BRADFORD TRIDENT, NDC PARTNERSHIP BOARD MEETING
Minutes of a Meeting of the Board held at The Foyer, 1 Coates Street, West Bowling, Bradford on Thursday 12 February 2004.

Commenced: 1700     Concluded: 1830     

PRESENT
Councillor Ian Greenwood (Chair)

Community Directors:
Greg Lucas (West Bowling)
Jahnzaib Sarwar (West Bowling)
Amjad Ali (West Bowling)
Munawar Khan (Park Lane)
Nawaz Khan (Park Lane)
Lil Acklam (Park Lane)
Joe Holloway (Marshfields)
Nyear Yaseen (Marshfields)
Isa Khan (Marshfields)

Councillor Directors:
Taj Salam - Council Director

Faith Directors:
Sister Julie McGing - Faith Director

Business Directors:
David Austin - Allan Austin Sports

Health Director:
Lynnette Throp - Bradford City Primary Care Trust

Police Director:
Dave Richardson - West Yorkshire Police

LSC Director:
Angela Dobson - Learning + Skills Council

Advisers:
David Wilkinson
Saqib Hussain Malik - Youth Ambassador
Samarah Lee - Youth Ambassador

Observers:
Mark Fielding - (Interact) Bradford Trident Communications

Manager
Paul Lattimer - Government Office for Yorkshire & The Humber

Also in Attendance:
Dr Peter Wells - National Evaluation Consultant (until 1800)
Prof Janie Percy-Smith - Local Evaluation Consultant (until 1800)
Paul Lattimer - GOYH
Harvinder Chaggar - GOYH
Duncan Graham - Acting Communications Director, BMDCStaff in attendance:
Steve Hartley - Chief Executive
David Mosley - Company Secretary
Judith Atkinson - Programme Manager
Andy Brennan - Programme Manager
Ian Hague - Neighbourhood Manager
Wayne Noteman - Housing Projects Manager
Darrell Gregoire - Programme Co-ordinator
Umar Hayat - Programme Co-ordinator
Sue Naughton - Programme Co-ordinator
Claudia Dacres - Personal Assistant to Chief Executive

Ian Greenwood welcomed the Youth Ambassador representatives to the Board meeting.

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND INTRODUCTIONS

Apologies were received from:
Zamurrad Khan - Community Director
Jamshed Khan - Community Director
Zahera Hanif - Community Director
Ali Jan Haider - Voluntary Sector Director
Nick Baggio - Business Director
Will Jennings - RSL Director
Roz Hall - BMDC Regeneration Partnership
Chas Stansfield - Programme Manager
Zubare Khan - Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

2. MINUTES AND MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MEETING OF 18 DECEMBER 2003

2.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 18 December 2003 were agreed as a correct record.

There were no matters arising.

3. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

All private sector housing Community Directors.

4. BOARD MATTERS

A paper was presented by Steve Hartley for the Board's information.

4.1 2004 Timetable
Steve advised the Board that the date of 18 May at 2.00 pm had been agreed with Government Office for the Annual Review meeting, to be held at Bradford Foyer. Steve also advised that the Urban Forum, who had previously held their Residents Conference in Bristol and London, were to host the event in Bradford over 21 and 22 May 2004. A small sub group, including Greg Lucas and Jamshed Khan had been involved. Steve invited interested Directors to contact him. More details will be available nearer the event.

The NRU have confirmed the NDC National Conference will be held in Blackpool over 7 and 8 of June but no further details had been provided. Unfortunately this is the week of the local Council and European elections however the dates cannot be altered.

Steve highlighted the provisional dates for the Bradford Trident Community Directors elections which had been scheduled to avoid any clashes with the local Council and European elections. It was anticipated the timetable would commence after the local elections and conclude at the end of the school year in July. This would allow an induction process for new directors duringAugust/September. No firm arrangements had yet been agreed, but would be dependent upon confirmation from the Electoral Reform Society.

