AREA ASSEMBLY CHAIRS Venue
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
AREA ASSEMBLY CHAIRS Venue: Town Hall, Moorgate Date: Monday, 11 September Street, Rotherham. 2006 Time: 2.00 p.m. A G E N D A 1. To determine if the following matters are to be considered under the categories suggested in accordance with the Local Government Act 1972. 2. To determine any item which the Chairman is of the opinion should be considered as a matter of urgency. 3. Apologies for Absence 4. Minutes of the Previous Meeting held on 31st July, 2006 (Pages 1 - 6) 5. Rother Valley South Area Assembly (Pages 7 - 12) - minutes of meeting held on 3rd July, 2006 6. Rother Valley West Area Assembly (Pages 13 - 20) - minutes of meeting held on 24th July, 2006 7. Rotherham North Area Assembly (Pages 21 - 25) - minutes of meeting held on 18th July, 2006 8. Rotherham South Area Assembly (Pages 26 - 32) - minutes of meeting held on 4th July, 2006 9. Wentworth North Area Assembly (Pages 33 - 49) - minutes of meetings held on 8th May and 12th June, 2006 10. Wentworth South Area Assembly (Pages 50 - 58) - minutes of meetings held on 19th April and 3rd May, 2006 11. Wentworth Valley Area Assembly (Pages 59 - 67) - minutes of meeting held on 29th June, 2006 12. Date and Time of Next Meeting - - 16th October, 2006, at 2.00 p.m. Page 1 Agenda Item 4 AREA ASSEMBLY CHAIRS - 31/07/06 AREA ASSEMBLY CHAIRS MONDAY, 31ST JULY, 2006 Present:- Councillor Ellis (in the Chair); Councillors Dodson, Hodgkiss, Johnston and Rushforth. Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Davies, Kaye and Swift. 134. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 12TH JUNE, 2006 Agreed:- That the minutes of the meeting be agreed as a true record. 135. MEMBERS TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PANEL - NOMINATION Agreed:- That Councillor Hodgkiss be nominated as the Area Assembly Chairs’ representative on the Members Training and Development Panel. 136. GAMBLING ACT Dave Stockdale, Licensing Manager, submitted a report on the Gambling Act 2005 which required the Council to prepare and publish a Statement of Licensing Policy before it carried out any function in respect of applications made under the Act. The Policy must be determined with a view to promoting the 3 licensing objectives i.e. preventing gambling from being a source of crime and disorder, being associated with crime and disorder or being used to support crime; ensuring that gambling was conducted in a fair and open way; protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling. As from January, 2007, premises and gambling applications would be considered by the Council rather than the Gambling Commission/Magistrates. The draft Statement was currently out for 12 weeks’ consultation. Advice was still awaited on the level of fees, administration arrangements, enforcement etc. LACORS and the Institute of Licensing had requested that the transitional date be delayed to enable clear guidance and arrangements to be in place. Agreed:- (1) That the report be noted. (2) That Area Assembly Chairs be notified of the timescales when known to enable them to determine whether a presentation was required at their respective Area Assembly meeting. 137. MEMBER DEVELOPMENT FOR THE NEW WAY OF WORKING FOR AREA ASSEMBLIES Page 2 AREA ASSEMBLY CHAIRS - 31/07/06 2 The Head of Neighbourhood Development submitted a proposed agenda for an Area Assembly Chairs Away Day to look at what the new way of working for Area Assemblies would mean for Members. The 7 Area Partnership Managers would be responsible for overseeing the development of the new way of working for Area Assemblies. Crucial to this was the need to establish joint working arrangements with both staff and Members. The Away Day would be the start of the joint training process and suggested that it consider:- − Effective meetings − Team working − Partnership working – The Co-ordinating Group − Performance management − The Neighbourhoods agenda – national and local context − Additional development needs − Relationships – with the local community, Council, Rotherham Partnership, external organisation and planning Co-ordinating Group Away Days Cath Saltis, Head of Scrutiny Services, reported that there would be some common development needs amongst Members as well as individual developmental needs which would involve one-to-one sessions. With regard to the Area Partnership Managers, it was noted that 5 had accepted posts from the recent recruitment drive. The 2 remaining posts had been re-advertised with interviews being held on 22nd August. There had been no decision made as to which Area Assembly they would be allocated; their skills would be matched to the individual areas’ needs and appointed accordingly. Agreed:- (1) That the draft agenda for the Away Day with Area Assembly Chairs and Area Partnership Managers be agreed and supported. (2) That a 12 month training package for Members