NAPIER CITY COUNCIL

Civic Building

231 Hastings Street, Napier

Phone:  (06) 835 7579

www.napier.govt.nz

 

 

 

Community Services Committee

 

 

Open

Agenda

 

 

Meeting Date:

Wednesday 2 August 2017

Time:

Following the Finance Committee meeting which starts at 3pm

Venue:

East Coast Lab

Level 1

National Aquarium of New Zealand

Marine Parade

Napier

 

 

 

Committee Members

 

Councillor White (Chair), Mayor Dalton, Councillors, Brosnan, Dallimore, Hague, Jeffery, McGrath, Price, Tapine, Taylor, Wise and Wright

 

Officer Responsible

 

Director Community Services

Administration

 

Governance Team

 

Next Community Services Committee Meeting

Wednesday 13 September 2017


Community Services Committee02 August 2017 Open Agenda

ORDER OF BUSINESS

Apologies

Councillor Boag

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Public forum

Nil

Announcements by the Mayor

Announcements by the Chairperson

Announcements by the Management

Confirmation of Minutes (page 8 refers)

That the Minutes of the Community Services Committee meeting held on Wednesday, 14 June 2017 be taken as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

Notification and Justification of Matters of Extraordinary Business

(Strictly for information and/or referral purposes only).

Agenda Items

1            Napier Social Monitor report - 2017....................................................................................... 3  

Public Excluded .......................................................................................................................... 7


Community Services Committee02 August 2017 Open Agenda

Agenda Items

1.      Napier Social Monitor report - 2017

Type of Report:

Enter Significance of Report

Legal Reference:

Enter Legal Reference

Document ID:

377356

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Michele Grigg, Senior Advisor Policy

 

1.1     Purpose of Report

To provide a summary of findings from the Napier Social Monitor report 2017.

 

Officer’s Recommendation

That Council

a.   receives the Napier Social Monitor report 2017.

 

 

CHAIRPERSON’S RECOMMENDATION

That the Council resolve that the officer’s recommendation be adopted.

 

1.2     Background Summary

The Napier Social Monitor is a social monitoring tool for Napier City, conducted by APR Consultants Limited. The survey has been undertaken for Council since 1998. It was initially conducted annually, and moved to a two-yearly cycle in 2007. The questionnaire has changed minimally to ensure comparability over time. Questions cover: housing, health, safety, employment, education and training, community relationships, quality of life, input into Napier’s direction, and vehicle, internet and smartphone access.

 

Survey objectives

The objectives of the Napier Social Monitor are to establish:

·         Satisfaction with living in Napier

·         Satisfaction with housing

·         Satisfaction with overall health and access to healthcare facilities

·         Perception of safety for oneself and other family members

·         Current employment (type of employment, hours worked, gross annual household income)

·         Involvement in education and training (training provider, barriers to training)

·         Access to a car, the internet, and smartphones

·         Nature of the community (how well the Napier community takes care of each other)

·         Community work and volunteer work undertaken

·         Community relationships between different ethnic groups

·         Perception of quality of life

·         Degree of opportunity to express view about the future direction of Napier City and New Zealand.

 

Survey methodology

The 2017 survey was conducted during April and May 2017. The survey was largely conducted by telephone (randomly generated residential telephone numbers) and online.  Face-to-face interviews also took place to achieve adequate levels of participation reflecting Napier’s demographics. The link for the online survey was promoted via social media channels and we approached residents at local events to complete the survey using mobile tablets.

 

A stratified sampling approach was used to achieve a final sample of 400 residents. This sample size is adequate to make generalisations to the wider community. The survey reflects the population of Napier aged 15+ years as at the 2013 Census, including good representation of Maori, males and females, and place of residence, with a reasonable representation of age groups (but with slightly fewer young people). The margin of error for the 2017 survey was +/-4.88% at the 95% level of confidence.

 

Survey findings

Key results from the 2017 survey are listed below. Full detailed analysis is provided in the report attached.

 

Housing

·         Most respondents own their own home (83%), 17% rent.

·         57% of renters state they rent because house prices are too expensive and 16% state renting is their preferred option.

·         The majority (94%) are either very or fairly satisfied with their current housing.

 

Health

·         Almost nine out of ten people rate their health as excellent, very good, or good (89%).

·         The majority of those seeking health care from a doctor or medical health service report no problems with the service (86%). The most common problems specified were delays getting treatment.

