GET SPENDING ON PAN !

I got to the Pan Neighbourhood Partnership (PNP) Board meeting this week, after they changed the meeting schedule for me. This is the body that oversees the £2million that Pan was awarded from April 2005 for 7 years by the LABOUR government, to improve facilities for the community, especially with a view to the new development. Pan got this money partially because it is a longstanding Labour represented ward - the benefits of being in step with government !

A lot is discussed at these meetings and I had a lot to catch up with due to missing the last two monthly meetings due to other Council commitments. I won't report all here, but concentrate on what always matters to people - the money. Of the £360k to be spent this year on pump-priming local initiatives 43% is spent on the salaries of the people employed, inclusing the two new community wardens who start later this month. Of the other 57% for projects, to date only 4% of that has been spent or committed due to the fact that whenever the Partnership tries to spend money on initiatives we seem to get more money thrown at us. We have found the same with the government Extended School money we got at Downside Middle School. Money as ever follows money !

Given the fact that PNP is still well off, I made a number of suggestions for reprofiling the budget that would increase credibilty with the community: further CCTV coverage in key areas of the ward, lighting and dogbins in the well-used backlanes that are like a maze around the area, benefit and pensioner benefit 'take up surgeries' perhaps provided by the Council's successful Welfare Rights service rather than the Dept for Work & Pensions - they each come at it from different perspectives. These were all supported I am pleased to say. I was also successful in insisting that the new Board that will come into place at the end of the year after local partnership elections must a have a resident majority.

It is clear that more must be done by PNP that is visible to local residents if it is to maintain confidence. I hope I have gone someway to help address that ?