and staff be developed in partnership with the Member Development Officer, Chief Executive’s Office. (3) That the Head of Scrutiny Services be invited to the Away Day. 138. REPORTING OF AREA ASSEMBLIES The Head of Neighbourhood Development submitted a draft proposal for the possible reporting structure for Area Assemblies. It was noted that since the agenda had been compiled the structure had been changed and had not been finalised as yet. The Community Involvement Unit had been charged with the responsibility for rolling out the new way of working for Area Assemblies Page 3 AREA ASSEMBLY CHAIRS - 31/07/06 and ensuring there was an appropriate information flow between the 7 Area Assemblies, the Council and Rotherham Partnership. The Local Strategic Partnership Board wanted reporting arrangements but would be concerned with performance management rather than minutes of the various Area Assemblies. Agreed:- That the report be noted. 139. MARKETING/LAUNCH OF AREA ASSEMBLIES The Head of Neighbourhood Development submitted a report detailing the official launch of the new Area Assemblies at the Rotherham Show on 9th and 10th September, 2006. At a recent away day held with key stakeholders it was suggested that each Area Assembly should have its own identity or “brand” so that it was easily recognisable to members of the public and internal stakeholders. One of the ways this could be achieved was by each of the 7 Area Assemblies being assigned a colour whereby all correspondence and literature relating to that specific area was produced in the same colour. Where correspondence or literature was being produced on behalf of all Area Assemblies there would be 1 colour which depicted all 7 with a common logo being used by all. Radio Sheffield had been approached to interview local people throughout the weekend as they leave the Local Authority tent with the responses being broadcast onto a large screen in the Park and All Saints Square. It had been suggested that all 7 Area Chairs be filmed prior to the Show stating what the new way of working meant for them and the communities they represented. Discussion ensued on the new logo for Area Assemblies with the following comments made:- − In favour of colour association − Consideration should be given to the changing of Area Assembly names − Should “Rotherham” be included in the logo? − White on black the preferred option Agreed:- (1) That the proposed Area Assemblies launch at the Rotherham Show be supported. (2) That the new Area Assemblies logo be approved. 140. REACHOUT 12 AND 13 Dawn Price, Corporate Consultation Officer, submitted the key findings from Reachout 12 and 13. Page 4 AREA ASSEMBLY CHAIRS - 31/07/06 4 The make up of the Citizen Panel had been changed to ensure that a more robust mechanism was utilised. It had been increased to 1,750 Panel members with questionnaires being sent out twice a year, July and October. The number of people per Area Assembly had increased to 250 and would be sent to different citizens on both occasions to allow a wider spread of inclusivity. The findings had been broken down into Area Assembly areas to enable comparison and contrast. A meeting was to be held with the Youth Cabinet to encourage them to submit questions to Reachout. Discussion ensued on the reports. The following suggestions were made:- − A breakdown of responses per Area Assembly e.g. a map showing postcodes which had responded − The Co-ordinating Group could feed questions into Reachout on a certain issue that was relevant to their Area Assembly Agreed:- (1) That the report be noted. (2) That the results from Reachout 14 be submitted to this meeting. 141. NEIGHBOURHOOD WORKING AND AREA GOVERNANCE YORKSHIRE AND HUMBER REGION A document was submitted for information on the Accelerated Improvement Consortium on Neighbourhood Working and Area Governance in the Yorkshire and Humber region. The Consortium consisted of a series of 4 intensive workshops modelled around practical exercises and interactive group debate. The sessions were held between December, 2005, and April, 2006, and focussed on a range of issues around neighbourhood working, area governance and involved discussions around the role of not just local authorities, but other public sector agencies such as the police and the voluntary sector. Agreed:- That the report be noted. 142. ROTHER VALLEY SOUTH AREA ASSEMBLY Consideration was given to the minutes of the Rother Valley South Area Assembly held on 2nd June, 2006 Agreed:- That the minutes be noted. 143. ROTHER VALLEY WEST AREA ASSEMBLY Consideration was given to the minutes of the Rother Valley West Area Page 5 AREA ASSEMBLY CHAIRS - 31/07/06 Assembly held on 8th May and 21st June, 2006. Agreed:- That the minutes be noted. 144. ROTHERHAM NORTH AREA ASSEMBLY Consideration was given to the minutes of the Rotherham North Area Assembly held on 16th May and 20th June, 2006. Agreed:- That the minutes be noted.