·         Most people who sought health care from the Hawke’s Bay Hospital report no problems with the service (82%). Of the 16% reporting problems, most involved delays in getting treatment – 39% faced delays when visiting the facility, and 30% faced long waits to visit the facility.

 

Safety

·         Almost all respondents rate their feeling of safety for themselves and other family members as average or better (94%). Most (69%) say they feel very or fairly safe, with a further 25% rating their safety as average.

·         A large number of comments were received about safety concerns – largely focusing on burglary (29% of all respondents), going out at night (10%), and attacks/abuse/violence (10%).

 

Education and training

·         Nearly one in five respondents (18%) have been involved in post-secondary education or training in the last 12 months from a range of providers both within the region and nationally. The Eastern Institute of Technology (32%) and employers (23%) were the most likely to provide training.

·         Seventy-eight percent report success with the training or education they’ve undertaken. 

 

Employment

·         Just over a third of respondents are employed full-time (39%), 17% are employed part-time, and 27% are parenting, doing home duties or retired.

·         Twenty percent of those not working stated they would like a job.

·         Of those currently working, 10% have more than one job.

 

Napier community

·         Over half of residents rate the current relationship between different ethnic groups in Napier as either very or fairly satisfactory (57%). A further 26% rate it as ‘sometimes satisfactory and sometimes not’, with the remaining (6.5%) rating the relationship as not very or not at all satisfactory.

·         The majority of people (88%) view Napier as excellent, very good or good at being a caring community.

·         Over a quarter of respondents (28%) do regular volunteer community work and 12% are members of social service groups.

 

Quality of life

·         Over half of respondents state their quality of life has improved in the last five years (56%); an additional 40% report no improvement.

 

Views about future direction

·         Almost one in three people report they have plenty or quite a lot of opportunity to express their views about the future direction of Napier City (30%). Twenty-four percent say they have just enough of a say, and 41% say they have very little, none or virtually no opportunity.

·         In comparison, 12% of respondents report they have plenty or quite a lot of opportunity to express their views about the future direction of New Zealand. Twenty-three percent say they have just enough of a say, and 60% say they have very little, none or virtually no opportunity.

 

Access

·         A total of 94% of respondents have access to a vehicle during the day.

·         A total of 93% of respondents have access to the internet in some way (at home, school, work etc) and 80% have access to a smartphone in some way.

 

Compared to 2014

·         A higher proportion of residents who are renting feel that house prices are too high (57% in 2017 vs 40% in 2014)

·         Fewer residents reported problems obtaining health care at Hawke’s Bay hospital (16% in 2017 vs 23% in 2014)

·         More residents said a course had provided them with the training they needed (78% in 2017 vs 71% in 2014)

·         Slightly more residents were employed full-time (39% in 2017 vs 33% in 2014)

·         Slightly more residents reported an improved quality of life over the previous five years (56% in 2017 vs 51% in 2014).

 

1.3     Issues

There was little change to overall feelings of safety – 94% rated their feeling of safety for themselves and other family members and their possessions as average or better in 2017; also 94% in 2014. However, the percent of residents feeling very or fairly safe declined by almost seven percentage points in 2017 (more people rated their safety as ‘average’ compared to 2014). Lower safety ratings in the 2017 survey point to residents’ concerns about burglary in particular (29%).

 

Levels of overall safety are still high at 94%.

 

1.4     Significance and Consultation

N/A

1.5     Implications

Financial

N/A

Social & Policy

Findings support the focus areas of the Safer Napier programme and service agreements held by Council with community organisations. Key findings will be provided to Safer Napier Strategic Group members.

Risk

N/A

1.6     Options

The options available to Council are as follows:

1.    To receive the Social Monitor 2017 report.

 

1.7     Attachments

a       FINAL Napier Social Monitor Report 2017.pdf (Under Separate Cover)        


 

PUBLIC EXCLUDED ITEMS

 

 

That the public be excluded from the following parts of the proceedings of this meeting, namely:

 

AGENDA ITEMS

1.         Arts Advisory Panel Recommendations - Doris Tragedy Commission

 

The general subject of each matter to be considered while the public was excluded, the reasons for passing this resolution in relation to each matter, and the specific grounds under Section 48(1) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 for the passing of this resolution were as follows:

 

GENERAL SUBJECT OF

EACH MATTER TO BE CONSIDERED

REASON FOR PASSING THIS RESOLUTION IN RELATION TO EACH MATTER

GROUND(S) UNDER SECTION 48(1) TO THE PASSING OF THIS RESOLUTION

1.  Arts Advisory Panel Recommendations - Doris Tragedy Commission

7(2)(a) Protect the privacy of natural persons, including that of a deceased person

48(1)A That the public conduct of the whole or the relevant part of the proceedings of the meeting would be likely to result in the disclosure of information for which good reason for withholding would exist:
(i) Where the local authority is named or specified in Schedule 1 of this Act, under Section 6 or 7  (except 7(2)(f)(i)) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.

