Agenda item

Invitees:

-       Rhys Cornwall- Strategic Director Transformation and Corporate Centre

-       Steve Ward-Chief Executive for Newport Live and Intervention Lead for the Newport      Offer.

-       Christopher Dawson Morris-Intervention Lead for Strong Resilient Communities (Aneurin   Bevan University Health Board)

-       Ceri Doyle-Intervention Lead for Sustainable Travel (Newport City Homes)

-       Joanne Gossage-Service Manager Environment and Leisure for Newport City   Council and Intervention Lead for Green and Safe Spaces

-       Guy Lacey- Intervention Lead for Right Skills (Coleg Gwent)

-       Nicola Dance- Senior Policy Partnership Officer

-       Janice Dent- Policy and Partnership Manager

 

The report was introduced to the Committee by the Policy and Partnership Manager who explained that the report was an historic look at Quarter 2 setting out the work of partnerships against the quarters Wellbeing Plan. This was the last year of the Plan and there was work being done towards the formation of the new Local Delivery Plan with the final draft available soon. There was a strong partnership commitment relationship in Newport and the commitment and engagement of partners showed benefits.

 

Green and Safe Spaces

 

Invitee:

 

-       Joanne Gossage - Service Manager Environment and Leisure for Newport City Council and Intervention Lead for Green and Safe Spaces.

 

The Intervention Lead for Green and Safe Spaces gave an overview of the intervention and highlighted successes and key achievements for the Committee.

 

Members asked the following:

 

·         Where is the Barrack Hill project located?

 

The Service Manager explained that this project was just off Sorrell Drive and was being sorted with a grant through Welsh Government to remove knotweed infestation due to fly tipping. The Community was inspired to work on putting a footpath and benches in.

 

·         The Committee complemented the work being done there and asked how it linked into the active travel routes and the Road to Nature and how easy it was to add in more active travel routes into the overall plan.

 

The Service Manager confirmed that there was a potential linkage through active travel to create a network of active travel routes without using the roads by using bikes and was all part of the nature network to combat climate change.

 

·         The Committee asked was the active travel route between Harlequin Drive and Sorrell drive easy to include travel routes into from the barracks towards this as the topography was bad.

 

It was confirmed that the gradient was difficult for this to be achieved as within active travel there was gradient guidance. For example, in relation to the Devon Place footbridge, the size of the ramp was constructed to achieve the correct gradient for accessibility. It was a large structure, but it takes up a lot of the land and it depends on the community identifying it as an active travel route. Routes have to be on the Active Travel Map in order for funding to be given and to bid for money. If the Committee wanted the team to look at this, it could be added to the active travel map. 

 

The Strategic Director reminded the Committee that they were here to consider the Quarter 2 performance.

 

·         A Member stated that they had been present at the Road to Nature presentation and was very impressed with the collaboration with the Council and volunteers and it was a great example of effective partnership.

 

·         A Member asked were there any plans for development at Beechwood Park this year and whether there would be any plans for consultation with any Councillors and residents due to the orchard area being ripped out by individuals as this lack of consultation was a concern.

 

It was recommended that the Member could consult with the Service Manager outside of the meeting.

 

·         The Committee noted the drop in attendance in the workshops due to the Gwent Region taking over.

 

The Service manager confirmed that the members of the groups were not contacted specifically about this, but this could be completed.

 

·         The Committee asked how the change would impact the good work already done and whether the targets set in 2018 had changed.

 

It was confirmed by the Service Manager that not a lot had changed although performance measures had been revisited 2 years ago.

 

·         The Committee commented that as collaboration was a key theme did it take up a lot of time, was it worth it and where had it made a difference. 

 

It was reiterated that the event held for Road to Nature was an example of great collaboration, the enthusiasm was great and there was great engagement. The Community was really behind it and incidents of destruction etc have not been seen.

 

The Committee asked how much the partner did in this case and it was confirmed that it was about all groups working together such as internal teams, Waste Management and Environmental Health.

 

·         The Committee asked why the Pillgwenlly Master Plan had not been published and why Pill Councillors were not part of this.

 

The Strategic Director stated that the draft Master Plan had not been published yet, but that community engagement was important, and an organisation called Urbanists were developing the Plan and there were priorities that were in progress at present. The Safer Pill group was separate, with Chief Inspector John Davies being involved with this. It was noted that Councillors were involved but there was a separation between involvement and operational, but the plan should be signed off in next couple of months.

 

·         The Committee asked about the Maindee Master Plan and whether this was with Maindee Unlimited and the Maindee District Renewal Project.

 

The Service Manager stated that they could find out what the improvements were for the Maindee ward and let the Councillor know.

     

·         The Committee asked how was the involvement with local residents.

 

The Service Manager stated that there was a Green Infrastructure Assessment, there were a lot of consultation events and people put forward sites that were an eyesore e.g., Wharf Road.

 

·         The Chair commented on the point asked regarding Councillors being partners to be involved and there was a need to know what was going on with all the partners in the relevant wards.

