Annual Report 2016-2017: Cllr Masood Ahmed

I have been a councillor for the past 11 years and it continues to be a privilege and an honour to serve the people of Dewsbury South Ward throughout the year I have worked with my other two colleagues, Cllr Dad and Cllr Asif to get improvements in our area by getting a better and fair deal for the local residents. I am delighted to present my annual report for the last 12 months. Once again it has been an immense pleasure to serve the constituents of Dewsbury South and the wider borough of Kirklees.

This year saw the snap general election called with around 12 weeks’ notice– the Labour Party did extremely well nationally, gaining seats in our traditional Labour supported areas and wining the hearts and minds of more young people across the country. In doing so, we in Dewsbury gained 28,814 votes, with 51% of the overall vote with a Net percentage gain +9.2 from 2015 and an overall majority of 3,321 votes to get our Parliamentary Candidate Paula Sherriff Re-elected.

In 2016 I got selected on to the Cabinet, with portfolio responsibility of 'Community Cohesion / Safety & Schools’.

The aim of my cabinet role was to maintain service provision and confidence, while at the same time managing people’s expectations for an overall budget deficit for the council due to national, regional and local funding cuts.

The purpose and function of my role in cabinet of is to:

·         Deliver the statutory requirements of the Kirklees Council’s Community Cohesion /

·         Safety & Schools.

·         Children have the best start in life

·         People in Kirklees have aspiration and achieve their ambition through education, training, employment and lifelong learning.

·         Agree priorities and actions for children’s services across Kirklees ensuring safeguarding underpins all activity and to provide a framework for the effective operation of local arrangements.

·         Develop communication plan to embed

·         Safer Kirklees brand to showcase partnership success through messages to communities both through traditional / social media and by word of mouth

·         Area based work to provide individually tailored interventions based on levels crime / ASB and perceptions for each area.

·         Development of a community safety calendar relating to risks and opportunities at key times of the year

·         Set the strategic direction for the development of integrated commissioning of services for children and young people in the Children & Young People Plan.

·         Monitor and evaluate performance against the agreed priorities and to ensure that actions are taken where outcomes are not improving.

·         Build and sustain effective partnerships with and between all sectors providing services to children and young people in order to focus resources jointly on improving outcomes for them.

·         Strong focus on crime prevention through tactics including increase awareness, target hardening and secured by design approaches. 

 

 

·         Increased deterrent presence in emerging hot spots through deployment of partnership staff and community resources including neighbourhood watch.

·         Offender focus through the delivery of the reducing reoffending strategy, the integrated offender management model and addressing risk factors including drugs and alcohol.

·         Community Engagement to ensure ASB is not tolerated and is tackled through active citizenship

·         Improve strategic co-ordination between boards and strategies

·         Effective operational links between partners to ensure there is effective case management in place both to ensure offenders are held to account for their actions and victims are

 

Participation to outside bodies included

·         Walker and Greenwood Educational Charity

·         West Yorkshire Adoption Joint Committee - One Adoption appropriately safeguarded.

·         Dewsbury Endowed Schools Foundation Trust Advisory Committee

·         Kirklees Schools Services Ltd

·         Thornhill Poors Estate Charity

 

Participation to Kirklees Council meeting include

·         Kirklees Community Safety Partnership Executive (Safer, Stronger Communities)

·         Education & Learning partnership Board

·         School Organisation Advisory Group

·         Full council

·         CSE and Safeguarding Member Panel

·         Kirklees cabinet meetings

·         Extraordinary Council

·         Kirklees Children & Young People's Partnership Board

 

  Ward Work

 

The many Dewsbury South residents, that have had direct or indirect contact with me, would have probably been through my day to day ward related activity. My ward work has not only increased but diversified due to the ever changing parameters the council operates in. This is something I enjoy and carry out regularly through door step surgeries, canvasing, case work, events and local meetings. I’ve built a good professional relationship with Dewsbury south constituents and the various organisations in the area and this has been highlighted through the numerous support offered for the respective projects and people. This includes “you and your community” funding day at Thornhill Lees Community Centre, the Police Crime commissioner offering his funding offer day at Thornhill High School, supported Tenants and Residents Associations, Sports Clubs and community ventures. As ever I’ve been inundated with individual household case work this includes planning issues, schools placement and appeals, housing related casework, fly tipping, community safety and ASB. Some of the success include traffic calming measures on Hostingley Lane, the new Sidings Health Centre being opened in the ward, Study Support for various schools and generally families being more informed to the direction the council is heading.

 

Training and Development:

As a ward councillor and cabinet member, training and development is a continuing process. I have met officers who spent time discussing and enabling me to have the accurate information relating to the tasks required for the above meetings. I will continue to seek out training courses and seminars which I feel is relevant and beneficial to my role.

 

Acknowledgements:

In writing this report I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest appreciation for the support received in these past and previous years. I have already mentioned the fantastic working relationship developed with my fellow ward Councillor colleagues Cllr Nosheen Dad and Cllr Gulfam Asif. I wish to extend my thanks and appreciation to Cllr David Sheard (Leader) Cllr Shabir Pandor (Deputy Leader), the wider Labour Group and our MP Paula Sherriff, for all their continuous support and encouragement. I would also mention the various council officers who have worked tirelessly in such difficult times and who continue to offer Councillor Support.

Finally, I would also like to thank all the Dewsbury South Residents, who continue to share their concerns with me. I look forward to serving you over the coming years.