Agenda and minutes

There were no appeals against the refusal  of inspection of documents.

1 To highlight reports or appendices which officers have identified as containing exempt information within the meaning of Section 100I of the Local Government Act 1972, and where officers consider that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons outlined in the report.

2 To consider whether or not to accept the officers recommendation in respect of the above information.

3 If the recommendation is accepted, to formally pass the following resolution:-

RESOLVED – That, in accordance with Regulation 4 of The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012 or Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as appropriate, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of those parts of the agenda designated as containing exempt information on the grounds that it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the press and public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information, as follows:-‘

There were no resolutions to exclude the public.

There were no late items submitted to the agenda.

To disclose or draw attention to any disclosable pecuniary interests for the purposes of Section 31 of the Localism Act 2011 and paragraphs 13-16 of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

No declarations were made.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr. J Harper and Karen Smales (Co-opted Member).

To confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 17^th May 2013.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on Friday 17^th May 2013 be approved as a correct record.

To receive a report of the Chief Officer (Democratic and Central Services) seeking the approval of the appointment of co-optees to the Area Committee for the remainder of the municipal year.

(Report attached)

Members considered a report of the Chief Officer (Democratic Services) seeking the approval of the appointment of co-optees to the Area Committee for the remainder of the municipal year.

Elections for co-optees took place at Armley Forum on 21^st May 2013 and at Bramley /Stanningley Forum on 13 June 2013.  The following co-optees have been elected to serve the West Inner Area Committee 2013/14;

·  Armley Ward – Hazel Boutle and Eric Bowes

·  Bramley/Stanningley Ward – Kevin Ritchie and Karen Smales

RESOLVED – That Hazel Boutle, Eric Bowes, Kevin Ritchie and Karen Smales be appointed as co-optees for the West Inner Area Committee for the municipal Year 2013/14.

To consider the report of the Locality Manager (West and North West Leeds) providing an update on performance against the SLA between Inner West Area Committee and the West-North West Environmental Locality Team.

(Report attached)

The Area Committee considered the  report of the WNW Locality Manager, Environment & Housing providing a comprehensive end of year performance report for the 2012/13 Service Level Agreement and setting out the details of the SLA for 2013/14.

Jason Singh the Locality Manager attended the meeting to present the report and drew Members attention to the following key issues:

-The number and nature of customer requests received during 2012/13

-The new elements to be incorporated into the Service for 2013/14, including elements previously provided by the ALMO and additional environmental services.

-There will also be issues to be addressed in relation to new timetables for bin collections.

The Area Committee expressed their satisfaction with the service that had been received from the Locality Team in respect of all their requests for action being addressed promptly and thoroughly.

The committee asked that specific aspects of the Service Level Agreement be brought to a General Purpose meeting.

RESOLVED – That the content of the report be noted and that the Service Level Agreement for 2013-14 be approved.

To receive a report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Customers and Communities) advising the Area Committee on the current position of the Inner West Wellbeing revenue budget.

(Report attached)

A report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Citizens and Communities) advised the committee of:

a)  the balance of the Inner West Wellbeing revenue budget 2013/14

b)  Projects deferred from May 2013

c)  New applications for Armley Ward

d)  Projects in development

The Area Committee noted that the current balance of the Ward Wellbeing budgets were as follows:

Armley £21,313* and Bramley /Stanningley £2,044* which was

*Subject to delegated decisions on Youth Services Summer Activities application (£2,464 Armley & £821 Bramley / Stanningley), and the Ganners Alleygating scheme (£1,890)

Brent Brady attended the meeting to update the members on the Ganners Alleygating Project. The Area Committee requested that a specific issue over land be formally referred to WNW as a housing matter.

Two new applications were considered in respect of Armley Domestic Violence Project and Ladz Group- Christ Church Armley Youth Project.

With regard to one project currently in development, Access to Community Buildings budget, a proposal is being developed to provide a budget to support community groups pay for room hire to deliver their services.

RESOLVED – That the content of the report be noted, and that:

a)  Funding to the Youth Service Summer Activities £2,464 Armley and £821 Bramley and Stanningley be approved.

b)  Funding for the Ganners Alleygating Scheme be deferred until the September 2013 meeting.

c)  £800 funding towards Armley Domestic Violence Project and £4, 043 funding to Ladz Group, Christ Church Armley Youth Project be approved.

d)  The Access to Community Buildings project be deferred until the September 2013 meeting.

To receive a report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Customers and Communities) inviting Area Committees to make appointments to Area Lead Member roles, Clusters and Corporate Carers Group for the next municipal year 2013-2014.

