Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Davey, Johnson and Smith.

Councillor Green provided an update to the minute 19/21/EAC

 

Had received positive notification from the Police to the matter of ‘Hippy Crack’, although this was more at national levels.  

 

Councillor Massey provided an update to the minute 19/21/EAC

 

The matter of keeping cycles safe at the train station park was being looked at by the relevant agencies; ideas being considered were colour coded sections, installation of turnstiles on entry and exit, or scanning in and out, a CCTV review with clearer advertising that CCTV was in use and lockable cages.

 

Councillor Robertson informed the Committee that Councillor Thornburrow has put forward a complaint regarding the cycle racks as they had proven not to be secure.

 

Councillor Massey explained that Police patrols would be increased to known hot spots of drug dealing/ taking and drug related activities in the East Area Committee as the evenings became darker.

 

Acknowledged that residents were put off reporting incidents of crime as they felt the Police were not following up their complaints; this had been reported back to the Police.  

 

The minutes of the meeting held on 11 July 2019 were then signed as a correct record by the Chair.

The Action Sheet was noted and an updated copy could be viewed at the following link under ‘Committee Action Sheet’:

 

https://democracy.cambridge.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=147&MId=3711&Ver=4

 

The Committee received a report from the Enforcement Team Leader.

 

The report outlined an overview of City Council’s Streets and Open Spaces, Environmental Health and Shared Waste service activity relating to the geographical area served by the East Area Committee over the past six months.

 

The Enforcement Team Leader made the following comments in response to the Committee’s questions:

 

     i.        There were at present forty four estate agents in Cambridge; thirty eight of which had been issued community protection warnings or notices (supersedes a warning) concerning the illegal placement of estate agent boards.

    ii.        If three notices had been issued to one estate agent then prosecution proceedings could be begin with the maximum penalty of £20,000.

  iii.        Each year a letter was written to all estate agents reminding them to comply with the regulations concerning advertising boards.

  iv.        A business case would have to be put forward to use one of four demountable CCTV units at Abbey Road recycling centre to investigate who was leaving piles of rubbish around the centre; a vehicle registration plate would have to be clearly seen.

   v.        In the past there had been a number of fixed penalty notices which had been issued to members of the public.

 

Councillor Moore stated that as Executive Councillor for Climate Change, Environment and City Centre she had instructed Officers to carry out a review of the recycling centres across the city as these were a hot spot for fly tipping.

 

Councillor Moore next advised she would speak to officers to clarify which bin shredded paper could be placed into. Corn starch bags / envelopes should be placed in the black bin or home compost and would speak to officers regarding advertising what materials went into the different coloured bins (ACTION).

 

The Chair reiterated the Committee’s thanks to the Enforcement Team Leader for such a comprehensive report.

MOP: On Brook Road the play park for the smaller children has been refurbished but there is no fence around it which means that toddlers can get out and dogs can enter, there is also no seating; the fence along the road only has one bar which children can climb over or under.

 

Councillor Barnett advised she would speak with the relevant officers to discuss the matter (ACTION).

 

MOP: Recently I attend a meeting concerning ‘a vision for Mill Road’ hosted by Councillor Baigent, where the issue of carbon emissions were discussed. I wanted to highlight the increase use of wood burners in the City and the pollution that they bring; there also appears to be an increase in bonfires. Does the Committee have any guidance on this matter?

 

Councillor Moore advised that bonfires were allowed but only garden waste was permitted to be burnt. If other material was being burnt, talk to your neighbour and/or report the matter to Environmental Health. The City Council had recently obtained a grant to undertake a feasibility study on the impact of wood burners in the city and would be looking at the restrictions that could be placed.

 

Councillor Jones explained there were national guidelines on wood burners and suggested guidance could be issued from the City Council to residents.

 

MOP: The paths through Parker’s Piece need to be improved; is there a reason why this is used a share path between pedestrians and cyclist without a clear separation of the two. The shared path creates danger and conflict, especially if cyclists do not have lights on when it is dark.  There are examples around the city of paths that clearly indicate separation of use, why has this not been done?

 

Councillor Barnett stated she would speak to Councillor Thornburrow for a response (ACTION).

 

Councillor Whitehead advised that she had raised this issue with County Council officers who stated the current thinking was to widen the paths for cyclist to navigate around pedestrians which was deemed safer. Although not necessarily convinced divided paths did not always mean that pedestrians and cyclists stayed in their correct lanes.

 

Councillor Herbert stated there had been discussion with external agencies and local residents regarding how wide the paths should be on Parker’s Piece; there had been resistance to really wide paths as the character and green space would be lost. Some monies from the redevelopment of the University Arms Hotel were being spent reinforcing the grass along the paths.

