lancashire local – fylde - lancashire county council - classic

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_______________________________________________________________________________ Linda Wilson Lancashire Local Executive Support Officer, Lancashire Local Team, County Secretary and Solicitors Group, Office of the Chief Executive, Lancashire County Council PO Box 78, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8XJ Tel (01772) 533418 Fax (01772) 530949 E-mail [email protected] Your ref Our ref Date CSS/LMW 19 th January 2009 Dear Sir / Madam Lancashire Local – Fylde Meeting 27 th January 2009 Would you please note that the next meeting of the Lancashire Local – Fylde will be held at 7.00pm on Tuesday 27 th January at the Lytham Assembly rooms, Lytham. A map is enclosed showing the location of the venue. The building is located on the corner of Dicconson Terrace and Central Beach in Lytham. On- street parking is available, and a car park is situated directly opposite Dicconson Terrace on Central Beach. The agenda for the meeting is enclosed. Members are asked to consider whether they need to disclose any personal or prejudicial interests in items appearing on the Agenda. If a Member of the County Council requires advice on declarations of interest he/she is advised to contact Jill Anderson (01772 532284) or Roy Jones (01772 533394) in the County Secretary and Solicitors Group in advance of the meeting. Members of the Borough Council should seek advice from Officers in their own Authority prior to the meeting in accordance with any agreed arrangements. Deposit copies of the papers for the meeting are available for inspection at Branch Libraries and County Information Centres in the District, the Town Hall and also via the County Council’s website at www.lancashire.gov.uk . A copy of the agenda is also being circulated to the Clerk of all Parish and Town Councils in the District to afford the chairs of those organisations the opportunity to attend if they wish. Yours faithfully I M Fisher County Secretary and Solicitor

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Page 1: Lancashire Local – Fylde - Lancashire County Council - Classic

_______________________________________________________________________________ Linda Wilson Lancashire Local Executive Support Officer, Lancashire Local Team, County Secretary and Solicitors Group, Office of the Chief Executive, Lancashire County Council PO Box 78, County Hall, Preston, PR1 8XJ

Tel (01772) 533418

Fax (01772) 530949 E-mail [email protected] Your ref Our ref Date

CSS/LMW 19th January 2009

Dear Sir / Madam Lancashire Local – Fylde Meeting 27th January 2009 Would you please note that the next meeting of the Lancashire Local – Fylde will be held at 7.00pm on Tuesday 27th January at the Lytham Assembly rooms, Lytham. A map is enclosed showing the location of the venue. The building is located on the corner of Dicconson Terrace and Central Beach in Lytham. On-street parking is available, and a car park is situated directly opposite Dicconson Terrace on Central Beach. The agenda for the meeting is enclosed. Members are asked to consider whether they need to disclose any personal or prejudicial interests in items appearing on the Agenda. If a Member of the County Council requires advice on declarations of interest he/she is advised to contact Jill Anderson (01772 532284) or Roy Jones (01772 533394) in the County Secretary and Solicitors Group in advance of the meeting. Members of the Borough Council should seek advice from Officers in their own Authority prior to the meeting in accordance with any agreed arrangements. Deposit copies of the papers for the meeting are available for inspection at Branch Libraries and County Information Centres in the District, the Town Hall and also via the County Council’s website at www.lancashire.gov.uk. A copy of the agenda is also being circulated to the Clerk of all Parish and Town Councils in the District to afford the chairs of those organisations the opportunity to attend if they wish. Yours faithfully I M Fisher County Secretary and Solicitor

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Lancashire Local - Fylde Tuesday the 27th January 2009 at 7.00pm at the Assembly Rooms, Central Beach, Lytham Agenda Part 1 (Open to Press and Public) No. Item

1.

Apologies

2. Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests Members are asked to consider any Personal/Prejudicial Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda

3.

Public Comments and Questions

4. Minutes of the Last Meeting.

(Copy enclosed)

Discharge of Delegated Powers

5. Lancashire Locals Climate Change Fund Approval of Projects to support Climate Change in Lancashire

(Report attached)

Other Issues for Consideration.

6. Local Strategic Partnership Theme Group Reports Members of the following Theme Groups are asked to give a brief report :- Enterprise and Employment Environmental Enhancement Lifelong Learning

7 Regeneration of Libraries in Fylde 2009/10

(Report attached)

8. Lancashire Local - Libraries Working Group

(Verbal report)

9. Customer Access Face to Face Strategy

(Report to follow)

10. Update on Phase 3 Children's Centres in the Fylde

(Report attached)

11. Lancashire Local Fylde Future Business Plan 2009/2010

(Report attached)

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No. Item

12. Programme of Meetings for 2009/10

(Report attached)

For Information

13.

Winter Service (Gritting) in Fylde 2008/09

(Report attached)

14. Feedback on the Parish and Town Council Charter

(Report attached)

15. Urgent Business An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Secretary should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading

16. Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Lancashire Local - Fylde will be held at 7.00pm on the 24th March, 2009 at a venue to be arranged.

I M Fisher County Secretary and Solicitor

County Hall PRESTON

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Lancashire Local – Fylde 25th November 2008 at 7.00 p.m. at Fylde District Scout Headquarters, Heyhouses Lane, St Annes Minutes Present:-

County Councillor Bernard Whittle – Chair

Councillor Brenda Ackers - Fylde Borough Council County Councillor T Ashton - Lancashire County Council Councillor Karen Buckley - Fylde Borough Council Councillor David Chedd - Fylde Borough Council Councillor Ken Hopwood - Fylde Borough Council County Councillor Liz Oades - Lancashire County Council County Councillor Joyce Stuart - Lancashire County Council Councillor Lindsay Greening

-

Non Voting Parish And Town Council Representative

Apologies were presented on behalf of County Councillor C Walton and Councillors A Pounder and T Threlfall. Disclosure of Personal and Prejudicial Interests County Councillor Joyce Stuart declared a personal interest in Items 12 and 14 as a member of the relevant Partnership Boards. Councillor Chedd declared a personal interest in Item 6 as he had received hospitality from one of the landowners involved with the scheme. County Councillor Whittle declared a personal interest in Item 5 as he had recommended a grant. The Deputy Chair took the chair for that item and the Chair took no part in it. Public Comments and Questions There were no public comments or questions.

Minutes of the Last Meeting 37. Resolved:- That the Minutes of the previous meeting held on the 23rd September, 2008, be confirmed and signed by the Chair. Matters Arising Arising on the Minutes, Paula Fodor, District Partnership Officer informed the Lancashire Local of the meeting that had taken place with staff of Blackpool Hospitals Trust in relation to parking at Clifton Hospital. The meeting had been successful. Members had learnt that there was an exemplary travel plan in

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existence. There was free parking for the visitors of long stay patients, discounted parking for staff, parking patrol staff and no plans to expand services at the Hospital. However it was felt that there were insufficient buses serving the hospital and the Chair had undertaken to pursue the shortfall through the Local Strategic Partnership. Discharge of Delegated Powers Lancashire Local Grant Applications A report was presented which set out three applications from local organisations totalling £1351.88 to the Local Grants Scheme for Lancashire Local – Fylde. The applications had been submitted by County Councillors Ashton and Whittle. 38. Resolved:- That the application for local grants now presented be approved for the following organisations detailed below:-

Other Issues for Consideration M55 to Heyhouses Link Road Southern Section Steve McCreesh of the County Council’s Environment Directorate provided an update on progress in the development of the Southern Section of the M55 – Heyhouses Link. The necessary Compulsory Purchase Orders and Side Road Orders had been made and advertised. The period for objections to the orders had closed. There had been four objections, two of which had been withdrawn and it was hoped the third would be. The fourth was from a cyclist who had said she would have no objection if there were to be no houses built. There was no building of houses involved with this section and it was hoped that if this was explained then that objection would be withdrawn. There would hopefully then be no public inquiry and a start might be made in March, 2009.

County Councillor Application Requested Amount (£)

Tim Ashton

Staining under 8’s football team £250

Lytham Parochial Church Council £250

Bernard Whittle Freckleton Village memorial charity £851.88

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Members were pleased to hear the developments and very much hoped the timescale would be met. 39. Resolved:- That the report be welcomed.

Lancashire County Council’s Cabinet Budget Proposals for 2009/10 Phil Maynard of the County Council’s Resources Directorate presented a report on

the Cabinet’s provisional budget proposals for 2009/10 which were being consulted upon.

Specific aspects of the budget on which the Cabinet had requested comments on

were on

1. The proposed budget and council tax increase of 3.45%. The proposed budget, which totalled 714.2m, was an increase over the current year of 4.5% and included proposals for service reductions of £1.1m (details were set in the report).

2. Possible alternative levels of council tax increase, namely:

• a 4.0% council tax increase, enabling additional spending of £2.259m compared with the proposals above;

• a 4.5% council tax increase, enabling additional spending of £4.317m

compared with the proposals above.

In each case, if a higher council tax increase were to be set the additional spending would be utilised on a combination of additional highway maintenance works and measures to assist people in Lancashire with the impending economic downturn.

County Councillor Tony Martin, Cabinet Member for Resources was also in

attendance to respond to members questions. Questions were asked and responded to in relation to:-

- possible measures to assist people with the economic downturn. There were no firm proposals yet but there could be assistance for post offices and small and medium businesses.

- Whether there were too many savings being asked of the Environment Directorate. One service reduction proposed had been possible as a result of the cessation of the Highways Partnership. Many savings were being made across other Directorates, including £1M through the development of the reablement service in the Adult and Community Services Directorate.

- Should a higher council tax increase be set could the districts choose what the additional monies could be spent on. It was not thought that that would be possible.

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- Were the Household Waste Recycling Centres only to be opened on Monday to Thursday in the future. This was not known. County Councillor Martin undertook to find out about this suggestion and respond to the Chair.

- Could the additional monies if approved, be allocated to small businesses through Lancashire County Developments Limited. This, if approved would be a very short term measure.

- Tree planting. The allocation had been reduced as Blackpool were to contribute to this initiative.

- Grass Cutting. These savings had been identified as the result of a pilot to be undertaken in the South Ribble area.

- Winter Maintenance reductions. Roads would be gritted across the County as necessary during the winter months.

- Consolidation of administration through new processes following business process re-engineering. This was felt to be a low estimated saving. The figure could well be higher but it was not felt to be appropriate to be overly optimistic at this point.

- Review of Preston offices to reduce the number of administrative buildings. It was disappointing that this had not yet been implemented. It was accepted that this was taking some time. However moves were taking place and it was hoped that there would be £1M savings achieved over the next two years.

40. Resolved:- That the comments now made be submitted to the County

Council's Cabinet.

Lancashire County Council’s New Young People’s Service A report was presented by Nighat Parveen of the County Council’s New Young People’s Service which outlined the development of the Lancashire Young People’s Service to meet the requirements of Youth Matters and ‘Aiming High for Young People’ – a 10 year strategy (2007). The report included the broad provision available to each locality to deliver the Lancashire Young People's Service. This would be supported by commissioned services from other agencies including the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise organisations. The Lancashire Young People’s Service also commissioned a range of services from CXL including Vacancy Matching, Careers Education and Guidance Curriculum Development, Information Service, work with young offenders at Lancaster Farms, and Workforce Development. This year the commissioned services from CXL would amount to circa £751,000. This combination of services would make a positive difference to young people's lives. Information regarding the availability of various regular services/units and projects in the local area was outlined together with a breakdown of activity in the local area, including schools.

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In addition to regular provision, the service offered bespoke opportunities to participate in activities and access more specialised services within the local area. These might occur in community venues, or be trips away or residential or be delivered in partnership with other agencies. A snapshot of such opportunities in the local area was also attached. The young people had been fully engaged in the consultation process and had undertaken to introduce and facilitate the launch of the new service on 10 June 2008. Nighat explained that the shop front information centre on St David's Road in St Annes was to undergo a refurbishment and that there were plans advancing to develop a youth café in St Annes , eventually with provision on thursday, friday and saturday evenings. Members discussed various matters including:-

- the need for increased weekend provision across the whole district. Members were pleased to learn of proposals for the youth café. There were issues with staff working at the weekends but this was being pursued.

- Whether the independent sector could provide facilities with assistance. Grant funding through the County Council's Central and Local Gateways was available.

- Figures relating to those not in education, employment and training. The figure for Fylde was 4.2% and the target was 3.4%. The actual number in Fylde was 87.

41. Resolved:- That the report be welcomed. Lancashire Young People's Service – What is the Youth Opportunities Fund (YOF) and update on current spend of the fund in the Fylde Nighat Parveen of the County Council's New Young People's Service presented a report which explained the Youth Opportunities Fund and how it involved young people in decision making processes. It also provided an update on the current spend of the Fund within the district of Fylde. Several members of the Youth Council attended the meeting and explained to members their role in the Youth Council and how they were enjoying the work. Work undertaken on a Peace Garden at Lytham St Annes High school was outlined. 42. Resolved:- That the report be noted and the Youth Council members be thanked for their participation in the evening and their Youth work generally.

