The Leader, Councillor Caliskan to outline the Cabinet’s priorities for 2019/20.

The Chair invited Councillor Caliskan, Leader of the Council to outline the Cabinet’s priorities for 2019/20.

 

Councillor Caliskan congratulated Councillor Susan Erbil on her new role as Chair of the Overview & Scrutiny Committee and welcomed all Members to the Committee.

 

Councillor Caliskan said that having had a year in post, the Administration had now been able to dig deeper into some of the areas that affect the Borough and the Council. There were continued financial pressures on Enfield with more cuts coming down the line therefore the Council would have to look at how it could continue to deliver the best possible services in the hardest of times.

 

Councillor Caliskan set out the Cabinet’s main priorities for the year ahead as follows:

 

Decent Homes/Regeneration – to include:

 

·         Housing & Growth Strategy - culminating in the next couple of months

·         Estate Renewal Programme

·         Better Council Homes – addressing infrastructure issues and delivering £41m for planned improvements this year.

·         Repairs – insourcing day-to-day repairs services. A report will go to Cabinet in June.

 

Economic Development

 

·         Economic Development & Growth Strategy

·         Focus on boosting growth in the borough’s town centres including Enfield Town and Edmonton Green.

·         This will involve working with Traders Associations and small businesses to come up with a detailed plan about how the council can support them

·         Cultural Strategy- the current strategy ends in 2020 and Councillor Ian Barnes, Deputy Leader, is leading on the development of a new strategy. Cllr Barnes said the strategy would look at broadening access to culture so all people in the borough can have access and benefit from what the borough has to offer. Cllr Barnes outlined some ideas and stated he and officers are at the stage of developing possibilities. He said the plan should be ambitious and aspirational. The aim is to make this a transformational strategy, focusing on engagement and communication.  Cllr Barnes referred to the Gaming Industry for the borough boosting economic growth by tapping into London’s multi-billion-pound creative economy.

 

Community Safety

 

·         Measures to improve community safety would continue including funding extra police officers.

·         Needs to be long term investment for young people in the borough.

Burial Spaces

 

·         Identify long term provision for burial space in the borough.

·         Currently a burial consultation.

 

Tackling Poverty

 

·         There were plans in place for a fully independent Poverty and Equality Commission amid concerns over the rising number of children living in poverty in Enfield.

 

The following comments/questions were raised:

 

·         The plan to identify long term provision for burial spaces was welcomed.

·         Concerns were raised regarding the current level of public engagement/communication and it was felt that as a council we needed to market ourselves better and be smarter about the way we communicate.

·         Members welcomed the Poverty and Equality Commission and agreed that this would be a worthwhile piece of work.

·         Members were very interested in the Cultural Strategy and were keen to see how this would be developed.

·         The Improving Enfield Shopping Areas/Empty Shops Working Group had produced an interim report following its work over the past year and this was discussed.

·         In response to a question on where the Administration saw itself in twelve months’ time Councillor Caliskan hoped that:

-       the Housing and Cultural Strategies would be in place;

-       the Council’s ‘Housing MOT’ service would be embedded;

-       long term provision for burial space will have been identified as part of Enfield’s Local Plan;

-       Improvement to town centres would be underway including a programme plan for more events in Enfield town market square;

-       Detailed plans would set out how the £6m GLA Liveable Neighbourhoods Funding would be spent.

 

The Chair thanked Councillor Caliskan and Councillor Barnes for their informative updates which had been most helpful in pointing the Committee towards populating its main Work Programme for 2019/20.

Councillor Caliskan said that having had a year in post, the Administration had now been able to dig deeper into some of the areas that affect the Borough and the Council. There were continued financial pressures on Enfield with more cuts of £40 million coming down the line therefore the Council would have to look at how it could continue to deliver the best possible services in the hardest of times.

 

Councillor Caliskan set out the Cabinet’s main priorities for the year ahead as follows:

 

Decent Homes/Regeneration – to include:

 

·         Housing Strategy - culminating in the next couple of months

·         Estate Renewal Programme

·         Better Council Homes – addressing infrastructure issues and delivering £41m for planned improvements this year.

·         Repairs – insourcing day-to-day repairs services. A report will go to Cabinet in June.

 

Economic Development

 

·         Economic Development Strategy

·         Focus on boosting growth in the borough’s town centres including Enfield Town and Edmonton Green.

·         This will involve working with trading associations and small businesses to come up with a detailed plan about how the council can support them

·         Cultural Strategy- the current strategy ends in 2020 and Councillor Ian Barnes, Deputy Leader, is leading on drafting a new strategy. Cllr Barnes said the strategy would look at broadening access to culture so people from more disadvantaged backgrounds could benefit from what the borough has to offer. He went on to say that ‘it is a wildly ambitious strategy, but I think we should be really bold and radical with our aspirations’. The aim is to make this a transformational strategy, focusing on engagement and communication. The question has to be asked as to why industries such as the gaming industry aren’t lured into Enfield and what would it take to entice them? These industries like gaming, film and television would boost economic growth in Enfield by tapping into London’s multi-billion-pound creative economy. 

 

Community Safety

 

·         Measures to improve community safety would continue including funding extra police officers.

·         Needs to be long term investment for young people in the borough.

Burial Spaces

 

·         Identify long term provision for burial space in the borough.

 

Tackling Poverty

 

·         There were plans in place for a fully independent Poverty and Equality Commission amid concerns over the rising number of children living in poverty in Enfield.

 

The following comments/questions were raised:

 

·         The plan to identify long term provision for burial spaces was welcomed.

·         Concerns were raised regarding the current level of public engagement/communication and it was felt that as a council we needed to market ourselves better and be smarter about the way we communicate.

·         Members welcomed the Poverty and Equality Commission and agreed that this would be a worthwhile piece of work.

·         Members were very interested in the Cultural Strategy and were keen to see how this would be developed.

·         The Improving Enfield Shopping Areas/Empty Shops Working Group had produced an interim report following its work over the past year and this was discussed.

·         In response to a question on where the Administration saw itself in twelve months’ time Councillor Caliskan hoped that:

-       the Housing and Cultural Strategies would be in place;

-       the Council’s ‘Housing MOT’ service would be embedded;

-       long term provision for burial space will have been identified as part of Enfield’s Local Plan;

-       Improvement to town centres would be underway including a programme plan for more events in Enfield town market square;

-       some of the £6m GLA Liveable Neighbourhoods Funding would have been spent to rejuvenate and regenerate Enfield.

 

The Chair thanked Councillor Caliskan and Councillor Barnes for their informative updates which had been most helpful in pointing the Committee towards populating its main Work Programme for 2019/20.