1. Welcome and Housekeeping
2. Apologies for absence
3. Confirmation of the minutes – 03 June 2009 meeting
4. Matters arising from these minutes
5. Community Police report
6. Guest speaker: Councillor Derique Montaut - 'About being a Councillor'
7. Correspondence
8. Treasurers report
9. Chairs report
10. Vice-Chair report
11. Youth report
12. Broadgreen History Project
13. Broadgreen Community Plan
14. Shrivenham Road/ Cockram Court report
15. Neighbourhood/Street Watch report
16. Ward Councillors report
17. B.O.N.D. report.
18. Any Other Business
Next Meeting: Wednesday 05 August 2009, 6 – 7PM
Monday, 29 June 2009
Thursday, 4 June 2009
MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 6th MAY 2009
PRESENT: Chair Karen Leakey, Secretary and Archivist Kevin Leakey, Minute Secretary John Phillips, John Banville, Karen Coulthard, John and Vi Clark, Pam and John Freegard, Tim French, Kate Johnson, Alan Jones, Cluniford Mason, Rebecca McIntosh, Pam Montgomery, Val Purvis, Ros Timlin, David Webb.
ALSO PRESENT: Councillor Derique Montaut, PC Diffin and Special Constable Thakrar
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Vice Chair and Treasurer Richard Coates, Celia Cotton, Kath Cridland, Elizabeth Grady, Kath Jones, Mike and Lindsay Ponting, Evelyn Mason, Mr and Mrs Norris, Sue Osbaldstone, Derek and Madge Sutton, John Taylor - Broadgreen Community Plan.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES – 1st April 2009 meeting.
These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed Val Purvis and seconded by John Freegard.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE APRIL MINUTES: Is there a loop system in the lounge yet? A resident parking sign in Gladstone Street is still missing.
COMMUNITY POLICE REPORT - PC Diffin: Two of the Police priorities have changed, litter still remains but anti social behaviour and drinking in the back alleys behind Manchester Rd. and speeding in Broad St. have replaced prostitution and drugs.
More ‘Alcohol Free Zone’ signs are needed and the lampposts that they need to be put on have been identified. Letters have been sent to licensees in the area asking them to be more responsible, and to help identify where people who are drunk or are drinking underage are buying their drinks from, the shop owners have been asked to use a different coloured bags for 4 weeks.
It was asked why alcohol was being sold to underage children and nothing appeared to be being done about it.
PC Diffin explained that requesting shops use different coloured bags was one of the things being done, but they have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it is happening, which is not easy.
Some of the drinking in the alleys is being done by people from minority groups; it might be a case of education and involving the licensing and health people. If this does not work then ASBO’s may need to be issued to the offenders.
Another problem is that the 15 or so street drinkers that are banned from the town centre often come to this area to drink, although when the CCTV van is parked in different places around the area they soon disappear.
Speeding in Broad Street - an operation by the Safety Camera Unit has been undertaken over seven days to monitor the speed of traffic. Results are expected next week, but early indications seem to be suggesting there is not a problem with speeding, but it appears to be more like anti social driving. Other roads have also been identified by residents as having speeding problems, the trouble with small road is that there is not enough distance to get accurate speed readings.
Litter – The Environmental Health are not engaging very well. The back of Alexander Road is bad, but EH have been sending out letters.
Anti-Social Behaviour and vehicle crime are both down in the area, overall reported crime has increased but the detection rate has also improved.
PC Diffin was asked why, when 2 eggs were pushed through the Broad St. Mosque letterbox, there seemed to be a big Police presence and effort made about it? PC Diffin told the meeting that all crimes were investigated with the same effort the reason there was more Police presence was because there had been a ‘Dobbin’ operation that night. There had also been a big meeting that evening in Gorse Hill concerning a Mosque moving there. When St. Luke’s Church had had graffiti sprayed on it, house-to-house enquiries had also been carried out then.
CORRESPONDENCE: Resignation letter from Richard Coates – he has stepped down as BSACC Treasurer and Vice-Chair owing to personal circumstances.
The Broad Street Trust situation now appears to be in hand. Father Leslie has a possible proposal but he needs to talk to the other Trustees first. It is now too late to use some of the Trust money we are still holding on the community garden this year, but a meeting will be organised with Chris Hunt some time after the 16th June to further discuss the area that can be used.
Wiltshire and Swindon Foundation, grant application – turned down (see Chair report)
PLANNING APPLICATIONS:
S/09/0268 - 123 Manchester Road - Erection of a single storey rear extension (part retrospective). - Application Granted
S/09/0117 - 76 Manchester Road - Change of use to shop (class A1) and cafe/restaurant (class A3) and installation of new shop front. - Application Granted
S/09/0062 - 26 Medgbury Road- Erection of two storey/single storey rear extension. - Application Pending Determination
S/09/0469 - 149 County Road - Change of use from residential dwelling (C3) to house in multiple occupation (Sui Generis) and single storey rear extension. Application Pending Determination
S/09/0470 - 151 - 153 County Road - Erection of a first floor rear extension -Application Pending Determination
**S/09/0407- 86 Manchester Road (Radio Taxi’s)- Change of use of ground floor from Offices to Shop (Class A1) and change of use of first floor to Dwelling (Class C3). - Application Withdrawn
S/09/0491 - Union Square - Request for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Opinion for proposed development. - Application Received
**Although this application has been withdrawn because of concerns from the planning dept, the property is being advertised as ‘to let’ as a shop, planning been informed but they said:
The property only has consent for use as offices at the moment.
We have informed the applicant's planning agent that we would have concerns with regard to the change of use of the property to a shop. In terms of advertising the property 'To Let' as a shop, we have no control over this. It is only if someone actually begins running the premises as a shop (without permission) that we can become involved in terms of planning enforcement.
What was thought to have once been garages in Corporation Street (opposite the Armstrong Street junction) appears to be being altered into a shop; this is of concern as it is on a main road with no parking.
The old garage in Station Road is still being used to valet cars and the residents parking bays continue to be used to park the cars waiting to be valeted. At the last STFC football match, they were offering parking and valet for £12.50. The Chair said that environmental health were aware of this and had visited them.
TREASURERS REPORT: 01 April to 30 April 2009: There was no Treasurer’s report presented this month.
CHAIR REPORT: We did not receive a Community Grant from the Council, we were however successful in our application for an Administration Grant.
We were also unsuccessful in our bid from the Wiltshire and Swindon Foundation for funding to cover the Community Plan and engagement day, because they said we had too much money in our reserves, basically they considered that the monies that are still being held on behalf of the Broad St. Trust was our money!
It had previously been asked why only Councillor Montaut attended the monthly meetings and not the other two. Karen invited both Cllr. Wright and Ali to come to the meetings, Cllr. Wright said he would be other wise engaged for the next two meetings and gave his apologies, Cllr. Ali did not reply.
Bail Hostels in Swindon - there are places in SN1 being used for such purposes, but not in Broadgreen. Some people believed that a property in Rosebery St. was a bail hostel because Police and other official looking people had been seen regularly going in and out of it. Following a meeting with the Probation Service and Police, the Chair was able to assure people this was not a bail hostel.
Councillor Montaut was congratulated on his new post as Leader of the Labour Group.
YOUTH REPORT: So far there have been 69 replies to the Community Plan, Youth Survey.
SHRIVENHAM ROAD REPORT: The overgrowing brambles at the back of the STFC Stratton Bank have still not been cut back. Cllr. Montaut said that Jack Moyles from SBC had been down to have a look at the situation.
There seems to be two new prostitutes working at the end of Shrivenham Rd.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH REPORT: John Phillips has volunteered to run a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in Gladstone St. - the Chair has sorted out a street sign.
Somebody has been riding a quad bike around the area, riding on paths and doing stunts, they are also not wearing a crash helmet.
Two people with a baby have been begging outside the Broad St. Mosque, when people were visiting it. This has been reported to the Police.
The proprietors of the ‘7 to 11’ shop are still storing their fish next to the path in Broad St. when the ice melts, oil and water flows across the path. This is also happening in Manchester Rd. The Chair said that Environmental Health had been to look at the situation.
It has been reported that a ‘foreign’ lady has been walking around the streets, trying to sell a gold ring.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Councillor Montaut thanked the Chair for her kind words of congratulations and said that it was a difficult job being Leader of the Opposition, being tied up with wide responsibilities. He did however enjoy attending our meetings even though they could be challenging and he would try to honour the commitment.
The residents parking permit increases are an ongoing issue and it is difficult to know where to go when the Cabinet do not want to engage.
Cllr. Montaut thought it might be a good idea to have the opportunity some time in the future, to explain how the process of being a councillor operated. The Chair invited him to be guest speaker at the July meeting.
B.O.N.D: No report
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Children are playing cricket in Broad St. and some of the side streets, it was felt this was a dangerous thing to do. The Chair said that Doug the Community Sports Coach had now finished his training and then he would be doing more work in the area. The bushes at the side of the Children’s Centre are still overgrowing onto Gladstone St.
Date of next meeting: Wednesday 03 June 2009
Meeting closed at 9.20pm.
ALSO PRESENT: Councillor Derique Montaut, PC Diffin and Special Constable Thakrar
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Vice Chair and Treasurer Richard Coates, Celia Cotton, Kath Cridland, Elizabeth Grady, Kath Jones, Mike and Lindsay Ponting, Evelyn Mason, Mr and Mrs Norris, Sue Osbaldstone, Derek and Madge Sutton, John Taylor - Broadgreen Community Plan.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES – 1st April 2009 meeting.
These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed Val Purvis and seconded by John Freegard.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE APRIL MINUTES: Is there a loop system in the lounge yet? A resident parking sign in Gladstone Street is still missing.
COMMUNITY POLICE REPORT - PC Diffin: Two of the Police priorities have changed, litter still remains but anti social behaviour and drinking in the back alleys behind Manchester Rd. and speeding in Broad St. have replaced prostitution and drugs.
More ‘Alcohol Free Zone’ signs are needed and the lampposts that they need to be put on have been identified. Letters have been sent to licensees in the area asking them to be more responsible, and to help identify where people who are drunk or are drinking underage are buying their drinks from, the shop owners have been asked to use a different coloured bags for 4 weeks.
It was asked why alcohol was being sold to underage children and nothing appeared to be being done about it.
PC Diffin explained that requesting shops use different coloured bags was one of the things being done, but they have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it is happening, which is not easy.
Some of the drinking in the alleys is being done by people from minority groups; it might be a case of education and involving the licensing and health people. If this does not work then ASBO’s may need to be issued to the offenders.
