Agenda and draft minutes

5 minutes

Welcome from the Chair of the Council, Cllr Karen Walker.

The Vice-Chair of Council welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies for absence had been received from:

Parish and Town Councils:

Midsomer Norton Town Council

Saltford Parish Council

Stowey Sutton Parish Council

B&NES:

Cllr Alex Beaumont

Cllr Eleanor Jackson

Cllr Ruth Malloy

Cllr Robin Moss

15 minutes

We welcome Alison Ward (online) from Middlemarch Community Led Housing CIC who are working with the West of England Rural Network (WERN) on a DEFRA funded project.  They want to highlight to Parishes the support available for small, rural housing schemes that provide affordable homes for local people.  Dick Whittington from WERN will also be with us in person. 

Parish representatives were given the following information from Dick Whittington (West of England Rural Network (WERN) and Alison Ward (Middlemarch):

1.  The West of England Rural Network (WERN) had been awarded funding from DEFRA to support Rural Affordable Housing projects in Bath and North East Somerset; South Gloucestershire and North Somerset. 

2.  WERN had appointed an organisation (Middlemarch) to provide support to communities that were interested in taking this forward.

3.  The funding was time limited and so WERN/Middlemarch were keen to find out the level of interest in affordable rural housing schemes.

4.  A Webinar with more details was being organised for Wednesday 9 October at 7pm and details would be shared with the parish councils.

5 minutes

Richard Maccabee, Chair of B&NES ALCA will give an update.

Richard Maccabee, Chair of B&NES Avon Local Councils Association (ALCA) advised representatives that the Annual General Meeting would be taking place on Tuesday 24 September and invited all to attend.  He also advised that the ALCA AGM would be taking place on Saturday 5 October and that both meetings would be held online. 

15 minutes

Council update introduced by Mandy Bishop, Chief Operating Officer.

Update on Debate Not Hate from Cherry Bennett, Director of People and Change.

Policing Priorities and the Community Safety Partnership – Chief Inspector Scott Hill and Samantha Jones (Inclusive Communities Manager, B&NES).

Mandy Bishop, Chief Operating Officer, Bath and North East Somerset Council advised Parish Council representatives:

1.  A copy of the parish toolkit was available at the meeting and could also be found on the Council’s website.

2.  The Council’s Events Team would run a briefing session on organising events for any interested Parish Councils.

3.  It was noted that there was a request for a session on the Local Plan and this would come back to a future meeting.

Cherry Bennett, Director of People and Change, Bath and North East Somerset Council advised Parish Council representatives about the Debate Not Hate campaign:

1.  At the B&NES Council meeting on 14 March 2024, Councillors unanimously agreed a motion to support the national Debate not Hate campaign.

2.  As a result, Councillors and Officers were working on how to bring this to life to support Councillors, including Parish Councillors and also officers.

3.  There had been training sessions and a comms campaign.

Dawn Drury reported that Keynsham Town Council had signed up to the Civility and Respect Pledge and recommended that other Parish Councils consider signing up to demonstrate commitment to standing up to poor behaviour across the sector and to driving through positive changes which support civil and respectful conduct. https://www.nalc.gov.uk/our-work/civility-and-respect-project 

Chief Inspector Scott Hill and Samantha Jones (Inclusive Communities Manager, B&NES) gave a presentation on policing priorities and the Community Safety Partnership and highlighted the two priorities owned by Council, police and the police and crime commissioner:

1.  Protecting the most vulnerable from harm

2.  Strengthen and improve local communities to improve outcomes for local people.

They welcomed further discussion and questions during the World Café Session.

1 hour 20 minutes

This is your opportunity to meet with Council Officers, Police colleagues and partner organisations.

There will be four tables with the following themes to be circulated every 20 minutes.

Children and Young People

To include the concerns that young people have about crime and the support services available.  Also, the role of the Youth Justice Service when young people find themselves involved in crime.

Community Issues

To include Anti-Social Behaviour; where to find crime statistics, how to report online and general neighbourhood policing matters.

Vehicles and Roads

To include speeding; parking; Traffic Regulation Orders and the difference between Police and Local Authority enforcement.

Debate Not Hate/Civility and Respect Project

Support and advice for Parish and Ward Councillors

A ‘World Café’ style session was held to give Parish/Town Councils the opportunity to meet officers.  The topics chosen were issues that ALCA and Parish representatives requested.

Table 1:  Children and Young People

Officers

Questions

Where could Parish Councils go for help advice if they were concerned about a young person involved in crime?  There was a lot of advice on the Council’s Website in relation to Early Help https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/get-early-help including how to download the Early Help app.  The Youth Justice page was another resource: https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/youth-justice  Other options included speaking to Youth Connect https://www.youthconnectsouthwest.org.uk/ .  If there was a concern about a child at risk, this should be reported either through the Council’s website or the Safeguarding Partnership website https://bcssp.org.uk/

What if Parish/Ward Councillors had concerns about a child missing school? There was a Council service for children missing in education as well as the Early Help resources.  In areas where there was a Youth Worker, they could also help.

Did Parish Council’s have a responsibility for health and wellbeing?  It was noted that some, but not all Parish Councils had a Child Protection Policy.

How could Parish Council’s get more information about the scale of the problem in their area relating to young people and crime/anti social behaviour?  Youth Connect could provide anonymised local information.

How could Youth Connect help Parish Councils?  Youth Connect provided a range of chargeable services to support young people including targeted support, recreational activities and alternative education.  The service also worked with other organisations such as Project 28.

Table 2 – Community Issues

Officers

Parish Group 1

Q1:  How do you identify people involved with human trafficking?

A1:  We sometimes get referrals from other Council staff such as social workers.  We had a recent case highlighted to us in this way.  When people are trafficked, they pay a bond which they rarely, if ever, pay off so get into financial difficulty.  For example, in areas of the UK where there is flower picking, workers are charged high prices for the rubber bands that secure the flowers.  The Council’s Public Protection Team have also helped in identifying cases.  Nail bars are examples of businesses where trafficked people may be working.  The Council can undertake unannounced visits due to the presence of sharps and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

The Chair of the Council will close the meeting.

The Chair of the Council closed the meeting and thanked everyone for attending.

Proposed dates for 2025:

19 March 2025 – Venue TBC

16 July 2025 – Community Space, Keynsham

15 Oct 2025 – Community Space, Keynsham

Please let us know if you have any concerns about these proposed dates.

Wednesday 19 March 2025 – venue to be confirmed

Wednesday 16 July 2025 – Community Space, Keynsham

Wednesday 15 October 2025 – Community Space, Keynsham