Minutes of September 2009
CLOUGH HALL RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 29th SEPTEMBER 2009
AT HOLLINWOOD SHELTERED HOUSING at 7.30pm
PRESENT :-
COMMITTEE: - G Sutton, J Gallacher, C Brough, T Dale, C Gallacher. C Brammer, M Martin,
D Martin.
GUEST SPEAKERS: - PC D Woodward, Rev Paul Howard, Jane Finnemore, Nikolia Luyuck.
GUESTS :- Cllr S Burgess, Cllr J Evans, Mr R Burns, Mr Ged Kelly, Mr M Jones.
RESIDENTS: - 19
TOTAL ATTENDANCE: - 36
APOLOGIES: - B Collis, M Collis, M Moore, Paul & Sue Fisher, Mrs T Evans, F Gibson,
G Gibson, AJ Mottram, H Mottram, J Rogers, S Rogers, J Brammer.
The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially the guest speakers, and described the agenda for the evening. He added that copies of the minutes of the last meeting and the Chairman's Report were available for residents to take, as were details of a computer course at Clough Hall School and information about the next films to be shown at the school. He then covered the following points:
• The leaflet giving the new opening times of the CAB - Cllr Silvia Burgess was thanked for this.
• Clough Hall Lake - 50% of the residents who were contacted returned the completed questionnaire concerning the lake and were thanked for doing so; an appointment has been arranged at the Civic Offices on October 14th to discuss the lake and other issues, and residents will be kept informed of progress.
• 31A Westmorland - the Unit closed on July 29th and should have been cleared and boarded up by now with bollards in place at the entrance, but this has yet to happen. No interest has been expressed in the Unit as yet; the surgeries will continue and will focus on the security and future usage of the Unit..
• The CHRA Christmas dinner will take place on December 17th at the Travellers' Rest, Scholar Green at 7:30 - 8:00pm. The price will be £14.95 per person, and a deposit of £5 must be paid by the end of November. Numbers are limited and anyone interested should contact Correna and John Gallacher.
• The Christmas Carol Service will again take place outside the Clough Hall; details will be given at the December meeting.
• The Quiz Night will take place early next year.
• The next CHRA Committee Meeting will take place on Thursday November 19th at the Hollinwood Centre at 7pm. The police and any interested residents are welcome to attend. If there is a good reaction to this, then open Committee Meetings will become a regular occurrence to allow residents to voice problems and issues which concern them.
• The Bat Walk which took place recently went well, and it is hoped that a similar event will be held next year.
The Chairman then introduced PC Dave Woodward who spoke on the following subjects:
• Ongoing anti-social behaviour problems - the top topic in the Kidsgrove area. Problems in the Clough Hall area have reduced, but youngsters are congregating in Bathpool Park and have been targeted by the police for alcohol consumption.
• Stickers for vans - ‘No Tools Left Overnight' - which were available for residents.
• Halloween - the Salt Box Christian Centre has a free selection of window stickers relating to Halloween. The police are also trying to reduce the nuisance value of Trick or Treat callers (see Kidsgrove News).
• Lockable door chains - some available to take from the meeting, otherwise residents should contact Dave or Graham. If anyone needs the chain to be fitted, some additional funding is available.
• The next Street Meeting - this will be held on October 4th at Banbury St between 2pm and 3:30pm, and has been publicised in the Sentinel and on the Police website.
• Car tax evasion - the police have been working with the DVLA and in a recent operation 17 vehicles were clamped, and 9 of these were towed away. The police can now give a £60 ticket for a car that is not taxed - the DVLA penalty for this is much higher. The DVLA will come to the area at least once each month to work with the police on tax evasion.
If a car has been sold but not then registered and taxed, and the seller has not notified the DVLA of the sale, then the seller is liable to an £80 fine when the tax renewal is due. Even if the sale can be proved, the seller is still liable if the DVLA have not been informed. The DVLA can now be notified online, and it is safer for the seller to do this him/herself rather than leaving it to a garage to do so.
Car insurance evasion - under the Uninsured Legislation if officers come across any vehicle which is not insured, then the penalties are 6 points on the driving licence, a £200 fine, £175 for the vehicle to be towed away, and £25 per day until the vehicle is crushed - unless the insurance is paid. The police now have an information sharing system with all insurance companies, and therefore will know if a policy has been taken out but not paid for.
