Agenda and minutes


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Venue: Reception Room, Barnsley Town Hall

Contact: Peter Mirfin  Council Governance Officer

Items
No. Item

19.

Declaration of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

Minutes:

Councillor Carr declared a non-pecuniary interest in minute number 22 due to her position as a trustee of DIAL.

20.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting of Central Area Council held on 30th September, 2019 (Cen.04.11.2019/2) pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Minutes:

The meeting received the minutes from the previous meeting of Central Area Council held on 30th September, 2019.

 

Members were reminded of the networking event to be held on Thursday 7th November at 4.30pm

 

RESOLVED that the minutes of the Central Area Council held on 30th September, 2019 be approved as a true and correct record.

21.

Changes to Neighbourhood Services (Cen.04.11.2019/3) pdf icon PDF 4 MB

Minutes:

Melanie Fitzpatrick, Head of Service Waste, Recycling & Neighbourhoods, and Dale Sparks, Head of Service Commercial and Operational Service Support were welcomed to the meeting.

 

Members were provided an overview of the vision and priorities of the service, and made aware of key staff in the team.  Members noted the continuous efforts to improve service delivery as part of its ethos.

 

Those present heard of key success in waste collection, which included the rebalancing of grey bin collection rounds, improved communications and engagement, and the implementation of performance dashboards.  In the Central Area 1.92million bin lifts were completed per year with 99.95% right first time (99.7% for assisted bin collections).  96.2% of bin collections were completed as scheduled. Members heard how 53.1% of waste was recycled and 97.6% diverted from landfill.   It was noted that regional and national benchmarking was now being undertaken as part of Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), in order to compare levels of performance.

 

Members heard of key successes in relation to Neighbourhood Services including asset tagging street bins, improving the grass cutting cycle to 21 days and improved customer online reporting.  Within the Central Area 739 incidents of flytipping had been reported since the start of the municipal year, with 100% cleared within the agreed timescales. 5208 grass plots in the Central Area on average were cut within 21 days.  Within Central Area 78 streets had been cleared of weeds weighing 4.5 tonnes and Members noted that 357 street bins were emptied weekly.


Members noted that the clearing of weeds was focused on principal towns, the town centre and gateway routes. In addition there was also a reactive service which responded to requests.

 

Those present were provided with examples of the performance data being collected, with an example of fly-tipping being used. This showed hot-spots, the average size of waste collected and the type. Also noted was the procurement of in-cab technology which enables real time reporting of grey bin and street bin collection. Members heard how this type of data would enable greater understanding of issues and allow for more tactical deployment of resources.

 

As the use of in cab technology was new, it was noted that this would be reviewed at 6 and 12 month intervals in order to measure performance.

 

Members noted the next steps planned as part of the continuous improvement of the service, which included a Clean and Green Visioning Conference, consideration of delivery models, engaging communities and improving communications.

 

Questions were raised about missed bins, and Members were asked to notify officers of any bins which were repeatedly missed for further enquiries to be made.  It was noted that if a full street was not collected then this would normally be recorded as a service failure, which could be due to incidents, accidents etc.  Members discussed how in-cab technology could show real time information, but that this was still reliant on human input, so there would need to be mechanisms for residents to report issues to be investigated.  Members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

22.

Quarter 2 - Performance Management Report (Cen.04.11.2019/4) pdf icon PDF 61 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Area Council Manager introduced the item making Members aware that the cumulative performance in Part A of the report only included figures supplied to the end of June as further performance had not been verified at the point of producing the report.

 

Members then considered Part B of the report, with a narrative providing an overview of the performance of each of the services funded by the Area Council.  Members heard how a number of areas of performance of the contract held by RVS were rated as ‘amber’.  This was due to the numbers of referrals being below those agreed; however in all other aspects performance was positive.

 

The service delivered by YMCA continued to perform well, with 91 sessions delivered within the quarter and 70 new children and young people engaged. Members heard of the importance of maintaining the same locations with the same adult support staff in order to reduce barriers for vulnerable young people engaging.

 

Members noted the statistics of participants, showing the wide range of backgrounds, and languages spoken.

 

The Environmental Enforcement service continued to perform well with 180 fixed penalty notices issued within the quarter, 16 of these being for dog fouling which was higher than seen in the previous contract. It was noted that 76% of notices issued were due to people dropping cigarette litter, which was significantly below the national average.   Members were made aware that those receiving a fixed penalty notice could now pay this at the post office or facility with payzone.  A question was raised about whether paying in this way would still allow to pay in instalments, and it was agreed to confirm whether this was the case.

 

Members considered the performance of Twiggs Grounds Maintenance, which was rated as ‘green’ for every aspect.  There had been 25 social action events led by Twiggs and 92 adults had engaged, 23 of these being new adult volunteers. In addition 31 young people also volunteered.  Members praised the work of Twiggs and their continued dedication in the area.

