Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence from the meeting.

There were no apologies for absence.

15 minute period for public contributions

There were no contributions from the public.

Members with interests should refer to the agenda item and describe the nature of their interest when the item is considered.

Members were reminded that declarations of interest should be made as and when the specific agenda item to which they related was under discussion.

There were no Part II items.

There we no urgent matters brought forward.

To receive the report of the Economic Development Officer.

The Chair thanked officers for their work in producing the draft strategy and the Lead Member for Community, Culture and Leisure for her input.

The Head of Communities and Place introduced the report, briefly outlining the contents, before handing over to the Community Project Officer.

The Community Project Officer thanked all those who had responded with their thoughts on the updated Play Area Strategy.  Since the last meeting, it had been agreed between the Lead Member for Community, Culture and Leisure, The Head of Communities and Place and the Community Project Officer that the strategy should focus solely on Play Areas as open spaces were well documented in other strategies such as the Playing Pitch Strategy and the Green Infrastructure Strategy.  The Play Area Condition Survey was now out of date and would need to be updated.

The Play Area Strategy document was now presented in a much more structured format and clearly identified the goals the Council hoped to achieve.

The Community Project Officer presented the key elements of the strategy, highlighting:

·         recognition of the need to concentrate on the bigger flagship sites such as Victoria Park, Calf Street and Churchfields

·         a commitment to support and encourage local community groups to take a lead in developing play areas but making it clear that the Council has no additional funding for the development of the sites

·         that there is an intention to carry out an annual condition survey followed by a maintenance programme

Responses from members had emphasised:

·         the importance of updating the condition audit

·         a requirement for the provision of estimates for repairs and replacement and to work closely with the Community Project Officer and build on the relationship with the maintenance team

·         the need to make better connections with housing developers and what happens at the end of development

·         that regular updates should be presented to the committee every 3 – 6 months

In conclusion, the Community Project Officer drew members’ attention to the recommendation at the end of the report.

The Chair proposed that today’s review be broken down into 4 sections –

·         overall view of the document

·         detail of the draft strategy document

·         the play area condition survey

·         brief comment on what goes into the appendices

Councillor McKenzie joined the meeting.

A summary of observations, comments and concerns is as follows:

Overall view of the document

·      Members commended the efforts of the Community Project Officer in producing the strategy document in such a short time.

·      The overall strategy document was a good document.  The rationale was sound; and the aims and aspirations were good.  However, as a communication document, the document needed to be more concise, with less soft language.

Response of the Head of Communities and Place – An executive summary will be included.

·      The document should state what the council’s preferred policy is and then justify this. 

·      To include more detail about how the working group will operate, for example the frequency of maintenance inspections and speed of repairs and whether there will be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.