outlined in the report and attached documentation.

To receive the attached report by Rob Walker, LSP Officer.

Rob Walker introduced this as the fourth strand to emerge from the Away Day projects.  He apologised that there had not been time to submit the full Service Plan for this agenda and told the Group that this would come to the next meeting along with a request for approval and funding.

He sought the Group’s support for this project.

A Member remarked that this was a particularly apt time for the Group to be involved in such a project as it would help to reduce heating and travel bills and encourage people to grow their own food.  He felt there was the potential for good public support.

RESOLVED to support the development of the Environmental Sustainability project.

To receive an update on Partnership finances.

Rob Walker told the Group that, taking into account all previous commitments, there was £67,594.62 uncommitted in the budget.  Following the approval of funding for the Economic Prosperity project and Wayland Radio there would still be £43,594.62 uncommitted.

Trevor Holden said that William Nunn had asked him to raise the subject of Partnership Funding with the Group.  When the Cabinet had approved the sum of £200,000 for the Pride Project it had been understood that funding would also be sought from Partners and other sources as it was not intended to be a Breckland Council project.

He asked the public sector Partners to come to the next meeting in October with offers to provide resources to deliver this project.

To agree items for inclusion on the next or a future agenda.

Items for inclusion on the next agenda were:

·                    Performance Reviews and Service Plans for Health, BELA and Pride;

·                    Visit by Sue Jeewkes – Audit Commission (the District’s Comprehensive Area Assessment Lead);

·                    Short report on Thetford Task Force;

·                    Report on the Community Empowerment White Paper;

·                    Update on Community Cohesion;

·                    Report on LAA Activity.

To note that the next meeting of the LSP Board will be held on Thursday 9 October 2008 at 2.00 pm in the Anglia Room, Elizabeth House, Breckland Council.

Sylvia Armes told the Group that her time with Keystone expired in October and so she would not be attending in future.

The Chairman thanked her for her input.

The next meeting of the LSP Board would be on Thursday 9 October 2008 at 2.00 pm in the Anglia Room, Elizabeth House, Breckland Council.