Minutes:
Question 1
From Councillor Dulwich
Following the introduction of PSPOs (Public Space Protection Orders) in parts of Barking & Dagenham, does the relevant Cabinet Member feel that the PSPOs have been a success so far?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety
Public Space Protection Orders (or PSPOs) are a way of tackling anti-social behaviour in public spaces where people should expect to be able to go about their business without fear. They send an important message to the community that we are serious about tackling antisocial behaviour which can so often be a blight on an area’s reputation. By placing conditions or restrictions on an area, PSPOs can then be enforced.
The PSPO in Thames Ward helps tackle the nuisance caused by speeding vehicles and joy riders. in Abbey Green, Barking Park and Mayesbrook Park, these tackle dog fouling and the Heathway and Broad Street (in Dagenham), and Barking Town Centre PSPO help tackle anti-social behaviour. These PSPO’s enable officers to issue fixed penalty notices on the spot to those causing a nuisance, including those drinking alcohol, spitting, urinating or begging in an aggressive way.
The Council have issued 94 fixed penalty notices for offences caused and secured an 82% payment rate for those notices.
The Council’s efforts in cracking down on dog poo through our dog poo DNA initiative have won us plaudits in the UK. The work officers do on Abbey Green and Barking and Mayesbrook Parks has reinforced this work.
The Council need to do more in our PSPOs on the Heathway, Broad Street (in Dagenham), and Barking Town Centre. The key to their success is the support and inclusion of local police teams patrolling alongside enforcement officers. It makes a huge difference to the effectiveness of our officers, including their ability to verify offenders’ details as well as when dealing with people under the influence of drink or drugs, if the police are present. PSPOs are not the only way to tackle crime, but they are an important tool in tackling anti-social behaviour. The Council’s Wall of Shame is another. When the Council last consulted residents, 9 out of 10 were in favour of the PSPOs.
These may be times of austerity and limited public resources, but residents are also living through a time when crime and fear of crime is at a record high. By working together with the police, the Council can use our limited resources more effectively and make the local community a safer place.
Question 2
From Councillor Khan
What action is being taken by the Council to reduce homelessness in Barking & Dagenham?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Employment, Skills and Aspiration
The Council have recently published the Draft Homelessness Strategy which sets out its on-going commitment to prevent and alleviate homelessness in the borough and builds on the work undertaken through Community Solutions which over the last two years has led to a 42% reduction in the number of people who are officially homeless and needing to be rehoused by the Council. This has been delivered within the challenging environment of increasing property prices and the roll out of Universal Credit and other welfare reforms, which have made it increasingly difficult for those on lower incomes to secure accommodation locally.
As required by the new Homelessness Reduction Act, the Council have provided information, advice and personalised planning to deliver sustainable housing solutions to those eligible for assistance from the Council. Between April - December 2018 the Council has assisted 1548 households threatened with homelessness. This was nearly double the number of households supported as the previous year.
The Council support pathways into employment and training and through the Homes and Money Hub assist residents in maximising their income. Where appropriate the Council offers discretionary funding to support those residents willing to help themselves sustain their tenancies and avoid the risk of homelessness. The use of Discretionary Housing Payments helped 1,286 residents sustain their tenancies in 2018.
The Council’s rent deposit scheme and Prevention Fund have helped 377 households from becoming homeless so far this year through providing them with financial assistance to find accommodation in the private sector or keep their current home available to them. This is over three times the number of people who were assisted in this way as last year.
The Council has enabled residents to move into an offer of a private rented property which they can afford, and successfully enabled 237 households to move into such accommodation.
As the main causes of homelessness are landlord evictions and parental exclusion from the home, the Council are continuing to liaise with private sector landlords and working with families who may be looking to eject their children or family from households. This has, over the last three years, led to a 43% reduction in households becoming homeless because of landlords regaining their properties and a 56% reduction in those excluded by parents.
The Council has also recently committed to tackle rough sleeping in the borough. While the numbers are historically low in comparison to neighbouring boroughs, the sight of street sleeping is a stark reminder of people’s desperation and the Council plan to adopt a partnership No Second Night Out model of working with rough sleepers. This will provide a place of safety where the needs of rough sleepers can be quickly assessed and receive access to recovery and housing services
Question 3
From Councillor P. Robinson
The Government recently announced a new Long-Term Plan for the NHS. What assessment has the Cabinet Member for Social Care & Health Integration made of the impact this may have on NHS services that are used by residents of our borough?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration
The NHS Long Term Plan has finally arrived. There is much in the plan that the Council support, including:
• • The shift in focus to primary and community services
• • Extra funding for those places with the greatest health inequalities
• • Action on screening and vaccination inequalities
• • £30M for rough sleeping initiatives
• • Additional NHS gambling clinics
• • We welcome too the strong focus on mental health.
But all of the commitments above cannot be done by the NHS in isolation. They need collaboration with local authorities.
The NHS Plan pushes the creation of Integrated Care Systems, where health and care work more seamlessly, shifting resources out of expensive hospital care and into prevention and early intervention. This is what the Council are working on with its health partners and London Boroughs of Redbridge and Havering. However, the Council is concerned that:
· The plans are ‘undeliverable’ without a good spending review settlement for public health and social care; and
· The NHS needs to invest in and jointly commission first-line community support services, like our Community Solutions service, to deliver the plans efficiently – we need to operate as a care system.
