29 January 2025 - Jarrow Town Board meeting minutes

Jarrow Town Board meeting minutes for Wednesday 29 January 2025.

Contents

  1. Attendence
  2. Welcome and introduction
  3. Minutes from the last meeting
  4. Latest guidance from Government
  5. Community engagement
  6. Any other business and next meeting

Attendence

Present:

  • Susan Wear-Brown
  • Geoff Thomson
  • Roweena Russell
  • Councillor Stephen Dean
  • Councillor David Kennedy
  • Councillor Margaret Meling
  • Joanne Bage
  • Kirsty Ostell
  • Rachel Jones
  • Natasha McDonough
  • Andrew Watts
  • Charlotte Harrison
  • Steve Martin
  • Sarah Currie
  • Charlotte Bone
  • David Gardener
  • Sargeant Phil Baker
  • Rory Sherwood-Parkin
  • Annabel Watson
  • Jane Burns

Apologies:

  • Ruth Durham
  • Paul Atkinson
  • Shaun Sadler
  • Martin Johnson
  • Sue Newton
  • Tracey Beaton
  • Patricia Blanchard
  • Carolyn Senior
  • John Scott
  • Hayley Page

Welcome and introduction

  • No additional declarations of interests to declare

Minutes from the last meeting

Latest guidance from Government

  • The Chancellor confirmed the funding for the Long Term Plan for Towns programme (of which Jarrow is part) will go ahead in the Autumn 2024 Budget.
  • Government have since stated that further guidance will be published in due course with the potential that the aims of the fund may focus more upon the Government's missions (particularly around growth and breaking down barriers to opportunity) than the previous Government's three aims for the fund.
  • Council officers confirmed they are keeping close to Government officials on this and continuing to ask about timings (Government have said funding will flow for towns from April 2026) and capital / revenue split.
  • Questions from Board members on timings of guidance (not yet known) and whether any risk in going ahead with consultation plans (see below) before the guidance is published. On the latter, officers stressed that the consultation will be broad to ensure that it can meet any updated guidance / asks from Government.
  • In addition, carrying out the consultation now will help ensure we understand the issues impacting residents, businesses and partners in Jarrow and their wishes for the future.

Progress update: Officers to keep engaging with Government officials to understand next steps.

Community engagement - Overview of potential creative and questionnaire approach

  • O Agency (commissioned by the Council, along with MMC, to help with the community engagement in Jarrow) presented an update of what they had been working on since being appointed in December.
  • This included the approach to the campaign story (around sparking a debate about the future of Jarrow and linking to its history), creatives (including a hero video), focus groups (including a co-design focus group with Jarrow School students in mid Feb), residents survey, toolkits (for businesses, schools and community groups to use) and research with the aim of launching the consultation in early March.
  • The campaign will be fluid to ensure that more focus can be given to particular cohorts and areas (supplemented by the focus groups) if those areas are lacking in engagement.
  • Key role for Board members to promote and share with their networks; MP's office keen to be involved and suggestions made about involving Job Centres, NHS and pharmacies.
  • The Board discussed how health is highly important to residents and should be incorporated both into the research survey and long-term engagement.
  • MMC agreed to include a presence at the Viking Centre as part of the engagement (potentially over the Easter holidays to maximise footfall) and to provide plans around face to face engagement
  • The survey will explore including a tick box for respondents to opt in for future engagement and updates and questions were asked about ensuring the survey is anonymised. It was also agreed that it should ask respondents about their connection to Jarrow (ie live, work, study, visit, shopping, leisure).
  • The Board reiterated about digital access issues in Jarrow and that face to face engagement and print needed to be used to reach a large proportion of residents. The agency agreed to a postcard campaign to every NE32 address.
  • MMC to ensure that 16 to 18 and 18 to 25 year-old young people are captured in the engagement - South Tyneside College to help identify students that are from Jarrow.
  • O to include relevant awareness days in the toolkits to provide local organisations with ideas for their own engagement activity.
  • O to explore placement in the South Tyneside e-newsletter, Council and other business intranets and Jarrow Festival brochure - conversations underway for Jarrow Festival (which will be the final stage of the consultation).

Next Steps

  • ​Action 1: Slides from the meeting to be shared with all board members (Appendix 1);
  • Action 2: Council officers to share the Our South Tyneside Conversation report with the Board to showcase an example of how the report at the end of the consultation may look (Appendix 2).
  • Action 3: Council officers to work with O Agency and MMC on the creatives, focus groups, PR and survey approach in view of it being presented to next Steering Group in mid-February.
  • Action 4: Following conversations between O Agency, MMC and STC, the list of community and business organisations will be circulated to the Board to feed in / identify who would be best to warm those groups up in advance of the launch;
  • Action 5: Meeting to be set up with Groundworks and Cultural Spring about how they can help reach particular groups and maximise engagement;
  • Action 6: Once creatives confirmed, O Agency to share with Bilton Hall to get a piece in the Jarrow Festival brochure (going out in March);
  • Action 7: The updated timeline (including schedule of promotional activities, including face to face), plan and creatives will then all be presented to the Board at the end of Feb/beginning of March before launch of the consultation;  

Any other business and next meeting

  • Next Steering Group meeting to take place in mid-Feb re above and next Board meeting end of February/beginning of March before the launch of the community engagement.
  • Action 8: Steering Group meeting to be set up (including MPs office);
  • Action 9: Poll for a date for the next Board meeting to be circulated.