Agenda item

The Area Council Manager introduced this item, by stating that all commissioned services had performed well during quarter 3 with no significant concerns about targets being met.

With regard to Environmental Enforcement it was noted that the contract had performed well throughout the quarter with 69 Fixed Penalty Notices being issued for littering (62) and Dog Fouling (7) and 6 Penalty Charge Notices issued for Parking.  Prosecutions were continuing for Littering and Dog Fouling with a 99% success rate in court.  A growing concern was the inability to pursue all offenders who failed to pay.  To date revenue raised from Fixed Penalty Notices this quarter was £2,000.  It was again noted that the Kingdom contract would come to an end after the next quarter.

The Housing and Migration Officer was continuing to work proactively and in quarter 3 had dealt with 153 initial contacts, 32 of which had been identified as vulnerable households and 52 signposted to other services.  There had been 10 property inspections and 5 campaigns and there had been the largest letter drop ever.  In response to questioning, it was agreed that Members be kept informed of the areas targeted.

As a result of previous meetings, discussions and walk-a-bouts in the Beever Street area throughout 2018 the officer had also undertaken a Street Survey of the surrounding streets.  The issues identified were being addressed with landlords and residents.

Twiggs had not met their social action objective of working with established groups this quarter possibly because of the Christmas/Winter quarter but plans were in place to address this within quarter 4.  The number of impact sessions delivered to groups and schools was lower than would have been liked and this was also to be addressed in quarter 4.  It was also understood that the Dearne Advanced Learning Centre was keen to undertake social action events in association with Twiggs.

The Chair reported that a meeting was to be held with the Godthorpe Development Group tomorrow which it was hoped would also facilitate the involvement of Dearne ALC.  Other members asked to be informed of feedback on interaction with residents and the Area Manager commented that feedback reports were always provided and could be made available.

The Area Manager also gave details of a Work Experience Placement which had resulted in a candidate securing employment.  She went on to outline the types of targeted work undertaken by the team together with the work with established groups which had resulted in residents informally adopting planted areas.  Arising out of this discussion, the Link Officer referred to the importance of logging the adoption of such areas with Neighbourhood Services in view of the need for that Service to reduce maintenance responsibilities in the future as a consequence of future spending restrictions.

The B-Friend project was receiving low numbers in terms of referrals into the service but the team were liaising with partners and other potential referrers in order to elevate this.  Whilst the Service had only been up and running since October 2018, it was noted that there were 38 volunteers registered and further referrals were awaited.  In the next week, consideration was to be given to impact assessment tools/arrangements for the service.

The Area Council Manager then referred to the performance of projects funded through the Dearne Development Fund.

It was noted that the defibrillator placed at the Bolton on Dearne Ex Service Men’s Club had only been installed for a very short period of time but had been used on at least two occasions.  This demonstrated the importance of such a facility.

Dial had delivered 11 sessions at Godthorpe Library to 68 residents.  Most issues raised related to debt, benefits and housing issues.  This was a much needed service and additional sessions had been arranged in view of the demand.

The Goldthorpe Development Group was really working well with betwen70-90 residents attending each session.  Many volunteers were willing to assist and funding for the project was available until December.

The Dearne Electronic Community Village within  the last quarter had assisting 27 individuals on the ICT and Employability Support Sessions and 5 had obtained employment with many more obtaining interviews.  Arising out of this, reference was made to, and there was a discussion of, the need to ensure future resilience of this initiative given the limited staffing resource available.  Reference was also made to the possible future commissioning of future initiatives and the possible development of apprenticeships.

RESOLVED that the report be noted