PRESENT: Chair Karen Leakey, Secretary and Archivist Kevin Leakey, Treasurer John Phillips, Muhammad Chaudhry, John and Vi Clark, Axmed Ismail, Kate Johnson, Alan Jones, Kay Malko, Cluniford Mason, Rebecca McIntosh, Mr Murray, Beryl Phillips, Ros Timlin, Bob Wedge.
ALSO PRESENT: Tim French, Councillor Montaut, Mark Walker – SBC, PC Diffin, Adam Kula – Swindon Advertiser.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Vice-Chair Pam Freegard, John Freegard, Brian Jones, Kath Jones, Evelyn Mason, Val Purvis, Madge Sutton.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES: – 02 February 2011 meeting.
These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed by John Phillips and seconded by Kay Malko.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE FEBRUARY 2011 MINUTES: The Chair gave a big thank you to both Vice-Chair Pam for chairing the February meeting, and to Ros for taking down and printing the minutes.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Cllr. Montaut Informed the meeting about the possible impact of the council cuts.
106 monies from the Regent Circus college redevelopments – renegotiated to a lower amount of £600k – we could have a cut in this. – It was asked why other Wards seemed to keep 106 money for different projects within the Ward, which had been discussed at the Planning Forum - e.g. - former St Josephs School Community Contributions of £70,000 in 106 monies to be used for the benefit of Covingham and Nythe, when not long ago Central Councillors agreed that some £40,000 of Central Ward 106 money could go to benefit Old Town, and why our Councillors allowed this to happen when they should be chasing this money to benefit the Ward they are meant to represent i.e. Central? Cllr. Montaut explained that Councillors had little input about the distribution of 106 monies as it was Officers and Lead Members who decided where it went, for example he didn’t know about the £200-400k designated to replace the railings at the GWR Park until it had been sorted out.
New School for Central – There are a number of sites under consideration – Broadgreen Centre, back of the cricket pavilion and possibly somewhere in the Corporation Street Area. – Cllr. Montaut was questioned as to the reason for a new school when Drove was already expanding by some 200 plus places to cover the growth in school age children, why the Broadgreen Centre was being considered when it was the only community facility and green space in the area, would it be a faith school and why was it all being kept so secretive as this only caused concern and mistrust. and we were under the impression that the councils ‘Connecting People/Places’ was supposed to be about openness and working together? – Cllr. Montaut said he did not know enough about what was happening to tell us in-depth about the new school, no firm decisions had been made yet and suggested that we invite someone from the Education Dept. to attend a meeting. It would not be a faith school, but based on the recent birth rate in Central, Council Officers and the Education Dept. had decided that if there was not a new school, 400 plus young people would not have a school place in Central in the coming years.
Whalebridge roundabout – This was all put through at the last minute and Central Councillors did not know about it until the 31st January 2011, the funding agreement was then agreed at Cabinet on the 2nd February. This will affect the Broadgreen Area, Councillors could do nothing about it, so the local community would need to discuss the environmental impact on County and Manchester Roads. – A number of questions and concerns were raised – Why have Central Cllrs. not been concerned about the impact of extra traffic using Manchester Road before, the BSACC raised concerns about this when the closure of the west end of Fleming Way was put forward in the Central Area Action Plan (CAAP) 2 years ago? Will the ‘no right hand turn’ into Manchester Road from County Road be removed? Is there any truth that traffic will increase by 30% on County Road and what will the increase in traffic on Manchester Road be?
Cllr. Montaut gave the following answers – The councillors only had a short briefing about the new junction and they were very concerned about the wider impact of traffic flow outside of the Central Area. The CAAP was an outline plan for years ahead, but the critical thing was, councillors did not have the chance to discuss the plan for Whalebridge; therefore SBC had not gone through the proper process on this. The right hand turn into Manchester Road would be reinstated. The 30% increase in traffic on County Road was correct and was of some considerable concern, PC Diffin also agreed with this and Mark Walker (SBC) said that statistics from 2009 for the volume of traffic on County Road showed that around 1200 vehicles were using it at 8.00 am and a 30% increase would be a big impact on the road.
