Service Improvement Projects

  • Dusk to Dawn Lights, Derbyshire/Derby City - The purchase of 34,000 ‘dusk to dawn' lights with sensor bulbs which will be provided free to elderly residents around Derbyshire. The project will help meet some key LAA targets relating to reduction in crime, community safety.

• YES! Scheme - The YES Scheme is a youth initiative that addresses anti-social behaviour. The scheme will contribute directly to NI 110 Young People's Participation in Positive Activities and a range of other LAA targets.

• b-safe - The project targets young people who drink excessively on Friday and Saturday nights. It offers them a safe haven and access to counselling and support. The project promotes community cohesion and tackles areas of concern such as anti social behaviour and violent crime.

• Domestic Abuse - Secure Information Sharing - The provision of a secure mechanism for sharing information between relevant partners on domestic abuse issues is essential. This project aims to provide such a system in Derbyshire. The aim is to directly contribute to NI 32 which aims to reduce repeat incidents of domestic abuse.

• Cohesive Derbyshire - A range of activities are planned to support the need to develop greater community cohesion. This project will contribute directly to meeting the requirements of NI 1; the percentage of people who believe people from different backgrounds get on well together in their local area.

• Climate Change Adaptation in Derbyshire - The project will build on the Derbyshire Local Climate Impact Profile currently in progress to identify the impact of significant weather events on service delivery in Derbyshire. The project will assist partners in meeting their requirements under NI 188 - Planning to Adapt to Climate Change. Through research it will gather evidence and identify gaps, identify vulnerabilities, undertake risk assessed climate impact assessments and culminate in an adaptation action plan with priority actions.

• Improving Equalities and Diversity - The development of the Equality Framework and the Single Equality Bill requires the Public Sector to make significant changes to how they manage and measure equality in the local area. This project, which is being led by the Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service, will address the above issues through working in partnership with local service providers to deliver targeted equality and diversity training, to multi-agency employees, which will improve outcomes across communities and also aligns community cohesion and equality and diversity understanding.

• Energy Monitor Loan Scheme - This project aims to provide 800 domestic and 150 business electricity monitoring devices for loan to residents in Derbyshire. Monitors will be loaned to residents via the library service and to businesses via Business Link. The scheme operates much the same as the existing service for book loans. The devices work by placing an attachment on the electricity meter which transmits a signal to a wireless display unit located in the house. You can put the wireless display unit anywhere in the house and this will display usage in real time. You can display usage in kilowatt-hours (kWh), tonnes of CO2 or cost if you input your electricity rate pence per hour. By using the system it is possible to build up a picture of which appliances are electricity hungry and which use less. The business monitors work on exactly the same principle but are more robust and offer added functionality. i.e. it is possible to attach them to up to 9 individual devices to monitor energy use. It is also possible to connect them to desktop computers to analyse the captured data.

• Sheffield City Region Housing - To improve the planning, growth, quality and design, affordable housing and strategic integration of the housing offer in the Derbyshire area adjoining the Sheffield City Region. The project will enable participating authorities to improve joint working on housing growth; improve joint planning for social and private housing; explore radical and new approaches; improve economic growth and increase capacity and development.

• Improved Housing Delivery - Improve the planning, growth, quality and design, affordable housing and strategic integration of housing in the Derby housing area. Undertake a range of activities to enable joint working between the local authorities in the East Midlands, not only those sponsoring this bid, but also those immediately adjacent to the Housing Market Area, including Erewash and East Staffordshire District Council (West Midlands region) in order to boost growth and quality of life for the 400,000 population.

• Enhancing Violence, Alcohol and Licence Management - partnership working in Derbyshire has led to the development of district based Violence, Alcohol and Licence (VAL) Management units. The duty of the VAL is to work in partnership to provide a licensing service which secures the safety of communities through ensuring premises are safe and have sustainable licensed trades. Licensing Officers in Amber Valley and Erewash have invested in a specially designed vehicle to assist them in dealing with licensing and disorder issues throughout the community. The van has resulted in efficiency savings, increased the number of licensing visits, provided a more visible presence in the community and has improved community safety. The project will extend this to the remaining boroughs in the county.

• Co-location of Services - The aim of the project is to improve outcomes for children by establishing a series of integrated multi-agency support teams. Staff will be co-located on selected school sites and provide easily accessible services not only to the secondary school, but its primary feeders and the local community. The team will work together effectively and create a culture of mutual understanding amongst co-located professionals where services are shaped by and responsive to children, young people and their families. To enable this, appropriate accommodation, requiring structural changes, needs to be provided; the capital grant will go towards this work.

• Enhanced Home-Options Out-Reach Service - The Derbyshire Home-Options Partnership is a sub-regional partnership of local authorities, ALMOs and housing associations covering the Amber Valley, Derbyshire Dales, Erewash and High Peak areas. The Partnership has established a choice-based lettings scheme in four areas and has been appointed by the Government as a Trailblazer for enhanced housing options. A Home-Options website is the main vehicle for providing the service, but the impact of deprivation and rural isolation means this is not a means of access that is suitable to everyone. This money will enable a new out-reach service to deliver enhanced housing options to people living within the Partnership area.

• Making the Most of World Heritage - ‘Making The Most Of World Heritage' is a portmanteau capital project to increase the impact of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site and maximise the benefits for the East Midlands Region and for all the authorities involved, by raising the profile of the World Heritage Site as a coherent entity, thereby promoting it as a tourist destination and as a location for inward investment. The bid has three components:

 Signing And Branding - To take forward new branding images in new ‘brown' tourist road signs at entrance points to the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, new road traffic directional signs in key locations on major approach roads and signs with the new ‘brand image' at the four major visitor sites.

- Promotional Film - In order to take advantage of the national Cultural Olympiad and the place which is to be given in it to World Heritage Sites, the East Midland's sole World Heritage Site needs to put in place what is needed to secure a place in a competitive programme. The production of a 3 minute promotional film will assist us to be in a position to do this.

• Access to Credit Union Services Across Derbyshire - The objective of the project is to improve access to Credit Union services across Derby and Derbyshire. This will be through implementation of the recommendations of the Credit Union Development Plan commissioned from ABCUL (Association of British Credit Unions Ltd). Development of Credit Union services across the whole of Derbyshire is a key priority of the Financial Inclusion Strategy for Derbyshire.