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County Library and Information Service – Information Provision. John Hodgkinson presented a report which provided an audit of facilities provided by the County Council and Fylde Borough Council for the public to access information across Fylde. Contextual information was provided to explain recent developments with regard to Face to Face stream of the County Council’s Customer Access Strategy. Some options were suggested for joint working within the context of the existing network of libraries in Fylde which included an ‘information offer’ which was a list of information services to be made available across the library network. Fylde was in the second phase of the Face to Face stream implementation and proposals would be presented to the Lancashire Local when prepared, possibly in March, 2009. Kirkham library was one of eight libraries in the County which had been approved for regeneration. 43. Resolved:- That the report be noted. Transforming Adult Social Care in Lancashire to deliver Personalisation Dawn Butterfield and Janet Beadle of the County Council's Adult and Community Services Directorate presented a report on the realignment and restructure of that Directorate to establish separate commissioning and personal social care functions within the Directorate. The report provided an outline of the role and responsibilities of the new commissioning and personal social care functions and an update on progress in establishing the new structure, within the context of the social care reform agenda. It also provided contact details for key members of the management teams of Commissioning and Personal Social Care. Through the adoption of a project management model, the directorate would gradually change its systems, processes and procedures to accommodate individual budgets, but more importantly would develop a strong communication and involvement strategy to ensure input from a wide range of partners, stakeholders, service users and carers. The cultural challenge in moving to a model of greater shared risk and responsibility meant it was crucial that there was a greater shared understanding of the why, what and how of personalisation across the whole of Lancashire. This would require a different skill mix for the workforce in personal social care, with a re-aligning of the structure to secure a more generic, person-centred approach, whilst also creating additional capacity for commissioning to develop a comprehensive commissioning framework that would deliver the agenda detailed above. A series of task groups were underway across both frontline delivery of personal social care and commissioning to lead the change towards personalisation. Members raised the following issues:-

- the need to move more quickly on assessment referrals

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- the need for adequate respite for carers - whether the services would be means tested. There was a Green Paper

due out for consultation on this. - the need to establish a working group to address how the Local wished

to engage in relation to adult social care. 44. Resolved:- 1) That a Working Group be established comprising of Lancashire Local and Local Strategic Partnership members to address future engagement in relation to adult social care. 2) That the Lancashire Local be represented on the Working Group by County Councillors Oades and Stuart and Councillor Greening. Wyre and Fylde Older People's Partnership Board Janet Beadle and Jane Astles presented a report which outlined the progress of the Wyre and Fylde Older People's Partnership Board including an Action Plan which linked to the Lancashire Partnership Strategy for an Ageing Population and covered the following themes:- Money Health Access to Services Safety Contributing Councillor Greening sat on the Partnership Board and stated that it had a number of older people as members and had a positive feel to it. 45. Resolved:- That the report be noted. Physical Disability and Sensory Impairment Services in Fylde Giulia Grieco presented a report which gave a brief description of the Partnership Board arrangements and developments for physically disabled people and those with a sensory impairment living in Fylde. There were three Partnership Boards for this sector and the North West Lancashire Physical Disability Board covered the districts of Lancaster, Wyre and Fylde. The Board had an agreed Action Plan to address the key areas of concern which disabled people from the reference groups had identified. This covered:- Health Social Care Housing Access to the Built Environment Employment and Learning Transport

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Resource Centres Giulia explained that the Board would like to have an avenue into where strategic decision making in relation to people with physical disabilties took place. It was suggested that the Health and Social Well Being Theme Group of the Local Strategic Partnership would be of value. The Chair mentioned that there were facilities for partially sighted at Preston and Blackpool but not in Fylde and asked that this matter be referred to the Health and Well Being group. 46. Resolved:- That the District Partnership Officer ask the Local Strategic Partnership Manager to:- - include representatives of the North West Lancashire Physical Disability Board on the Health and Social Well Being Theme Group and - refer to the Health and Social Well Being Theme Group the fact that there are no facilities for partially sighted people in the Fylde area. Locality Commissioning Plans (Adult Social Care) Learning Disabilities Julie Dockerty and Mark Fletcher presented a report which identified the progress of Commissioning in Lancashire, and the progress of the Joint Commissioning Board for North Lancashire, in developing a Commissioning Plan for the North Lancashire Health (Primary Care Trust Area) for Adults with a learning disability. There was an intention to form a North Lancashire Learning Disability Partnership to carry forward the work of the two previous Learning Disability Partnership Boards in Lancaster and in Fylde and Wyre Districts. Respite/Short Breaks for carers were in great demand in both the buildings based services currently in St Annes and Thornton which were run by the County Council. Local people would benefit from the County Council's Capital Programme which had approved the funding required to develop a new purpose built facility. Day time support for the district was provided at Kirkham. Housing was a critical need and access to specialist or appropriate housing was difficult. There was a need for the Borough Council to work with the County Council to continue to develop new housing strategies for people with learning disabilities. Ongoing problems persisted with housing benefit levels for tenancies for people with a learning disability and although schemes were few they required additional funding. There was currently representation on the Fylde and Wyre Learning Disability Partnership Board and it was hoped that this would be strengthened with the proposed North Lancashire Board. 47. Resolved:- That the issue of housing for people with learning disabilities be referred to the Local Strategic Partnership.

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Local Strategic Partnership Reports Members provided reports on the work of the following LSP Theme Groups:- Community Safety Children and Young People Health and Social Well Being Councillor Buckley added to her report by stating that child protection figures were to come to the Lancashire Local and the Local Strategic Partnership following the death of Baby P. 48. Resolved:- That the reports now presented be received with thanks and in future this item be placed earlier on the agenda. Urgent Business The following matters were raised at the meeting with the agreement of the Chair as matters which should not await the next meeting of the Lancashire Local. Bolton's Croft, Salwick County Councillor Oades spoke of problems associated with speeding at Bolton's Croft in Salwick. The national speed limit was in place and it was felt that a speed limit of preferably 30 miles per hour and at the most 40 miles per hour should be in place. 49. Resolved:- That Jim Robson, Area Manager North with the County Council's Environment Directorate be asked to investigate this matter and report back to a future meeting. A585 County Councillor Oades raised problems with the A585 in so much as Wyre Borough Council had, through its Fleetwood Thornton Action Group made plans for the road, including road lengths in Fylde without any or possibly with very last minute consultation with Fylde Borough Council. There had been an agreement that the County Council and Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre Councils would work together on this. 50. Resolved:- 1) That the Acting Executive Director for the Environment be asked to explain why the Fleetwood Thornton Action Group has made plans for the A585 bearing in mind the agreement that all four authorities will work together. 2) That Paula Fodor, District Partnership officer be asked to place this issue on the agenda for the joint Leaders meeting in January.

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Date of Next Meeting 51. Resolved:- That the next meeting of the Lancashire Local be held on the 27th January, 2009 at 7.00 p.m. at a venue to be arranged. I M FISHER County Secretary and Solicitor COUNTY HALL PRESTON

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Lancashire Local - Fylde Meeting to be held on 27 January2009

Part I - Item No. 5

Electoral Division affected: Fylde South

Lancashire Locals Climate Change Fund Approval of Projects to support Climate Change in Lancashire (Appendix ‘A’ refers) Contact for further information: Rosemary Pritchard, 01772 534197, Lancashire County Council, Environment Directorate, [email protected] Executive Summary The Lancashire Locals Climate Change Fund seeks to support community projects on climate change. These projects can either be aimed at ‘reducing greenhouse gas emissions’, or help communities to ‘cope with the impacts of climate change’. Grants will normally be in the range of £500 - £15,000. The fund is shared across all 12 Lancashire Locals. The Local is asked, from funds made available by the County Council, to consider for approval projects submitted by community and voluntary groups, or Parish Councils, to support local climate change in accordance with the criteria laid down by the County Council as set out in the report now presented. The Fund has three application deadlines during 2008/09: 30th May 2008, 31st October 2008 and 31st January 2009. One application was received for the 31st October 2008 deadline, requesting a total of £14,200. Lancashire Local Fylde has a Climate Change Fund of £20,133.03 for 2008/09. Decision Required The Lancashire Local - Fylde is requested to consider the application received (which meets the appraisal criteria) in light of the amount of funding available. Background and Advice The Lancashire Locals Climate Change Fund seeks to support community projects on climate change. These projects can either be aimed at ‘reducing greenhouse gas

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emissions’, or help communities to ‘cope with the impacts of climate change’. Grants will normally be in the range of £500-£15,000. The fund totalling £250,000 per year for three years (2007-2010) is shared across all 12 Lancashire Locals and uncommitted funds will be carried over to the following year. The Local is asked, from funds made available by the County Council, to consider for approval projects submitted by community and voluntary groups, or Parish Councils, to support local climate change in accordance with the criteria laid down by the County Council. The fund operates with 3 application deadlines each year. The application round deadlines in 2008/09 are: 30th May 2008, 31st October 2008, and 31st January 2009. Lancashire Local Fylde received one application to the Lancashire Local Climate Fund by the application deadline on 31st October 2008. Brief details of the applications and appraisal recommendations are contained in the table below: Applicant Project Funding

Requested Appraisal Criteria Met (Yes / No)

Freckleton Village Memorial Hall Charity

Reduce energy consumption and improve efficiency

£14,200 Yes

Appraisal of Applications to the Lancashire Locals Climate Change Fund Each application is appraised using a standard set of criteria. This includes questions such as:

• is the applicant from an eligible group (eg voluntary group)? • does the project help to reduce carbon emissions? • will the project benefit the wider community? • has the applicant provided a breakdown of costs? • do the costs seem reasonable? • does the project lever in funds from elsewhere? • are other permissions needed (eg. planning)?

The above criteria represent a small sample of the range of appraisal criteria used and full details are set out at Appendix ‘A’. Appraisal recommendations Applications to the Fund have been appraised by an officer from the County Council with the following recommendations:

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• One application to the Lancashire Locals Climate Change Fund is recommended for approval by Lancashire Local Fylde (Appendix ‘A’ refers).

- Funding requested for this application totals £14,200. - Lancashire Local - Fylde currently has £20,133.03 available from the

Lancashire Locals Climate Change Fund for 2008/09 to allocate.

Should the Local decide to approve only a proportion of the funding requested by an applicant, this may affect the viability of a project, bringing into question whether the project proceeds. Consultations N/A. Implications: This item has the following implications, as indicated: Risk management The appraisal officer has made a recommendation based on established criteria. The risk implications of the individual projects have been considered as part of the appraisal process and where applicable mitigating actions to address these have been agreed with the applicant.

Financial Lancashire Local Fylde currently has £20,133.03 available from the Lancashire Locals Climate Change Fund for 2008/09 to allocate to climate change projects. Funding requested for applications appraised and recommended for approval totals £14,200 Any representations made to the Directorate prior to the issue being considered in accordance with the Public Notice of Forward Plans Name: Organisation: Comments: N/A

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Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 List of Background Papers Paper Date Contact/Council/Tel Report to Lancashire Local - Fylde

22 July 2008

Stuart Benson/Lancashire County Council/01772 534022

Reason for inclusion in Part II, if appropriate N/A.

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APPENDIX ‘A’ LANCASHIRE LOCALS CLIMATE CHANGE FUND

APPRAISAL FORM Note: *Essential Fund Criteria Applicant (see Q2) *Is the applicant eligible for the LLCCF (i.e. a voluntary organisation, community group, parish/town council)? Freckleton Village Memorial Hall Charity

Yes

Has the applicant supplied a copy of rules, constitution or similar?

Yes

Project Location (see Q4) Where will the project be delivered (District, town, village, street)? School Lane, Freckleton Project Activity and Outcomes (see sustainable development checklist and below for question references) What will the project do and what are the project outcomes? (see Q5&6) Through the implementation of a range of improvements to the building fabric of the main hall and its heating and ventilation systems, the project seeks to reduce energy consumption, increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions arising from Freckleton Village Memorial Hall. The project outcomes will be a reduction in pollution, a reduction of fossil fuel usage and an increase in the social and economic sustainability of the Hall. The Charity has recently successfully completed a £12,000 programme of energy reduction and efficiency measures to the Hall's committee room that were funded by the Lancashire Environmental Fund, the work for which funding is being sought from Fylde Lancashire Local Climate Change Fund would compliment this. *Do these outcomes make a meaningful contribution to addressing the issue of climate change? (see Q5&6)

Yes

By seeking to reduce the amount of fossil fuel used in heating the Hall and making improvements in the efficiency of the way it is heated and insulated, the project will make a meaningful contribution to the issue of climate change. Does the project contribute to reducing carbon emissions? How? Does it seek to quantify these reductions? (see Q5&6)

Yes

The project will contribute to reducing carbon emissions by improving insulation through cavity wall heating and a secondary suspended ceiling with associated fibre insulation. Upgrading the heating and ventilation system by installing a new control system will reduce energy wastage and installing a new lighting system with occupancy detection and high energy light fittings will further contribute to reducing carbon emissions. The project would seek to quantify these reductions by monitoring the amount of energy used before and after installation of the improvements. The application suggests that carbon reductions resulting from the improvement measures for which funding is being applied could be in the region of 8,620Kg CO2/Yr; this assumption is based on a energy consumption and efficiency feasibility study produced for the Hall by Neil Richards, Property Services, Lancashire County Council. Does the project help communities to cope with the impacts of climate change? How? Who are the principal beneficiaries of this adaptation? (see Q5&6)

Yes

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The project will assist all members of the local community using the Hall to cope with the impacts of climate change by adopting mitigation measures to reduce the energy demands of the building and improve efficiency in the operation of the building’s heating, ventilation and lighting systems, thereby reducing the carbon emissions derived from human activity. Does the project seek to educate and raise awareness of the need for action on climate change? How and with whom? (see Q8)

Yes

The project will seek to raise awareness of the need for action on climate change by posting a ‘feature’ on the Hall’s notice boards about the project and why it is needed. The notice board is viewed frequently by all users. *Does the project involve/benefit the wider community? (see Q8,9&19)

Yes

The wider community will benefit from the project as the Hall is in regular use by local community groups who will be advised of the changes and instructed in how to operate the new heating, ventilation and lighting systems to ensure maximum efficiency and reduction in energy consumption. The applicant estimates that on average approximately 400 people per week use the Hall.

