Crossgate Community Partnership: Minutes

Minutes of the meeting, 3rd February 2026

1. Attendance

Roger Cornwell (in the Chair), Joan Adams, Lesley Aers, Gillian Banks, Robert Banks, Simon Priestley, David Ramsden, Malcolm Reed, Jean Rogers, Ann Stokes, Rachel Toes, Sarah Wilkinson,
Cllr Carole Lattin.

2. Apologies for absence

were received from: Eather Ashby, Morag K Crichton, Ann Evans, Chris Hugill, Joe Witherspoon,
Dinah Patt (Hild / Bede College)
Cllr Victoria Ashfield, Cllr Liz Brown, Cllr Grenville Holland.

3. Minutes

The minutes of the January meeting were approved as a correct record.

4. Hild / Bede College update

Dinah Patt had e-mailed with her apologies, and to confirm that although she had nothing in particilar to report, she would always welcome queries.

5. Introduction of food waste collection

Bob Banks had raised this topic, as he was concerned about how the scheme would operate: some of his questions were answered by the page on the County Council's website, others by the response from Cllr Liz Brown. Liz has organised officers from Strategic Waste to come out and give a talk on how the food waste collections will work. This will take place at Merryoaks Community Centre at 7.00 pm on Tuesday 24th of February. Jean Rogers stressed that there was a need for Strategic Waste to learn from residents about local issues (she was not reassured by the website's statement that "the external caddy will be collected weekly from where you place your existing refuse and recycling bin"). Roger had learned from Liz that we would not be among the first areas where the scheme was introduced. Members were encouraged to attend the briefing meeting, and it was agreed that this item should be included on the agenda for the CCP's March meeting.

6. Parish mewsletter

A link to the published newsletter had previously been circulated.

a) Cllr Carole Lattin expanded on the Council's campaign on parking at UHND: as predicted, building work at Melbury Court and the loss of parking spaces there had reduced the already inadequate parking supply to crisis point: patients are missing appointments because they cannot find parking spaces, and cars are being left by the roadside and in neighbouring streets.She and Cllr Grenville Holland are fronting the Parish Council's campaign to find a resolution to this problem. They were arguing for an extension to the Park and Ride scheme with a dedicated stop for the hospital, but were also looking for other suggestions. Roger explained that the demolition of Dryburn Hall (although this was in itself unwelcome) was intended to provide additional parking space, as well as a new A & E department; Sarah Wilkinson has noticed that the old County Hall car park seemed to be providing some temporary space, and asked whether this could be formalised; Simon Priestley pointed out that in the 1990s there had been a deliberate choice not to meet the demand for parking, to encourage the use of public transport. The meeting expressed support for the Parish Council campaign.

b) Proposed redevelopment of the Prince Bishops' shopping centre: there was to be a further consultation on the (revised) proposal. All were entitled to attend, and Roger would do so.

c) Plans for the Chinese New Year were discussed, and the call for volunteers to make lanterns was noted. The meeting hoped that an organised fireworks show would indeed discourage the multiple noisy displays that had taken place last year.

d) The Neighbourhood Wardens' Report included in the Newsletter had been discussed at our previous meeting.

7. Reports from Parish Councillors

a) Carole had circulated a written report at the last minute. She particularly invited input to the Environment Committee's proposed scheme to announce a Student Landlord of the Year. This was a response the the 'Rate My Landlord' app which invited students to rate their own landlord on a number of criteria, which produced some results which did not correspond to the residents' experience. The aim was to produce a counterbalanced evaluation. The Environment Committee was resisting some of her ideas, and the CCP also saw some problems in the proposals.

b) Roger gave a verbal report:

A planning application for a house in Mistletoe Street claimed to be enlarging a bedroom, but the room was not currently large enough to be let legally; members were also sceptical about the proposed open-plan downstairs.;
An application to convert the former Carphone Warehouse in Silver Street into a cocktail bar included permission to place tables on the pavement outside; the Parish had at least pushed the application back to the framework hours;
the Revolution bar chain has gone bust.

8. Other business

Gillian Banks reported that a problem with noise at night (actually caused by a visitor to her student neighbours) had been amicably resolved by use of a well-worded note through the door.

9 Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be on Thursday 5th March 2026.