Community Garden

Street drinkers, have in recent years used this rather neglected corner of the Broadgreen Centre as a drinking haunt.

Unfortunately,as can be seen from these two pictures, they failed to see the need to dispose of their rubbish responsibly.

The area has even been used as a car park for the Children’s Centre. Pictured Below

Which is one of the reasons some residents thought that the removal of the bushes, bench and fence by Council workmen, on the 13th of October, was in fact for a new car park. Below.

Thankfully, it turned out that the work was simply the beginning of the promised Community Garden, the very last leg of the Streets For Living Project. Unfortunately, the Council failed to inform the residents that they were going to be making a start on it!

Initial works, 15 October 2008 below:

BROADLY SPEAKING OCTOBER 2008

Having seen major alterations to both Gladstone and Salisbury Streets through the Streets For Living project, the final stage of work started a few weeks back. This came as a bit of a surprise to some residents, who thought the removal of old bushes and the digging up of a neglected corner of the Broadgreen Centre signalled the beginnings of a new car park, upon land designated for a garden. After some frantic phone calls fears were allayed when it was discovered that it was in fact being transformed into the promised community garden. When completed the idea will not only be to give residents a pleasant area to relax and socialise, but also to become an ongoing gardening project for the whole of the Broadgreen community to be involved in.

Police recently spent 2 consecutive nights carrying out high visibility operations to clamp down on prostitutes and kerb crawlers who still feel it is acceptable to carry out their ‘business’ on certain roads in the Broadgreen Area. The impact that prostitution and kerb crawling has on the community is devastating and the appointment of a dedicated vice officer is a very welcome move.

Police also recently closed down a property in the area, which had constantly been troubled with drug activity and anti social behaviour. The house is due to be renovated by the landlord, so a close eye will be kept on this house to make sure it is not used again for these purposes before the work is undertaken.

Reports to the Community Council (BSACC) concerning dumped rubbish have slowed a little recently. A couple of months ago the BSACC organised a residents ‘clean up’ day and since then, although pockets of fly tipping are still occurring, it does not appear to be as bad.

Skeetz youth club has now re-opened having been closed for six weeks by the Youth Service. Skeetz opens on a Wednesday evening 6.45pm – 9.15 pm at the Broadgreen centre – all young people between the ages of 13 and 19 are welcome to come along.

The next monthly residents meetings are on 5th November 2008 and 3rd December at 7.30 pm in the lounge at the Broadgreen Centre. There is no charge to attend meetings, all residents in the Broadgreen area are automatic members and are invited to come along.

Regeneration at Union Square.

Way back in February 2005 the old Post Office building in Merton Street (which closed in October 2002) was demolished and the Adver hailed it as the start of regeneration in the town centre: HERE and believe it or not, the Police Station and bus garage hit the ground between January and April 2006, now over two and a half years ago.

Since then all we have seen is further demolition taking place, with Davis House being raised to the ground back in February.

No doubt we can look forward to the bus station, Carlton car park and the Health Centre going the same way in the not too distant future, as well. Unfortunately, anybody who may be hoping to see a vast array of new buildings quickly rising from the ashes on this site may be a little disappointed because if you read the New Swindon Company Chief Executive Peter James October update on his blog HERE you will see that he writes about Union Square as a:
very large scheme and will not be fully completed for at least 10 years as it will be built on a phased basis dependant on overall demand.

This regeneration lark certainly isn’t a quick operation is it!

Let’s hope when the new bricks are laid (or more likely concrete poured) it is of better quality/design and last far longer than the attempts to regenerate this area have been in the past. After all Davis House, the bus station and the car park, none of which were particularly inspiring in design, were only put up in the 1980’s and have not had a very long shelf life have they!

Wouldn’t it be nice if the now boarded up areas mentioned above were at least opened up and grassed over, albeit temporarily?
This is something a resident of Central Swindon posted some months back on the Talkswindon Forum to Councillor Phil Young whose responsibilities as a Cabinet Member include regeneration. Councillor Young said at the time it was something he was looking into, but it doesn’t seem to have moved on so far. HERE

MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 3rd SEPTEMBER 2008

PRESENT: Vice Chair and Treasurer Richard Coates, Secretary Kevin Leakey, Minute Secretary John Phillips, Maria Carchedi, John and Vi Clark, Stella Edwards, John and Pam Freegard, Tim French, Olive Hitchcock, Kate Johnson, Alan Jones, Rebecca McIntosh, Sue Osbaldstone, Val Purvis, Peter Thelwall, Ros Timlin.