Has the applicant carried out any local community consultation? (see Q8,9&19) What type of consultation? (e.g. questionnaire, public meeting, community appraisal)

No

The applicant has not specifically carried out any local community consultation with regard to the project. Does the project seek to install and use renewable energy technology? What justification has the applicant provided for their choice of technology? (see Q11)

No

Does the project seek to protect or conserve important habitats and species? How does this activity contribute to addressing climate change? (see Q5&12)

No

Financial Information (see Q15) *Has the applicant provided breakdown of project costs? Yes *Do these costs seem reasonable? Yes Have any quotes/estimates been provided, where appropriate? Yes Do the total project costs equal total project funding? Yes How much grant has been requested from LL Climate Change Fund? £14,200.00 What percentage of project costs is the grant requested? (Guideline: up to 75% for voluntary organisations and parish/town councils, up to 90% for community groups) 75.5% Has the applicant detailed any match-funding? Is this cash or in-kind? Has it been confirmed?

Yes

Cash: £2,600– Freckleton Village Memorial Hall Charity Timescale (see Q17) Does the project seem realistic and achievable within the given timescale? Yes Completion within a year of securing all funding. Permissions (see Q18) Does the project require any permissions (e.g. planning, building regulations.)? No

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If these have not been given, is the application process for permission likely to delay the project being delivered? Evaluation (see Q7) Has the applicant outlined how they believe they can measure the success of the project? Yes The project’s success will be measured by monitoring the amount of energy used per annum before the efficiency improvements and after. Exit Strategy (see Q20) Has the applicant outlined a sustainable exit strategy? Do they foresee applying to grant-making bodies for additional funding in the future?

Yes

The insulation, heating, ventilation and lighting improvements will be maintained by the Freckleton Village Memorial Hall Charity as part of the Hall’s ongoing running costs. Whilst the applicant does not rule out applying to other grant making bodies in the future, where funding is available, this is not a prerequisite for maintenance. Appraiser’s Comments Through the use of energy efficiency and consumption reduction measures this project will at the local level act to impact carbon emissions and reduce fossil fuel consumption. Principal Project / Fund Publicity Opportunities Grant Award/Project Completion Recommendation Approve Conditions of Grant

• Records of energy consumption by the Hall in the 12mths prior to and after project completion be submitted with the project report form.

• A ‘feature’ should be posted on all Hall notice boards about the project and why it is

needed

• Accompanied access to County Council staff to inspect the scheme to be allowed at reasonable times.

• Any publicity for the scheme shall note the contribution made by Lancashire County

Council Climate Change Fund.

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Lancashire Local – Fylde Meeting to be held on 27 January 2009

Part I - Item No. 7

Electoral Division affected: All in Fylde

Regeneration of Libraries in Fylde 2009/10 (Appendix ‘A’ refers) Contact for further information: Julie Bell, (01772) 536727, Lancashire County Council, Adult and Community Services Directorate, [email protected] Executive Summary Capital funding has been made available to the County Library and Information Service in order to Regenerate libraries. Carnforth and Ingol were completed in the first phase in 2007/08. Phase two, which includes nine libraries, has been approved and building work is due to start soon. Thirteen libraries are long listed for Phase three, should the capital programme receive approval. These include St Annes Library in Fylde. A report was presented to the Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services in July 2008, and the Cabinet Member requested that Lancashire Locals be consulted. Decision Required Lancashire Local – Fylde is requested to: (i) consider and make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Adult and

Community Services that St Annes be included on the list for Phase Three of the Regenerate programme, or;

(ii) make alternative recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services considering other libraries within the District.

Details of St Annes Library are set out at Appendix ‘A’. Background In summer 2006, a Task Group of Lancashire County Council's Communities and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee undertook a review of the Lancashire County Library and Information Service (LCLIS). As part of that review, the Scrutiny Task Group made 36 recommendations, which included Recommendation 30: Cabinet develop a long term capital investment programme for the library estate.

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- 2 -

Recommendation 31: LCLIS should develop an ongoing programme of refurbishment and modernisation which delivers a network of libraries which are fit for the 21st Century. In 2007/08 the County Council made budgetary provision of £295,000 in its capital programme for LCLIS. This was for a programme to “regenerate” libraries to create modern, attractive, flexible spaces from which staff could deliver the wide range of services, traditional and new, which are expected by local communities. With this funding Carnforth and Ingol Libraries were regenerated to create flexible space based on community need. Prior to the work being done, LCLIS carried out an extensive consultation with the local communities – through a “Shape Your Space” questionnaire. The feedback from the questionnaires was used to inform the changes made in both libraries. These libraries were selected as they reflected designs replicated throughout the county and they had the potential to provide models for developments in similar types of libraries in future years. The results have seen these libraries transformed into bright attractive flexible spaces which have already proved popular with the local communities. Use has already increased in these libraries and the comments books have been populated with appreciative comments from all aspects of the local communities. In 2008, the LCLIS has been allocated £1.5 million to continue improving library stock. In July 2008 the Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services approved the criteria used and proposals for the selection of libraries for the next phase of the Regenerate Programme: Crawshawbooth (Rossendale) – a joint project with the Directorate for Children and Young People Poulton (Wyre) Euxton (Chorley) Kirkham (Fylde) Penwortham (South Ribble) Ormskirk (West Lancashire) Silverdale (Lancaster) Oswaldtwistle (Hyndburn) Briercliffe (Burnley) The criteria used for the selection of these particular libraries included:

• the design model of the library e.g. 1930s, 1960s; • suitability and condition surveys; • the cost of the Regenerate project based on previous Regenerate libraries; • location; • the potential for developing the space and attracting new partners; • accessibility; • opening hours; • the availability of additional funding through projects already determined

through the repairs and maintenance budget; and • a physical need for regeneration.

This criteria has also been used to prepare a long list for the Regenerate programme in 2009/10, should the capital bid for £1.5m be successful:

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Padiham (Burnley) Bacup (Rossendale) Pike Hill (Burnley) Whitworth (Rossendale) Leyland (South Ribble) Bamber Bridge (South Ribble) St Annes (Fylde) Lostock Hall (South Ribble) Accrington (Hyndburn) Thornton (Wyre) Brierfield (Pendle) Ribbleton (Preston) Longridge (Ribble Valley) Consultations Local communities will be consulted through the “Shape Your Space” questionnaire for all libraries included in the Regenerate project. Advice N/A Alternative options to be considered N/A Implications: e.g. Financial, Legal, Personnel, Human Rights, Crime and Disorder or Other This item has the following implications: N/A Risk management The Risk Register for the LCLIS is available in the current service plan. The main risk to the regenerate programme will be the lack of capital funding to deliver the project. Any representations made to the Directorate prior to the issue being considered in accordance with the Public Notice of Forward Plans Name: Organisation: Comments: N/A

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Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 List of Background Papers Paper Date Contact/Council/Tel No Report to the Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services – Regenerate Libraries 2008/09 Report to the Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services – Capital Programme Report to the Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services – 'A Strategic Review of Lancashire County Library and Information Service' Report to the Communities and Partnerships Overview and Scrutiny Committee – 'Libraries and Information Services Task Group - Final Report'

1 July 2008 8 February 2008 29 May 2007 14 September 2006

Dave Gorman, Lancashire County Council, (01772) 534261 Dave Gorman, Lancashire County Council, (01772) 534261 Dave Gorman, Lancashire County Council, (01772) 534261 Josh Mynott, Lancashire County Council, (01772) 534580

Reason for inclusion in Part II, if appropriate N/A

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Appendix ‘A’

Proposals for Libraries to be Regenerated 2009/2010

District Branch Criteria Fylde

St Annes

• St Annes was built using a donation from Andrew Carnegie, and

opened in 1906. It has grade 2 listed status. The main part of the building is square. An extension was added in the 1920s, which now houses a junior library, a reference/reading room and staff workroom. The library is single-story, but does have a basement. Small staff car park at the rear, but on street parking is plentiful.

• Situated on a main road about a quarter of a mile from the town

centre, in a largely residential area • The library grounds are currently mostly laid to grass. A Friends of the

Library Group was formed in June 2008; one of their first projects is to raise funds to develop the grounds to make a community space and reading garden. Extensive community consultation has taken place and a design is about to be commissioned (due to be Jan 09) The group is also working on other ways to use the library building to provide more community engagement projects and events – but limited by the amount and type of space available. Extensive partnerships exist within the local area – schools, nurseries, Children’s Centre, Local Strategic Partnership, District Partnership Officer, Primary Care Trust, Fylde Borough Council, Age Concern, Fire Service, Town Council but potential for creating many more especially if interior space is made more flexible. There could be potential for re-assessing the uses made of different areas of the building (local property surveyor was consulted about this in 2004-5)

• There are no public toilets

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Appendix ‘A’ District Branch Criteria

• . Some exterior work to the bay windows is expected to be needed in the next couple of years (deterioration of sandstone due to prevailing winds)

• Some parts of interior decoration are very poor; others have been

‘patched’. A large part of the roof has been waterproofed, but lead has been stolen regularly in the last year, and damp patches on the ceiling have not been repaired. No major redecoration in the last five years.

Summary of other libraries in the District

• Kirkham

Phase Two Regenerate programme – 2008/2009

• Ansdell

New build in 1990 and fit for purpose

• Freckleton New build in 1980. The library would benefit from the Regenerate programme as it is looking tired internally. It is the same design as Ingol Library and would benefit from improved lighting and redecoration. It is well used by the public and we have recently improved the opening hours. This was well received by Lancashire Local and the wider community.

• Lytham

Fylde Borough Council owns the building. A working party is currently examining the full potential of the building. Internally redecorated in 2008.

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Lancashire Local – Fylde Meeting to be held on 27 January 2009

Part I - Item No. 9

Electoral Divisions affected: All in Fylde

Customer Access – Face to Face Strategy (Appendix ‘A’ refers) Contact for further information: Karen McCann, (01772) 537111, Lancashire County Council, Adult and Community Services Directorate [email protected] Executive Summary Lancashire County Council has an ambitious Customer Access Strategy which aims to improve the way our citizens are able to access the services we provide. The Customer Access Strategy covers the following three main service delivery streams:

1. Self service (web); 2. Telephone; and 3. Face to Face

This report concentrates specifically on the Face to Face delivery stream and outlines the work currently being undertaken following full approval of the strategy by Cabinet in April 2008. Decision Required Lancashire Local – Fylde is asked to comment on the report, as part of its shaping and influencing role. Background The Varney report (December 2006) described the need for local authorities to transform their services to provide a better service for citizens and a better deal for taxpayers. It focussed on the need to change the channels through which services are delivered and accessed. Wherever possible, citizens need to be encouraged and supported to use the self service and telephony delivery streams. Those who are unable, or unwilling, to use the self service or telephony streams, need to be identified for a targeted Face to Face service. Face to Face

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The findings of the Varney report and Lancashire County Council’s Equality of Access research study (2006) were considered, alongside other supporting information. Together these confirmed that certain citizens are more likely to be unable or perhaps unwilling to use the internet or the telephone to access services. These citizens can broadly be split into the following groups, highlighted as being more likely to require a Face to Face service:

• Older people (65+) • Disabled people • Black and Minority Ethnic Community citizens • Rural communities • Disadvantaged communities

The Face to Face approach has been developed in a way that complements the work of the two more-established delivery streams (self service and telephony), by working to identify and bridge any existing and/or emerging gaps between the customer and the internet/telephony access routes. It also ensures links into other corporate-wide strategies or agendas, including:

• the Transformational Programme for Business Change; • the Adult and Community Services “Help Direct” development; • the Equality and Diversity agenda; • the Locality agenda; and • the Community Cohesion agenda.

The Corporate Face to Face Access Team has undertaken research and development in order to inform the planning of this delivery stream, with initial activity split into two phases to provide both a county-wide and a district level perspective. Both phases involved experienced Customer Service Officers (CSOs), using mobile technology, visiting a variety of sites to determine the most appropriate venues and to explore the most appropriate service delivery channels to enable the County Council to successfully target its delivery to those identified as requiring a Face to Face offer. The work was threefold and included:

• service access, using mobile technology linked to the corporate network;

• research of need, using citizen focused questionnaires; and • venue evaluation, using 360 degree questionnaires and exit

interviews. Pilot venues included libraries, children’s centres, supermarkets, District Councils’ one stop shops, schools and even citizen’s homes. Over 2,000 citizens completed questionnaires, in over 100 venues and all 12 District Councils were involved.

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Analysis of these findings established the need for the Face to Face strategy to be flexible and responsive, providing different service offer levels at different times of the year, in a variety of venues, based on analysis of the research and need identified and in a way that keeps it informed, flexible and responsive to the changing needs of our citizens. Consequently, a “fixed and flexible” offer will be provided, as follows: Fixed Offer: • guaranteed and advertised “access” to information and services via local

venues. • incorporating all three delivery streams and resulting in 12 district maps

showing where people can go to access free internet, free direct dial phones and actual face to face support in local community venues. This latter element will be delivered by existing staff – those already working in fixed bases across the county, including County Council staff (Library, corporate receptionists etc) and Partner staff (including district staff) who will all be given the necessary access and training to use our Acorn system in order to offer consistent, high quality, validated information about county services.

