Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Solomon and from Cllr Bloch.

There were no declarations of interest.

There were no such items.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 13 September 2012 be approved and signed by the Chair as an accurate record of proceedings.

Matters Arising

·          MH48a: the letter received by the Chair in reply to her letter to Patricia Hayes, Director of Roads at the Department for Transport, regarding bye-laws for crossovers was circulated to the Committee.

·          MH55: ‘Self-help calendar’ The Chair reiterated her statement to the Forum regretting that the Cabinet Member for the Environment had not approved officers to progress this for the meeting.

·          MH55: ‘The Green Deal’ - a response from the Council’s Carbon Management Team regarding Green Deal accreditation was awaited.

·          MH55: The Chair provided an update on the travel plan for Hornsey Health Centre; a travel plan was submitted some years ago in relation to the planning application, but had not been progressed. A contact at the Health Centre was not aware of any access problems as a result of the changes in bus stop locations, and felt that most patients and staff travelled by car, although there was no recent data to evidence this. Zoe Robertson advised that she and the Smarter Travel team were working with the Health Centre to progress the travel plan.

·        MH56 and 55: It had been hoped that Joan Hancox would be able to update the Committee on progress in developing a business case for the use of LED bulbs and the feasibility of adding compost stirrers for sale on the Haringey Get Composting website.

·        MH57: A response was awaited with regards to devolved funding to Area Committees. Lisa Redfern would chase this outside the meeting.

·        MH58: ‘Community planting projects’ - Cllr Scott advised that there was nothing to report with regard to community planting projects, however residents at Bolster Grove had raised other issues concerning safety and local policing.

·        MH58: ‘Community hubs’ -  the Chair advised on the feedback received from Cllr Strickland on the issues raised during the walkabout last year; while it was reported that conversion of the land to the rear to a car park was not feasible, this did not address the suggestion that the space could be used for trading and events. This, and concerns regarding the lack of disabled access to the first floor of the library, would be pursued with the Cabinet Member.

·        MH59: Lisa Redfern advised that she had spoken with the Director of Public Health, Jeanelle de Gruchy, regarding an item at a future meeting on the transition of public health services from the NHS to the Council, and that Dr de Gruchy would arrange a meeting with the Chair to discuss this further.

·        The Committee discussed the issue of liaising with the Highgate Neighbourhood Forum and it was agreed that there should be more information online, linking between the two organisations.

Youth Provision within the Area

Cllr Erskine noted that one of the key issues arising from the discussion during the area forum was the way in which young people could be involved in decision-making around services for young people – how this was currently being done, and how it could be improved; these issues were not felt to have clearly been addressed as part of the discussion at the area forum. It was suggested that this was an issue that could be raised at the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel, and it was agreed that Cllr Erskine would liaise with Cllr Newton regarding taking this forward.

Following a question raised by the Muswell Hill centre during the forum regarding whether the Council would be using the facilities at the centre, it was suggested that they should have an opportunity of making a deputation to the next meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel on this issue.

It was felt that it would have been positive to have had more of a chance to engage directly with the young people from Exposure, in addition to viewing the very high quality films they had presented to the area forum. While budget restrictions prevented the arrangement of a formal extraordinary meeting of the area forum and committee, it was suggested that the Chair could speak informally with Exposure regarding setting up an event to hear more from the young people directly about their work. It was felt that there was a valuable opportunity for intergenerational work in this area. In the meantime, it was suggested that Councillors look at Exposure’s website (exposure.org.uk) to find out more about the organisation and its work.

It was noted that as Exposure was having to dedicate time to raising its own funds, this was detracting from the resources available for its core work. In response to a suggestion that the Council should be asked for assurance regarding the fairness of resources made available for young people in the four wards of the Forum / Committee, it was advised that this work was being taken forward by the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Panel.

Local Nursery Childcare Places

Cllr Allison outlined the presentation in the area forum which had included information on the free childcare entitlement for eligible 2 year olds from September 2013. It had been reported that the proposed funding rate of £5.28 per child per hour would be unsustainable for 100% take-up; there was an aim to provide places for 80% of the eligible children across the borough, based on likely take-up of the entitlement. Concern was raised regarding how this would be distributed fairly across the borough. It was agreed that the Chair would write to the Early Years Service for more information on this, and for further details of the locations identified for nursery places in the west of the borough.

Guidelines for residents in respect of neighbour disruption caused by building works

The Committee felt that it was useful  ...  view the full minutes text for item 64.

Zoe Robertson confirmed that she had made a note of the discussion during the area forum for action.

With regard to the point raised during the forum regarding relocation of police services were Muswell Hill police station to close, Cllr Newton clarified that a fully-operational base for the SNTs within the Muswell Hill shopping are, to include a front counter staffed by volunteers, had the support of the local community as well as the SNT ward panels for Muswell Hill, Fortis Green and Alexandra.

There were no items of urgent business.

With regard to the next meeting of the Forum and Committee, scheduled for Thursday, 11 April 2013, the cost and availability of St Andrews’ Church Hall on Alexandra Park Road was being looked into.

If this venue was not available, further suggestions for a venue in Alexandra Ward were to be forwarded to the Chair, by Alexandra Ward Members.

The following topics were proposed for the agenda for the next meeting:

·        Clinical Commissioning Group

·        The transition of Public Health from the NHS to the Council

·        Incorporating the Area Plan items concerning highway and transport issues into the Council’s Local Implementation Plan funding bid to Transport for London

·        Proposals to change Policing provision.

The meeting closed at 2105hrs.