Agenda and Minutes

Councillor House welcomed everyone to the meeting and advised that the meeting was primarily to focus on the Community Plan which was the Eastleigh Strategic Partnership’s (ESP) document for setting out a vision for the future of the Borough.

To consider the Minutes of the meeting held on 4 September 2008.

It was agreed to note the minutes of the meeting held on 4 September 2008.

Vince Johnston began by explaining that the Comprehensive Area Assessment (CAA) was the new framework set up by the Audit Commission and the other inspection agencies for measuring how well public services were achieving the necessary outcomes. And that the link with LSPs was that they were proposing to first look at  sustainable community strategies and progress against them. Around £200 billion of public money was spent on providing local public services each year in England. The CAA was an important way of assessing and reporting on how well this money was spent and making sure that local public bodies were accountable to the public for their service quality and impact.

 

As well as providing information for local people, the CAA would give government an overall picture of how well councils and their partners were doing in delivering key national and local priorities. It would also provide constructive challenge and feedback to local service bodies to support their improvement efforts.

 

The CAA report  was due to be published in November 2009 and would reflect progress against outcomes  during the period of 2008-2009. The Area Assessment however which would look at LSPs was designed to focus at a County or unitary authority level. Which could pose some problems for assessing performance at a district level

 

More information could be found on the Audit Commission’s web site at: www.audit-commission.gov.uk

(i)                       Economic Downturn

(ii)                     Statistics of Areas of Deprivation

(iii)                   Results of the Place Survey

(iv)                    You tell us what is new or has changed for your organisation in the last 6 months

Papers were circulated regarding the recession’s effects on Eastleigh’s economy as at February 2009. Copies of these papers are attached to these Minutes for information.

 

(i)            Economic Downturn

 

It was noted that since the papers had been collated the unemployment figures had risen from 2.2 percent to 2.5 percent, which equated to over 1800 claimants, more than doubling in the space of twelve months. It was felt that this rising trend would be likely to go even higher before the recession ended.

 

A downturn in the automobile industries had affected Ford’s supply chain.  500 people had responded to Ford’s call  for redundancies far more than the original estimate. Wessex House, whose occupancy had reduced from 96 percent last year down to 88 percent in February, was also continuing to fall.

 

With the impact of the current recession on the council’s own finances the importance of the council’s drive for efficiency had increased. In addition decisions on staffing issues were made around effective working practices and service requirements that would ensure a full skills base for when recovery commenced.

 

 (ii)             Changes in organisations over last six months

 

Nicky Hirst advised that the last quarterly survey circulated to members by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry had indicated that although nobody was investing in training or equipment the responses appeared to have fallen into two categories: upbeat or negative. Although it was not good news she felt this compared positively with the previous quarter where responses had been more negative.

 

Patrick Holdaway spoke on behalf of the Hedge End area constabulary and confirmed that the economic downturn had resulted in increased petty crime and the need for instant cash. Twenty percent of the recent theft figures showed that bicycles were a prime target. Returning recovered bicycles to their rightful owners caused problems for the Police as many of bicycles had not been security marked for identification purposes. He encouraged bicycle owners to contact Hampshire Constabulary at www.hampshire.police.uk to find out how to get this done.

 

It was advised that any further thoughts or updates that affected organisations should be emailed to Alison.wright@eastleigh.gov.uk

 

Vince Johnston went on to explain that the ESP had previously agreed the recommendation to establish an Eastleigh Economic Task Force to promote cross authority and agency work. It would be a time limited action oriented group that offered opportunities for agreeing priorities, partnership working, innovation, intelligence gathering, information sharing, and joint actions. The task force would be chaired by Councillor House and membership would include:

 

·        Eastleigh Borough Council (lead)

·        Federation of small businesses/Chamber of Commerce

·        SEEDA (Area Co-ordinator)

·        Citizens Advice Bureau/One Community

·        Eastleigh College and/or LSC

·        Atlantic Housing

·        Business Link

·        Solent Skill Quest

·        Town Centre Partnership.

·        HCC

 

(iii)             Statistics for Areas of Deprivation

 

Vince Johnston gave a presentation which provided data highlighting the areas of the borough with the highest priority need. Copies of the presentation slides are attached to these Minutes for information. Using data  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Councillor House directed the Partnership to page 31 of the agenda entitled ‘Vision Statement for Eastleigh Borough over a 20 Year Period’. The Vision had been approved at the Eastleigh Strategic Partnership Executive meeting in March2009. The document had been divided into columns and mapped against the priorities of the three main linked partnerships – community safety, health and wellbeing, children and young people, plus the Housing Strategy.

 

It was advised that despite including the things that the ESP linked partnerships were already working on, there were many things against the Community Plan Vision for which nothing had been identified, as highlighted by empty boxes. It was asked that each partner look at those elements of the Vision with special regard to economy and environment, identifying priorities, goals, and actions that their organisation or partnership was already doing, or planning to do, against the relevant parts of the Vision.  

 

It was agreed that any suggestions be emailed to Vince Johnston at vince.johnston@eastleigh.gov.uk . The Council would then conduct the work with a view to publishing the Plan in early summer.

 

Christine Jackson advised that as from 1 April 2009 the Hampshire PCT would be known as NHS Hampshire. The organisation would have two arms, one was the Practice Based Commissioning side and the other was the Provider. She advised that more information could be found on the website at http://www.hantspt.nhs.uk/

 

Christine Jackson advised that the Joint Strategy Needs Assessment had been completed by the Hampshire PCT and was now on Hampshire County Council’s website at

http://www.hampshirepct.nhs.uk/jsna_exec_summary_231008-2.pdf

 

As it was Christine Holloway’s last meeting Councillor House thanked her for all her hard work and wished her well in her new role with the Winchester Action for Climate Change.

Future meeting dates are proposed as follows:

 

·    9.30am on 16 June 2009 – Executive

·    9.30am on 8 September 2009 – Executive

·    6pm on 17 September 2009 – ESP

·    9.30am on 16 November 2009 – Executive

·    9.30am on 12 January 2010 – Executive

·    9.30am on 2 March 2010 – Executive

·    6pm on 15 March 2010 – ESP

 

If you would like to receive a hard-copy of any of the cited documents, please contact: Alison Wright, Legal & Democratic Services, Eastleigh Borough Council. Telephone: 023 8068 8111. Email: alison.wright@eastleigh.gov.uk.

 

Please note that the ESP website (www.eastleighstrategicpartnership.org) holds a range of ESP-related information, including the minutes and agendas.

 

If you would like to submit items to be considered for inclusion in future meeting agendas, circulation to ESP members or posting to the ESP website, please contact Vince Johnston, Change & Development Team, Eastleigh Borough Council. Telephone: 02380-688077 Email: vince.johnston@eastleigh.gov.uk.

The dates for future meeting were agreed and noted as follows:

 

·    9.30am on 16 June 2009 – Executive

·    9.30am on 8 September 2009 – Executive

·    6pm on 17 September 2009 – ESP

·    9.30am on 16 November 2009 – Executive

·    9.30am on 12 January 2010 – Executive

·    9.30am on 2 March 2010 – Executive

·    6pm on 15 March 2010 – ESP