Another problem is that the 15 or so street drinkers that are banned from the town centre often come to this area to drink, although when the CCTV van is parked in different places around the area they soon disappear.
Speeding in Broad Street - an operation by the Safety Camera Unit has been undertaken over seven days to monitor the speed of traffic. Results are expected next week, but early indications seem to be suggesting there is not a problem with speeding, but it appears to be more like anti social driving. Other roads have also been identified by residents as having speeding problems, the trouble with small road is that there is not enough distance to get accurate speed readings.
Litter – The Environmental Health are not engaging very well. The back of Alexander Road is bad, but EH have been sending out letters.
Anti-Social Behaviour and vehicle crime are both down in the area, overall reported crime has increased but the detection rate has also improved.
PC Diffin was asked why, when 2 eggs were pushed through the Broad St. Mosque letterbox, there seemed to be a big Police presence and effort made about it? PC Diffin told the meeting that all crimes were investigated with the same effort the reason there was more Police presence was because there had been a ‘Dobbin’ operation that night. There had also been a big meeting that evening in Gorse Hill concerning a Mosque moving there. When St. Luke’s Church had had graffiti sprayed on it, house-to-house enquiries had also been carried out then.
CORRESPONDENCE: Resignation letter from Richard Coates – he has stepped down as BSACC Treasurer and Vice-Chair owing to personal circumstances.
The Broad Street Trust situation now appears to be in hand. Father Leslie has a possible proposal but he needs to talk to the other Trustees first. It is now too late to use some of the Trust money we are still holding on the community garden this year, but a meeting will be organised with Chris Hunt some time after the 16th June to further discuss the area that can be used.
Wiltshire and Swindon Foundation, grant application – turned down (see Chair report)
PLANNING APPLICATIONS:
S/09/0268 - 123 Manchester Road - Erection of a single storey rear extension (part retrospective). - Application Granted
S/09/0117 - 76 Manchester Road - Change of use to shop (class A1) and cafe/restaurant (class A3) and installation of new shop front. - Application Granted
S/09/0062 - 26 Medgbury Road- Erection of two storey/single storey rear extension. - Application Pending Determination
S/09/0469 - 149 County Road - Change of use from residential dwelling (C3) to house in multiple occupation (Sui Generis) and single storey rear extension. Application Pending Determination
S/09/0470 - 151 - 153 County Road - Erection of a first floor rear extension -Application Pending Determination
**S/09/0407- 86 Manchester Road (Radio Taxi’s)- Change of use of ground floor from Offices to Shop (Class A1) and change of use of first floor to Dwelling (Class C3). - Application Withdrawn
S/09/0491 - Union Square - Request for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Opinion for proposed development. - Application Received
**Although this application has been withdrawn because of concerns from the planning dept, the property is being advertised as ‘to let’ as a shop, planning been informed but they said:
The property only has consent for use as offices at the moment.
We have informed the applicant's planning agent that we would have concerns with regard to the change of use of the property to a shop. In terms of advertising the property 'To Let' as a shop, we have no control over this. It is only if someone actually begins running the premises as a shop (without permission) that we can become involved in terms of planning enforcement.
What was thought to have once been garages in Corporation Street (opposite the Armstrong Street junction) appears to be being altered into a shop; this is of concern as it is on a main road with no parking.
The old garage in Station Road is still being used to valet cars and the residents parking bays continue to be used to park the cars waiting to be valeted. At the last STFC football match, they were offering parking and valet for £12.50. The Chair said that environmental health were aware of this and had visited them.
TREASURERS REPORT: 01 April to 30 April 2009: There was no Treasurer’s report presented this month.
CHAIR REPORT: We did not receive a Community Grant from the Council, we were however successful in our application for an Administration Grant.
We were also unsuccessful in our bid from the Wiltshire and Swindon Foundation for funding to cover the Community Plan and engagement day, because they said we had too much money in our reserves, basically they considered that the monies that are still being held on behalf of the Broad St. Trust was our money!
It had previously been asked why only Councillor Montaut attended the monthly meetings and not the other two. Karen invited both Cllr. Wright and Ali to come to the meetings, Cllr. Wright said he would be other wise engaged for the next two meetings and gave his apologies, Cllr. Ali did not reply.
Bail Hostels in Swindon - there are places in SN1 being used for such purposes, but not in Broadgreen. Some people believed that a property in Rosebery St. was a bail hostel because Police and other official looking people had been seen regularly going in and out of it. Following a meeting with the Probation Service and Police, the Chair was able to assure people this was not a bail hostel.
Councillor Montaut was congratulated on his new post as Leader of the Labour Group.
YOUTH REPORT: So far there have been 69 replies to the Community Plan, Youth Survey.
SHRIVENHAM ROAD REPORT: The overgrowing brambles at the back of the STFC Stratton Bank have still not been cut back. Cllr. Montaut said that Jack Moyles from SBC had been down to have a look at the situation.
There seems to be two new prostitutes working at the end of Shrivenham Rd.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH REPORT: John Phillips has volunteered to run a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in Gladstone St. - the Chair has sorted out a street sign.
Somebody has been riding a quad bike around the area, riding on paths and doing stunts, they are also not wearing a crash helmet.
Two people with a baby have been begging outside the Broad St. Mosque, when people were visiting it. This has been reported to the Police.
The proprietors of the ‘7 to 11’ shop are still storing their fish next to the path in Broad St. when the ice melts, oil and water flows across the path. This is also happening in Manchester Rd. The Chair said that Environmental Health had been to look at the situation.
It has been reported that a ‘foreign’ lady has been walking around the streets, trying to sell a gold ring.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Councillor Montaut thanked the Chair for her kind words of congratulations and said that it was a difficult job being Leader of the Opposition, being tied up with wide responsibilities. He did however enjoy attending our meetings even though they could be challenging and he would try to honour the commitment.
The residents parking permit increases are an ongoing issue and it is difficult to know where to go when the Cabinet do not want to engage.
Cllr. Montaut thought it might be a good idea to have the opportunity some time in the future, to explain how the process of being a councillor operated. The Chair invited him to be guest speaker at the July meeting.
B.O.N.D: No report
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Children are playing cricket in Broad St. and some of the side streets, it was felt this was a dangerous thing to do. The Chair said that Doug the Community Sports Coach had now finished his training and then he would be doing more work in the area. The bushes at the side of the Children’s Centre are still overgrowing onto Gladstone St.
Date of next meeting: Wednesday 03 June 2009
Meeting closed at 9.20pm.
Monday, 1 June 2009
AGENDA - BSACC monthly meeting 03 June 2009
Where? In the lounge at the Broadgreen Centre, Salisbury Street. 7.30pm start.
All Broadgreen residents are very welcome to attend and join in.
1. Welcome and Housekeeping
2. Apologies for absence
3. Confirmation of the minutes – 06 May 2009 meeting
4. Matters arising from these minutes
5. Community Police report
6. Guest speaker
7. Correspondence
8. Treasurers report
9. Chairs report
10. Youth report
11. Broadgreen History Project
12. Broadgreen Community Plan
13. Shrivenham Road/ Cockram Court report
14. Neighbourhood/Street Watch report
15. Ward Councillors report
16. B.O.N.D. report.
17. Any Other Business
Next Meeting: Wednesday 01 July 2009
All Broadgreen residents are very welcome to attend and join in.
1. Welcome and Housekeeping
2. Apologies for absence
3. Confirmation of the minutes – 06 May 2009 meeting
4. Matters arising from these minutes
5. Community Police report
6. Guest speaker
7. Correspondence
8. Treasurers report
9. Chairs report
10. Youth report
11. Broadgreen History Project
12. Broadgreen Community Plan
13. Shrivenham Road/ Cockram Court report
14. Neighbourhood/Street Watch report
15. Ward Councillors report
16. B.O.N.D. report.
17. Any Other Business
Next Meeting: Wednesday 01 July 2009
Thursday, 14 May 2009
MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 1st APRIL 2009
PRESENT: Chair Karen Leakey, Vice Chair and Treasurer Richard Coates, Secretary and Archivist Kevin Leakey, Minute Secretary John Phillips, John Clark, Karen Coulthard, Stella Edwards, Pam Freegard, Tim French, Kate Johnson, Cluniford, Rebecca McIntosh, Pam Montgomery, Sue Osbaldstone, Val Purvis, Ros Timlin.
ALSO PRESENT: John Taylor - Broadgreen Community Plan, Councillor Derique Montaut, Inspector Lynch, PC Diffin, PC McIntyre, DCI Capstick
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: John Banville, Vi Clark, Celia Cotton, Kath Cridland, John Freegard, Elizabeth Grady, Alan Jones, Kath Jones, Mike and Lindsay Ponting, Evelyn Mason, Derek and Madge Sutton, David Webb, Nazma Ramruttun BOND representative, PCSO Rees Turner, PCSO Stuart Bird.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES – 4th March 2009 meeting.
These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed Pam Freegard and seconded by Karen Coulthard.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE JANUARY MINUTES: The Limited Waiting sign opposite the Broadgreen Centre has been bent.
The owner of a dog in Broad Street is still allowing it to wander onto the green. The owner of the property simply leaves the back gate open.
The bramble bushes are still overgrowing from Stratton Bank at the County Ground and there are fallen leaves everywhere. – Councillor Montaut said the Department Chief Executive had looked at it and had assured him that he would be taking it up with Steve Harcourt’s replacement. Cllr.Montaut will chase this up.
COMMUNITY POLICE REPORT – Inspector Lynch and PC Diffin: Inspector Lynch said she had only been back on Central for a couple of weeks, but wanted to say hello and report that since last year crime has gone down.
PC Diffin introduced himself as the new Beat Manager and told the meeting that the Broadgreen Neighbourhood Police Team (NPT) now has a new Beat Officer, 2 PCSO’s and 2 Special Constables. He felt it might be a good idea to re-look at the priorities for the area, because for example of the 150 priority surveys so far filled in by residents, only 10 to 15 of them said prostitution was a big issue, and it is now a Divisional problem, with a dedicated Officer, rather than an NPT one.
They are looking at 20 mph and can get in ‘Traffic’ to help, also the rubbish is still a problem so have asked SBC for details of what they have done and are doing to sort it out. The PCSO’s are keeping a close eye on this situation, and much of the litter seems to be beer cans and bottles probably due to street/alley drinking. They would like to see more DPPO signs around the area.
It is the intention to raise the NPT’s profile - more high visibility patrols - expand the drop in sessions to cover a wider area, Copse Ave. for example - work with St. Josephs School and Skeetz Youth Club.
A number of questions and concerns were then raised –
· People from the Breakfast Club are using the alleyways as a toilet, and are drinking alcohol from lemonade bottles, what can be done?
