Agenda and minutes

Councillor Paul Maslin opened the assembly meeting by welcoming everyone and briefly outlining the purpose of the Assembly programme for the benefit of residents attending for the first time.

Brigid Howarth, London Borough of Lewisham Development Officer with responsibility for the New Cross Assembly, summarised the latest information to be released from the census:

·       Of the 18 wards in Lewisham, New Cross has the third lowest number of people in full time employment (36.4% of New Cross residents) and high levels of unemployment (7.6%).

·       Levels of home ownership are low (second lowest in the borough after Evelyn ward). Overcrowding and rented accommodation is high in New Cross and Evelyn, particularly social housing.

·       New Cross has the highest number of single person (below pensionable age) households.

·       New Cross and Evelyn have the highest levels of non white residents. The number of Black African residents in Evelyn and New Cross is more than twice the borough average. The number of households where no-one speaks English as the main language is highest in Evelyn (16%) and New Cross (15.3%).

Brigid Howarth explained that the Co-ordinating Group had decided that in future less money would be spent on refreshments for Assembly meetings. This money would be used to support projects to benefit the local community. 

The Assembly Fund will be developed to ensure maximum value for money for local communities where budgets are being squeezed elsewhere across the Council.  An action development led approach will ensure the Assembly Fund is spent on the most suitable actions to best meet priorities for the ward; is more planned and strategic in its approach; and has the potential to achieve better value for money. In future it is anticipated that Assemblies will deliver a smaller number of high value projects that will have a greater impact on the ward.

A workshop on ideas for the fund was facilitated by members of the Co-ordinating Group. People were invited to join one of 6 themed groups reflecting the priorities of the Assembly: reducing crime, improving community facilities and shops, increasing youth provision, traffic and road safety and the environment. Each group presented their ideas and everyone voted for their top four priorities from the list of projects.

The projects and priority level (determined by the number of votes) is outlined below:

Brigid Howarth explained that the Co-ordinating Group will review the information and  determine how the funding can be best used to meet the priorities. Projects will be developed further, with the support of Council officers, to include costs, how project will be delivered, timescales etc.  The Co-ordinating Group present project ideas back to assembly who will agree what to fund.

KejiKazzim, Health Improvement Officer attended but unfortunately, there was not time for Keji to present the evaluation of the Health Improvement Programme. Keji shared handouts and can provide further information on request.

A representative from Quay Point explained that a newspaper and on line news site is being developed for south east London. The first printed edition will hopefully be available in July.

Cllr Paul Maslin closed the Assembly meeting and thanked everyone for attending.

No declarations of interest were made at this meeting.