Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Schmitz.

To approve the minutes of the meeting of the Area Committee held on 20 September 2011.

RESOLVED  

That the minutes of the meeting held on the 20^th September be approved and signed by the Chair.

There were no items of urgent business.

Cllr Brabazon expressed an interest as a Governor of Seven Sisters School, who were involved in one of the bids for the second round of Making the Difference Funding.

There were no deputations or petitions.

Further to the presentation made by the Traders Association and scheme architect in the Area Forum, Cllr Canver advised that there was a small group meeting on a weekly basis with the GLA and asked the Chief Executive to give notification of who the representative from Planning and Regeneration would be for this as soon as possible, as they would need to attend the next meeting.

The Committee felt that the proposal was imaginative, but would need political will and support to drive it forward – the news that there would be dedicated officer time to support this project was welcomed. It was suggested that the Council look into the possibility of further supporting this work by means of funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

The Committee noted that some residents were upset regarding this issue, as the PCT had attended a meeting of the Area Assembly, as it was then, some years back and had said very similar things to those that they had said at the Area Forum tonight, particular with regard to not having a clear idea of the health services to be provided at the site in future. People were suspicious and disillusioned with the process when the same thing was being said, years later. Members of the Committee did not have object to the principle of mixed development on the site, but expressed concern regarding the healthcare provision. It was noted that a key issue would be managing people’s expectations of what was and was not possible on the site. The Committee noted the importance of the way in which the ecological and historical assets on the site were treated, but there was a view that the images of development at the site of the Royal Free, shown in the Area Forum, gave some encouragement.

It was noted that the health service was in a state of flux at the moment, which may be contributing to the lack of information which it was possible to provide around future health services at the site. It appeared that the intention was to retain existing services and consolidate them in a new building, as had been undertaken at Hornsey. It was agreed that it was essential for all Councillors to advocate strongly for the retention of the health services at St Ann’s to ensure that there was good community health provision, but there must be honesty around what was not possible at the site, such as a general hospital. It was also agreed that there was a need for some actual proposals to show people and consult on.

It was recognised that there was an opportunity in this process to provide health services at the site in a way that was beneficial for the local community and to make a positive change for the area. There was also a need to consider the homelessness issues in the borough and to seek a balance in the way in which the land was used in future. It was felt, however, that the focus for everyone should be the retention of health services at the site.

The Committee asked the Chair to write to the Mental Health Trust regarding its concerns regarding progress over the future of the St Ann’s Hospital Site and to urge that some proposals for the health provision at the site be circulated as quickly as possible, as the delay in doing this was creating challenges for local Councillors in their work, as well as causing significant concern for local residents and could not be allowed to continue. The Chair agreed that he would make this point strongly in his meetings with the health service.

The idea for the Area Plan was to bring together all of the activities in the area and to raise awareness of progress being made. In St Ann’s and Harringay work on the Area Plan was focussed on the work already done on the Green Lanes Charter, and a small meeting had been held to further develop the Charter priorities. Key themes identified from the Charter were housing, crime and anti-social behaviour, Green Lanes development, clean and green, culture and creativity and health. The draft plan would be further developed and populated around these themes during the course of February 2012, and would be ready for public discussion at the next Area Forum on 19 April 2012.

It was agreed that the draft plan should go to the Green Lanes Strategy Group in late March 2012 for consideration, but that the Area Committee members should meet to discuss the draft before the Strategy Group meeting took place.

Residents had had the opportunity to consider the proposals and make comments in the Area Forum.

Further to the presentation given at the Area Forum, it was noted that the proposals were still at a very early stage – more information and FAQs would be available on the website and official consultation would commence in April or May 2012.

The Committee was provided with the bids and proposed awards for the second round of Making the Difference funding, totalling £5k. The proposed awards were as follows:

SA122 – North Harringay School; soil improvement for raised vegetable bed on roof garden - £1k

SA127 – South Harringay Junior School PSA; Mattison Road Swimming Pool – consultation and publicity - £475

SA128 – The Gardens Residents Association; 10 Trees in the Gardens - £1k

SA129 – Wightman Road N4 Residents Association; A Brighter Wightman Road - £1k

It was noted that an award of £1k had erroneously been allocated to Sophia House, which was in fact not within the St Ann’s and Harringay area. It was also noted that the table indicated that £1k had been allocated to the North Harringay School project when only £500 had been asked for – Judith Comrie would look into these figures to identify where the error lay.

The Committee asked for further details on the Wightman Road scheme, and it was reported that this was to brighten up the streetscape in the area by Hornsey Station, using flowerpots, etc. The café had agreed to take responsibility for the maintenance of the scheme. The Committee requested that officers confirm that the Wightman Road N4 Residents Association was properly constituted to ensure accountability for the funding, and it was confirmed that this would be done as part of the routine due diligence undertaken by the Council before the funding was released.

The Committee were asked to agree that any money still left unallocated should be given to the St Ann’s Library and Seven Sisters School ‘Reaching for the TOP’ project – having declared an interest in this item, Cllr Brabazon did not take part in this decision. The precise amount would depend on the clarification of the actual amount to be awarded to North Harringay School, as discussed previously.

It was confirmed that successful bids from this round would be notified in the next week, and that the money had to be spent by 31 March 2012.

RESOLVED

That any money still unallocated be given to Seven Sisters School.

Thursday, 19 April 2012

The Committee discussed whether to use the same venue again for the next meeting, as it had good facilities and was central, being on the boundary of both wards, however there was some feeling that the meeting venue should alternate between the two wards, as used to happen with the Area Assemblies. This would be considered further outside of the meeting.

The Chair asked for any ideas for future agenda items to be passed on to him after the meeting.

There were no such items.

The meeting closed at 21:15hrs.