Agenda item

• Impact of Welfare Reform, Akinola Daisi (Service Development Officer)

• SHP Tenancy Support (Southwark and Lambeth)

• Street Leaders, Dave Morrison

• Big Local, Anne Clayton

Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) Updates

Safer Neighbourhoods Officers from Grange and from Surrey Docks wards were in attendance and fed back on the priorities of Grange, Surrey Docks and Rotherhithe wards:

Grange: Anti-social behaviour (especially by young people) around the Neckinger and Spa Road area, recovering stolen goods, for example mopeds, vagrancy/rough sleepers around the Leathermarket area

Surrey Docks: Anti-social behaviour by young people on the Osprey Estate, cycle thefts around Rotherhithe Street, robberies in and around Greenland Dock

Rotherhithe: Drugs (dealing and using), robberies around Canada Water, and cycle thefts.

Responding to questions from the floor, the officers explained that the term “robberies” referred to muggings and thefts of personal property, mostly mobile phones. He reminded attendees to call 999, if there was a present danger, and 101 at all other times, and encouraged people to keep an eye out for anything unusual. A resident remarked that officers from Livesey SNT did not seem to attend this community council, the officers responded they would feed that back. 

Alfred and Ada Salter Statues

Gary Glover informed the meeting that the statues project was progressing well, and that an artist had been commissioned to replace the statues at the original location along the river. He encouraged people to donate to the campaign on its website, emphasising that Southwark council would match contributions by the public. The campaign had so far attracted more than £15,000 in donations meaning that including the match-funded contribution from Southwark council this amounted to £30,000. The project target was £100,000 target. The project included installing CCTV and other security measures to ensure the statue was not stolen again. He encouraged people to log on to the website to make donations or to find out more about the project: www.salterstatues.co.uk

Street Leaders

Dave Morrison explained that Street Leaders were ordinary residents who were given special phone numbers to ring or email addresses to write to, in order to report environmental issues in their neighbourhood or across the borough. He told the meeting that it was a worthwhile and satisfying thing to do which made a real difference to one’s area.

The meeting heard that a link between different groups such as Street Leaders and other groups such as Safer Neighbourhood panels was needed. Street Leaders also used to be supported by street wardens, which was now no longer the case. Views were expressed that there was not enough information about the street leaders scheme and that the council was not promoting it enough.

Big Local Project

Anne Clayton, from the Big Local, informed the meeting that the organisation had grown out of the South Bermondsey Partnership whose board continued to operate, and which had successfully applied for a grant from a lottery fund for community engagement activities. 26 smaller groups had got together, and Bede in partnership with Time and Talents had led on the bid from the lottery fund. Over the last two years, the constituted group had been working on six estates in the South Bermondsey and North Peckham areas along the Old Kent Road. Some of the estates involved were Avondale, Astley Cooper, Ledbury, Caroline Gardens,  Bonamy and Bramcote. The  group had organised activities and events on the estates to get feedback on a vision for the future of the area, in order to apply for lottery funding. This bid had been successful and they had drawn down £168,000 this year. The plan was designed to show where the community wanted to be in ten years’ time, specifically: ownership of the green areas, re-enfranchising older people, getting young people involved through volunteering. The next step was to work on a vision and projects for the next 10 years, and then to apply for more funding. Anne said she was proud of the people who volunteered and who had become part of the board. The idea was that volunteers would eventually take over the running of the projects. She thanked the councillors for their support.

Changes to benefits

Jay Daisi from the council’s Revenue and Benefits section told the meeting that three major changes were coming in from 1 April 2013. These were: total benefits would be capped at £500 per week for couples and families, and £350 per week for single people. Secondly, for social landlord tenants who lived in flats, which were deemed too large for them, the changes meant that they would be asked to pay a percentage of the rent, depending on what their needs were assessed as. Thirdly, council tax benefit would be abolished. Local councils would have to manage and fund any support schemes themselves. This meant that residents on benefit had to pay at least 15% of the council tax themselves. Pensioners were excluded from this last provision. In order to address the impact that this would have on residents, the council was raising awareness of the changes and how these would affect people. It would be using a hardship fund to support vulnerable people. The council was also trying to increase the number of residents in work by offering employment support. Furthermore, the council would monitor the changes, and would revisit the measures it put in place.

The meeting heard the council’s one-stop shop in the “Blue” could provide further information, if required. The council also had a scheme to help council tenants downsize to flats that were more appropriate to their needs. Furthermore, there were many one- and two-bedroom flats coming on-stream in the area, and that the council would work with overcrowded families. Council tax levied on second or empty homes would also rise. Attention was drawn to the fact that there were going to be exceptions to the new regulations regarding the number of bedrooms for disabled people, people providing foster care and people who had a family member in the armed forces. The meeting heard that, if residents had concerns they could also speak to their local councillors.