 


 

  NAPIER CITY COUNCIL

Civic Building

231 Hastings Street, Napier

Phone:  (06) 835 7579

www.napier.govt.nz

 

 

 

Community Services Committee

 

 

Open

MINUTES

 

 

Meeting Date:

Wednesday 14 June 2017

Time:

3pm – 3.59pm

Venue:

Main Committee Room
3rd floor Civic Building
231 Hastings Street
Napier

 

Present:

Councillor White (In the Chair), the Mayor, Councillors  Boag, Brosnan, Dallimore, Hague, Jeffery, McGrath, Price, Tapine, Taylor, Wise, Wright

In Attendance:

Director City Infrastructure (Acting Chief Executive), Director Corporate Services, Manager Community Strategies, Chief Financial Officer, Manager Business Transformation and Excellence, Corporate Planner, Communications Specialist

Secretariat:

Governance Team

 


Community Services Committee02 August 2017 Open Agenda

 

Apologies

Nil

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Nil

Public forum

Zoe Barnes – Napier Business Inc.

Ms Barnes spoke about concerns that have been raised regarding increased amounts of begging and undesirable behaviours in the vicinity of Clive Square and down Emerson Street into the CBD. Over the last year concerns have moved from retail loss limitation to fears for personal and business safety. It is believed that there is a small core group for whom begging is a primary focus and which may move between Hastings and Napier.

 

Brendan Hutchinson – St John Ambulance

Mr Hutchinson spoke about the concerns of St John Ambulance at the increased numbers of call outs to Clive Square over the last few months to attend to people for whom synthetic drug use is a problem. The ambulance resources are stretched and there will ultimately be an impact on their ability to respond to the wider public. He also noted that responding to these call outs is now a Health and Safety issue for his staff, as many of the drug users can be volatile and aggressive. St John is working with the Police to try and identify solutions to the problem.

 

Nigel Hurley and Grant Holder – New Zealand Police

Sgt Hurley spoke about a gap between the Police mandate of addressing criminal behaviours and of removing people from the streets, which is currently unfilled. Of particular concern is a core group of men who are synthetic drug users. The Police are using social media channels to encourage the public to provide funding to organisations working with rough sleepers and those on the streets as there is a concern that providing money directly to drug users only contributes to their habit. The Police believe that there needs to be a cross-sector approach as most of the people in question need to get well, as opposed to being taken to court. It was hoped that “capable guardians” might be established to help address the issues – people who are willing and able to safely look after the community as well as those in need by working with them to address some fundamental needs.

 

Dallas Knight – business owner, Civic Square West

A number of businesses in the Civic Square West are concerned about their personal and business safety, and have completed a survey outlining their particular issues. The outreach centre is believed to be a magnet for those exhibiting undesirable and unpredictable behaviours, fighting, and drug use. Those in the vicinity feel very threatened. It was requested that the resource consent for the outreach centre be revoked.

 

Caroline Lampp – WIT (Whatever it takes) Services

The What It Takes (‘WIT’) Trust provides community mental health support services. In the last 18 months WIT has been part of a cross sector group including Police, Council and other government and community agencies to respond to growing homelessness in Napier.  Supported by the cross sector group, WIT has been running the Outreach Service based from Clive Square to work with rough sleepers. Ms Lampp remarked that every community is judged and may ultimately be defined by how it treats its most vulnerable – the homeless, rough sleepers and drug users of Napier are arguably some of its most vulnerable people. Napier has a serious shortage of housing with some of the worst statistics in New Zealand, which will inevitable result in a decline in standards of living for many people. WIT is already working with other agencies and church groups to provide the best services they can but resourcing and funding are an issue. They have staff that are already working directly with those synthetic drug addicts and others, and who could step into the roles of ‘capable guardians’ looked for by the Police. However they are already stretched. The Outreach Service has been operating over the last 9 months, but is only able to open for parts of the day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays due to a lack of funding. There is scope for a lot more to be done and WIT actively link in with as many other groups as are able and interested in addressing the issues.

