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LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1972 BOROUGH OF NORTH TYNESIDE 29 JULY 2003 At the meeting of the Council of the Borough of North Tyneside duly convened and held on Tuesday 29 July 2003 at 6.00pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Wallsend, at which a quorum of members were present, that is to say:- Present Councillor J L Carter (Chair) Mrs L Arkley (Mayor) Councillor J M Allan Councillor M J Huscroft Councillor A Austin Councillor N J Huscroft Councillor Mrs J M Bell Councillor H Jackson Councillor G W Brett Councillor Mrs K J G Johnston Councillor E Buckton Councillor R Lackenby Councillor B Burdis Councillor F Lott Councillor D Charlton Councillor D McGarr Councillor K A Conroy Councillor M McIntyre Councillor J W Conway Councillor Mrs P McIntyre Councillor S L Cox Councillor I Macaulay Councillor T C Cruikshanks Councillor M L Madden Councillor E N Darke Councillor A Martin Councillor K I Fairs Councillor K Mewett Councillor R J Fletcher Councillor Mrs S E Mortimer Councillor C A Gambling Councillor D Newton Councillor M T Glindon Councillor D Ord Councillor L J Goveas Councillor A Richardson Councillor R M Goveas Councillor J S Ross Councillor M A Green Councillor J P Smith Councillor Mrs M S Hall Councillor M T Smith Councillor M O Hall Councillor Mrs B Stevens Councillor J L L Harrison Councillor J J Stirling Councillor E Hodson Councillor R Stringfellow Councillor J Hunter Councillor M Van der Merwe Councillor M Huscroft Advisory Representatives Ms S Donnelley - Unison Mr M Stobbart - Unison 2907coun/1c Council C30/07/03 QUESTIONS BY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC (i) The following question by Mr E Smith of 3 Acton Drive, North Shields was put to the Mayor in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 10:- “Can the Mayor please advise me what action she will take to ensure that the Lynn Estate in North Shields is cleaned up? Since the May elections there has been no response from the Council to my complaints.” The Mayor replied as follows:- “I am fully committed to delivering improvements to the Environment, a significant part of which is the cleanliness of our housing estates. I am working closely with officers and listening to concerns of residents about environmental issues and will be seeking to invest more in these service areas generally and, in particular, looking at a range of options to improve cleaning regimes. The cleansing regime for the majority of housing estates is normally on a two weekly cycle with town centres cleaned daily on a twin shift arrangement starting at 6am finishing at 10pm. I am advised by Officers that they are responding directly to Mr Smith’s complaints.” (ii) The following question by Mr L Richards of 86 Lynn Road, North Shields was put to the Mayor in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 10:- “Can the Mayor please tell me when are the drain gullies on Lynn Road, North Shields to be cleared as they are completely blocked up ? When there is a heavy downpour of rain all the water travels down to Billy Mill roundabout. I have reported the state of the drains on Lynn Road to Envirolink three months ago and am still awaiting a response. The drains do not seem to have been cleared for at least 15 years.” The Mayor replied as follows:- “Officers within the Environment Service have advised me that the main road drains are programmed to be cleaned (and jetted if required) on a cyclical basis once every year. The drains on Lynn Road are programmed to be cleaned in August of this year.” (iii) The following question by Mrs K Hetherington of 37 Whittingham Road, Tynemouth was put to the Mayor in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 10:- “What are the Council's plans for providing housing choices in the near future specifically for older people with severe learning disabilities and special support needs who are still living at home with older family carers?” 2907coun/2t Council The Mayor replied as follows:- “It is perhaps important to note that we are currently reviewing all of our support services to adults and work is underway to develop clear strategies that will see rapid improvements during the next year and beyond. Those who use our support services, their families and their carers will be encouraged to participate in developing these services so that they are flexible and deliver support in the way that people want it and when they want it. It is important to us that we enable those who choose to live with their families to do so. We will before the end of the summer have an updated Carers Strategy that should ensure additional support for those caring for older people with learning disabilities as well as other groups. There are already meetings scheduled between managers from social services, housing, the Primary Care Trust, Northumbria Trust as well as representatives of the voluntary sector and other agencies. These meetings will be used to assess more accurately the level of need for services and will help us to pin point gaps in current provision. We will be seeking the participation of service users and carers in this work. We have a grant of £440,000 this year to spend on support to carers and while some of this has been committed already there are significant opportunities for improved investment. We are committed to completing an Older People's Strategy during the autumn. This will be heavily based upon the work of the Older People's Strategy Group and in particular the "older people's champions". It is clear that this will trigger a radical improvement in the way that we deliver support to people in their own homes and those living with family members. We are acutely aware of the need to develop short break care for older people with learning disabilities and other groups. We will be bringing forward planned improvements to these services during the autumn. One of our Local Public Service Agreements targets is to increase the range of support services so that people are able to continue to live at home, while reducing the risk of their admission to residential care. We see short break care as being an essential component in our strategy to achieve this. As I have already said plans around improving short break provision will be available in the autumn. The Older People's Strategy, will, alongside the North Tyneside Housing Strategy seek to improve the housing choices that all older people have. The North Tyneside Housing Strategy states that: - "We will meet the special housing needs which the Council is currently unable to provide for adequately. This will involve meeting community needs which include those of people with support needs linked to disability or long term illness". 2907coun/3t Council Through this strategy we will continue to develop supported living for people with physical and learning disabilities and meet the requirements of others with special support needs. Just recently we have developed with registered social landlords the provision of 16 independent flats for people with learning disabilities and a range of shared housing. We have a Locality Director for learning disability services now which is a joint post between Social Services and the Primary Care Trust (PCT). Part of the role of the Locality Director will be to ensure that we have a diverse range of housing and support options available. The Learning Disabilities Partnership Board has commissioned a Housing and Learning Disabilities Strategy which is currently being developed. This will be completed by the end of the year. Supporting People is a key government initiative aimed at providing housing support to vulnerable groups, including people with learning disabilities. It is meant to help them to obtain or maintain independence. Some additional funding is available to us to assist in the development of agreed priorities.” In accordance with Council Procedure Rule No.10.7, Mrs Hetherington asked the following supplementary question:- "My earlier question stems from the local authority withdrawing support from a scheme at Whitehouse Lane, North Shields. Does this mean an end to the quality of accommodation for people with special needs in North Tyneside?" The Mayor replied as follows:- "To my knowledge no contract has been entered into as yet. We are working with everyone as pointed out in my previous answer”. (iv) The following question by Mrs D Johnston of 14 Elmfield Gardens, Wallsend was put to Councillor Mrs J M Bell, Cabinet Member for Education in accordance with Council Procedure Rule No 10:- “Two new schools being built in Wallsend by a Japanese company, the land is owned by North Tyneside Council, but the schools when complete will be rented by the Japanese company to North Tyneside Council on a 25 year basis. If this is true, why has the general public not been informed about this?” Councillor Mrs Bell replied as follows:- "Burnside Community High School and Western Community Primary School are being re-provided under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). PFI funding for schools is provided through the Department for Education and Skills and is the only current form of capital funding for investment in schools for projects over £5m. 2907coun/4t Council PFI requires a partnership approach with a private sector organisation. In this case the United Kingdom registered subsidiary of the Japanese business will be a partner in a company specially set up for this purpose. Land is transferred to the private sector organisation for a set period (in this instance the contract period is over 30 years). The company builds the schools to the Council's requirements and provides facilities management services to the schools for the period of the contract.

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