Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Corporate Director Neighbourhoods and Climate Change that gave an update on the work of the Horden Together Partnership as part of the development of a place-based approach within the Horden area (for copy see file of Minutes).

Owen Cleugh, Safer Places Manager was in attendance and gave a verbal update on the Horden Together Partnership that had been established in September 2021 as it was an area of high deprivation in the numbered streets with complex issues.  The team had worked with the community to ascertain what they wanted and to acknowledge how they could work together to deliver a better public service.  Throughout the project the team has learnt from the successful elements and the mistakes.  The Horden Together Partnership had shown that partnership working had worked well with fifty organisations signed up to work together. 

He explained that the team had set up in the community welfare building in the heart of Horden that had proved successful to continue the community spirit that was different to what it was but was still there.  This has been helped by the creation of the Horden newspaper which was established as the community were keen to know what was happening in their area. Horden was a Home Office ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ site with a framework to tackle organised crime in the area. He stated that Horden was to be used as a model to address anti-social behaviour that would be used to expand the project to surrounding areas.

Councillor R Crute was confident with the progress made as community spirit was a vital component for regeneration.  He said there were exceptional challenges with issues such as the housing market failure.  He noted that the selective licensing scheme with landlords had started to make an impact. He asked when the definitive report would be available that would highlight if the project had been a success or not as the success should be shared. He also wanted to know when the project would expand further afield.

The Safer Places Manager answered that this was the interim report that was part of the County Durham Together Programme.  He acknowledged that the work would not happen over night but work was ongoing.  He was uncertain when the project would be expanded as the Horden model would not necessarily work elsewhere.  He explained that success came from the amount of community engagement that had occurred and the presence of being in the heart of Horden and being accepted.  It was intended that the project would expand throughout East Durham which had similar issues to Horden. The programme was about learning from success. He mentioned the selective licensing programme that although had taken a while to embed, action had now started to take place on void properties with repairs being carried out and landlords engaging. 

Councillor L Fenwick explained that she was the local Councillor for the next town of Peterlee and asked how long the scheme would run for.

The Safer Places Manager affirmed that there was no end date for the scheme.  It was tricky to measure the scheme as there was a lot of crime that was under reported as residents had a low tolerance to report issues.  He had seen spikes in reports being made but the team tried to encourage residents to make more.

Councillor L Fenwick queried if the Safer Places Manager was aware of housing organisations making referrals for people living outside the area to be rehoused in Horden.  She was concerned that this was a problem.

The Safer Places Manager replied that there were a lot of Housing Associations that owned properties in Horden and did rehouse people from outside the County. He reassured Councillor L Fenwick that work was ongoing with these organisations but the situation was complex due to data sharing.  Unfortunately in some situations information was not received quick enough to intervene.  This model of rehousing was not unique to County Durham. 

Councillor J Charlton had visited Horden and remarked there was a lot of positivity to come out of the village and she wanted this to continue with more action.  She felt that the team appeared to be embedded with trust being established with residents which was a huge thing in a village.

The Safer Places Manager declared that a lot of excellent work had been carried out in the village with good relations being developed with the police who had been more visible to provide help. He explained that community trust had been a major challenge as people did not want to engage but as time passed relations were being built to invoke systems for change that would make a difference in working together for the same goal.

The Safer Places Manager replied to Councillor J Charlton that the selective licensing had started to embed as people were tired of living in squalor and living behind boarded up windows but there was still a lot of work to do.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.