Agenda and minutes

Cllr Griffith welcomed attendees to the meeting.

Martha, a Stamford Hill resident attended the meeting to talk about Poland and the polish community. The polish community in Stamford Hill was particularly strong and centred around the local Roman Catholic church, St. Ignatius on Tottenham High Road. Particular concerns for the community were children growing up with a lack of  knowledge of their homeland and also levels of alcoholism in particular in older members of the community. Martha was asked about how best to engage with the Polish community in Haringey and she suggested that the best way would be through the Church.

The Neighbourhood Manager provided an overview of multi-agency work that had been undertaken in the area in 2009/10 to meet the aims of the Community Strategy:

People at the heart of change:

·      Tottenham community choir set up using Making the Difference funding. Concert to be held on 27 March at St Mary’s, Lansdowne Road and in July at the Bernie Grants Centre.

·      Successful multi-generational IT classes underway at the West Green Learning Centre.   Work was being undertaken with College of North London with a view to continue classes long-term.

·      Milton Road food growing project was engaging residents on this estate.

An environmentally sustainable future:

·      A clean sweep event in West Green Road in December had led to an increase in satisfaction with the area.

·      A new gate at the entrance to the alleyway off the Walpole Road  aimed to reduce fly tipping and anti-social behaviour.

Economic vitality and prosperity shared by all:

·       ‘Reaping the benefits’ – a joint Citizens Advice Bureay and Neighbourhood Management project to promote take up of benefit entitlement and help to manage debt was achieving real money gains for local people..

·      Jobs fair to be held on 16 March at Broadwater Farm Community Centre.

·      Neighbourhood Management and other agencies were working closely with traders from West Green Road and Philip Lane traders to tackle their issues and promote the shopping area.

Safer for all:

·      A multi-agency approach including working with Youth Outreach Service, the Police etc had been used to focus on hot-spots in the area for example for anti-social behaviour.

·      Work had been undertaken to reduce anti-social behaviour issues in the Moorefield Road area including improvements to alleyways etc.

Healthier people with a better quality of life:

·      A project called Goals for Girls was being run by Spurs at Broadwater Farm Community Centre on Mondays at 6pm providing an introduction to a range of sports. There was also a White Star project offering football sessions for boys which ran across the summer.

People and customer focus:

·      Work had been done to improve the engagement of young people in decision making including HYPE which was part of the Police Consultative Committee.

·      There had been good attendance at the West Green and Philip Lane Strategy Group. A stop and shop scheme was underway along West Green Road as part of promoting the area as a shopping centre.

The Neighbourhood Manager provided a draft copy of the West Green and Bruce Grove local priorities for the coming year set against the aims of the Community Strategy. Attendees were invited to forward any comments to Neighbourhood Management. There would be lots of opportunities for local people to get involved, for example through the Making the Difference fund, application forms for which were now available for the new financial year beginning in April. The closing date for applications would be 12 March.

The meeting received a short presentation from Georgina about a project for young people with learning disabilities called Kay’s Friends. The project used an award system to recognise  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

Local resident Marilyn Duncan spoke to the meeting to raise awareness of the difficulties of being a carer, a role she currently undertook for her mother who had Alzheimer’s. She explained the importance of carers receiving enough support to allow them to follow their own interests, such as voluntary work and to help reduce the often isolating experience of being a sole carer. Marilyn felt that the Council needed to listen more carefully to the views of carers and that more recognition should be given to the vital role carers play.

Cllr Mallett talked about her role on the Carers Partnership Board, which was set up in 2008 to advise the Council and put forward the views of carers. The Board worked with agencies such as the NHS, Job Centre etc and was focusing on encouraging the registration and assessments of carers.

The Commissioning Manager for Adult Services attended the meeting to talk about the new personalisation approach for adult social care based around putting people first and allowing tailoring of services through users managing their own budgets where possible. The Council was currently considering how this new approach would be put into place and was seeking the views of service users and carers as part of consultation.

The Head of Service for Adult Learning Disabilities explained that the Haringey Learning Disability Partnership was running a pilot scheme for personalisation, a focus of which was engaging with carers. A carers event was being held on 15 March at the Winkfield Resource Centre from 11am.

In response to a question regarding proposals for cuts to the budget for carers, the Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Wellbeing confirmed that there would be no budget reductions for carers in 2010/11. The situation in later years was not known as yet. Extensive work was being carried out to reduce inefficiencies in residential care costs, including a dedicated team visiting all contracted services.

Representatives from the Friends of Downhills Park group attended to talk about the work of the group and improvements made to the park, further details of which could be found on their website and blogspot including an update on up and coming events. Funding had been received from the Council for a new café in the Park on the site of the old pavilion, which would be managed by a community interest company and offer employment and training for young people with learning disabilities. A wildlife pond was also being built with a proportion of funds provided by the Making the Difference fund. The pond would encourage wildlife in the area and be an educational centre for local schools. A planting day had been scheduled for 7 May.

The meeting was advised of achievements of the Belmont Rec Friends Group, including improvements to the pathway, tree planting and creation of an open air nature classroom. The area of land at the end of the allotments would also be taken over as a community project including the planting of a community orchard and study space.

Lordship Rec area:  A representative from Back to Earth talked about the community kitchen scheme, held every Friday and monthly food co-operative and community gardening projects in the grounds of the Broadwater Farm Community Centre contributing to greening the area as part of the Heritage lottery bid to regenerate Lordship Recreation Ground.

Unfortunately due to the overrunning of the meeting, it was not possible to have the soap box item.

Unfortunately due to the overrunning of the meeting, it was not possible to have the Cabinet question time item.