Agenda and minutes

To note the Committee’s terms of reference as set out below:

1.     To scrutinise the Council’s cultural and environmental policies and the provision, planning, financing, management and performance of services relating to culture, environment, regeneration, community safety, parking strategy and operations, and the voluntary sector provided by the Supporting Communities and Corporate Services Directorates and other service providers.

2.     To be the Council’s Crime and Disorder Committee.

RESOLVED –

THAT the Committee’s terms of reference be noted.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Nina De Ayala Parker and Stephen Stark

An Apology for lateness was received from Councillor Izzy Lenga.

Members will be asked to declare any pecuniary, non-pecuniary and any other interests in respect of items on the agenda.

Councillor Hardwick declared for transparency that in relation to item (10) Camden Libraries Update Report, she worked for the Chartered Institute of Libraries.

In relation to the same item (10) Councillor Aref-Adib declared that he worked as a volunteer at Highgate Library.

In relation to item (9) Sports and Physical Activity for Children and Young People Councillor Madlani declared that he was the Co-Chair of Pride and Football which promoted and encouraged LGBT people to be involved in sports.

In relation to the same item (9) Councillor Olad declared that his children took part in gymnastics.

Webcasting of the Meeting

The Chair to announce the following: “In addition to the rights by law that the public and press have to record and film public meetings, I would like to remind everyone present that this meeting will be broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and can be viewed on our website for six months after the meeting.  After that time, webcasts are archived and can be made available on DVD upon request.

If you are seated in the room it is likely that the Council’s cameras will capture your image and you are deemed to be consenting to being filmed and to the use of those images and sound recordings for webcasting and/or training purposes.”

Any other announcements

The Chair announced that the meeting was broadcast live by the Council to the Internet and could be viewed on the website for six months after the meeting.  After that time, webcasts were archived and could be made available on DVD upon request. Those who were seated in the room or participated via Teams were deemed to have consented to their contributions being recorded and broadcast and to the use of those sound recordings and images for webcasting and/or training purposes.

Requests to speak at the Committee on a matter within its terms of reference must be made in writing to the clerk named on the front of this agenda by 5pm two working days before the meeting.

The Chair advised that one deputation request had been accepted in relation to opposing the installation of gates at Primrose Hill Park from Amy McKeown representing Primrose Keepers; and would be taken in conjunction with item 8 Primrose Hill Briefing – Royal Parks on the agenda.

The Chair also informed the Committee that a second supplementary agenda had been published which contained a statement from Councillor Burrage in response to the deputation. Copies of the deputation and statement were included in the supplementary agendas.

There was none.

To consider and approve the minutes of the meetings held on 15^th March 2023 3^rd April 2023 and 16^th May 2023.

RESOLVED –

THAT the minutes of the meetings held on 15^th March 2023, 3^rd April 2023 and 16^th May 2023 be signed as accurate records.

Report of the Director of Royal Parks.

This report provides the Committee with an overview of the role of the Royal Parks in overseeing and regulating Primrose Hill Park, and current strategies for stakeholder engagement.

Consideration was given to the reports of the Director of Royal Parks and Director of Public Safety.

Consideration was also given to the deputation request and statement referred to in Item 5 above.

The following responses were given by the deputee to members questions:

• There was a need to collect and share proper data relating to crime and anti-social behaviour in Primrose Hill Park and then determine whether the data justified gating the park. This was not currently happening.
• The crime statistics shared in the Safer Parks Panel meetings indicated that crime in the park was negligible. There was nothing standing out from the data which justified gating the park.
• The crime data indicated that there had been a couple of indecent exposures. There had been talk in the local community about 2 rapes in the area which had been discussed at a meeting at which no one from the local community appeared to be present.
• It was very concerning for women and people living in the area to hear that rapes were happening. There was a world of difference between indecent exposure and a rape.
• The survey data used in the deputation statement was from the whole borough rather than Primrose Hill ward, because people from across Camden used the park.
• Accurate crime data from the area was not easily available. It had been a challenge getting accurate crime data before decisions were made particularly from Regents Park and Primrose Hill.
• The rumours in the local community were that there was inaccurate crime data around Primrose Hill.

