Neighbourhood Plan

Although this has been discussed at West Marsh Forward meetings I thought it would be a good idea to give a written account of why we need a Neighbourhood Plan for the West Marsh Ward.
Firstly we need to get a bit of context.
In the past there have been all sorts of plans for areas which Government see as deprived. So under the last Government we saw some of our wards benefit from Neighbourhood Renewal Funding and as part of that process each of the ten wards affected in North East Lincolnshire ended up with a Neighbourhood Investment Plan which was arrived at in consultation with local people.
On paper that all sounds good but the downside was that the plan was effectively based around the services provided by all of the main Public Sector bodies and did not, in my opinion, really focus on what the residents of the ten wards would like to see change over the long term in their neighbourhoods. Further than that, all of it tended to be led by officers of Public Sector bodies whose job it was to make sure particular outcomes set by Central Government were achieved which sometimes meant that what residents wanted took a back seat.
So what I am suggesting we should try to achieve is a plan which is led by the people in the Ward area based on what they know are the priorities and looking at dealing with what residents see as the root causes of the problems they are trying to solve.
In order to start the process I have been in discussion with Councillor Billard to look at the most pressing issues that the West Marsh faces and these include:

1. Empty Housing and Commercial premises.
2. Health and Social Care Inequalities.
3. Street Scene and Environmental issues.
4. Positive Activities to engage all young people in the Ward.
5. Parks and Open Spaces and their management.
6. Anti-Social Behaviour at all levels.
7. Criminal Activity.

This list does not describe all of the issues which residents see as important but it does represent a good starting point around which to have discussion with all interested parties to see what might be done to tackle the problems in the short term and then to look at the root causes and agree a long term plan for solving the problem.
The main reason for even attempting to do this is to get to the point where we can show how all the West Marsh organisations and community activists currently contribute to the solving of problems and dealing with issues on the West Marsh. Once this is done then when applying for funding any organisation or individual with an idea for a positive intervention or project for the development of the West Marsh ward will be able to show where they fit in and how it helps the overall plan.
I hope this helps make the case for coming up with a plan and I also hope that interested people will contact me and let me know their feelings and thoughts about the priorities for the plan.

River Freshney and The DOYG

The main activities for environmental issues came out of the meeting of Friends of the Freshney who are a group dedicated to the regeneration of the Duke of York Gardens the main park in the West Marsh Ward area. 

One of their main areas of concern is the state of the bank and the water course on the River Freshney. Weeds are the big issue. If you try and see what's going on on the river you must first get past the high weeds that grow along the bank once you've achieved that you will see that water weed is currently choking the river and causing fish and wild fowl some serious problems.

So not only does it look unsightly but there is a real environmental issue to be dealt with.

Councillor Darren Billard, who tells me he likes to be known as Daz, has been hard at it getting the Environment Agency and the Council to support him in making a start on the weeds on the river bank. Daz has also got a good response from local fishermen who have said once all the official stuff is sorted that they will help get the work done.

Once this is done it will be a step along the way to addressing issues along the Freshney and could give a starting point to join with others who have an interest. If you want a look at some good pictures of the Freshney Parkway area have a look at this site  http://www.rodcollins.com/wordpress/freshney-parkway-towns-holt-the-life-times

There is still a lot of work to be done but it looks like a promising start on the River front.

In the Duke of York Gardens itself Keith Watkin a Friends of the Freshney committee member is keen to get a wider range of activity equipment in the park area to involve the more mature members of the community and he is currently getting prices for a variety of equipment FoF can put a bid in to small grant funds for.

John M's Report to Fairshare

 The following is extracted from the report I have to give to Fairshare every Quarter and I hope it gives readers a bit of clarity over the general direction of Community Development on the West Marsh and brings them up to date with things that have happened so far.

Activities undertaken: Community Development West Marsh

1. Children and Young People. A survey of needs is being undertaken for the young people of the West Marsh and we are starting to get a picture of young people’s aspirations which include better and more diverse public play activity areas and to build on the activities instigated by young people including dance, arts and sports groups currently started in the area with the help of VANEL workers input. There has also been a large increase in the uptake of Fairshare Youth awards with activities as wide ranging as, Fire Service Youth Training to Boxing Club membership, being undertaken by young people. John Mooney Jez O'Kane and Pete Holroyd have been working on these issues together. A separate panel has now been set up to direct funding applications which can now be done between WMF meetings.