 

The Strategic Director stated that were a lot of good points raised that could be taken away such as the Ward Members concerns about not being involved in their ward and this could be a recommendation for the Committee.

 

·         The Chair stated that case studies were useful to highlight what worked and what didn’t work well.

 

The Policy and Partnership Manager stated that partnership working was important but as the plan came to an end momentum was lost and there was a need to look at the new plan to reenergise. Figures were old so the new plan would be able to refresh and to relook at priorities.

 

·         The Committee asked that in terms of resilience how effective would the partnership board be in terms of Newport only issues e.g., flood defence issues how would they be addressed regionally.

 

The Policy and Partnership Manager stated that there were clear actions in the local plan and National Resources Wales was working with the team. Some organisations were regional, and others were Newport centred but they were keen to work together for Newport residents. The workshops in December went well and the engagement was very positive.

 

·         The Committee commented that the positive aspect was encouraging however there was a fear that things would become diluted, and issues would not be addressed that were regional and not local and needed to be considered.

 

The Policy and Partnership Manager stated that there was a regional aspect, but local officers were very clear they are working with Newport. The Senior Policy Partnership Officer stated that in relation to the communication element a fortnightly bulletin was sent out and would make sure all Councillors received this. The Chair stated that the One Bulletin needed to be more ward specific and make sure officers contacted Councillors to speak to them.

 

Sustainable Travel

 

Invitee:

 

-       Ceri Doyle - Intervention Lead for Sustainable Travel (Newport City Homes)

 

The Intervention Lead for Sustainable Travel gave an overview of the intervention and highlighted successes and key achievements for the Committee.

 

Members asked the following:

 

·         The Committee asked about the red shown against the Burns Commission which was an enormous concern as it was felt that the ambitions were underwhelming with issues trying to be addressed around Newport. The report itself was a year behind but if the plan operated as planned it would make worthwhile changes. The most concrete commitment was the bus routes, but the measures needed were more railway stations as things would only get worse, but none of this was likely to happen in the near future.

 

The Intervention Lead stated that this was not part of the remit but that the Council still had a representative on the Commission and some of these strategic items such as rail routes etc were not areas we could influence.

 

·         The Committee stated in the Well-being Plan getting people out of cars was an objective and a factor in Newport was pushing ahead with the Burns agenda which was in the report.

 

The Intervention Lead stated that we now had representatives on the Southeast Wales Commission and the key pieces of work was behaviour change and the need to consider behaviour change to get people out of cars and look at other means of active travel to reduce car usage. There was still an appetite for this from the Southeast Wales Transport Commission.

 

The Strategic Director stated this had been raised as a significant risk, within the One Newport Partnership and it was acceptable for it to be raised but that the Intervention Lead had responded as much as they could. 

 

·         The Committee congratulated the team on the active travel routes completed so far and it was felt they could have been implemented quicker. The Committee recommended that there was strong heritage in Newport and whether travel routes and heritage characters could be linked e.g., Chartist characters and whether this could be cost effective.

 

The Intervention Lead stated that the active travel routes and maps were something the team was quite proud of and that the angle on heritage was new, and it was noted that not enough was being done to promote active travel routes and the team were conscious of doing more PR and these points raised about linking to heritage would be taken on board.

 

·         The Committee stated that behavioural change comes when things were easy and if travel were easier then behaviour would change. The Chair agreed that getting people to look for things culturally was a good point.

 

·         The Committee commented on the many conversations about active travel routes and this area was a massive challenge and it was early days which needed to be acknowledged. The Committee stated that people needed to make a commitment and that sometimes the car was the easiest route. The Committee noted that culture routes were important, and a simple conversation needed to be taken into wards and that the wording of the agenda was a lot for the public to read.

 

The Chair agreed with the point of communicating with the Wards and was the number of consultations used relevant to local communities. The Intervention Lead agreed that there was a good range of points discussed as we were all connected together and summarised them as follows:

 

·         What are we doing through the sustainable travel group about promoting placemaking and integrated transport hubs.

·         How consultation was carried out and what was available to travel on in a sustainable way and how was this promoted.

·         What we can do to consult on options to reduce the consequences of congestion on the M4.

 

Strong Resilient Communities

 

Invitee:

-       Christopher Dawson Morris - Intervention Lead for Strong Resilient Communities (Aneurin Bevan University Health Board

 

The Intervention Lead for Strong Resilient Communities gave an overview of the intervention and highlighted successes and key achievements for the Committee.

 

Members asked the following:

 

·         The Committee asked for an assurance that the region was unified and there was differentiation in objectives to reflect a variety of communities we have and the variety of needs of different communities.

 

The Intervention Lead stated that what was unique about communities and having an understanding of communities at a local level showed the work that One Newport was doing was so important as they have taken the time to understand communities.

 

·         The Committee stated the Council used the participatory budget to befriend communities and in the Pill Masterplan there was a number of stakeholders involved. It was asked where was the evidence of this taking place and when would this come to Committee, as the Committee liked to see case studies of events that have occurred.

