Agenda item

1.1

Councillor Simon Clement-Jones, Chair of the Local Area Committee (LAC) introduced himself and outlined his vision for the LAC.  He referred to the work that had been ongoing since May, 2021 and welcomed everyone to the first public meeting of the South LAC.  He then invited officers and Ward Councillors to introduce themselves.  Councillor Clement-Jones said he proposed to take written questions he had received in advance and move the public questions item further down the agenda, after the formal business and presentation on LAC’s, as he felt that this could answer some of the questions members of the public might have.

1.2

Various Members gave a brief detail of initiatives that had been undertaken in each of the four Wards i.e. specific donations to food banks, work to ensure digital inclusion for all, the Terminus Initiative at Lowedges, work with TARAs, the Double Six Club at Woodseats, improvements to playgrounds.

1.3

The Committee received the following questions from members of the public who had submitted the questions prior to the meeting, and who were in attendance to raise them: -

1.3.1

Martin Lawton

I wish to ask questions firstly on the Ward pots. How much does each Ward have in their Ward pots.  I have been given the impression that most of the money depends on the index of deprivation. If this is correct how are Councillors going to make sure the spend is mainly allocated to those areas and targets lifting those residents out of poverty?

In response, the Chair gave an overview in terms of the Ward Pot allocations for the South LAC area (this includes a small amount of funding rolled over from the 2020-21 budget as follows:-

Ward Pot Allocations 2021-22

Beauchief & Greenhill

£22,381.71

Gleadless Valley

£22,138.26

Graves Park

£10,367.28

Nether Edge

£18,263.60

Total

£73,150.85

Indices of Multiple Deprivation (the following additional information had been provided to Martin Lawton by email)

The total agreed Ward Pot for the city for 2021-22 is £460,000. From this each of the 28 wards in the city has been allocated a standard budget of £4,000, leaving £348,000 which is then allocated based on the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).

The greater the IMD score means the greater the levels of deprivation in an area.  The IMD for Sheffield is currently 736.00 – as an example the IMD score for Beauchief and Greenhill is 33.9.   So to determine the percentage allocation to be made to be added to the standard budget of £4,000, 33.9 / 736 equals 4.6% of the IMD for Sheffield.

The IMD is historically updated every 4-5 years and is produced by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – and can be found via this linkhttps://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019

How are these meeting communicated to all the residents of the four wards?

In response, the Chair stated that public meetings will be promoted using a range of approaches to reach out to local people across all 4 wards.  We’re also very aware that a significant number of people are digitally excluded and so don’t have access to the internet and so we need to find ways of reaching these people,

Each Local Area Committee covers 4 electoral wards and will hold 4 public meetings a year. Our plan is to rotate the public meetings around the 4 wards.

Some of the ways we will promote the meetings include:

·       Through social media, including our Facebook Site - https://www.facebook.com/southsheffield/

·       Through our regular email bulletins which have over 6,000 people signed up so far

·       Through the Nextdoor App (which reaches over 8,000 people in South LAC area)

·       Through posters and updates in local publications

·       Through the Council’s Libraries Service

·       Through other established mechanisms such as Councillors’ Ward Surgeries

·       Through our partners (e.g. SY Police) and local voluntary, community and faith organisations

Covid-19 and Council precautionary measures, including social distancing mean that the capacity in meeting rooms is reduced at present, so we are more limited on the number of people who can attend public meetings and we are currently using a booking system to help manage this.  We expect that as measures are able to be relaxed, we will be able increase the number of attendees at meetings.

1.3.2

Helen Brown

I would like to ask what plans there are for active travel infrastructure to connect Nether Edge and Sharrow? School catchments span the busy arterial road of Psalter Lane and there is only currently a single pedestrian crossing at Junction Road which is insufficient.

Also, what is happening with plans for school streets (closing the roads adjacent to schools at drop off and pick up times) to be rolled out more to more schools in Nether Edge and Sharrow? This is needed in order to reduce congestion and pollution around schools, to force more cars off the roads at peak times and to protect children’s’ mental and physical health.

The Chair said he was aware of the recent petition that had been submitted to a meeting of full Council in relation to the request for an additional pedestrian crossing on Psalter Lane and understood that a written response in relation to this request had been sent. The Chair stated that in relation to school streets, a response had been requested from colleagues in the Planning and Highways Department and a written response from them would be given to Helen Brown.

He said that school streets would be considered alongside the safer streets initiatives and notices would be put up in the school areas to notify local residents. 

Councillors Alison Teal and Maroof Raouf were keen that school streets be given priority and supported the introduction of Modeshift STARS, a national schools awards scheme established to recognise schools that have demonstrated excellence in supporting cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable travel.  As a first step, they advised contacting the School Headteacher as any application would need to be strongly advocated by them

1.4

Jean Cromar stated that she lived in the Sharrow area and felt the meeting tonight was too far for people in her area to attend.

In response, the Chair said that it was intended that the venue for meetings would change and that meetings would be online, through webcast from the new year.  Notices of the meeting had been published on the Council website, through Council mailing lists and via social media and also through an advertisement in the “Active 8” publication.