The fixed offer will be supplemented and informed by the…….

Flexible offer: • specifically aimed at reaching and supporting five key target groups. • involving fully trained CSOs from the Customer Service Centre (CSC)

operating as outreach officers attending ad-hoc, sessional activity that takes place in each specific district, arranged either by the County Council or one of our increasing number of partner organisations. This can include activity linked to our target groups – i.e. prayer groups for our Eastern European citizens and/or Older People line dancing sessions or, alternatively, activity can be linked to specific service delivery activity – i.e. on-line school admissions support sessions.

• these CSOs will mirror the offer being made by our district partners by

helping citizens to access information and services about both the county and district services, using mobile technology, linked to both systems.

• the mobile team will act as the eyes and ears of the authority by forging

links with the community, citizens and service providers and undertaking ongoing research, to identify and report on the changing needs of citizens and communities.

• another key part of their role will be to support and promote all three

delivery streams by acting as channel change agents - supporting citizens to access services using the most efficient and effective channels (internet

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and telephone), wherever possible and appropriate. During the pilot, this has been very productive, with CSOs taking every opportunity to show citizens the internet, set them up with email accounts and advise them about venues where free internet access and/or training is available.

We have also been developing the way we use technology and information in order to deliver services in a way that better meets the needs of our citizens i.e:

• TellyTalk – a video conferencing facility at Accrington library which enables a citizen visiting the library to see, hear and speak to an officer based at the CSC in Preston, and to access information and advice on all county services. This facility has the ability to capture photographs, signatures and documents and to transfer them to/from citizen and CSC officer in live time, therefore providing a much quicker, easier and cheaper way of delivering services i.e. the replacement of a Blue Badge. Approval for funding has now been granted for a TellyTalk unit in each of the 12 districts. The location of each unit will be proposed and agreed by the District Implementation Groups (DIGs). The suppliers of TellyTalk are also actively developing a mobile version to increase its availability to a wide range of customers.

• A-Z sharing with districts – the A-Z’s are the separate lists of service

information used by the county and districts. We are currently exploring how we and our district partners can share this information with each other, in order that we can provide basic service information, on each others’ behalf, in a way that will make far more sense to the citizen. A Data Sharing Protocol (DSP) has now been developed with our legal team, in consultation with the phase one district legal teams. This agreement will enable us to share information with our partners by providing access to the relevant and appropriate sections of each others systems. This means that our fixed offer, to enable District Council staff to provide information on LCC services and vice versa, will soon be possible. We are now putting the plans in place to ensure that the ICT element of the process is enabled and everything runs smoothly when we are ready to launch in 2009.

• Training of County Council front line staff – we have identified County

Council officers that regularly come into direct contact with citizens and plan to train them to access and use the A-Z, again enabling them to help citizens with a range of information. This process has already started and has included 72 library staff in 9 libraries, and all the County Council corporate receptionists. A Training Officer has been seconded from the Library service onto the Face to Face Team, to enable this process to happen faster.

• Life Events – we recognise that people have different needs at different

times of their life and relating to different events that occur. We are currently working at identifying and linking together relevant services in a way that will help the citizen, will reduce the number of times they

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have to contact us/our partners, will flag up linked services they may not yet have considered or known about, and will help us to identify when we need to make appropriate referrals to relevant partners/service providers. We are initially concentrating on the following three key Life Events:

1. Birth - being piloted through work with Children’s Centre’s in

South Ribble, who work with young families living in areas of deprivation.

2. Moving Home - being piloted through work with Elevate in Burnley, where a large proportion of the population has been displaced.

3. Bereavement - LCC are currently leading on a pilot project called Tell Us Once (TUO), which is being delivered in partnership with each of the 3 Phase 1 districts. This national project is being co-ordinated and funded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), and aims to establish the means and protocols necessary to enable the sharing of sensitive information with relevant organisations, to ease the process for the bereaved, and to reduce the overpayment of benefits/provision of costly services. The funding secured has enabled us to appoint a temporary (6 months) project team, involving officers from LCC and all three district partners, working collaboratively to help the DWP build the business case that will be used to assess the appropriateness of a national roll-out of the TUO service.

The Flexible offer will be provided by the following team, the establishment of which was approved by Cabinet in April 2008:

• 1 x Team Leader; • 12 x Mobile Customer Services Officers; and • 4 x Mobile Customer Services Officers (Bi-lingual)

Consultation/communication In addition to background research provided by the Equal Access research study and the “fieldwork” undertaken by the pilot, the Team also undertook various consultation exercises to enable us to obtain the input of as many people as possible before our strategy was submitted for approval to Cabinet in April 2008 including:

• Locality Focus Groups (LFG) – updates are regularly provided to each group, to ensure key officers and councillors are informed of the proposals and encouraged to contribute their views and suggestions. Many successful leads have been obtained via this route and feedback has been extremely positive.

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• Lancashire Locals – as above, updates are regularly provided to all District Partnership Officers with the offer of presentations and/or reports to Lancashire Locals meetings.

• Face to Face information event – 30 January 2008 – we held an

information event that was attended by over 100 interested parties, stakeholders and colleagues.

• DVD – we have a Customer Access Strategy DVD which is being

shown to a wide variety of groups and partner organisations and can be viewed via the following link: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/csc%5Fvideos/

• “Access Lancashire” business cards and bookmarks are now available,

promoting the self serve and telephony contact channels. Face to Face Stream Implementation The strategy was approved by Cabinet on 4 April 2008 and the implementation phase has now begun, which will be done on a phased basis. The phased timetable for implementing the strategy in each district was agreed by the Cabinet Working Group on 7 May 2008 as follows:

1. Phase 1 - Burnley, Chorley and South Ribble by 30 September 2008; 2. Phase 2 - Fylde, Lancaster and Rossendale by 31 March 2009; and 3. Phase 3 - Hyndburn, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, West Lancashire,

Wyre by 30 September 2009. It was agreed that a Face to Face proposal will be created for each district, tailored to identify and address the needs of each different community. The proposals for Phase one were completed in September 2008, and were shared with the respective Lancashire Locals before being submitted to the Corporate Face to Face Steering group in October, where they received full approval. An example of a Face to Face proposal document (in this instance, Burnley) is set out at Appendix ‘A’. This work is being led by the Face to Face Implementation Team who are establishing District Implementation Groups (DIGs) in each of the 12 districts comprising:

1. Business Development Officer, Face to Face Implementation Team 2. a representative from each County Council Directorate 3. a representative from the District 4. Libraries 5. Help Direct Gateway 6. District Partnership Officer 7. Primary Care Trust

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8. Police 9. Fire Service, etc

District Implementation Groups have now been established for each of the Phase 2 districts and these groups are currently working on their district specific proposals. Authority for approving the Face to Face proposals was delegated to Lancashire Locals in December 2008 and therefore all Phase 2 and 3 proposals will be following this approvals route. Advice N/A Alternative options to be considered N/A Implications: e.g. Financial, Legal, Personnel, Human Rights, Crime, Disorder, Other N/A Any representations made to the Directorate prior to the issue being considered in accordance with the Public Notice of Forward Plans Name: Organisation: Comments: N/A

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 List of Background Papers

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Paper Date Contact/Council/Tel No Customer Access Strategy - Face to Face Strategy Report to Cabinet - Customer Access Report to Cabinet - Customer Access Equal Access Research Project Customer Access Strategy - A Governance Framework Overview & Scrutiny -Shared Services Contact Centre Review Audit Commission - Performance Summary Report

April 2008 July 2007 February 2007 December 2006 September 2006 August 2006 June 2006

Karen McCann/Lancashire County Council/(01772) 537111

“ “ “ “ “ “

Reason for inclusion in Part II, if appropriate N/A

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APPENDIX A

Burnley District Proposal

For

FACE to FACE ACCESS

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CONTENTS PAGE 1. Introduction 3 2. Background 4 3. District profile: 10

a) Makeup 10 b) Geography 11 c) Service Access Issues 12 d) Face to Face Research Findings 13

4. Recommendations: 15

a) Service Access 15 b) Fixed/Flexible Offer and TellyTalk 16 c) District map showing access coverage 18

5. Timeframe/Implementation Plan 20 6. Promotional Activity 21 7. Community Cohesion 22 8. Sharing Best Practice 23 9. Special Projects/Innovative Solutions 24 10. Approvals Process 26

APPENDICES Terms of Reference and Group Membership Agreed Information Sharing Protocol

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1. Introduction Lancashire County Council has an ambitious Customer Access Strategy (CAS) which aims to improve the way our citizens are able to access the services we provide. The CAS covers the following three main service delivery streams:

1. Self service (web) 2. Telephone 3. Face to Face

This report concentrates specifically on the Face to Face delivery stream and outlines the work currently being undertaken following full approval of the strategy by Cabinet in April 2008.

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2. Background The Varney report (December 2006) described the need for local authorities to transform their services to provide a better service for citizens and a better deal for taxpayers. It focussed on the need to change the channels through which services are delivered and accessed. Wherever possible, citizens need to be encouraged and supported to use the self service and telephony delivery streams. Those who are unable, or unwilling, to use the self service or telephony streams, need to be identified for a targeted Face to Face service. The findings of the Varney report and Lancashire County Councils Equality of Access research study (2006) were considered, alongside other supporting information. Together these confirmed that certain citizens are more likely to be unable or perhaps unwilling to use the internet or the telephone to access services. These citizens can broadly be split into the following groups, highlighted as being more likely to require a Face to Face service:-

• Older people (65+) • Disabled people • BME citizens • Rural communities • Disadvantaged communities

The Face to Face approach has been developed in a way that complements the work of the two more-established delivery streams (self service and telephony) by working to identify and bridge any existing and/or emerging gaps between the customer and the internet/telephony access routes. It also ensures links into other corporate-wide strategies or agendas, including:

• the Transformational Programme for Business Change • the Adult & Community Services “Help Direct” development • the Equality & Diversity agenda • the Locality agenda • the Community Cohesion agenda

The Corporate Face to Face Access team has undertaken research and development in order to inform the planning of this delivery stream, with initial activity split into two phases to provide both a county-wide and a district level perspective. Both phases involved experienced Customer Service Officers (CSO), using mobile technology, visiting a variety of sites to determine the most appropriate venues and to explore the most appropriate service delivery channels to enable us to successfully target our delivery to those identified as requiring a Face to Face offer. Their work was threefold and included:

• Service access, using mobile technology linked to the corporate network. • Research of need, using citizen focused questionnaires. • Venue evaluation, using 360 degree questionnaires and exit interviews.

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Pilot venues included libraries, children’s centres, supermarkets, District Councils’ one stop shops, schools and even citizen’s homes. Over 2,000 citizens completed questionnaires, in over 100 venues and all 12 District Councils were involved. Early and ongoing analysis of these findings has established the need for the Face to Face strategy to be flexible and responsive, providing different service offer levels at different times of the year, in a variety of venues, based on analysis of the research and need identified and in a way that keeps it informed, flexible and responsive to the changing needs of our citizens. Consequently, we will be providing a “fixed and flexible” offer.

a) Fixed offer

• Guaranteed and advertised “access” to information and services via local venues. • Incorporating all 3 delivery streams and resulting in 12 district maps showing

where people can go to access free internet, free direct dial phones and actual face to face support in local community venues. This latter element will be delivered by existing staff – those already working in fixed bases across the county, including LCC staff (Library, corporate receptionists etc) and Partner staff (including district staff) who will all be given the necessary access and training to use our Acorn system in order to offer consistent, high quality, validated information about county services.

b) Flexible offer

• Specifically aimed at reaching and supporting our 5 key target groups. • Involving fully trained CSO’s from the CSC operating as outreach officers

attending ad-hoc, sessional activity that takes place in each specific district, arranged either by LCC or one of our increasing number of partner organisations. This can include activity linked to our target groups – i.e. prayer groups for our Eastern European citizens and/or OAP line dancing sessions or, alternatively, activity can be linked to specific service delivery activity – i.e. on-line school admissions support sessions.

• these CSO’s will mirror the offer made by our district partners by helping citizens

to access information and services about both the county and district services and other partner information, using mobile technology, linked to both systems.

• The mobile team will act as the eyes and ears of the authority by forging links with

the community, citizens and service providers and undertaking ongoing research to identify and report on the changing needs of citizens and communities.

• Another key part of their role will be to support and promote all three delivery

streams by acting as channel change agents - supporting citizens to access services using the most efficient and effective channels (internet and telephone), wherever possible and appropriate. During the pilot this has been very productive, with CSO’s taking every opportunity to show citizens the internet, set them up with email accounts and advise them about venues where free internet access and/or training is available.

