Minutes – Community Affairs Committee – 4 September 2023

The agenda and papers for this meeting are available here: Community Affairs Committee – 4 September 2023 – agenda and papers

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Community Affairs Committee – 4 September 2023

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

Minutes

Date: 4 September 2023

Time: 5.30pm – 6.54pm

Location: The Council Chamber – The Council House • North Street • CHICHESTER • West Sussex • PO19 1LQ

PRESENT: Councillors Apel, Chant, J Gershater, Knight, Kondabeka, Loxton, Squire

EX-OFFICIO: The Mayor (Councillor C Gershater), Councillor Butler (Chairman of Planning & Conservation), Councillor Scicluna (Chairman of Finance)The Town Clerk, the Deputy Town Clerk, Helen Marshall (CEO and Chairman of Chichester BID), Maggie Jones (Chichester Hygiene Bank)

ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Town Clerk, Deputy Town Clerk, Helen Marshall (CEO and Chairman of Chichester BID), Maggie Jones (Chichester Hygiene Bank)

17. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

RESOLVED to accept and approve apologies and reasons for absence from the meeting from Councillors Corfield and Hitchman.

18. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE IN MATTERS ON THE AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING

Cllr Scicluna declared an interest as a member of each of the four twinning associations.

Cllr Chant declared an interest as a member of the Friends of Valletta.

Cllr Apel declared an interest as a member of the Friends of Chartres and Ravenna.

19. MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 5 JUNE 2023.

RESOLVED to approve and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Community Affairs Committee meeting held on 5 June 2023.

20. CHICHESTER HYGIENE BANK

The Chairman brought forward the agenda item for the presentation by Maggie Jones from the Chichester Hygiene Bank, (slides attached).

A presentation on the work of the local hygiene bank followed, in which an overview their work and the local situation was provided for members of the Committee. The charity would particularly like help with volunteer support, funding, storage and donations and distribution of products.

Materials are currently stored at a self-storage unit in Terminus Road, where items are sorted and packs are made up.

The Chairman advised we would send a list of useful contacts and trusts that the Charity could approach for help.

Cllr Chant advised that the presentation had been given in order to support their motion to provide a collection point at the Council House and to act as a Distribution point for packs and a revised proposal for this would be brought forward via the Business Plan.

21. UPDATES ON ACTIONS FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES NOT COVERED ELSEWHERE ON THE AGENDA

(a) City Gala/Coronation of King Charles event (minute 5a refers)

The Deputy Clerk provided a brief update report on the event, which had been very well received. The event had been delivered under budget, so there is scope next year to either reduce the budget or increase the scale of the event.

Dates for next year are proposed as 29/6/24 (there is a wedding event booked in the Guildhall for 6/7/24 next year, so the normal first Saturday in July is not available).

The Committee noted that it would be preferable to avoid clashes with other major events in future and that CDC should be advised of the date for the Gala as soon as possible.

(b) A27 underpass decorative improvements (minute 5b refers)

A day of action had taken place on 15th August, which had included litter picking and graffiti removal in the underpass. We are awaiting a response from WSCC Highways team, having proposed refurbishment of the underpass as a suitable project for the CSV element of major contractors’ obligations.

(c) City floral planting – Cathedral beds and hanging baskets (minute 5c refers)

The Deputy Clerk advised the Committee that we are awaiting a response from the WSCC Highways team, having proposed refurbishment of the Cathedral beds as a suitable project for the social value element of their major contractors’ obligations.

In the meantime, we have cut back the epicormic growth at the base of the trees and have undertaken basic weeding and are planning to remove diseased hedging plants over the winter months.

If the social value project application is unsuccessful, we will seek costings for the project to be delivered in house.

(d) Green spaces fire wardens volunteers (minute 12 refers)

Item deferred to the next meeting.

22. POLICING AND SECURITY IN THE CITY

(a) Community Wardens

Report has been provided.

(b) Chichester BID

Helen Marshall (CEO and Chairman of Chichester Bid) advised that Operation Boxwood has now ended, and there has been a marked increase in ASB since the cessation of the additional police patrols. In particular known groups of specific young people are causing intimidation and a nuisance. It will be monitored to see if the return to school helps alleviate the issues.

Crimes such as shoplifting are increasing across the City and this is a growing problem. Larger stores are tackling the issue in-house – M&S have agreed additional security resources, Greggs staff are now wearing body cams and Superdrug have updated their CCTV systems.

The new City Ambassadors have now been appointed. Both start work w/c 11/9/23 and will be a very visible presence in bright uniforms. It is expected that they will be proactive in their approach to their roles and an enhanced training programme is being developed for them.

BID have some concerns that the Ambassadors will still be targets for ASB. Sussex Police have committed to providing additional resources as the Ambassadors begin their public facing duties in late September.

Retailers have been largely positive in their response to the new roles. The team will spend their first two weeks making contact with and meeting all of the businesses and start building strong relationships with the shops.

It is hoped that once the team are in place it will help to alleviate some of the ongoing ASB issues.

The Chairman requested that Sussex Police be invited to send a PCSO to the next Community Affairs meeting.

The Committee asked if there was anything that can be done to keep staff safe when tackling shoplifting? Helen Marshall advised that the best advice was to not engage with the perpetrators and ensure that the incident was reported to the Police so that they can build intelligence and coordinate a suitable response when an area becomes a crime hotspot.