Isa Khan queried whether the Trident elections could be held prior to the local elections. However Steve advised that in order to achieve this timescale the process would have to commence immediately which would reduce current directors' period in office. This would need to be discussed with Electoral Reform. David Mosley advised currently the Electoral Reform Society were particularly busy and may not be in a position to commence the Trident elections now. Ian Greenwood felt to bring the proposed date forward would politicise the Trident elections. Joe Holloway raised the issue, discussed at the last meeting, of trying to create a balance of groups represented on the Board by actively encouraging under-represented groups. Both Ian Greenwood and Steve Hartley advised a view had been reached that it would be too late to alter the current system however other routes would be developed to involve these groups. Ian agreed this should be discussed following the Trident elections.

Steve drew members' attention to an alteration to the June Board meeting date. The staff team would be undertaking their Away Day over 17/18 June, therefore the Board meeting had been moved to Wednesday 16 June.

5. DELIVERY PLAN 2004/05

A report was presented by Steve Hartley seeking the Board's approval for the first draft of the Delivery Plan for Year 5, 2004/05, prior to submission to GOYH on 17 February 2004.

Steve reminded the Board that Delivery Plan discussions had previously been held at the Away Day in October 2003 followed by the last Board meeting which had identified the principles to be adopted. In order to achieve one of the major principles relating to the development of the Trident asset base, an exercise had been undertaken looking at the programme as a whole which resulted in money being taken from Jobs and Business, Crime & Community Safety and the Youth, Education & Community areas. Health & the Environment had remained intact. Discussions had been held at the various Working Groups and this action had been agreed. As a result £1m had been identified for the asset base.

The housing programme also required additional funding. Steve was pleased to report that through the Council's hard work and the efforts of Wayne Noteman, additional funding of £800,000 over 3 years had been granted over and beyond the £300,000 already programmed. This would be utilised for the Facelift programme. In addition the Council had identified a further £400,000 for the streets on Dalcross Grove. Although outside the Trident area, residents had voiced their concerns about its condition.

Steve added there might be a possibility that the Facelift VAT, amounting to £1m, could be claimed back. In order to achieve this, the NRU required confirmation that this action would have been taken by the Council if they were operating the programme. The Council have agreed to support Trident's case to the NRU and Government Office. This could effectively mean a total amount of £1.8m could be claimed back which could be utilised for private sector housing improvements. This would be enough therefore to satisfy the short term needs of the housing programme and would not necessitate pulling further funding into this area.

Steve advised that given the large amount of funding identified for the Management and Administration budget in Years 9 and 10, and his intention to undertake a staffing review, this funding will be moved and targeted towards neighbourhood management which would reflect the change in the nature of the business. Steve added he would come back to the Board with initial ideas for the October Away Day.

Angela Dobson wondered how much progress had been made on post-16 learning targets. Although there were baselines, there was nothing within the Delivery Plan other than higher education. She felt there was a need to review where we currently are with this. Steve Hartley advised that the section on baselines required more information which related mainly to the YEC and Jobs and Business Working Groups. He stressed the importance of the LSCs involvement in addressing issues at neighbourhood level.

Greg Lucas enquired whether figures were available on the number of private sector properties which had not benefited from public funding. Ian Greenwood responded that Bradford Trident were almost at the position where, dependent upon take up, projects and funding to benefit all private homes over the life of the programme would be available. Wayne Noteman advised an appraisal for a Universal Matched Incentive scheme would be presented to the next Housing and Development Working Group for approval.

Joe Holloway advised the Board that residents living in housing association properties had been excluded from the Warm Front scheme. Ian Greenwood felt this needed to be pursued as it could be regarded as discriminatory.

The Board approved the report presented.
Proposed by Greg Lucas
Seconded by Isa Khan
All in favour.

Agreed:
That the first draft of the Delivery Plan for Year 5, 2004/05 be approved prior
to submission to GOYH on 17 February 2004.

