Agenda and minutes

The Chair welcomed all in attendance to the first meeting of the Inner East Community Committee and invited all Elected Members and Council officers present to introduce themselves.

To identify items which have been admitted to the agenda by the Chair for consideration

(The special circumstances shall be specified in the minutes)

No formal late items of business were added to the agenda, however Members were in receipt of an additional schedule relating to agenda item 11 (Wellbeing Report), in respect of an application requiring determination by Members at this Committee (Minute No. 10 refers).

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-18 of the Members’ Code of Conduct. 

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies for absence from the meeting had been received from Councillors M Ingham and V Morgan.

In accordance with Paragraphs 6.24 and 6.25 of the Community Committee Procedure Rules, at the discretion of the Chair a period of up to 10 minutes may be allocated at each ordinary meeting for members of the public to make representations or to ask questions on matters within the terms of reference of the Community Committee. This period of time may be extended at the discretion of the Chair. No member of the public shall speak for more than three minutes in the Open Forum, except by permission of the Chair

In accordance with Community Committee Procedure Rules, the Chair allowed a period of up to 10 minutes for members of the public to make representations or to ask questions on matters within the terms of reference of the Community Committee.

Members of the public present requested that consideration be given to the timing of future Community Committee meetings, that the meeting venue be rotated between local communities in the Inner East locality and that the arrangements for future meetings be further publicised in the local area, in order to make the meetings as publically accessible as possible. The comments made during the Open Forum were noted by the Committee and it was agreed that all such requests would be taken into consideration when arrangements were being made for future meetings.

To receive and note the minutes of the last meeting of the former East Inner Area Committee held 6^th June 2014

The minutes of the former East Inner Area Committee, the fore-runner of this Community Committee, were submitted for noting.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the last meeting of the former East Inner Area Committee held on 6^th June 2014 be noted.

To note any matters arising

Minute No. 97, 6^th June 2014 (Matters Arising) and Minute No. 85, 20^th March 2014 (Environmental Services: Consultation on the 2014/15 Service Level Agreement (SLA))

The Committee was informed by the Locality Manager for East and North East Leeds that as requested, further information had recently been circulated to Members on the proposals around how the budget provisionally earmarked for additional enhancements to the SLA would be utilised.

To consider the report of the City Solicitor inviting the Community Committee to make appropriate appointment in respect of the following:

·  Outside Bodies

·  Corporate Carers Group

·  Area Lead Roles

·  Childrens Services Cluster Partnerships

(Time – 10 minutes)

The City Solicitor submitted a report providing information on the various appointments which fall within the remit of the Inner East Community Committee. The Committee was invited to determine appointments for the forthcoming Municipal Year for the following:-

·  The themed Area Lead Member roles;

·  The Committee representative on the Corporate Carers’ Group;

·  Representation upon the Children’s Services Cluster Partnerships;

·  Those local Outside Bodies to which the Committee are asked to appoint to.

RESOLVED - That the following appointments be confirmed for the 2014/15 Municipal Year:-

(*Children’s Services Lead also to fulfil Corporate Carer role)

To consider the report of the City Solicitor outlining proposals regarding the appointment of co-optees onto the Community Committee

(Time – 10 minutes)

The City Solicitor submitted a report outlining proposals regarding the appointment of co-optees onto the Community Committee.

It was noted that 3 formal nominations had been submitted to date for the co-opted representation upon the Inner East Community Committee for the duration of the 2014/15 municipal year. However, an invitation was extended for any further nominations to be submitted to the Area Support Team, should there be any other interested parties.   

RESOLVED - That approval be given to the appointment of the following co-optees for the remainder of the municipal year, in order to support the work of the Committee:-

Sue Lynch – Burmantofts & Richmond Hill CLT;

Philip Rone – Burmantofts & Richmond Hill CLT;

Rod Manners – Killingbeck & Seacroft CLT.

To consider the report of the East North East Area Leader providing an update on the current position of the capital and revenue budget for the Community Committee and setting out applications submitted for funding for consideration

(Time – 10 minutes)

The East North East Area Leader submitted a report providing an update on the current position of the capital and revenue budget for the Inner East Community Committee.

Applications for funding, both revenue and capital, which had previously been reviewed at the relevant ward member meetings, were included in the report for Members’ consideration. 