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3. District Profile a) Makeup Burnley’s majority ethnic group are white (91%) but there is also a significant Asian heritage community in the area 7.1%, compared to the figure for England (5.3%)1 and Lancashire (5.9%). The majority of the Asian population is of Pakistani origin (5%). The second largest Asian heritage group is of Bangladeshi origin (2%). The Asian population as a whole is concentrated in the three wards of Daneshouse with Stoneyholme with 62% of the population, Bank Hall 11% and Queensgate 10%.2 In 2003 the population of the Borough was estimated to be 88,5003. In contrast to the county and the nation as a whole, the size of Burnley’s population has been in long-term decline. It is estimated by Office of National Statistics (ONS) that, under current conditions, Burnley’s overall population will fall to 82,700 by 2028. This decline in population is not reflected across the region so is a rare phenomenon. Internal UK migration figures show the age that people are most likely to leave Burnley, rather than move to Burnley, is between 15 and 29. There is very little or no net loss from the older population groups. The Burnley Health Profile for 2008, published by the Association of Public Health Authorities, reveals that the profile is generally worse than the England average. Particular issues include hospital stays related to alcohol, male and female life expectancy, and early deaths from heart disease and stroke.

1 Office for National Statistics, 2005 estimates 2 Burnley Snapshot 2005, Burnley Borough Council 3 2003 Mid year Population Estimates, ONS

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b) Geography Burnley is located in the Pennine Hills which are in the east of Lancashire, in the north west of England. The principle road route to Burnley is the M65, which links the area to the other Lancashire towns of Colne and Nelson to the north, and Accrington, Blackburn and Preston to the west, as well as the wider national motorway network. The town has two central train stations: Manchester Road – which serves the cross Pennine route from York and Leeds to Preston and Blackpool and Burnley Central – which is on the route that links Colne to Preston and Blackpool. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal runs through the town and historically is one of the significant reasons for the town’s economic growth. The whole borough covers an area of 42 square miles, but the majority of this space is rural or moor land. The urban area of Burnley itself covers approximately 6 square miles and Padiham covers 1.22 square miles4. The principle towns in the borough are Burnley and the market town of Padiham, but there are distinct neighbourhoods within the towns such as Burnley Wood and Daneshouse, suburban areas such as Ightenhill and Lowerhouse as well as villages in the rural outskirts such as Brownside and Worsthorne.

4 Burnley Snapshot 2005, Burnley Borough Council

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c) Service Access Issues linked to the Face to Face Strategy Rural Areas At ward level, the variation in income levels between the most and the least affluent wards in the district is quite noticeable. Affluent rural areas recorded relatively high average income levels that contrast noticeably with wards in central Burnley. However, these affluent rural areas often lack venues for service delivery so are still considered disadvantaged in that respect. Disadvantaged Communities Burnley contains some extremely deprived neighbourhoods with approximately 25% of the population living in areas classified in the top 10% most deprived in England5. Burnley has to contend with the numerous problems and issues that lead to deprivation on a large scale that equates to larger cities and towns. There is therefore a need to bridge the gap around service inequality and overall deprivation levels. BME Communities With a significant Asian Heritage community residing in Burnley there is a need to improve access to services for this community via the face to face delivery stream. Within the Customer Access Face to Face Research Project, 54% of the BME community consulted, said they preferred to access services via face to face. This corresponds with the Lancashire County Council Equality of Access study which reports that the BME community’s preference for face to face is likely to be because they have a “limited use of English and need more time to communicate”. 5 2004 Index of Deprivation, ODPM

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d) Face to Face Research Findings To build upon the recommendations of Varney and the findings of the Equal Access Research Study, the Corporate Face to Face Access team has undertaken additional research and development in order to inform the planning of the Face to Face Access strategy. The research project aimed to identify the best way to offer Face to Face service access to the citizens of Lancashire. Over 2,000 citizens completed questionnaires, in over 100 venues and all 12 District Councils were involved. The following shows the Burnley results in comparison to the Countywide results:

Question asked

Countywide Research result

Burnley result

How would you prefer to contact Lancashire County Council?

• Face to Face 41% 43% • Telephone 54% 55% • Email/Online 5% 2%

Are you aware there is a Customer Service Centre for Lancashire County Council services and enquiries?

• Yes 25% 19% • No 75% 81%

Have you used it? • Yes 20% 13% • No 80% 87%

Do you think you would use it in the future? • Yes 88% 80% • No 12% 20%

Are you aware that Lancashire County Council has a website that provides information on all Lancashire County Council services?

• Yes 33% 20% • No 67% 80%

Have you used it? • Yes 13% 9% • No 87% 91%

Do you think you would use it in the future? • Yes 56% 51% • No 44% 49%

Are you: • Male 38% 41% • Female 62% 59%

Are you 60+? • Yes 53% 32% • No 47% 68%

Are you a BME citizen? • Yes 8% 8%

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• No 92% 92% Do you consider yourself to have a disability?

• Yes 29% 22% • No 71% 78%

Do you consider yourself to live in a rural area? • Yes 31% 20% • No 69% 80%

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4. Recommendations Service Access Issues The face to face team and the DIG have established that there are particular service access issues relating to some of Burnleys face to face target groups, as outlined in the District Profile section of this proposal, see page 13. It is accepted that these issues will change over time and as new issues emerge, these will be investigated and built into the delivery plan. However, currently, the following are seen as the key areas to concentrate on: Rural Areas: As detailed on page 13, rural areas often lack venues for service delivery. To respond to this a Face to Face CSO will link in with the mobile library which travels through the Cliviger with Worsthorne ward. They will provide access to Lancashire County Council and partner services but also to ascertain from Cliviger residents how they would like to access services which would then inform future developments within the Customer Access Strategy. Disadvantaged Communities: As detailed on page 13, Burnley contains some extremely deprived neighbourhoods. The Face to Face team are therefore providing flexible sessions within the most deprived areas and this will hopefully go some way in reducing the gap of service inequality in these areas. Further details of these flexible sessions can be found in the table on page 18. BME Communities: As detailed on page 13, there is a significant Asian Heritage community residing in Burnley. The Face to Face team are providing flexible sessions in a number of venues that have a high footfall from the Asian Heritage community including the Chai Centre and also one off events such as the Masjid Ibrahim Mosque Open Day. The Face to Face team also have four Bi-lingual CSO’s who between them can speak Punjabi, Hindu, Urdu, Gujarati, Polish, Russian, Slovakian and German and this should help in improving access to services by the BME communities.

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The Fixed / Flexible Offer and Telly Talk Fixed Offer 1. Libraries

Burnley and Padiham libraries will have access to the Corporate Information Database (CID) via Acorn and will receive the necessary training to deliver the fixed offer. There will be a rollout programme of training for the remaining five libraries in Burnley, timescales of which are yet to be determined. 2. District Councils Burnley Borough Council One Stop Shop (Contact Burnley) will have access to the LCC A-Z in the first instance, with the LCC CSO’s having access to the Contact Burnley A-Z as a reciprocal arrangement for when they are delivering the flexible offer. Flexible Offer Activity will continue to concentrate on the main issues facing the Borough and will link to our main five target groups. It is important to clarify that this delivery plan is a work in progress and will be updated over time as new venues and issues emerge pertaining to Burnley. The table on the next page illustrates current flexible activity together with details of the target groups it is aimed at. Online School Admissions – there will be specific support available by the CSO’s to parents applying for school places online, venues in Burnley are to be confirmed. TellyTalk TellyTalk is a video conferencing facility that is currently being piloted at Accrington library. It enables a citizen visiting the library to see, hear and speak to an officer based at the Customer Service Centre (CSC) in Preston and access information and advice on all county services. This facility has the ability to capture photographs, signatures and documents and to transfer them to/from citizen and CSC officer in live time therefore providing a much quicker, easier and cheaper way of delivering services i.e. the replacement of a Blue Badge. Funding has been agreed to provide a TellyTalk unit in each of the 12 districts and the following venues are being considered in Burnley, as recommended by the DIG: • Burnley Library • Contact Burnley • St Peter’s Primary Healthcare Centre Having put together an options appraisal which outlined the positives and negatives of all three venues, it was felt by the DIG that Burnley Library would be the best venue to house the TellyTalk unit. This appraisal and recommendation will go to the TellyTalk Project Group first who will then make their recommendation to the Corporate Face to Face Steering Group.

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Target Groups June 2008 July 2008

August 2008 Sept 2008

October 2008 Nov 2008 Dec 2008

January 2009

February 2009

March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009

August 2009 Sept 2009

Age Concern (tbc) 1, 2Briercliffe LibraryBurnley 0-19 Campus (tbc) 1, 2, 3Burnley BC One Stop ShopBurnley Community Festival All 31st

Burnley General Hospital (tbc) All

Burnley Neighbourhood Management meetings

1, 2, 3, 5 6th & 27th

Burnley Wood Children's Centre 3 24th 7th

Calico Housing (tbc) 1, 2, 3, 5

Coal Clough LibraryHoward Street Community Health Centre (tbc) 2, 3, 5Lancs Fire & Rescue Open Day All 19thMasjid Ibrahim Mosque 1, 2, 3 11th

Mobile Library 2, 4

Over 50's Club 2, 3 23rd

Padiham Town Hall 2, 3, 4 24th & 31st

Pike Hill Library

Rosegrove Library

St Peters (Primary Healthcare Centre) 1, 2, 3, 5

28th 1st, 12th, 26th

The Chai Centre 1, 3 13th & 19th

Key:

Service Delivery Fixed Flexible TellyTalk

Target Groups BME 1 Over 60's 2 3 Rural 4 Disabled 5

TBC Those venues that are tbc have confirmed their interest in becomnig a flexible venue but dates for flexible sessions have yet to be decided.

Padiham Library

Free Internet Access

Timetable of fixed and flexible activity in Burnley

Burnley Library

Disadvantaged

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This map shows the activity planned in the Burnley area. It enables any gaps for service delivery to be identified. As the project continues, venues will be added to the map. Ultimately the Face to Face Venue maps will be available as a resource on the Lancashire County Council GIS system.

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Proposed Access Points in Burnley

No. Venue Free

Internet Access

Fixed Venue

Flexible Venue

1 Burnley BC One Stop Shop √ 2 Burnley Library √ √ 3 Padiham Library √ √ 4 Burnley Wood Children's Centre √ 5 The Chai Centre √ 6 Padiham Town Hall √ 7 Burnley 0-19 Campus (tbc) √ 8 Burnley General Hospital (tbc) √ 9 Howard Street (PCT venue) √ 10 St Peters Primary Healthcare Centre √ 11 Rosegrove Library √ 12 Coal Clough Library √ 13 Pike Hill Library √ 14 Briercliffe Library √ Venues currently being investigated and therefore not yet on the map include:

• Age Concern; • Burnley Neighbourhood Management Meetings; • Calico Housing; • Mobile Library Unit; • St Stephens Over 50’s Club

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5. Timeframe/Implementation Plan The strategy was approved by cabinet on 4th April 2008 and therefore we have now moved into the implementation phase, which will be completed on a phased basis. The phased timetable for implementing the strategy in each district was agreed by the Cabinet Working group on 7th May 2008”. Proposals will be produced for;

1. Burnley, Chorley, South Ribble – by 30/9/08 2. Fylde, Lancaster & Rossendale – by 31/3/09 3. Wyre, Pendle, Ribble Valley, Preston, West Lancs, Hyndburn - by 30/9/09

A District specific Face to Face proposal will be created for each district area, tailored to identify and address the needs of each different community. This work will be led by the Face to Face Implementation Team who will establish District Implementation Groups (DIGs) in each of the 12 districts, comprising:

1. Business Development Officer, Face to Face Implementation Team 2. a representative from each LCC directorate 3. a representative from the District 4. Libraries 5. Help Direct Gateway 6. District Partnership Officer 7. PCT 8. Police 9. Fire Service etc

These groups will work together to create a District Specific proposal for their area, which will then be shared with the relevant Lancashire Local before being submitted to the Corporate Face to Face Steering Group for final approval.

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6. Promotional Activity All promotional activity is outlined within the Face to Face Marketing and Communications plan, co-ordinated by our Marketing and Communications Officer. Branding The Access Lancashire logo was created in March 2007. The design around the logo to create the branding e.g. using the secondary Lancashire County Council colour of green and sitting alongside and complementing the Lancashire County Council logo, aims to represent the Customer Access Strategy. In time this will become the symbol for Lancashire citizens who will recognise it as being able to access Lancashire County Council services. Work is also being undertaken with the Corporate Marketing Team to ensure that the Access Lancashire brand is as visible as possible throughout the county. Local activity In each District there will be various local promotional activities that we will link in to. For Burnley these include Burnley community radio, 2BR radio and local newspapers and publications. The key promotional opportunities lie with the more permanent elements of the proposal such as Telly Talk and the fixed offer, however if we are attending one off events like the Burnley Community Festival which are promoted locally then inclusion in the promotional materials would be arranged. It is therefore important that any promotional opportunities that manifest themselves around the flexible events need to be acted upon quickly so as not to miss the chance to piggy back onto any activity. Joint campaigns There are various partner publications and campaigns that we will link into including CVS and parish council newsletters. The Face to Face project will also be promoted via the Police PACT meetings that happen every six weeks with the Neighbourhood Management Team and other local agencies. Promotional Material When delivering the flexible offer, the CSO’s always have one of the Access Lancashire sidewinders on display, which clearly indicates our identity and purpose. Business cards and bookmarks have also been created in line with the Access Lancashire branding and, in time, other promotional material will be developed to complement and promote all three of the customer access delivery streams.

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7. Community Cohesion Community cohesion in Lancashire means people working together and respecting the differences in our society. Strategic Strategically there is a need to break down the barriers that prevent certain elements of our community linking with each other and accessing much needed services. One of our responses is the appointment of 4 Bi-lingual CSO’s, speaking a range of Asian and Eastern European languages. In Burnley The Face to Face team have recently attended a Mosque Open day where information was received about other linked events such as Building Bridges who develop interfaith activity to promote knowledge and understanding of different faith communities in the borough.