(Report attached)

The Assistant Chief Executive (Citizens and Communities) submitted a report requesting that the Area Committee make appointments to the Area Lead Members roles, Clusters and Corporate Carers Group. The report also asked the Area Committee to nominate their representative on the Corporate Carers Group, and nominations to local Children’s Services Cluster partnerships across the city were also formalised as an Area Committee appointment.

In recognition of the differing size of individual Area Committees and that the roles may need to be tailored to best reflect local needs and circumstances may wish to consider splitting two of the roles namely;

·  Environment and Community Safety – with one member focusing on the environment agenda and another community safety.

·  Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care - with one member covering public health and wellbeing agenda and another focusing on adult social care and community health services.

The Area Committee considered the following Roles suggested in Section 3 of the report:

• Environment & Community Safety

• Children’s Services

• Employment, Skills and Welfare

• Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care

RESOLVED –

a) That appointments be made to the following Area Lead Member roles for West Inner Area Committee:

·  Children’s Services - Councillor C Gruen

·  Employment, Skills and Welfare - Councillor J McKenna

·  Health and Wellbeing - Councillor A Lowe

·  Adult Social Care - Councillor T Hanley

·  Environment and Community Safety – Councillor J Harper is to be asked if she would like to do this role as she was absent from the meeting. The Councillors for Armley Ward approved this.

b) That the following Councillors be appointed as member representatives to the local Children’s Services Clusters relevant to the West Inner Area Committee:

·  Armley Cluster – Councillor A Lowe

·  Bramley/ Stanningley Cluster – Councillor C Gruen

c) That Councillor C Gruen be appointed as the representative to the Corporate Carers Group.

To receive a report of the Chief Officer (Democratic and Central Services) outlining the purpose of the discussion with the Executive Member for Children’s Services and the Deputy Director of Children’s Services, and invites Members to discuss the issues raised at the Area Committee on the 20th March 2013 in relation to the six monthly Children’s Services Performance Report.

(Reports attached)

At the Area Committee meeting on 20^th March 2013, (Minute No.101referred) Sue Rumbold, Chief Officer for Children’s Services, presented a report highlighting performance in the Inner West area against a range of measures.

The statistics in the report highlighted a number of areas of concern where performance in the Inner West was below that of other comparable areas and clusters.

The Chair for the Area Committee asked that the Executive Member for Children’s Services be invited to the 26^th June meeting to discuss points raised in the report.

Cllr. Blake, Executive Member for Children’s Services attended the meeting along with Cllr. Dowson, the Lead Member and Paul Brennan, the Deputy Director of Children’s Services: Learning, with Officers Margaret McBride, Kevin Payne and Martyn Stenton.

An informative discussion took place on a number of points that the Area Committee had asked to be addressed including;

·  Low attainment levels at Swallow Hill and the Transfer to academy status,

·  Higher numbers of looked after children compared with the rest of the city,

·  Use of Common Assessment Framework systems, and the proportion of requests that meet the threshold for referral to the Children’s Social Work service,

·  Attendance levels in primary and secondary being the lowest on the city, and

·  The role of clusters in the school performance agenda.

Cllrs Hanley and Taggart entered the room during the consideration of this item.

RESOLVED – That the committee note the content of the report of the 20^th March 2013 meeting, as appended to the submitted report, and that an update be brought to the next scheduled meeting in September 2013.

To receive a report of the Director of Children’s Services providing an update on the recommendations agreed at the Executive Board 13^th March 2013. The report will inform and update area committees of their delegated responsibilities for Youth activity funding.

(Report attached)

The Director of Children’s Services submitted a report providing an update on the recommendation of Executive Board in respect of the future direction for the provision of youth services in Leeds and setting out the responsibilities delegated to Area Committees for Youth activity funding.

The report included specific matters for the Area Committee to address and those responses would inform the July Executive Board report in respect of targeted youth work services. The Area Committee considered the issues raised in respect of:

-how the activity funding will be delivered building on the Breeze brand

-how the Area Committee could link to other possible funding streams to maximise activity for children and young people

-how children and young people will be involved throughout the planning, decision making and evaluation of the activity funding.

Jean Davey, Youth Offer and Youth Service Lead, Childrens Services, attended the meeting and highlighted that the overall Area Committee youth activities budget was ring-fenced as £250k for 2013/14 rising to £500k in 2014/15. West Inner Area Committee youth activities budget was £16,202 in 2013/14 and £32,405 in 2014/15 with a clear expectation that young people would be involved in the application and decision making process.

