PRESENT: Chair Karen Leakey, Vice-Chair Pam Freegard, Secretary and Archivist Kevin Leakey, Treasurer John Phillips, John and Vi Clark, John Freegard, Paul Izquierdo, Kate Johnson, Alan Jones, Kay Malko, Cluniford Mason, Rebecca McIntosh, Beryl Phillips, Val Purvis, Madge Sutton, Ros Timlin, Roy Townsend
ALSO PRESENT: Mark Isaac STFC, Councillor Derique Montaut, PC Diffin, PC O’Mahony, Mark Walker SBC, Tim French, Kathryn Hawke
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Muhammad Chaudhry, Susan Kane, Evelyn Mason, William Murray
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES: – 03 August 2011 meeting. These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed by Val Purvis and seconded by John Freegard
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE AUGUST 2011 MINUTES A new drain cover was now in place in alley behind Broad Street.
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Councillor Montaut apologised for not being able to attend the August meeting and thanked everyone for the chocolates and kind words he had received.
There were still problems with fly tipping removal, mainly down to fewer staff at the borough, however if Members requested something to be cleared up it was done. The councillor reported about the council housing consultation and the ongoing wifi problems.
Next week there was a meeting between councillors and officers concerning Whalebridge, and a new school for Central, various options for the location of the school were under discussion and when the best site had been decided then community groups and residents would be consulted.
It was asked what locations were being looked at, Mark Walker answered by telling us that a feasibility study had taken place back in March and after further examination the locations that were looking good had been narrowed down from 4 or 5 to 3 or 4 and would be a school much like Drove, with around 100 children in each year. Unfortunately, despite both Cllr. Montaut and Mr. Walker being asked a number of times where the final 3 or 4 sites were located, the information was not forthcoming.
The Chair said that if the Broadgreen Centre was chosen only a few of the many residents she had talked to were not bothered, however the majority of people wanted it to remain as a community centre as it was the most used centre in Swindon. It was also pointed out that the opening of the centre by SBC meant that the old community centre in Broad Street that had been run by the Community Council had to close, and concerns were also raised that as it was in the middle of a residential area what traffic problems would it bring, especially if this area became a rat run when the Whalebridge works were complete.
8.25 pm: Councillor Montaut left the meeting.
GUEST SPEAKER: Mark Isaacs, STFC Stadium and Operations Manager – Mr. Isaacs was invited to the meeting following the disturbances the Broadgreen area suffered after the match against Oxford Utd. He explained that the club had worked very closely with the Police for a number of months before the match because of the known rivalry between supporters. To reduce the chance of disorder, the match was arranged for a Sunday, the start time moved to 1pm and the Merlin pub was designated for Oxford supporters so they could be contained in one place. There was a high Police presence on the day including mounted Officers; the club covered a large percentage of the considerable policing cost.
PC Diffin said that there was a small core of high-risk supporters from both sides wanting to cause trouble and they were known to the police, but at this match that number increased substantially. Normally there were around 60 known Swindon supporters in this group but it was estimated that this number increased to around 1000, so the police had to work hard to keep the supporters separate before and after the game. On the day there were 12 arrests and some slight disorder at the Merlin. 8 trains arrived carrying Oxford fans and the Commander in charge made the decision that the safest way to move the Oxford fans to and from the County Ground was via Fleming Way.
Questions and points raised: When there was match where trouble was likely after the game, could the away fans not be kept in the stadium longer afterwards, this might ensure the Swindon fans had properly dispersed? – There were pro’s and con’s to that, but it would be looked at in the future as part of a tactical plan.
Although the policing was deemed a success, as the police managed to keep the 2 sets of fans separate which stopped any violence kicking off, for the residents in Broadgreen it was not as we had to endure around quarter of an hour of anti-social behaviour as Swindon fans used the area as a cut through to try and get at the Oxford fans, which was highly unfair on residents. – There were tactical discussions about routes and the club had a responsibility to residents, they couldn’t condone people causing trouble but there would always be some effect when finding a safe passage to and from the railway station. The problems could have been a lot worse but the club felt the tactics used had been successful, but as it caused problems to residents, it was hoped that a reasonable solution could be found in the future.
