PRESENT: Chair Karen Leakey, Vice-Chair Pam Freegard, Secretary and Archivist Kevin Leakey, Treasurer John Phillips, Muhammad Chaudhry, John Clark, Kate Johnson, Alan Jones, Kay Malko, Cluniford Mason, Rebecca McIntosh, Beryl Phillips, Val Purvis, Ros Timlin.
ALSO PRESENT: Tim French and Kathryn, Councillor Montaut, NPT Sergeant Diffin.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Vi Clark, John Freegard, Evelyn Mason, William Murray, Madge Sutton Mark Walker – SBC.
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES: – 02 March 2011 meeting. These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed by Beryl Phillips and seconded by John Phillips.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MARCH 2011 MINUTES: May will be our AGM and the secretary handed out committee nomination forms and posters to advertise the meeting and informed the meeting that copies of the form and poster could be downloaded on the BSACC website or were available from the Chair and Secretary. Following the report in the Adver about the Broadgreen Area becoming a rat run when Whalebridge roundabout was removed, MP Robert Buckland contacted the Chair and met to discuss the problems.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Cllr. Montaut.
Whalebridge roundabout/ Union Square – The public meeting raised many issues, the points would be evaluated and it would be best to set up a small group of councillors and Broadgreen residents to look closer at the issues.
The bus garage area could be grassed over on a temporary basis, to give a kick about area and make it look tidier.
Questions asked: Will the Health Centre be moving as it has been said that a lot of money has been spent on the current building? – Central Govt. are re-looking at health issues and there may be no health centre at all.
The rowan tree at the end of Medgbury Road was planted in memory of a former BSACC member; will it be removed when Whalebridge altered? – Cllr. Montaut did not know, but the Secretary said that according to the plans, the bit of green would not be touched, and it seemed the intention was to also retain the London plane tree adjacent to the rowan.
Why has the south end of Ponting Street been re-surfaced for a second time in a year? – Cllr. Montaut did not know.
Shrivenham Road/Marsh Farm Lane – There have been football match day parking problems the Club are looking into it, including opening up the Groundwell Park and Ride and marshalling it themselves.
Rubbish and fly tipping – it was reported to Cllr. Montaut that rubbish in the alleys had been increasing again and rats were being seen and he was also asked why we were being told education was the way to sort out the problems, but the majority of residents didn’t do the tipping and action was needed against those that did. – The cameras would be able to pick up the people doing the tipping and with SBC installing the first stage of equipment to generate electricity from rubbish they would be looking for more to burn, even considering digging up old tips. The Chair said the problem was that most of the dumping was in the alleys, where the cameras could not see. Sgt. Diffin added that SBC did not have many Enforcement Officers but they were looking to use the Parking Enforcement Officers to carry out other duties and suggested we take up the offer to visit the CCTV control room to see exactly what the cameras could view.
106 money – Cllr. Montaut was asked why, according to a report in the Adver, 106 monies were for the areas in which they were generated it did it not happen here despite £3.1m being generated in Central over the last 5 years – It was Officers who divided up the money and Councillors did not have an input. It should be up to councillors and communities to decide so it was up to residents to residents to go after it.
A number of residents also brought to the attention of Cllr. Montaut that cars and vans are still parking on the path in Manchester Road and in alleys.
8.00 pm: Cllr. Montaut left the meeting
GUEST SPEAKER: Simon Lawrence, Union Square Consultation team – Mr Lawrence did not turn up.
CORRESPONDENCE: Kevin Leakey
Received – Notification that the Council’s Core Strategy is now out for consultation
The work on installing temporary alternative crossing points at Whalebridge could begin next week. Once this is complete then work infilling the subways will commence. (This work is likely to be post 14th of April)
Planning – S/11/0331 - 126 Manchester Road SN1 2AF - Change of use from dwelling/ shop (class C3/ A1) to club/ shop (sui generis/ A1) - Application Pending Consideration - Case Officer, Mr Tom Buxton.
This will be a Turkish workingmen’s club open between 9.00am and 3.00am Monday to Sunday. It has also been detailed that only soft drinks will be available (no alcohol or food), will be for members only and there will be no music.
S/11/0387 - 117 Manchester Road SN1 2AF - Conversion of first floor to 1 no. flat and erection of first floor and single storey rear extensions - Application Pending Consideration - Case Officer, Mr Rob O’Carroll.
S/LDP/11/0413 - Whalebridge Roundabout (Including Part Of Fleming Way, Corporation Street, Princes Street & Gordon Road) Fleming Way - Certificate of lawful development for proposed works to the highway -Application Pending Determination - Case Officer, Miss Helen McCabe.