Sessional events are also taking place at the Chai Centre which is in the ward of Daneshouse and Stoneyholme where 62% of the population are of Asian heritage.6 The centre which is a combined children’s centre and Healthy Living centre is increasingly used by all faiths and cultures and we hope that future activity concentrated in this venue will encourage its use by residents, from all walks of life and will help build towards greater community cohesion. Potential A good example of the sort of opportunities around community cohesion is taking place in the Chorley district where a session was arranged for Polish people to access the internet. Members of the Asian community were also invited along and it ended up that both communities were helping each other to use the internet.

6 Burnley Snapshot 2005, Burnley Borough Council

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8. Sharing Best Practice Throughout the work that the Face to Face team are undertaking, it is becoming more and more apparent that there are opportunities to share best practice and to work across the districts in Lancashire. An example of this is from the more established face to face work that has been happening in Chorley:

Whilst working with the Polish community in Chorley a good relationship was forged with a polish community leader working out of a local church. Running parallel to this, a small ESOL class was taking place in South Ribble in reaction to a growing number of Polish parents from Bamber Bridge sending their children to the adjacent school. The Face to Face team have since put the two parties in touch and the ESOL class is being advertised at the church in so more parents from the Polish community in Chorley can benefit from the ESOL class. This not only assists cross district working but also enables community leaders to learn from and assist each other but also helps the parents meet others from their own community facing the challenge of settling in a new country.

The East of the County also have an increasing Polish community and we plan to introduce the community leader to any contacts that are identified in the Burnley area to enable them to share experience and information to benefit their communities.

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9. Special Projects/Innovative Solutions In each district special projects have been identified that address specific needs of the district. There are some that already exist and others which are in the planning stages. Life Events – we recognise that people have different needs at different times of their life and relating to different events that occur. We are currently working at identifying and linking together relevant services in a way that will help the citizen, will reduce the number of times they have to contact us/our partners, will flag up linked services they may not yet have considered or known about and will help us to identify when we need to make appropriate referrals to relevant partners/service providers. We are initially concentrating on the following three key Life Events:

1. Birth – being piloted through work with Children’s Centre’s in South Ribble, who work with young families living in areas of deprivation. A diarised case study is also taking place of a pregnant lady who lives in South Ribble.

2. Moving Home – due to the Elevate project, a number of people are being rehomed within Burnley. Therefore links have been made with the Clearance team and the Neighbourhood Management team at Burnley Borough Council who are working with those residents.

3. Bereavement – the Tell Us Once project aims to establish the means and

protocols necessary to enable the sharing of sensitive information with relevant organisations to ease the process for the bereaved and to reduce the overpayment of benefits/provision of costly services. This project has been commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and managed by Lancashire County Council and a two-tiered approach with Chorley, Burnley and South Ribble District Councils is to be rolled out.

Primary Care Trust (PCT) – In Burnley The East Lancashire PCT have been an important partner for the Burnley Face to Face proposal with some of the PCT venues being vital to the flexible offer due to the target audience using the venues on a regular basis e.g. The Chai Centre and St Peter’s Primary Healthcare Centre. It is imperative to the success of the Face to Face project that we work with key partner agencies such as the PCT to identify opportunities to ‘join up’ service delivery for residents. A key PCT team for the CSO’s to link with is the Patient Advice and Liaison (PALS) team. Due to the nature of their enquiries, potential exists to provide access to the Corporate Information Database via Acorn for PALS staff and similarly provide LCC CSO’s with access to the PALs systems/information. In Other Districts In Chorley, South Ribble, Preston and West Lancashire, the Central Lancashire PCT are planning to link to planned venues such as the Equitable Access Centre’s and the Long Term Condition Centre’s.

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Building Schools for the Future (BSF) – Lancashire has been included in the first wave of the BSF programme which will support a transformation of secondary education and ensure that all secondary age children and young people have access to facilities of 21st Century standard. The intention is to renew and/or replace all secondary schools over a 10 to 15 year period beginning in 2005/2006. Under this new Capital Initiative, the Government is seeking to cover schools in Burnley and part of Pendle. In Burnley, the BSF programme will:

• replace the eight secondary schools, building five new 11-16 schools • build a new separate sixth form centre to replace existing school sixth forms • provide learning support units at each school • make all the new schools mixed schools • introduce new admission arrangements • co-locate special school provision with one of the proposed new schools

One of the new schools mentioned above is the Burnley Campus. The Burnley Campus will also be housing a brand new library. As outlined in the Fixed offering, library staff will be trained on how to deliver information via the Acorn system. Prior to this, we are also planning to provide flexible sessions at the venue. Elevate – Burnley has a well-documented problem with a high number of properties being unoccupied. There are strong links between vacant properties and the overall well being of a neighbourhood and its environment and these in turn result in the likelihood of increased crime, anti-social behaviour and levels of deprivation. Elevate is one of the Government’s Housing Market Renewal pathfinders, charged with finding innovative solutions to the problem of low demand and housing market collapse in towns across Pennine Lancashire. A major part of the programme focuses on improving the quality and diversity of the housing stock, but the challenge is greater than that. Sustainable neighbourhoods cannot be created through housing renewal alone. Elevate is working with public and private sector partners, to improve economic prosperity, the environment, community safety, cohesion, educational attainment and health, to make Pennine Lancashire a place where people choose to live, work, visit and relax.7 The Face to Face team are linking closely with the Neighbourhood Management team from Burnley Borough Council who are funded by Elevate to provide a service and to ensure that those people that are being displaced and rehomed do not fall underneath the radar. The Moving Home element of the Life Events project (see Special Projects / Innovative Solutions section for further information) will also aim to identify and link together relevant services in a way that will help the citizen, will reduce the number of times they have to contact LCC and our partners, will flag up linked services they may not yet have considered or known about and will help to identify when to make appropriate referrals to relevant partners/service providers.

7 Elevate East Lancashire website

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10. Approvals Process: This proposal will undergo the following consultation and approvals process: Lancashire Local – September 15th Face to Face Steering Group - Late September/early October Once the proposal has been approved, work will continue to develop the borough specific model to ensure it continues to respond to the changing needs of the citizens we all seek to serve.

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APPENDICES

Terms of Reference and Group Membership

LANCASHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

CUSTOMER ACCESS STRATEGY

Face to Face Implementation Group - Membership and Terms of Reference

Terms of Reference The purpose of the Face to Face Access Implementation Group is to support the work of Lancashire County Council in relation to the face to face element of the Customer Access Strategy by developing a District Implementation Proposal covering the Burnley district area. This proposal will be submitted to LCC’s Corporate F2F Steering Group for approval by 30th September 2008. Once approved the Implementation Group will act as a reference group/critical friend and will receive and comment on quarterly update reports. The group will fulfil this role by: • Recommending and agreeing the membership of the group in a way that will best

represent the demographics and needs of the district area being covered. • Developing and submitting a District F2F Proposal to the Corporate F2F Steering Group

informed by the findings of the following research:

o research into customer access trends within Lancashire, using a variety of information (including the Indices of Deprivation 2004, the Census of Population 2001, the Equal Access Report, the F2F pilot study etc);

o an audit of existing F2F delivery mechanisms within Lancashire and within existing

partnerships, to identify gaps in provision in terms of reaching the target groups;

o an audit of existing F2F information points across the agencies to identify gaps in provision in terms of geographical coverage;

o consultation with partner agencies to identify priority issues and create a baseline

against which future progress can be measured;

• Identifying and securing the commitment of relevant service delivery partners to ensure a joined up service delivery model, incorporating the FIXED and FLEXIBLE offers and involving officers from a range of organisations accessing each others information under the terms of the Data Sharing Protocol and the Reciprocal Arrangement agreement;

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• Shaping and influencing actions to improve Customer Access for citizens at the same time as identifying and supporting the aims of other associated strategic and locality agendas i.e. Accommodation Reviews, Channel Change etc;

• Monitoring progress and impacts against agreed targets and performance measures; • Keeping abreast of national activity, guidance, research and good practice on customer

access via F2F; • Making recommendations to the Corporate F2F Steering Group regarding any priorities,

strategies, policies and procedures necessary to the delivery of the implementation plan;

• Developing mechanisms for integrating improved F2F/Customer Access activities into organisational business planning and performance management systems;

Principles The Implementation Group will work to the following principles*: • Leadership: The members of the Implementation Group will act as stewards / champions

of the corporate Face to Face strategy within their Directorates and Organisations. • Consultative: The Implementation Group will consult appropriately, internally and

externally, on key stages of its work. • Objectivity: The Implementation group will seek to base its recommendations on accurate

information and evidence-based effective actions. • Integrated: The Implementation Group will seek to co-ordinate Face to Face activities

and integrate associated improvements into the core activities of the various County Council Directorates and Organisations involved.

• Productive: The Implementation group will seek to bring about measurable change and

positive outcomes for citizens by ensuring they are supported and enabled to access information and services via whichever method is best placed to meet their needs in the most efficient and effective way possible.

*Wherever possible and appropriate, work in relation to these principles will be carried out jointly with the other cross-cutting policy areas of activity.

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Membership Membership will be made up of those internal and external organisations that are able to work in partnership to enable citizens to access information and services in an improved, more effective and more efficient way by providing access to joined up services, via a range of access channels, accessible in a variety of locally based venues. Membership will include:

• Lancashire County Council – Corporate Face to Face Area Co-ordinator Helen Boyd

• Lancashire County Council – District Partnership Officer Jackie Flynn

• Lancashire County Council – ACS directorate representative (Libraries) Ros Sudworth

• Lancashire County Council – Children & Young People directorate representative TBC

• Lancashire County Council – Environment directorate representative Gail Maudsley

• Lancashire County Council – Help Direct representative (Commissioning Officer) Andrea Dixon

• District Council representative - Joanne Preston, Contact Burnley Manager • Primary Care Trust representative - David Rogers, Head of Engagement &

Communications • Police representative - David Britton, Corporate Development – Connect Project

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MUTUAL DATA PROCESSING AGREEMENT Face to Face Project

THIS AGREEMENT is made the day of 2008. BETWEEN:- A. ……………………………………… and B. ………………………………………. WHEREAS:- The parties, for their mutual benefit, wish to allow the processing of certain personal data and information of a confidential nature belonging to the other and wish to protect such personal data and confidential information in the manner set out in this Agreement. NOW IT IS HEREBY AGREED AS FOLLOWS:- 1. Definitions 1.1 "Purpose" means the exchange of information in the furtherance of joint service delivery by the

District Councils and Lancashire County Council.

1.2 "The Receiving Party" means the party that processes the Personal Data or Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party.

1.3 "The Disclosing Party" means the party whose Personal Data or Confidential Information the Receiving Party processes. 1.4 “Personal Data” has the same meaning as in section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998.

1.5 "Confidential Information" shall mean any information of a confidential nature which has been or

will be supplied by the Disclosing Party to the Receiving Party for the Purpose relating to the Disclosing Party, its business, procedures, staff or clients.

2. Obligations of the Receiving Party

2.1 The Receiving Party shall not divulge the Disclosing Party’s Personal Data or Confidential Information, in whole or in part, to any third party and shall exercise in relation thereto no lesser security measures and degree of care than those that the Receiving Party applies to its own Personal Data and Confidential Information.

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2.2 The Receiving Party shall use the other party’s Personal Data and Confidential Information solely for the Purpose and in any event shall make no other use of other party’s Personal Data or Confidential Information without the prior written consent of the Disclosing Party.

2.3 The Receiving Party undertakes that it shall process the Personal Data of the

Disclosing Party strictly in accordance with instructions issued from time to time by the Disclosing Party.

2.4 The Receiving Party shall ensure that only such of its employees who may be

required by the Receiving Party in support of the Purpose shall have access to the Personal Data or Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party.

2.5 The Receiving Party shall ensure that all employees used in support of the

Purpose are aware of their obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 and competent in the care and handling of Personal Data and Confidential Information.

2.6 The Receiving Party undertakes to process the Personal Data of the

Disclosing Party only in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom. 2.7 The Receiving Party undertakes not to disclose the Personal Data or

Confidential Information to a third party in any circumstances other than at the specific request of the Disclosing Party.

2.8 The Receiving Party hereby agrees to assist the Disclosing Party with all

subject access requests received from data subjects of the Personal Data. 2.9 The Receiving Party will allow its data processing facilities, procedures and

documentation to be submitted for scrutiny by the auditors of the Disclosing Party in order to ascertain compliance with the relevant laws of the United Kingdom and the terms of this Agreement.

2.10 The Receiving Party shall not make copies of the other party’s Personal Data

and Confidential Information except to the extent reasonably necessary for the Purpose. Any copies made in accordance with the terms of this Clause shall be the property of the Disclosing Party.

3. Obligations of the Disclosing Party 3.1 The Disclosing Party shall permit the Receiving Party to process such of its

Personal Data and Confidential Information together with such other

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information as the Receiving Party requires to perform its services in relation to the Purpose.

3.2 The instructions given by the Disclosing Party to the Receiving Party shall at

all times be in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom. 3. Warranties and Indemnities 3.1 Each party warrants that it has the right to disclose its Personal Data and Confidential

Information to the other party and to authorise the other party to use the same for the Purpose. 3.2 Each party warrants that it has appropriate operational and technological procedures in place to

safeguard against any unauthorised access, loss, destruction, theft, use or disclosure of personal data.