Helen Marshall advised that the CCTV in the City was being upgraded and this was important to the Police when gathering evidence.

23. TO NOTE REPORTS RECEIVED FROM THE FOLLOWING:

(a) Friends of Chartres, Ravenna, Speyer and Valletta

The reports were noted. The Mayor added that he had received copies of two articles from the local Speyer newspaper outlining the recent visit of the Friends of Chichester.

(b) Chichester Tree Wardens

The report was noted.

24. CHICHESTER CITY COUNCIL BUSINESS PLAN

Councillor Kondabeka provided a brief update on current progress. The group has met twice and have agreed their terms of reference and are working on developing the overall Vision for the City – this will be an update of the 2019-23 Vision.

Seven key themes are being developed, which cover all of the items identified by Councillors at the workshop sessions. The Group have so far looked at the voluntary sector support and culture and recreation themes and are inviting other councillors to provide input in areas where they have expertise and knowledge.

A project proposal document is being developed that will allow projects to be brought forward and assessed with clear outputs and impacts identified.

25. SUPPORTING INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY FOR THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY

Cllr Chant outlined concerns with regards to the safety and security of members of the LGBTQ+ community in the City, where there have been a number of incidents of violence and intimidation towards LGBTQ+ residents and advised that they will provide a more detailed report at the next meeting of the Committee.

26. COMMUNITY SURGERIES

The Mayor advised that he had met a number of community groups and had been overwhelmed by the scale of demand and of work being undertaken in the City. He was concerned that there was overlap, competition and tension between some of the voluntary sector groups.

Feedback received from voluntary sector groups indicated they are pleased that the Council is proposing to take a more strategic view of community development and project delivery.

27. PROPOSAL TO HOST A VOLUNTARY SECTOR NETWORKING EVENT AT THE COUNCIL HOUSE, AUTUMN 2023

The Clerk advised that following a recent meeting with the Chichester Foodbank and UK Harvest, it had been proposed that the Council could host a Voluntary Sector Networking event at the Assembly Room in late autumn, to allow the various groups working in the City to share needs and experiences and explore the appetite for developing partnership working and consortium based bids to large funders to address the overlapping issues.

The Committee RESOLVED to make the Assembly Room available for a Voluntary Sector networking event in late Autumn.

Cllr Loxton added that he had recently attended a very successful Voluntary Sector fair at Bognor Regis Town Hall where local charities could promote their services and recruit additional volunteers. The Committee agreed that this would also be an excellent initiative to support the Voluntary Sector.

The Committee RESOLVED to make the Assembly Room available for a Voluntary Sector fair, to be held at a date to be advised.

28. COMMUNITY ASSET MAPPING

The Clerk advised the Committee that the Community Asset Register at CDC did not appear to include many assets in the City and requested that the ward councillors be tasked with mapping all of the community halls, spaces, public houses and other community resources within their wards so that the Council could request their inclusion on the register.

Properties that are included on the Community Asset Register cannot be sold to private developers without first allowing the community a six-month grace period to put together a bid to take on the facility.

The Committee RESOLVED that they would undertake the exercise by the end of the month for submission to CDC.

29. REVIEW OF CURRENT EMERGENCY PLAN

The Clerk advised that the Emergency Plan had not been reviewed for several years and recommended that a Working Group of 3-4 members be established to review the plan and ensure it was still fit for purpose.

The Committee RESOLVED to establish a Working Group to review the Emergency Plan and report back to the Committee, with the final group membership to be confirmed. Cllr Scicluna volunteered to join the group.

30. COMMITTEE MEETING TIMES

The Committee RESOLVED that the meetings for the remainder of the year would be at 5.30pm.

31. DISCRETIONARY GRANTS

The Clerk recommended that a Working Group be established to review the current discretionary grants provision and report back to the Committee with a range of options for the future delivery of the programme.

The Committee RESOLVED to set up working group to review the discretionary grants provision, to report back to Community Affairs and the Finance Committees.

Councillors Kondabeka, Chant, Apel and Scicluna were appointed to the Working Group.

32. ITEMS FOR INCLUSION ON THE NEXT ORDINARY AGENDA

• The Chairman requested that a representative from Stonepillow be invited to present an overview of their work.
• The Chairman requested that emergency support needs for homeless people be added to the next agenda.
• Supporting Inclusion for the LGBTQ+ Community (Councillor Chant to report)
• Green Spaces Fire Wardens Volunteer Scheme – Deferred from this meeting (Councillor Corfield to report)

33. DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING

DATE OF NEXT MEETING (DISCRETIONARY GRANTS): MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2023

DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: MONDAY 4 DECEMBER 2023

The meeting closed at 18.54 pm

ACTIONS ARISING FROM THIS MEETING

Minute ref.	Agreed action	Assigned for action to
20	Provide a list of useful contacts to the hygiene bank.	Clerk
21	Advise CDC of the date of the Gala (29/6/23) as soon as possible	Front of House Manager
22(b)	Invite Sussex Police to send a PCSO representative to the next Committee meeting.	Clerk
25	Prepare report on LGBTQ+ inclusion and diversity for presentation at the next Committee meeting.	Cllr Chant
27	Organise late – autumn Voluntary Sector networking event at the Assembly Room.	Clerk
27	Organise Voluntary Sector promotion and recruitment fair at the Assembly Room.	Clerk
28	Complete ward-based community asset mapping by the end of September 2023.	All Ward Councillors