Although this is a good idea, should it be in a residential area? PC Diffin has a meeting coming up with Threshold and he will look into the Breakfast Club problems
· Will ‘prostitution’ be kept on the Tasking Group, because there is concern that the commitment to have an officer dedicated to the problem will not be a long term one?
PC McIntyre will be staying here, there is joined up working with the Council and other agencies. Because this is now a Swindon Police issue, rather than an NPT one, it means that the Broadgreen NPT will not be helping with ‘Operation Dobbin’, but will be able to concentrate on other local issues, therefore we should get a better service from our NPT. Staffing of ‘Dobbin’ works much like ‘Operation Diamond’ that covers the pubs in the Town Centre, the Central NPT cannot deal with all the problems that occur at night, so other police staff are brought in to do it. By bringing different officers in, to work on ‘Dobbin’ they are also learning about this area and the problems here.
PC McIntyre: on Operation Dobbin – There are still prostitutes working, but not as frequently. High visibility patrols are taking place, but the majority are covert. Suspected kerb crawlers can be given Acceptable Behaviour Contracts unless they can prove they have a legitimate reason to be in the area, If suspected kerb crawlers are seen driving around the area 3 or more times in a short space of time, letters will be sent to the registered owner of the vehicle to inform them that they have been seen and suspected of kerb crawling. So far 5 letters have been sent out and only 1 vehicle has so far returned. ‘Dobbin’ also supports the NPT, because drug problems and lots of driving offences have been picked up as part of the operation. Looking between now and July at the direction of ‘Dobbin’ up until Christmas.
DCI Capstick: ‘THE POLICING PLEDGE’ – It has been out for around four months and is a national commitment to establish an acceptable level of quality from the Police, and is something that all Police Forces have signed up to:
1. Always treat you fairly with dignity and respect ensuring you have fair access to our services at a time that is reasonable and suitable for you.
2. Provide you with information so you know who your dedicated Neighbourhood Policing Team is, where they are based, how to contact them and how to work with them.
3. Ensure your Neighbourhood Policing Team and other police patrols are visible and on your patch at times when they will be most effective and when you tell us you most need them. We will ensure your team are not taken away from neighbourhood business more than is absolutely necessary. They will spend at least 80% of their time visibly working in your neighbourhood, tackling your priorities. Staff turnover will be minimised.
4. Respond to every message directed to your Neighbourhood Policing Team within 24 hours and, where necessary, provide a more detailed response as soon as we can.
5. Aim to answer 999 calls within 10 seconds, deploying to emergencies immediately giving an estimated time of arrival, getting to you safely, and as quickly as possible. In urban areas, we will aim to get to you within 15 minutes and in rural areas within 20 minutes.
6. Answer all non-emergency calls promptly. If attendance is needed, send a patrol giving you an estimated time of arrival, and:
• If you are vulnerable or upset aim to be with you within 60 minutes.
• If you are calling about an issue that we have agreed with your community will be a neighbourhood priority and attendance is required, we will aim to be with you within 60 minutes.
• Alternatively, if appropriate, we will make an appointment to see you at a time that fits in with your life and within 48 hours.
• If agreed that attendance is not necessary we will give you advice, answer your questions and/or put you in touch with someone who can help.
7. Arrange regular public meetings to agree your priorities, at least once a month, giving you a chance to meet your local team with other members of your community. These will include opportunities such as surgeries, street briefings and mobile police station visits which will be arranged to meet local needs and requirements.
8. Provide monthly updates on progress, and on local crime and policing issues. This will include the provision of crime maps, information on specific crimes and what happened to those brought to justice, details of what action we and our partners are taking to make your neighbourhood safer and information on how your force is performing.
9. If you have been a victim of crime agree with you how often you would like to be kept informed of progress in your case and for how long. You have the right to be kept informed at least every month if you wish and for as long as is reasonable.
10. Acknowledge any dissatisfaction with the service you have received within 24 hours of reporting it to us. To help us fully resolve the matter, discuss with you how it will be handled, give you an opportunity to talk in person to someone about your concerns and agree with you what will be done about them and how quickly.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Reply from Father Leslie concerning the current position of the Broad Street Trust and the use of the £2000 we are still holding.
- still awaiting a response from the Charity Commissioners to my suggestions. They will not talk on the phone so it is via snail mail. I will let you know asap.
Could the garden be named after Les and Matt, put brass plaque on 2 benches for them?
– Yes this would be OK, or could put on a post.
Who has ownership of the garden, will SBC take responsibility, will it be solely the residents, or a joint type partnership? What parts of the area are dedicated for residents to use?
- The garden will still be under the ownership of the Council/Community Centre but the person to deal with is Chris Hunt. The land dedicated to the garden is behind the fence.
33 Rosebery Street, illegal conversion to flats.
-Planning have finally located the owner and spoken to him. He has confirmed that the property has been converted to that of a self contained flat and 3 bed-sits on ground floor and a self-contained flat on first floor and loft. They are expecting a planning application to be submitted in the next 6 to 8 weeks. We will be informed once the application has been received and will then be able to view the plans and submit any comments or objections.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS:
S/08/2390 - 71 Shrivenham Road - Erection of a single storey rear extension. - Application Granted
Former Laundry Site - Aylesbury Street - Erection of 66 no. apartments and partial demolition and conversion to form 3 no. commercial units ( Class A1/A2/A3/B1) - Application Granted
S/09/0117 - 76 Manchester Road - Change of use to shop (class A1) and cafe/restaurant (class A3) and installation of new shop front. - Application Pending Determination rear access to flat
S/LDP/09/0044 - 69 Graham Street - Certificate of Lawfulness (proposed) for the continued use as Class C3 Dwelling House. - Application Pending Determination
S/09/0407- 86 Manchester Road (Radio Taxi’s)- Change of use of ground floor from Offices to Shop (Class A1) and change of use of first floor to Dwelling (Class C3). - Application Pending Determination
TREASURERS REPORT: Acceptance of Treasures report proposed by Val Purvis and seconded by Pam Freegard.
CHAIR REPORT:
· Neil Pullen from Wiltshire Wildlife has contacted us to say they are running a project in Rushey Platt. They have invited people from this community to join them if we would like to, in a series of events: Pond dipping/walks/training/wild food etc.
· We will invite the new ‘Connecting People Connecting Places’ Cluster Leader Mark Walker to attend a future meeting
· Between the 9 March and the 20 April, the Swindon Strategic Land Availability Assessment is under consultation – if you have plans to use any land for community use, then might be worth looking at.
· Thanks to everyone for attending the Community Engagement morning last Saturday it had been hoped that more people might have turned up – Also thanks to the kind people that helped deliver the leaflets.
Feedback from people that came along: Enjoyed the morning very much/could we do more of them/enjoyed history project and talking/table top sale/cakes. Also enjoyed being able to talk to the Police informally.
Thanks to the Police Team and also big thank you to John Taylor/Beryl Phillips and Kevin Leakey for all their hard work, which is greatly appreciated by the community.
· Request for people to deliver Broadly Speaking
· Will be doing a lot of outreach work once the nights get a little brighter. Some people have already offered to help with this project.
· The next monthly meeting will be on May 6th and will include our AGM
YOUTH REPORT: Amir the new Muslim youth worker attended Skeetz with 2 youth workers from Nottingham who are helping to get the project at Drove going.
They wanted to consult with the young people about what their ‘needs’ were – which prompted a slightly angry response from some of the young people. The young people felt they were always being asked things and giving their opinions but nothing changes. Skeetz has been the same for years and is pretty rubbish – 2 years ago the young people acquired funding of £2,000 – they don’t know where the money went! The young people feel every other area has a brilliant youth centre apart from them – and it must be because they are Muslim.
Amir and the youth workers challenged the young people’s thinking on a few points, but made it clear that anything they are doing at Drove would be in addition to Skeetz and they wanted to work in partnership with Skeetz.
Residents from the Community have been invited to the Skeetz art exhibition with NO Added Sugar
Contact Lindsay Poole (Youth Development Worker) mob: 07919 111539 or lpoole@swindon.gov.uk
Community Sports Coach Doug Imrie is trying to organise some street athletics at some point during the summer, and is hoping to use Broad Street for the races and the Community Centre as the central point for other activities.
COMMUNITY PLAN: The steering committee has now met twice. Leaflets telling people about the plan and asking questions about what people would like to see included in it have now been printed. Some were filled in at the recent Saturday event, as well as at the Tuesday and Caribbean Lunch Clubs. There is also a Youth Survey in circulation and 9 have been filled in at Skeetz and others have been given to St. Josephs School, it is hoped Churchfields will also help.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH REPORT: Nothing to report this month.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Councillor Montaut has been involved in identifying £206k of 106 monies to put up new railings around the GWR Park, it is hoped a café and sports may be one of the future uses at the park.
It was asked if he could help with a fence around the community garden, but he felt that we should be talking to developers to pursue 106 monies ourselves because we do not engage with developers on this. Councillor Montaut was questioned as to why it was our job to do this, shouldn’t councillors pursue 106 monies as a matter of course? – The £200k set aside for the GWR Park was only set aside 2 weeks ago, so it is up to us to put things that need doing on the agenda, Officers and Directors should not be the ones who decide how to spend 106 monies.
£1.2m has been set aside by the Govt. to improve playgrounds, Central has done well out of it, with £50k being used to refurbish Westcott Place, as well as improvements at Cambria Bridge and the County Ground play areas. If this money is not spent then the Govt. will take it back. As yet no specific dates have been set for this work to be undertaken.
DHI are moving out of St. Luke’s hall, and are working from their Maxwell Street building, which will be officially opened on the 1st of May.
Appreciation was given to Councillor Montaut for his attendance at our monthly meetings, but questions were asked as to what the other 2 Councillors were doing, because they never attend our meetings, or send in a report. Councillor Montaut said that his colleagues had a problem with this group because they had been badly treated in the past. It was pointed out that Councillor Wright had once been asked to leave a meeting because a private matter needed to be discussed and the Chair said that for some reason, Councillor Wright had a problem with her, but asked if both Councillor Wright and Ali could please start coming to the meetings. Councillor Montaut agreed to do this.
B.O.N.D: Vice-Chair Pam Freegard said the next BOND meeting would now be on the 11th May 2009 because the original date was actually Easter Monday.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Pam Montgomery told the meeting about a pothole near her home, it quickly filled with water when it rained and cars driving through it would splash people walking on the path. When she reported it to the Council, it was repaired within one and a half hours.
Date of next meeting: Wednesday 06 May 2009
Meeting closed at 9.40pm.
