Agenda and draft minutes

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Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Windmill Street, Gravesend DA12 1AU. View directions

Contact: Committee Section 

Items
No. Item

18.

Apologies

Minutes:

An apology for absence was received from Cllr Sizer with Cllr Meade as substitute.

 

19.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 157 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the Community and Leisure Cabinet Committee held on Tuesday, 10 September 2024 were agreed and signed by the Chair.

 

20.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

Cllr Meade declared that he sits on the Health Committees as part of his role at Kent County Council and was a Member Champion for Mental Health.

 

21.

Events Update Report pdf icon PDF 3 MB

Minutes:

The Leisure Manager presented the committee with an overview of the council’s events programme during 2024, and the feedback received on the Riverside Festival 2024. The following key points were highlighted:

 

  • Riverside Festival – the survey was available on a QR code that was showcased throughout the day. Unfortunately, due to weather conditions and the Euros 2024, footfall had decreased, but the event was well received, highly thought of and was considered a success.
  • Some new activities had been included within the Summer Fun Programme 2024, including a park life event at Cyclopark. This was the first time that a larger park event was held at that site – great numbers were seen on that day.
  • As with previous years, it was the aim to have as many activities as possible taking place across all areas of the borough. This included a range of paid and free activities.
  • The Summer Fun paper guide was still produced and shared with all schools across the borough. This year, a number of targeted social media posts which helped increase footfall.
  • A community day was held at Wombwell Park to promote the tennis courts that were due to be refurbished as part of the Lawn Tennis Association funding. The courts were not launched at the event as they had not yet been completed. However, they did deliver tennis coaching, and the community involvement team were on hand to ask the individuals who attended what they would like to see on the site going forward. This found that the majority of those who attended were from the local area, but over 50% had never used the site.
  • The Christmas Light Switch on was a very busy event and no incidences had been reported. Positive feedback had been received in relation to the event.
  • The provision of free and low-cost activities enables events to be accessible across the whole community. This was particularly important due to the cost-of-living crisis, and it was worth noting that 14.7% of families living in the borough were living in absolute poverty compared to the 10% across the Southeast.
  • To ensure that events offering educational opportunities were included, nature walks and educational and promotional activities around council projects were included within the Summer Fun Programme. This included the Riverside Festival focusing on initiatives such as recycling and biodiversity.
  • The Summer Fun Programmes helped to raise awareness of the councils’ parks and open spaces showing what they have to offer.
  • The main focus of the Summer Fun Programme was to encourage families and young people to improve their health and wellbeing. The majority of the activities offered in the guide focus on physical activity – within the borough, there are 26.2% of school aged children between 10 and 11 who were categorised as severely obese.
  • In terms of bringing additional footfall to the borough, the Christmas Light Switch on was helpful in delivering that. Statistics from Springboard (data analysist for the town centre) showed that across the day, and at the peak  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21.

22.

Year of the Volunteer pdf icon PDF 594 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Customer Services, Gateway and Community Involvement Manager provided members with an update on volunteering related activity to mark 2024 as the Year of the Volunteer. The following was highlighted:

 

·         As part of the councils 50-year anniversary, a commitment was made for 2024 to be the Year of the Volunteer focusing on staff volunteering.

·         As at the end of October 2024 there had been 114 placements totalling over 824 hours, translating to a social value commitment of over £21,000.

·         The report detailed a full list of opportunities.

·         Coldharbour library was a big project, and the garden had now been brought back into use as a valuable outdoor space.

·         Management Team had volunteered at KASBAH who support young adults with physical and/or learning difficulties.

·         The Hive foodbank had seen a huge increase in people needing support over the last year – a lot of council volunteers have been there to support them.

·         In September, a thank you volunteer event was held in the Woodville with 160 volunteers from a variety of charities.

 

Following questions and comments from members, the Customer Services, Gateway and Community Involvement Manager explained that:

 

·         The volunteering scheme was not impacting on service delivery, and staff were entitled to one volunteering day per year under the Policy. In some cases, officers would split their time into half days hours etc to expand their opportunities.

·         One of the Community Involvement Officers led on the volunteering offer, providing a list of opportunities and supporting staff.

·         Staff could put forward their own suggestions for volunteering, but it had to be within the borough.

 

The committee noted the report.

 

23.

