Agenda item

The Forum shared the experiences and challenges faced by various groups:

• Northants Rights and Equalities Council (“NREC”)
  
  

Anjona Roy said that this year had been OK but next year was a concern. The Government Equalities Office had been consulting on changing the system of grants funding to local organisations to one operated mostly by telephone in future, possibly centrally.

Anjona said discrimination is a personal thing: people need support and confidence with proceeding into often very long tribunal situations – perhaps up to 2 years.

Anjona felt it was good that Northamptonshire had an agency to which people could go for complainant aid.

A House of Commons debate had emphasised mediation and education as needs, but Anjona said this was not enough. She felt in these difficult times there was an increase in issues, such as pregnancy-related dismissal, not offering reasonable adjustments for disabled people and an increase in poor practice. Anjona gave the example of a tribunal which had been given a fraudulent document and a judge had noticed this. There were more poor working practices in less regulated industries and especially within the logistics sector.

NREC had been trying to diversify its funding base and to reduce costs but the time frame for changes to funding organisations is very fast.

NREC was moving to Northampton College to further reduce costs.

Anjona said that at the county Voluntary and Community Sector conference a survey had found that 30% of voluntary sector organisations had been operating on reserves – so she did not think some organisations had much chance of a future.

• Sikh Community Centre and Youth Club (“SCCYC”)
  
  Pindy Chahal updated about this organisation.
  
  There were problems with parking in St George’s Street. Northants County Council had changed the arrangements, reducing what parking was available. Changes about what the primary school would allow were adding to the difficulties. What had been adequate now was making life difficult for the Sikh community.
  
  There was not much residential property in St George’s Street but it does have the gurdwara, the youth club and a primary school which SCCYC use regularly, often at times other people are not there.
  
  Now, on a Sunday there was often nowhere left for people to park. As the road is blocked off, people were having to drop people off if they chose to make the journey and then having to consider parking some distance away. In between the new parking zone that Northants County Council had introduced, Northants County Council had painted double yellow lines along much of the road. Reducing available parking at all times.
  
  The primary school is hired for the Punjabi School. In the past, like teachers for the primary school itself, the teachers for this school had been allowed to park their cars on the site. This had helped them to bring in things they needed to use in lessons and to take them away at the end of the school time. But the school had now decided that the Punjabi School teachers were not allowed to park on the site, saying that it was for health and safety reasons. So although the car park was empty, teachers had to look to park somewhere else.
  
  Parking restrictions in the area only allow for two hours parking now. People have had to start moving their cars frequently. This could be very inconvenient, for example for people involved in providing a religious service in the gurdwara which may take a bit more time than this.
  
  The Punjabi School class lasted for a bit more than two hours. It finished at 12.30pm. In the past, teachers had been able to pack up their things and make sure the children were met by parents and got away safely, then pack things into their cars. Now as well as the class finishing at 12.30pm, having painted double yellow lines in the road and with time-limited parking restrictions introduced, Northants County Council had started sending two parking wardens to St George’s Street for 12.30pm on Sundays to give people tickets. There were usually no parking users other than the Sikh community in St George’s Street at that time.
  
  Pindy said there were other difficulties starting to happen about using the primary school. For example, the Punjabi School were not allowed to have the children play football any more. The school had also introduced a £35 per hour charge if the Punjabi School wanted to use anything other than the hired desk-based classrooms. So this meant for example, that they could not go on the playing field at the school.
  
  Morcea Walker and Pindy were due to talk to the school about concerns about the rude behaviour of a caretaker in dealing with the Sikh community and about not being allowed to park on the school grounds any more.
  
  Lindsey Ambrose and Cllr Patel had visited the SCCYC and seen the school in action and the parking issues recently when they gave prizes to Sikh community children and saw the first showing of an exhibition made with young people and older people from the Sikh community through work with this Forum, Northampton Youth Forum and the Money 4 Youth scheme.
  