Additionally, the Committee was in receipt of one late submission to the Wellbeing Fund in respect of “Gipton Gala” and the Chair had agreed that this item should be determined by the Community Committee at this meeting as the project was due to commence shortly.

Responding to an enquiry, the Committee was provided with further detail on the Crime and Grime Tasking activities currently being undertaken across the area.

RESOLVED –

a)  That the spend to date and current balances for the 2014/15 financial year, be noted;

b)   That, having considered the project proposals, Wellbeing Revenue funding be awarded to the following projects :

c)  That it be noted that no new Capital Projects have been submitted for consideration;

d)   That having considered the project proposals, Youth Activity Fund monies to be granted from each Ward to the following projects:

To consider the report of the East North East Area Leader providing the Community Committee with updates from the five Sub Groups

(Time – 10 minutes)

The East North East Area Leader submitted a report providing the Community Committee with updates from its five themed Sub Groups. Copies of the minutes from the most recent meetings of the Sub Groups were attached to the report for Members’ consideration.

RESOLVED -

a)  That the contents of the submitted report and the discussions held be noted.

b)  That the minutes of the following Sub Group meetings be noted:

  i.  The Health and Wellbeing Sub Group 6^th May 2014;

  ii.  The Planning Sub Group 22^nd April 2014;

  iii.  The Environmental Sub Group 31^st March and 3^rd June 2014;

  iv.  The Children & Young People’s Sub Group 29^th April 2014.

To consider the report of the East North East Area Leader setting out the new arrangements for community committees and community engagement in order to develop a new style of collaborative working with residents, service providers and partners. The report provides Members with a first opportunity to set the agenda for Inner East Community Committee for 2014/2015 and also seeks approval for a set of minimum conditions to be in place to ensure that Members are supportive of any delegated decisions taken between formal community committee meetings

Following formal consideration of the matters outlined above, the Community Committee will discuss the detail of the community engagement strategy and priorities during the workshop session to follow

The East North East Area Leader submitted a report setting the scene for the new arrangements for community committees and community engagement and seeking approval for a set of minimum conditions to be in place to ensure Members supported the process for delegated decisions to be taken between formal community committee meetings.

Additionally, the report included a discussion paper (Appendix A) on the proposed community engagement strategy for 2014/15 and the three themes identified by the former Area Committee on 20^th March 2014 as being priorities:

·  Re-engaging young people

·  Health (with a focus on mental health)

·  Environment

In presenting the report, the ENE Area Leader highlighted the following key issues:-

• The development of an engagement plan tailored to the needs and demography specific to the community committee, and the need to ensure that the local community was engaged in the decision making processes of the committee wherever possible;
• The need to ensure that time was allocated to public engagement activities as part of the ‘Citizens@’ brand;
• The use of the planned workshop sessions held after the Committee’s formal business in order to establish a dialogue on each of the identified priority themes;
• Further information was provided on the budgets and areas of responsibility which had already been delegated to the Community Committee, with the aim of the associated decisions being taken at the locality level;
• The agreed authority which had been delegated to identified officers and the recognition that there may be a need to take some decisions between formal Community Committee meetings as part of the delegated decision framework, as outlined within the submitted report. In line with this, the Committee was invited to agree a set of minimum conditions by which the officer delegated decision procedure could be followed, as and when required.

RESOLVED -

(a)  That the introduction of Community Committees be welcomed;

(b)  That the minimum conditions, as set out in paragraph 10 of the submitted report, with regard to the need for delegated decisions to be taken between formal community committee meetings, be approved;

(c)  That the approach to community engagement, as detailed in Appendix A of the submitted report, be endorsed.

To note the date and time of the next meeting as Thursday 9^th October 2014 at 5.30pm

RESOLVED – That the date of the next meeting be Thursday, 9^th October 2014, and that in light of the comments made during the Open Forum, the start time be confirmed once further consultation had been undertaken. In addition, it was also agreed that the arrangements for the next, and future meetings, would be publicised throughout the community.

Following the conclusion of the formal Community Committee meeting, the Chair advised that an informal workshop session would now take place whereby members of the community present would have the opportunity, along with relevant Council officers and Committee Members, to discuss the detail of the Committee’s community engagement strategy and priorities for the forthcoming year.