Agenda and minutes

Members of the Township Forum are asked to consider whether they have an interest in any of the matters on the Agenda and if so, to formally declare that interest.

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

The Minutes of the last meeting of the Township Forum held on 17 September 2014 are attached

It was agreed:

That the Minutes of the last meeting of the Township Forum held on 17 September 2014 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

Mr Waddell explained that for the past six months he had been requesting information relating to the implementation of the 20mph speed limits in Holcombe Brook and Greenmount. He had yet to receive any response on this issue particularly who authorised the limits and why.

Councillor Fitzwalter referred to the issue raised by Mr Booth concerning the lights at Peel Tower and reported that as she had left the last meeting of the Township Forum in September she had noticed that all of the lights were working.

A presentation providing information on efficiency savings to be made for Bury Council’s 2015/2016 budget will be given at the meeting.

Councillor Mike Connolly,  Leader of the Council and Mike Owen, Director of Resources and Regulation gave a presentation detailing the key financial issues facing the Authority and subsequent draft budget cuts programme for Bury Council’s 2015/16 budget.

The following key facts were presented:-

·         For 2015/16, £16 million will be cut from budgets.  This equates to a loss of £54 m (50%) of the budget in 5 years.

·         This means the Council will need to prioritise key services at a time when residents’ needs and expectations are changing and demand for services is increasing.

·         In order to do this the Council are exploring alternative ways of delivering services and reviewing organisational structures.

·         For 2015/16 the Council has received only 1 year’s funding settlement information from the Government, which has yet to be confirmed. 

·         The Council’s core funding from Government is likely to be cut by 13% in 2015/2016(to be confirmed).

·         The Council will also face cuts to a number of other grants received from the Government, for example Early Intervention and Education Services grants. This is in addition to pressures from levies from other bodies, increasing demand and uncertainty following the localisation of Business Rates.

The meeting was informed of the following key measures to address the cuts:-

Ø Alternative Service Delivery Models - £3.420m

Ø Third Sector - £0.200m

Ø Income Generations - £2.012m

Ø Better use of External Funding - £3.376m

Ø Savings from the way the Council buys things - £1.320m

Ø Managing Assets - £0.726m

Ø T & C’s, Restructuring and vacant posts - £3.229m

Ø Improved Recycling - £0.862m

Ø Reduction in provision of services - £0.662m

Bury Residents were being informed of the financial issues facing the Authority as part of a consultation process for the 2015/16 budget and were being asked to consider changing their expectations about service delivery; working more closely with individuals and communities to deliver services ie. volunteering/self management; a stronger focus on demand reduction such as self care/early intervention/personal responsibility; examining alternative ways of delivering remaining Council services and changing the way residents access services – “digital by default”.

In terms of the next steps, it was reported that from 6 November 2014 to 9 January 2015 the Council will be consulting residents and stakeholders on the package of cuts needed for 2015/16.  This will be followed by a review of the consultation feedback which will be fed into the budget setting process for 2015/16.  The Council will debate the 2015/16 budget and formally approve a package of cuts on 25 February 2015.  Residents were informed of the various ways they can contact the consultation team and leave comments by 9 January 2015.

The Chair invited questions/comments from the audience:-

Ø  A member of the public explained that she had looked at the proposals on the Council website but they had seemed very vague with no real detail set out. The information relating to adult care services was not set out and she felt that it wasn't very informative.

Councillor  ...  view the full minutes text for item RTNM.434

A presentation providing information on the proposed new delivery model for Children’s Centres in Bury will be given at the meeting.

Councillor Gill Campbell, Cabinet Member for Children & Young People and Ian Chambers, Assistant Director (Learning) gave a presentation on the proposed new delivery model for Children Centres in Bury.

The meeting was informed of the key objectives for Bury Children Centres:-

·         To improve health for under 5’s – measured by higher rates of breast feeding, reduced obesity and improved dental hygiene.

·         To improve child development – measured by improved school readiness and an increasing proportion of children achieving a good level of development.

