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Venue: Meeting Room - St Marks Community Centre, Barton Road, Newnham, CB3 9J2. View directions
Contact: James Goddard Committee Manager
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Election of Chair and Vice Chair - WCAC Minutes: The Head of Property Services took the Chair whilst
the West Central Area Committee elected a Chair. Councillor Cantrill proposed, and Councillor Holt
seconded, the nomination of Councillor Nethsingha as Chair. Resolved unanimously
that Councillor Nethsingha be Chair for the
ensuing year. Councillor Nethsingha assumed the Chair from the
Committee Manager at this point. Councillor Bick proposed, and Councillor Gehring
seconded, the nomination of Councillor Holt as Vice Chair. Resolved unanimously that Councillor Holt be Vice Chair for the ensuing
year. |
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Welcome, Introduction and Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors Holland and Hipkin. Councillor Ratcliffe reported that, following Ward boundary changes,
Councillor Scutt’s Ward now included part of the West
Central Area Committee and she would be attending future meeting. She sent
apologies for this meetings. |
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Declarations of Interest Members of the committee are asked to declare any interests in the items
on the agenda. In the case of any doubt, the advice of the Monitoring
Officer should
be sought before the meeting. Minutes: No declarations of interest were made. |
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To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 9 March 2017 Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 9th March 2017 were
approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair. |
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Matters and Actions Arising From the Minutes PDF 181 KB Committee
Action Sheet from last meeting attached. Minutes:
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Open Forum Refer to the ‘Information for the Public’ section for rules on speaking. Minutes: Members of the public asked a number of questions, as set out below. 1. A member
of the public raised concerns about the continued use of a three storey,
residential property being used as an Airbnb short let. Residents stated that noise
and anti-social behavior was making their lives difficult. The Director of Planning and Economic
Development, Stephen
Kelly, stated that the issue of Airbnb use was complex as it covered three
legal and policy areas. It was hard to regulate as it went largely unnoticed.
Investigations were underway with other authorities to see if any solutions
were working elsewhere. Changes to Licensing regulations were expected in
September and this might offer a better solution than existing planning
regulations. This was a national issue and current policy
did not adequately regulate the problems caused. Councillor Nethsingha suggested that members
of the public should keep a diary of any disturbances or incidents of
anti-social behaviour. Action Point: The Director of Planning and Economic
Development, undertook to produce a briefing note for
members regarding this matter. 2. Lilian Rundblad requested West Central Committee’s support for a
LHI bid for double yellow lines on Carisbrooke Road. Councillor Nethsingha said that this was a
County matter and outside the remit of this committee. 3. Colin
Rosenstiel stated that the street lighting on Parker’s Piece had not been
repaired despite being reported to council officers a number of times over a
period of some months. Councillor Bick
suggested that there was a similar problem with lighting to the Bus Shelter ??? |
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Policing and Safer Neighbourhoods PDF 168 KB Minutes: The Committee
received a report from Sgt Kevin Misik
regarding
policing and safer neighbourhoods trends. The report
outlined actions taken since the last reporting period. The current emerging
issues/neighbourhood trends for each ward were also highlighted (see report for
full details). Previous priorities and engagement activity were noted as
detailed in the report. Members of the public asked a number of
questions, as set out below. 1. Nationally acid and ammonia attacks are attracting
press comment. Is this a problem locally? Inspector Leadbeater stated that gang culture was spreading and that
gang tactics had been copied locally. There had been incidents of ammonia
attacks in the city in the last six months. 2. At the
recent Midsummer Fair various individuals with police powers were present. Were
these out of county officers appointed
by the Chief Inspector of Cambridgeshire police? All police
officers attending this event had been approved by the Chief Inspector of
Cambridgeshire police. 3. There
appears to be a large increase in cycle theft. Why isn’t more action being
taken? The statistics show that there is an increase
in cycle theft. However, current policing prioritises people over property. The Committee
expressed disappointment that cycle theft was regarded as a low-risk crime and
suggested that this was a crime against young people who could be put at risk
if their only means of transport was stolen. Councillor
Gillespie stated local residents had complained that drug dealing was taking
place in the street and that this should be a priority for the police. Councillor Bick
felt that the categories covered by the priorities suggested were too broad and
that more focused approach produced better results. He suggested losing rough
sleeping as a priority was disappointing however partnership working to resolve
the wider problems might produce better results. Sgt Misik stated that the priorities were necessarily broad and
that this approach would allow the police to add value locally. Inspector Leadbeater stated that a
number of out of county criminal and drug dealers had been arrested in recent
weeks. Counselling
Gehring expressed disappointment at the new approach to setting priorities. He
suggested that Area Committees should be allowed to adopt a bottom-up approach
with suggestions coming from the community. The Committee
discussed the suggested priorities: 1. Street-based anti-social behaviour. 2. Road safety. 3. Youth-related anti-social behaviour. 4. Alcohol-related violence and disorder. 5. Taxi issues. 6. Licensing issues. Councillor Nethsingha
suggested that based on the Committee’s discussions, priorities 1, 3 and 4
appeared to reflect the Committee’s concerns. The committee also requested that action be taken
on cycle theft but agreed not to make this a priority. The following priorities were unanimously agreed:
i.
Street-based
anti-social behaviour.
ii.
Youth-related
anti-social behaviour. iii. Alcohol-related violence and disorder. |
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Street Scene in Historic City Centre Officer presentation to be followed by discussion by members of the public
and committee. Minutes: The Committee received a presentation from the Christian Brady the Principal Conservation and Design Officer regarding the
Street Scene in the Historic City Centre. The presentation outlined the difficulties faced in preserving a beautiful
and historically significant city whilst maintaining it as a vibrant place that
people wanted to be a part of. The conflicting demands of traffic, tourists,
modern street furniture, utilities and the need to protect the views of famous
landmarks and picture postcard visual aspects were discussed. The Officer confirmed that the Conservation Area Appraisal had recently
been updated. The updated document would be available shortly on the Council’s
website. The Director of Planning and Economic Development, Stephen Kelly,
stated that further work was on-going to commission research and consultation
work. The project would map out the ways the spaces were currently used and
would inform a future strategy. The project would be funded by the Greater Cambridgeshire
Partnership. The Officers invited the Committee and members of the public to discuss
the strengths and weaknesses of the City. The following points were raised: 1.
The City was important and deserved Unesco World Heritage Status. 2.
All traffic should be excluded from the central
area. 3.
City centre workers need to be able to use public
transport for work. 4.
The intimate scale of the centre was valued. 5.
Tourists block important cycle and pedestrian
routes into the City and needed to be managed. 6.
Fears were raised about the potential impact of
light rail or other future transport options. 7.
The migration of Cambridge University to the
fringes of the City with the possibility of the City becoming a sterile
environment was a concern. 8.
The opportunity to turn the City into a people
centred space as had been achieved elsewhere (New York). 9.
The working title of the project (Spaces and
Movement SPD) was agreed to lack impact. 10.
Concerns were raised about getting this project
wrong with resulting permanent damage to the City Centre. The Director of Planning and Economic Development thanked those
present for their contributions and assured them that the project would seek a
coherent change strategy. |