Agenda, decisions and minutes

That Councillor Pauline Morrison be confirmed as Chair and Councillor James-J Walsh be confirmed as Vice-Chair of the Safer, Stronger Communities Select Committee for the municipal year 2017/18.

1.1       Katie Wood introduced the item and invited Members of the committee to confirm the election of Councillor Pauline Morrison as Chair and Councillor James-J Walsh as Vice-Chair.

1.2       RESOLVED:

That Councillor Pauline Morrison be confirmed as Chair and Councillor James-J Walsh be confirmed as Vice-Chair of the Safer, Stronger Communities Select Committee for the municipal year 2017/18.

That the minutes of the meeting on the 8 March be agreed as an accurate record of proceedings.

2.1       That the minutes of the meeting on the 8 March be agreed as an accurate record of proceedings.

Cllr Michael declared a personal interest in item 6 as he is the Chair of Equaliteam and a co-opted Board Member of Marshall Phoenix Memorial Trust representing Lewisham Council, and a member of the Lewisham Safer Neighbourhood Board.

3.1       Councillor Michael declared a personal interest in item 6 as he was the Chair of Equaliteam and a co-opted Board Member of Marshall Phoenix Memorial Trust representing Lewisham Council, and a member of the Lewisham Safer Neighbourhood Board.

There are no responses to referrals due at this meeting.

There were no responses to referrals due at this meeting.

4.1       There were no responses to referrals due at this meeting.

That the presentation be noted.

5.1       Barry Quirk, Chief Executive, gave a presentation to the Committee, a copy of which will be included with the agenda documentation. During the presentation and following questions from members of the Committee, the following key points were highlighted:

·         There had been dramatic changes in the demographic make-up of London in the last 10 years.

·         The population of London was hugely significant in terms of numbers: More people lived in North London than in Scotland; more people lived in South London than Wales. The size of London comparatively to the second largest city of Birmingham was also very large with the population of Birmingham being around 1.1 million people compared to 8.7 million in London.

·         There were major differences in London compared to national averages, for example – 62% of the population of inner London were in rented accommodation compared to 30% nationally. This meant that housing policies that worked for outside London were different from what was most suitable for London.

·         The population of Lewisham was predicted to be 300,000 currently with a projected increase to between 314,000 and 360,000 by 2040.

·         The main predictions were from GLA and ONS with the GLA having higher predictions than the ONS.

·         Birth rates, long and short-term migration trends and number of available homes could all be used to predict demographic changes. Migration trends and birth rates were challenging to predict which accounted for the range in the forecast population increase.

·         The Committee heard that the GLA figures were not capped based on maximum number of properties where as some experts felt this was a likely natural cap to population rises.

·         In Lewisham, the movement between those moving in and out of the borough was much more significant in terms of numbers and effect on overall population than changes in the birth rate which accounted for only a small part of predicted changes.

·         When asked whether there was a trend for families with young children to move out of the borough, the committee heard that there was no evidence of this currently and the changes were more likely to be from people without children moving in and out of the borough.

·         The rate of international migration had a bigger net effect on the Lewisham population that domestic (within UK) migration but the numbers involved in domestic migration were much higher as the London Borough of Lewisham had low proportion of international migration compared to domestic.

·         Currently there was not enough evidence to understand comprehensively the changes in terms of socio-economic groups of those moving in to Lewisham versus those moving out.

·         Other influences on changes to demographic make-up included older home-owners “cashing in” on higher property values and moving out of London, and currency changes. The fall in the value of the pound by 15% since June 2016 was also believed to be likely to affect the population. In particular those who sent a proportion of their wages to their home country may have less incentive to stay in the UK. In  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

That the meeting currently scheduled for 6^th June 2017 be moved to 26^th June 2017 due to the general election.

That the first evidence session for the review considering “Provision for the LGBT community in Lewisham” be moved to the September meeting.

6.1       Katie Wood, Scrutiny Manager, introduced the work programme to the Committee. In the discussion that followed, the following key points were noted:

·         For the review into provision in the LGBT community, it would be important to look at the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment and consider whether this could be further developed in terms of considering the needs of the LGBT community.

·         The LGBT Foundation could be invited to give evidence to the review.

·         The meeting of the Committee scheduled for the week of the general election could be moved to after the election.

6.2       RESOLVED:

That the meeting currently scheduled for 6^th June 2017 be moved to 26^th June 2017 due to the general election.

That the first evidence session for the review considering “Provision for the LGBT community in Lewisham” be moved to the September meeting.

There were no referrals to Mayor and Cabinet.

There were no referrals to Mayor and Cabinet.