·         Reducing the risk of mistreatment or abuse of under 5’s – measured by reductions in the rate of family needs escalating to a level requiring family intervention.

·         Improving families’ economic prospects measured by reduced numbers of under 5’s in households on benefits.

It was reported that these objectives will be used to drive resource allocation to specific centre activities.  The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) rankings will be used to directly allocate overall resources – funding being directly linked to deprivation.  The driver will be the number of children within a reach area for a Children Centre who are under 5 and living in a Lower Super Output Area.  These are among the 40% most deprived nationally.

The presentation provided detailed information of the targeted support on offer as part of the objectives in relation to health, school readiness, early help and job readiness.  Specific detail was also provided in relation to the proposed Children Centre Hubs across Bury.  In Bury North, the Woodbank site would cover the reach areas of the current Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor cluster.  The meeting was informed as to how each Hub would work, the staffing changes involved, outreach deployment and of the necessary steps required in order to convert the other sites in order to deliver the 2 year old offer in Bury.  It was reported that from September 2014, 40% of 2 year olds should have access to free nursery places (a total of 1177 children in Bury).  There was a current forecast of a shortage of 638 places (October 2014).  The Council propose that Children Centres which are no longer required as Hubs will be offered as centres for the 2 year old offer.

In relation to service costs it was reported that total expenditure on Children’s Centres in 2013/14 was £2.875m.  The Council had seen a reduction of the Government’s Early Intervention Grant of over £2.8m since 2012/13 and that the new proposed model of delivery will cost £1.949m which will deliver a proposed savings target for the service of £820k.  The consultation period had been extended to 15 December, 2014

and, following an analysis of feedback received and subsequent consideration by Cabinet, implementation of the proposals would begin from 1 April, 2015.

Those present were invited to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised:-

·                     Councillor Wright referred to the presentation and the proposal that the north of the borough would have one children's centre hub with just 4 outreach workers and asked  ...  view the full minutes text for item RTNM.435

·                     Mr Conley, representing the 5 Rotary Clubs across Bury reported that he had recently attended a meeting with Bury Hospice which had taken place in order to answer some questions that had been raised into how the Hospice was being run and other financial concerns.

                   Mr Conley talked about the relationship between the Hospice and Grace's Place and concerns that had been raised regarding the Chief Executive and her past involvement with other businesses.

Mr Conley stated that he had received a letter from the Hospice that answered all of the concerns raised and this was due to be published in the local press in the coming weeks.

                   Mr Conley explained that following the answers received the 5 Rotary Clubs across the Borough were happy to continue in supporting the Hospice and Grace's Place.

·                     Councillor Wright stated that she had been attempting to contact the Chairman of the Hospice to arrange a meeting but had been unable to and asked if Mr Conley could pass the contact details to her to enable this to happen.

·                     Mr Booth explained that he has previously raised concerns regarding the future of health provision at Fairfield Hospital and had been told that services would remain at the site. He had since received information contrary to this.

·                     Councillor Bevan referred to the 273 bus service which had been greatly reduced due to a lack of funding from TfGM and asked if something could be done to request the service be reinstated.

·                     Mr Booth explained that there had been a number of errors published in the Bury Times over the past few weeks.

Newsquest had held a number of consultation events 18 months previously to look at the paper and its content. Since then the standard of the paper had seemed to deteriorate.

Tui Benjamin from the Bury Times explained that there had been some issues recently due to a changeover of systems which had caused some errors. She also stated that she would highlight the concerns raised.

Councillor Wright reported that there was a Craft and Gift show being held in Ramsbottom on Sunday 16 November between 10am and 4pm.

Councillor Wright would be helping with the tea and cakes stall and invited all those present to come along. The event was being held to raise money for the Blind Society.

The next meeting of the Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor Township Forum will be held on Thursday 15 January 2015 at Holcombe Brook Primary School, Longsight Road, Bury.

It was reported that the next meeting of the Township Forum would be held on 15 January 2015 at Holcombe Brook Primary School at 7pm.