Minutes for Homerton Neighbourhood Forum meeting, Mar 24 2010, 7.00PM official page

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Lloyd, Siddiqui and Kennedy and the co-opted members Paul Higgins, Stuart Maxwell and George Peretz and Ian Williams, Director of Finance and Resources.

There were no declarations of interest

The minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2010 were approved as a true and accurate record of the meeting with the following amendments:

• Stuart Maxwell, co-opted member, was present at the meeting
• Councillor Nkafu and Paul Smith, co-opted member, had sent apologies to the meeting that had not been recorded.

Jennette Arnold, London Assembly Member – North East London introduced herself and started off a discussion around with the following points:

• Jennette Arnold held regular meetings with the Senior Officers from Transport for London (TfL) on transport issues.
• Of London's 12 busiest bus routes, 7 served Hackney and 3 of them used the Narroway. 
• Of the 14 bus routes serving Hackney town centre, 11 needed to cross the North London Line under the bridge at Mare Street by Amhurst Road. 

·  There were approximately 1,810 buses on a typical weekday day along the Narroway in Hackney, with around 110 an hour in the busiest hour.

·  The ability of traffic to flow smoothly along any road was dictated principally by the capacity of nearby junctions.  In this case, there could  be congestion of buses on the Narroway if/when the junctions of Mare Street with Graham Road, Morning Lane and Amhurst Road were congested (traffic on the Narrow Way was not able to clear this section when the junctions it  passed through were blocked),

·  In reply to a question from the Chair on whether consideration had been given to traffic leaving the Narroway having priority over traffic coming down Amhurst Road into Mare Street  Jennette Arnold explained that The London Borough of Hackney managed Hackney town centre including the junctions of Mare St with Graham Road, Morning Lane and Amhurst Road and was also responsible for ensuring existing parking restrictions were enforced.

·  Transport for London (TfL) has provided Hackney with modelling which shows how these key junctions operate, to assist Hackney in determining whether changes could be made to assist the passage of buses through Hackney town centre.  TfL await Hackney’s findings,

·  The volume of buses serving Hackney town centre is an indication of demand for transport in Hackney.  The Narroway was at the heart of Hackney Town Centre, close to the shops and other facilities, and was thus a popular destination for passengers. Running bus services along the Narroway therefore minimises walking distances for passengers. Diverting buses away from the Narroway would inconvenience bus passengers and would not in itself resolve the congestion problems (as the junctions with Graham Road, Morning Lane and Amhurst Road dictate how easily traffic moves through the town centre),

·  Residents expressed the view that the Narroway should be used for pedestrians and disabled people only as the shopping experience in this area was compromised due to the buses use of it.

·  Roger Blake Principal Planner, Traffic & Transport, stated that there was no easy solution to the traffic congestion in the Hackney Central area.  If the busses were diverted away from the Narroway this would cause more traffic and longer delays on other routes and that the bridge at Hackney Central was the only place for traffic to cross the North London Line in Hackney. 

·  TfL would expect driver change-overs to be completed quickly.  The occasional need for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Chris Harrison, Acting Senior Adviser, The Learning Trust stated that he had been invited to the meeting to share the Learning Trust’s vision for future education of Early Years Education in Hackney.

The Vision:

The Learning Trust aims to deliver a high quality integrated Early Years service which strives to continually improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for all children.  The vision for the Early Years service is shared and understood across the Local Authority as well as with key partners.

A diagram was circulated at the meeting which included the vision in the middle which was surrounded by supporting statements which represented the range of successful outcomes that the Trust was striving to achieve. A copy of the diagram is available from Democratic Services upon request.

Chris Harrison asserted that Early Years education in Hackney was improving and that the Learning Trust was working very closely with partners in providing support to improve this even more. 

Attendees were given the vision and encouraged to discuss which supporting statement was most important to them and what they could do in their community to support it.

In the feedback session residents generally felt that working with partners, parents could be supported to be fully engaged in the education of their children and that affordable and flexible high quality childcare must be made available.

Rev Rob Wickham stated that the introduction of the single fund formula was causing a lot of distress for staff, parents and governors at two voluntary aided schools in the Borough that he was a governor at as it was understood that a number of hours would be reduced for education in the nurseries for some children.  Chris Harrison confirmed that the introduction of the single fund formula had been delayed due to the problems this was causing nationally and that consultation had taken place and that officers were working on a way forward.

Chris Harrison made available at the meeting questionnaires with regard to the vision he had circulated earlier in the meeting.

The Chair thanked Chris Harrison for his presentation and asked Dr Malcolm Aicken, Co-opted member to respond to what had been said.  Dr Malcolm Aicken thanked Chris Harrison and said that the presentation had covered more than what had been expected.  He added that it was not always the most deprived children that were most in need and that support should be targeted towards  the areas that where in the most need.

Victoria Lygo from the Ann Tayler Children’s Centre explained that there were currently 24 Children’s Centres in Hackney that provided support for children and their families aimed at providing early intervention and thus higher attainment at school.  The support they provided was based around;

• Integrated care and education for children 0-5 years
• Community outreach
• Child and family health services
• Family support services
• Links with school and other organisations i.e.  providing advice on jobs and housing

In reply to a question from the Chair Victoria Lygo confirmed that the Children’s Centres were one stop shops and that parents were able to attend whichever one in the Borough was most convenient.  Outreach workers were used to supplement the services provided. 

Rev Rob Wickham stated that most faith organisations provided support for children including Sunday Schools.  Victoria Lygo stated that the staff from the Children’s Centres did work in partnership with the faith communities and welcomed and endorsed the work the faith communities did.

Victoria Lygo finished her presentation by thanking the chair for allowing her to attend the meeting to raise the profile of the Children’s Centres and asked residents if they would sign post the services they offered.

The Chair thanked Victoria Lygo for her presentation.

Road Access to St Mary’s Village Houses and the Hackney Community Green/Play Ground

Ifeoma Mkparu, a representative St Mary’s Village highlighted the problems that herself and other residents of St Mary’s Village were experiencing with regard to service charges paid to the Metropolitan Housing Trust for private land that the Council was using as public land.

Kay Brown, Assistant Director of Revenues & Benefits, agreed to take this issue away and report back to the Forum via the minutes.

ACTION: KAY BROWN