ALSO PRESENT: John Taylor - Broadgreen Community Plan, Councillor Derique Montaut, Inspector Lynch, PC Diffin, PC McIntyre, DCI Capstick
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: John Banville, Vi Clark, Celia Cotton, Kath Cridland, John Freegard, Elizabeth Grady, Alan Jones, Kath Jones, Mike and Lindsay Ponting, Evelyn Mason, Derek and Madge Sutton, David Webb, Nazma Ramruttun BOND representative, PCSO Rees Turner, PCSO Stuart Bird.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES – 4th March 2009 meeting.
These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed Pam Freegard and seconded by Karen Coulthard.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE JANUARY MINUTES: The Limited Waiting sign opposite the Broadgreen Centre has been bent.
The owner of a dog in Broad Street is still allowing it to wander onto the green. The owner of the property simply leaves the back gate open.
The bramble bushes are still overgrowing from Stratton Bank at the County Ground and there are fallen leaves everywhere. – Councillor Montaut said the Department Chief Executive had looked at it and had assured him that he would be taking it up with Steve Harcourt’s replacement. Cllr.Montaut will chase this up.
COMMUNITY POLICE REPORT – Inspector Lynch and PC Diffin: Inspector Lynch said she had only been back on Central for a couple of weeks, but wanted to say hello and report that since last year crime has gone down.
PC Diffin introduced himself as the new Beat Manager and told the meeting that the Broadgreen Neighbourhood Police Team (NPT) now has a new Beat Officer, 2 PCSO’s and 2 Special Constables. He felt it might be a good idea to re-look at the priorities for the area, because for example of the 150 priority surveys so far filled in by residents, only 10 to 15 of them said prostitution was a big issue, and it is now a Divisional problem, with a dedicated Officer, rather than an NPT one.
They are looking at 20 mph and can get in ‘Traffic’ to help, also the rubbish is still a problem so have asked SBC for details of what they have done and are doing to sort it out. The PCSO’s are keeping a close eye on this situation, and much of the litter seems to be beer cans and bottles probably due to street/alley drinking. They would like to see more DPPO signs around the area.
It is the intention to raise the NPT’s profile - more high visibility patrols - expand the drop in sessions to cover a wider area, Copse Ave. for example - work with St. Josephs School and Skeetz Youth Club.
A number of questions and concerns were then raised –
· People from the Breakfast Club are using the alleyways as a toilet, and are drinking alcohol from lemonade bottles, what can be done?
Although this is a good idea, should it be in a residential area? PC Diffin has a meeting coming up with Threshold and he will look into the Breakfast Club problems
· Will ‘prostitution’ be kept on the Tasking Group, because there is concern that the commitment to have an officer dedicated to the problem will not be a long term one?
PC McIntyre will be staying here, there is joined up working with the Council and other agencies. Because this is now a Swindon Police issue, rather than an NPT one, it means that the Broadgreen NPT will not be helping with ‘Operation Dobbin’, but will be able to concentrate on other local issues, therefore we should get a better service from our NPT. Staffing of ‘Dobbin’ works much like ‘Operation Diamond’ that covers the pubs in the Town Centre, the Central NPT cannot deal with all the problems that occur at night, so other police staff are brought in to do it. By bringing different officers in, to work on ‘Dobbin’ they are also learning about this area and the problems here.
PC McIntyre: on Operation Dobbin – There are still prostitutes working, but not as frequently. High visibility patrols are taking place, but the majority are covert. Suspected kerb crawlers can be given Acceptable Behaviour Contracts unless they can prove they have a legitimate reason to be in the area, If suspected kerb crawlers are seen driving around the area 3 or more times in a short space of time, letters will be sent to the registered owner of the vehicle to inform them that they have been seen and suspected of kerb crawling. So far 5 letters have been sent out and only 1 vehicle has so far returned. ‘Dobbin’ also supports the NPT, because drug problems and lots of driving offences have been picked up as part of the operation. Looking between now and July at the direction of ‘Dobbin’ up until Christmas.
DCI Capstick: ‘THE POLICING PLEDGE’ – It has been out for around four months and is a national commitment to establish an acceptable level of quality from the Police, and is something that all Police Forces have signed up to:
1. Always treat you fairly with dignity and respect ensuring you have fair access to our services at a time that is reasonable and suitable for you.
2. Provide you with information so you know who your dedicated Neighbourhood Policing Team is, where they are based, how to contact them and how to work with them.
3. Ensure your Neighbourhood Policing Team and other police patrols are visible and on your patch at times when they will be most effective and when you tell us you most need them. We will ensure your team are not taken away from neighbourhood business more than is absolutely necessary. They will spend at least 80% of their time visibly working in your neighbourhood, tackling your priorities. Staff turnover will be minimised.
4. Respond to every message directed to your Neighbourhood Policing Team within 24 hours and, where necessary, provide a more detailed response as soon as we can.
5. Aim to answer 999 calls within 10 seconds, deploying to emergencies immediately giving an estimated time of arrival, getting to you safely, and as quickly as possible. In urban areas, we will aim to get to you within 15 minutes and in rural areas within 20 minutes.
6. Answer all non-emergency calls promptly. If attendance is needed, send a patrol giving you an estimated time of arrival, and:
• If you are vulnerable or upset aim to be with you within 60 minutes.
• If you are calling about an issue that we have agreed with your community will be a neighbourhood priority and attendance is required, we will aim to be with you within 60 minutes.
• Alternatively, if appropriate, we will make an appointment to see you at a time that fits in with your life and within 48 hours.
• If agreed that attendance is not necessary we will give you advice, answer your questions and/or put you in touch with someone who can help.
7. Arrange regular public meetings to agree your priorities, at least once a month, giving you a chance to meet your local team with other members of your community. These will include opportunities such as surgeries, street briefings and mobile police station visits which will be arranged to meet local needs and requirements.
8. Provide monthly updates on progress, and on local crime and policing issues. This will include the provision of crime maps, information on specific crimes and what happened to those brought to justice, details of what action we and our partners are taking to make your neighbourhood safer and information on how your force is performing.
9. If you have been a victim of crime agree with you how often you would like to be kept informed of progress in your case and for how long. You have the right to be kept informed at least every month if you wish and for as long as is reasonable.
10. Acknowledge any dissatisfaction with the service you have received within 24 hours of reporting it to us. To help us fully resolve the matter, discuss with you how it will be handled, give you an opportunity to talk in person to someone about your concerns and agree with you what will be done about them and how quickly.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Reply from Father Leslie concerning the current position of the Broad Street Trust and the use of the £2000 we are still holding.
- still awaiting a response from the Charity Commissioners to my suggestions. They will not talk on the phone so it is via snail mail. I will let you know asap.
Could the garden be named after Les and Matt, put brass plaque on 2 benches for them?
– Yes this would be OK, or could put on a post.
Who has ownership of the garden, will SBC take responsibility, will it be solely the residents, or a joint type partnership? What parts of the area are dedicated for residents to use?
- The garden will still be under the ownership of the Council/Community Centre but the person to deal with is Chris Hunt. The land dedicated to the garden is behind the fence.
33 Rosebery Street, illegal conversion to flats.
-Planning have finally located the owner and spoken to him. He has confirmed that the property has been converted to that of a self contained flat and 3 bed-sits on ground floor and a self-contained flat on first floor and loft. They are expecting a planning application to be submitted in the next 6 to 8 weeks. We will be informed once the application has been received and will then be able to view the plans and submit any comments or objections.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS:
S/08/2390 - 71 Shrivenham Road - Erection of a single storey rear extension. - Application Granted
Former Laundry Site - Aylesbury Street - Erection of 66 no. apartments and partial demolition and conversion to form 3 no. commercial units ( Class A1/A2/A3/B1) - Application Granted
S/09/0117 - 76 Manchester Road - Change of use to shop (class A1) and cafe/restaurant (class A3) and installation of new shop front. - Application Pending Determination rear access to flat
S/LDP/09/0044 - 69 Graham Street - Certificate of Lawfulness (proposed) for the continued use as Class C3 Dwelling House. - Application Pending Determination
S/09/0407- 86 Manchester Road (Radio Taxi’s)- Change of use of ground floor from Offices to Shop (Class A1) and change of use of first floor to Dwelling (Class C3). - Application Pending Determination
TREASURERS REPORT: Acceptance of Treasures report proposed by Val Purvis and seconded by Pam Freegard.
CHAIR REPORT:
· Neil Pullen from Wiltshire Wildlife has contacted us to say they are running a project in Rushey Platt. They have invited people from this community to join them if we would like to, in a series of events: Pond dipping/walks/training/wild food etc.
· We will invite the new ‘Connecting People Connecting Places’ Cluster Leader Mark Walker to attend a future meeting
· Between the 9 March and the 20 April, the Swindon Strategic Land Availability Assessment is under consultation – if you have plans to use any land for community use, then might be worth looking at.
· Thanks to everyone for attending the Community Engagement morning last Saturday it had been hoped that more people might have turned up – Also thanks to the kind people that helped deliver the leaflets.
Feedback from people that came along: Enjoyed the morning very much/could we do more of them/enjoyed history project and talking/table top sale/cakes. Also enjoyed being able to talk to the Police informally.
Thanks to the Police Team and also big thank you to John Taylor/Beryl Phillips and Kevin Leakey for all their hard work, which is greatly appreciated by the community.
· Request for people to deliver Broadly Speaking
· Will be doing a lot of outreach work once the nights get a little brighter. Some people have already offered to help with this project.
· The next monthly meeting will be on May 6th and will include our AGM
YOUTH REPORT: Amir the new Muslim youth worker attended Skeetz with 2 youth workers from Nottingham who are helping to get the project at Drove going.
They wanted to consult with the young people about what their ‘needs’ were – which prompted a slightly angry response from some of the young people. The young people felt they were always being asked things and giving their opinions but nothing changes. Skeetz has been the same for years and is pretty rubbish – 2 years ago the young people acquired funding of £2,000 – they don’t know where the money went! The young people feel every other area has a brilliant youth centre apart from them – and it must be because they are Muslim.
Amir and the youth workers challenged the young people’s thinking on a few points, but made it clear that anything they are doing at Drove would be in addition to Skeetz and they wanted to work in partnership with Skeetz.
Residents from the Community have been invited to the Skeetz art exhibition with NO Added Sugar
Contact Lindsay Poole (Youth Development Worker) mob: 07919 111539 or lpoole@swindon.gov.uk
Community Sports Coach Doug Imrie is trying to organise some street athletics at some point during the summer, and is hoping to use Broad Street for the races and the Community Centre as the central point for other activities.
