Agenda item

Report of the Acting Strategic Director, Communities and Environment

This was the second evidence gathering session with regards to the Review on Helping to Increase Support / Capacity of the Voluntary Sector.

The Committee heard from Aidan Lawson on the work of the Brighton Ryton Local Environmental Group.   Aidan explained that the group first got together on the back of another meeting which members of the group had been attending.   The group’s aim is to support Gateshead Council in improving the environment in Ryton.  The group got charity registration in record time and have undertaken 3600 hours of work in the first year and 5300 in the second year.  The group have carried out work in the cemetery and memorial gardens.  The group got licences for some of their members and undertook training for grass strimming equipment.  The license excludes from cutting within 12 inches of the headstones. 

Aidan showed the Committee some examples of the work the group had undertaken.  The work is undertaken at Heritage sites, memorial gardens and cemeteries as well as litter picks undertaken by the litter action groups.

The group undertakes their own fundraising and between January 2017 to December 2018 raised, £9650 from the Gateshead Fund, £15,00 from the Sir James Knott Trust, £1930, Land of Oak and Iron Grant, £2508 from donations, £8362 from fund raising activities, £5324 from supporting members and £950 from sponsors.

The organisation would like to carry out further work including, maintaining grass levels and hedging to a good standard, clean and paint railings of the old cemetery, level ‘dipped’ graves to ease grass cutting, clear pavement areas of composting materials and weeds and maintain standards of cleanliness around the village, woods and walks.

The organisation hopes to form a group of residents with a genuine desire to work together to refurbish the park so that it is fully sustainable and returns to be appreciated and used by a significant proportion of the community.

The organisation also hopes to form a group of individual and sub-groups working together to provide a program of events to bring our community together.

The organisation also hopes to restore the Historic Drover’s pond, to recover stones and rebuild Victoria monument, to prepare and publish various trails booklets, to revisit and complete Pinfold, to design and place info boards of Stella and Ryton trails, to remove tress threatening historic walls in conservation Area. 

The organisation would like to establish with the Council and effective and efficient management process that delivers in a timely manner.

The organisation would like the Council to accept them as a free resource, they feel that in order to work together as a successful team there should be a recognition of each other’s strengths, areas of responsibility should be co-ordinated and controlled and performance should be monitored and reported upon.

The organisation feel that the Council needed to take action to ensure that the organisation can retain the volunteers they have at present.  The organisation would like to see improved processes and performance by the Council to create a better environment where people are prepared to volunteer.  The organisation feel that there is on occasions blockages in the system which cause delays to work being carried out in a timely manner.  It is understood that this could be because of following legislation requirements, however, it can be frustrating.  The organisation feel that if possible a single point of contact within the council to facilitate work being able to be done in a timely manner.  The organisation would like to introduce a process for working with the Council, 

·         BRLEG produces a plan of work

·         The Council approves the plan and assigns a lead

·         A timetable is agreed

·         BRLEG proceed with the work

·         Council approve the work.

BRLEG have 103 members, 57 of whom are active and are prepared to do anything to help to improve the environment in Ryton and surrounding areas.

The Committee heard from Ed Nichols from Dunston Family Church.  Ed advised the Committee that Dunston Family Church is an all age, international, evangelical church.  The Church were hiring rooms on a regular basis and then the church undertook an asset transfer of the facility from the Council.  The Churches own members support a lot of the work in the community.  The Church members love Dunston and Teams.  They church have undertaken a lot of work and have provided residentials for the children and young people and have done a lot of work to improve the wellbeing of the community.  Taking over the centre was a steep learning curve, the organisation had to learn about implementing the vision.  The new centre began with a Board of Trustees, they have had to learn about Governance, Due diligence, health and safety, financial forecasting, developing capacity and resourcing the community café.

The Neighbourhood Management Team have been very good and helpful in getting this off the ground and the support of the local ward councillors was also invaluable.  The organisation has received various amounts of funding and have had residents complete questionnaires on how they would like to see the centre developed. 

The organisation has looked at 8 building blocks in making the organisation better and they are a bunch of newbies and have worked with Ian and the team to help with their learning.

The centre have replaced the Council’s gymnastics programme and have trained their own staff and bought new gymnastics equipment.

The centre employs 6 people all who have been previously unemployed.  The have enlisted lots of volunteers and get lots of help from volunteers.  The relationships between the customers and staff is developing into friendships and this helps to identify the needs of local residents.

The books have been balanced for the last three years and the organisation has be modest annual surplus and a growing contingency fund.  The organisation had to undertake some work to retain the library, this is staffed fully by volunteers and hosts a suite of computers, and is available for local residents to use for job searches, benefit claims etc.  A meeting takes place with the manager of Gateshead Library Service on a regular basis.

The centre now delivers a range of activities in response to local needs, including the community café, a toddlers soft play and an ever growing gym membership. 

The Ethos of the centre is that everyone who comes in is made to feel special and welcome, the staff are warm and courteous and helpful. 

Toddler times is renowned in the area and has been commended for sessions and reasonable admission charges, the group encourages story-telling, music and movement and family time.

The sports hall / multi-purpose room hosts five-a-side football, ballroom dancing, Zumba, and more recently Canny K-9s.    The centre hosts pirate, princess, unicorn and super hero parties and have holiday family fun days over half term.

The centre hosts NHS services, including regular all day blood banks and cardio rehab groups.   They hold film buffets, tea dances, 3 course meal parties.

The centre is currently applying for funding to become a listening centre and feel that this would supplement the work of the Council and Health services.  The intention is to have 6 men and 6 women trained. 

Whilst the centre is doing well, financial sustainability is a challenge as they are always looking to offer services at a lower cost or for free.  The centre has a rebate on rates which is helpful, the council has in their power a discretionary rate of 20% which would be helpful if possible.  It would also be helpful to be commissioned to provide services and the centre are looking at expanding their programme of meeting needs.

RESOLVED -             (i)         That the needs of the groups are investigated and responded to where practical.

                                    (ii)         That the presentation be noted and the findings incorporated into the final report.