Also Present:30 Broadgreen Residents, John Taylor S4L, Councillor Derique Montaut, Steve Harcourt - Director Environment and Health SBC, Bill Fisher – Director Swindon Services, Richard Crutchley New Swindon Company.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Minute Secretary John Phillips and 4 residents.
MATTERS ARISING: - What is happening about a plaque for Matt McCue? His family does not want anything to happen until there is a new rebuild of the community centre, they do not want a bench or a plaque in the ground for him. When we know what is happening to the community centre, we will contact them then.
GUEST SPEAKERS: Steve Harcourt - Director Environment and Health SBC; Bill Fisher – Director Swindon Services reported back and answered questions on the wheelie bin and recycling service.
- Leaflets concerning the new refuse service were not sent out in different languages as it is not cost effective and there are difficulties getting all the languages correct. Best way is to identify the residents that are having problems and go and talk to them with other residents that can translate if needs be. SBC want to educate people rather than prosecute them.
- Fly tipping of mattresses and fridge’s etc is not an issue with wheelie bins or refuse, and is a criminal offence.
- The reason some areas in Old Town do not have wheelies is because there are health and safety issues with the streets and parking. One of the problems being the disruption of traffic as it takes so long for the refuse lorries to travel down a road, emptying bins.
- If bins are overfilled then cannot be collected, orange sticker are put on bins to tell residents why the bin has not been emptied.
- Registered HMO’s were delivered one wheelie per residency, council will visit properties where there is difficulties and can, if needs be provide more bins.
- Bin men do not collect bins if overfull and lids are open. They have tried to show residents that their bin is overfull by taking out the extra bag, emptying the rest of the rubbish in the lorry then putting the extra bag back into the bin. The problem with this is the Council are then receiving calls after collections that bins have not been emptied, the Council have no proof that they have or have not been emptied and have to come back out to empty them.
- Recycling in the Broadgreen area is 40 to 50% of the rubbish collection, which is comparable to other areas.
- There is a problem with bin bags being kept in front gardens when no more rubbish can fit into the bin; the Council are aware of this and have visited residents about this issue, but intend to concentrate on street rubbish before moving onto this problem.
- The new service has not been introduced to save money, it cost more than £1m, but to improve the recycling rates and avoid big government fines.
- Council not responsible for commercial waste from shops. If commercial waste is founds in household waste then it becomes an enforcement matter.
- Orange boxes and wheelie bins should be returned from where they were left for collection.
- Council are keeping a close eye on the rubbish in the streets after collection and believe apart from around the shops in Manchester Road, the streets are as clean as any in the town. Not agreed with by the residents
- The council are trying to be fair with the plastic collections and have piles of unrecyclable plastic and glass that have been put in with the plastic bottle collection. They have been doing this because lots of the plastic bottle bags would be left on the streets and not collected, however there will have to come a time when only bags containing plastic bottles will be picked up
- Would like residents to help the council by telling neighbours if they notice they have put their rubbish or recycling out on the wrong day.
GUEST SPEAKER: Richard Crutchley- Planning Manager New Swindon Company
- The Exchange site is now called Union Square. It is an office lead development with 600,000 sq. ft. of offices, 200,000 sq. ft. of retail 1000 parking spaces and 450 homes and a replacement for the health centre, which will probably move to the old police station site.
- Union Square is being developed by a partnership between the Regional Development Agency, English Partnerships and SBC all under the New Swindon Company. There is a draft development agreement being put in place that will decide who will do what, how it will be developed, what sort of infrastructure will be provided and how much the developers will contribute towards it. During February the document will go through the above groups for approval. Then a consultation will take place between the preferred developers Muse Developments Ltd, formerly Amec and stakeholders of the land, including the communities around it i.e. Broadgreen.
- By June or July time it is expected a planning application will be put in that will have overcome any problems put forward in the consultations and a decision made on the application by the end of 2008.
- There will be 2 planning applications, one for outline planning permission, which will set out the type of development and plans for the next 10 to 15 years and a second for a more detailed application for the police station site which will be for a bigger and better replacement health centre, (the present one in Carfax St. will not close until the new building is open) 850 space multi-storey car park and some residential development. Whilst on the post office site there will be a hotel and already 40 developers have shown an interest in the hotel site.