COMMUNITY PLAN: The steering committee has now met twice. Leaflets telling people about the plan and asking questions about what people would like to see included in it have now been printed. Some were filled in at the recent Saturday event, as well as at the Tuesday and Caribbean Lunch Clubs. There is also a Youth Survey in circulation and 9 have been filled in at Skeetz and others have been given to St. Josephs School, it is hoped Churchfields will also help.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH REPORT: Nothing to report this month.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Councillor Montaut has been involved in identifying £206k of 106 monies to put up new railings around the GWR Park, it is hoped a café and sports may be one of the future uses at the park.
It was asked if he could help with a fence around the community garden, but he felt that we should be talking to developers to pursue 106 monies ourselves because we do not engage with developers on this. Councillor Montaut was questioned as to why it was our job to do this, shouldn’t councillors pursue 106 monies as a matter of course? – The £200k set aside for the GWR Park was only set aside 2 weeks ago, so it is up to us to put things that need doing on the agenda, Officers and Directors should not be the ones who decide how to spend 106 monies.
£1.2m has been set aside by the Govt. to improve playgrounds, Central has done well out of it, with £50k being used to refurbish Westcott Place, as well as improvements at Cambria Bridge and the County Ground play areas. If this money is not spent then the Govt. will take it back. As yet no specific dates have been set for this work to be undertaken.
DHI are moving out of St. Luke’s hall, and are working from their Maxwell Street building, which will be officially opened on the 1st of May.
Appreciation was given to Councillor Montaut for his attendance at our monthly meetings, but questions were asked as to what the other 2 Councillors were doing, because they never attend our meetings, or send in a report. Councillor Montaut said that his colleagues had a problem with this group because they had been badly treated in the past. It was pointed out that Councillor Wright had once been asked to leave a meeting because a private matter needed to be discussed and the Chair said that for some reason, Councillor Wright had a problem with her, but asked if both Councillor Wright and Ali could please start coming to the meetings. Councillor Montaut agreed to do this.
B.O.N.D: Vice-Chair Pam Freegard said the next BOND meeting would now be on the 11th May 2009 because the original date was actually Easter Monday.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Pam Montgomery told the meeting about a pothole near her home, it quickly filled with water when it rained and cars driving through it would splash people walking on the path. When she reported it to the Council, it was repaired within one and a half hours.
Date of next meeting: Wednesday 06 May 2009
Meeting closed at 9.40pm.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
AGENDA - BSACC monthly meeting and AGM 06 May 2009
Welcome and Housekeeping
Apologies for absence
AGM
Confirmation of the minutes – 04 June 2008 AGM meeting
Matters arising from these minutes
Chairman’s Report
Treasurer’s Report
Nominations and election of Officers and Committee
MAY MONTHLY MEETING
Confirmation of the minutes – 04 April 2009 meeting
Matters arising from these minutes
Community Police report
Guest speakers: Correspondence
Treasurers report
Chairs report
Youth report
Broadgreen History Project
Broadgreen Community Plan
Shrivenham Road/ Cockram Court report
Neighbourhood/Street Watch report
Ward Councillors report
B.O.N.D. report.
Any Other Business
Next Meeting: Wednesday 03 June 2009
Apologies for absence
AGM
Confirmation of the minutes – 04 June 2008 AGM meeting
Matters arising from these minutes
Chairman’s Report
Treasurer’s Report
Nominations and election of Officers and Committee
MAY MONTHLY MEETING
Confirmation of the minutes – 04 April 2009 meeting
Matters arising from these minutes
Community Police report
Guest speakers: Correspondence
Treasurers report
Chairs report
Youth report
Broadgreen History Project
Broadgreen Community Plan
Shrivenham Road/ Cockram Court report
Neighbourhood/Street Watch report
Ward Councillors report
B.O.N.D. report.
Any Other Business
Next Meeting: Wednesday 03 June 2009
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Broad Street Area Community Council AGM - 6th May 2009
We will be holding our AGM on Wednesday the 6th May at 7.30 pm in the lounge at the Broadgreen Centre in Salisbury Street. All Broadgreen residents are invited to attend.
Nomination forms for Officer and Committee posts are attached to the Broadly Speaking newsletters that have been delivered through residents’ doors.
Nomination forms for Officer and Committee posts are attached to the Broadly Speaking newsletters that have been delivered through residents’ doors.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 4th MARCH 2009
PRESENT: Chair Karen Leakey, Vice Chair and Treasurer Richard Coates, Secretary and Archivist Kevin Leakey, Minute Secretary John Phillips, John Clark, Karen Coulthard, Stella Edwards, Pam Freegard, Tim French, Kate Johnson, Alan Jones, Cluniford and Evelyn Mason, Rebecca McIntosh, Val Purvis, Derek and Madge Sutton, Ros Timlin.
ALSO PRESENT: John Taylor - Broadgreen Community Plan, PCSO Rees Turner, Councillor Mark Edwards - Cabinet Member for Resources, Councillor Derique Montaut, Nazma Ramruttun BOND representative, Dan Collins and Helena Lachowycz - Eastcott Community Council, Gena Old Town.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: John Banville, Vi Clark, Celia Cotton, Kath Cridland, John Freegard, Elizabeth Grady, Kath Jones, Pam Montgomery, Sue Osbaldstone, Mike and Lindsay Ponting, David Webb, Inspector Madge Lynch, PCSO Stuart Bird, PC Sophia McIntyre, Sergeant Kate Stalder.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES – 7th January 2009 meeting.
These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed Pam Freegard and seconded by John Phillips.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE JANUARY MINUTES: Broad Street Community Trust. Father Leslie has been contacted yet again to ask what is happening with the Trust and if the £2000 we are holding could be used for the community garden, but as yet he has not responded. It was proposed that a letter be sent to Graham Jenkins and ask him if he felt the money could be spent on the garden project.
COMMUNITY POLICE REPORT – PCSO Rhys Turner: There have been several ‘Dobbin’ operations during February - 16/17/18 they were conducted with both High Visibility and Covert Officers deployed. A Kerb Crawler was issued with an ABC (Acceptable Behaviour Contract) and a “Working” person was issued with a Prostitution Street Caution. Letters were also distributed to registered keepers of cars that are continually seen loitering within the area, one has been sent to an address in Portsmouth; Police there will deal with it. The Police have spoken to local residents and businesses and people are happy with the operations that are being carried out. At the moment the ‘Dobbin’ operations are planned out until June, then PC. McIntyre will look to see what the situation is and decide the best way forward, it may well mean stepping up the ‘Dobbin’ operations. There is a long-term commitment from high up in the Police to eradicate the prostitution problem and PC McIntyre is very dedicated to her job.
Alley way parking continues to be a problem in some areas and a van that constantly does so in the alley behind Manchester road has been given 2 tickets in the last couple of weeks and if it continues to be parked there it will be towed away, as alleys should be kept clear at all times to allow emergency services access should there be a need to do so.
GUEST SPEAKER - Councillor Mark Edwards – Cabinet Member for Resources: Thanked the BSACC for the invite to talk about the proposed residents parking permit increases, and gave apologies for Councillor Peter Greenhalgh who he had hoped would also have been able to attend the meeting.
Legally the Council are obliged to balance their books and although he understood the financial situation at the moment, the council cannot take out huge loans. Every year there has to be a budget and every year expenses increase while income does not, and although £8m savings had been found and they were coming close to delivering a balanced budget, unfortunately since the credit crunch at the end of last year, there had been a huge income loss to the council from things like planning applications and recycling. To balance the books they had to go back and look again at all the savings that could be made, and one thing that was put forward as a proposal for change was the residents parking. Looking at the current cost and income, the books don’t balance and the scheme is running at a net loss and is being subsidised. The proposal is to put the cost of permits up by the amount suggested and that will go some way to cover the gap between what it costs to run and what income is generated.
There then followed a question and answer session.
Q: Are fines included?
A: Yes, it’s all part of the income.
Q: Is this not simply a stealth tax, put up the cost of residents parking permits and keep council tax lower for everyone else?
A: Not at all, we want to be very honest and open about it, but this is a service that is costing money and a way has to be found to make it more efficient. There is to be a consultation process on it but has no the details as to how it’s going to run yet. One option that has been floated before, which makes it cost effective, is if there were no residents’ parking in place it would be cost neutral. Every time this has been proposed the answer has been residents want to keep the scheme.
Q: If as you say the increases are to balance the books, people are going to expect to see more for their money, i.e. more people managing the scheme because there’s already problems with inconsiderate parking and illegal parking in the residents parking bays. More patrols etc will Increase the cost of running the scheme and not generate more income. If it is not managed properly there will be lots of complaints.
A: Enforcement has been looked at and savings made by making it run as efficiently as possible. The Council need to know from residents where the inefficiencies are in enforcement. They are down to 31 officers from 38 but the scheme was running reasonably well with 31 officers, so that number is being maintained.
Q: If you want to make savings, don’t use so many vans. How many do the parking department use?
A: Not know.
Q: Could residents parking not operate on a Sunday? Surely the fines would generate more income?
A: It was looked at, but is not cost effective to operate the scheme on a Sunday; the most cost effective solution is to put the cost of permits up.
Q: It would be helpful to get a figure on the shortfall of costs for the scheme, but never the less, how much are you expecting to generate from the price increase?
A: £152,000
Q: One thing that defeats that figure, is the increase in Councillors Allowances which is understood to be costing an additional £370,000 but if only half of that was given back by Councillors there would be no need to increase the residents parking charges at all, would there?
A: This is a very sensitive subject and will no doubt be debated at many future council meetings. There are lots of ways you could work things out, but to be on call 365 days of the year to 8,000 residents, it works out to be 50p to £1.00 per hour. From a personal point of view, looking at the amount of work and hours Councillors put in, in terms of evenings and weekends etc, the reward does not necessarily balance up with those amounts of hours. For example today – up at 6am, at this meeting now and have to go to another meeting after, this is a typical day in amongst the day job. These commitments are relatively tough, where everybody is working very very hard here. Weekends and evenings - you never know how late. The only reason that some of the people actually do the job as a councillor is because they can balance their work/job life, which means you may not be able to get a job that pays sufficiently to have a life or that allows you to do both, you have to balance both against the cost. Considering the amount of work that has to be put in to these roles, it’s a fair balance.
Q: With regards to the allowances, many people do voluntary work and carry on with their jobs as well, and they don’t expect to get paid.
A: As Chair of School Governors, I probably give 20 to 30 hours a week so we all do the voluntary stuff as well.
Q: Do you consider parking increases of between 60% and 200% reasonable and can residents in the present climate of recession absorb this? Why were the charges not phased in, if there’s never been a situation of having to balance the budget for the scheme?
