PRESENT: Chair Karen Leakey, Vice-Chair Pam Freegard, Secretary and Archivist Kevin Leakey, Treasurer John Freegard, Vice-Treasurer Madge Sutton, Muhammad Chaudhry, John Clark, Vi Clark, Kate Johnson, Kay Malko, Cluniford Mason, Evelyn Mason, Rebecca McIntosh, Ros Timlin, Bob Walter
ALSO PRESENT: PS McCoy, PS McLaughlin, Frances Barrone -SBC, Simon Evans – SBC, councillor J Wright, councillor B Wright, Tim French
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Paul Izquierdo, Alan Jones, William Murray, Mark Walker SBC,
CONFIRMATION OF THE NOTES: 03 October 2012 drop in. The notes were confirmed as a true record.
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE OCTOBER 2012 NOTES: None
NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE TEAM REPORT: PS McCoy
PS McCoy was being posted to Chippenham and introduced the new Town Centre Sergeant – newly promoted PS McLaughlin, who had transferred from Malmesbury, and also informed the meeting that a new beat manager, PC Luke Atkinson, would be starting at the end of the month.
Crime Statistics for September and comparisons to September 2011 were relayed to the meeting.
Sex workers (prostitutes) –Police were continuing to work with other agencies that helped them get off of the streets and drugs, but if the Sex workers (prostitutes) didn’t take the help and continued to work on the streets, then they would be arrested.
The Chair said people had had enough with hearing the same things over and over again and wanted the problem gone from the area. PS McCoy said it was a known red light area and there had to be a balance between enforcement and promoting a healthy lifestyle through agency help for the sex workers (prostitutes). PS McLaughlin said they would be concentrating and targeting kerb crawlers, moving and diverting them from the area, arresting them and using number plate recognition to identify them.
The Chair, on behalf of the Community Council, thanked PS McCoy for the time and effort he had put into the area, and wished him well in his new position.
COUNCILLOR’S REPORT: Councillor Julie Wright
Attended a coffee morning at Cockram Court. Councillors concerned about the state of the path outside the building and have asked for it to be inspected. The Secretary said this was a long-term problem and had been reported on more than one occasion over the last 6 years or so.
Had a meeting with Highways re road/parking changes zone J to F. A consultation with residents would take place In December.
Housing Benefit changes might affect some Broadgreen residents.
Some Community Centres could be given over for communities to run. The Broadgreen Centre would remain under SBC control as many different groups from across the borough used it.
The cooker/fume extraction unit at the Broadgreen Centre had failed a gas inspection test and had been out of use for 8 weeks. Repair or replacement was in the hands of a sub-contractor and Councillors were dealing with the problem. Both Rebecca McIntosh and Madge Sutton, who both helped at 2 different Lunch Clubs held at Broadgreen, said that this problem had serious consequences on users of the clubs and people were leaving.
Corporation Street – Issues with Vegland sign and A-Board outside Rendezvous restaurant were still being pursued.
Concerns were raised with Officers about the hot food van planning application on the George White car park, as it would impact on residents because of rubbish ASB and noise. A resident said they had spoken to a person connected with this application about the concerns and impact this would have on residents, but were told they just wanted to earn money and people from the area against the application were racist.
Rosebery/Gambia Street - Being used as a rat-run, somebody had noted that they had seen 100 cars in 20 minutes at 5pm.
Fly-tipping – There had been a proposal to Cabinet concerning the use of Euro bins for areas with this problem. It would mean communal bins that were emptied more frequently, however it would mean the loss of kerbside collections, except garden waste. A meeting with Richard Fisher was to be arranged to discuss this for the Broadgreen area, the Chair and Secretary were invited to attend if convenient.
The Chair asked what was being done to ensure the Circus would not be allowed to set up at the County Ground again? – If Westcott Rec. was unsuitable due to flooding in the future, the site by Queenstown car park, used for the Christmas Fair, was being looked at.
SIMON EVANS – SBC: Simon was an ASB Manager for the Council. He introduced 2 programs unique to Swindon that he felt residents needed to take on – Street Watch and Neighbourhood Justice Panels. Leaflets explaining the programs were distributed to the meeting.
Street Watch – Residents would be police checked and be part of a regulated and constituted group, trained to walk the streets in high vis. Jackets, reporting back to the Council and Police any issues or concerns they came across.
Neighbourhood Justice Panels – Members, made up of 2 or 3 trained residents and professional people, would sit on a panel to resolve ASB by bringing perpetrators and victims together to develop an acceptable behaviour contract.
Little enthusiasm was shown for either program from the meeting attendees.