One resident who attended the match said the Police did pretty well, but he was unable to get to his house for some considerable time afterwards as he was stuck in Drove Road and wondered why a Sunday was chosen rather than an evening game as there was no residents parking in place causing traffic problems and people could still hang around in the town afterwards. – It was felt that there would be a lot less disorder on a Sunday, because people would hang around for much longer on a Saturday knowing that if they were arrested on a Saturday they would not have to go to work the next day. With a 1pm kick off and a high concentration of police it took much of the heat out of the problems. They would look to work with residents for suitable routes to the County Ground.
The Secretary said that the majority of residents didn’t have a general problem with the club being located where it was, as it had been there long before anyone moved in, but obviously didn’t want to see problems between fans, spilling onto the residential streets.
What was happening with a new stadium rebuild and could something be done to remove the brambles at the back of Stratton Bank? – Redevelopment was still part of the clubs plans and part of any rebuild would include looking at transport issues, but at the moment the club had spent time and money to make the stadium look better for everyone and would work with residents to sort out the bramble problem and help improve the County Ground in general.
Mr Isaacs said he was happy to attend the Community Council meeting every month to help improve the problems and help built a stronger relationship with residents.
8.10 pm: Mr Isaacs left the meeting.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Sent – Reported, a missing drain cover – rear of Broad Street
Received – Notice that our annual return to the Charities Commissions was now due
A further reply from Cllr. Bluh re Broadgreen name:
If SBC start designating certain streets as belonging to a named area, then that data will be passed up via the National Gazetteer to Ordnance Survey. As the Broadgreen Area has never been properly defined, a simple way of doing so needs to be defined. There is a process to change street names that require support of two thirds of the Council Tax payers, but it might be too cumbersome for naming a district. Therefore Cllr. Bluh proposed to take a report to the Council’s Corporate Governance Review Working Party to see if a simpler process to show there was community support for a district name could be found. For example a modification of the petition scheme threshold to require 350 signatures or devolve it down to cluster forums.
PLANNING –
S/11/0835 - 24 Manchester Road SN1 2AB - Installation of a new shopfront - Application Granted Case Officer, Mr Tom Buxton
Enforcement issues -
126 Manchester Road - Alleged Unauthorised Change of Use - Residential (C3) to Club (D2). Erection of Satellite Dish, Installation of extractor vent.
98 Broad St - Alleged Unauthorised Development - Dormer Window.
TREASURERS REPORT, to 31 August 2011: John Phillips
Proposed by John Freegard and Seconded by Pam Freegard
The Treasurer reported that the £1,000 put aside for the community garden, had now been transferred into the petty cash.
NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE TEAM REPORT: Beat Manager, PC Diffin.
PC Diffin relayed the latest crime figures for Central to the meeting.
Broadgreen crime figures –
Burglaries – 4, criminal damage – 10, vehicle break-ins – 7, ASB – 4, total theft – 43 of which 40 were from Tesco.
Sergeant Lynch was now a custody Sergeant and the new Inspector was Keith Hewitt.
PC McIntyre was no longer the Vice Officer and the prostitution problems had now reverted back to the Police Team. Around 5 or 6 prostitutes were persistently working in the area, and 2 prostitutes lived locally but the Police were working with the Council to see what could be done.
The Police were now looking at a zero tolerance strategy, including targeting kerb crawlers and last week 5 arrests connected with prostitution were made, which was more than Operation Dobbin managed throughout last year.
The process of arrest had been speeded up and the prostitutes were being taken in and cautioned within 20 minutes, but one of the priorities being looked at was the legislation - this changed in recent years and the term ‘common prostitute’ no longer existed, instead if the prostitutes were caught loitering or soliciting and given a ‘prostitutes warning’ 2 or more times in a 3 month period, then their conduct would be deemed to be persistent and further action could be taken. Injunctions were being looked at to ban prostitutes from the area but help with drug addictions etc was still available to any prostitutes that wanted help. Kerb crawlers were also being targeted.
Now they had started to make arrests again, the problem could move onto other areas. – It was pointed out by a number of residents that in the past one of the Central Councillors had made it very clear that he wanted the problem to be contained where it was and didn’t want it displaced to Gorse Hill, which incidentally happened to be close to where he lived!
