LLCG - Secretary's Report to AGM, 12th November, 2007

Please note, sections of the introduction are also included in the Group's first newsletter:

This evening - our first AGM - will see the Lukes Lane Community Group report on its activities over the past year. Group financial accounts and minutes from fifty-one of our business meetings will be available for scrutiny – indeed, they always are as we pride ourselves on our democracy. The Group Constitution is open to amendment and activities for the coming year will be discussed. Hopefully, a question and answer session will allow residents to raise any queries or issues they feel need to be aired.

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From the time the Lukes Lane estate was built back in the mid-sixties, there had been no official Group to represent the interests of its residents. Many on the estate had long felt isolated from the rest of Hebburn and over the years the estate had achieved somewhat pariah status, with residents elsewhere in the borough reluctant to move here and existing residents eager to move away. However, one finding of the recent participatory appraisal (PA) project, carried out on the estate with the involvement of local residents, found that there was a very strong sense of community on Lukes Lane. Time after time residents, responding to questions from the PA team about what they liked/disliked about the estate, would cite the ‘strong sense of community’ and the friendliness of the people on the estate – simple things you just can’t put a price on.

When the year-long PA work was completed, and mindful of the more positive findings, especially with regards the strong, but latent, sense of community, local residents decided to organise with a view to addressing some of the many issues identified by the PA work – for instance, issues relating to health, transport, children, education and employment and safer streets - and generally to help make the estate a better place on which to live. The result was the formation of the Lukes Lane Community Group, with its short and snappy motto: “One Community, One Voice” and with a self-defined remit to turn the Lukes Lane estate from a community in itself and into a community for itself.

This may sound like so much soundbite, but the Community Group has been very active –not least in helping see the community house functions, setting up courses, organising events, attending and being quite vocal at the myriad forums attended by agencies, service providers and council departments, which are held regularly and in helping draw up an action plan to address the main issues identified during the PA work.

A non-exhaustive list of our activities over the past twelve-months is as follows:

• Fifty-one business meetings of the Group were held at the Community House and at the CA, at which members met with many service providers, council officers and councillors and at which residents were always free to attend and, indeed, often did

• Members attended estate walkabouts with Staff from the STH’s Estate Management Team

• Along with service providers and staff from the council and South Tyneside Homes, Group members have attended many Forums and action planning meetings that have focused on the key areas of concern identified by the PA process: Safer Streets, Unity in the Community, Health, Education & Employment, Transport, Children & Young people, Housing & Environment.

• The Group helped with two multi-agency road shows that focused on Community Safety and Employment.

• Group members have represented the estate at various conferences and events throughout the borough, the latest being the Tenant’s Forum in South Shields.

• Members worked hard to organise numerous events for residents, most notably:

Halloween Party at the CA in November 2006

Coach Trip to Leeds in December 2006

Chritmas Fete 2006

Two social evening, featuring top comedians and stage acts.

Two family discos.

Charity night for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance Mirace Fund.

Summer Fete.

• Group members were also active in a dog-chipping and bike-stamping day at the CA, the recent Wombles environment day at the local school, the school summer fete (including funding the cost of the bouncy castle), the youth disco at Clegwell CA, Halloween event at the CA organised by the Wildlife Trust, and the CA’s recent bonfire night sports event.

• The Group has supported funding bids for the local football team and the Mothers and Toddlers Group to enable them to purchase much needed equipment.

• With a long-term view to setting up a community market garden on the estate, Group members have visited other community gardening schemes in the North East.

• Group members have actively been carrying out the necessary research with a view to establishing a community café and catering service.

• With the support of Sure Start, the Group set up a free clothing exchange at the Community House.

• Further to discussion with residents as to what type of courses they would like to see set up on the estate, the Community Group did the groundwork that enabled the following courses to be implemented:

Salsa classes, which have been ongoing for several months.

A first aid course.

An alternative therapies course.

A ten-week introductory PC course.

A food hygiene course.

A ten-week introductory community development course

A ten-week introductory youth work course.

• With a view to keeping members informed of what is taking place in the commuity, Group members have:

Produced and delivered many of their own leaflets.

Produced many posters.

Leafleted the estate on many occasions on behalf of service providers.

Created a website at www.lukeslane-cg.blogspot.com

• Over the past year, Group members have often been the first point of contact for residents seeking communication with outside agencies, relaying their complaints/concerns and setting up interviews for them.

• Coffee mornings have been held at the Community house with a view to gauging residents’ views, i.e. with regards future courses.

• Group members have taken an active part in neighbourhood regeneration maters and the general improvement of local services via their election to and involvement with:

The governing body of Lukes Lane Community School

Tenants Panel

Community Area Forums

Area Panel

Lukes Lane CA Management Committee

• Members further articulated the concerns of residents with regards the “tombstone” estate entrance marker. After several meetings with council staff, Cllr Alan Kerr, and working with the local council and children from the local school, the entrance marker is being redesigned and relocated.

• Members have maintained a visible presence at the Community House, making sure the facility functions as best as meagre resources allow, opening up for service providers and making sure all visitors receive a cordial welcome and keeping the place clean.

Whilst the Group is appreciate of the support given by CVS and the local council, it is fair to say that this has not been without complication and at times these relationships have been a tad problematic. For four months the Group has been without the support of a full-time Community Development Worker whose placement was to have been the Lukes Lane estate from November 2006 until March 2008. CVS have helped, loaning the Group overstretched but willing CDWs from other areas where possible.

When, after six weeks in existence, we signed our constitution and received official sanction, we had no idea of some of the struggles that lay ahead of us, not least in regards the red-tape and bureaucracy we would encounter. Nevertheless we have persevered, seeing all of this as part of a learning curve.

We are greatly appreciative of the many members of the community who have supported us and offered us their time when it was most needed – for instance during our Christmas and Summer Fetes. Our only regret is that more residents have not come forward to join us on a more permanent basis and thus strengthen the Group, as there is much work to be done and, indeed, fun times to be had for residents.

One thing is sure – with the knowledge and skills we have gained since last September, the contacts we have made with the myriad agencies and service providers in the borough and with the confidence we have picked up along the way, we can approach the next twelve months with more vigour and hopefully be in a position this time next year to report more tangible and visible successes.

John Bissett
Secretary
Tel: 0191 4234239
Email: lukeslane_cg@yahoo.co.uk