Minutes of January 2008
MINUTES JANUARY 2008CLOUGH HALL RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 15thJANUARY 2008
AT HOLLINWOOD SHELTERED HOUSING at 7.30pm
PRESENT :-
COMMITTEE: - G Sutton, B Collis, J Gallacher, M Moore, C Brough, T Dale, C Gallacher.
GUEST SPEAKERS: - Jane Finnemore, PC.D. Woodward
GUESTS :- Clr S Burgess, Clr D Richards, Clr L Griffiths, Clr P Crank. Mr R Burns, Mrs T Evans.
RESIDENTS: - 24
TOTAL ATTENDANCE: - 39
APOLOGIES: - Paul & Sue Fisher, Hazel & Peter Hammond, John & Carol Brammer, Tony & Helen Mottram.
WELCOME/INTRODUCTION – Chairman – Mr G Sutton
Chairman opened the meeting and thanked all members for joining tonight’s meeting, expressed particular thanks to our Guest Speakers – Jane Finnemore and PC David Woodward and also expressed thanks to Local Councillors for joining us tonight.
Chairman then covered the following points:-
AGENDA
PC David Woodward – Guest Speaker
Jane Finnemore – Re-cycling – Guest Speaker
Refreshment break - 8.15 pm
Residents Issues and concerns
Close of Meeting and Raffle draw.
CLOUGH HALL SCHOOL.
As part of their Community Involvement Programme, after Easter, and providing there is sufficient interest, the School intend to introduce a basic computer skills course, this will involve 1 hour per week and this course will be free. Some of the senior pupils at the School will be involved with the training.The course will be BASIC and will cover:-
• How to Log On and Off
• How to produce a letter
• How to use spreadsheets
• How to use the Internet
• E Mails, how to send and receive
• How to use PowerPoint
Most residents with computers will be highly skilled, some, may not be, some, may be considering purchasing a computer but wish to know more prior to spending money. This course is free; it will be useful for the School and Residents.
Anyone interested, please give details to Chris Brough who will liaise with the School.
JOINT FORUM
Following the success of last year’s joint forum we have organised another for 2008. Again this will be organised by CHRA and the Newcastle based 50+ Forum.
This joint forum will be held at Clough Hall School on Thursday 22nd May starting at 6.30pm. The Topic will be “Council Tax – IsItFair”. There will be speakers from the West Midlands Tax Payers Alliance (Fiona McEvoy) and Councillors Robin Studd, Sylvia Butler and Simon Tagg are invited to form a panel to answer any questions. This will be an Open Meeting, should be very interesting!
POLICE.
• DROP IN. Kidsgrove Police will be hosting a “Drop In” on Wednesday the 13th February, between 10.00am and 4,00pm in Clough Hall Park. This is in response to some negative comments from our Group, comments feeding back from the PAG and Planning for Real. Chairman reminded members that in terms of Anti Social Behaviour, in respect of incidents in the Park, during the last 2 years, there have been big improvements, due largely to prompt actions by our local Neighbourhood Police Team.
• UNIT AT JUNCTION OF HOLLINWOOD/LOWER ASH ROAD
A number of Residents have mentioned they have seen Fire Engines (3times) at this facility during the past four weeks. The Fire Service has made contact with the owner, it is privately owned, and have arranged for him to attend with them to improve the boarding up. Chairman understands this work recently completed.
COMMUNITY NOTICE BOARD.
This initiative comes from the PAG Group, welcomed by our Residents Group and Planning for Real. This will be sited within the near future either in the grounds of the Fire Station or the Butt Lane Community Centre. CHRA will make good use of this, publishing Meeting dates and any item which will be of interest to the Community.
COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER
Chairman understands that there is the intention to re-introduce this fairly soon. Again we welcome this and when applicable will include articles of Community interest. It is hoped the first edition will incorporate an article on the subject of Fly Tipping and Fly Posting.
TALKE PITS RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
Chairman confirmed that the Talke Group had now closed down, due to being unable to form a working Committee. Graham advised that he had enjoyed a good working relationship with this Group during the past 2 years, in particular with the Chairman Charlie Neeson and their Secretary Tina Evans, both of them have been very helpful to our Group in Clough Hall. Our Committee have welcomed Tina to our Group who we have no doubt will help us greatly with our future activities.
GRANT REQUESTS
Chairman confirmed that several requests for Grants had recently been made to cover items such as:-
General running costs
Purchase of a microphone
Purchase of a lap top computer, projector, screen and laser printer
Development costs involved in creating our own Web Site.
