Agenda and minutes

The Board noted that Councillor Haley, the Chair, had given his apologies and that Councillor Reith would be chairing the meeting in his absence.

Apologies were received also from the following:

David Anstey

Vicky Hobart

Rachael Hughes

Neil Morris

Naeem Sheikh

Members must declare any personal and/or prejudicial interests with respect to agenda items and must not take part in any decision required with respect to these items.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of urgent business. (Late items will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items will be considered under item 11 below).

No items of urgent business were received.  

To confirm the minutes of the meetings held on 1 October 2007 as a correct record of the meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on October 2007 be confirmed as a correct record.

To appoint a Vice-Chair for the current Municipal Year (no nominations were received for the position of Vice-Chair at the previous meeting).

The Chair noted that at the previous meeting there had been a general consensus that it would be useful if the Vice-Chair were appointed from one of the partnership bodies. As there were no further attendees present, it was suggested that this should be considered at the next meeting.

RESOLVED:

That the appointment of a Vice-Chair should be deferred until the next meeting.

A presentation will be given.

The Board received a presentation on the Greenest Borough Strategy.

The Board was advised of the national and regional context within which the Strategy had been formed. It was noted that the Strategy would address Government targets in relation to the reduction of emissions and the targets within the Mayor’s London Plan and supporting strategies.

In addition to the broader national and regional targets, the Strategy also informed the local context, including the Sustainable Community Strategy and the Haringey Council Plan.

In order to develop the Strategy, a Better Haringey Working Group and Stream Board had been formed and an Away Day was being held in the New Year. It was noted that the consultation period would end on 31 January 2008.

The Council’s Cabinet would consider the Strategy in April 2008 and it would be submitted to Council in July 2008.

The priorities included within the Strategy in relation to the Better Places Board included:

• Making Haringey cleaner, greener and safer.
• Improving the public realm and built environment with good supporting services and infrastructure.
• Sustainable and better transport, with reduced congestion.
• Achieving environmental sustainability –to help Haringey become the Greenest Borough in London

The Board discussed the Strategy and the Chair asked members to highlight any areas where they felt the document should be amended.

It was suggested that it might be useful if reference were made to how use of fossil fuels could be reduced and how people could be encouraged to use non fossil fuels.

It was noted that at present the document read as if it were owned by the Council rather than the partnership as a whole and there was agreement that this should be altered in order to ensure that all of the partners were given a sense of ownership.

At present the document referred only to the action that was required and did not make reference to the work that had already been carried out or achievements to date. It was suggested that it should be amended to make reference to existing achievements.  

There was a general consensus that the document should be strengthened to highlight the importance of encouraging behavioural change in relation to reducing consumption.

It was suggested that the document should be expanded to make further reference to the creation of Sustainable Communities. As this was a cross cutting issue it would need to be addressed by many different sources with the appropriate inward investment.

The Board noted that the strategy fell within its responsibility and that it would be the primary body monitoring performance against it. The Board was advised that targets for performance were included within in the overall framework and that there was a measurable programme of projects in place that would be built into these targets.

Work had already been carried out to reconfigure resources in line with the strategy. In addition there would be a review of recycling and how waste could be treated as a resource. At present there was Bill going through Parliament,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

The Board considered a report setting out the current position for the programme of projects that the BPP had approved and allocated funding to for the current financial year with Neighbourhood Renewal Funding and SSCF.

It was noted that a potential site had been identified for public toilet for Bruce Grove Ward. Although the site was just outside the Ward boundary it was considered that as it only fell outside the boundary by a very small distance and would benefit the residents of the Ward, there may be some flexibility. The Chair requested that it should be established whether this was possible before any further work was carried out.

There was agreement that, if the site was accepted by GoL, the projects should proceed.

The Board was advised that the indicator in relation to abandoned vehicles would be dropped now that the price of scarp mental had increased so significantly as it was no longer an issue for the Council.