CORRESPONDENCE: None
PLANNING
S/12/1336 - 23 Manchester Road SN1 2AB - Erection of a garage to rear - Application pending consideration - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
S/12/1509 - 14 Volta Road SN1 2BS - Erection of a single storey rear extension and detached garage rear - Application pending consideration - Case Officer - Miss Helen Cooper
S/12/1460 - 38 County Road SN1 2EW - Erection of a single storey rear extension – Application pending consideration - Case Officer -Miss Helen McCabe
S/TIME/12/1525 - Former Paragon Laundry Aylesbury Street - Extension of time to previous permission
S/LBC/09/1338 for partial demolition and erection of 118no. bedroom hotel and associated works - Extension of Time Limit - Application pending consideration - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
S/TIME/12/1519 - Former Paragon Laundry Aylesbury Street - Extension of time to previous permission
S/09/1335 for partial demolition and erection of 118no. bedroom hotel and associated works - Extension of Time Limit - Application pending consideration - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
S/12/1520 - Land Behind 1-8 Manchester Road SN1 2AB - Change of use of part of car park to site for hot food vending van - Application pending consideration - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
S/12/1512 - 2 Aylesbury House Aylesbury Street SN1 1AE - Change of use of existing building from residential flats (C3) to serviced rooms (Sui Generis), installation of PV solar panels on roof and canopy over main entrance - Application pending consideration - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
There were concerns that if this application were approved, it would be ideal as a bail hostel.
S/ADV/12/1257 - Advertisement Consent - Workshop To The Rear Of 1 - 8 Manchester Road SN1 2AB - Display of 6no. fascia signs, 1no. free standing sign and 1no. directional sign (Retrospective) - Split Decision for Advertisement Consent - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
S/12/1125 - 107 County Road SN1 2EE - Change of use of 1no. dwelling to 5no. flats - Application refused - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
S/12/0894 - 48 Manchester Road SN1 2AG - Change of use from shop (Class A1) to restaurant / cafe (Class A3) – an appeal has been made to the Planning Inspectorate and will be decided at a hearing
TREASURERS REPORT - to 07 November 2012: John Freegard
Proposed by Madge Sutton and Seconded by Pam Freegard
CHAIR REPORT: Karen Leakey –
There had been an ever-increasing stream of complaints and concerns, not only at Community Council meetings, but also from many other residents in the area about the state of Manchester Road and how it reflected on the whole area.
The following problems were highlighted –
Rubbish, fly-tipping, litter.
Shops displaying food goods on pavements, not healthy next to the traffic and it looked untidy.
Shops not taking responsibility for the waste and recycling produced from their businesses – rubbish and cardboard overflowing from bins onto the pavement.
Gangs of men hanging around on the pavements.
Shops opening far later than they had permission for.
Little Vegas – slot machines, gambling and alcohol. No permission or licence.
Cars, and vans were continually being parked on the pavements and double-yellow lines, with no apparent enforcement being undertaken.
Alleys constantly being used as a free car park.
Prostitutes blatantly on view looking for business every night .
Prostitutes working from a shop.
Despite different problems being reported to SBC/Police, enforcement non-existent.
PS McCoy stated that if there were wilful obstructions then they would look at each case on its merits. Parking on D/Y/lines – vehicle owners had 5 minutes grace before any tickets could be issued, and people played the system. Delivery vans were allowed 20 minutes unloading. Pro-active patrols could be the answer, and he would look into having the CCTV van in the area.
Councillor B Wright offered to bring along details of the number of visits to the area and tickets issued by specific officers, to the next meeting.
The Chair suggested it might be time to start a campaign to clean up Manchester Road, because while it was supposed to be a local centre for shops, it was actually used by many people from across Swindon and it seemed to have been forgotten that a large amount of residents were still living there and they were entitled to a decent quality of life as well as everyone else.
It was also felt that the authorities were afraid to tackle the problems because of fears about upsetting the diverse community. One suggestion was to ask SBC for a reduction in Council Tax.
HISTORY REPORT: Kevin Leakey
At the October drop-in 2 subjects were displayed -
1 - Lower Eastcott Farm – we displayed a number of maps, and images from the Central Libraries Flickr website.
2 – Because the Town Centre Master Plan incorrectly identified the Transfer industrial Estate as the position of the original Rushey Platt station where the M&SWJ railway set off to connect to Swindon Town – or Old Town station, maps were displayed showing exactly where the Directors of the railway had originally intended to build their railway line, which was to run across the Broadgreen Area, with a short spur connecting with the GWR station. For various reasons they were unable to build their line here, so they eventually settled on building it to the west of the town, around the Rushey Platt area.
A new draft SWINDON HERITAGE STRATEGY WAS currently being put together for SBC by Helen Miah - the original one put together last year was apparently not robust enough.
Kevin had compiled a small info leaflet about the history group and web site.
FRANCES BARRONE – SBC CENTRAL LOCALITY:
Parking review meeting – 03 December 2012, 3pm to 7pm in the Youth Room at Broadgreen Centre.
Locality meeting at Central Community Centre – Monday 12 November.
The new school location consultation to finish shortly. The final location decision would be made in December. Not all residents in the area had been given consultation leaflet, although they should have been delivered to all properties in Broadgreen.
The MUGA goalposts at the Broadgreen Centre were to be moved during the winter onto the tarmac, because of flooding on the grass.
Francis hold a drop-in at the Library every Monday 10am to 2pm. All residents welcome.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS: None
Meeting closed at 8.50pm.