6. EVALUATION

A report was presented by Steve Hartley introducing the second National Evaluation Partnership Report on Bradford Trident and updating on Local Evaluation for the Board's information and comment.

Steve advised Directors that Janie Percy-Smith had last year conducted the national evaluation, however this year she had undertaken the local evaluation. Peter Wells had conducted the national evaluation.

6.1 National Evaluation

Peter Wells presented the National Evaluation Report to the Board and commenced by thanking everyone involved in the formulation of the report. He had focused on partnerships, the Delivery Plan and the direction the programme was taking.

Peter outlined the research undertaken and the key achievements. He also outlined the theme of community cohesion, equalities and engagement; partnership structures, processes and delivery; partnership working and mainstreaming; development, learning and forward planning and the key points for Bradford Trident.

Amjad Ali asked Peter to clarify his comments on Bradford Trident's "highly positive" performance. Peter clarified explaining that Bradford Trident's performance on partnership structures was excellent and this had been reflected in the report. Amjad sought Peter's views on engaging the African and Caribbean community. Peter advised that although this section of the community was a relatively small group, projects established had been trying to positively engage them. He added although there was a large white community both these groups were less likely to be involved in the decision-making process. Greg Lucas advised this topic had not been considered by the Board as problematic when it was raised at the Away Day, however he felt it could be so in the future. Ian Greenwood agreed this was an area which should be revisited.

Isa Khan commended Peter Wells for an excellent presentation and queried whether the 10 key points within the report were in order of priority. Peter advised that apart from the first point they had been listed as they arose in the report.

Angela Dobson queried the reference to sub regional partnerships and advised there was a plan which covered West Yorkshire. However she explained it would not be possible for one dedicated individual within the LSC to cover every regeneration programme. Bradford Trident was the only Board represented by the LSC across West Yorkshire. She questioned how projects such as Bradford Trident could build closer links with regional and sub regional bodies. Peter responded that this was an issue which required consideration by the regional and sub regional bodies as well as Bradford Trident. Angela felt it was important to ensure that providers of learning were responding to community needs.

Steve Hartley advised there would be scope for improvements which could be achieved via the Bradford District Learning Partnership as well as identifying how local area based Bradford partnership fitted into a Bradford 'Spatial Strategy'.

Ian Greenwood felt, as Leader of the Yorkshire & Humberside Labour Leaders, that it was difficult to engage regional bodies. However he suggested a way forward could be an invitation to occasionally attend Trident Board meetings.

Steve advised that to some extent this already took place and that the links established by Bradford Trident were better than others, however he did feel that district links could be strengthened.

Ian Greenwood felt this was an area which should be re-visited.

Steve advised the Board that Yorkshire Forward had appointed a new West Yorkshire Director, Andrew Wallhead.

Ian Greenwood thanked Peter Wells on behalf of the Board for his presentation.

6.2 Local Evaluation

Janie Percy-Smith outlined the work she had undertaken on local evaluation. She explained a large amount of work had been achieved since April last year which was of a developmental nature incorporating monitoring systems which were now in place. Projects had received these and were responding.

The Neighbourhood Management project had been targeted in particular as this was cross-cutting and diverse in nature. Janie had been working with Ian Hague on a development framework as well as development work with the Neighbourhood Action Team on how they recorded their work and the specific objectives and outcomes.

There had been ongoing project evaluation as well as a review of Project 5 which had led to some changes.Janie added she had commenced a project on pupil tracking in order to understand the way in which the range of different activities affected young people and their progression from primary to secondary education.

In July she had worked with primary schools and will continue after half term with 4 upper schools setting up groups together with facilitators to encourage young people to reflect on their progress in the education system highlighting any particular barriers. This exercise will be conducted on a twice yearly basis and will be a positive way to ascertain what makes a difference in the
lives of young people.