2008 SPEAKERS
Our next Residents Meeting will be on Tuesday 19th February 2008, Hollinwood Sheltered Housing – 7.15pm for prompt 7.30pm start. Guest Speakers will be:-
Cath Wholers – Trading Standards ---- Damien Flynn – Beat the Cold.
At this point Graham handed over to our 1st Guest Speaker:-
PC David Woodward – Provided information on the following items-
• Vehicles for Sale in Boathorse Road -
Kidsgrove- no legislation information available on SCC Website, has researched information from other County Council Websites, will keep monitoring the situation.
• Drop In/Street Meeting/Surgery -
Will be held in Clough Hall Park on Wednesday the 13th February, from 10.00am until 4.00pm, two PCSO’S will be available to meet the Public. Crime preventation information will be available.
• NAN Scheme -
PC Woodward urged Residents to sign up to the Nominate A Neighbour scheme, particularly in the light of recent Neighbourhood Watch information which appears to indicate that Bogus Officials have been active in the area, Beech Drive and Clough Hall Road were mentioned. The bogus officials are travelling round in a Van with NIG printed on the side and purport to represent The National Grid!
• Crime -
A number of break in’s have occurred in our Area recently, two in Park Avenue, two in Clough Hall Road, Beechwood Vets and the Nursing Home by the Job Centre in Kidsgrove. Be vigilant, don’t leave doors unlocked at any time, be careful, and be safe. Also, PC Woodward urged Residents not to buy at the Door.
• Kidsgrove News
Kidsgrove Police do include a monthly update of points of interest to the Community.
• ADCIS ( Alcohol & Drugs Services )
Residents were advised that ADCIS are now known as T3. Contact numbers will appear in the next edition of the Kidsgrove News.
• GENERAL INFORMATION.
More Officers will be deployed on Friday evenings, Operation PSA1 will run throughout February.
• KEY RINGS
Our Residents Group would like to thank PC Woodward for the Key Rings and Crime Stoppers bands, our Members have taken good advantage of these.
Chairman thanked PC Woodward for his interesting and informative talk.
Chairman then introduced our second Guest Speaker –
Jane Finnemore - Environmental Officer – Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.
Jane updated our Group with proposed service changes for the collection of refuse, recycling and garden waste.
Currently we have a three fold service, weekly refuse collection, a two week garden waste collection and a two weekly “Blue Box” collection.
There are going to be changes, resulting from issues raised by Residents and Government targets for Re-Cycling, the Government targets are important, if targets are not fulfilled – Fines will be made if Standards and Targets are not met.
The Borough have created a working party who are looking at achieving a Recycling Target of 50% by 2020.
There are planned changes for Spring 2009 which will involve the following :-
More kerbside collection, expanding the existing fortnightly service collecting paper, glass bottles, cans and textiles for recycling by adding major streams of plastic bottles and cardboard, dry batteries, mobile phones, spectacles & printer cartridges.
Weekly collection of food waste. Around 15/20% of the existing wheelie bin contents is food waste that can be turned into useful energy if collected separately. Residents will have a POT to put food waste into and then transfer into the wheelie bin, this will be used to make a high grade compost, liquid fertilizer, electricity for the National Grid.
Increased garden waste collections and reduced frequency of collecting residual waste.
Collection of residual waste from wheelie bins will continue until facilities are in place
(as above) to reduce the contents of bins by at least 50%. When householders no longer need to put food waste or recyclable materials in the wheelie bins, collection frequency can be reduced to fortnightly. This will release vehicles and staff to increase the green waste collection service to all homes with gardens.
Jane confirmed that these changes will not result in any increase in Council Tax, and, also advised that when all the above is in place The Borough Council Waste and Recycling facilities will be operating a Gold Standard service.
The next Cabinet meeting will be held in February, more information will be then available and Jane confirmed she will keep us informed of any relevant information.
In response to a question from the floor, Jane confirmed that currently low energy light bulbs cannot be recycled, but they can be safely disposed of at Lycett.
Graham thanked Jane for an excellent informative talk and during the 15 minutes refreshment break, Jane fielded a number of questions from Members
Chairman then opened the second half of the Meeting to Members to take account of any issues and concerns they currently have.
A LISTING OF RESIDENTS CONCERNS IS ATTACHED
Chairman then ensured the Raffle was drawn, thanked all for attending, wished everyone a Happy New Year and closed the Meeting.
Graham Sutton – Chairman………………………………………………………………
Jan 08