Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Offices, Station Road, Wigston

Contact: Democratic Services  Email: committees@oadby-wigston.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

48.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

None Received.

 

49.

Minutes of the Last Meeting held on 25 February 2015 pdf icon PDF 132 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED THAT:

 

The minutes of the Forum held on 25 February 2015 be taken as read, confirmed and signed.

 

50.

Police Update

Minutes:

PCSO L Browne provided the forum with an update on youth related policing activities in the Borough. The update included;

 

§  Oadby

 

?   The Oadby Beat Team had been focussing as late on reported ASB incidents taking place in the car park of Sainsbury’s on the A6. These reports have reduced recently.

?   The Oadby Beat Team has been able to engage with young people in the area more as the number of opportunities for engagement have increased.

?   Beauchamp College students have recently undertaken training opportunities offered to them to become ‘Community Champions’. This will allow them to support police volunteers etc. at community events in the Borough.

 

§  Wigston

 

?   Since the last JAG meeting (5 Oct 2015) there have been no reports of ASB incidents received from the McDonalds/Junction Road area. This has previously been a hotspot for youth related ASB.

?   A couple of minor ASB incidents have been reported to the police and summarily dealt with.

?   The Wigston Working Group, set up to look at creating opportunities for young people and setting up related provisions, will be continuing with M Smith taking over the chair from G White. The Group will be continuing to look for alternate funding streams for provisions.

?   Other youth related incidents reported to the police in Wigston include food being thrown around on Bell Street and in Little Hill. A report of young people climbing on factory roofs at Manor Street had also been received.

?   A further report of an older man being bullied by young people on Willow Park was also investigated.

 

§  South Wigston

 

?   The ‘Police Cadet’ scheme is now up and running at South Leicestershire College.

 

§  Borough Wide

 

?   A ‘Celebrate Safely’ presentation is being rolled out at all schools across the Borough; the purpose of this presentation is to help young people remain safe during Halloween, Diwali and Bonfire Night celebrations.

?   Presentations around the dangers of ‘Cyber Crime’ are also being rolled out.

 

51.

YOS IMPACT Team Update

Minutes:

G White provided the forum with an update on the work of the YOS IMPACT Team in the Wigston area since February 2015.

 

The IMPACT Team work with young people at risk of committing, or are committing, ASB with referrals often made to them via the JAG meeting. Since February the team have been working in Wigston around the McDonalds/Junction Road area where there are reports of youth related ASB regularly being made on a Friday and Saturday night.

 

To work toward reducing the level of reported ASB a working group was set up which includes representation from the IMPACT Team, OWBC, the Community Action Partnership, Voluntary Action Leicestershire, Stars, the Police and local residents and businesses (El Cafe).

 

One of the first tasks to come out of the working group was the implementation of a consultation with the young people frequenting the McDonalds/Junction Road area. This consultation provided a snapshot of the youth provision desired by a small group of disengaged young people. The majority of those consulted (90%) stated they would use a ‘youth cafe’ if one were set up in the area. 40% stated they were interested in participating in music workshops, another 40% stated they would like to see provision that includes cooking and sporting activities and 30% would like to see an arts & crafts project developed.

 

These responses helped shape the diversionary activities that were then delivered over 12 weeks using El Cafe as a base. Jane Morris from the Boulter Crescent Community Flat put forward some funding towards this 12 week project to allow it to go ahead. Additional funding for furthering the work has also been proposed by McDonalds however this is yet to occur.

 

The IMPACT Team has also delivered ‘Building Positive Relationship’ training to McDonald’s staff. The training includes basic working with young people advice and ‘de-escalation’ techniques and was well received.

 

Between April and May the IMPACT Team also ran a 6 week sports project on Willow Park, Wigston which culminated in a football match versus representatives of the local policing unit. This project ran on a Wednesday evening and regularly attracted 50+ young people.

 

Between 1 December 2014 and 20 February 2015 there were 10 reported incidents of youth related ASB around the McDonalds/Junction Road area. This figure dropped to 9 incidents between March and May and dropped again to 5 incidents between June and August. Other diversionary activities, such as additional football and basketball session organised by Kane Radford, OWBC’s Physical Activities Development Officer, and seasonal trends (cold winter nights dispersing young people) will also have contributed to these reductions.

