PRESENT: Chair Karen Leakey, Secretary and Archivist Kevin Leakey, Treasurer John Freegard, Vice-Treasurer Madge Sutton, John Clark, Vi Clark, Paul Izquierdo, Cluniford Mason, Bob Walter
ALSO PRESENT: Frances Barrone – SBC, Tim French
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Vice-Chair Pam Freegard, Muhammad Chaudhry, Kate Johnson, Kay Malko, Evelyn Mason, Rebecca McIntosh, Ros Timlin, Mark Walker - SBC, PC Atkinson - Broad Street Area Beat Manager, councillor J Wright
CONFIRMATION OF THE NOTES: 03 April 2013 drop in. The notes were confirmed as a true record. Proposed by Madge Sutton and seconded by Bob Walter
MATTERS ARISING FROM THE APRIL 2013 NOTES: The room booking issues have still not been resolved. The Chair contacted Community Hire (C/H) and was told that we had returned the block booking form after another group had also requested the use of the lounge every Wednesday between 5 and 7pm and as C/H were now working on a first come first served basis, the other group took preference. This was despite the fact that we did not receive the forms in January when they were apparently sent out and when, in February, we did obtain and return a block booking form for use of the lounge, the Chair was given verbal confirmation that the dates, room and times were booked, backed up by written confirmation. However C/H were able to offer the BSACC use of the hall instead, which would cost more money to hire, we were also informed that hire costs would be raised again in July but it was not known by what percentage.
The general feeling was if we had to use the hall then we should only have to pay the same charges as we do for the lounge as we were under the impression that we had booked that room. It was also discussed that as we funded ourselves and weren’t beholden to SBC to fund the community council we should consider moving our meetings to St. Luke’s hall instead, although it was felt that if we did, we would no longer be Broadgreen Centre stakeholders.
NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE TEAM REPORT: Crime report forwarded by PC Atkinson. Broad Street Area Beat Manager.
Broadgreen crime statistics between – 01 and 30 April 2013. (2012 statistics in brackets)
Patrols – 78 separate burglary and parking related patrols – in addition to routine patrols.
Criminal damage – 4. (2012 – 8)
Violence – 5 - (2012 –13)
Theft – 23 - 14 from shops. (2012 – 32)
Drugs – 5 (2012 –4)
Dwelling Burglary – 8 – 5 of which were shed/garage break-ins (2012 – 4)
Robbery – 1 (2012 – 0)
Intelligence reports – 73. (2012 – 40)
Total crime down year on year for Central Sector.
All crime is down in Broadgreen with the exception of 1 additional drug offence, 1 additional robbery and a spike in burglaries.
Due to the 100% increase in burglaries, particularly shed/garage break-ins, Central Sector Officers have increased patrols and proactive stops in the area. This has resulted in one known burglar being located and arrested; he is currently on bail for 6 burglaries. 3 prolific opportunistic offenders have also been arrested and given jail terms. Since these 3 people have been dealt with there have been no burglaries in the Broadgreen Area.
Prostitution – Active Police operations are continuing and there has been a reduction in the number of prostitutes on the streets. 2 active sex workers (prostitutes) are being closely monitored and have been placed on sex worker (Loitering or Soliciting for Prostitution) cautions pending their continued co-operation with partnership agencies such as probation and the drug and alcohol service.
Parking – Active parking patrols are still ongoing by Central sector and other Swindon Officers. During the recent parking meeting with STFC, changes to the Manchester Rd. structure (no waiting at any time) were being investigated.
Local intelligence is very important - any information should be reported to the Police on the non-emergency phone number – 101.
Police related issues raised by residents – to be passed onto the Police Team
Drinkers in the Broadgreen Centre park area and in alleyways. Prostitutes in Manchester and County Roads.
Issues with ringing 101 to report problem – concerns about personal questions asked i.e. age, nationality etc. There were concerns that although it had a residents parking permit, a yellow van that had been parked in the same place in Rosebery Street and not moved for the last 3 months might encourage crime or ASB issues.
Frances Barrone – SBC: Reported on the following: restructuring of the Town Centre Locality.
Every Monday in the coffee shop at the Central library between 10am and 12 noon Francis hold an informal drop-in for all interested residents to discuss issues and problems.
Managing type 2 diabetes. There will be a 5-week course, 2 to 4 pm, Broadgreen Centre. Starts 3 June.
Issues raised and discussed by residents –
Public Notice about 20mph for Broadgreen, although 20 mph wasn’t a problem, people hadn’t seen any feedback and weren’t aware this had been decided.
Young people using the Broadgreen Centre park area have been playing cricket with a baseball, which could be dangerous.
Parking in the area on a Friday lunchtime is starting to cause problems - residents are not happy
as they are paying for parking permits. A resident spoke to a taxi driver who had parked his taxi outside the residents’ house, as he was going to the mosque, the resident pointed out that it was residents parking and the taxi driver said that the wardens had told him it was ok to park in residents parking bays.
2 outstanding jobs be carried out that were agreed at Locality meetings, are they still to be done? - The old signpost in County Road to be re-painted and the path repairs outside Cockram Court in Medgbury Road.
Rubbish in the area. Residents try and keep the area clean but it is not easy and is rather soul destroying that when rubbish is tidied up, almost immediately someone dumps more rubbish in its place. It was suggested that Probation Pay Back might be able to help as they had previously cleaned an area in Colbourne Street and the County Ground.
Future of Broadgreen Centre – Is SBC considering it suitable for asset transfer – which could cause problems
Frances took note of these issues for further investigation.
CHAIR REPORT: Karen Leakey
Karen is looking at some projects for the BSACC to undertake as the community council needs to change if it is to continue – this would involve working with the community to create 2 ‘garden’ type areas one at the end of Medgbury Road which is in the Highways Department hands, and the other at the grass area at the corner of Manchester/County Road which is understood to be privately owned.
CORRESPONDENCE: Kevin Leakey
SENT – Invite to Nalni Sorr from Learning For Life to talk to the Community Council. No reply.
RECEIVED – BSACC insurance paperwork.
PLANNING
S/13/0492 - 42-44 Manchester Road SN1 2AG - Change of use from shop (class A1) to restaurant/cafe (class A3) and installation of new shop fronts and flue - Application pending consideration
S/13/0301 – Land At Former Paragon Laundry - Aylesbury Street – Temporary change of use of land to public car parking for a two-year period (Retrospective) - Application granted - Case Officer - Mr Rob O’Carroll
TREASURERS REPORT - to 01 May 2013: John Freegard
HISTORY REPORT: Kevin Leakey
At the April drop-in we displayed a number of images donated by former Broadgreen Neighbourhood Worker – Bob Johnson. It included views around the Broadgreen Area, the last days of the Central School and the County Ground area.
The latest copy of the Swindon Heritage magazine is due out on the 9th May and will no doubt prove to be yet another good read for anyone interested in Swindon and its past.
If there is an old view or image, particularly of the Broadgreen or Queenstown area you would like to see please let Kevin know and he will do his best to see if there is one.
Kevin is always happy to look up any historical info people might want to know and has access to the censuses 1841 to 1911 and a number of street directories.
SHRIVENHAM ROAD: John Clark
Continuing problems with bushes overgrowing into alleyway and rubbish being dumped there.
Despite Shrivenham Road being a no through road, lorries are still being driven along it, then having to reverse back to the Magic Roundabout – it was asked if better signage could be put in place.
ANY OTHER BUSINESS:
.Meeting closed at 9.00pm.
