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Venue: Chesterton Community College, Gilbert Road, Cambridge CB4 3NY
Contact: Toni Birkin Committee Manager
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillors Onasanya, Perry, Sales and Tunnacliffe. Also Jonathan James (Lead Officer). |
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Welcome and Introduction (including Declarations of Interest) Minutes: No declarations of interest were made.
Councillor Price proposed, and Councillor Gawthrope seconded, the nomination of Councillor Bird as Vice Chair.
Resolved (by 8 votes to 0) that Councillor Bird be Vice Chair for the ensuing year. |
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Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes of the meeting held on 15 September 2016 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.
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You Want to Know (Open Forum) Minutes: Members of the public asked a number of questions, as set out below.
1. Richard Taylor asked if North Area Committee (NAC) could encourage the installation of defibrillators in all community buildings and that a comprehensive list be given to emergency services
Councillor Todd-Jones said there was a defibrillator in the Guildhall, but it could not be guaranteed they were available in other meeting venues. Councillor McPherson was happy to train people on how to use them.
Action Point: Councillor Todd-Jones to liaise with Ambulance Service to ensure Emergency Services have a comprehensive list of defibrillators stored in community buildings across the city.
2. Richard Taylor queried which organisation was responsible for Milton Road trees.
Councillor Todd-Jones said the City Deal were responsible.
3. Richard Taylor took issue with filming restrictions imposed by the Chair at the last NAC meeting.
Councillor Todd-Jones said filming restrictions had not imposed, Mr Taylor had been asked not to film children present at the meeting.
4. Michael Bond asked for the damaged middle bollard on St Andrew’s Rec cycle path to be replaced.
Councillor Manning said a heavy duty bollard was required, not a standard one (ie like for like replacement) to prevent repeated damage.
Action Point: East Chesterton Ward Councillors to liaise with Mr Bond regarding replacement of damaged middle bollard on St Andrew’s Rec cycle path.
5. Colin Davidson raised concerns about damage to his property by City Council employees on 3 occasions. He asked for a written undertaking that the City Council “would leave him alone”.
Councillor Todd-Jones said the City Council Chief Executive had written to Mr Davidson to apologise. Councillor Price added that the City Council could not guarantee it would not enter Mr Davidson’s garden in future as it may need to do so in extenuating circumstances.
Action Point: Councillor Todd-Jones to pass on concerns from Mr Davidson (regarding damage to his garden by City Council Officers) to the Chief Executive and Senior Officers.
6. Kelley Green expressed concern about speeding traffic on Fen Road after speed bumps were removed.
Councillor Todd-Jones said he had spoken to Officers (Chris Foyle and John Richards). New speed humps/cushions should be in place within 1 – 2 weeks of tonight’s meeting. Work was expected to start the day after NAC. Speed humps/cushions were expected to be in place before bollards on the pavement to prevent people mounting the pavement to avoid the humps. Councillors Sargeant and Smart said that bollards and humps should be put in at the same time for safety reasons. Councillor Manning said Fen Road needed resurfacing, which was why the speed humps were removed in the first place. Various contractors undertook different phases of the work to complete different tasks, hence features going in at different times.
Richard Taylor suggested councillors made dangerous driving on Fen Road, Green End Road and Chesterton High Street a Police priority after he had witnessed various incidents.
Action Point: Councillor Todd-Jones to follow up with Andrew Preston regarding Fen Road work progress query raised by Mr Taylor.
7. Kay Harris submitted a written statement raising concerns about poor lighting in the Hawks/Campkin Road area.
Councillor Scutt said the County Council recognised its policy on the diming of street lights was detrimental and there was a proposal to return lights to full strength in future.
Action Point: Councillor Scutt to check lighting levels in the Hawks/Campkin Road area in response to residents’ concerns.
Various members of the public said that low light levels, spacing between columns and poor pavement surfaces (eg uneven) were a problem across the city. The situation was exacerbated by tree foliage blocking light.
Councillor Scutt said Balfour Beatty had not implemented correct lighting levels and there was no clause in the County Council’s contract through which enforcement action could be taken.
Councillor Todd-Jones said the City Council was trying to find funding to help the County Council increase lighting levels.
Councillor Manning said that Balfour Beatty had removed a net figure of 10% of lighting columns. As highways were exempt from the 10% reduction, only residential areas had lost columns. The County Council had committed to undertake a Member led review to ascertain if compensation claims had increased since lighting levels dropped.
8. Alex Skinner asked if the County Council were obliged to review the impact of a lack of lighting on residents. Some of whom felt trapped in their own homes due to lack of street lighting.
Councillor Manning said the County Council had no statutory responsibility to provide street lighting.
