My report to council

Posted By: Mohammad Sharif
Date Posted: 07/10/2008

THANK YOU MR MAYOR FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO REPORT TO THE COUNCIL THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ON VARIOUS MATTERS RELATING TO THE REGENERATION PORTFOLIO.

Since my last report to Council there has been good progress on regenerating the Borough and my report gives some detail of what has been achieved and what is underway.


REGENERATION & RENEWAL

§ Pride of Place (Community Strategy) and Local Area Agreement 2008-2011
The LSP has continued to work on its strategic review and has now reached a consensus on the future structures, values, performance, and engagement arrangements. There is a ‘period of reflection’ planned to allow all partners including the Council to consider how it can work with these new arrangements.

To help progress the new arrangements the existing LSP Board and Executive will be disbanded in June and a new shadow Local Public Service Board will be established to help take matters forward.

Our Local Area Agreement (LAA) 2008-2011 – Working Together to Achieve our Potential was completed and submitted to Government Office North West at the end of May 2008. We have received good feedback from central government and local partners. The work is now focussing on turning the agreement into a deliverable action plan linked to our Community Strategy.

§ Area Based Grant
The service has now taken the lead on the Boroughs Area Based Grant (ABG). As part of this process a savings exercise has been necessary due to historic commitments and changes in the level of funding. This has mainly affected the resources commissioned via the LSP – these are around a third of the Boroughs ABG for 2008/09.

Work is in hand to undertake a full review of the whole of the Boroughs ABG by November this year.
§ Neighbourhood Renewal
Our revised approach to Neighbourhood Renewal has been approved by the LSP. This now means that we can move further with clear actions that are evidence led and place focussed. This includes greater targeting of activity in the 3% most deprived super output areas. We have 16 of these areas in the Borough.

The team are also working with a wide range of partners to pilot a new approach in Falinge. The approach is called Spot-Light. This is intended to help us understand the root issues within this area so that appropriate services can be delivered.

§ Revitalising Inner Rochdale (SR5) Programme
The programme has now finished on 31 March 2008 but some important work is being undertaken to identify what has worked during the life of the programme, what needs further improvement and what lessons can be learnt for the future. This is being done through an End of Programme Evaluation and a Forward Strategy.

Housing Market Renewal.
We have met our 2007/08 financial and output performance and are now working in Kirkholt, Langley, East Central Rochdale and Inner Rochdale in continuing to deliver the £13m programme for this year.


SPECIAL PROJECTS

Heywood
· The Special Projects Team closed the transaction for the Heywood Joint Service Centre and construction has commenced.
· The tender process for a contractor to design and build the Heywood Sports Leisure and Culture Village is underway.
Pennines
· Work has started on a joint service centre for Littleborough.
· The Team won the BURA national regeneration award for its work on Rochdale Canal. The Canal Festival is running again this week with a wide range of activities for the community.
Rochdale
· The Team has completed the Yorkshire Street regeneration project and was highly commended in the Dave Davison Award.
· Development of the new Unity House has commenced.
Middleton
· The Middleton Arena is on track to complete in November this year.
· Work has started on a joint service centre for Middleton

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS


· The team successfully organised the Rochdale Skills and Learning Fair, held at the Town Hall in May as part of the national Adult Learners week. Over 35 organisations gave advice and information on a range of issues including free training courses, job opportunities and support for people with disabilities. The event had 800 visitors which was twice the number than in 2007. Later on the same day, an awards evening was held to recognise the achievements of adults who have already successfully developed new skills, overcome difficulties or changed career.
· The programme of sector specific Labour Market Information events to train employment and training advisers about the changing nature of the economy and jobs market has continued. Events have been held in the borough on ICT and Digital industries, the Health and Social Care sector and the Logistics industry. In June, an event was held for front-line advisers in the health and housing sectors so that they are well equipped to effectively signpost their clients to employment and training support. The linkages between health, housing and employment are vital to ensure that borough residents receive joined-up support when they need it. These events are very well supported by major employers and the borough is leading the way in Greater Manchester on this work.
· Employment Links (incorporating the Kingsway Recruitment Team), J21 and the Womens Enterprise Initiative attended the Family event held in Falinge recently. The event informed local residents about employment, training, health and childcare support. Follow up training and employment support is underway to maintain the momentum and interest from local residents as part of the Falinge Spotlight activity.
· Kingsway:
· I have taken on the role of the chair of the Kingsway Transport Group, the remit of which is to progress the public transport links to the site, enhance the cycling and walking links and ensure that a Kingsway stop is included in the construction of the new Metrolink line. I am aware that public transport links to all parts of the borough from Kingsway are a concern for some Members this is an issue I will be following up.
- The first 5 units have been completed of which two were sold prior to completion. The Kingsway Recruitment Team are working closely with the two companies, Takeuchi and Vindon Scientific to assist with their initial recruitment needs.
- Over 50 industrial and commercial agents from across the North of England attended the launch of the new units in June.
- Almost 150 local people attended the latest Kingsway Community Engagement event at the Odeon cinema. Children from Middleton provided entertainment.
- The Kingsway Team were runners-up in the ‘Team of the Year’ category at the North West Property Awards held in May.


COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

Local Involvement Network for Health and Social Care (LINk).
A Host organisation has been commissioned to support the development and
performance of the LINk, the organisation is the Gaddum Centre based in Manchester. They previously supported the Public Patient Involvement forums in the borough. Staff have been appointed and an Advisory Group convened to work with the Gaddum Centre in developing the LINk. The first task of the group is to set up governance procedures for the LINk and this is progressing well. It is anticipated that the LINk for the borough will be fully operational by September of this year.

Groups assisted.
Community Affairs have assisted Pride Media in securing £10k of funding for security fencing which was the final piece in enabling them to move to the new centre at Demesne on Langley.
The unit have been working with the Friends of Alkrington Woods to develop the Middleton Woodlands Centre which will provide training and education for community groups. A feasibility study has been completed and plans for building the centre are now being drawn up.
Friends of Memorial Park, Milnrow, are awaiting confirmation of Green Flag status for the park after a lot of hard work supported by the Community Affairs unit. This has included securing £48k of funding for a new play area in the park.

LAA target survey.
A survey of residents living in Neighbourhood Renewal Areas in the borough has been carried out to examine progress against some of the targets in the Local Area Agreement. Results from the survey will be available in the next six weeks.

Community Engagement Strategy and toolkit.
The Engagement strategy is in final draft form and will be presented to the Customer Focus board for approval at its next meeting. The toolkit that supports the strategy will be presented at the same meeting.


HEYWOOD NEW DEAL

· Town Centre Regeneration
Market Street / Bridge Street/Market Place/York Street Property Improvement is well advanced and all approved schemes are now on site with the projected end of the scheme set for September 2008.

· Employment Creation
Over 80% of the units at TOPPS have been let, this equates to 34 jobs in the building of which 4 are new.

· Access to Jobs and Training
The ‘At Work’ project has been redesigned to include outreach support and a broader target group.

· Development Trust for Heywood
Interim Board in place and some training has taken place for interim board members. Meeting arranged for 10th July to progress putting the Trust into place.