2. People with Disabilities and Long Term Illness.  John Mooney has attended the initial Health Inequalities workshop for a project aimed at tackling inequality on the West Marsh and is now on the Working Group with the aim of implementing an Asset Based Community Development approach to make the reduction of inequality a reality. This also fits well with the approach VANEL are currently spearheading for the ABCD model to be adopted across North East Lincolnshire to integrate with Neigbourhood Management. John Mooney has also made a request to people to in the locality to Join a working group to look at widening participation of all the minority Interest groups in the area and a start has been made around the idea of a sustainable community publication initiative which includes both digital and print media. If successful this will enable individuals and groups to use social and print media to have their voices heard and influence ward based decision making.

3. Older People. Two Older Persons groups have been given advice and guidance around sustainability and potential funding sources. John Mooney is also working with the Neighbourhood Coordinator and the Older Peoples Collaborative coordinator to try and build a better partnership in the area.

4. West Marsh Forward. John Mooney has been attending all meetings of WMF and has offered help to all parties attending to assist in achieving their aims. The Forward has achieved the levels of competence required under the original terms of the funding and has got to the point where the Public Sector reps attending are doing their best to respond to the hot issues which residents are bringing forward. There has been a Transport Sub Group set up to deal with long term issues around parking, roadside car sales and long term public transport issues which now reports progress back to the WMF main meeting.
5. Friends of the Freshney. This group meets monthly on the Duke of York Gardens and is involved in the development of the Park as a public amenity and is currently being supported by John Mooney and Jez O'Kane with the issues they are wanting to address. These are long term environmental issues around the River Freshney which runs alongside the park and upgrading facilities in the park.

6. Ward Councillors. John Mooney is involved in supporting the Councillors in their capacity as Community Leaders and has been involved in Ward Walks and talks around funding. The ward councillors have now put £5000.00 of ward funding under the direction of the Forward to be allocated in £250.00 lots to local community groups and other ward initiatives. The Councillors are also part of the decision making panel for the Youth Funding so that we can be a bit more strategic in the allocation of funding.

7. Town Centre and Businesses. Karl Elliot has started to involve the Town Centre Forum in the process of Neighbourhood Management and Community Development. As a result of a Churches Together rep coming back to WMF and putting Town Centre Policing issues on the agenda for prioritisation a good partnership response to Town Centre crime issues has come about with a marked reduction in Anti-Social Behaviour as a result.

8. Wider Community Development. There are now regular Friday afternoon meetings of all the VANEL staff involved in Community Development alongside reps from the Neighbourhood Coordinators to look at hyper-local and whole borough initiatives to be clear that we are doing joined up working. This will be extended to include members of the Community Development Network as we progress.

 The above has helped us achieve real inroads into how to resolve the issues of representation of local people. The close mutual support of the two Ward Councillors has ensured that the West Marsh is responding to the changes in Neighbourhood Management and is heading towards the production of a resident led Neighbourhood Plan. This will take in to account the wider strategic issues that Public Sector organisations are looking to have an impact on despite reductions in resource, and will also mean that issues which are pertinent only to the ward will gain greater ownership amongst the community.

This will mean that over time the West Marsh Forward will broaden its capacity to take in to account the multiplicity of issues the ward faces and be able to use that capacity to direct public service input more effectively. The increase in the capacity

To plan will also increase the possibilities to generate community initiatives that public service delivery does not involve itself with.

The close association with Neighbourhood Management and the West Marsh being a primary focus for the Asset Based Community Development approach will mean that when the localism agenda really takes hold we will be in a position to take advantage of Central and Local Government initiatives when and if they arise.

The really ingrained issue of Health Inequality on the ward will start to see a radically different approach with the Asset Based Community Development approach being adopted by the service providers leading to true community partnership working.

New Blog on the West Marsh

Since I came in to post on the West Marsh as its main Community Development Worker I have been asked to provide updates and although I have done this at Forward Meetings it has been requested that I do this more regularly and in a similar way to the catch up that Al Burley does on the East Marsh.
So this is my attempt.
The other thing I have done is to invite several people including the Ward Councillors to contribute and as I discover how this blogging thing works I will be able to get more news into this Blog and divide it up into areas of interest.
I can also I am told link it to the main West Marsh Community Website so that visitors there can have easy access to the information here.
So here's hoping that this goes well and does the job.