9. Lilian Rundblad raised concerns aboutlack of lighting in the Borrowdale bus shelter.
Action Point: CouncillorTodd-Jones to follow up with John Parrott about lack of light concerns in the Borrowdale bus shelter.
10. Leila Dockerill expressed concern that the #17 bus servicing Fen Road had been cancelled.
Councillor Manning said he had contacted Stagecoach who said they were rationalising services that were making a loss. The County Council were looking at ways to plug the #17 service gap eg paying a subsidy to re-instate the service.
Councillor Bird said she had also contacted Andy Campbell (Stagecoach). He signposted #2 as an alternative service to #17. Councillor Bird thought this was impractical for Fen Road residents.
11. Richard Taylor queried the transparency of the Local Highways Improvement process.
Councillor Todd-Jones said applications no longer went to Area Committees but were reviewed by the County Council.
Action Point: Councillor Manning to attend Local Highways Improvement Panel in January 2017 and will pass on Mr Taylor’s comments eg lack of publically available information.
12. Richard Taylor queried if sufficient information was in the public domain for people to comment on Fen Road planting, signage and road markings.
Councillor Todd-Jones summarised actions to date and signposted information in the public domain.
13. Richard Taylor queried if sufficient information was in the public domain regarding Milton and Histon Road remodeling.
Councillor Todd-Jones referred to the next meeting of the Local Liaison Forums.
14. Richard Taylor asked if the City Deal should be consulted in future regarding Green End Road chip shop planning applications.
Councillor Sarris said he had raised the City Deal perspective in relevant Planning Committee meetings.
Action Point: CouncillorTodd-Jones to follow up with Planning Officers if City Deal should be consulted in planning applications. |
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Policing & Safer Neighbourhoods Additional documents: Minutes: The Committee received a report from Sergeant Mišík regarding the 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 noted in the report were: i. Continue with Class A drug work – this underpins much criminality and also impacts on community safety. ii. Monitor anti-social behaviour around Grumpy’s and the Fen Road area.
The Committee discussed the following policing issues: i. Increased numbers of violent crime. a. Sergeant Mišík said there was a general increase in crime figure trends across the country due to a change in the way figures were recorded. There was no increase in hospital admissions as a result of the extra number of crimes recorded. ii. Anti-social behaviour around Grumpy’s and the Fen Road area was a seasonal problem that the Police were asked to monitor when the weather improved. iii. Installation of mobile speed camera in Ashfield Road.
Action Point: Anti-social behavior team to follow up with Police regarding installation of mobile speed camera in Ashfield Road.
iv. Cycle thefts in West Chesterton.
Action Point: SergeantMišík to clarify reasons for increase in cycle thefts in West Chesterton.
v. Online hate crime and difficulties in reporting it.
Action Point: CouncillorO’Reilly to liaise with Police on a more user-friendly method of reporting online hate crime.
vi. Seasonal peaks and troughs in burglary figures. vii. 20MPH and 30MPH speed limits often broken. a. Sergeant Mišík referred to Association of Chief Police Officers guidance that stated that enforcement should be proportional to speed. The police were focussing on education rather than enforcement of 20MPH at present.
Members of the public raised the following policing issues: i. Anti-social behaviour by cyclists: a. Riding at night without lights. b. Riding on the pavement. ii. Dangerous driving on Nuffield Road, Fen Road, Green End Road and Chesterton High Street. a. Speeding. b. Drivers losing control of vehicles. c. Cars not allowing space for cyclists on road. · Councillor Manning expected a protected cycleway to be implemented on Fen Road through the City Deal. iii. Requested more detailed figures/information regarding violent crime in future police reports to NAC as per West/Central Area Committee. a. Sergeant Mišík suggested at the last WCAC that the new format would be rolled out to all area committees.
Action Point: Councillor Todd-Jones to follow up with Police Mr Taylor’s request for breakdown of assault figures in police area committee report as they committed to do for West Area.
iv. Drug dealing in the Bermuda Flats area.
Action Point: CouncillorTodd-Jones to follow up with Police and residents’ regarding drug dealing in the Bermuda Flats area.
NAC requested additions to the Police priorities. Councillor Todd-Jones formally proposed to add the following:
Added Police Recommendation - Tackling anti-social behaviour in the Darwin Drive / Akeman Street area.
Add Further Recommendations - Addressing speeding/dangerous driving on Fen Road. - Tackling anti-social cycling on pavements.
The change to priorities was agreed by 10 votes to 0.