Invited to comment on the crime statistics in Primrose Hill Police Inspector Stevie Bull -of the Neighbourhood Policing Central North Borough Command Unit (BCU) informedthe Committee that between 1^st January 2023 and 30 June 2023 a rough breakdown of the figures indicated that 131 calls had been received by the Police relating to the park, 28 of which related to anti-social behaviour and crime. About half of the crime calls were to do with phone theft. It was highlighted that due to challenges experienced the data was compiled manually.

Police Inspector Nick McLaughlin from the Royal Parks Operational Unit commented that when looking at the crime statistics for Primrose Hill it was not a hotspot for sexual offending, rape and crime in general. The common themes in the area were issues with alcohol and mental health, the numbers in the area remained low. The issue in the area was more of a noise issue rather than a crime issue.

He informed the Committee that he was happy to make a commitment to sharing accurate data with Camden Council officers and the Royal Parks Team. Expressing his surprise that this was not already being done because local ward Councillors sat on Safer Parks Panels across London. He said the information was available.

Action By: Police Inspector Royal Parks Operational Unit

He was happy to provide more detailed information on crime stats to the Committee.

Action By: Police Inspector Royal Parks  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

Report of the Director of Recreation.

This report describes the current sport and physical activity offer open to Children and Young People (CYP) in the borough and current activity levels. Opportunities to increase access and participation by CYP and reduce inactivity are also discussed.

Strategically, sport and physical activity is making a positive contribution to the We Make Camden ambitions and the lives of our CYP. This is especially the case when it comes to helping CYP to have the best start in life, community health and wellbeing, championing equality of access and responding to disproportionality, which are also discussed in this paper.

The focus within this report is school age children and young people, from age 5- to 18-year-olds, including up to 25-year-olds for Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) residents.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Recreation.

The Committee was shown a brief video clip called ‘Wildcats captured in their Natural Habitat’ of young children playing football.

In response to questions, the Head of Sport and Physical Activity, Nigel Robinson, Community Sport and Physical Activity Manager, Deborah Bush and Director of Recreation Oliver Jones made the following points:

·       With regards to opening up access to sports facilities to underrepresented groups such as the South Asian Community, the Council had made this a formal performance indicator to improve access to sports facilities to disproportionately under-represented groups in the community. The reasons for low representation were being investigated with the aim to devise a work plan to break down barriers.

·       There was the expectation that before any physical activity or exercise was taken up, a qualified instructor would ask about physical conditions, require a health questionnaire to be completed and provide the appropriate warnings.

·       With regards to people that were unaware they had a medical condition, community centres could signpost people to conduct checks before starting exercise classes. This could be taken back to community centres to provide guidance to customers.

ACTION BY: Head of Sport and Physical Activity/Community Sport and Physical Activity Manager

·       In terms of prices charged by Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAS), a lot were mostly located in parks and housing estates where people were not charged. There were 3 in leisure centres for which the Council charged.

·       There were also lots of other facilities which were not managed by the Council.

·       The Leisure Centres fees and charges were set by the Cabinet and agreed at the Council every year. The prices were largely led by demand and also based on the rate charged by surrounding facilities.

·       In some cases, there were concession rates applied for example, for some facilities and centres there was a 30% discount for children.

A member highlighted that in the Northwest of the borough there was a lack of green space / community space to cater for the needs of secondary school pupils. The Community Space in West Hampstead served the needs of younger children and older people quite well, there was however a gap for secondary school pupils and requested that consideration be given to providing a package for this group.

·       In relation to the drop off in figures when transitioning from primary school to secondary school, this was a national issue of drop out between primary and secondary pupils particularly for teenage girls. There was a significant amount of data nationally and officers were looking to understand the reasons for this at a Camden local level.

·       A questionnaire had been developed to help provide a better understanding of the situation regarding transition from primary to secondary school in Camden. This would be reviewed with the aim to break down the barriers.

·       With regards to low rate of physical activity and take up of opportunities particularly among South Asian women, numerous needs assessments had been conducted by the Council over  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Report of the Director of Recreation.

The report summarises the vision for the library service and the development of the service offer to the communities of Camden. A restructure of the service was completed in April 2022 and a significant capital investment in technology.

The report also reviews the journey of recovery indicated by the level of library visits, event attendance and borrowing. An outline of the partnerships, connections and activity that is developing as the libraries respond to the needs of the neighbourhoods during the cost-of-living crisis. This overview is also informed by data analysis of the 2021 census data and shaped by thinking of a library jigsaw of component parts, the Libraries Connected Universal Offers and the ambition of We Make Camden.