The Council are very concerned about a commitment to review at the commissioning of sexual health services, school nurses and health visitors, services that are commissioned by local authority Public Health teams. There has been no consultation with the Council, which implies that the arrangement is not working, although there is no evidence of that. There is, however, evidence of the pressure of reducing public health funding by Government, so maybe NHS England should consider reviewing this.
In terms of the joint Health & Wellbeing Strategy, the challenge to the Client Commissioning Group (CCG) is that they are receiving an additional £19 million to take more account of very high deprivation and of mental health and community care needs in the borough.
There should be greater work undertaken through the Integrated Care Partnership Board (ICPB) and jointly invest in our transformation plans for prevention, independence & resilience, inclusive growth and participation & engagement. With each part funded appropriately and sustainably.
Question 4
From Councillor Akwaboah
What is the Council’s position on the proposed academisation of Catholic schools in Barking & Dagenham?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement
This Council opposes the academisation of LBBD Catholic schools and wholeheartedly supports Catholic education. Usually a school would become an academy because it is vulnerable or failing, however, all Catholic schools in Barking and Dagenham are good or outstanding and Catholic education is flourishing in the borough and the strong family of schools and headteachers support each other and share good practice.
The Council have helped a Catholic primary school in difficulties and has a very strong record of school improvement and invested over £13 million in Catholic school buildings in recent years to improve and expand them. The Council has improved facilities for vulnerable pupils and has a responsive and expert service for children with high needs. The Council offers a Borough-wide rich school curriculum in sports, arts, music, outdoor education, sports and healthy schools.
Question 5
From Councillor Rahman
Given that the parking restrictions in Barking Town Centre are in place until 9 pm every evening, is there any possibility that the hours of operation could be changed in future?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety
The Town Centre area is still heavily used into the evenings by visitors, commuters and businesses. Residents raised this as an issue during the consultation process and felt that finishing the zones at 5.30pm was too early and might prevent them from being able to park when arriving home from work. The hours of operation were therefore extended to 9pm to facilitate resident parking. The current restrictions are in place as a result of consultation. Therefore, the restrictions could change in future, although this will depend on residents’ views as part of any future consultation.
Question 6
From Councillor Fergus
What is the Council doing to tackle fuel poverty in Barking & Dagenham?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Social Housing
2.5m households in the UK are estimated to be fuel poor, of which more than 8,000 households in Barking and Dagenham are struggling because of low incomes, high energy prices and energy inefficient housing However, over the last few years the Council has lifted an estimated 3,000 households out of fuel poverty through a mix of energy efficiency advice, promoting access to cheaper tariffs and a programme of retrofitting, heating and insulation works to social and private sector housing.
In January 2019, the Council launched Beam Energy in partnership with the not-for-profit energy company Robin Hood Energy, to provide residents access to a range of more affordable fuel tariffs which will be within cheapest 15% on offer in London. As the market stands at the moment Beam’s standard variable tariff is already 4% cheaper than the big six energy companies and Beam’s prepayment offer is 7% cheaper and the most competitive fixed term tariff is 9% cheaper, giving many residents an opportunity to get a good deal, save some money and warm their homes for less: this offer will be open to anyone living in London and the Eastern region For vulnerable households, Beam is also offering an annual £140 Warm Homes Discount every winter to help towards fuel costs As the contract develops the Council will complement this through a fuel debt support initiative which will seek to assist voluntary sector partners support households who are in arrears with their energy bills.
In addition, the Council are in discussions with energy suppliers regarding access to the Government’s ECO3 funding, so that the Council can carry out heating and insulation works to 1,267 council owned properties which we have been identified as being cold, inefficient E, F and G rated properties. Up to 10,000 Owner-occupiers and almost 4,000 private rented tenants could also benefit from such measures where they are in receipt of qualifying benefit.
Over the last seven years the Council have obtained an estimated £15m of external funding for heating, insulation and retrofitting works for over 10,000 older homes in Barking and Dagenham, across all tenures and as part of the planning process the Council need to be satisfied that all refurbishments and new-build properties meet the insulation and conservation of fuel and energy requirements laid out in Part L of the Building Regulations.
Question 7
From Councillor Oluwole
Does the Council have any plans to redevelop derelict sites with old garages and use them to provide homes for local residents.?
Response from the Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Social Housing
The Council and Be First have a good track record in redeveloping unused garage sites into new affordable housing. In the current financial year completed examples include Burbridge and Tarling Close where high-quality bungalows have been built housing 16 households. These schemes have delivered affordable rent bungalows enabling older and disabled residents to move to purpose-built homes and release larger, under occupied homes for local families. The schemes have won prestigious design plaudits and been very well received by residents. Mitchell Close (off Burford Close) also delivered a further 6 affordable homes following on from a number of ‘infill’ schemes in previous years.
Schemes in Sugden Way and Wivenhoe Road have recently secured planning approval and will be under construction later this year. Chelmer Crescent in Thames View is currently in the design stage whilst a number of other garage sites are currently being considered with feasibility work underway. Be First will continue to liaise with My Place on further opportunities to unlock delivery of new homes wherever feasible.