Agenda item

Helena Webster, Community Engagement & Town Centre Improvement Manager, presented the report noting that, as part of the Committee’s review, testimony had been received from local residents, Ealing Council, the Police and officers. Section 4 set out possible areas for emerging recommendations. The following points were highlighted:

·         It was noted that Ealing Council displayed a sign on all their alley gates stating that residents were responsible for them and to use them as intended. It was suggested that Hillingdon could introduce a similar scheme whereby signs were erected on gates advising residents to keep clear / keep the gates closed and providing a generic email address for residents to contact officers if needed. It was suggested that stating the scheme was resident-led could possible lead to antisocial behaviour;

·         Officers to create a draft template for review with universal branding;

·         Officers confirmed that annual emails were sent out to contacts on the database to check the contact details of the lead residents – this would be an opportunity to check if there were any issues with the gates which the Council could help with;

·         New residents who needed to get hold of a key quickly were encouraged to speak to neighbours to get a copy. If the Council had the details of the lead petitioner, they would ask if their contact details could be passed on – thereby creating a contact between the enquirer and the lead resident;  

·         When new residents moved in to an area with alley gates, it was suggested that officers could write to them proactively with the contact details of the lead resident and with the generic email address;

·         When a new scheme had been implemented, officers felt it would be useful to request feedback from residents six months later regarding the application process and how the scheme was working;

·         A feature in Hillingdon People to promote the alley gating scheme was recommended;

·         In terms of banking problems reported by residents, it was confirmed that these issues related to older schemes and did not apply to more recent schemes as community banking was now much more user friendly. With regard to older schemes and issues experienced by some residents with accessing money in community banks, it was agreed that officers would follow this up with colleagues in legal and finance and feed back to the Committee. It was suggested that two Council officers could be counter signatories on each scheme as a back-up option – officers would follow this up with HR and legal;

·         In terms of providing minutes to assist with banking issues for older schemes, it was confirmed that the Council kept a comprehensive log and could provide information to lead residents to help with banking matters if needed.

It was agreed that the wording of the recommendations would be delegated to officers, in consultation with the Chairman and the Labour Lead. A final list of recommendations would be presented to the Committee in due course.

Officers thanked the Committee for the review which had been very helpful.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Committee considered possible conclusions, findings and early draft recommendations in relation to the review; and

2.    That the wording of the final recommendations be delegated to officers, in consultation with the Chairman and the Labour Lead.