 

The Committee discussed the large number of cyclists in the city and how there must be ‘give and take’ from both parties; space was a premium in the City and separation was not always possible in some cases.

 

Councillor Green: Would like to highlight the matter of anti-social behaviour in Lyndewode Road which had escalated to residents being threatened in their own homes on occasion. The Police would be asked to treat this as a priority.

 

Councillor Massey stated she was also aware of these issues, which were mainly historic. The Police had been in regular touch updating her on these issues. The damage to vehicles seemed to be linked to criminal behaviour in Mill Road; with regards to a particularly violent incident the person was captured that night. Had asked Police to regularly look at Lyndewode Road due to its location to the train station.

Report to follow

The Committee received a report from the Public Realm & Project Delivery Team Leader regarding the Environmental Improvement Programme (EIP). The report outlined changes to the EIP during 2018/19 and reviewed the latest round of applications within East Area.

 

The Committee were asked to recommend the following:

 

     i.        Note the operating amendments to the programme agreed by the Executive Councillor for Streets and Open Spaces following Environment and Community Scrutiny on 21 March 2019

    ii.        Note the allocation of funding to continue with a programme across all areas for the period 2019-21.

  iii.        Consider the allocation of £10,890 from local area EIP funds in 2019/ 20 towards the provision of 66 summer hanging baskets along Mill Road.

  iv.        Consider new project aspirations received in the latest 2019/ 20 round for funding from new central strategic, and local area, EIP allocations

   v.        Identify those East area priorities to be recommended to the Executive Councillor for Streets and Open Spaces for funding from the central, strategic, EIP allocation.

  vi.        Support those projects selected for implementation, subject to them being viable, obtaining consents as necessary, positive consultation and final approval by the Council’s Place Board, Ward and Executive Councillors, where required.

 

In response to questions and comments the Public Realm Engineering & Project Delivery Team Leader said the following:

 

             i.        There was currently over £28,000 new funding available for area led projects for this year; with a small remainder of funding from the previous year which should take the total to £35,000 approximately.

            ii.        Suggested that only half the projects put forward would be affordable.

          iii.        Confirmed there would be scope for discussion with the County Council regarding the strategic funding for verges and the County funding for footpaths.

          iv.        The project (Romsey Planters) submitted by Councillor Baigent was not on the list in the report as officers did not consider it to be a viable and a deliverable project at this stage. Further work would be required to determine the scale and the cost to ask the Committee to prioritise funding.

           v.        Any schemes not selected might be considered the following year, subject to annual budget setting.

          vi.        Agreed to the Committee’s request for an assessment of those projects that did not make the list which could be circulated at a later date.

         vii.        Noted the request to remove E12 (Petersfield Green planting beds and benches) from the list for consideration.

       viii.        The cost for providing hanging baskets for 2019 had already been incurred funded in 2018, subject to area committee approval the cost could be met by the Environmental Improvement Programme via a recharge if the Committee agreed; this would reduce the funding available for further schemes. 

          ix.        Might be possible to put forward funding for the hanging baskets for 2020 and not a recharge. 

           x.        To install the hanging baskets, the cost of the access platform and licence was considerable. There was also the cost of the servicing, though the cost would fluctuate dependent on the weather. Efforts had been made in recent years to conserve water through the type of baskets that had been purchased.

 

The Committee:

 

Resolved unanimously to:

 

     i.        Support the following from the strategic funding:

·        E6:    Whitehill Road verge protection, £10,000.

·        E9:    Coleridge streets tree and verge protection, £10,000.

 

Resolved unanimously to

 

    ii.        Resolved unanimously to allocate from the local area EIP fund to:

·        E1:    Barnwell Road library beds planting, £2,000

·        E3:    Dudley Road Recreation Ground addition of benches,   £3,000. 

·        E8:    Birdwood Road bus shelter, £10,000.

·        E10: Petersfield ward streets window boxes, reduced from £10,000 to £7,000.

·        E11: North Petersfield noticeboards, £3,000.

·        E14: Romsey ‘insect hotels’, £2,000

 

  iii.        Resolved to allocate from the local area EIP funds:

·        £3000 towards the recharge for the provision of 66 summer hanging baskets along Mill Road in 2019/20.

 

  iv.        Resolved to allocate from the local area EIP funds;

·        £3000 to the suggested Romsey Planters project following further investigation work by officers if financially viable. 

·        E10: Petersfield ward streets window boxes (£3,000 to top the full amount to £10,000 if available).

 

   v.        Resolved to allocate in reserve from the strategic funding:

·        E5:    Wadloes Road verge planting, £8,000

·        E13: Gilsson Road (trees and tree pits (top up existing scheme), £5,000