On the 17th March there will be a public Central Cluster meeting at the Broadgreen Centre to discuss the Whalebridge proposals – The Chair said that people were fed up with fighting things, in peoples minds something like the Whalebridge alterations were a done deal, so why bother. We constantly have to fight for our community, when we asked for 20 mph speed limits for the roads in Broadgreen we were told it would only happen if a child was killed, and if this area becomes a rat run this could very well happen. The Chair also requested that at the meeting on the 17th, it would be good to have the opportunity to discuss the CCTV proposals and also the new school.
It was suggested by one resident that if the traffic increased in the area by a significant amount then we should all apply for a council tax reduction.
Residents Parking – Cllr. Montaut was asked to explain the proposals to alter the scheme from council control to a residents run scheme, and what the Residents Parking Advisory Group (RPAG) was and who was on it? – A new scheme was under discussion, there was a need for it in some residents parking areas but not in all of them, it would be down to individual areas to decide for themselves. The RPAG was made up of Council Officers and Councillors to advise Cabinet, no residents were on it.
As Councillor Montaut was 70 years old recently, the meeting wished him a happy birthday.
NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE TEAM REPORT: Crime has gone down in Central and ASB was also down in Broadgreen by 47% due to the fact that an interim ASBO had been obtained against Abdi Muse, a Somali man who had been causing all sorts of problems in the area.
The Whalebridge underpass has been under observation by the Police due to drug dealing – 2 arrests have been made.
Street drinkers have been moving around the area, most of the drinkers do not live here, but buy their alcohol elsewhere and come to the town centre as a social thing. One resident reported that they were drinking again at the Corporation Street bus stop, PC Diffin said that he had only seen reports on the daily logs about problems with drinking and drugs at the bus station and not in Corporation Street, he said that it was really important to report any problems, then budgets could be justified to sort those problem out.
Tasking Group This was now covering the whole of the Central Area, as would the 3 priorities. It was hoped that a web page would be live on the 4th April and the minutes placed on there. Another NPT had set up a trial facebook page for their area, but PC Diffin was not sure about the structure of it or what benefits there might be for doing this in Central.
The Chair asked PC Diffin about the contents of a letter he had sent to planning, supporting a boxing club for the Muslim Youth Development in which he had said that there had been a dramatic decrease in ASB in the last 18 months and since the introduction of local activities the relationship between Police and youths had been greatly enhanced. She felt that it was offensive to the Broadgreen Area as there had not been much ASB for a long time, and the young people that actually live here may not have caused much of what had happened in the past. Another resident felt that any support by the Police should be offered to everyone, not just one particular group. – PC Diffin said that figures showed that ASB had decreased in the last 18 months and the boxing club was not just for the Muslim young people but for everyone to use. The Chair pointed out that that was exactly what we were told about the youth club at Drove School, and when we raised concerns that it would be for just one group of young people we were told we were wrong, but that was exactly what had happened there only one group of young people use it.
Ros reported to the meeting that there were good people living in Broadgreen, as the other day she had accidentally left her handbag on her wheelie bin but luckily some young boys knocked on her door to tell her.
GUEST SPEAKER: Mark Walker, SBC Town Centre Cluster Lead. The CCTV cameras had arrived and the locations under consideration for the best vantage points in to alleys with a power source were shown to the meeting - Jct. Manchester Rd and County Rd, Jct. Corporation St and Manchester Rd, rear alley way between Manchester Road and Lagos Street, plus another one further down this alleyway also on a column towards the Gooch St end and on a column on Fleming Way looking at rear alley way between Rosebery and Graham St. Mr Walker explained that it was very important that residents immediately reported anyone seen dumping rubbish as the camera operators could turn the cameras through 360° and zoom in on problems. (The telephone number is 01793 464703 and is available 24/7). Hopefully through education and the fact that CCTV was operating in the area, the fly tipping would be deterred.
Questions asked:
How long would the CCTV trials last? – If the problem disappeared, then the cameras would be moved to a different location.
Previously there had been problems with SBC prosecuting people because of the cost; therefore will the Council have the money available to prosecute people now? – There was an absolute commitment to prosecute offenders and high fines could be imposed. Thousands of pounds per year were spent on clearing up fly tipping and it caused residents a great deal of stress.
Only one camera appeared to be on the north side of Manchester Road, the PCSO’s had identified a problem in the Alfred Street alley, so would cameras be moved there eventually? – The cameras could be moved but they needed a power supply, at the moment they were being placed where environmental enforcement had identified a high concentration of dumping.
