Crossgate Community Partnership: Minutes
Minutes of the meeting Monday 1st February 2016
- 1. Attendance
- Present: Roger Cornwell (in the Chair), Lesley Aers, Alan Doig, Ann Evans, Jackie Levitas, Ann Lockhart, Brendan McKeown, Jean Rogers, Kevin Turrington,
Councillor Nigel Martin,
Special Constable Mark Reay.
- 2. Apologies for absence:
- were received from Liz Brown, Mike Costello, Cllr Grenville Holland, Clare Wright
- 3. PACT (Police And Communities Together) Session
- a) A written report was received from PCSO Rebecca Carey; this showed 2 burglaries and one attempted burglary of student premises in the "viaduct" area, cycle thefts from University campuses and 3 thefts of purses and 13 thefts from shops in the City.
- b) Students/ASB:
- 6 house parties, 1 Community Protection Notice issued and 1 further notice to be issued the following day, 1 Community Protection Warning issued with a further 3 to be issued the following day. (4 in the Crossgate area).
- 36 alcohol seizures
- 2 alcohol audits carried out with drunken students to make them more aware of the dangers of alcohol.
- The beat team have been working half nights at the beginning of term to prevent house parties occurring.
- c) The report also passed on an update from the Street Warden: work continued on litter and refuse. There is evidence of use of domestic bins for commercial waste in Neville Street; this is contrary to the Environmental Protection Act.
- d) Information had been sent to members about Community Speedwatch - possibly in Margery Lane.
- e) Priorities remain unchanged: dangerous cycling, student behaviour and combatting burglary by better security.
- f) Special Constable Mark Reay introduced himself to the meeting and hoped to attend in future. He agreed to refer an incident of dangerous cycling on an electric powered monocycle to the Beat Team. Members suggested that the "cyclists please dismount" notices should be more prominent.
- 4. The minutes of the previous meeting (which included the AGM)
- were agreed as a correct record.
- 5. Companions' Club / Ainsley Street development
- A number of members had attended an on site consultation on this proposal. The additional conditions were welcomed but there were concerns about the external design and the impact of building work during and after construction. It was also suggested that enforcement of the conditions might be a problem.
The meeting agreed that members would support the use of S.106 moneys to restore the Flass Well and the road and steps leading to Flass Street. Flass Well as a historic site should qualify as a work of art.
- 6. County Hospital appeal
- The outcome of the appeal is not yet known. It was agreed that the conduct of the DCC at the hearing was unacceptable. Cllr Nigel Martin had referred the views of local residents to the Monitoring Office (Colette Longbottom). She had responded that DCC staff had believed that the only matter at issue was a S 106 agreement and so had not been prepared for questions which were put to them. This was greeted as incredible by the meeting.
The meeting agreed that there should be a formal complaint, possibly eventually to the Ombudsman. As a complaint to the Ombudsman could be made only after all internal procedures had been completed, it was agreed that once the outcome of the appeal was known, and if that outcome was in favour of the appellants, Jackie Levitas and Kevin Turrington would commence the complaints procedure against DCC.
- 7. Letting Boards: Voluntary Code of Practice
- There was an improvement (ie a reduction) in the letting boards in Lambton Street but the future plans by the DCC were uncertain.
- 8. University / Community issues
- The matter of the Student Contract had been raised with the University and a response was awaited. Nigel had requested a meeting with the new Vice Chancellor and had been given a date in April.
- 9. Reports from Local Councillors
- Nigel was investigating the occupation levels of the Village at the Viaduct. It was clear from informal sources that it was not full. Also the ownership of the site seemed to have changed but the current ownership is not known. It appears that the policy of the owners is to sell individual units as investment products.
- 10. Other Business
- DCC appeared to have deleted documents from the EIP files.
- The Article 4 Directive was likely to be approved at the March Council Meeting and the PBSA policy would also be considered in March.
- 11. Date of next meeting
- The next meeting will be on Tuesday 1st March 2016.