Agenda and minutes

In accordance with the Council’s Constitution, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest they may have in any matter which is to be considered at this meeting.

There were no declarations of interest

Agreed.

Noted the Council’s response to the petition requesting a supermarket at the Heathway Shopping Centre, Dagenham, and proposed future actions to address the petitioners’ request.

Received a report setting out the Council’s response to a petition requesting that it reconsiders a proposal to rationalise a proportion of the Frizlands Lane allotment site for building development purposes.

Noted actions taken to address the petitioners’ concerns and that officers will continue to investigate funding opportunities to clear other overgrown allotment sites around the Borough in order to meet future demand for allotments.

Presentation by Allan Aubrey, Head of Leisure, Arts and Olympics.

Allan Aubrey, Head of Leisure, Arts and Olympics, gave a presentation on the activity programme which the Council, together with partner organisations, is organising for the children and young adults in the Borough during the forthcoming school holiday period.

Allan outlined the aims and objectives of the scheme, highlighting which organisations are involved and the activities that will be included in the programme.  He said that baseline information would be collected from all providers on completion of the programme and analysed to give comprehensive data on where there were gaps in provision of activities and to highlight under represented groups, which activities were popular and those not so popular, where in the borough the young people came from and cost or location influences on attending the activities, to be used to develop future programmes.  Also, working with the Police, information would be gathered as to what impact the programme had had on petty crime and anti-social behaviour.

Members queried the inclusion in the programme of rugby and cricket activities in parks and whether promotion of the scheme would include contact with Tenants’ and Residents Associations.  Allan confirmed that these activities would be included and said that the programme is being expanded in Goresbrook Park with an inter-Ward five-a-side football tournament being organised.  There will also be extensive promotion of the scheme with all the community and schools.

The Chief Executive commented that he would like to say thank you and well done to the Corporate Director of Regeneration and her team as an ambitious target had been set for this year and they had met that target, with a much better programme than in previous years.

There will be an oral update from Guy Swindle, Head of Special Projects

Guy Swindle, Head of Special Projects, gave a presentation detailing a number of changes to the future format and content of Local Area Agreements (LAAs), proposed under the current Local Government and Public Involvement Bill, which will come into place from April next year.  He also highlighted the fact that Barking and Dagenham is one of only two local authority areas in London, the other being Westminster, and seventeen nationally chosen to work with central government to pilot feasibility testing for the new style ‘slimine’ LAAs.  The pilot runs for three months from April to July.

Joe Chesterton, Divisional Director of Corporate Finance, presented the Council’s unaudited accounts for 2006/07 in line with the statutory requirement to present these to the Council before 30 June 2007.  The accounts are currently being audited by the Council’s external auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and any significant changes will be reported back to the Assembly.

The 2006/07 accounts highlight that the Council’s financial position is extremely healthy in that:

·  The Council’s services throughout 2006/07 were maintained and delivered within existing budgets;

·  The Council maintains an adequate level of reserves;

·  The Housing Revenue Account has a good working balance; and

·  The Council has no external debt.

During the discussion that followed Members had a number of queries relating to the following, to which the Joe Chesterton gave detailed responses:

·  why the Council’s General Reserves balance had gone down and how the Council knows it has enough funds in the reserves

·  the level of Council Tax return

·  the level of the Council’s housing stock and amount of the right to buy discount

·  what the capital budget was spent on in 2006/07

·  why the pension fund liability had reduced and the employers’ contributions increased significantly, and could Members be reassured that the Council’s pension funds are in good order

Agreed the unaudited Statement of Accounts 2006/07 and noted that a final version incorporating an Audit Certificate will be reported to Members after completion of the audit.

Agreed:

·  The Council’s Corporate Plan for 2007/08 and authorised the Chief Executive to sign-off the final version of the Corporate Plan, including making any further necessary changes, prior to its formal publication by 30 June 2007;

·  The Local Implementation Plan for the Borough and its submission to the Mayor of London for his approval.

Question: Councillor Barnbrook said that Metropolitan Police statistics show that racist crimes have fallen in our Borough by over 15% during the period from March 2006 to March 2007 and asked if Labour Councillors would care to join him publicly in accepting that the presence of the British National Party in the borough has contributed to the drop in race hate crimes in our Borough.”

Response: Councillor Mrs Rush said that she was pleased to be asked about the crime figures, as Members know a continuing reduction in crime across the board is the result of the effective work undertaken in the borough by the Council, Police and our wider partnership.  Last year saw a reduction in key crimes of some 6%.  To date this year, for these particular crimes, we are seeing a reduction of some 14%.

The increased presence of Police Officers, PCSO’s and Street Wardens out and about in the borough, and the installation of CCTV, will of course contribute to a reduction in race hate crimes.  These increased resources are a direct result of this Labour Government, the Mayor of London and this Council working closely with the Police to reduce crime across the GLA area.

Whilst race crime too has fallen, it is important to recognise that sometimes those who feel most vulnerable in communities are reluctant to come forward to authorities such as the Council and Police to report it.

Race hate crime is a particularly pernicious crime and we must all work to build confidence within our diverse community to report it and indeed to proactively encourage such reporting.  It is hoped that by this proactive stance we will get a true picture of the level of race crime occurring in our borough and then, with our partners, we will continue to ensure that we have the resources to both address offenders and to support victims.

Question: Councillor Bailey asked, now our Minister of Parliament for Barking Margaret Hodge has agreed with the British National Party’s policy on putting indigenous people first in regard to housing, could Councillor Smith please tell him why he thinks Margaret Hodge is wrong?

  Response: Councillor Liam Smith said that Margaret Hodge has got the facts wrong.  The debate is about building Council housing.  It is not about where people live and most of the people from overseas are in private rented housing.   He said the borough needs to have a stable community.  Council housing is needed and Members of this Council have been supporting this from day one.  Councillor Smith went on to say that he is quite proud that this Council is associated with Council housing, and has been from the beginning with the Becontree estate.   He is now hoping that, with support from the new Prime Minister as this is a key political issue, the Council will deliver Council housing in this borough.

Question: Councillor Sandra Doncaster said that recent research has shown that patients have to wait almost six months (170) days for life  ...  view the full minutes text for item 22.