A: Taken onboard that it is a big increase all in one go, the only counter argument to that is that maybe it should have been done last year, the year before that and the year before that. To put it up to the full cost all in one go was considered to be far too much and these increases were considered to be a reasonable compromise.
Q: There is also another option, where there has been a windfall of income coming into the council coffers of approximately £429,000, which could have been used to accommodate the shortfalls and cuts.
A: Completely understand the point that has been raised about this money from the Government but it’s one off funding, while it is very welcome, if it’s used for the Park and Ride for example, we will be sitting here in a years time having exactly the same discussion. Using one of funding to try and sustain something for the long term is not practical and not going to work, all it is doing is delaying the problem.
Q: Why are more permits issued than actual parking spaces?
A: It is known that this is an issue, there are discussions on the number of parking spaces and believe there is some capital funding which will potentially be available this year to look at the number of parking spaces and see if the number can be increased.
Q: Houses in Multiple Occupancy – why, when one person in one flat pays the cost of a first permit, should a totally unrelated person living in a separate flat within the same building have to pay the cost of a second permit as if it was a second car in the same household?
A: It should be on a per household basis, will take it back.
Q: You said the current option of increases was the most cost effective, what are the other options because it would be useful if they could be shared with residents? And with regards to the consultation process, will residents be consulted or will it just be councillors?
A: Will make sure the BSACC has full details on the consultation process and on the other options. The cheapest option is to scrap the scheme but residents want it.
Q: It was said that these increases will still not cover the cost of the scheme, does this mean that in the next couple of budgets the charges are going to increase again and again?
A: Here’s your answer, let me give you a clue - ‘The proposed price increases in permits are expected to realise an additional value of £152,000. In order to recover the full cost of the service leaving visitors, second and third permits unchanged, the cost of a 6 month first permit needs to rise to £30 and a 12 month permit to £55 compared with a £25 to £40 proposed’ so in order to make the whole thing cost neutral, it would take that level of increase.
Q: Part of people’s aggravation about this is that it is such a huge increase coming in, seemingly through the back door via a section in the budget – ‘Amendments and Omissions from December Report’ Would it not be better to set out the future rises over the next few years, now?
A: My job is to balance the books and I have only been in this role for 2 months, if we were to put out the fees for the next 3 years it sets them in stone, when through other savings they may not need to be increased. If we do find a way to make this service run efficiently, at a far less cost and it works for residents, I would be the first one to say we are going to cut the residents car parking fees.
Q: As there are no local council elections this year, could this be the reason that the charges are being put up by so much?
A: If we wanted to run a political budget next year, by keeping the council tax to 3.5% now we are creating a huge issue for ourselves next year. The political gain would be a 4.9% budget this year, because people would have forgotten about it next year. A 3.5% budget this year was one of the most difficult things this council has had to do in terms of balancing the books, you can be rest assured this was not political and I am up for re-election next year so the job is going to be even harder.
Q: Going through the paperwork to the residents parking review in 2007, it states that in 2005/06 there was an operating surplus of some £6300 and this was based on the old charges of £12 per permit, so how in the last couple of years has the cost of running the scheme suddenly gone up so much?
A: That is one of the questions we are trying to find the answer to, exactly where the 05/06 numbers were derived from. They don’t actually make sense, we are trying to find out what costs were not put in, because the current fees and numbers are correct.
Q: Basically up until December time, when the economic problems hit, you were not really bothered that the scheme was costing extra money; in fact you didn’t even know did you? (A: No, absolutely.) and suddenly it’s allegedly going to cost lots more money to run this so therefore you are going to be ‘taxing’ everybody extra (A: Absolutely not) you weren’t looking at this before, a budget was put to cabinet in December and it wasn’t included.
A: We didn’t get to the budget in December and decide to punish the residents parking, there were a whole raft of things that happened in December and January. It was always on the list, but we don’t want to touch things we don’t have to, I want to make these things cost neutral, it would be very easy to say we’ve got plenty of money in the bank but we will punish you for that as well. We have to make a balance and that is, when times are economically tough you have to look at absolutely everything. This should have been looked at 3 years ago with far more scrutiny. As the budgets become tighter, everything has to be scrutinised and you have to square every asset you have got in order to balance the books. So yes, the prices should have gone up 3 years ago.
Q: It was suggested by the Lib. Dems. at the full Council meeting, that quite a lot of the increase is due to added administration charges that have not been included before, is this correct?
A: That is what I am trying to work out. I am assured by our Finance Director that we are apportioning costs appropriately for residents parking in the 2008/2009 budget that has just gone through.
Q: Have you compared the cost of residents parking in Swindon, with other towns?
A: I can get you the figures, but I can assure you if you look at res. parking in equivalent Unitaries, this is incredibly cheap. I will get some numbers and get some balance and make it transparent - this is what it costs and in an equivalent Unitary this is what they pay, so you can get a benchmark.
I will come back with all of the responses to tonight and if there are any gaps let me know, and Peter Greenhalgh will come back with a response to the letter sent to him from the BSACC.
Everything that has been said will be taken back and will make sure there is a full feed back on this discussion and full feedback on how the consultation is going to take place, the BSACC will be kept fully informed.
CORRESPONDENCE:
The overflowing guttering on the shop in Corporation and Lagos Street – Richard Palacio SBC environmental officer said unless the adjoining property complains, then there is nothing they can do about it.
Fish being sold at both the 7 to 11 shop in Broad St. and DeAngelos in Manchester Rd. - Richard Palacio and Karen L have both tried to get the food hygiene enforcement team to the tasking group but they will not go, RP has however written to both shops so things are in motion within the council.
Tried unsuccessfully to contact Gary Hewitt with regards to the S4L and the garden, left numerous messages and been told he would get back but he has not.
Informed Parking Enforcement about Scorpion Garage in Station Road valeting cars etc and also that they are using the residents parking bays to park the cars in.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS: S/09/0268 - 123 Manchester Road - Erection of a single storey rear extension - Application Pending Consideration
TREASURERS REPORT: Acceptance of Treasures report proposed by Derek Sutton and seconded by Val Purvis.
CHAIR REPORT:
We are putting on a Community Engagement morning on the 28 March. The Police will have their computer equipment to enable residents to answer a survey about prostitution, John Taylor will be on hand to talk about the Community Plan, Kevin will be showing his history project and there will be a table top and cake sale. Help would very much be appreciated.
Doug Imrie has a funding application – ‘Kick it Out’ concerning racism in sport and young people.
The dog warden has been contacted again concerning the dog that is being allowed to run around in the park. Residents are reporting that it is going for young people in the street, and is being let out with no adult supervision, this happens at various times of the day.
The Tasking Group have been invited to visit the Manchester Road Mosque. If the BSACC are interested in a visit, it may be able to be arranged.
The Adver recently carried a story about a mugging and used the headline ‘Man injured in Broadgreen mugging’ it was felt that there was no need to have mentioned Broadgreen in the headline, because mentioning an area in the headline it is not something the Adver normally do. The Chair has contacted the Adver and they said often crime stories come direct from Police information and are reported as said. On a positive note, the Adver have run 2 good news stories about this area in the last couple of days.
It has been reported that some users of the Breakfast Club are using some of the back alleyways in the vicinity of St. Luke’s as a toilet, this is not just urinating either. It is hard to understand why this is happening, because the Breakfast Club has toilet facilities on site.
There is to be a ‘Safe and Clean’ day later in the year, it will however be shared with the Railway Village. It was felt by the meeting that this area needs a clear up of its own, especially the County Ground which is in a terrible state.
An email have been received from Ishmael Stevens, got married on the 13th December and is working long hours, only seeing his family on his days off. He hopes to visit Swindon in June and sends his love to all. Grace Walker has spoken to Karen C. and said she has settled in very well in Spain, she says she has not got a donkey yet, but she is happy relaxing and sipping cocktails in the sun! She would be very pleased if people would write to her.
Next month, Planning Enforcement will be attending this meeting. They have requested for any enforcement issues to be passed to them before the meeting, so they have the right paperwork with them, to answer the questions.
Councillor Montaut has booked a room at the Civic Offices for this Friday morning, so the Tasking Group and members of the Mosque can discuss the Friday parking problems. The Councillor said that since booking the room, he has been having problems with holding the meeting on a Friday, because the Muslims go to prayer on that day and it is inappropriate to hold it then. The Chair pointed out that at the Tasking meeting, Councillor Ali, PC Sheikh and the Manchester Road Mosque representative all said Friday morning was a good time.
YOUTH REPORT: Doug Imrie: Over the next few Wednesdays Doug is hoping to do some sports with the youngsters and also to arrange some football matches between older youths and possibly the Fire Brigade and Police etc.
Lindsay Poole: Over the past month, young people who attend Skeetz youth club on a Wednesday evening have been engaging in an art project alongside No Added Sugar community artists. Young people have been working hard to create self-portraits and have had the opportunity to work with Sid who is a young Asian artist who has been coming over from Bristol to assist with the project. We have another 2 evenings with No Added Sugar to finish the pieces and then hope to encourage a few of the young people to come in on Saturday 28th March to create some group pieces which we hope could be auctioned or raffled off at the Community Cohesion Day to raise money for the Skeetz youth club.
Numbers at Skeetz are still really good with around 30 young people attending each session - from a broad ethnic mix including young people originally from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Poland, Afghanistan and Lithuania - which promotes some interesting discussions about different languages and cultures.
One of the young people is now attending the Duke of Edinburgh Open Award centre on a Monday night at Plus One Centre and is progressing well. We are still trying to encourage the young people to get involved in other Youth Work activities in other areas, such as football tournaments, pool comps and gym sessions.... but this is proving quite difficult as they are very attached to their area and don't seem too keen to venture out and mix with other young people. So this is something we shall be addressing in the next few months as well as helping them to identify and apply for funding for future projects.
For more information about Skeetz or youth work in Central south area, please contact Lindsay Poole (Youth Development Worker) mob: 07919 111539 or lpoole@swindon.gov.uk
COMMUNITY PLAN: The steering group, a sub-committee of the BSACC that includes a representative from the BOND – Kay Malko and Councillor Montaut as the Council representative, has met for the first time and agreed to drive the plan forward. It is the aim to produce a 16 to 20 page plan, available for the Borough to see in October. There are 2 areas of immediate action, the Adver and the ‘20 is Plenty’ campaign, which is being headed up by Derek and Madge Sutton. It is hoped to persuade the council to trial 20 mph for all roads in this area. It is also important to engage with the New Swindon Company, Kevin has agreed to represent the Steering Committee, Pam and Ros the BSACC and Karen L the Tasking Group.
