Officers from Neighbourhood Services will address the meeting on the Transforming Neighbourhood Services programme and outcomes from recent consultations.
Minutes:
The Chair invited Lee Warner, Head of Neighbourhood Services to address the meeting on the Transforming Neighbourhood Services programme which was looking at different ways of organising how services were delivered within neighbourhoods across the city.
Lee outlined the background; there had been initial engagement with ward councillors, residents, service users between June and July 2016 to help develop draft proposals for the transformation of the area. Data from the initial engagement was analysed to construct a draft model of proposals which was presented to City Mayor and Executive in August 2016.
Consultation on the draft model took place during September and October 2016, involving a series of meetings with resident groups, stakeholder groups and community groups. The consultation period ran from Monday 12 September 2016 until Sunday 23October 2016 and was carried out in two main parts:
· A series of meetings, with resident groups, community groups and voluntary organisations who use the facilities
· A form available in various locations across the area and online for people to provide individual responses and comments
There were a high level of responses and many were concerned about the proposal to relocate Belgrave Library to Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre. Key concerns were around the availability of sufficient space and the impact on existing services and activities as well as to ensure that existing activities and services could continue under the building changes proposed.
Taking account of the consultation and responses the decision was taken on 23 January 2017 that Belgrave Library shall not move into Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre at this time.
It was also decided to:
Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre
· Redecorate some areas of the building including the main hall.
· Work with centre users to consider the lunch club provision.
· Move adult learning classrooms into Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre to deliver more English language and other classes.
· Review room hire arrangements to free up more space for additional activities and to increase income.
· Explore car parking controls to improve availability for centre users
Belgrave Library
· Retain the library service at the current location at this time.
· Review service operations in line with consultation feedback to improve
· Efficiency.
· Install library and customer self-service terminals to provide additional access to council services.
Attendees at the meeting strongly expressed their concerns about the decision process, the role of local councillors and sought assurances that the library would remain.
It was reiterated that the decision had been taken as outlined and there would be investment into the library and Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre.
Lee Warner went on to explain the timescales for the implementation of the decision and the commitment to work with groups in the building such as the lunch club. It was noted that specialist services had been engaged from property services since the Belgrave Neighbourhood centre was Grade II listed. It was also noted there were some large festivals that took place at Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre and the council would look to ensure building works did not coincide with those.
The Chair thanked Lee Warner for speaking and brought the item to a close.