This is just to confirm that planning permission is not required, as Highways have already said it is ok to carry out the work.
S/10/0651 – Mosque - 136 - 139 Manchester Road SN1 2AF - Erection of two storey/first floor rear extension including a dome and minaret features - Application Granted, Committee decision – Case Officer – Mr Tom Buxton
The 106 agreements for the provision of parking have been agreed – where the parking places have been provided is unclear.
TREASURERS REPORT: John Phillips
Proposed by Pam Freegard and Seconded by Val Purvis.
The Treasurer reported that we still hold £122 credit with the printers of our community plan and also requested that the £1000 gardening fund be moved into the working capital. As there was some doubt about the future of the Broadgreen Centre, with the possibility of it being turned in to a school, it was agreed by the meeting to do this.
NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE TEAM REPORT: NPT Sergeant Diffin
The new Swindon Town Centre NPT is up and running and has 4 beats, Broadgreen being one of them. Crime figures are extremely low across the whole sector. There have been some problems with issuing fixed penalty parking tickets and the CPS not prosecuting, resulting in it being stopped temporarily, one answer would be more double yellow lines.
STFC are looking at ways to reduce parking problems in the Shrivenham Road area on match days, they intend to carry out an education period with fans, telling them where they can and cannot park, following that the Police will then take a look at the illegal parking situation.
3 priorities -
Anti-social behaviour: ASB orders are being applied for against some of the street drinkers; this covers the whole Central area.
Speeding: this covers the whole Central area.
Fly tipping: Litter, fly tipping and dog fouling issues come up in most parts of Central; fly tipping being a particular problem in areas with back alleys.
It was reported that a dog had been worrying young people at the Broadgreen games area and had been filmed running around in the children’s play area. Sgt. Diffin said that dogs only had to be kept under control and there were no bi-laws to stop dogs going in to parks, but he would chase up the dog warden about this.
The Chair asked what would happen to the vehicles that parked on Manchester Road to visit shops and unload, once it became a main route when Corporation Street was closed? Sgt. Diffin said we would have to see what the volume of traffic would be so he would contact the traffic department to make enquiries.
8.50 pm: Sgt. Diffin left the meeting.
CHAIR REPORT: Salisbury Street resident Gordon Timms had a meeting on Monday with MP Robert Buckland and Richard Fisher from SBC concerning the rubbish being dumped around the area, the Chair was invited but was unable to attend due to short notice of the meeting.
We need to look at our funding for the future.
William the part time youth worker at Skeetz has been made redundant by SBC, he had worked at Skeetz for 20 plus years and was highly respected by the young people and will be a great loss to this community. The BSACC gave him a thank you certificate for all the hard work he had put in over many years.
The Chair is looking into joining the national ‘20’s Plenty’ campaign.
The group set up between the Community, STFC and Tesco has stalled lately, with STFC wanting to take the lead on things. Tesco had been allowing people to pay a fee and use their car park on match days, but they have had to withdraw the scheme due to unforeseen problems.
BROADGREEN HISTORY PROJECT: Following investigations last year, that showed the coat of arms that was on the bus garage wall in Corporation St. had been destroyed, it seems that at the time of demolition, the following report was in the Adver “Today, the crest is in safe storage ready to be used in a future part of the town's re-development, although a decision about its future use has not yet been decided.
Carol Heneghan, of the New Swindon Company, said: "The plaque was removed without any problems and is now in safe storage ready to be used in a future part of any new developments." This will need to be looked in to further.
The road sign in Fleming Way, denoting the upcoming Spring Gardens and Whalebridge roundabouts was replaced last year and no longer carries the name Whalebridge. With the roundabout due to disappear, Kevin was concerned that the name would disappear with it. Following a talk with Robert Buckland MP and Gwillam Lloyd (transport) about this it is understood that the new junction will still be known as Whalebridge and will feature on all the advance directional road signage.
The old Sanford Street School buildings are shortly going to be vacated by the Education Dept. and it would seem it is in line for demolition as part of the town centre regeneration. It is not a listed building but it must be worth at least saving the frontage if nothing else, there is a lot of history attached to it and it is the oldest school left in the centre of Swindon.
SHRIVENHAM ROAD REPORT: The brambles overgrowing Stratton Bank at the County Ground still need cutting back.
NEIGHBOURHOOD/STREET WATCH REPORT: Nothing to report.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Copies of the updated constitution were handed out, it will also available to download on our website. It was agreed that on occasions other members of the Committee would Chair a meeting to gain experience in it. Ros will be Chairing the July meeting.
Meeting closed at 9.30pm.
