ALSO PRESENT: Councillor Derique Montaut, NPT Sergeant McCoy, PC Diffin, , Mark Walker SBC, Tim French
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Treasurer John Phillips, Alan Jones, Susan Kane, Kay Malko, Beryl Phillips
CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES: 01 February 2012 meeting. These Minutes were confirmed and signed a true record. Proposed by Pam Freegard and seconded by Val Purvis
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE FEBRUARY 2012 MINUTES: None
WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT: Councillor Derique Montaut reported on the following:
Budget cuts, money set aside for 20mph zones and the closing of the Swindon Racial Equality Council.
A new school for Central – The most popular site so far seemed to be at the County Ground, this was probably the best site because it could be expanded to a 420-place school.
The Chair said that although the Broadgreen site plan showed a community centre, there was only a budget to build a school and currently no finance to build a community centre, so if Broadgreen was the chosen site, we could end up with no community facilities. The meeting also raised other objections to a school on the Broadgreen site.
Whalebridge junction – phase one was completed but Cllr. Montaut thought there were three more phases to come, including road resurfacing, but he didn’t know what the other phases were.
This was the last meeting Derique would be attending and the Community Council presented him with a thank you certificate for the work he had done for Broadgreen over the last 5 years. Derique said it had been an honour and privilege to have served Central and thanked the Community Council for the work we had done during his time here, he had thoroughly enjoyed attending our meetings and hoped to keep in touch in the future.
NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE TEAM REPORT:
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· PC Diffin reported that most crime was on the way down, although vehicle crime was up slightly.
- · There had been a problem from the travelling fraternity, a family had been evicted from a property in North Swindon, but had managed to rent a house in Rosebery Street. It had been reported that they were keeping a horse in the garden and another in the house, although the horses were eventually found near Shrivenham Road. The RSPCA were involved with this case. A resident said there was always rubbish outside the property and there had recently been burning of allsorts of rubbish in the back garden. The Police said it was important to report these problems as these issues could be used to evict them.
- · During the last month, one person had been evicted and four were awaiting eviction.
- · Prostitution – The multi agency work was progressing. There were 4 to 5 prostitutes that were really active. Enforcement against consistent prostitutes would continue but the main
target would be the kerb crawlers, many of whom lived outside of Swindon. It was asked if there was sufficient money to police the problem in the summer, when the problems generally increased – PC Diffin said it was down to the budget but shifts were being adjusted to get more Officers in the area.
- · Sergeant McCoy reported that the total crime was 27% down and 50% of reported crime was being detected
Questions asked –
Was there still a bail hostel in Rosebery Street? – Yes. It was mostly for people just out of prison and for people needing a tagging address. Clearspring still ran it and they had to notify the police about the people being put in there, and also monitor the property and residents daily.
There was a problem with abusive street drinkers at the bus station, could CCTV be put in? – The police were working with the bus company that owned the bus station, but they had to be careful not to displace the drinkers to other areas. There was currently an operation between the police and the community safety partnership and it was hoped the outcome would be ASB orders.
8.35 pm: Sergeant McCoy and PC Diffin left the meeting
Mark Walker – SBC Central Locality Lead:
- · The CCTV cameras were now fully connected to the central control room at Waterside Park and the offer to visit was still open to the community council. Where the cameras were sited, it had helped with safety and there had been a significant reduction in crime. SCS reported that fly tipping was also down in those areas although there were no figures as to the drop in tonnage.
- · Schools had been visited to talk about recycling and disposal of rubbish and a discussion had taken place at the Landlord Forum as landlords were responsible for providing adequate bins and making sure their tenants knew how to recycle and dispose of rubbish correctly.
- · Shops needed to have a waste licence to dispose of rubbish. This was to be investigated to check if shops had the correct licence.
- · Broadgreen still had twice the amount of money spent on fly tipping than any other Ward in Swindon.
- · Following the consultations about a new school in Central, all the feedback would be looked at. The closing date for the consultation was the 25th March 2012.
- · A number of problems were discussed and the Secretary agreed to forward them to Mark.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Received – Resignation letters from John Phillips the Treasurer and Beryl Phillips, Committee Member. Minutes from the September 2011 Community Planning Forum.
PLANNING – S/11/1723 - Rage hairdressers, 125 Manchester Road SN1 2AF - Change of use from workshop to rear to hair dressing salon (Class A1) - Application granted - Case Officer – Mr Rob O’Carroll -
S/12/0125 - Budget Bikes, 148-149 Manchester Road SN1 1TU - Change of use from car hifi shop (Sextons) to motorcycle show room and insertion of new windows - Application pending consideration - Case Officer – Miss Heather Carlisle
S/ADV/12/0238 - 148-149 Manchester Road SN1 1TU - Display of various signage - Advertisement Consent - Application pending consideration - Case Officer – Miss Heather Carlisle
S/12/0233 - 23 Manchester Road SN1 2AB - Change of use of part of ground floor to Class A2 (Financial and Professional Services) and installation of shopfront (turn into a unit for cash conversion) - Application pending consideration - Case Officer – Mr Rob O’Carroll
TREASURERS REPORT - to 29 February 2012: John Phillips
Proposed by Muhammad Chaudhry and Seconded by John Freegard
CHAIR REPORT: Karen Leakey - There was no Chair report for this meeting
FUTURE OF THE BSACC :
Unfortunately despite the Chair, secretary and Treasurer giving notice that they would be stepping down at the AGM in May, no Committee Members offered to put themselves forward for the roles. Without people taking up those roles, the community council would fold, because of this the Chair and Secretary said they would carry on if no one stepped forward by the AGM, but would only be prepared to do so by cutting right back on the community work they carried out, they would not be attending any meetings that were not directly connected with Broadgreen and only then if it was convenient. There was no offer to fill the position of Treasurer, if no one stepped forward by the AGM, it would put the community council’s future in doubt.
It was agreed that after the June meeting, the BSACC meetings would be held bi-monthly. As the constitution stated that a minimum of 4 meetings needed to be held per year, we would not be in breach of it.
The Chair said people needed to seriously think about the future of the BSACC, which was looking rather bleak at the moment.
HISTORY REPORT: Kevin Leakey
On the 6th October the Library would be hosting another historical event, this time called ‘Made in Swindon’ based around the history of Swindon businesses
There was a Swindon Heritage Coalition meeting on the 6th March, but we couldn’t attend because it clashed with the school consultation here at Broadgreen. This meeting was to agree the aims, objectives and priorities of the coalition.
The Idea of this group was - To provide a forum for local heritage groups and organisations to come together, share good practice, raise concerns facing the sector and plan strategically in the interests of heritage in Swindon - looking out for Swindon’s built and cultural heritage.
SHRIVENHAM ROAD REPORT: Some large car tyres had been dumped in the alley but had not been reported yet.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: When the new school was built, it would be beneficial if some Broadgreen residents put themselves forward as School Governors.
It was reported that both the Catholic Diocese and the Muslim community were looking at bidding to run the school when it was opened.
The north end of Alfred had not been resurfaced, as the condition was not bad enough to warrant it.
Meeting closed at 9.40pm.