The Chairman thanked PC Woodward, and introduced Jane Finnemore, who in turn introduced Nikolia Luyuck, one of two new Recycling Officers for the Borough.
Nik thanked CHRA for the invitation, then spoke about the current Recycling Service covering the following points:
• The textiles bags are the least used part of the Recycling Service; filled bags are collected by the Salvation Army (a charity) and sent to disaster zones around the world. Anyone needing one of these bags should contact the Borough Council.
• The paper collected in the blue bags is sent to a paper mill at Ellesmere Port, the tenth largest paper mill in Europe. He reminded residents that Yellow Pages can also be recycled in the blue bag.
• Aerosols can be put into the blue box, along with tins/cans and glass bottles and jars. These should be rinsed out, but there is no need to remove labels from tins, or plastic from around the tops of wine bottles. Aluminium can be recycled an infinite number of times.
• Cardboard which is placed in the new green bag should be ripped up or bent so that it fits inside the bag; any extra should be ripped up and placed under the blue box or the bag. Any large cardboard boxes which residents cannot manage to rip up should be put in the general waste bin.
• Only bottles should be put into the new plastics bag, since currently there are not enough resources to recycle all plastic containers. The bottles should be rinsed and squashed, to fit as many as possible in the bag. The plastics are initially taken to the Recycling Centre at Burslem, then to Birmingham; after this the plastics are sent to wherever the demand is greatest for them.
In response to questions, Jane and Nik explained that
• Anyone needing an assisted collection should first contact the Borough Council, and would then be able to leave general waste in a plastic bag by the front door, and items for recycling also by the front door in the box/bags provided.
• Batteries can be put in the general waste bin; this waste goes to the incinerator and provides energy for the National Grid. Batteries are very expensive to collect, but an option for the future may be a collection two or three times per year; more and more electrical shops will now take batteries back.
• Cardboard and food need to be separated from garden waste because Newcastle Borough uses different processes from Stoke-on-Trent City Council. The garden waste from Newcastle Borough goes to Scholar Green, where it is composted and then used on local farms as a soil improver.
Since plastic and cardboard recycling began, there has been a 60% increase in tonnages received.
• Because recycling items are placed in separate bags, the raw material is of the highest quality and can be sent straight to the processor; this means that it attracts the highest price. If everything was mixed together in one wheelie bin then the material would not be of good quality, and would not command a good price in the marketplace.
• There are 30 pink bags for recycling plastics in the roll; these should last for 12 months, and new rolls will be dropped off as a blanket delivery when the time comes.
• Money due to the Borough Council from the County Council has now been claimed, and has been used to subsidise the service; this money is claimed on a quarterly basis.
• Those who refuse to recycle will be prosecuted if they cannot be persuaded to change their ways. Fly-tippers can be traced, and are prosecuted.
• From March 2010 the garden waste service will be extended to all properties with a garden, and a separate weekly food waste collection will be introduced; general waste will then be collected every two weeks, and this should only include items which cannot be recycled.
The Chairman thanked Jane and Nik, and then introduced Rev Paul Howard. During Paul's presentation there was a break for refreshments, and the raffle was drawn.
Paul explained that he used to be an accountant, and he introduced the CAP (Christians Against Poverty) Money Course to residents. Christians Against Poverty is a national debt counselling charity with a network of centres based in local churches. This course is designed to help people gain a better knowledge of what they earn and what they spend, devise a manageable budget, get their accounts in order, and learn to save. In difficult financial times it is important to stay in control of finances, and Paul explained that being money-wise and taking action means staying in control. The steps in the CAP Money Course include setting financial goals (for the short, medium and long-term), talking to a money coach, preparing a simple budget (with high, medium and low priorities), and thinking cash - using cash as much as possible and not credit or debit cards. It is also important to keep a record of all spending. Paul illustrated his talk with two short videos, both of which demonstrated the importance of being in financial control. He finally reminded everyone that having a budget and using a simple system teaches people to save.
More information can be found at www.capmoney.org
The Chairman thanked Paul, the other guest speakers and the audience for attending, and announced that the next meeting would be held on December 1st. The meeting was then closed.
Signed G Sutton (Chairman) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .