January Assembly Meeting - East Lindsey District Council

Leader’s Report to Council – 9 th January 2013DISTRICT COUNCILS’ NETWORK UPDATEJanuary Assembly MeetingOn 21 January 2013, the Assembly will hear a presentation from BrandonLewis MP, Local Government Minister, and will focus its breakout sessions onimmediate and longer term responses to the financial situation in localgovernment.Meeting with Chief Planning OfficerSince DCN’s last update, Steve Quartermain has responded to the request forfurther discussion on a number of issues/concerns relating to the Growth andInfrastructure Bill. Neil Clarke, Chairman of DCN will be meeting with MrQuartermain in the New Year and I will keep you updated on any outcomefrom that meeting.Growth and Infrastructure BillThere are a number of consultations circulating and DCN has circulated theirdraft responses which can be found at -http://districtcouncils.info/category/publications/ Neil Clarke would like toencourage everyone to seek out the consultation on 'Planning Performanceand Planning Guarantees' and respond.DCN will keep reminding Officials and Ministers that 'Planning' is not thebarrier! Neil Clarke’s information is that planning approvals are increasingfaster than implementations.Research UpdateThe research the DCN is undertaking is moving forward positively:• NLGN 'Fit for the Future' - roundtables have been arranged withparticipating councils, there will be a session at the Assembly meetingin January to widen involvement.• Disabled Facilities Grants - Focus group is being arranged with SDCTin the new year.• Local Enterprise Partnerships - Seven case studies being reviewed inmore detail, as a basis for the MJ article in January 2013.

EventsDistrict Action on Public HealthTo mark the launch of our new public health publication the District Councils’Network will be holding a Public Health Event on Monday 11th February atLocal Government House, London. The event, District Action on PublicHealth, will be free to attend and will consist of a number of high-profilespeakers and afternoon workshops to explore the role of districts in the newpublic health arrangements and share examples of best practice across twotierareas. Alongside our Member organisations, we are also opening this allday event to Directors of Public Health and Clinical Commissioning Groups intwo-tier areas, as well Senior County Council Officers in Public Health &Adults Social Care.Confirmed speakers include;• Sandra Whiles, Chief Executive Blaby District Council & DCN Health &Well-being Lead• Dr Ruth Milton, Director of Public Health Hampshire County Council• Duncan Selbie, Chief Executive Designate; Public Health England• Tim Baxter, Head of Public Health Delivery Unit; Department of Health• Chartered Institute of Environmental Health• Chartered Institute of Housing• Royal Town Planning InstituteBook your place online http://districtcouncils.info/contact-us/booking-form/LGA and DCN Workshop: Is your district “Open for Business”?The LGA and DCN are jointly hosting a workshop on economic growth.This is the first of two planned events; we will shortly be circulating eventdetails at a location in the midlands.The event is aimed at those district councillors who have a leadership role inimproving the conditions for local economic growth and regeneration.The workshop will offer participants the chance to explore, debate and learnabout:• The national policy context for role of councils in promoting growthfrom the perspective of the All Party Parliamentary Group on LocalGrowth, Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP’s) and Enterprise Zones.• The different ways that district councils can act in supporting localbusinesses and economic growth from the perspective of a LEP Chair.• The role of planning and development management in supporting localeconomicgrowth.

• How their local economies can benefit from greater and smarter partnershipworking.This free workshop will be facilitated by Council Chief Executive’s and will be small indelegate numbers to maximise opportunities for discussion and exchange.Date: 14th January 2013Time: 10.30am-3.45pmVenue: Local Government House,Smith Square,London, SW1P 3HZBook your place online http://districtcouncils.info/contact-us/booking-form/EAST MIDLANDS COUNCILS UPDATEHousing Minister Mark Prisk has announced further details of funding for localauthorities through the New Homes Bonus scheme. The provisional allocation, to bepaid in the 2013 to 2014 financial year, means councils in England will have received£1.3 billion through the scheme since its launch in April 2011. Authorities in the EastMidlands are provisionally expected to receive £52.8m of £661m from this latestannouncement. East Lindsey District Council’s provisional allocation is £924.352Further details, including a link to allocations for other local authorities, can be foundat https://www.gov.uk/government/news/mark-prisk-boost-to-councils-andcommunities-through-the-new-homes-bonus.Economic Development, Skills & Education (Officer Contact:peter.williams@emcouncils.gov.uk). EMC is working with councils, LEPs andinfrastructure providers to develop a 'sub-national growth prospectus', which willintegrate elements of the Treasury’s National Infrastructure Plan, priority economicsectors identified by BIS and locally owned proposals for housing growth. Thedocument will be used to articulate a clear business case for investment in the easternMidlands and to prioritise strategic infrastructure interventions. It will also be used toinform the next round of European funding programmes from 2014. EMC held aworkshop on 14 December to discuss emerging proposals, which was attended byaround 40 leaders, chief executives and other LEP representatives. The presentationsfrom the event will shortly be available http://www.emcouncils.gov.uk/Infrastructure .A final document will be launched at the next full EMC meeting on the 15 February2013, and presented to the Planning Minister Nick Boles MP. For further informationcontact andrew.pritchard@emcouncils.gov.uk.EMC launched the East Midlands Coaching Network on 5 December at an eventattended by local authorities from across the East Midlands. The East MidlandsCoaching Network will help organisations build internal coaching capacity and enablepeople to access trained and experienced coaches from other local authorities andpartner organisations to support performance, improvement and personaldevelopment at very low cost. For more information about the benefits of becoming amember of the Network follow the link http://www.emcouncils.gov.uk/East-Midlands-Coaching-Network.WINTER WARMTH HELPWinter Warmth Help - Do you qualify, or know someone that may?Once again funding has been provided in assisting vulnerable people in Lincolnshire,suffering ill health, to keep warm this winter.

LEADER’S REPORT TO COUNCILThe scheme covers Lincoln, Boston, E & W Lindsey, N & S Kesteven and SouthHolland (excludes North and North East Lincolnshire).Help someone in need by referring them to R2W, the “Responders to Warmth”programme.The programme gives advice and practical help, anything from hot water bottles tocomplete boiler replacements, free of charge, to isolated and vulnerablehouseholders – and there are lots of them in Lincolnshire.Last winter the scheme found some people with no source of hot water other thanboiling a pot on an open wood fire!The eligibility criteria are straightforward: combined annual income below £23,500and savings below £10,000 or ill health and/or disability conditions or dependency onstate benefits.For full details, go to the Responders to warmth websitewww.responderstowarmth.co.uk or phone the call centre on 0845 606 4566.Last Winter the scheme did a huge amount of good distributing 10,000 self-helpguides and helping over 500 households and 2,000 individuals.The services range from FREE cavity and wall insulation, through to providing sandand salt to help prevent trips and falls in icy conditions. After contacting R2W andmeeting the scheme’s eligibility criteria, we then send a ‘ Responder’ to advise on howto keep fuel bills down and get more from your current heating appliances for less. Wecan also provide a ‘Handyman Service’ to undertake simple jobs to help keep clientscosy through the worst of the winter.PLANNING APPLICATIONSThe number of planning applications approved this year to the end of November is864 which equates to 87% a very positive approach by the Council, supporting growthand economic development in the district.BROADBANDThe OnLincolnshire Broadband project has reached its 10 000 th registration, and over3000 of those are from East Lindsey businesses and residents – this is the highestnumber of any of the districts, and is a good outcome from the promotional work thathas been done throughout our area…however, we still need more numbers, so pleaseencourage everyone you know to go onto the website and register their interest.http://www.onlincolnshire.org/HOMELESSNESSThe rough sleeper count for East Lindsey took place on 29th October 2012. Thisinvolved stakeholders being asked to report anyone they considered were sleeping4/7