Cllr. Dowson was in attendance at the meeting for this item and contributed to the discussions which included;

-  Consultation events that have been arranged and the organising of other events to ensure that meaningful consultation takes place across the West Inner area through schools and youth activity providers

-  How the Area Committee keep up the momentum of the project for youth in the area

-  How to communicate using mobiles phones, Breeze websites, school newsletters etc.

RESOLVED –

a)That, having considered the issues, the contents of the report and the comments made by Members be noted

b)That the Area Committee delegated the decisions in respect to the allocation of ringfenced funding to authorised officers, subject to consultation firstly being undertaken with Ward Members,

To receive the report of the Chief Officer (Democratic and Central Services) outlining the Area Committee’s role in relation to Elected Member Appointments to Outside Bodies and asks the Committee to determine the appointments to those organisations which fall to the Committee to make an appointment to.

(Report attached)

West Inner Area Committee considered the report of the Chief Officer (Democratic and Central Services) outlining the procedure for the Committee to make and confirm appointments to those organisations (Outside Bodies) which fall to the Committee to make an appointment. The report included a copy of the Appointments to Outside Bodies Procedure Rules at Appendix 1 and a schedule of the two appointments to be made at Appendix 2 in relation to the following organisations:-

·  WNW ALMO Area Panel

RESOLVED – That Councillors J McKenna and N Taggart be appointed to the WNW Area Panel for the duration of the 2013/14 municipal year..

To receive a report of the Area Leader – West North West requesting approval for the revised Inner West Area Committee Business Plan for 2013-2015.

(Report attached)

The Area Committee considered the report of the Area Leader – WNW which presented a revised Inner West Area Committee Business Plan for 2013-2015 attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

Jane Maxwell presented the refreshed Business Plan explaining that the Action plan had been amended to include more specific and measurable actions that better reflect the role and influence of the Area Committee.

The revised Business Plan was presented to the Area Committee for approval.

RESOLVED – That the area committee:-

a)  Note the content of the report

b)  Approved the revised Business Plan at Appendix 1

c)  Agree to receive regular updates and an annual refresh of the plan

Councillors Lowe, J McKenna and Taggart left the meeting at the end of this item. At this point the Area Committee became inquorate and therefore the committee was unable to make any formal decisions.

To receive a report of the Area Leader – West North West, presenting data from the 2011 census at a citywide and area level.

(Report attached)

A report of the Area Leader – WNW presented data from the 2011 Census for the Leeds and the Inner West area.

Further information on trends and challenges highlighted through the data will be presented at a future Area Committee meeting.

RECOMMENDED – That the content of the report be noted.

To consider any matters arising from the minutes.

Members considered an update on the Bramley Park Floodlight scheme which has been delayed.

RECOMMENDED – That a letter be sent in the Chair’s name to Parks and Countryside to show the disappointment of the Area Committee in the length of time taken to progress this scheme, with the Area Support Team looking into this matter further.

To receive the minutes of the Armley Community Forum and PACT meetings held on 16^th April 2013 and 21^st May 2013.

(Copy attached)

The minutes of the Armley Community Forum and PACT meetings held on 16th April 2013 and 21^st May 2013 were considered by the Area Committee.

It was noted that the minutes from the Bramley Forum will appear on the agenda for the next scheduled meeting.

RECOMMENDED – That the minutes be noted.

To receive the minutes of the Inner West Area Panel meeting held on 29^th April 2013.

(Copy attached)

Members considered the minutes of the Inner West Area Panel meeting held on 29^th April 2013.

A mistake was highlighted on page 21 of the agenda in respect of the Armley Fun Day costs.

RECOMMENDED – That the minutes be noted.

To receive a report of the Assistant Chief Executive (Customers and Communities) providing Elected Members with an update on the current position with the Neighbourhood Improvement Programme for Inner West Leeds. It offers Members the opportunity to review this progress and to consider the development of programme activity going forward.

(Report attached)

A report was submitted by the Assistant Chief Executive (Citizens and Communities) which provided an update on the current position regarding the Neighbourhood Improvement Programme for Inner West Leeds.

RECOMMENDED – That this item be deferred until the next scheduled meeting on 4^th September 2013.

To note the Area Committee’s next meeting will be:

4:00pm, Wednesday, 4^th September 2013, venue to be confirmed.

Noted that the next West Inner Area Committee will be 4:00pm, Wednesday 4^th September 2013 at the Sikh Temple on Tong Road.