· Cleaner Greener Safer Capital Fund 2015/16 (Andrea Allen, Senior Project Manager)
· Southwark Volunteer Centre (Shaun O'Regan)
· Wheels for Wellbeing (Abs Tripp)
· Safer Neighbourhoods Team (Inspector Richard Barton)
Chair’s announcements:
· Council budget 2015/16
· Petition about more police in the borough
· Engagement about the delivery of 11,000 council homes
Minutes:
Cleaner Greener Safer (CGS) capital fund 2015/2016
Andrea Allen, senior project manager, informed the meeting that the CGS capital fund 2015/2016 was now officially open. Since its inception in 2003, the CGS capital fund had distributed £30m across 2,000 projects around the borough, which translated into £7.6m and 453 projects in the Borough, Bankside and Walworth area. The funds allocated in the coming financial year would be a borough-wide total of £1.8m, which translated into roughly £90,000 per ward, and into £450,000 for the Borough, Bankside and Walworth Community Council area. There was also the possibility of groups managing the projects themselves. The chair invited people who had questions about how to submit their projects to speak to Andrea or himself after the meeting.
Applications were invited until Friday 7 November 2014, with schemes scheduled to be agreed at the community council meeting on Saturday 7 February 2015.
Southwark Volunteer Centre
Shaun O'Regan, from Southwark Volunteer Centre, told the meeting that the centre was located in the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre on the first floor. There as a wide range of volunteering roles available with hundreds of charities, and the centre was open for drop-ins from 10am to 4pm on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays. He went on to say that there were two projects (“Into work”,” Future me”) looking to place volunteers aged 18 to 24, which could be great way to gain work experience through volunteering and so be a route into paid employment. Another project was aimed at over-25s who were unemployed and resident in the SE1, SE17 and SE16 areas. This project was trying to encourage people to get into volunteering as a way to get training. Shaun invited all to pop into the centre. For more information visit: www.volunteercentres.org.uk
Wheels for wellbeing
Valerie Oldfield, the organisation’s community engagement officer, explained that it was a charity working with disabled people providing cycling sessions, specialist instructors and peer support at the velodrome in Herne Hill. The velodrome sessions took place every Monday from 11am to 1.30pm, were free and open to all ages and abilities. In 2014-2015, so far more than 1,000 disabled people across all impairment groups had taken part in the sessions.
Walworth’s got talent
Father Andrew Moughtin-Mumby informed the meeting that this event would take place at St Peter’s Walworth Church on 11 October 2014 from the afternoon. It was open to anyone living or working in SE17.
Employ me
Winsome Duncan informed the meeting that her organisation was running employability workshops for young people which have recently been opened up to adults as well, due to high demand. The training was based on her personal experience. She had also written a book, and was running training on how to start one’s own business, including specialised advice for ex-offenders.
Local sporting success
Michelle, a resident, informed the meeting that her young son had just signed a contract with Queens Park Rangers. The meeting applauded this success. She went on to say that this underlined the importance of having play areas, and that she wanted to thank officers and councillors for providing the play area and playing fields at Comus House.
Green flag success for local parks
The chair informed the meeting that two local parks had won a green flag award: Surrey Square and Nursery Road Park.
Leader’s question time
Councillor Claire Maugham informed the meeting that Southwark Council was holding a Leader's Public Question Time for the first time. This would allow the Southwark residents or workers to hold the Leader and the council’s cabinet directly to account. The council was asking anyone who lived or worked, or was interested in Southwark to suggest a question about the council for the Leader, Councillor Peter John, to respond to. This free event would be taking place on the evening of 22 October at City Hall.
Council’s budget for the year ahead
Councillor Maugham informed the meeting that over the past four years the council had had the equivalent of around £90m in funding cuts – which was about a quarter of its total budget. It was also likely that the council would lose a further £70m of funding over the next three years as the cuts continued. With all this in mind, the council needed residents’ help to decide how best to spend what is in the budget. Every year, since 2011, the council had asked for residents’ views on the council’s budget. So, in the coming months, the council would be consulting with residents across Southwark to hear their views. As part of this the council would once again be carrying out a consultation exercise at each of the community councils, at the November/December round of meetings, to hear what residents thought about the tough choices the council will have to make.
Police officers in the borough
The meeting heard that Councillor Michael Situ, cabinet member for environment, recycling, community safety and volunteering, had started an online petition to urge the Mayor of London to increase the number of police officers in the borough. Councillors were encouraging everyone to sign the online petition, which was on the Southwark council website.
Health of the borough
Councillors Rebecca Lury and David Noakes would be discussing outreach consultations about the health of the borough at a future meeting.
Charter of Principles – new homes consultation
Councillor Claire Maugham informed the meeting that the council was currently consulting residents on a charter of principles which would set the framework for how it would consult with residents on the delivery of 11,000 new council homes. This consultation was the beginning of the council’s conversation with residents about housing in Southwark. The council wanted this framework to be in place before the next conversation began in spring 2015, and the decision on the charter would be made by cabinet in November. The charter had been drafted drawing on examples of good practice and lessons learnt across the council, and built on the work during the housing commission. The closing date was 13 October 2014.