 

In response to questions from Councillors the speakers clarified that:

·         It is not always clear whether mental health or drug and alcohol use are the key problem; often they are interwoven.

·         The civic services (Police, Ambulance, WIT etc) are all supportive of a cross-agency approach, recognising that the issue has many contributing factors.

·         There may be an opportunity for Council to contribute with some form of multi-function role that is focused on community safety. However the existing Community Patrol would not be appropriate as many are older themselves.

·         Behaviour has been noticeably disintegrating over the past few weeks which may be due to a particularly bad batch of synthetic drugs having been supplied to the users.

·         Offences are treated seriously by the Police but there is much that cannot be addressed as it is not specifically criminal in nature or there is not enough evidential support to make an arrest.

·         Synthetic drugs are a particular problem in Napier, as opposed to other drugs. They make the users very, very sick.

·         The existing Bylaw is legal but has ‘no real teeth’, and could benefit from a review.

·         Not all homeless are beggars and not all beggars are homeless

 

ACTION

The Regulatory team to advise:

·         How the Public Places Bylaw 2014 may be made more robust

·         Whether warranting is in place/ required to enforce the Bylaw

·         Whether any Council staff are currently warranted

 

ACTION

Council to investigate the concept of ‘capable guardians’ and any funding options to help contribute towards work underway with this vulnerable section of Napier’s community.

 

Announcements by the Mayor

The Mayor confirmed that he and the Chief Executive are cognisant of the challenges raised by the speakers of the Public Forum, and there is no easy answer and no single answer to the issue. The matter will need a whole of society approach to best address it.

 

The recent trip to meet with major aquaria in the US as part of the National Aquarium of New Zealand expansion project was extremely successful. Invaluable connections were made with four aquaria very interested in sharing information and building relationship.

Announcements by the Chairperson

Nil

 

Announcements by the Management

Recognition was made of the recent passing of Rod Jarvis due to complications from a long standing illness. A number of staff will be attending the funeral to pay their respects.

Confirmation of Minutes

That the Minutes of the meeting head on 3 May 2017 were taken as a true and accurate record of the meeting.

 

Notification and Justification of Matters of Extraordinary Business

(Strictly for information and/or referral purposes only).

 

Agenda Items

1.      Taradale Community Rooms Refurbishment Proposal

Type of Report:

Operational

Legal Reference:

N/A

Document ID:

341015

Reporting Officer/s & Unit:

Natasha  Carswell, Manager Community Strategies

 

1.1     Purpose of Report

To seek Council’s approval to continue to use the Taradale Community Rooms, once refurbished, to accommodate community groups, with the building to be used as transitionary or permanent accommodation for the Napier Community Hub and to investigate the potential for the rooms becoming a multi-use community centre in the future.

 

At the Meeting

A significant amount of discussion was had on this item. It was clarified that the decision to refurbish the Taradale Community Rooms has already been made by Council and this report is specifically related to their usage.

In response to questions from Councillors it was clarified that:

·         Although typically a refurbishment would be targeted towards the needs of a primary tenant, the Rooms are in need of work now and it is hoped that the renovation will foster greater interest in the space. The proposal is to create a flexible internal space, which will be reconfigurable as required.

·         There has been confirmation from four community groups that they are happy to move to the Taradale space and remain there on a longer term basis. These are non-customer facing businesses so the move would not have any negative impacts on their service provision.

·         The Citizens Advice Bureau would prefer to remain in the CBD so options would need to be negotiated for this.

·         A better fit for the tea Museum had been found at the Plunket Rooms; the proprietor Mr Hadfield was very excited about this space.

It was generally agreed that Napier Community Hub tenants should not be given priority to the Taradale Rooms as there may be other organisations interested in the Taradale space for longer term occupancies. However it was confirmed that an amendment to this end would not negatively impact on community hub tenants as where there was significant interest in moving to Taradale this could be provided for.

 

Officer’s Recommendation

That Council

a.       Approve that the Taradale Community Rooms continue to accommodate the community groups, with Napier Community Hub tenants given priority, and

b.       Note that further investigation will be undertaken to determine how the rooms could be run as a multi-use community centre in the future.

 

Committee's Recommendation

Councillors Taylor / Jeffery

That Council

a.       Approve that the Taradale Community Rooms continue to accommodate the community groups, and

b.       Note that further investigation will be undertaken to determine how the rooms could be run as a multi-use community centre in the future.

 

CARRIED

  

The meeting closed at 3.59pm.