PC Diffin suggested that there might be some residents that could help gather evidence against not only prostitutes but also boyfriends/pimps and kerb crawlers, but it would have to be accurate to be used in court.
It was reported that people were cycling on the pavement and having no lights on at night and could it not be a priority. PC Diffin said that it had been targeted before and only one person had been caught, this problem seemed to be a cultural or generation issue which might require action with more cycling proficiency training.
9.00 pm: PC Diffin left the meeting.
CHAIR REPORT: Karen Leakey
We still needed to arrange a meeting concerning the rubbish problems. Mark Walker said that a meeting would be helpful as Halcro had already looked at the area and the next step was to talk to residents.
Having chased Father Leslie relentlessly over the past month, he and Doreen had now told the bank that they no longer wished to be signatories of the Broad St. Trust and that the account could be passed over to the BSACC. A meeting with the bank would shortly be arranged.
Skeetz may not be reopening following the summer break as the revamped youth service considered that the young people were not in a risk group, there was a general feeling from the meeting that Skeetz should continue.
HISTORY REPORT: Kevin Leakey
With regards to the future of Sanford Street School and its possible use as a museum, a reply had been received from Rod Bluh and Garry Perkins - Cllr. Bluh said that he had read and noted the comments, and forwarded them to Rob Richards Property Head of Property Services and Bernie Brannan Director Housing, Leisure, Libraries and Culture to investigate the suggestion, however there had been no reply from them. Cllr. Perkins said - Thank you for your recent letter regarding your idea to use Sanford House as a museum. As Cllr Bluh is currently away I will respond to your letter.
The Council is currently looking at reducing the number of town centre offices it has with the aim of vacating Sanford House, realistically this will take at least 18 months to achieve, therefore, at present no decision has been made about the future use of the building but all potential options will be considered.
Further info had been obtained from another source - Sanford House will be looked at as part of a wider Town Centre Framework where the town centre will be looked at in a bit more detail than the Central Area Action Plan does. Following the decision to decant officers from Sanford House questions will be asked about the buildings importance, its suitability for conversion, the longer-term direction for the area as a whole at Sanford Street and the redevelopment opportunity and options involving SBC and hopefully other landowners. These options may include demolition or integration as part of a wider scheme. There may also be temporary options in the mix because of the state of the market, which is making speculative redevelopment difficult to get off the ground.
So in short, no decisions have been taken about the future of the building yet but we will be looking into it over the next year.
It was asked if Sanford Street School was a listed building? - Unfortunately it never had been listed
The Friends of Radnor Street Cemetery were holding another open day on the 24th September. There would be 2 tours – 11am and 2pm places were limited, contact Frances Bevan on 01793 346514 or email francesbevan@hotmail.com
Kevin attended the Swindon and District History network on Monday evening, and discovered that the Adver had dropped all their local history contributors and instead were going to use their in-house journalists, who, with all due respect probably wouldn’t have the time or passion to research things in-depth. It also came out of the meeting that the museum in Old Town had lost contributions donated to the Swindon collection and developers etc had withheld passing on historical objects because of the concern about the safe keeping of them, it was felt this was not the blame of the staff or volunteers, but a lack of finance and backing from SBC over many years. It also transpired that Barbara Dixon who had been the curator for a number of years had now left the post but had only been an interim curator as her job was actually to do with the art collection.
SHRIVENHAM ROAD REPORT: Nothing to report.
NEIGHBOURHOOD/STREET WATCH REPORT: Nothing to report.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: Should we move the start of the meeting to 7pm so we can finish earlier? To be discussed next month.
Which route will the emergency services have to take to get along the bottom of town, when Fleming Way west of Whalebridge is turned into a bus route and there will be no right turn into Corporation Street? It was thought that blue light services would be able to use the bus lanes, but the Secretary would check with Chris Hitchings.
It was reported that as part of the railway station forecourt alterations, the direction of traffic along Gloucester Street had been reversed to allow taxis easier access to the station.
One resident was concerned that when he had contacted SBC about an environmental problem, the person he spoke to didn’t know what to do and directed him to take up the tackling of the issue with the Citizens Advice Centre, which didn’t seem an appropriate course of action.
It was agreed that we should go out for a Christmas meal again this year.
Meeting closed at 9.30pm.
