To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 15^th December 2003. (Copy herewith).

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15^th December 2003 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.  (For copy see file of Minutes).

A representative from the Community Care Force Centre will be present at the meeting to discuss the running of the Centre and answer any questions.

Eric Anderson, Control Centre Manager, Sedgefield Borough Council, attended the meeting to take questions from the Forum.

Members queried whether the CCTV cameras in Spennymoor Town Centre could monitor and identify number plates of vehicles using restricted areas, parking over dropped kerbs or posing problems to pedestrians within the town centre.

Inspector Winship explained that the use of CCTV cameras to monitor such activities may infringe the strict guidelines associated with the operation of CCTV.

It was explained that witness of any criminal activity should reported to the Police to enable them to deal with the problem.

Members also queried the implementation of two new cameras as part of the regeneration and development of Spennymoor Town Centre. It was explained that confirmation would be sought and reported to the next Forum.

A report will be given at the meeting by Spennymoor Police.

Inspector Winship, the new Community Inspector for Spennymoor attended the meeting to present crime figures for the Area 1 Forum.

Members noted that the statistics were as follows: -

It was noted that although the figures reported at the Forum for assaults and anti-social behaviour were quite high incidents were reducing overall across the Borough. 

Inspector Winship explained that Anti-Social Behaviour needed to be tackled by the local Councils and the Police’s Anti-Social Behaviour Unit in partnership. The remit for the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit had recently been revised to include monitoring and focusing on specific problem areas and community initiatives.

The Forum questioned whether extra Beat Officers had been employed since the previous meeting. 

It was explained that two new Police Community Support Officers had been introduced. The Support Officers would be working along side the Beat Officers and concentrating on community policing.

Update on local health matters

Melanie Fordham attended the meeting to give a presentation on the latest health matters and current figures for performance. 

The set target for giving flu vacinations for those aged 65 and over had been achieved. Performance was being monitored to reduce the number of inpatients waiting for an appointment within 6-9 months.

Targets had not been met in relation to the Ambulance Service responding to calls within 8 minutes. It was explained that a Business Plan had been reviewed by the North East Ambulance Service to concentrate specifically on responding times in the Sedgefield area.

M. Fordham explained that financial penalties had been introduced to penalise Social Service Departments where they were responsible for delays in the discharge of patients from hospital.

It was noted that all practices in Sedgefield wished to opt out of providing an Out of Hours service, however a recent survey delivered to all GP’s organised through South Durham Doctors showed that there were a number of GP’s willing to cover some parts of the Out of Hours rota on a salaried basis. A Steering Group had been established to develop proposals for the sevice.

Members queried whether the GP’s would have access to patients medical records during the out-of-hours service. It was explained that at present there were a number of initiatives being developed to have records available electronically. Access would then be available when required by GP’s. 

The Chairman will take questions from the floor.

Spennymoor Town Centre

D. Gordon raised concerns regarding the cleanliness of Spennymoor Town Centre.

It was explained that consideration of the condition of the Town Centre was within the remit of the Town Centre Forum, which Mr. Gordon was a member of, and any concerns should be raised at that meeting

Scheduled to be held Monday 5^th April 2004 at Middle stone Moor Community Centre.

Monday, 5^th April 2004, at Middlestone Community Centre at 6.30 p.m.