To notify the Chairman of any items that appear later in the agenda in which you may have an interest.

Members had no interests to declare.

To confirm as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 15^th November 2005.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 15^th November 2005 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

A representative of Shildon Police will attend the meeting to give a report of crime statistics and initiatives in the area.

Inspector S. Ball and Sergeant S. Cowan were present at the meeting to give details of the crime statistics for the area.

The crime statistics for the period from 16^th November 2005 to 15^th January 2006 were as follows:

It was reported that during the period, 28% of police time had been spent dealing with rowdy nuisance behaviour. It was noted that a substantial proportion of the incidents related to the throwing of snowballs at vehicles and dwellinghouses.

With regard to the six burglaries, five were in respect of commercial premises and the other was an empty house.

It was also reported that there had been two incidents of motorists driving away without paying for their petrol during the period.

With regard to theft, it was pointed out that a considerable amount of wheel trims had been stolen.

The Forum noted that 50% of the reported assaults had taken place during the Christmas/New Year holiday period, however, there had been no serious assaults in any licensed premises.

Specific reference was made to Anti-social Behaviour Orders and the twelve year old boy whose photograph had appeared in a recent edition of ‘The Northern Echo’.  It was noted that officers from relevant agencies/organisations meet to discuss the proportion of publicity that should be applied to each case.

A representative of Sedgefield Primary Care Trust will attend the meeting to give an update on local health matters and performance figures.

Councillor Mrs. A. Armstrong and Mrs. K. Vasey attended the meeting to give an update on local health matters.

It was reported that Primary Care Trusts across the country were to be re-configurated following the publication of the document, “Commissioning a Patient-led NHS”.

The preferred options for County Durham were as follows:

v     A single County-wide PCT with Darlington included

v     A single County-wide PCT with Darlington excluded

It was noted that a public meeting was to be held on Tuesday 24^th January 2006 at 6.30 p.m. in Spennymoor Town Hall regarding the proposals. 

It was reported that the Primary Health Care Trusts had only come into existence in 2002 and it was felt that it was too soon to change the structure.

Specific reference was made to the recent public meeting in Darlington that had been attended by the local MP, Chief Executive Officer, Director of Social Services, all of whom were in favour of retaining Darlington Primary Health Care Trust.

Christine Wood will attend the meeting to give a presentation to inform Members of the Forum of the work undertaken by the Centre.

Christine Wood, Shildon Centre Manager, attended the meeting to give a presentation regarding the work undertaken by the Centre.

The Shildon Centre received financial support from Shildon Town Council (6%), Education in the Community (7%) and Durham County Council (87%).  It was reported that Durham County Council was considering its long term ability to fund the Centre and may withdraw support from the end of March 2007. In the event of the funding being withdrawn, the Centre aimed to become an independent charitable trust.

Specific reference was made to the achievements of the Centre in 2005.  It had received over 15,000 visits, answered 4,000 telephone enquiries, worked with over 50 local groups and organisations, provided 270 hours of free counselling for local people on self-referral and brought £41,500 of funding into the community for local groups.

The Forum’s attention was drawn to the Shildon Centre Mini Bus Committee, a registered charity which aimed to provide, operate and maintain transport services for the use of charitable organisations, voluntary and community groups within the town for the purpose of social welfare, education and recreation.  The scheme operated two mini buses that were driven by 20 local volunteers, who had been given appropriate training to the MIDAS standard.  In the past year over 4,000 have travelled on over 500 journeys.  The Shildon Centre provided the base for day-to-day bookings, volunteer support, secretariat banking and essential support to the mini bus committee.  

It was noted that in 2006 the Centre planned to raise funds for a new mini bus, develop the Shildon Toy Library, organise a community banner project, support the establishment of the Shildon Youth Network and the development of Shildon Parish Plan and the Community Partnership Board.

Arrangements have been made for an officer from the Council’s Regeneration Section to attend to give a presentation regarding the above.

A. Palmer, Head of Strategy and Regeneration was present at the meeting to give details of the above Programme.

It was explained that the Borough Council had received a substantial receipt from the sale of land and had agreed to use the money to support activities that fell within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s eligible expenditure definition of “Regeneration” and “Affordable Housing”.

It was pointed out that the schemes to be advanced through the Local Improvement Programme would need to demonstrate the following:

v                Conformity to the specified ODPM Regeneration and Affordable Housing Criteria

Affordable Housing - “the provision of dwellings to meet the housing needs and identified by the local authority, of persons on low incomes, whether provided by the local authority or a registered local landlord…….”.

Regeneration - “any project for the carrying out of works or activities on any land where the land, or a building on the land, is vacant, unused, under-used, ineffectively used, contaminated or derelict: and the works or activities are carried out in order to secure the land or the building will be brought into effective use”.

v                Clear linkages to the delivery of the Council’s Community Strategy and its key aims and planned outcomes

v                Appropriate levels of community consultation and reference to any Local Community Appraisal

v                Provision of sufficient level of detail in the project submissions to show a specific quantification of the benefits to be achieved by the investment and to explain the process by which the scheme would be delivered and over what time period

v                How any recurrent or revenue funding implications would be managed

v                Value for money should be clearly demonstrated to include match funding from other grant sources

Allocations were based on the local area’s percentage share of households within the Borough.  Area 4 locality would receive approximately £140,000 every year for the next three financial years.  It was emphasised that there was no pressure to spend the allocated budget within any one financial year as unspent money would be rolled forward into the next financial year and protected for that Area Forum.

It was reported that Area Forums along with Town and Parish Councils community and volunteers sectors stakeholders would be invited to consider schemes which would eligible for support under the Programme.  A team of staff at Sedgefield Borough Council would support the development of schemes and would score applications against the criteria. 

All applications that met the criteria would be submitted to the Area Forums for comment, however, the final decision on which schemes would proceed would be made by Sedgefield Borough Cabinet.

The Chairman will take questions from the floor.

Shildon Sunnydale Leisure Centre - Hackworth Suite

Concern was expressed regarding the proposal to extend the fitness suite on the first floor to incorporate space currently occupied by the second squash court and the Hackworth Suite. 

Members of the Forum were of the opinion that the Hackworth Suite should remain as it was a popular venue for functions and meetings.

It was pointed out that there were very few meeting rooms in Shildon.  The recent closure of the Daniel Adamson Coach House had resulted in a number of groups being forced to relocate in the town, which had proved very difficult. 

It was also felt that the consultation exercise that had been undertaken did not adequately reflect the views of the users of the Hackworth Suite.

It was agreed that the Council’s Director of Leisure Services be invited to a future meeting to give details of the redevelopment proposals.

7^th March 2006 at 6.30 p.m. in the Hackworth Suite, Shildon Sunnydale Leisure Centre.

Tuesday 7^th March 2006 at 6.30 p.m. in the Hackworth Suite, Shildon Sunnydale Leisure Centre.