There was lots of rubbish in the alleys and on the back of properties, what would be happening to the fly tipping in the mean time? – The Council could not remove rubbish from people’s private property as they could be sued, however collecting fly tipping in the alleys would continue.
It was pointed out that wheelie bins were taken out of peoples front gardens to be emptied by the operators, so what was the difference?
Do SBC have any plans to collect food waste for recycling? – Cllr. Montaut said that all rubbish was worth money and a heating system made from rubbish was being looked in to, but food bins would be expensive and may not hold the food properly.
The Chair said that she had talked to lots of residents in the area about the introduction of CCTV cameras and the feedback was approximately a 50/50 split for and against by older residents, but many young people did not like the idea of being watched. One concern that kept coming up was the fact that having signs warning people about the cameras would give the impression that there was a lot of trouble in the Broadgreen Area, when that wasn’t the case. Karen also asked if a clean up of the area could be undertaken before the cameras came in, giving the area a clean plate to work from, If it would be possible to have a tiered charging system, depending on how many large items of rubbish people wanted SBC to take away and if some of the shops in the area could collect the charges, saving people from having to go to Watt Tyler House? – A clean up could be organised but sending rubbish to landfill cost £80 a ton, which was increasing all the time. Using shops to collect charges could be explored.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Sent – The updated Constitution was sent to Charities Commission.
Request sent to Doreen Gordon to see if she had removed her name as signatory from the Trust bank account.
Received – Confirmation from the Charities Commission that the constitution changes made at the special meeting were acceptable and our registered details had been updated as of 1st December 2010.
Apologies from PC McIntyre – she hoped to attend next months meeting for an update.
Simon Lawrence on behalf of Muse Developments, informed us that they were about to embark on the next step towards delivering the inspirational regeneration of Union Square and that the project team were committed to involve the local community in the regeneration of this vital part of the town centre. A public exhibition event to view the plans, discuss the proposals and have your say would be held on Friday 4th and Saturday 5th March, email – simon.Lawrence@localdialogue.com - www.unionsquare-swindon.com - view plans on Flickr (UnionSq-Swindon)
PLANNING – S/10/1961 - Unit 8, Transfer Bridge Industrial Estate, SN1 2EL - Change of use of 1st floor storage area to D2 (Leisure) - Application Granted, Delegated Decision - Case Officer, Miss Helen McCabe. This is a martial arts and boxing training area to be used by young people in the area – connected with the Muslim Youth Development Project.
TREASURERS REPORT:
Proposed by Ros Timlin and Seconded by Muhammad Chaudhry.
The Treasurer asked if he could write to the printing company that produced our Community Plan to see what credit we held with them. It was agreed. The room was now re-booked for the coming year, from 6pm to 10pm.
CHAIR REPORT: Our AGM should be held in May; Karen said that no one had offered to put themselves forward as Chair so she would continue in the role but was very concerned that she had been given feedback that some people did not want a Chair that challenged things. She said that people had to understand there was a need to fight for our area and challenge things and if we didn’t then people from outside of Broadgreen would decide what was happening instead. In order to challenge things backing was needed and if the general opinion was that people did not want a Chair that fought and challenged, then it might be time for someone else to step up. No offers to step up were forthcoming.
As part of their course work, 2 classes at St. Joseph’s School had been studying the work carried out by the BSACC and they put on a display to show their findings. Karen was invited to view their work and talk to the young people about the Broadgreen Area. Before they started looking at this area, many of them thought it was a bad place, but have now changed their minds and can see it is actually a good and friendly area. The Chair also took Cllr. Montaut along to see the display.
BROADGREEN HISTORY PROJECT: Last month Kevin did a half hour presentation about Broadgreen and Queenstown history to the Swindon Society – around 80 people attended and it was very successful.
SHRIVENHAM ROAD REPORT: A tree had been cut down at the back of the road – County Ground Extension. There had also been some fly tipping.
NEIGHBOURHOOD/STREET WATCH REPORT: Drinkers in the alleys have been leaving behind cans and bottles. People were still cycling on pavements.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: We are still hoping to visit the House of Commons this year. Vans have been unloaded on the zigzag lines at the crossing in Corporation Street, near to Carfax Street. The grocer shop in Corporation Street still had a sign up directing customers to park in Armstrong Street.
Ros gave advanced apologies for the AGM meeting in May, but said she wanted to carry on as a member of the Committee.
Meeting closed at 10.00pm.