 

With regards to the Service Level Agreement focusing on reducing household flytipping, it was noted that the officer had personally reported 181 incidents, with 45 leading to further investigation.   Since the start of the SLA 179 warning letters had been issued in addition to almost 200 duty of care letters. Members heard of the recurrent issues seen and noted that these were due to be discussed by the Area Council’s fly-tipping group. 

 

Members asked whether the officer employed worked with Berneslai Homes, and it was noted that where issues were found in their properties, they would be referred appropriately but the focus of the SLA would remain on housing in the private sector.

 

The meeting went on to consider the performance of the SLA to support new tenants in the private rented sector. 38 properties had been visited with 24 requiring a follow up.  A range of issues had been identified including with bins, outstanding repairs, bonds and money management.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.

23.

Procurement and Financial Update (Cen.04.11.2019/5) pdf icon PDF 462 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Area Council Manager spoke to the item providing an update on the work which had been undertaken to further develop the area priorities.

 

With regards to Loneliness and Social Isolation, Members were reminded that the current contract was due to end on 31st March, 2020.  A workshop had been convened to discuss the priority in more depth on 10th October, 2019.  The workshop noted the lack of data and also a lack of information about new recently launched borough wide services.  It was suggested that more in depth information was required to ensure any future service was fit for purpose and addressed appropriate gaps in service.  This would necessarily mean a gap in service between that provided by RVS and any new service.

 

Members discussed the suggestion, supporting the notion that any future service needed to be correctly organised and targeted.  Assurances were given to Members that the support currently given to residents through the RVS contract would be carefully managed to ensure that an onward strategy was in place should this be required.

 

Members heard how the procurement of a service to ‘build emotional resilience in children and young people aged 8-14’ was progressing as per the time table with the closing date for tenders on 15th November, and the evaluation panel being convened 21st November.  The preferred supplier would be made known before Christmas, with a view to delivery commencing on 1st April, 2020.

 

Those present noted the current financial situation, with £153,707 remaining for allocation in 2019/20, which when carried forward would leave £275,417 for allocation in 2020/21.  However it was noted that this would be significantly reduced if Members chose to commission a service to reduce social isolation in older people and also chose to invest in a service to assist young people aged over 14.

 

RESOLVED:-

(i)            That the overview of current Central Area Council priorities and the progress made regarding the development of the agreed prioriites from 1st April, 2020 be noted;

(ii)          that the contract with RVS to address Loneliness and Social Isolation in adults comes to an end on 31st March, 2020;

(iii)         that the Area Council Manager undertakes more in depth research in relation to the Loneliness and Social Isolation priority and that the working group is reconvened to discuss this in more detail, feeding back to the Area Council in due course;

(iv)         That the overview of all current contracts and SLAs be noted;

(v)          That the update in relation to the procurement of a service to ‘build emotional resilience and wellbeing of children and young people ages 8-14 years living in the Central Council area’ be noted;

(vi)         That the current financial position and that projected from 2020/21 to 2022/23 be noted.

 

24.

Notes of the Ward Alliances (Cen.04.11.2019/6) pdf icon PDF 1015 KB

Dodworth – held on 8th October, 2019

Kingstone – held on 9th October, 2019

Stairfoot – held on 14th October, 2019

Worsbrough – held on 10th October, 2019

 

Minutes:

The meeting received the notes of the meetings of the Dodworth, Kingstone, Stairfoot and Worsbrough Ward Alliances held in October, 2019.

 

In relation to the Dodworth Ward Alliance, Members heard that the recently held networking event had been a success, with many parts of the community coming together to share ideas.  Also noted was the forthcoming installation of the happy to chat benches, with the first to be installed next to Dodworth Library.

 

Members noted that Locke Park had received a Gold Award for Yorkshire In Bloom which recognised community activity, including the successful fetes held over the Summer.  Also noted was the reinstatement of the Santa Dash event.

 

Councillors all gave their thanks to Marcia Cunningham, the Community Development Officer in the Central Area who would be leaving the authority.  Praise was given to her hard work and dedication.  Members were given an update on the recruitment process for her replacement, and were asked to bear with the team whilst they were short staffed.

 

RESOLVED that the notes and feedback from the Ward Alliances be received.

25.

Report on the Use of Ward Alliance Funds (Cen.04.11.2019/7) pdf icon PDF 99 KB

Minutes:

The item was spoken to by the Area Council Manager, who drew Members attention to the outstanding balances remaining in each of the Ward Alliance Funds.

 

It was noted that since the publication of the report an additional 10 applications within the Central Ward had been approved so the remaining figure for Central Ward Alliance Fund was significantly reduced.

 

Members were urged to encourage applications where remaining balances were significant.  Also noted was an additional £10,000 which would be made available this year for each Ward Alliance, which would not require match funding.

 

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

 

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