Minutes – Community Affairs Committee – 7 September 2020

The minutes of this meeting are presented below.

You can also download a PDF copy of the minutes here: Minutes – Community Affairs Committee – 7 September 2020

MINUTES OF THE VIRTUAL MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE HELD ON MONDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 2020 AT 3.00PM

PRESENT:

• Councillors Apel (Chairman), C Hughes (Vice-Chairman), Carter, Gershater, Lishman, Sharp

EX-OFFICIO:

• The Mayor (Councillor Plowman), The Deputy Mayor (Councillor J Hughes), Councillor Joy (Chairman of Planning and Conservation)

APOLOGIES:

• Councillor Scicluna, Graham Pound (Chairman – Friends of Valletta), Julia Sander (Chairman – Friends of Chartres)

ALSO PRESENT:

• Pam Bushby (Divisional Manager, Communities and Wellbeing – Chichester District Council), Liz Turner (Chairman – Friends of Ravenna), Sue Furlong (Community Initiatives Principal Team Lead – West Sussex County Council), Ash Pal (Chairman – Parklands Residents Association and Chichester Community Network), Paula Chatfield (Acting Chair – Chichester Tree Wardens), Samantha Hale (Black Lives Matter)

IN ATTENDANCE:

• Town Clerk, Property Manager, Member Services Support Officer

13. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

As recorded above.

14. MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE HELD VIRTUALLY ON 1 JUNE 2020

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 1 June 2020, having been circulated, be approved and signed as a correct record at a later date.

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

The Mayor and Councillors Apel, Lishman and Sharp declared personal interests as Members of Chichester District Council.

16. UPDATE FROM THE PREVIOUS MINUTES

(a) Minute 6(a) – Floral Displays

The Member Services Support Officer reminded the Committee that, due to the contractor’s staff being furloughed, the customary planting of the City Centre floral displays and provision of the hanging baskets had not been possible.

However, the Committee were advised that City Council Officers had refreshed the City Centre planters in the main streets and the Cathedral beds in West Street. The Property Team had also undertaken the regular watering and required maintenance of the floral planting over the summer period.

The Member Services Support Officer reminded Members that the floral planting contract was due for review and possible retender. This would take place prior to spring 2021 and Members would be kept updated.

(b) Minute 6(b) – Chichester Tree Summit

The Member Services Support Officer advised the Committee that, as restrictions were still in place due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no further updates regarding a rearranged date for the were available.

It was hoped by Members and the Tree Wardens that there would be a possibility of making further progress in the New Year.

(c) Minute 6(c) – VJ Day commemorations

The Town Clerk reported to the Committee that a simple and moving event had been held at Litten Gardens on VJ Day and a commemorative Magnolia tree had been planted.

Members were advised that representatives from the Far Eastern Prisoners of War were present and commented very favourably upon the City Council’s arrangements for the event.

The Chairman agreed that the event had been suitably respectful and moving and the Mayor expressed his thanks to the Officers who had helped to organise the commemoration.

(d) Minute 6(d) – Chichester City Council Business Plan (2019-2023)

The Town Clerk confirmed that no further progress had been made on the development of the Business Plan and that the Committee had already agreed that the Covid-19 pandemic would necessitate a significant rewrite of the Plan.

The Chairman proposed, and the Committee agreed, that further discussion regarding the Business Plan be postponed until the January 2021 meeting of the Committee.

(e) Minute 6(e) – Proposal for a friendship link with Speyer, Germany

The Town Clerk informed Members that there had been no further progress with the friendship link and that, under the current restrictions, travel arrangements were still impractical.

The Chairman asked the Town Clerk to contact Speyer and suggest an initial virtual meeting and tour of the two cities to help ensure that the lines of communication remained open.

(f) Minute 6(f) – The future of Rumboldswhyke School

Members were reminded that, shortly after the previous meeting of the Community Affairs Committee, it had been confirmed that the future of Rumboldswhyke School had been secured in an arrangement with Bishop Luffa School.

Councillor Sharp thanked the City Council and others, all of whom had contributed to this much welcomed outcome for the pupils and staff.

The Chairman and Committee thanked Councillor Sharp for her significant efforts in bringing about this positive outcome.