LEADER’S REPORT TO COUNCILrough that night. The list of rough sleepers has to be verified and this was done at ameeting today with Mohammed Sabeel from Homeless Link http://homeless.org.uk/.The official figure for 2012 is 3 rough sleepers which is a significant reduction from the2011 figure of 10.The reduction is due to organisations acknowledging that rough sleeping is notacceptable and working together to find outcomes.An increase in Street Outreach services funded through the Lincolnshire HomelessnessStrategy Group enabled Framework http://www.frameworkinlincs.org/ to play a keyrole in this reduction and enhance the services we already provide.Maintaining this figure over the next few years will be a difficult challenge due to theWelfare Reforms putting more and more properties out of the reach of those on lowincomes.HOUSING SUPPORT (Supporting People)We are busy developing our fourth drop-in; this time in Mablethorpe. Existing onesare in Skegness at the Storehouse, Horncastle currently in the process of moving tothe Community Centre and Louth at Trinity Centre. We are considering the Boatshedas likely venue, however other options are also being considered. Initial interest towork together on developing it has come from the Credit Union, CVS and the HealthTrainers. The Children’s Centre also want to be involved. Drop-ins are very useful forHousing Support as we can see people quickly who are on the waiting list for support,to stop situations deteriorating further. We can also encourage people to access theirsupport in a community setting, where we can involve them with other services. Jointworking with Credit Union and encouraging our service users to open their StarterAccount is going to be increasingly important with the Welfare Reform. The Boatshedcould be good as there is access to computers there. When applications have to bemade on line for Universal Credit in October, computer access is going to be vital.LEISURE UPDATEChildren in Need - Leisure Ops raised over £900 for CIN in November 2012. MLC &HSP held a bike-a-thon, ESP held a 'I'm a celebrity, get me out of here' day wherestaff had to complete challenges set by customers and SSC held a staff pyjama day.Girls Football Tournament - Leisure Ops Sports Coordinator, Graham Woodger,organised a Girls Football Tournament in partnership with The Wolds SchoolPartnership, at The Pavilion London Road on 18th October 2012. 14 Schools enteredteams, with a total of 150 Primary & Secondary school girls taking part. The day wasa great success with the over all Primary Winners - Caistor & Secondary Winners -KEVIS.Meridian Leisure Centre VIPs - The Meridian Leisure Centre is now supporting severallocally based elite athletes including; Aston Turner (Golfer), Amber Moss (Fencing), LizMcTernan (Para-Triathlete) and Arran Brindle (Cricketer).Louth Triathlon Club - Officially starting in January 2013, it is a fully affiliated clubbased at the Meridian Leisure Centre. Welcoming anyone over the age of 16yrs old to5/7

LEADER’S REPORT TO COUNCILjoin the club and train. The club has already formed partnerships with the LouthAthletics Club and Louth Velo (new cycling club in Louth).MLC Exercise Referrals - Richard Milburn, Exercise Referral Specialist at MLC hasalready achieved 248 Louth based referrals within this financial year, with his overalltarget set for 2012/13 as 250 by the PCT.Embassy Swimming Pool – National Pool Lifeguard Qualification (NPLQ) & First AidTraining for all sixth form students at the Skegness Academy after the tragic death ofone of their pupils whilst playing football at the school. Plans also being developed towork in partnership with the academy on future training needs.HEALTH TEAMHealth Team Members Briefing: To 17/12/2012The team has now seen over 1200 individuals since 1 st April 2012.All health figures are now on target, with a big increase on “Number of people referredonto Heelers” and “Throughput in activities supported by the health team”.The Senior Health Officer is currently working with the Strategic Development Teamsto deliver some in house health improvement work, aimed at ELDC’s work force andhow to make them more health conscious.Heelers have now had 829 people on the scheme since April 2012, and are on courseto hit the PCT target of 1079. The scheme boasts a retention rate of 85.36%throughout the district; the highest within the county for both retention rate andoverall numbers and throughput see report below. This was recognised at the recentLSP awards evening, where ELDC colleagues Ross Cameron and Kara Belton won the“contribution to physical activity” award.6/7

LEADER’S REPORT TO COUNCILGENEROUS THEATRE GOERS GIVE GOLDEN TICKET OPPORTUNITYThanks to the generosity of audiences at the Embassy theatre approximately 450Children have, for the first time, experienced live Theatre in their community thisChristmas.The Skegness Rotary charity in conjunction with the Embassy Theatre Skegnessbegan the Golden ticket scheme in 2010, performing a bucket collection at the end ofeach performance at the theatre. To date the collection has raised over £3,000 thisyear!The Rotary have used some of this money to “treat” local children’s charities andorganisations (who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity or the funds) to a taste ofChristmas magic at The Embassy theatre’s pantomime – Cinderella.Councillor Doreen StephensonLeader – East Lindsey District Council7/7