ALSO PRESENT: John Taylor, Councillor Derique Montaut

Report on the Progress of the Broadgreen Community Plan

With thanks to Community Planner Holly Huber for this report.

On Saturday 27th September, Community Plan members met to look at Health and Well-being, both physical and mental, and why this is important for ourselves and the communities we live in. We had two guest speakers: Ann Mooney from SUNS, a charity promoting the rights and interests of people suffering from mental health illnesses. We also welcomed Cheryl Heynes from Lifestyles, (part-funded by the Primary [Health] Care Trust), who focus on increasing adult participation in activity or 'exercise', up to the recommended target of 30 minutes, 5 times a week.

They were both inspiring speakers. Those who were there said that they felt they now understand far more about mental health, (which can affect 1 in 6 adults at some point in their lives), and the knock-on effects that it can have on the lives of those around them. As well as being the Director of a charity, Ann Mooney is the first mental health patient in the UK to become the Chairwoman of a Mental Health Trust. This is by any measure an achievement, but even more remarkable for someone who very openly and honestly talks about her own situation: Ann has brain-damage, takes up to 50 pills a day, and still suffers from mental ill-health and a physical disability. The route to Ann's successful career was through becoming a volunteer, and Ann now has a very important - and paid - job which she loves.

Cheryl Heyne showed us all how easy, fun and social it can be to get involved in physical activities, whether this be walking, dancing, or swimming, or even just playing with a ball while sitting on your sofa watching TV! Any form of movement that gets you a little short of breath and a bit warmer, helps to build up strength, flexibility, mobility. Better health keeps you well in mind and body, and helps to prevent illness. You can also do 10 minutes of activity at a time, if that suits you better.

The aim of the day was to show how we all in our communities can use the Broadgreen Plan to promote better health, prevent ill-health, or reduce the inequalites in health experienced by people living in different areas. We can do this in two main ways. Firstly we can improve the environment and the factors which affect our health from outside. Secondly, we can take a lead in promoting good health for ourselves by ourselves by trying to meet the eating “five fruit & vegetables a day“ target, and taking some gentle form of exercise to built up our health to prevent, manage or reduce the impact of illnesses and conditions. Both of these aims are affected by the quality of environment around us, which is why the Plan can help support better health in Broadgreen.

The Community Plan Partnership meets again on the 15th October 2008 here, in the lounge at 6.30pm-7.30pm. All those who are interested in making a positive contribution to improving the area, and building up the strength of this community to see these changes through, or would just like to know a bit more about how they might be able to help will be most welcome. No one will be asked to do anything they don't feel comfortable with, and there are many different ways you can be part of the plan's success. We will start by forming small groups to tackle important issues like crime, traffic, litter, open space, local skills, and better activites or facilities for young people. Please join us if you want to be part of making a real difference to this area.

The next Community Plan Saturday event will be on Saturday 25th October from 10 -1pm, in the lounge at the Broadgreen Centre, when we will be looking at the local economy of Broadgreen. Jobs, training, skills, and opportunities affect the earnings of people living in this community. Improving the chances and income of people would alter the reputation of Broadgreen, begin to chip away at some of the discrimination people living in this area might suffer from those outside it. Beliefs about the area affects market 'confidence', which IN TURN can affect house prices, local shops and services, life chances, jobs and earnings, among other things. We will also be doing an exercise called "The Yellow Brick Road" on how to set up a Community Shop/ Cafe/ IT point, which will be enjoyable, and your ideas are important, and will be valued.

So that's Wednesday 15th October 6.30-7.30pm for the Community plan group meeting and Saturday 25th October 10-1pm for the Improve your Local Economy event. I hope you can join us. If you want more information please call Holly Huber on 01793 466415.