Community Engagement Strategy pdf icon PDF 296 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Community Involvement Officer presented the committee with an update on the community engagement work over the last year. The report also asked members to consider areas of focus and priorities for the next strategy which was being considered. The following key points were highlighted:

 

·         One of the main achievements of the work was coordinating all community engagement activity across the council with support from the community involvement team, leading a new model of community engagement.

·         The new model was The Big Conversation, which was initially focused on setting up meeting places where the public were invited to come and speak with the council to share their concerns about any specific areas or topics.

·         Consultation work had taken place around the Hive on some proposals to redevelop the area around the shopfronts including landscaping.

·         A new digital platform has now been implemented which would give the council a new way to engage with a larger number of residents across the borough. It was also a way for regular feedback to be provided and for updates to be given on consultations etc.

·         Go Vocal (the online platform) was launched in September. This sits on the council’s website and has already had a number of consultations such as Gravesham 2040, the Resident Survey and Climate Change. The challenge was getting residents registered and using the site. The Community Involvement Officer asked that all officers and Members used their contacts to encourage residents to sign up to the platform.

 

Following questions and comments from Members, the Community Involvement Officer and the Assistant Director (Interim – Communities and Inclusive Growth) explained that:

 

·         For those residents that did not have access to the internet, the officers can print surveys and take them along to events and scan them into the system.

·         The Assistant Director (Interim – Communities and Inclusive Growth) welcomed the proposal for Member training, as the success of the platformed relied on raising awareness.

·         The principle behind the strategy was reaching as many people as possible and reducing the cost of consultations and engagement. The team had looked at opportunities to amalgamate as far as possible where they might be other systems in use so engagement was being delivered through the one system.

·         Whilst some posters had been created, more could be produced. Members suggested they be put up in public places such as the St George’s Arts Centre, schools etc.

·         The Customer Services, Gateway and Community Involvement Manager advise she was liaising with the Communications team to look at how it can be promoted to encourage more take up. This included some paid social media posts.

·         Go Vocal was a national project which enabled comparison with other local councils. Housing Services were going to use Go Vocal as a way to reach out to all their tenants meaning they will be actively working with them to get signed up.

 

The committee noted the report.

 

24.

Wider Determinants of Health pdf icon PDF 296 KB

Minutes:

The Health and Wellbeing Manager provided the committee with an overview of the role of the council in the wider determinants of health and Prevention Matters half day training which the LGA have allocated funding for Gravesham members to receive in February 2025.

 

  • The responsibility for health and social care sits with Kent County Council, but the 2013 Act specifically gives local authorities a duty to consider the appropriate measures to improve the health and wellbeing of people in the area.
  • The Corporate Plan 2023-27 looks at the wider determinants and how we can improve residents’ health.
  • Wider determinants of health consider how good and bad health is simply not just the result of individual behaviour or genetics. The Robert Wood Johnson model looks at the impact of access to care being 20% of people’s health and wellbeing. It also includes looking at socio-economic factors such as housing, building control etc.
  • The LGA have a training programme called Prevention Matters which supports elected members in how they champion health improvement and prevention within their communities.
  • The LGA have agreed to allocated funding to grant a half-day training session to support Gravesham’s members.

 

The committee noted the report.

 

25.

Corporate Performance - Q2 2024/25 pdf icon PDF 279 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Interim Assistant Director (Communities and Inclusive Growth) presented members of the committee with an update against the performance management framework, as introduced within the council’s corporate plan for quarter two 2024-25 (July to September 2024).

 

Following questions and comments from Members, the Assistant Director (Communities and Inclusive Growth) explained that:

 

  • Regular meetings were held with Hatch, the operator for the Market. They have received good feedback about the events held. They were starting to hold regular activities such as Wednesday Quiz Nights, where footfall had increased. They were supporting the traders within the market, with areas such as menu presentation and marketing.
  • Some challenges faced by the Hatch have included the level of footfall; which is greater during events compared to when events were not taking place.
  • Since Covid, the models for food businesses changed and this involved takeaway options becoming more popular.
  • The Assistant Director (Communities and Inclusive Growth) acknowledged that listening to local businesses was very important and there was some work in the pipeline around engaging more effectively.
  • The Regeneration and Resilience Manager advised that most town centres were struggling and needed to adapt. It was frustrating to see national providers going out of business and leaving a gap in town centres. However, to invigorate the town centre a number of projects were coming forward via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The shop front grants, for example, were enabling local traders to put apply for support in improving their shop fronts.

 

The committee noted the report.