With regards to the ’20 is Plenty’ campaign, Cllr. Montaut said he was charged with raising this issue within the Council and has been having ongoing discussions with traffic engineers and they say that it is not as simple as adopting a scheme that’s been used in other areas because a 20mph zone is not enforceable by the Police, they have problems with 30mph, so by enforcing 20 mph by having Police Officers there will not happen. One way to have 20mph zones is through traffic calming. They can have a 20mph zone by putting up a sign with it on; they are talking about piloting this in a residential area, but not Broadgreen. Through his discussions thanks to the interest we have shown in this, at least they can start a pilot scheme in one of the areas. The side roads will be easy to enforce because great speeds would not be built up, it’s the main highways like Broad St. or Manchester Rd, so it is being discussed and considered at a higher level.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH REPORT: There are still problems with the Breakfast Club, with drinking outside and cans etc littering the path, there has been no improvement since the last time. It was pointed out that the opportunity was given at the tasking meeting for the problems to be put directly to the organisations involved, but they were told it had improved and there was no problem. Cycling on paths and cars parking in the alleyways are also continuing. Despite this area having a DPPO, a resident is purchasing alcohol and drinking it with friends in the Broadgreen Centre park, they are getting drunk and abusing people, and then leaving the empty bottles behind. The DPPO sign by the park has been spray painted over, but the PCSO’s would like to see more DPPO signs in the area.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Councillor Montaut talked about the Council Budget and the issues around saving services like the libraries, Park and Ride and the cut in Community grants etc. He feels that these things could be saved through other savings. There is also a figure of £429,000 that has fallen into the Councils pot from Government, it is for Authorities that have made certain financial achievements after their budgets have been delivered, but we are told it is a one off payout and cannot be used to subsidise services, but Councillor Montaut does not agree this is the right way to look at it.
B.O.N.D: The BOND put on a multi-cultural event on the 28th February; Nazma thanked Karen L, Pam, Kate and Rebecca for all of their help on the day.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Can there be another public toilet in the Town Centre, because the alleyway behind the Open Hands Fellowship is being constantly used as a toilet. This was passed over to Cllr. Montaut who said that it is likely that toilets will continue to be shut, with people having to rely on traders opening their toilets for public use.
The Chair thanked Karen Coulthard for going around with the Residents Parking petition.
Date of next meeting: Wednesday 01 April 2009 Meeting closed at 9.20pm.
ALSO PRESENT: John Taylor - Broadgreen Community Plan, PCSO Rees Turner, Councillor Mark Edwards - Cabinet Member for Resources, Councillor Derique Montaut, Nazma Ramruttun BOND representative, Dan Collins and Helena Lachowycz - Eastcott Community Council, Gena Old Town.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: John Banville, Vi Clark, Celia Cotton, Kath Cridland, John Freegard, Elizabeth Grady, Kath Jones, Pam Montgomery, Sue Osbaldstone, Mike and Lindsay Ponting, David Webb, Inspector Madge Lynch, PCSO Stuart Bird, PC Sophia McIntyre, Sergeant Kate Stalder.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES – 7th January 2009 meeting.
These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed Pam Freegard and seconded by John Phillips.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE JANUARY MINUTES: Broad Street Community Trust. Father Leslie has been contacted yet again to ask what is happening with the Trust and if the £2000 we are holding could be used for the community garden, but as yet he has not responded. It was proposed that a letter be sent to Graham Jenkins and ask him if he felt the money could be spent on the garden project.
COMMUNITY POLICE REPORT – PCSO Rhys Turner: There have been several ‘Dobbin’ operations during February - 16/17/18 they were conducted with both High Visibility and Covert Officers deployed. A Kerb Crawler was issued with an ABC (Acceptable Behaviour Contract) and a “Working” person was issued with a Prostitution Street Caution. Letters were also distributed to registered keepers of cars that are continually seen loitering within the area, one has been sent to an address in Portsmouth; Police there will deal with it. The Police have spoken to local residents and businesses and people are happy with the operations that are being carried out. At the moment the ‘Dobbin’ operations are planned out until June, then PC. McIntyre will look to see what the situation is and decide the best way forward, it may well mean stepping up the ‘Dobbin’ operations. There is a long-term commitment from high up in the Police to eradicate the prostitution problem and PC McIntyre is very dedicated to her job.
Alley way parking continues to be a problem in some areas and a van that constantly does so in the alley behind Manchester road has been given 2 tickets in the last couple of weeks and if it continues to be parked there it will be towed away, as alleys should be kept clear at all times to allow emergency services access should there be a need to do so.
GUEST SPEAKER - Councillor Mark Edwards – Cabinet Member for Resources: Thanked the BSACC for the invite to talk about the proposed residents parking permit increases, and gave apologies for Councillor Peter Greenhalgh who he had hoped would also have been able to attend the meeting.
Legally the Council are obliged to balance their books and although he understood the financial situation at the moment, the council cannot take out huge loans. Every year there has to be a budget and every year expenses increase while income does not, and although £8m savings had been found and they were coming close to delivering a balanced budget, unfortunately since the credit crunch at the end of last year, there had been a huge income loss to the council from things like planning applications and recycling. To balance the books they had to go back and look again at all the savings that could be made, and one thing that was put forward as a proposal for change was the residents parking. Looking at the current cost and income, the books don’t balance and the scheme is running at a net loss and is being subsidised. The proposal is to put the cost of permits up by the amount suggested and that will go some way to cover the gap between what it costs to run and what income is generated.
There then followed a question and answer session.
Q: Are fines included?
A: Yes, it’s all part of the income.
Q: Is this not simply a stealth tax, put up the cost of residents parking permits and keep council tax lower for everyone else?
A: Not at all, we want to be very honest and open about it, but this is a service that is costing money and a way has to be found to make it more efficient. There is to be a consultation process on it but has no the details as to how it’s going to run yet. One option that has been floated before, which makes it cost effective, is if there were no residents’ parking in place it would be cost neutral. Every time this has been proposed the answer has been residents want to keep the scheme.
Q: If as you say the increases are to balance the books, people are going to expect to see more for their money, i.e. more people managing the scheme because there’s already problems with inconsiderate parking and illegal parking in the residents parking bays. More patrols etc will Increase the cost of running the scheme and not generate more income. If it is not managed properly there will be lots of complaints.
A: Enforcement has been looked at and savings made by making it run as efficiently as possible. The Council need to know from residents where the inefficiencies are in enforcement. They are down to 31 officers from 38 but the scheme was running reasonably well with 31 officers, so that number is being maintained.
Q: If you want to make savings, don’t use so many vans. How many do the parking department use?
A: Not know.
Q: Could residents parking not operate on a Sunday? Surely the fines would generate more income?
A: It was looked at, but is not cost effective to operate the scheme on a Sunday; the most cost effective solution is to put the cost of permits up.
Q: It would be helpful to get a figure on the shortfall of costs for the scheme, but never the less, how much are you expecting to generate from the price increase?
A: £152,000
Q: One thing that defeats that figure, is the increase in Councillors Allowances which is understood to be costing an additional £370,000 but if only half of that was given back by Councillors there would be no need to increase the residents parking charges at all, would there?
A: This is a very sensitive subject and will no doubt be debated at many future council meetings. There are lots of ways you could work things out, but to be on call 365 days of the year to 8,000 residents, it works out to be 50p to £1.00 per hour. From a personal point of view, looking at the amount of work and hours Councillors put in, in terms of evenings and weekends etc, the reward does not necessarily balance up with those amounts of hours. For example today – up at 6am, at this meeting now and have to go to another meeting after, this is a typical day in amongst the day job. These commitments are relatively tough, where everybody is working very very hard here. Weekends and evenings - you never know how late. The only reason that some of the people actually do the job as a councillor is because they can balance their work/job life, which means you may not be able to get a job that pays sufficiently to have a life or that allows you to do both, you have to balance both against the cost. Considering the amount of work that has to be put in to these roles, it’s a fair balance.
Q: With regards to the allowances, many people do voluntary work and carry on with their jobs as well, and they don’t expect to get paid.
A: As Chair of School Governors, I probably give 20 to 30 hours a week so we all do the voluntary stuff as well.
Q: Do you consider parking increases of between 60% and 200% reasonable and can residents in the present climate of recession absorb this? Why were the charges not phased in, if there’s never been a situation of having to balance the budget for the scheme?
A: Taken onboard that it is a big increase all in one go, the only counter argument to that is that maybe it should have been done last year, the year before that and the year before that. To put it up to the full cost all in one go was considered to be far too much and these increases were considered to be a reasonable compromise.
Q: There is also another option, where there has been a windfall of income coming into the council coffers of approximately £429,000, which could have been used to accommodate the shortfalls and cuts.
A: Completely understand the point that has been raised about this money from the Government but it’s one off funding, while it is very welcome, if it’s used for the Park and Ride for example, we will be sitting here in a years time having exactly the same discussion. Using one of funding to try and sustain something for the long term is not practical and not going to work, all it is doing is delaying the problem.
Q: Why are more permits issued than actual parking spaces?
A: It is known that this is an issue, there are discussions on the number of parking spaces and believe there is some capital funding which will potentially be available this year to look at the number of parking spaces and see if the number can be increased.
Q: Houses in Multiple Occupancy – why, when one person in one flat pays the cost of a first permit, should a totally unrelated person living in a separate flat within the same building have to pay the cost of a second permit as if it was a second car in the same household?
A: It should be on a per household basis, will take it back.
Q: You said the current option of increases was the most cost effective, what are the other options because it would be useful if they could be shared with residents? And with regards to the consultation process, will residents be consulted or will it just be councillors?
A: Will make sure the BSACC has full details on the consultation process and on the other options. The cheapest option is to scrap the scheme but residents want it.
Q: It was said that these increases will still not cover the cost of the scheme, does this mean that in the next couple of budgets the charges are going to increase again and again?
A: Here’s your answer, let me give you a clue - ‘The proposed price increases in permits are expected to realise an additional value of £152,000. In order to recover the full cost of the service leaving visitors, second and third permits unchanged, the cost of a 6 month first permit needs to rise to £30 and a 12 month permit to £55 compared with a £25 to £40 proposed’ so in order to make the whole thing cost neutral, it would take that level of increase.
Q: Part of people’s aggravation about this is that it is such a huge increase coming in, seemingly through the back door via a section in the budget – ‘Amendments and Omissions from December Report’ Would it not be better to set out the future rises over the next few years, now?
A: My job is to balance the books and I have only been in this role for 2 months, if we were to put out the fees for the next 3 years it sets them in stone, when through other savings they may not need to be increased. If we do find a way to make this service run efficiently, at a far less cost and it works for residents, I would be the first one to say we are going to cut the residents car parking fees.