  It was suggested that the primary school and the county council be asked to produce Equality Impact Assessments which justified the current arrangements. If they could not justify them, then they could be asked to change them.
  
  It was noted that the Bengali school had already moved out because of problems at the school. Being just across the road from the gurdwara and community centre, the primary school had been particularly convenient for the Sikh community to use. Parents might be in the gurdwara and then able to meet their children easily after school.
  
  Action: Cllr Patel to speak to Tony Clarke and a highways engineer to arrange to visit St George’s Street and get things improved.
  
  Action: Cllr Patel to ask Northants County Council to review the parking arrangements in St George’s Street with regard to equalities and the imact that current restrictions were having on the Sikh community.

• Northamptonshire Association of Supplementary Schools
  
  Alaa gave an update on behalf of the schools.
  
  He was not aware of any particular problems or challenges they faced. He said he would check and mention any at the next meeting of this Forum.
  
  
• Indian Hindu Welfare Organisation
  
  The main challenge this organisation faced was the costs of hiring anywhere to meet. The costs of schools which Northants County Council had brought within the private finance initiative (“PFI”) arrangements and those of many other community venues had increased – possibly due to increasing running costs.
  
  
• Quakers Society of Friends
  
  John Rawlings provided an update.
  
  This group has a town centre property. They had chosen to keep prices low for 3 to 4 years. Their property is hired typically 3 to 4 days per week. Organisations hiring it include the mental health organisation Mind, mums and babies groups, religious groups and an autism support group. The Quakers group have found pressure increasing on them to hire out the building. It is now often at full capacity. They believe that this is because they are the cheapest place to hire in the town centre.
  
  Northampton Borough Council no longer offered free use of its rooms. It was noted that the council had closed some of its offices and relocated hundreds of staff into the Guildhall. While they work in open plan offices to maximise use of space, this had been associated with increasing pressure on its meeting rooms in the Guildhall throughout its opening hours as one result of the changes. The Quakers group believed that some of the increased enquiries about hiring its rooms were a result of the reduction in free space at the council.
  
  It was suggested that it might be helpful if people knew of more buildings which had rooms that could be hired. It was noted that there are some listings of rooms and community halls on the Disabled Go access guide available for anyone with internet access to use at www.northampton.gov.uk/disabledgo . 
  
  Action: Lindsey to find out if NBC has a list of all the venues in Northampton which could be hired.
  
  Note further to the meeting:
  Northampton Borough Council does not have information about all venues available to hire in Northampton. The following have been contacted and here’s what they said about room hire:
  
  - Northampton Borough Council publishes a list of community centres: www.northampton.gov.uk/communitycentres
  
  - Northampton Museum and Art Gallery has a meeting room at its Guildhall Road site and other spaces which can be hired for corporate or community use. There are some discounts available for voluntary, educational and charitable organisations with a turnover of less than £20,000. The Museum is about to go through some building works which may limit access for a while. Information about “museum hire” is available at www.northampton.gov.uk/museums or tel: 01604 838111.
  
  - Northampton Volunteering Centre no longer hires a meeting room for community use. They needed to convert it to office space. But they do provide a bulletin, usually fortnightly (depending on how much information they have to share), which includes about places to hire.
  
  - Relate, St Giles Street offer rooms for hire, including in the evenings. Their contact number is 01604 634400.
  
  - The Doddridge Centre has a range of rooms of different sizes available to hire. Their website says they may offer free use depending on availability and conditions. They have free car parking on site. Their website is www.doddridgecentre.org.uk or tel: 01604 586384 or email: sandrabell@doddridgecentre.org.uk 
  
  - Citizens Advice Bureau, Mercers Row offers rooms for hire. Their contact is tel: 01604 235080.
  
  - Northamptonshire Central Library in Abington Street offers room hire. Tel: 01604 462040 email: centlib@northamptonshire.gov.uk
  
  - Disabled Go online guide for Northampton lists various community rooms, halls which may be of use by the public and due to its nature it includes detailed disability access information as well as contact details. www.northampton.gov.uk/disabledgo