Agenda and Minutes

To consider the Minutes of the meeting held on 24 March 2009.

It was agreed to note the Minutes of the meeting held on 24 March 2009.  

Kathryn Rankin, Economic Development Manager at Eastleigh Borough Council, gave a presentation on the impact the current economic climate was having in Eastleigh. There was some evidence that in the UK the recession was bottoming out and it was anticipated that the country would begin to move out of recession early in 2010. A booklet had been produced detailing Eastleigh’s economic profile for 2009/10 which was available for partners on request.

 

Kathryn advised that Eastleigh had a population of around 120,000 people and of these 75,000 were of working age. About 65,000 residents were economically active which compared favourably to other areas in the south. The average earnings of residents were higher than the areas earnings which indicated that residents travelled outside the Borough to work. The number of residents claiming job seekers allowance was about 2.6 percent which equated to approximately 1,955 people which was significantly less than the national average. One area of concern was the 575 (25 percent) of 18 to 25 year olds not in work and a wide range of projects were taking place to try to reduce this figure.

 

Regeneration of the town centre was underway and the new Swan Centre leisure complex opened in April 2009 which brought a cinema, bowling alley and restaurants to the area. Further improvements to the town centre and a major employment site, River Side, close to the airport were planned for the future. Kathryn distributed voucher booklets which contained offers for the shops in the town centre which would be widely distributed to encourage shopping in Eastleigh.

 

More information could be found on the Council’s dedicated business support website: www.eastleigh4business.co.uk 

 

The partners discussed the impact the recession had made on the various organisations and how this was being dealt with. Comments included:

 

·                   The Citizens Advice Bureau had seen a massive increase in the number of enquiries mostly from people requesting advice on benefits, debts and relationships and this had led to an extension of opening hours;

 

·                   Funding for training for those most in need was available but this had been diverted from other training budgets;

 

·                   The figures were not yet available to determine whether the recession had encouraged more 16 year olds to stay in education;

 

·                   The take up of the free swimming initiative and Park Sport had increased and the Sport and Physical Activity Alliance were looking at ways to provide more concessions for sporting activity;

 

·                   Crime had mostly been reducing substantially but there had been an increase in fuel related crime; and

 

·                   There had been an increase in the number of people volunteering.

 

The Chair thanked Kathryn for her presentation.

Jessica Brown and Shireena Frederick from the Eastleigh Borough Youth Council provided the meeting with an update on their recent activities:

 

·                   A panel of young people met once a month to consider applications for grants from the Youth Opportunities Fund where bids had to met three requirements before any funding would be recommended. The Eastleigh panel was well respected and were often asked to scrutinise bids from other districts;

 

·                   A youth conference was being organised which would involve workshops for young people on a variety of issues including anti-social behaviour, transport and the way young people were portrayed in the media;

 

·                   It was hoped that the position of youth mayor would be created for Eastleigh. There were not many youth mayors across the country and it was felt that this would raise the profile of young people in the area in a positive way;

 

·                   A leaflet had been designed containing details of the activities of the youth council and their contact details, the website was also being updated and t-shirts were being printed with their logo.

 

The Chair congratulated the young people on everything that they were involved in and offered encouragement particularly to the establishment of a youth mayor. The young people were thanked for their update. 

Diccon Bright introduced the item by advising that he was the new Area Co-ordinator for Bursledon, Hamble-le-Rice and Hound and was the Corporate Lead within the Council for the priority health and wellbeing.  He and Mary Amos, Health and Community Manager, gave a presentation to the meeting which provided an update on the work of the Health and Wellbeing Partnership.

 

Diccon advised that all the different organisations in the ESP could impact on the health of residents as health could be affected by education, income, housing, neighbourhoods and transport as well as personal choice. The Partnership had set itself three priorities:

 

·                   Happy and healthy community;

 

·                   Thriving and inclusive economy;

 

·                   Attractive and eco-friendly environment.

 

These sat alongside the priorities of the Health Action Plan which included a reduction in childhood obesity, an increase in physical activity and a reduction in alcohol related harm.

 

Mary reported that Eastleigh residents generally had better health than the national average but there were still areas of concern including:

 

·                   Circulatory diseases and cancer were the major causes of premature mortality;

 

·                   One in eight adults took the recommended daily exercise;

 

·                   One in five were estimated to be obese; and

 

·                   Smoking accounted for approximately 170 premature deaths a year.

 

The percentage of residents who smoked, in some areas of the Borough, was below the average of 22 percent but in the Bursledon, Hamble-le-Rice and Hound area and the central Eastleigh area it was above average (25 percent and 28 percent respectively). It was estimated that 11,000 adults in the Borough were binge drinking and underage drinkers were consuming more alcohol than previously. It was predicted that without any intervention the percentage of obese children in the Borough would reach 19.1 percent by 2010 and the Hampshire target was to reduce this by 1 percent by 2010/11.

 

The Partnership was involved in many activities and initiatives to try to combat these negative changes to residents health and all would play their part in promoting good health.

 

The meeting acknowledged the complex issues that were behind the increases in alcohol intake and felt that there were many contributing factors. Mary confirmed that the Government were funding some sophisticated adverts that were designed to tackle this.

 

The Chair thanked Diccon and Mary for their presentation.

The refresh of the Community Plan had been completed following consultation with all partners. The Plan was presented to the meeting for final approval before being considered by the Borough’s Full Council as required by legislation.

 

It was agreed that the Community Plan, as attached to the agenda, be presented to the Borough’s Full Council for final approval.

Richard Rowland reported that the majority of the safer neighbourhood officers had been given ‘Cop Swap’ cards that were similar to top trumps cards which contained details of each police officer. The cards were aimed at 7 to 11 year olds as a fun tool to encourage engagement with the police. Richard asked the partners to promote the scheme and he circulated his card.

 

Councillor Davidovitz advised that the future of the Hampshire Action Teams (HATs) had been under review as they had originally been introduced as a pilot scheme. It had been agreed that they would continue for at least another year and a report would be presented to the County Council’s Cabinet within a month on the future focus of the HATs.

 

Vince Johnston confirmed that there would be an ESP event in the morning of the 27 November and more details would follow by email.

The dates for meetings of the ESP are shown below. All meetings will take place at the Civic Offices.

 

·   4pm on 13 October 2009 – Extra Executive

·    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 of future meetings were noted.