Agenda item

To consider a report of the South East Area Leader setting out priority work carried out in the area over recent weeks, including information on financial fitness workshops to be run by West Yorkshire Trading Standards and an update on proposals for a major development at Thorpe Park, together with copies of minutes relating to forums, partnership and sub-group meetings and the Area Chairs meetings

(report and minutes attached)

  Members considered a report of the South East Area Leader which set out priority work carried out in the area over recent weeks.  Appended to the report were minutes of forum, partnership and sub-group meetings and those of the Area Committee Chairs meeting

Three presentations were made to the Committee highlighting priority work in the area, these being:

·  a report from West Yorkshire Trading Standards representatives on financial fitness workshops which had been run in other parts of the city and were planned to be delivered in the Outer East Area

·  an update on the proposed Thorpe Park development

·  the Junior Cricket Week, which was subsidised by the Area Committee

Financial Fitness Workshops

Members welcomed Dawn Mason from West Yorkshire Trading Standards (WYTS) who provided an overview of the workshops being delivered which were to provide information and raise awareness of the of the range of scams and frauds which were in operation and targeted job seekers and vulnerable people.  Other topics to be covered in the workshops would be banking and budgeting; welfare reform and consumer rights

Both Kippax and Garforth Children’s Centres would host the workshops, with Members being welcome to attend the sessions and provide details of other venues or groups which could benefit from these courses

In summary, reference was made to the following matters:

• the selection of areas to deliver the workshops
• the benefits of receiving updates via Social Media from WYTS of the scams operating in the area
• the need for closer working by WYTS with Area Committees to tackle these issues
• the increase of cyber crime and the current position in detecting and preventing this
• the need for further updates to be presented to Members

The Chair asked that any suggestions for venues to hold future workshops or groups which could benefit from receiving these session be conveyed to WYTS through the Area Improvement Officer

Thorpe Park Update

Members welcomed representatives of Scarborough Developments and the Chief Planning Officer to provide an update on the proposals for a major retail-led scheme at Thorpe Park

Members were informed that the application would be presented for determination at a special meeting of the City Plans Panel to be held on 19^th September.  The developers were of the view that whilst not all matters were fully resolved, the principles of the proposals were clear and that a key matter, this being a review of the layout for the Manston Lane Link Road (MLLR,) to optimise the ELOR had been carried out, with details of this included in the planning application

At this point, Councillor Mitchell joined the meeting

Regarding highways matters, much testing had been done on the proposals including consideration of future proposals, with appropriate conditions being proposed to require highways monitoring to take place and mitigation measures to be introduced where necessary

In terms of the impact of the proposals on other local centres, a positive response was reported to have been received from the Council’s independent retail consultant, subject to conditions

The importance of local employment to Members had been recognised and an employment strategy would form part of the S106 Legal Agreement.  Members’ request for further consultation on revisions to the scheme had also been carried out

Councillor P Gruen informed the meeting that in view of the application being considered on 19^th September and through being a member of City Plans Panel, he would not participate in the discussions at this meeting.  Councillor J Lewis and J Cummins echoed this, through also being members of the City Plans Panel

The Chief Planning Officer informed Members that the report being taken to City Plans Panel would be for the changes to Thorpe Park; the options for the roads and proposals for Green Park, which was planned to be delivered on a phased basis.  The proposals for the East Leeds Extension would not be submitted to Panel as this stage as there were matters outstanding, particularly in relation to the East Leeds Orbital Route (ELOR), with further information on the ELOR being presented to Executive Board in October.  In terms of the MLLR this would be provided in full and be paid for and developed by Scarborough Developments

On the employment and training strategy, the Chief Planning Officer commended the scheme put together by Scarborough Developments as a model and stated that he would be recommending this approach to other developers in the city

Further information was provided on the proposed conditions relating to highways matters

In summary, reference was made to the following matters:

• the MLLR and ELOR and the need for clarity on what would be built and when; also that the number of roundabouts through Thorpe Park would need to be given careful consideration
• apprenticeships and local employment; the need for this to be delivered at an early stage and to target young people with few or no qualifications in the Cross Gates, Kippax and Halton Moor parts of the Outer East area.  On this matter Members were informed that Scarborough Developments were working on and testing a range of innovative ideas around training and employment to further enhance the offer the development would bring to the local community in terms of jobs and skills
• that the employment and training strategy should also encourage an increase in the levels of qualifications of young people
• the need for the jobs and skills to be focussed on the East Leeds area, rather than being rolled out across the city.  Members were informed that the report to City Plans Panel specified the Wards which should be focussed on for employment and training

The Chair thanked Officers and representatives from the developers for their attendance and asked them to provide a further update at the October meeting

  Junior Cricket Week

Mr Tony Bowry from the Yorkshire County Cricket Board was welcomed to the meeting to give a brief presentation on the recent Junior Cricket Week which was held in two venues, Kippax and Whitkirk during the school holidays

Details were provided about the number of participants;  the splitting of the sessions into am and pm at one venue; that this had not worked and the reasons for this; the involvement of professional players in the scheme and future projects, including establishing links with a new cricket academy with the aim of developing local people playing for Yorkshire CCC.  The development of young officials, ie 14-16 year olds for umpiring and scoring was also being considered as was encouraging younger people to become Board Members

Members commented on the following matters:

• the level of interest shown by young people in watching and participating in this sport
• the good behaviour of the participants
• the possibility of broadening the scheme across the East Outer area and that Councillor Coupar, the Area Lead on Children’s Services and Corporate Carers would meet with Tony to discuss this and bring further information back to the Committee

Mr Bowry thanked East Outer Area Committee for their continued support of this project and on behalf of the Members, the Chair thanked Tony for all the work done on this

Older Persons Event Week 2013

The Area Improvement Officer informed Members of the proposals for this annual event and that the organisation HOPE were to arrange an additional event this year, with an additional event being arranged by HOPE in Cross Gates in 2014

It was confirmed that the venue for Kippax would be at Kippax Central Working Men’s Club off Gibson Lane

RESOLVED -  To note the report, the presentations and the comments now made

During consideration of this matter, Councillor Gruen left the meeting due to having another meeting to attend