The following priorities were agreed by 10 votes to 0: - Tackling anti-social behaviour in the Darwin Drive / Akeman Street area. - Addressing speeding/dangerous driving on Fen Road. - Tackling anti-social cycling on pavements. |
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Environmental Reports Minutes: The Committee received a report from the Operations Manager – Community Engagement and Enforcement.
The report outlined an overview of City Council Refuse and Environment and Streets and Open Spaces service activity relating to the geographical area served by the North Area Committee. The report identified the reactive and proactive service actions undertaken in the previous quarter, including the requested priority targets, and reported back on the recommended issues and associated actions. It also included key officer contacts for the reporting of waste and refuse and public realm issues.
The following were suggestions for Members on what action could be considered for priority within the North Area for the period of December to February.
Continuing priorities[1]
The Committee discussed the following issues: i. Fly tipping in King’s Hedges. ii. Inappropriate items being left for recycling in Aylestone Road.
Action Point: Wendy Young to liaise with owner of recycling shelf in Aylestone Road regarding appropriate signage to advertise the ‘recycling’ shelf.
iii. Dumping of needles. a. Wendy Young said 1 incident of multiple discarded needles had increased the overall collection figure. There had not been a general increase in the number of needles discarded. Details of the incident had been forwarded onto the police to get multi-agency follow up.
Action Point: Wendy Young to provide details of follow up action taken after multiple needles dumped in Kings Hedges.
iv. Enforcement patrols to tackle fly tipping in Maitland Avenue/Mortlock Road area still to be undertaken.
Action Point: Enforcement patrols to tackle fly tipping to be undertaken in Maitland Avenue/ Mortlock Road area as per P39 of the Officer’s report.
v. Litter on Millennium Bridge because people were ignoring bins provided, possibly due to their location. a. 3 alternative locations suggested: Nicholson Way, the busway near Chesterton College and near the Grove School.
Action Point: Wendy Young to show Cllr Manning copy of Officer advice for bin locations on Millennium Bridge.
vi. Bins were requested for the following locations: a. Histon Road opposite Gilbert Close. b. The Tesco end of Primary Court/Scotland Road.
The Committee discussed the following as additional and revised recommendations for action:
Recommendation 1 i. Deep cleanse of area at Ashfield Road.
Following discussion, Members unanimously resolved to approve priorities for action as amended above. |
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Environmental Improvement Programme Additional documents:
Minutes: The Committee received a report from the Senior Engineer, Streets & Open Spaces, regarding the Environmental Improvement Programme (EIP). The report outlined progress of existing schemes and new suggested schemes for 2017/18. The Senior Engineer brought the report up to date by referring to paragraph 5.4 and stating that (should the Area Committee support the new schemes suggested) the estimated £2,000 remaining budget available could rise to some £8,000 by the summer 2017 depending on final out-turn costs of schemes being delivered during 2016-17.
In response to Members’ questions the Senior Engineer answered: i. (Ref Appendix C P64) North area ward dropped crossing improvements were progressing well and may be completed by January 2017. ii. Some funding in addition to the allocated £40,777 may be needed to complete dropped kerb work, but contingency had been made within the EIP budget to cover this. iii. Whilst there had been delays in bringing some projects dating from 2013 to fruition there was now no work outstanding from earlier EIP commitments. There had been delays in implementing/completing some projects because: a. The entire Streets & Open Spaces delivery team was replaced during 2014-15 as staff looked for opportunities elsewhere. b. EIP projects often required a lot of officer time/work to implement, with significant dependencies, although the project scope and budget were often quite small. c. Of time required to source suitable contractors to undertake work due to the level of work and demand in the Cambridge area. iv. Small operational changes were made to the EIP process in 2015 to improve deliverability for future bidding rounds. v. Noted Councillor Manning’s request to be listed as a proposer for project 8 North area ward dropped crossings (Ref Appendix C P64 of the Officer’s report) along with Councillor Bird.
Following discussion, Members resolved (unanimously): i. To approve the allocation of £39,000 of the new EIP funding expected to be available for North Area during 2017-18 towards the list of proposed projects in Appendix A of the Officer’s report. ii. To defer to 2018-19 the invitation to consider a further application opportunity (should the level of un-allocated funding for 2017-18 be small), but consider allocating any larger amount (anticipated up to £8,000) earlier should it prove practicable. |
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North Area Committee Dates for 2017/18 The Committee is asked to agree the following dates for the municipal year 2017/18:
22 June 2017 14 September 2017 14 December 2017 1 March 2018 Minutes: The Committee agreed the following dates for the 2017/18 municipal year: · 22 June 2017. · 14 September 2017. · 14 December 2017. · 1 March 2018. |
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Community Events and Consultation Opportunities Minutes: Noted details in the agenda pack. |