 

The IMPACT Team will now be moving out of the Wigston area in the near future although the working group will continue to meet, undertake a needs analysis and develop additional youth provision in the area. As part of this the working group will be looking at increasing its engagement with local schools, developing joint funding opportunities and increasing the use of existing facilities in the area.

 

G  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51.

52.

Youth Council Update

Minutes:

L Taylerson-Whyte and J Advani, Chair and Vice Chair of the Oadby & Wigston Youth Council respectively, gave an update on the work of the Youth Council since February 2015.

 

The update included a number of events the Youth Council had attended in this period as a means of promotion, such as the Brocks Hill Garden Party and the South Wigston Community Fun Weekend, and how it had been difficult at these events to recruit for the Youth Council as young people in the target age range were underrepresented at them.

 

J Advani went on to speak about the Youth Council’s ongoing Arriva campaign; this has faced a slight setback as of late due to a new manager, unbeknownst to the Youth Council, coming into post at the Arriva depot in South Wigston. Contact is now being sought with the new manager to continue the existing campaign.

 

53.

'Supersonic Boom' Review

Minutes:

L Taylerson-Whyte and J Advani spoke about the success of this year’s Supersonic Boom youth festival and highlighted some of the feedback that had been received from stall holders, acts and attendees alike. This feedback included positive response to starting the event an hour later than usual, at one o’clock instead of noon, which allowed for a bigger crowd to gather much earlier in the event’s duration than in previous years.

 

It was mentioned that, had it not been for the poor weather rolling in an hour and a half before the end of the event, that this year’s Supersonic Boom would have definitely been the biggest, and best, in its history as it was appearing to be.

 

Members expressed their disappointment at the weather on the day of the event but praised M Smith and the Youth Council for the hard work they had put in to organising, and running, this year’s event. Members were particularly impressed that the event managed to raise £525.00 for the Derbyshire, Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance despite the shorter duration due to the weather.

 

54.

'Supersonic Doom' Review

Minutes:

M Smith provided the forum with a review of the ‘Supersonic DOOM!’ Halloween event that took place at Elizabeth Court, Wigston on Friday, 23 October 2015.

 

The event featured an inflatable climbing wall, ‘crazy bikes’ and various stalls and was organised primarily by Jane Morris (OWBC’s Community Inclusion Officer) and Kane Radford (OWBC’s Physical Activities Development Officer). Between 100 and 150 people attended the event and all of the feedback to date regarding it has been positive.

 

It was explained to members that this event, despite being the third event of its kind to be provided in the Borough, was smaller than previous year’s events due to the reduced budgets of those who have contributed to the event in the past.

 

55.

Possible Christmas Event

Minutes:

M Smith updated the forum on the plan for a Christmas event to be organised for this year. This event, if it were to go ahead, would be funded through the Resident Involvement Budget which has around £3,000.00 available to put toward it. At present the idea of the event would be to mirror the first Halloween event held in the Borough in the sense of providing residents with an outdoor cinema experience.

 

M Smith went on to say that a meeting including himself, Jane Morris, Kane Radford and Veronika Quintyne (OWBC’s Community Engagement Officer) as the principle organisers of the event was planned to have taken place before this forum but, unfortunately, had to be cancelled at short notice. The benefit of this cancellation however is that members were able to be invited to provide possible ideas for the event as it was still, effectively, a ‘blank slate’.

 

Members suggested, after some debate, that whilst Willow Park would be a good location to hold the event there would be more facilities available if it could be held on Horsewell Lane. This would allow for the facilities in the area, including the pavilion and the Wigston Club for Young People, to be involved as part of the public event leading to a promotion of both their services and the redevelopment of the area.

 

Additionally some members present offered their assistance in running the event if it were to take place. M Smith accepted this offer gratefully.

 

56.

Community Public Health Grant Scheme Update

Minutes:

M Smith addressed the forum regarding Oadby & Wigston’s 2015/16 allocation of the Leicestershire County Council Public Health Team’s ‘Community Public Health Grant Scheme’ budget.