A question was submitted by David Morris on behalf of Robert Edmonds of Age Concern:

‘Given that the Council’s Comprehensive Assessment is required to focus on outcomes from the perspective of local ‘users’, what consultation is envisaged to ensure that the priorities identified in Haringey reflect those expressed from the community and voluntary sector, who have access to the expressed needs of local residents?’

RESOLVED:

1. To note the current position across the programme of projects funded by the NRF.

2. To note the current risk of under spend within the SSCF programme for the Automatic Public Conveniences project.

3. That, subject to clarification from GoL that it was acceptable, the site at ?, be approved for the Automatic Public Convenience project.

The Board received a report that provided an overview on the development of the LAA to date.

It was noted that under the Local Government and Public Involvement Act a number of legislative changes that were intended to strengthen the place shaping role of partnership working. As part of this the Government was pooling thirty-nine separate finding streams into the new Area Based Grant (ABG) and partnerships would have the power to allocate funding from this.

As part of this more holistic approach, the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), set out 198 National Indicators, from which Partnerships were required to select thirty-five as the priorities for their local area, based on local need.

In order to demonstrate local priorities a Story of Place was being developed and this would draw on the Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) and reflect the priorities identified through the consultation that took place to form this.

It was noted that there were three key priorities for the Better Places Partnership:

• A cleaner, greener and safer Haringey.
• A quality built environment with good supporting infrastructure and services.
• Better and safer transport and reduced traffic congestion.     

The Board was advised that there it was likely that a special meeting would need to be held on order to look specifically at the indicators the Better Places Partnership would select, as at present there was not sufficient information available.

It was noted that there were several cross cutting areas where work would need to done to look at where responsibility for delivering the targets lay.

RESOLVED:

• To note the report.
• That a special meeting of the Better Places Partnership Board be arranged in order to identify targets for the LAA.

Report to follow.

The Board noted that the amendments its Terms of Reference, which were circulated prior to the meeting.

In addition to the amendment include in the revised version circulated, further amendments were made and these are highlighted in bold and attached at Appendix 1. The Chair noted that that there were likely to be further amendments to the Terms of Reference following the introduction of the new LAA and suggested that as such, they be adopted as interim.

RESOLVED:

To adopt the revised Terms of Reference, attached at Appendix 1, in the interim.  

To consider any new items admitted under item 2 above.

No new items of Urgent Business were received.

The Chair accepted two items of Any Other Business, the first on the development of a Community Toilet Scheme and the second on 20mph Zones.

Community Toilet Scheme

Prior to discussion the Chair noted that the press had recently reported that the Council was not in favour of introducing the scheme. However, this had been a mistake on the Councils part and the possibility of introducing the scheme was being looked at.  

The Board was advised that the scheme was intended to address the lack of public toilets in the Borough by offering small annual payments to local shops, restaurants and bars, to allow members of the public to use their toilets. It was recognised that there were certain groups of people who currently found it difficult to leave their homes and carry out tasks such as shopping due to the lack of toilets available. This issue particularly affected the elderly.  

It was noted that the Scheme had already been piloted in Richmond and that this had been successful.

There was a general consensus that further work should be carried out to assess whether the introduction of the Scheme would be viable in the Borough.

RESOLVED:

That further work should be carried out to assess whether the introduction of a Community Toilet Scheme would be viable in the Borough.

20 mph Zones

The Board discussed the possibility of creating a 20pmh speed limit across the Borough.

At present two thirds of the Borough already had a 20 mph speed limit in place and the Council’s Transport Strategy set out a criteria for introducing further 20mph zones. In order to extend these further there would have to be a demonstrable need and a consultation with the residents affected.

In addition to the 20 mph zones in place, it was noted that the Borough also had the highest number of School Traffic Plans in London.

The Board was advised any blanket rolling out of the speed limit would require significant resources and funding in order to carry out the necessary consultation, implementation of the scheme and enforcement, which at present was not available.

RESOLVED:

That a report should be brought to a future meeting of the Board, with particular reference to measures that could be introduced around schools.