Agenda item

A presentation will be given by Felicity Hall, Arts Officer and James Warwick, Sports Development Officer and will identify ways in which EFDC Community Services can deliver projects aimed at young people in partnership with local parish and town councils.

Felicity Hall, District Council’s Arts Officer and James Warwick, Sports Development Manager, were in attendance to talk about ways in which EFDC Community Services could deliver projects aimed at young people in partnership with local Parish and Town Councils; and in response to a Parish Clerk expressing a desire to learn about what Community Services offered.

The Community Services section of EFDC was made up of 4 departments: Arts; Community Development (which includes Young people and EF Youth Council); Sports and Health Development; and the District Museum. The key aim of these services being to improve health and well being of local residents of all ages and abilities and enhance community cohesion and respect.

Delivery programmes were designed to address specific needs identified by officers and partner organisations and focus particularly on areas of deprivation and disadvantage in the district. A wide range of regular projects, activities and events are provided during term time, such as sports mentoring and coaching in conjunction with Tottenham Hotspur Community Foundation, street dance, music and media. Excellent outcomes have been realised in Limes Farm, Chigwell with several young people being trained to become football coaches, resulting in them now being paid coaches with Tottenham and coaching voluntarily on the Estate where they live.

Felicity Hall spoke about the ‘Bang out of Order’ campaign in Waltham Abbey last year, which was created specifically to reassure residents and to reduce criminal damage and anti-social behaviour over the Halloween and Bonfire Night periods. Halloween and firework safety information was provided at all the local junior schools in Waltham Abbey. The outcome was to reduce dangerous incidents by young people considerably. Another example of work undertaken included the ‘Make do and Mend’ project in partnership with the London College of Fashion and Essex Youth Services. This was inspired by the 1940s war time ethos and involved the Loughton Youth Club and local residents. Young people at the club wanted to reach out to local residents as there had been some local tensions and they wanted to break down the barriers between the age groups. Community Services had also developed a Healthy Living Festival, with fun dance and fitness sessions and healthy eating/cooking classes, which proved very popular. Arts were also working on ‘Make a Move’, a large scale dance project, working with local groups, from youth clubs to residential care homes. Dance teachers are travelling through the district, teaching a series of dance moves to form part of the largest outdoor dance performance ever seen in the district in 2012 as part of Essex’s ‘Sparks will fly’ journey.

A regular overview of the activities and events provided across the district was produced each quarter for District Councillors (attached) and officers offered to circulate this to Parish and Town Councils. They also indicated a desire to build stronger partnership working with the Town and Parish Councils. 

Councillor Surtees, Ongar Parish Council, commented that officers also need to target the more rural areas, whose populations may be smaller, but projects such as these are still needed. They also needed to raise their profile with the parish councils. Ms Hall replied that this was why they were at this meeting and that if Community Services was unable to help they would do their best to find appropriate partners to work with the parish councils.

The meeting noted that the Summer Holiday programme was distributed to all information points, sports centres, libraries, and primary and secondary schools. It was also available on the council’s website. Unfortunately, there was a limited budget to produce this publication. The Chairman suggested that perhaps one copy should go to each Town or Parish Clerk and they could promote the activities within their communities.

The representative from Fyfield Parish Council asked if sports other than football were being coached and Mr Warwick said that they were. The Tottenham Hotspur coaches, who worked with many local communities, were multi-disciplinary and offered other sports such as rugby and basketball. Officers also worked in close partnership with the Essex Country Cricket Board and with the Epping and Loughton Cricket Clubs. Fyfield Parish Council also commented that it seemed that only the big conurbations tended to get these projects and that something was needed for the smaller rural communities. Officers explained that a wide range of projects had previously been provided in rural areas in recent years but the take up had been poor. If the Town or Parish Councils could evidence a need, then they would be happy to try and offer activities in the future where resources allowed. 

Councillor Russell, Stapleford Abbots, asked how the officers contacted the young people and was told that a range of methods were used including the Essex Youth Service, existing organisations and local schools. They also used the Epping Forest Youth Council to promote activities available.

The Loughton representative commented that they had taken advantage of the offers from the District Council and that they kept their eyes open for any opportunities on offer. It was a two way street and local councils needed to come forward to take up these offers.

The Chairman reiterated that it was a two way street and if any local Council needed help in tackling issues with young people they should approach the Community Services Team.