 

Currently OWBC has £7,010.00 available to allocate to projects that focus on the Borough’s four key health priorities; these are Diabetes, Dementia, Substance Misuse and Health Eating. These priorities are set by the Borough’s Health and Wellbeing Board.

 

Currently no projects have received funding out of the 2015/16 allocation although three applications for funding have been received and are currently being reviewed. M Smith suspects that the comparatively low intake of funding applications is due to an administrative error at LCC which resulted in OWBC receiving, a commissioning projects out of, its 2014/15 allocation of public health funding late in the financial year; this means that there are currently six ongoing public health projects in the 2015/16 financial year that may have sought funding from the current allocation if they had not received it from the 2014/15 allocation.

 

The slow uptake in funding applications is expected to change as the current projects come to an end and seek funding to continue.

 

Members enquired as to whether schools could apply to access this funding; M Smith confirmed that they are able to do so as well as other community groups and existing projects.

 

57.

OPCC Commissioning Budget: Mindfulness Project Update

Minutes:

M Smith provided the forum with an update on the second year of the PCC funded ‘Mindfulness Project’ operating in the Borough.

 

The Mindfulness Project, commissioned by OWBC, was operated in its first year by the Community Action Partnership (CAP) using a PCC budget designated for three year projects. The purpose of the funding is to develop projects that work with young people either at risk of committing ASB or who are already known to services, such as the Police and the Youth Offending Service, for committing ASB. The Mindfulness Project is the only project of its nature to be funded in the County through the PCC budget.

 

As part of the Mindfulness Project CAP partnered with ‘Now Unlimited’, a company specialising in the delivery of mindfulness programmes, to develop and deliver the programme. The first year of the project, despite suffering a late start, met expectations and funding was granted by the PCC for this project to continue into the second year.

 

Unfortunately CAP have, this year, decided to scale back their youth and community offer; a decision that impacted directly on the delivery of the Mindfulness Project. If the project could not be delivered then OWBC would not be permitted to allocate the PCC funding to a different project and it would, instead, be distributed to our neighbouring districts.

 

Fortunately it was agreed, as suggested initially by CAP, that Now Unlimited would take on the planning and delivery of the Mindfulness Project themselves rather than partnering with CAP. This allows for the project to retain a sense of continuity in moving forward and, potentially, for participants in year one of the project to mentor those starting in year two.

 

The project programme is currently being redeveloped under Now Unlimited and will be launching later this year. M Smith remains hopeful that on the back of this the third year’s funding will be made available to continue with the programme.

 

Should the project complete its second and third years it is hoped that, as the programme will already attract young people from neighbouring districts, that the relevant Council’s will be able to provide some match funding into order to continue the project for the foreseeable future.

 

58.

South Wigston Youth Provision Meetings

Minutes:

R Morris brought to the forum’s attention two public meetings that are occurring at the South Wigston Methodist Church, Blaby Road on Wednesday, 28 October (6pm-8pm) and Thursday, 29 October (12pm-2pm). These meetings have been organised by Jessie Cooke, from The Conservation Volunteers, and Dave Cliffe (from Voluntary Action Leicestershire) in order to look at the current, and required, offer of youth provisions in South Wigston.

 

The forum heard how members of the Youth Council are already in attendance at the Wednesday meeting, to ensure that the voice of young people is heard during the process, and that M Smith will be attending the Thursday meeting. R Morris praised the fact that external organisations, with some backing funding to offer, are seriously looking at the level of provision available in South Wigston.

 

59.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

M Smith stated that, in his capacity as a Designated Safeguarding Officer for OWBC, he is currently updating the safeguarding training package for Council staff. As part of this update M Smith enquired as to whether elected members would desire a safeguarding refresher course to be delivered to them to ensure they are up to date on safeguarding advice, procedures and expectations. Members stated that they were very interested in receiving this training once it was available.

 

Civico Meeting Broadcasts
Watch live and previous meeting broadcasts and more on our Civico platform.

Modern.Gov App Available
Access meeting documents on the Apple, Android or Windows app.