Janie also outlined work, set out in the report, to be completed before the end of March.

Janie explained there was a cluster of health related projects to be evaluated. However approval was required from the Local Ethics Committee before this could be undertaken. It was agreed, therefore, to pull together the whole health programme for next year and submit one proposal to the Local Ethics Committee. This would link in with the conclusion of the health strategy being undertaken by Sue Naughton and Judith Atkinson.

Janie outlined the areas of additional work undertaken which were not included in the original plan as well as the proposals for next year's programme. She added that work continued with the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Zubare Khan, to develop his skills.

Janie concluded by asking the Board to consider the need for evaluation to reflect Bradford Trident's changing priorities. There was a need to look at the asset strategy and the programme as a whole, but in particular the extent to which skills within the community would be required in order to take forward the infrastructure and capacity when Bradford Trident no longer existed.

Joe Holloway expressed the view that the health programme had not appeared to have progressed as rapidly as it should over the last 4 years. Janie agreed there had been some delays and refocusing, however there were various reasons which justified the need for its evaluation in September rather than at the present time. She added, in order to access NHS patient records or interview NHS patients and staff, Ethics Committee approval was required which was a lengthy process. She felt it would be beneficial to await the agreement of the new health strategy in order to identify where to focus upon. Lynnette Throp agreed and advised it was important to separate the delivery of the strategy and the evaluation process. Ian Greenwood added before approaching the Ethics Committee the strategy would need to be implemented. Amjad Ali felt the evaluation should be undertaken before the strategy was implemented in order to inform change. Steve Hartley advised that some work had already been undertaken where a Neighbourhood Renewal Adviser had looked at an overview of the programme, therefore outside advice was available.

Ian Greenwood thanked Janie on behalf of the Board for her presentation.

7. WORKING GROUPS - REPORT BACK

A report was presented by Programme Managers outlining the actions of all Working Groups which have met since the last Board meeting.

Steve Hartley advised the Board that Bradford Trident now had a replacement police officer as well as an additional two Community Support police officers who would work within the community police. Added to this a new Neighbourhood Warden, Cath Stone, had been appointed. Taking on board the environment, police and wardens there were potentially 10 people working around the Bradford Trident area.Steve informed Directors that Bradford Trident had achieved approval of £395,000 from Yorkshire Forward for site investigations and land assembly on hospital land. This will need to be utilised immediately and drilling would commence on Monday.

Steve also advised Directors that Trident was now on site at Mayfield, however the insurance claim had not yet been settled. Bradford Trident anticipated a figure of £†m, however an offer of £30,000 had been made. The Children's Fund had received a cut in budget from central government which resulted in them being unable to take up space within Mayfield, however there were other potential occupiers who could take up this space. Steve added, once the insurance claim had been settled, there may be a need to come back to the Board for additional funding.

Munawar Khan expressed his appreciation for all the hard work which had been undertaken on the housing programme, particularly the additional funding for the private sector.The Board noted the Working Group reports presented.

8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Munawar Khan raised the issue of street lighting in the Little Horton area, where there were several lights which were still not operational.

Ian Greenwood explained that the Council had written to Northern Electric and lodged a complaint about not fulfilling their contract.

Lil Acklam also voiced her concerns about street lighting and the time taken up which could be spent on other priorities.

Munawar suggested that once work commences, payment is held back until all the work is completed.

Ian Greenwood agreed action should be taken and Northern Electric contacted.

Judith Atkinson to pursue with the Council and, if no response, Bradford Trident to write to the utilities and the Ombudsman.

Action: Judith Atkinson

Steve reminded the Board of a visit made by the National Audit Office who spent a week at Bradford Trident. They had now produced a report on NDCs in general. Bradford Trident was one of 5 NDCs highlighted and had received excellent press coverage, including radio and TV as a result. Steve thanked everyone involved for the impact we made.

9. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Thursday 11 March 2004, 5.00 pm, Bradford Foyer

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