What is a Community Assembly? Community Assemblies aim to give local people ‘voice and choice’. They work with the Council and other agencies like the Police and the NHS to make real changes to the daily lives of local people and extend local democracy making sure the community have their say. There are 7 Community Assemblies in Sheffield and each one is run by 12 local Councillors with support from officers from Sheffield City Council. Each Community Assembly has a small dedicated budget to spend on boosting the local services deemed important by local people and also has the power to influence the way the hundreds of millions of pounds that public agencies spend in each Community Assembly area. The intention of the Assembly is to improve the quality of life and lift the aspirations of local people. The Assembly has the power to scrutinise the quality of service being provided in the area and hold those responsible for services to account. Each Community Assembly produces an annual Community Plan in consultation with local people. The Plan will make some promises to residents that local Councillors will be responsible for delivering. This is the summary Community Assembly Plan for North East Community Assembly What Does the North East Community Assembly Area Look Like? North East CA includes the electoral wards of Southey, Firth Park, Shiregreen/ Brightside and Burngreave. The boundary of the area forms a heart shape stretching to the north west along the railway line from the Wicker Arches to Birley Carr, over Foxhill Edge to Parson Cross, and along Hartley Brook to the M1 and Meadowhall in the north east, returning south west along the railway line to the Wicker . The area is made up of many distinct and diverse neighbourhoods. It takes in the large Northern General Hospital site and district centres at Firth Park, Chaucer and Spital Hill. At 92,000 plus, the North East area has by far the largest population of all of the Community Assemblies. The proportion of children and young people is high, especially in Burngreave ward, with fewer older people over 80, particularly in Shiregreen & Brightside ward. The population is growing at a much faster rate than the city average. Household size is the largest in the CA areas. The 2001 Census showed that the North East area has the highest proportion of black or minority ethnic (BME) people in the city, at almost 17%. The North East Assembly faces very difficult challenges. All four wards have high levels of overall deprivation and in parts of Firth Park and Southey wards poverty has worsened, against the city trend. Community Assembly Plan - Summary 2009 & 2010 Recent regeneration programmes have targeted communities within the area including Burngreave New Deal for Communities, Southey/Owlerton regeneration [SOAR], and East and North Housing Market Renewal schemes. Key Issues for the Area In 2006, the council asked over 10,000 people in Sheffield “what most needed improving in their area, including over 1400 in North East CA. The responses from people living in the North East CA area overwhelming showed the following issues were raised as a top priority in almost every neighbourhood: • level of crime, • road and pavement repairs • clean streets • facilities for children and teenagers Other top neighbourhood priorities were traffic congestion (Brightside, Fir Vale and Firth Park), public transport (Brightside, Wincobank, Shiregreen, Parson Cross and Foxhill), affordable housing (Shiregreen), and better shopping facilities (Abbeyfield, Firshill and Woodside) In 2008 over 1500 people across Sheffield were asked the same question by the Council. The responses from 178 people in the NE CA confirmed priorities in the earlier survey: level of crime, clean streets, road and pavement repairs, affordable decent housing, public transport and activities for teenagers. North East Community Assembly Consultation Over the past 6 months the North East Assembly has been involved in an extensive consultation exercise asking people from across the area for their suggestions and priorities for local issues affecting their community. Firstly the elected members were asked to volunteer 'hot issues' which have been raised by their electorate at meetings, surgeries, via the post, through telephone calls, e- mails etc within their respective wards. Then over the summer months our Communications Bus was used at festivals In Abbeyfield Park, Firth Park, Fir Vale, Parson Cross Park and twice on Shiregreen, which together with a postcard survey carried out in Brightside/Shiregreen, resulted in nearly 1000 suggestions from residents giving their views and opinions on how they would like the area to develop. This was then followed up with separate public meetings in the 4 ward areas to present the findings of the consultation. The result of this consultation reflected the same top 4 priorities as the city wide 2008 survey (level of crime, road and pavement repairs, clean streets and the activities for children and young people) but put more emphasis on the need for improved parks and green spaces, and to the importance of community organisations and people getting on together. It also raised some useful suggestions about local issues, such as the lack of recycling facilities in Brightside/Grimesthorpe, the high incidence of anti social behaviour in parks in Southey ward and Parson Cross, spoiled grass verges in 2 Community Assembly Plan - Summary 2009 & 2010 Shiregreen, problems with overgrown street trees in Firth Park and parts of Burngreave and air quality issues in Shirecliffe, Fir Vale and Wincobank. Also by talking to our Partners within the City Council, NHS Sheffield and the South Yorkshire Police and examining their statistics we agreed on other issues that we need to address: • The number of people in the North East CA who are satisfied with their local area as a place to live, and with the way the Council runs things, is well below average. • People die younger and have poorer health in the North East CA area than in the rest of the city • Despite some significant improvements in Burngreave and Shiregreen/Brightside wards, all wards in the North East assembly are below the Sheffield average for GCSE attainment (with Firth Park ward the lowest) • Nearly a third of the young people aged 16 – 19 who are not in employment, education or training [NEETs] live in the NECA area • Rates of fly-tipping in the NECA area are the worst in the city • The area has most of the worst grass verges in the city • Fir Vale has one of the lowest environmental quality scores in the country • Burngreave Ward experienced more than twice the Sheffield average for serious road accidents • The area has higher incidents of antisocial behaviour than the Sheffield average. Incidents peak in the season July-September. • The number of people claiming job seekers allowance has risen sharply, even in better off neighbourhoods. The North East CA has logged and considered all these issues. This year’s action plan sets out where the Assembly councillors and partner agencies think it is possible for them to bring about some real change in the next 18 months. Every issue you raise with us matters – please continue to let us know what you think needs improving in your area. Priorities for 2009 and 2010 The Community Assembly will work with public agencies on all of the issues discussed above and new issues will no doubt come up during the year ahead. However, the Community Assembly has identified some particular priorities for change for the next 18 months. Local Councillors have agreed that focusing on these priorities will make the most difference to the daily lives of people in the 3 Community Assembly Plan - Summary 2009 & 2010 assembly area. Some of the real things which the Assembly can do will target more than one priority e.g. providing positive activities for children should improve their health and reduce the incidence of crime and anti-social behaviour. Clean, tidy, greener ‘streets to be proud of’ Improved parks and open spaces Community support and people getting on together More things for children and young people to do Neighbourhoods where people feel safe Improved roads and transport Improve local housing Reducing health inequalities: adding years to life and life to years Getting people into work and out of poverty Build on improvements in educational attainment, improve aspiration, and reduce school exclusions These priorities will inform where the Assembly spends its money and time in the next 18 months. There are some immediate changes which the Assembly can make. Others will require more negotiation and investigation with partner agencies, existing local networks and organisations. Some will require the Assembly to use its influence to lobby for change in Council policy or service delivery. Real Changes we will deliver in 2009 and 2010 Priority 1: Clean, tidy, greener ‘streets to be proud of’ Cleaner Streets Across all wards we will fund our own Street Force Neighbourhood Environment Action Team to tackle grot spots fund extra Bring Out Your Rubbish days set aside funding for action on fly-tipping hot spots look at changing street cleaning schedules, in the light of problem areas you have told us about extend and publicise the annual gully cleaning programme repaint railings at key shopping centre sites 4 Community Assembly Plan - Summary 2009 & 2010 In specific wards we will Negotiate with Rail Track to clear fly-tipping along the Shiregreen/Brightside railway embankments on the Meadowhall line find a