Q: As there are no local council elections this year, could this be the reason that the charges are being put up by so much?
A: If we wanted to run a political budget next year, by keeping the council tax to 3.5% now we are creating a huge issue for ourselves next year. The political gain would be a 4.9% budget this year, because people would have forgotten about it next year. A 3.5% budget this year was one of the most difficult things this council has had to do in terms of balancing the books, you can be rest assured this was not political and I am up for re-election next year so the job is going to be even harder.
Q: Going through the paperwork to the residents parking review in 2007, it states that in 2005/06 there was an operating surplus of some £6300 and this was based on the old charges of £12 per permit, so how in the last couple of years has the cost of running the scheme suddenly gone up so much?
A: That is one of the questions we are trying to find the answer to, exactly where the 05/06 numbers were derived from. They don’t actually make sense, we are trying to find out what costs were not put in, because the current fees and numbers are correct.
Q: Basically up until December time, when the economic problems hit, you were not really bothered that the scheme was costing extra money; in fact you didn’t even know did you? (A: No, absolutely.) and suddenly it’s allegedly going to cost lots more money to run this so therefore you are going to be ‘taxing’ everybody extra (A: Absolutely not) you weren’t looking at this before, a budget was put to cabinet in December and it wasn’t included.
A: We didn’t get to the budget in December and decide to punish the residents parking, there were a whole raft of things that happened in December and January. It was always on the list, but we don’t want to touch things we don’t have to, I want to make these things cost neutral, it would be very easy to say we’ve got plenty of money in the bank but we will punish you for that as well. We have to make a balance and that is, when times are economically tough you have to look at absolutely everything. This should have been looked at 3 years ago with far more scrutiny. As the budgets become tighter, everything has to be scrutinised and you have to square every asset you have got in order to balance the books. So yes, the prices should have gone up 3 years ago.
Q: It was suggested by the Lib. Dems. at the full Council meeting, that quite a lot of the increase is due to added administration charges that have not been included before, is this correct?
A: That is what I am trying to work out. I am assured by our Finance Director that we are apportioning costs appropriately for residents parking in the 2008/2009 budget that has just gone through.
Q: Have you compared the cost of residents parking in Swindon, with other towns?
A: I can get you the figures, but I can assure you if you look at res. parking in equivalent Unitaries, this is incredibly cheap. I will get some numbers and get some balance and make it transparent - this is what it costs and in an equivalent Unitary this is what they pay, so you can get a benchmark.
I will come back with all of the responses to tonight and if there are any gaps let me know, and Peter Greenhalgh will come back with a response to the letter sent to him from the BSACC.
Everything that has been said will be taken back and will make sure there is a full feed back on this discussion and full feedback on how the consultation is going to take place, the BSACC will be kept fully informed.
CORRESPONDENCE:
The overflowing guttering on the shop in Corporation and Lagos Street – Richard Palacio SBC environmental officer said unless the adjoining property complains, then there is nothing they can do about it.
Fish being sold at both the 7 to 11 shop in Broad St. and DeAngelos in Manchester Rd. - Richard Palacio and Karen L have both tried to get the food hygiene enforcement team to the tasking group but they will not go, RP has however written to both shops so things are in motion within the council.
Tried unsuccessfully to contact Gary Hewitt with regards to the S4L and the garden, left numerous messages and been told he would get back but he has not.
Informed Parking Enforcement about Scorpion Garage in Station Road valeting cars etc and also that they are using the residents parking bays to park the cars in.
PLANNING APPLICATIONS: S/09/0268 - 123 Manchester Road - Erection of a single storey rear extension - Application Pending Consideration
TREASURERS REPORT: Acceptance of Treasures report proposed by Derek Sutton and seconded by Val Purvis.
CHAIR REPORT:
We are putting on a Community Engagement morning on the 28 March. The Police will have their computer equipment to enable residents to answer a survey about prostitution, John Taylor will be on hand to talk about the Community Plan, Kevin will be showing his history project and there will be a table top and cake sale. Help would very much be appreciated.
Doug Imrie has a funding application – ‘Kick it Out’ concerning racism in sport and young people.
The dog warden has been contacted again concerning the dog that is being allowed to run around in the park. Residents are reporting that it is going for young people in the street, and is being let out with no adult supervision, this happens at various times of the day.
The Tasking Group have been invited to visit the Manchester Road Mosque. If the BSACC are interested in a visit, it may be able to be arranged.
The Adver recently carried a story about a mugging and used the headline ‘Man injured in Broadgreen mugging’ it was felt that there was no need to have mentioned Broadgreen in the headline, because mentioning an area in the headline it is not something the Adver normally do. The Chair has contacted the Adver and they said often crime stories come direct from Police information and are reported as said. On a positive note, the Adver have run 2 good news stories about this area in the last couple of days.
It has been reported that some users of the Breakfast Club are using some of the back alleyways in the vicinity of St. Luke’s as a toilet, this is not just urinating either. It is hard to understand why this is happening, because the Breakfast Club has toilet facilities on site.
There is to be a ‘Safe and Clean’ day later in the year, it will however be shared with the Railway Village. It was felt by the meeting that this area needs a clear up of its own, especially the County Ground which is in a terrible state.
An email have been received from Ishmael Stevens, got married on the 13th December and is working long hours, only seeing his family on his days off. He hopes to visit Swindon in June and sends his love to all. Grace Walker has spoken to Karen C. and said she has settled in very well in Spain, she says she has not got a donkey yet, but she is happy relaxing and sipping cocktails in the sun! She would be very pleased if people would write to her.
Next month, Planning Enforcement will be attending this meeting. They have requested for any enforcement issues to be passed to them before the meeting, so they have the right paperwork with them, to answer the questions.
Councillor Montaut has booked a room at the Civic Offices for this Friday morning, so the Tasking Group and members of the Mosque can discuss the Friday parking problems. The Councillor said that since booking the room, he has been having problems with holding the meeting on a Friday, because the Muslims go to prayer on that day and it is inappropriate to hold it then. The Chair pointed out that at the Tasking meeting, Councillor Ali, PC Sheikh and the Manchester Road Mosque representative all said Friday morning was a good time.
YOUTH REPORT: Doug Imrie: Over the next few Wednesdays Doug is hoping to do some sports with the youngsters and also to arrange some football matches between older youths and possibly the Fire Brigade and Police etc.
Lindsay Poole: Over the past month, young people who attend Skeetz youth club on a Wednesday evening have been engaging in an art project alongside No Added Sugar community artists. Young people have been working hard to create self-portraits and have had the opportunity to work with Sid who is a young Asian artist who has been coming over from Bristol to assist with the project. We have another 2 evenings with No Added Sugar to finish the pieces and then hope to encourage a few of the young people to come in on Saturday 28th March to create some group pieces which we hope could be auctioned or raffled off at the Community Cohesion Day to raise money for the Skeetz youth club.
Numbers at Skeetz are still really good with around 30 young people attending each session - from a broad ethnic mix including young people originally from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Poland, Afghanistan and Lithuania - which promotes some interesting discussions about different languages and cultures.
One of the young people is now attending the Duke of Edinburgh Open Award centre on a Monday night at Plus One Centre and is progressing well. We are still trying to encourage the young people to get involved in other Youth Work activities in other areas, such as football tournaments, pool comps and gym sessions.... but this is proving quite difficult as they are very attached to their area and don't seem too keen to venture out and mix with other young people. So this is something we shall be addressing in the next few months as well as helping them to identify and apply for funding for future projects.
For more information about Skeetz or youth work in Central south area, please contact Lindsay Poole (Youth Development Worker) mob: 07919 111539 or lpoole@swindon.gov.uk
COMMUNITY PLAN: The steering group, a sub-committee of the BSACC that includes a representative from the BOND – Kay Malko and Councillor Montaut as the Council representative, has met for the first time and agreed to drive the plan forward. It is the aim to produce a 16 to 20 page plan, available for the Borough to see in October. There are 2 areas of immediate action, the Adver and the ‘20 is Plenty’ campaign, which is being headed up by Derek and Madge Sutton. It is hoped to persuade the council to trial 20 mph for all roads in this area. It is also important to engage with the New Swindon Company, Kevin has agreed to represent the Steering Committee, Pam and Ros the BSACC and Karen L the Tasking Group.
With regards to the ’20 is Plenty’ campaign, Cllr. Montaut said he was charged with raising this issue within the Council and has been having ongoing discussions with traffic engineers and they say that it is not as simple as adopting a scheme that’s been used in other areas because a 20mph zone is not enforceable by the Police, they have problems with 30mph, so by enforcing 20 mph by having Police Officers there will not happen. One way to have 20mph zones is through traffic calming. They can have a 20mph zone by putting up a sign with it on; they are talking about piloting this in a residential area, but not Broadgreen. Through his discussions thanks to the interest we have shown in this, at least they can start a pilot scheme in one of the areas. The side roads will be easy to enforce because great speeds would not be built up, it’s the main highways like Broad St. or Manchester Rd, so it is being discussed and considered at a higher level.
NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH REPORT: There are still problems with the Breakfast Club, with drinking outside and cans etc littering the path, there has been no improvement since the last time. It was pointed out that the opportunity was given at the tasking meeting for the problems to be put directly to the organisations involved, but they were told it had improved and there was no problem. Cycling on paths and cars parking in the alleyways are also continuing. Despite this area having a DPPO, a resident is purchasing alcohol and drinking it with friends in the Broadgreen Centre park, they are getting drunk and abusing people, and then leaving the empty bottles behind. The DPPO sign by the park has been spray painted over, but the PCSO’s would like to see more DPPO signs in the area.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Councillor Montaut talked about the Council Budget and the issues around saving services like the libraries, Park and Ride and the cut in Community grants etc. He feels that these things could be saved through other savings. There is also a figure of £429,000 that has fallen into the Councils pot from Government, it is for Authorities that have made certain financial achievements after their budgets have been delivered, but we are told it is a one off payout and cannot be used to subsidise services, but Councillor Montaut does not agree this is the right way to look at it.
B.O.N.D: The BOND put on a multi-cultural event on the 28th February; Nazma thanked Karen L, Pam, Kate and Rebecca for all of their help on the day.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Can there be another public toilet in the Town Centre, because the alleyway behind the Open Hands Fellowship is being constantly used as a toilet. This was passed over to Cllr. Montaut who said that it is likely that toilets will continue to be shut, with people having to rely on traders opening their toilets for public use.
The Chair thanked Karen Coulthard for going around with the Residents Parking petition.
Date of next meeting: Wednesday 01 April 2009 Meeting closed at 9.20pm.
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