- The hotel is dependent on the alteration of Fleming Way and Whale Bridge roundabout, this junction will become a signalised cross roads and Fleming way will be lowered so there is no subway between the Zurich buildings and Debenham’s. This is also dependent on a road closure order that may take a year to get and that cannot be put in until planning permission has been attained. So development on the post office site may not start until 2010.
- Potentially Fleming Way will be closed to cars and Corporation St. and Manchester Rd. will become the major route around the town centre. The developers are proposing a £30m package for infrastructure changes, which will cover the public highway and public realm within Union Square.
- The road closure order will probably cover Fleming Way, Whale Bridge roundabout and the roads within the redevelopment, eg Carfax Street etc.
- Want the quality of environment for pedestrians to improve; particularly for people trying to get from the railway station to the town centre, by lowering and removing Fleming way, this can be achieved.
- Road system not very good at the moment, people struggle to get in and out of car parks, they want shoppers to be able to easily access short term parking and commuters easily access long term parking.
- Bus system in Swindon is very good they want to encourage more use of public transport, improve the interchange between the railway and bus stations and make sure bus stops are at the most convenient place for people to use them, this will probably mean relocating the current bus station and providing a much better quality ‘exchange’ for the buses, the exact location has yet to be decided.
- 180,000 residents live in Swindon now, believe this will increase to 250,000 in 25 years time. With the big increase of homes now being built in the town centre, the idea is that all the amenities and public transport will be immediately available to people and this will discourage people from owning cars.
- The developers are keen to engage with local community to see what is needed etc want to help rather than make matters worse. If the redevelopments are a success, it will encourage more people to the town centre and it will have a positive effect on communities around it.
- Want a mix of housing, do not want to provide accommodation that is purchased by investors and then remain empty or are let out. The majority of properties will probably be flats, but they would like to provide town houses as well. Want a mix of people, not just single people but also families.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: COUNCILLOR MONTAUT
In the interests of residents, the Union Square development is a key concern. It should not infringe on the Broadgreen Area or residents every day life, but should enhance our area through responsible developers listening to existing residents. A meeting should be set up at a later date between developers and Broadgreen Community.
Rubbish is still a highly controversial subject; very little progress has taken place. Has put
Has reservations concerning the possibility of the reintroduction of a canal in Swindon.
In favour of drug rehabilitation centres, but it should not be in a residential area.
STREETS FOR LIVING: JOHN TAYLOR
Residents have played an important roll in the project; going back to the first talks in 2000. John thanked all of the residents who had attended the 18 Saturday morning meetings and have had an input into the project.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Broken fence back of Shrivenham Rd. – The work will start next week on cutting back the shrubs and repairing the fence at the rear of Shrivenham Road.
Armstrong St. – problems with neighbours. An enforcement officer has made a site visit, the lean-to building does require planning permission. The house owner is in India until end of January, a retrospective planning form is to be sent to owner. Enforcement was not aware of the satellite dish problems - will make another site visit.
CHAIR REPORT
Dog litterbins do we need some in the area? General consensus was - we do need any, as there isn’t a great problem with dog poo in the area.
There are some issues with the S4L project and a meeting will be arranged with John Taylor so concerns can be aired.
POLICE REPORT: No report.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH REPORT
Problem with plastic recycling being stacked up outside a property since the end of December 2007. The Council claim to regularly check the area and clear rubbish, it appears this is not the case in this instance. Possibly enlist the MP’s help?
There is a new Police Chief Constable, he is Brian Moore, could he be invited to a future meeting?
STREET WATCH REPORT: No report.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: More litter bins in Manchester Road. Some of the shops seem to have lots of cigarette ends outside of them. The pub also suffers from this problem, although there is a small bin for cigarette ends by the pub entrance, many of the cigarette ends seem to drop on the floor. Buckets of sand may be a better option to this problem as it works in other places.
A grocery shop in Broad Street does not keep the path clean and there is often litter around the shop.
Lorries delivering to the Cash and Carry in Manchester Road are unloading in the back alley and leaving crates on the pavement, why can they not put the crates in the shop to unload?
People have been seen smoking in some of the shops in the area; this is now against the law.
Meeting closed at 9.25 pm
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