Consideration was given to the report of the Director of Recreation.

In response to questions, the Head of Libraries, Fiona Tarn and Director of Recreation Oliver Jones made the following points:

·       With regards to the Council developing links with universities, partnership links between the Council and Universities were already in place, however stronger links continued to be developed for example officers had been in contact with University College London (UCL), as University students would be working as volunteers in Council libraries over the summer.

·       Partners in the Knowledge Quarter were also keen to collaborate with the Council, to work together and share expertise.

·       Once the Council received the full report from its recent Peer review it would be looking at how it could collaborate with Universities and the Knowledge Quarter to have a workshop arrangement to take the library service forward into the future.

·       The Council was also the first London Borough to be part of the British Library’s Living Knowledge Network. It would have live streaming events to complement British Library exhibitions in Council library spaces.

·       Officers had also been in contact with the Welcome Trust to discuss how they managed their space.

·       Libraries were not likely to change that much in the future The curativeness of information was still important, artificial intelligence would still be important as well as the space. Having somebody to talk to, understanding how to navigate and find things.

·       The Council was also looking to maximise flexibility in its libraries to use the core space for things such as heritage and culture.

·       Providing staff training and connecting them with broader experiences will assist the team in developing the service into the future.

·       The Council was committed to maintaining a library service in the Highgate area whatever happens regarding refurbishment works, including keeping volunteers involved.

·       Cool spaces were promoted corporately, disentangling people who were attending the library because of warm spaces or air conditioning from other users was a challenge as what people were doing was not monitored in libraries.

·       There were leg counters in the libraries so the Council did have an idea of the number of people that were in the library. The data was however not necessarily representative of those using the spaces.

·       Library of things was available in 2 libraries. Kentish Town and Kilburn which seemed to be used more and doing really well in terms of the demand.

·       The Council would be joining the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) as a member. which would provide CILIP membership to two members of the Council’s library team,

·       CILIP would also be doing a skills audit of the staff, once the skills gaps of staff were identified a plan would be put in place to address the skills gap and develop staff on from that.

·       The Council had also invested in Opening the book training which would build the skills of the staff.

·       The Council had just developed a welcome guide which would also be printed in other community languages.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10.

Report of the Executive Directors of Supporting People, Supporting Communities and Corporate Services

This report focusses on Quarter 4 (Q4) 2022/23 and an overview of performance of the whole financial year, using a broad range of measures from each directorate and divisions across the organisation. Individual services have provided a narrative covering key performance challenges and areas of positive improvement in their service areas.

This report is divided into two main sections, namely:

-       A strategic summary which highlights challenges and anticipated pressures coming in 2023/24, as well as featuring any systemic issues and risks that are considered relevant to our organisational health.

-       A detailed summary of core service delivery for quarter 4 and the year 2022/23 as a whole across each of our three Directorates.

Taken together, these sections are intended to provide Camden Management Team (CMT) with a picture of performance across the Council and enable CMT to take decisions about any further remedial or improvement activity required over and above activity already underway in services. 

This report includes expanded data on a range of organisational health measures (staff turnover, sickness, complaints etc) by directorate (and division for some measures).

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Directors of Supporting People, Supporting Communities and Corporate Services.

Officers agreed to provide an explanation relating to the Cost of Living Dashboard Q4 2022/23 table on page 115 of the agenda, as the top line relating to “Households with a cash shortfall – those households either at risk or are already in financial crisis where their income is not likely to meet their essential expenditure each month”, the March 2023 figure was shown as 3,769, which a Committee member queried as this was noticeably lower than the trend and the opposite direction to the other indicators.

ACTION: Director of Recreation

RESOLVED –

THAT the report be noted.

Report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

This paper provides an update on the work programme for the Committee for the 2023/24 municipal year and tracks actions from previous meetings.

Consideration was given to the report of the Executive Director Supporting Communities.

Members discussed the work programme and suggested that items for the September meeting should include:

·       Lithium powered vehicles – due to the recent safety concerns

·       Annual report of the Cabinet Member for a Sustainable Camden

·       Tree Strategy Update (moved from the November meeting)

·       Culture (the programme and what the Council’s strategy is – Arts Council cuts, preserving theatres)

Resolved:

That the report be noted

There was none.