Agenda item

5.1

The East Local Area Manager, Huda Ahmed gave a presentation to the Committee.

5.2

The presentation outlined all the work that the East Local Area Committee (LAC) had undertaken since the last meeting of the Committee. These pieces of work were shown alongside the following 3 themes which were agreed as areas of priority at a previous meeting:

• Crime, Anti-Social Behaviour and Community & Neighbourhoods
• Environment, Highways & Transport
• Children and Young People, Health and Wellbeing

5.3

The LAC funding of £100,000 was still to be spent against these priorities. The Council was still determining the right issues and projects to allocate funding for, in order to make to most impact for the communities. In addition, there was funding available as part of the ward pots and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) which can be used to target specific issues in the communities.

5.4

The presentation would be uploaded onto the Council’s meeting webpages, following the meeting.

5.5

The Chair of the Committee (Councillor Mary Lea) explained that since the priorities were set at a previous meeting. Some funding will now be used to help children through the cost-of-living crisis. Some of the funding would be used to provide children with weekend activities, giving them somewhere to go and access warm spaces. The LAC will also look at similar provisions for the elderly.

5.6

The Head of Communities, Carl Mullooly gave an update on how the Council intended to support residents in regard to the Cost-of-living crisis.

5.7

The Head of Communities explained that Sheffield City Council had produced a package of supported to provide all available guidance on financial, fuel and food for anyone facing hardship. He stated that Senior Officers at the Council were leading on this work although the LACs had a key role to play in co-ordinating responses in their areas.

5.8

The Committee and members of the public were introduced to NeighbourGood, which is the name of the programme that would provide residents with welcoming places, where they could get access to warm drinks or be provided with information and help in these challenging times.

5.9

The Head of Communities stated that the Council had worked in partnership with Voluntary Action Sheffield and Faith Sectors. They had agreed an approach to share this information. Postcards and would be shared with front line workers at so they could signpost information to people who need help and advice. There was also a citizen’s space survey taking place for organisations to register a welcoming place. Following the results of the survey, the Council is looking to create a cost-of-living crisis database where information would be shared on where residents could get help and access these warm spaces.

5.10

The Head of Communities referred to the postcards which were distributed across the tables. He explained that you can use mobile devices to scan over the QR codes which would then lead you to the relevant websites.

5.11

A Member of the Committee added that Members had been working with a tech-based company in the city centre, on developing an application that could be downloaded on mobile devices. This application was free to download, easy to use and would provide people with advice relating to the cost-of-living crisis.  It was stated that the application should be ready to download within the following week.

5.12

A Member of the Public asked how people who did not have online access, could access this same information.

A Member of the Committee mentioned there was information on those postcards that gave details of who to contact for further information.

The Chair also mentioned that all the information relating to the cost-of-living crisis, as mentioned at this meeting, would be available at libraries in the city.

5.13

A Member of the Public asked if the information would be available in other languages.

The Head of Communities confirmed that it would be available in different languages.

5.14

A Member of the Public asked how the Council would fund the heating costs for these warm spaces.

The Head of Communities explained that this could be funded as part of various pots of money. The Council may also receive funding from the Government to tackle issues relating to the cost-of-living crisis. The Head of Communities encouraged the member of public to get in touch with the LAC team if they needed support on this.

5.15

A Member of the Public asked what the LAC was doing to tackle potential issues relating to bonfire night and the use of fireworks.

A Member of the Committee explained that in previous years, the Council had allocated funding into local activities such as youth clubs. These would run into the late evening and in some cases midnight. It was mentioned that as of last year, there was no longer funding for these services therefore this was a challenge.

Simon Mitchell explained the difficulty in engaging with adults on this issue. He mentioned there was funding as part of the Community Safety Partnerships which can be used to look at issues in the East. There was also a good Police and Partner plan in place, prepared to deal with these issues.