Cultural strategy / community cohesion

During 2007/08 the Scrutiny Panel was consulted on the Council’s draft Cultural Strategy. This Strategy was subsequently endorsed by the Council and the Tameside Strategic Partnership.

It was agreed that the lead deliverer of the Cultural Strategy be the Community Cohesion Partnership, now known as the ‘Cultural and Community Cohesion Partnership’.

Community cohesion is a major current strand in national & local government work since 2001. Much of the focus of community cohesion has been, and will continue to be, about how communities from different ethnic groups can live together better and prosper.

The Panel will have the opportunity to review the implementation of the Cultural Strategy delivered by the Cultural and Community Cohesion Partnership, with particular reference to its impact on community cohesion.

This review supports Council and Community Strategy priorities relating to “Supportive Communities” and “A Safe Environment”.

In addition the review supports the LAA target to increase the% of people who believe people from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area’

Cllr G Cooney

Scrutiny Panel

Parks and Open Spaces

Parks and open spaces within Tameside are all fundamental areas of the borough which help to enhance the lives of residents. They improve the appearance of the borough and form an integral part of our heritage.

There are many great benefits of providing well maintained green spaces and growing awareness and evidence of other ways in which these areas can improve quality of life including:-

• Reducing crime and anti-social behaviour
• Improvement in health
• Biodiversity

This review supports Council and Community Strategy priorities relating to “An Attractive Borough”, “A Safe Environment” and “A Healthy Population”.

The review would also support the Community Strategy Performance Indicator and LAA targets to increase the number of Green Flags/Pennants for Public Spaces in the borough.

Cllr J Fitzpatrick

Scrutiny Panel

Library Service

The public library service is a statutory service covered by the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act with a duty to provide a ‘comprehensive and efficient’ library services for those who live, study or work within the Borough.

In May 2005 ‘New Libraries for Tameside’ was published and addressed drivers for change. The report set out a vision for the library service and outlined a number of recommendations for improvement.

The review will look at the implementation of those recommendations for improvement and will particularly consider measures taken to increase the use of public libraries.

This review supports the Council and Community Strategy priorities relating to “Supportive Communities” and a “Learning Community”

This review also supports the National Indicator Set target 9 ‘to increase the use of public libraries’.

Cllr G Cooney

Scrutiny Panel

Alcohol related Crime data

Local partnerships, stakeholders and agencies within Tameside have been well aware of the increasing issue of alcohol related harm and the need for partnership working to counteract the increase in alcohol related harms upon levels of crime and disorder and to the health of residents.

The Panel will review current practice of alcohol data collection and monitoring systems in relation to the impact alcohol has on crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour.

This review supports the Council and Community Strategy priorities relating to ‘A Safe Environment’ and ‘A Healthy Population’

Cllr M Oldham

Scrutiny Panel

During 2007 the Panel considered the action plan 2007/08 of the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) and local Criminal Justice Group (LCJG) Communications Group to reduce the public’s perceptions of anti-social behaviour in Tameside.

The Panel will monitor progress of implementation of actions and the impact on reducing the public’s perceptions.

The Panel will also have the opportunity to look at the Council’s Corporate Communications Strategy.

This review supports Council and Community Strategy priorities relating to “A Safe Environment”.

This review would support non-designated and local LAA targets around public perception.

The Panel will return to this subject to monitor the implementation and impact of the report’s recommendations.

This Scrutiny Panel produced a report on the Provision of Support Learning and Development for Elected Members in Tameside early 2008.

The Panel will return to this subject to monitor the implementation and impact of the reports recommendations

Cllr M Oldham

Cllr J Kitchen