3.3 The Receiving Party shall indemnify the Disclosing Party and hold it harmless from and against

all claims and proceedings and all liability, damages, losses, costs and expenses (including legal costs and expenses) arising as a result of the Receiving Party’s breach of this Agreement.

3.4 In the event of a breach of security, howsoever caused, each party agrees to inform the other of

the nature of the breach and the action that it proposes to take or has taken in respect of that breach.

4. Ownership All rights in Personal Data and Confidential Information disclosed for the Purpose are reserved

by the Disclosing Party and no rights or obligations other than those expressly recited herein are granted or to be implied from this Agreement.

5. Notices

All notices under this Agreement shall be in writing, and shall be

sent to the other party marked for the attention of the person at the address

set out below. Notices may be sent by first-class mail or facsimile

transmission provided that facsimile transmissions are confirmed within 24

hours by first-class mail confirmation of a copy. Correctly addressed notices

sent by first-class mail shall be deemed to have been delivered within 72

hours after posting and correctly directed facsimile transmissions shall be

deemed to have been delivered instantaneously on transmission provided that

they are confirmed as set out above.

6. Termination 6.1 This Agreement shall continue in force from the date hereof until terminated by mutual consent

or by either party giving to the other written notice. Notwithstanding any such termination, all

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rights and obligations hereunder shall survive with respect to Personal Data and Confidential Information disclosed prior to such termination.

6.2 On termination of this Agreement, the Receiving Party shall cease to use the Personal Data

and Confidential Information of the Disclosing Party and shall arrange for the prompt and safe return of copies of the same belonging to the Disclosing Party.

7. Non-Assignment The Receiving Party shall not be entitled to assign the benefit or delegate the burden of this

Agreement nor be free to sub-contract any or all of its rights and obligations under this Agreement without the prior written consent of the Disclosing Party.

8. Invalidity

If any term or provision of this Agreement shall be held to be illegal or unenforceable in whole or in part under any enactment or rule of law, such term or provision or part shall to that extent be deemed not to form part of this Agreement but the enforceability of the remainder of this Agreement shall not be affected provided however that if any term or provision or part of this Agreement is severed as illegal or unenforceable, the parties shall seek to modify this Agreement to the extent necessary to render it lawful and enforceable and as nearly as possible to reflect the intentions of the parties embodied in this Agreement including without limitation the illegal or unenforceable term or provision or part.

9. Entire Agreement This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement and understanding between the parties in

respect of Personal Data and Confidential Information and supersedes all previous agreements, understandings and undertakings in such respect. The interpretation construction and effect of this Agreement shall be governed and construed in all respects in accordance with the Laws of England and the parties hereby submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

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Signed on behalf of Signed on behalf of Signed: __________________________ Signed: ___________________________ Name: __________________________ Name: ___________________________ Title __________________________ Title: ___________________________ Date: __________________________ Date: ___________________________

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Lancashire Local – Fylde Meeting to be held on 27 January 2009

Part I - Item No. 10

Electoral Division affected: All in Fylde

Update on Phase 3 Children's Centres in the Fylde Contact for further information: Val Farrow, (01772) 452022, Lancashire County Council, Directorate for Children and Young People, [email protected] Executive Summary This report provides an update regarding Phase 3 of the Children's Centre Initiative (2008 – 2010). It follows the report to the Lancashire Local – Fylde meeting on 25 March 2008. Decision Required Lancashire Local – Fylde is asked to note the report. Background and Advice The Children's Centre Initiative is a government funded initiative which aims to support families by providing a 'core offer' of integrated services. These services were initially developed in the most deprived areas, and have subsequently been extended to less disadvantaged areas. Services provided by children's centres include access to early education integrated with day care, family support, health services and support with employment and training. These centres build upon other initiatives including Sure Start Local Programmes, Neighbourhood Nurseries and Early Excellence Centres. Diverse settings including nursery schools, primary schools, secondary schools, a special school, youth and community centres, family support resource centres, a library, and a voluntary organisation have been developed as children's centres across Lancashire. Alongside statutory, voluntary and private sector partners, Lancashire County Council has successfully developed 61 children's centres in Lancashire during Phase 1 and 2 of the Children's Centre Initiative (2004-2008). The government is committed to providing all communities with access to children's centre services by 2010. There are three existing children's centres in the district, with a further two proposed for development by March 2010.

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Services developed as part of Phase 3 (2008-2010) are in the least deprived areas and will therefore provide a reduced core offer of services to meet local need. Phase 3 Progress in the Fylde Since the report to Lancashire Local – Fylde in March 2008, officers of Lanashire County Council have explored options for Phase 3 children's centre services in order to make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People. In total, 14 suggestions were received from elected members and interested parties. All of these suggestions were explored. Some were subsequently found to be unlikely to be suitable for capital investment due to issues such as security of tenure, site constraints, accessibility, community needs, the future sustainability of services and/or value for money. The possibility to deliver sessional outreach services from some of these sites may be explored in the future. Information about possible sites for capital investment for Phase 3 children's centres was put to a multi-agency panel which then recommended both Weeton Primary School and Lytham YMCA to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People. The Cabinet Member agreed that negotiations commence with Fylde Coast YMCA and Weeton Primary School/Weeton Camp to deliver Phase 3 satellite services. Positive responses have been received from all parties about the prospects of a Phase 3 satellite children's centre on these sites. Accordingly, architects will be appointed and meetings will shortly commence on site to identify potential capital solutions. Services will need to be in place by March 2010 at the latest. The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People has agreed that the management of both centres will form part of the remit of a centrally appointed co-ordinator. The co-ordinator will work closely with the existing centres, the host sites for Phase 3 services, service providers and local families to provide integrated and accessible services to the local community. The co-ordinator will increase the capacity of the existing children's centres to provide access to universal children's centre services in the Fylde. A budget of circa £50,000 per annum will be made available to each Phase 3 children's centre to co-ordinate services and provide some outreach support for those families who find it more challenging to access services in the traditional format. Consultations Lancashire County Council held a public meeting in the district early in 2008 regarding Phase 3 of the Children's Centre Initiative. Suggestions for potential Phase 3 children's centre capital investment made at these meetings have been explored prior to recommendations being made to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.

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Implications: This item has the following implications: Risk Management Capital funding is lost to Lancashire County Council because the project is not complete by March 2010 - Lancashire County Council is currently rated as a low risk authority by the technical consultants to Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in light of its good progress with planned Phase 3 developments. The County Council has a good track record in delivery of its targets regarding the children’s centre capital scheme. The children’s centre services are not taken up by the local community - Lancashire County Council has asked a broad range of local people and elected members to suggest potential sites on which to develop children’s centre services. Suggested sites notified to the County Council have been explored. The sites identified for Phase 3 children’s centre capital development already have community services available. The new services will be developed in response to community consultation and will be within the core offer of services for a children’s centre in a less disadvantaged area. The services will be publicised and where possible will be delivered from additional outreach sites to increase the ease of access for the community. Financial There are no financial implications arising from this report. Any representations made to the Directorate prior to the issue being considered in accordance with the Public Notice of Forward Plans Name: Organisation: Comments: N/A

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 List of Background Papers Paper Date Contact/Council/Tel No

Children's Centre Initiative Val Farrow, Lancashire

County Council, 01772 452022

National Guidance on Sure Start Children's Centres Phase 3 Planning and Delivery

November 2007 Val Farrow, Lancashire County Council, 01772 452022

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Paper Date Contact/Council/Tel No

Report to Lancashire Local – Fylde on Phase 3 Children's Centres

25 March 2008 Val Farrow, Lancashire County Council, 01772 452022

Report to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Development of Children's Centres (2008-2010)

9 June 2008 Val Farrow, Lancashire County Council, 01772 452022

Report to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Phase 3 Children's Centres – Proposals for Location of New Centres in Lancashire by 2010

5 August 2008 Val Farrow, Lancashire County Council, 01772 452022

Report to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Phase 3 Children's Centres – Further Proposals for Location of New Centres in Lancashire by 2010

30 September 2008 Val Farrow, Lancashire County Council, 01772 452022

Report to the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People Phase 3 Children's Centres – Final Proposals for Location of New Centres in Lancashire by 2010 and Proposed Management of Phase 3 Children's Centres

11 November 2008 Val Farrow, Lancashire County Council, 01772 452022

Reason for inclusion in Part II, if appropriate N/A

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Lancashire Local - Fylde Meeting to be held on 27 January 2009

Part I - Item No. 11

Electoral Division affected: Fylde East, Fylde South, Fylde West, Lytham, St Annes North, St Annes South

Lancashire Local Fylde Future Business Plan 2009/2010 Contact for further information: Paula Fodor, 01253 658438, Lancashire County Council, Office of the Chief Executive, District Partnership Officer Fylde, [email protected] Executive Summary For the last year Lancashire Local Fylde has been operating to a Future Business Plan which has assisted in focusing the committee's programme of work. This Plan expires in March 2008. This report asks Lancashire Local Fylde to consider how it wishes to develop a Future Business Plan for 2009/2010. Decision Required Lancashire Local Fylde is asked to consider how it wishes to develop a Future Business Plan for 2009/2010. Background and Advice Lancashire Local Fylde's Future Business Plan for the last year has helped to focus the committee's programme of work. The Plan adopted the committee's already established practice of having alternating meetings focusing on Children and Young People / Adult and Community Services and Environment / Economic Development and Regeneration and incorporated reports from each of the LSP theme groups. The current Future Business Plan expires with the 24 March 2009 meeting of Lancashire Local Fylde. Following a period of consultation in the autumn, a revised Lancashire Local Constitution was adopted by Lancashire County Council in December 2008 and is to be considered for adoption by Fylde Borough Council on 26 January 2009. A full report is to be presented to Lancashire Local Fylde on 24 March 2009.

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In relation to the powers and remit of the Lancashire Local, the constitution has been broadened out to encompass some additional delegations. Arguably, two of the biggest issues that face local councillors are highways/streetscene issues and provision for young people. Therefore, the new constitution builds on the extensive delegations around highways and traffic issues by including new responsibilities in relation to the Young People’s Service. The other significant difference in the new constitution is its emphasis on local priorities and aspirations and the need to strengthen links with district based partnerships such as LSPs. For the shaping and influencing role to be effective locally, the decision on which services are to be selected for influence by the Lancashire Local must be informed by local priorities and aspirations. Developing this sort of approach, requires the commitment of County and District members to work together on a narrower, but more targeted range of services relevant to Fylde, at any given time. It also requires strong links to exist between the Lancashire Local and district based partnerships such as the Local Strategic Partnership, Community Safety Partnership and Local Children’s Trust. Lancashire Local Fylde has already gone a long way towards developing these links and has agreed steps to strengthen them. The committee has also expressed a commitment to focusing on the local government priorities in the Sustainable Community Strategy, Local Area Agreement, and neighbourhood level plans. Through a Future Business Plan for 2009/2010 Lancashire Local Fylde members can combine their specialist local knowledge of the area and realise a programme of work that tackles local issues and aspirations within an agreed framework. Consultations N/A Implications: There are no financial or legal implications to this report. Risk management Without a Future Business Plan in place for 2009/2019 there is a risk that Lancashire Local Fylde agendas will be lengthy and will not focus sufficiently on local priorities. Any representations made to the Directorate prior to the issue being considered in accordance with the Public Notice of Forward Plans Name: Organisation: Comments: N/A

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Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 List of Background Papers Paper Date Contact/Council/Tel N/A

insert date

insert details

Reason for inclusion in Part II, if appropriate N/A

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Lancashire Local - Fylde Meeting to be held on 27th January 2009

Part I - Item No. 12

Electoral Divisions affected: All

Programme of Meetings for 2009/10 Contact for further information: Linda Wilson 01772 533418 Lancashire County Council, Office of the Chief Executive. [email protected] Executive Summary This report sets out a suggested programme of dates for meetings for the Lancashire Local - Fylde for 2009/10 and asks the Local to consider times and venues for future meetings. Decision Required The Lancashire Local – Fylde is asked to:- a) agree the programme of meetings for 2009/10 as set out in the report; b) agree a preferred start time for future meetings; and c) consider preferred venue(s) for future meetings. Background and Advice Standing Order 5(ii) of the Constitution of the Lancashire Local - Fylde provides that the Local shall meet on a six or eight weekly cycle and at venues to be determined by the Local. The last scheduled meeting for the Lancashire Local - Fylde will be held on the 24th March 2009 and in order to assist with the longer term planning of future business for the Local a suggested programme of meetings for 2009/10 is set out below for consideration. In developing the programme of meetings for this and other Lancashire Locals the recent announcement by the Department for Communities and Local Government to hold the County Council elections on the 4th June 2009 to coincide with the European Elections has been taken into account. The proposed 2009/10 programme of meetings for Lancashire Local - Fylde is set out below. As with previous years it is proposed that all meetings would start at 7pm. 28th July 2009

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29th September 2009 24th November 2009 26th January 2010 23rd March 2010 25th May 2010 Although Lancashire Locals are not primarily about public engagement, meetings are open to the public/press and during 2008/09 have been held at various locations in the borough. The Local may wish to continue this arrangement. Consultations This report has been prepared following consultations with the District Partnership Officer and the Committee and Standards Manager within the County Secretary and Solicitor's Group, Office of the Chief Executive. Implications: This item has the following implications, as indicated: Risk management No significant risks have been identified in relation to the proposals contained within this Report. Any representations made to the Directorate prior to the issue being considered in accordance with the Public Notice of Forward Plans Name:

Organisation: Comments:

N/A Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 List of Background Papers Paper Date Contact/Council/Tel

Department for Communities and Local Government Press Release http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1042643

5th November 2008

L Wilson, Lancashire County Council 01772 533418

Reason for inclusion in Part II, if appropriate N/A

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Lancashire Local – Fylde Meeting to be held on 27 January 2009

Part I - Item No 13

Electoral Divisions Affected: Lytham St Annes South Fylde West St Annes North Fylde South Fylde East

Winter Service (Gritting) in Fylde 2008/09 (Appendices 'A', 'B' and 'C' refer) Contact for further information: Andrew Burrows, 01524 753340, Lancashire County Council, Environment Directorate [email protected] Executive Summary This report provides for information an overview of the Winter Service in Fylde for the current winter 2008/09. Decision Required That the report be noted. Background and Advice 1. Legal and Policy Considerations The County Council as highway authority is under a legal duty to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by ice and snow. It is the County Council’s Policy to provide a winter service which, as far as is reasonably practicable, will permit the safe movement of traffic on priority roads at all times and will keep to a minimum delays and accidents in which ice or snow is a contributory factor. However, it is generally accepted that it is uneconomic, unjustifiable and not possible to treat the whole highway network when undertaking planned winter gritting. It is therefore necessary to clearly identify which roads will receive priority treatment for gritting and snow clearing. The criteria for this prioritisation of roads is as follows:

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• County Motorways (eg.A601(M)) • All Principal “A” Roads • All “B” Roads • Other Roads:

- between or through large centres of population, - serving hospitals, ambulance and fire stations, - leading to main centres of employment and on important commuter routes, - leading to important industrial and military establishments, - providing single access to villages.

