PRESENT: Chair Karen Leakey, Vice-Chair Pam Freegard, Secretary and Archivist Kevin Leakey, Treasurer John Freegard, Vice-Treasurer Madge Sutton, Muhammad Chaudhry, John and Vi Clark, Paul Izquierdo, Kate Johnson, Kay Malko, Cluniford Mason, Rebecca McIntosh, Ros Timlin, Bob Walter
ALSO PRESENT: PCSO Turner, PCSO Bristow, Frances Barrone -SBC, Tim French, Kathryn Hawke
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Alan Jones, Evelyn Mason, William Murray, PC Diffin, Mark Walker SBC, councillor J Wright
CONFIRMATION OF THE NOTES: 01 August 2012 drop in. The notes were confirmed as a true record.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE AUGUST 2012 NOTES: None
NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE TEAM REPORT: PC Diffin was transferring to the Town Centre nighttime economy team, and interviews were taking place to find a new Beat Manager for the Broadgreen and Shrivenham Road areas.
Problems in the Shrivenham Road alley concerning ASB and drug problems – Residents have been spoken to and the Police would make sure this area was regularly patrolled.
It was asked:
– If the Manchester Road bus shelter was going to be removed due to problems with street drinkers congregating there? It was felt that rather than removing the shelter, because many residents used it to shelter from bad weather while waiting for busses, the problem should be tackled and removed.
– Whether the street drinkers that were being removed from the Town Centre and given ASBO’s would congregate in the Broadgreen Area instead, and if they did, would the Police have the resources to stop it?
PCSO Bristow said he would find out about the bus shelter, and with regards to the street drinkers, the ASBO’s would say where they couldn’t go and if they were found in those areas, they would be arrested and sent back to court, the Police would also be able to remove them from Broadgreen.
CORRESPONDENCE:
Sent – reported to SBC:
66 Manchester Road - advertising slot machines and a bar.
64 Manchester Road - alcohol is being sold from this shop/café.
Received –
Acknowledgment from Mark Walker re 66 and 64 Manchester Road – pass issues to relevant colleagues.
Acknowledgment from planning enforcement re 66 Manchester Road – designated as priority 3, will endeavour to keep us informed of the progress, when concluded will inform us of the final outcome of the investigations, negotiations or enforcement action.
Community Planning Forum – agenda for forthcoming meeting to be held on 13 September 2012 at 6.30pm – committee room 1
Charity Commission News
PLANNING
S/12/1139 - 49 Manchester Road SN1 2AG - Change of use from retail (Class A1) to Hot Food Takeaway (Class A5) and installation of external flue to rear - Application Pending Consideration - Case Officer – Mr Tom Buxton
S/12/1125 - 107 County Road SN1 2EE - Change of use of 1 dwelling to 5 flats - Application pending consideration - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
S/12/0945 - Tesco Superstore Ocotal Way SN1 2EH - Erection of a canopy and associated works - Application granted - Case Officer – Mr Tom Buxton
S/12/0894 - 48 Manchester Road SN1 2AG - Change of use from shop (Class A1) to restaurant / cafe (Class A3) - Application refused - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
S/ADV/12/1027 - Transfer Bridges County Road - Display of 4 signs on grass verge of roundabout (Retrospective) - Application granted - Case Officer – Mr Roland Billington
Town Centre Masterplan is out for consultation
There was an exhibition at the Central Library between now and Fri 5th October. The main concern to the Broadgreen Area was the possibility of ‘reclaiming’ the grass area between the County Ground car park and the Magic Roundabout for a commercial building, and the idea of building houses on the old council depot at the back of the cricket pavilion, which is currently being considered as a possible site for the new school.
TREASURERS REPORT - to 05 September 2012: John Freegard
Proposed by Madge Sutton and Seconded by Cluniford Mason
CHAIR REPORT: Karen Leakey – A small number of the Community Council Committee were able to travel to Manchester with the young people who qualified for the national finals of the Street Athletics. The young people did Swindon proud, with the team finishing 7th out of 11 teams, which was a fantastic achievement as most of the other teams above Swindon had been well supported by their local borough councils and benefited from plenty of opportunities to access coaching and practice facilities. Most importantly, from our perspective, barriers between the different cultures and generations were broken down and all had a great day. SBC Coaching Co-ordinator Doug Imrie did a great job with organising the day and was ably supported by Lindsay Colsell from Youth First based in the Parks.
It would seem that the future of SBC’s ‘Challenge Swindon Team’ might be substantially cut in December. As this is the team Doug worked for, it was agreed that the Community Council would give any support that might be needed to help maintain the incredible amount of work Doug had undertaken for the young people of Broadgreen over the last decade.
The Vice-chair said she felt it was time SBC gave more support and took more of an interest in the young people of Swindon.
HISTORY REPORT: Kevin Leakey
Images, maps and written documents connected with the ‘Wiltshire County Ground’ were displayed at the August drop in and Bob Walter brought along a number of brilliant personal images connected with the Broadgreen and Queenstown area.
Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee
No information about the 1897 Jubilee arch in County Road has been found yet, the Adver dedicated 2 pages to the national celebrations in London but they covered very little about local celebrations. However, Adver reports did record that over 130 residents and organisations subscribed to pay for celebrations, raising over £1800 and the Council were planning Sports at the County Ground and tea in the GWR Park for 9000 children.
Was Colbourne Street misnamed? Named after local builder Arthur J Colborne who had his yard in County Road, research in census returns showed his surname varied between Colborn, Colborne and Colbourne but the majority of entries were recorded as Colborne.
The Colborne family moved to Stratton from Somerset sometime between 1871 and 1881 and A J Colborne was recorded as living in Newport Street, Old Town by the 1901 census. More research will be carried out on this family.
Kevin attended the Swindon and District History Network at the Library on 6 Aug.
Darryl Moody, who was going to be the new Local Studies Lead at the Library, chaired the meeting and introduced the idea of the network producing a newsletter with different historical group contacts on one side and on the other having information on forthcoming events, exhibitions etc, available through groups and libraries.
The idea was well received, although Daniel Rose of the Mechanics Trust felt it would only reach a limited section of the public and that the use of websites and other web-based media would be more productive in raising awareness of the societies within the network.
There was also a Heritage Coalition meeting on the 29th August at the Mechanics’ Trust new offices in Milton Road. Kevin couldn’t attend; apologies were sent.
SHRIVENHAM ROAD REPORT: The overgrown bushes in the alley had been cut back but the roots had not been removed. Nothing had been done about the overgrown brambles at the back of the County Ground.
FRANCES BARRONE – SBC CENTRAL LOCALITY: they had been talking to as many people as they could and now had a drop-in every Monday between 10.00am and midday in the Central Library.
Speeding and parking had been identified as an issue in Broadgreen and information gathered would be collated at the end of September.
It was hoped to improve the community garden area around the children’s centre at the Broadgreen Centre, although exactly which sections of ground was not known.
The next locality meeting would be on the 10th September, 6pm at Robert Le Kyng School.
It was asked if SBC would take full responsibility of the Streets for Living area once the project was finally closed in December? Frances did not know.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: A traffic warden was seen working in the area on a Sunday, it was asked if there were now more wardens?
SBC recently removed fly tipping from the back alleys of Manchester Road.
Back alleys were being used as toilets again.
A skip had been on the path in Elmina Road for the last 3 weeks.
Meeting closed at 8.00pm.
