Crossgate Community Partnership: Minutes

Minutes of the meeting, 6th March 2025

1. Attendance: Roger Cornwell (in the Chair), Lesley Aers, Emma Backhouse, Ann Evans, Chris Hugill, Sheila Knowles, Andrew Moore, Pat Mussett, Simon Priestley, David Ramsden, Jean Rogers, Alan Shearer, Ann Stokes, Lucy Szablewska, Rachel Toes, David Toll, Judi Webb, Sarah Wilkinson, Joe Witherspoon,
Sam Cooper (JCR President), Dinah Patt (Hild / Bede Liaison Officer),
Cllr Esther Ashby,
Cllr Liz Brown.; Roger Cornwell welcomed all those present to our first meeting in the new venue of the Hild/Bede JCR; he particularly welcomed our hosts, Dinah Patt and Sam Cooper.
2. Apologies for absence: were received from: Joan Adams, Gillian Banks, Robert Banks, Morag Crichton, Alastair Edge, Vicky Mattless, Brendan McKeon, Malcolm Reed
Cllr Victoria Ashfield, Cllr Grenville Holland, Cllr Carole Lattin.
3. Minutes: The minutes of the February meeting were approved as a correct record.
4. Hild / Bede College update: Dinah Patt, Hild / Bede Liaison Officer, reported that community engagement projects were making good progress. Hild / Bede were now in a position to sign up mentors for the peer mentoring project, and were ready to start looking at the Shakespeare project (this is a national project in schools, which starts next year). They were also working with the City Theatre. A new chaplain was in the process of being approved, and would be in charge of volunteering. A public opening social was being planned, and community groups were warmly invited to make use of the new building as a venue, or simply to make use of the café,
5 Virtual Parking Permits: Cllr Liz Brown apologised that she had mislaid an e-mail, and had not yet organised a meeting between residents and those at DCC responsible for the scheme: if people still wanted this, it could be arranged. However, reports suggested that after initial teething problems, the scheme was now running more smoothly: for example, the rrquirement for proof of residence to be produced every month had now been dropped. Roger and Liz would liaise about whether there were issues outstanding.
6. Parking in front gardens: A letter had been received (and circulated) from the Parish Clerk seeking feedback to help preserve the character and greenery of the streets in our parish: they are particularly concerned about the increasing loss of front gardens to the creation of hardstanding parking areas. Cllr Esther Ashby explained that the Parish Planning and Licensing Committee was seeing increasing applications for development which would lead to a demand for parking, and wanted to know whether this was being used as a solution. The meeting asked how far the Article 4 Directive went to protect gardens, but it was felt that even where this protection did apply, it was not being enforced. Individual members were asked to send their information to Adam, and Roger would also write expressing the general support of the CCP.
7. Planning application DM/24/03297/FPA: 9 HMOs (52 bedroom) at Rowanwood, Clay Lane: A previous planning application to demolish Rowanwood, off Clay Lane, and replace it with ten student HMOs in three blocks, was withdrawn; a new application has now been submitted for nine (reduced from the previous 10) HMOs containing a total of 52 bedrooms. Andrew Moore, who lives in Briardene, pointed out that this would produced 48 windows overlooking his house. Lesley Aers emphasised that road access from Clay Lane was difficult and dangerous: there should be no increase in traffic, and therefore to provision for car parking in any development. Ann Evans argued that such a cluster of homes should be treated as a single PBSA, and Jean Rogers added that while this was apparently not the current rule, we should be campaigning for a change of rules to make it so.
Simon Priestley argued that the CCP should add its objection to those of other bodies, and would do so as secretary; individual objections were also encouraged, ahead of the closing date of 24th March.
8. Report from County Councillor: Liz is already campaigning for re-election.
The subcontractor had admitted that the cladding had been fitted incorrectly to the Bus Station. This was now being rectified at the subcontractor's expense
9. Reports from Parish Councillors: a) A written report had been circulated from Cllrs John Ashby and Victoria Ashfield.; b) Esther reported that the Parish was seeking a change in national policy to add a fifth licensing objective, addressing the health impact of licensed premises.
An application from Houghall College to demolish and rebuild had been granted by the previous day's Planning Committee: this was in the Green Belt, and also very disappointing in design terms
Dasha Murphy, the University's Community Liaison Manager, was re-examining the University's code of standards for Livers Out, this is a document which dates back to 2014, and its language was in need of revision.; c) As a Parish Councillor, Liz was pleased to see the bulbs which had been planted starting to come up; but she was concerned that DCC had been spraying weedkiller around the bases of trees.
The Parish Clerk was very excited about the forthcoming royal visit (for the distribution of Maundy Money), and was trying to persuade city centre shops to decorate themselves in red, white and blue.
10 Date of next meeting: The next meeting will be on Tuesday 1st April 2025.