The Mayor agreed to write to the Head Teacher expressing the Council’s best wishes for the future of the school.

17. POLICING AND SECURITY IN THE CITY

(a) Community Wardens Report

Pam Bushby (Divisional Manager, Communities and Wellbeing, Chichester District Council) gave the Committee a verbal report regarding the current work of the Community Wardens. Mrs Bushby highlighted areas of concern including removal of the fly posting left behind by Extinction Rebellion, increased incidents of begging and a rise in the number of rough sleepers. Members also discussed illicit activities that had been witnessed on Brewery Field and the possibility of using West Sussex County Council CCTV records to assist with invesitgations.

(b) Community Warden Reports

The Committee noted the reports that had been circulated to all Members prior to the Meeting.

Councillor Sharp left the meeting

(c) Chichester BID Rangers report

The Member Services Support Officer briefly presented the report from Jeanette Hockley of Chichester BID who had advised that she was unable to attend on this occasion. Members were advised that Chichester BID would be happy to answer any questions from the Commmittee and that such questions could be emailed directly to the BID office.

18. REPORTS FROM REPRESENTATIVES OF FRIENDS OF CHARTRES, RAVENNA AND VALLETTA

(a) Friends of Ravenna

Mrs Turner, as Chairman of the Friends of Ravenna, presented her report outlining the current activities of the Friends and how the organisations had been thinking of innovative ways to operate under the Covid-19 restrictions.

(b) Friends of Chartres

The Friends of Chartres report had been circulated to all Members and noted.

(c) Friends of Valletta

The Friends of Valletta report had been circulated to all Members and noted.

19. CHICHESTER TREE WARDENS

The report from the Chichester Tree Wardens had been circulated to all Members and noted.

Mrs Chatfield (Chichester Tree Wardens) answered questions from the Committee.

The Chairman, on behalf of the Committee, thanked Mrs Chatfield and her team for their ongoing and very valued work.

20. DISCRETIONARY GRANTS WORKING PARTY

The Committee was advised that, at the date of the meeting, the Working Party had not met to discuss Discretionary Grants.

At the request of the Chairman, the Member Services Support Officer reminded the Committee that membership of the Working Party would be Councillors Apel, Lishman, Plowman and Scicluna.

The Town Clerk was asked to facilitate the arrangement of the first meeting of the Working Party.

21. EMERGENCY PLANNING AND COVID-19 – PREPAREDNESS FOR SECOND WAVE OF THE PANDEMIC

Sue Furlong (Community Initiatives Principal Team Lead, West Sussex County Council), Ash Pal (Chairman – Parklands Residents Association and the Chichester Community Network) and Peter Roberts (Property Manager, Chichester City Council) updated the Committee regarding the work that each of their organisations had been doing in response to the Covid-19 pandemic emergency.

Issues discussed included preparatory work each organisation had undertaken and the links that had been built within their respective environments that had enabled the wider community in Chichester to work together to support the City.

Each organisation emphasised to Members that it was vital that the City, District and County Councils continued to liaise with each other and the wider community organisations on resilience planning issues, especially in light of the expected second wave of Covid-19 infections.

The Mayor and other Members expressed their thanks to all involved for their hard work in helping Chichester through the first wave and preparing for the second wave.

22. BLACK LIVES MATTER

The Chairman introduced Samantha Hale from Chichester Black Lives Matter who had been invited to speak to the Committee about the work being done by the group.

After updating Members regarding the group’s activities and plans, Ms Hale thanked the City and District Councils for the advice and guidance that the Black Lives Matter organisers had been given that enabled the recent protest in Chichester to proceed without incident. Members agreed that it had been an exceptionally well attended and meaningful occasion.

The Mayor and Chairman confirmed that the City Council would not tolerate any form of racism or other prejudice.

23. ITEMS FOR INCLUSION ON THE NEXT AGENDA

• Discretionary Grants Working Party
• Spirit FM changes and possible replacement community radio service
• Speeding around the City
• Lack of connectivity to internet in the City Centre

DATE OF NEXT ORDINARY MEETING: MONDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 2020

The meeting closed at 4.40pm