 

The Strategic Director stated that the partnership piece of work in relation to the Pill masterplan could come to the next committee with this evidence.

 

·         A Committee Member stated that the Committee was asked to make comment on progress of the programme and the work was great but when targets were set, how did this impact the community.

 

The Intervention Lead stated that part of the focus was around evaluation work, and what the hard evidence metrics were and there was a need to have a methodology of how this evaluation was put together.

 

·         The Committee stated that the Early Learning Communities were hugely important, and the Cabinet Member spoke highly of the work done. Early intervention encouraged parent’s behaviour and it was sending the message that people cared.

 

The Intervention Lead for Communities agreed there was a huge amount of work being done by the teams and the stories of parents and their new confidence on having a supportive network.

 

·         The Committee stated that the participatory budgeting was a positive move and was very successful, but maybe more time should have been spent on networking. 

 

The Policy and Partnership Manager stated that last year had been more challenging, but they maintained a networking group who shared what worked and what had not worked, and that network was still engaged. 

 

 

Right Skills

                       

Invitee - Guy Lacey- Intervention Lead for Right Skills (Coleg Gwent)

 

The Intervention Lead for Right Skills gave an overview of the intervention and highlighted successes and key achievements for the Committee.

 

Members asked the following:

 

·         The Committee stated that the more people saw of these events such as job fairs showed there was an interest from the corporate side and encouraged people to get a foot in the door. This will progress as people need to be pointed in the right direction.

 

The Intervention Lead for Right Skills acknowledged that it was about reaching people in all communities such as college supported learners with learning difficulties and a progression to employment was there for everyone with the right support.

 

·         The Committee asked about European funding, and was this to be replaced by alternative funds and were there other possibilities.

 

The Intervention Lead for Right Skills stated the Aspire To Achieve was a social fund project and provided essential support for young people at risk of falling out of training. New funds have been reduced and spread more thinly. There were some funds there, but this was a new scheme and some funds had been delayed and this project would cease to operate across the region.

 

 

The Newport Offer

 

Steve Ward - Chief Executive for Newport Live and Intervention Lead for the Newport Offer was unable to join for this item.   

 

The Committee commented on the positive One Newport offer and the work of Newport Live and the artworks at Harlequin roundabout and in Pill. The Committee commented on the importance in placemaking and the importance of heritage in Newport’s offer and that there needed to be a coordinated cultural strategy.

 

 

Conclusions

 

The Committee noted the performance within One Newport Partnership Well-being Plan 2022-23 Q2 and made the following comments to the One Newport Partnership:

 

 

Green and Safe Spaces

·         The Committee praised the report, and made comment that it showed good evidence of progress. 

 

·         Members requested more case studies to be provided to Committee as the Road to Nature was an excellent example of positive outcomes achieved through effective collaborative work.

 

·         The Committee noted the drop in attendance in the workshops, potentially due to the current Wellbeing plan nearing the end of delivery in its current format. Members requested that the Service Manager seek to confirm the specific reasons for the drop in attendance through discussion with partners and groups on this matter.

 

·         The Committee asked for clarification on the Maindee plan referenced within the report.

 

·         The Committee raised the importance of ward briefings highlighting partnership work taking place as appraisal.

 

·         The Committee commented that the report was excellent, it showed progress and good supporting evidence that demonstrated the advancement.  The Committee highlighted the data included in the report that underpinned this objective as an example of good practice; the Committee recommended that this data-based approach is replicated for all progress reports received by Committee.

 

Sustainable Travel

·         The Committee recommended three points to the Intervention Lead for Sustainable Travel for consideration:

 

1.    What is being done through the sustainable travel group about promoting place making and integrated transport hubs.

2.    Consultation was carried out through the Council’s statutory plans and processes, what steps are being taken to walk this out through the individual organisations? 

3.    Expanding on the concept of integrated hubs, sustainable travel needs to be more direct and simple to use. What is available now and how can this be promoted more?

 

·         The Committee requested for more work to be completed on promotions and advertising linked to heritage in Newport. As an example, the Committee recommended naming active travel routes with Chartist names.

 

·         Whilst recognising that the outcomes of the Burns Commission sits outside of the Terms of Reference of the Committee, the Committee reflected that ambitious measures were needed to increase sustainable travel in Newport that was an attractive alternative to travelling by car. 

 

Strong and Resilient Communities

·         The Committee requested the draft of the Pillgwenlly Master Plan to be shared with the Committee by the Service Manager. The Scrutiny Adviser will add this topic to the Committee’s Draft Annual Forward Work Programme 2023-24 and discuss further with the relevant officers about potential dates.

 

Right Skills

·         The Committee were happy to receive the information given for this intervention and had no comments or recommendations.

 

The Newport Offer

·         The Committee were pleased with the positive developments contained in the dashboard, and also the partnership work with projects such as the Old Green Roundabout and in Pill. Members wished to stress the importance of having a unified approach to heritage in the Newport Offer under place making.