Allowance has been made for the geographical and topographical differences in Lancashire in terms of climate and altitude, resulting in the East Lancashire districts receiving an increased level of coverage (“A” roads plus 35% of the remaining network) compared with the flatter districts in West and South Lancashire (“A” roads plus 17.5% of the remaining network). Notwithstanding this differential, it should be noted that the majority of the highway network will not receive the winter service and moreover, housing estate roads and minor roads without appreciable gradients are specifically excluded from priority treatment. During periods of severe weather, the service may be extended to non-priority roads (secondary routes) but only during hours of daylight and after all the higher priority roads are clear. The secondary road network therefore receives treatment in times of snow and continuous icing only and its treatment in "frost only" conditions (between 80% and 90% of the winter events) cannot be justified. Private roads or unadopted streets are not included as part of the winter services. Taking an average over the whole County, approximately 1/3 (2,350km out of a total network of 7,000km) of roads are classed as priority roads in terms of the winter service. 2. Resources The County Council spends in the order of just under £4.0M per year on the winter service and in a typical season spreads 18,000 tonnes of salt although this of course will vary dependent upon the severity of the winter in question. There are 48 front line gritters operating county-wide from 12 depots and additional vehicles (including 15 reserve gritters) are available to deal with severe weather conditions. This additional plant includes towed gritters, snow blowers and snow ploughs for severe situations. Typical County-wide costs are shown in the table below for the different conditions encountered.

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Treatment Rate of Spread Weather Conditions Total cost per

treatment (grammes/sq metre) 10 Frost £12,000 20 Severe Icing/Medium Snow £32,000 2 x 40 Heavy Snow £64,000

The winter service is a demand led service and when the winter weather is worse than average, the service will continue to be delivered, even if the original allocated budget is overspent. The County Council would use balances or underspends elsewhere in the Environment Directorate's budget to keep this manageable. The three gritters which serve Fylde district, operate out of the County Council Singleton Highway Depot. 3. Weather Forecasting and Decision Making The decision on the appropriate action is taken by the County Council’s Area Duty Officer who has the responsibility for the 3 districts of Fylde, Wyre and Lancaster. The County Council also operates a rota of Standby Duty Inspectors who are available to undertake inspections of the highway network should the forecast be marginal or if reports are received of hazardous conditions. Both the roles of Area Duty Officer and Standby Duty Inspector are carried out by officers who have the necessary experience and, crucially, the knowledge and familiarity of the local highway network. The County Council owns 11 Road Weather Stations and receives information from 4 others owned by the Highways Agency (3) and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council (1). The forecasts are supplied by the Met Office and the forecast graphs together with the real time (actual) weather condition data can be viewed by decision makers on the Ice Prediction System via the Internet from a bureau in Birmingham. The forecast text, which is received daily at around midday, covers the following 24hr period as well as the longer term 2 to 5 day forecast. The forecast information includes:

• forecast v actual road surface temperature and road state; • forecast v actual air temperature and relative humidity (dew point); • forecast precipitation rate, type and timings; and • Radar Maps showing history (3 hrs) and forecast (6hrs) for both

precipitation type and intensity. The daily forecast is routinely updated at around 8.30pm but is subject to detailed revision at any time during the day and night, should the actual forecast conditions vary from those expected. So what can possibly go wrong? The following examples illustrate what can, and sometimes does go wrong, causing problems for the travelling public:

• On a wet night followed by rapidly clearing skies, salting will normally start after the rain has stopped to avoid the salt being washed away, but with temperatures falling by as much as 5 degrees per hour, some roads may well have frozen before the gritter has salted them.

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• “Dawn (Hoar) Frost” – which occurs on dry roads and involves the formation of early morning dew on cold roads, which freezes on impact and is difficult to forecast with any accuracy.

• Rush hour snowfall when rain turns to snow coinciding with the rush hour. Early salting cannot take place as it would be washed away and gritters cannot progress due to congestion.

• Road weather forecasts are up to 90% accurate which means that there are up to 10 days in winter when frost is not forecast but actually occurs.

• It can take up to 4 hours for gritters to salt a route and therefore it will take this length of time before some roads are treated.

4. Rock Salt The County Council uses rock salt as the de-icing agent on highways. Rock salt has to be used responsibly because not only is it an expensive material, it also comes from a non-renewable source and can have an adverse effect on the environment by damaging vegetation for instance. Salt works by lowering the freezing point of water (to about –9 deg C) and in order to complete the de-icing process, the movement of the salt on the road surface by the action of passing traffic is essential. Therefore in conditions where traffic volumes are light, roads can remain icy for some time after the gritter has spread salt. Furthermore, in snow conditions the salt will only be effective where the depth of snow is less than 40mm and traffic can move the salt around. Once snow has been compacted and formed into ice due to very low road surface temperatures, the effect of de-icing salt is very limited and the icy conditions often persist for several days despite the repeated application of salt. As mentioned earlier, salt becomes totally ineffective at -9 deg C but becomes progressively ineffective below -5 deg C at the maximum spread rate possible using gritting vehicles. 5. Grit Bins Numerous requests are received for grit bins every year from parish councils, residents’ associations and individual members of the public. It is the policy of the County Council that grit bins should only be provided on non-priority/secondary roads based upon the following criteria:

• Combination of vertical and horizontal profile producing a hazardous condition i.e. steep bend with adverse camber.

• Junction hazard eg. steep road down to a main road junction. • High/moderate vehicular traffic volume. • High pedestrian movement eg. steep footways in town centres.

Although grit bins will not generally be sited on housing estate roads, there may be exceptions and an element of local discretion is accepted. There are currently 15 grit bins at various locations throughout Fylde district. A schedule showing the locations of County Council grit bins in Fylde is attached at Appendix 'A', together with the assessment methodology for the provision of grit bins attached at Appendix 'B'.

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6. Footways and Cycleways A designated priority footway network has been established in Fylde to identify those footways which will be treated on the following basis:

• No footways will receive precautionary treatment;

• The priority footway network will receive treatment during severe weather events and comprises: o Access to and from transport interchanges; o Access to and from main centres of employment; o Access to and from main shopping centres; o Access on the highway adjacent to main hospitals;

• Treatment will start the day after the event and only during daylight hours. • Other footways will receive treatment only during severe weather events

and then only when resources permit. • Cycle tracks and cycleways are not included in the County Council's

planned winter service and therefore will not receive any precautionary or post-salting treatment.

A schedule showing the locations of priority footways in Fylde is attached at Appendix 'C'. 7. Information and Publicity The priority road network is shown in map form on the County Council’s website. The County Council publishes an explanatory pamphlet entitled “Safer Winter Driving” which provides some useful background information about the winter service as well as safer driving tips. Consultations N/A. Implications: e.g. Financial, Legal, Personnel, Human Rights, Crime and Disorder or Other Risk Management The County Council, either directly or through its agents, aims to provide a winter maintenance service, which as far as practicable, will permit the safe movement of traffic on priority roads at all times and will keep to a minimum delays and accidents in which ice or snow is a contributory factor.

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Any representations made to the Directorate prior to the issue being considered in accordance with the Public Notice of Forward Plans Name: Organisation: Comments: N/A.

Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985 List of Background Papers Paper Date Contact/Council/Tel No Lancashire County Council Code of Practice on Winter Maintenance –as amended by Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation.

October 2002

Andrew Burrows /Lancashire County Council/ 01524 753340

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Appendix 'A' Grit Bin locations in the Fylde

• Dowbridge Junction Carr Lane – Kirkham • Oxford Drive Near Dowbridge Junction – Kirkham • Coronation Road – Kirkham

• Bryning Lane Junction Beech Drive – Newton-With-Clifton • Hill Crescent Junction School Lane – Newton-With-Clifton • Bryning Lane Junction Oak Lane – Newton-With-Clifton • Blue Coats School – School Lane – Newton-With-Clifton

• Church Road, Outside School – Treales • Outside Hand And Dagger Pub – Treales • Harbour Lane – Bolton’s Croft – Treales • Carr Lane Junction Moorside – Treales

• Bunker Street Junction Preston Old Road – Freckleton • Naze Lane East Junction Croftbutts Lane – Freckleton • Lower Lane Junction Spring Hill – Freckleton

• Cartford Close Junction Cartford Lane – Little Eccleston

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Salt Bin Assessment Form Proposed/Actual Location of Salt Bin

Date of Assessment Assessed By

Characteristic Severity Standard Scores

Assessed Actual Score

Greater than 1 in 10 75

1 in 10 to 1 in 30 40 (i) Gradient

Less than 1 in 30 NIL

Sharp 60

Moderate 25 (ii) Severity of Bend

Slight NIL

Heavily trafficked road 90

Moderately trafficked road 75 (iii) Close proximity to and falling towards

Lightly trafficked road 30

Moderate 40 (iv) Assessed traffic density

at peak times Light NIL

Over 50 30

20 – 50 20 (v) Number of premises for which this is the only access

0 – 20 NIL

High 60

Moderate 25 (vi) Pedestrian movements

Low NIL

On priority network -300 On priority network but late on route NIL (vii) Road Priority

Not on priority network 20

TOTAL

Request approved Request not approved Keep existing Remove existing Please circle as appropriate

Signed: ……………………………………… (Area Manager) Date:……………………….. (Send copy to HEM Maintenance Group)

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Appendix 'C' Fylde Winter Maintenance Priority Footway Gritting Routes Lytham

• Junction of Preston Road (East Beach) with Warton Street adjacent to hospital entrance including the length of footway both sides of Preston Road up to bus stops either side of the road and including the route to the Pelican crossing adjacent.

• Warton St/ Clifton Street up to Queen Street Junction turn back along Clifton Street.

• Along Park Street into Westby Street into Station Sq up to railway station entrance and return on other side to Clifton Street and on to Pleasant Street.

• Pleasant Street up to car parking adjacent to South Westby Street and turn back up to Clifton Street than back along Clifton Street up to Station Road.

• Along Station Road up to Westby Street and return, then back along Warton Street up to hospital entrance.

Warton

• Footways both sides of Lytham Road from Park Lane to Harbour Lane. Freckleton

• Footways both sides of Lytham Road from Clitheroes Lane into Preston Old Road.

• Around ‘square’ at traffic signals. Ansdell

• Footways both sides of Woodlands Road from Kingsway to far side of shops north of Seymor Road junction.

• Down steps at side of railway into Oxford Road. St Annes

• St Annes Road West from North Clifton Street to St Davids Road and adjacent access to Railway station.

• St Andrews Road North from Beach Road to St Annes Road West. Kirkham

• Station Road from Railway station down to Town End. • Poulton Street up to Church Street and around Market Square. • Moor Street up to Doctors surgery.

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Item 14 Lancashire County Council Parish and Town Council Charter Consultation Feedback The Lancashire Local was consulted on the Lancashire County Council Parish and Town Council Charter. In total 68 responses to the consultation were received 49 of which were from Parish and Town Councils with other responses from the 12 Locals, 4 Borough Councils, West Lancashire’s Parish Liaison meeting, Wyre’s Area LALC meeting, Borwick Parish Meeting and the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC). The consultation responses were generally positive with many Parish and Town Councils supporting the aims and themes of the Charter and wanting to work more closely with the County Council. However there were a small number of parishes who had reservations with the Charter in its current format and a number of suggestions for changes were also received. The Parish Charter Core Working Group has met with Officers to consider the consultation responses and Officers have tried to incorporate as many changes and suggestions as possible into the final Charter. The Charter has also been submitted to go through the plain English process which should hopefully address some of the concerns raised in the consultation responses. The Lancashire County Council Parish and Town Council Charter was officially launched at the Annual Parish and Town Council Conference, held at County Hall, Preston on Saturday 29 November 2008. .