Wilford
Community Group
Minutes of the committee meeting
held
on Monday 14th November 2005
at
Wilford Social and Bowls Club
Present: Brian Hardy (BH) Chairman
Bill
Roughton (BR) Vice
Chairman
Sheila
Atherton (SA) Treasurer
Stephanie
Taylor (ST)
Frank
Wakelin (FW)
Kate
Clark (KC)
Guest: Sergeant Phil Matthews,
Nottinghamshire Police with responsibility for managing
beat officers in Wilford, Silverdale and on the Clifton Estate.
Sergeant Matthews (PM) had kindly
agreed to attend the meeting to discuss various matters raised by the
Committee, in particular concerns about burglaries, off-road bikes and the
school travel plan. He began, however,
by mentioning the road accident figures we had previously discussed following
CA’s investigations on the Group’s behalf.
PM reiterated that all accident figures go to the records department who
consult with road layout planners. Any
fatality always triggers a Highways Agency investigation and any changes to
road layout are usually the result of an accumulation of accidents. Despite difficulties for traffic in turning
right at the traffic lights at the top of Main Road and some speeding motorists
on the A453 between there and the Silverdale roundabout there had only
been a small number of accidents over
the years, and not enough problems to justify a costly alteration. 30 mph reminder signs are not required by
law and will not be put in place.
Burglaries: Groups members were concerned that there
seemed to have been an increase in the number of dwelling house burglaries in
Wilford in recent weeks. PM
acknowledged that burglaries are usually committed in spates. He had addressed
this problem by putting all available staff on night duty recently to try to
put a stop to it. One burglar had been caught in relation to burglaries that
Group members were specially aware of but, overall, burglaries in PM’s area of
responsibility were down by 67% in comparison with the first six months of the
previous year. Crime of all kinds was
down by 18% over the whole area and in Wilford/Silverdale crime was down by
27.6%. PM did note, however, that the
reduction had followed a rise in crime last year when resources had been
withdrawn and used in another way. He
told the group that there were around 50 burglaries a year in Wilford but that
“a fair proportion” of these were break-ins to sheds and garages, not dwelling
house burglaries. Recorded crime in
Wilford from 1.10.04 – 30.9.05 was down from 400 to 300 incidents. The largest number of crimes are thefts from
motor vehicles, shoplifting and drive-offs from petrol garages. Most are committed by people who do not live
in the area but who drive round the Ring Road from Broxtowe. A few are committed by people crossing the
bridge from The Meadows area. There are
very few violent crimes in Wilford every year and it is generally regarded as a
low crime area. However, PM urged
residents to take basic steps such as having a curtain over shed windows, using
covered screws that cannot be so easily removed, locking house doors even in
the summer and keeping keys, wallets etc. upstairs. All these things mean the potential burglar needs more time to
find what he wants and could deter. Most burglaries are opportunistic and are
often committed during the day. He also asked that we continue to provide
information to the police, even apparently trivial things that may, in fact,
help them to identify offenders. PM
also recommended that residents put their postcode on all valuable household
goods so that recovered items can be returned to their owner. He also recommended a website MEND.co.uk
which will register your mobile telephone number so that it can be disabled if
reported stolen.
Motorbikes: PM highlighted three main
areas of concern
BH asked why
Neighbourhood Wardens finish at 10.00 p.m.
PM said that they are employed by the Council not the Police and that
paying them for night work is expensive.
If they worked all night we would probably only have 2 Wardens rather
than 4. In any case much of the
reported rime is committed during the day.
School
traffic:
PM said that Wilford’s problems in relation to the congestion around
school start and finish times is common around all schools. He said it would not be an offence to put
stickers on leaflets on cars asking drivers to park more considerately but
suggested consultation with the school before taking such action. He warned against any kind of confrontation
and thought leaflets could contain a simple road safety message in relation to
children. He noted too that such
efforts usually have only a short-term effect and would need to be repeated.
The Group thanks PM very much for
his time and contribution. It was also
pointed out to him that we are very happy with the consistent help given to
residents by PC Nigel Brown
At 9.00 p.m. Sergeant Matthews left
and the Committee Meeting began.
1
Apologies
Chris Allsopp (CA), Roger
Steel (RS), Brian Clark (BC), Jonathan Shewell Cooper (JSC)
2
Minutes of previous
meeting (10th October 2005)
Approved subject to the
following amendments:
3b to read “BR will
invite Diane Topple to a future meeting”
5 para 3 to read “A
resident has contacted the Group with regard to speeding on Main Road”
6 Action on SA to pursue
reduced cost insurance.
3
Review Outstanding
Actions Action
a.
School Transport
Carried
forward – BR to invite Diane Topple to a future meeting. BR
b.
Boundary Change
Carry forward DB
c.
Top Up Grant
SA reported that there
will be no refund on our insurance after all when we
Transfer to the Council’s
scheme. She will continue to pursue and grant
application form. SA
d.
Ferry Licence Panel Meeting
The meeting was attended
by committee members – see 8 below.
e.
Speed Limits on Clifton Lane
See above.
f.
Invite Police to a
meeting
See above
g.
Committee Members Website
Photographs
FW
will arrange a mutually convenient time with BR to have his photograph
taken near a Wilford landmark. BR
h.
Insurance
See
above.
i.
Neighbourhood Wardens
Carried forward. DB
4.
Chairman’s Report
BH thanked group members for good
attendance at Eastcroft last time and reiterated
how informative the evening had been.
BH has written to Christine Dyer,
Assistant Director of Libraries suggesting 3 possible
dates for attending a committee
meeting.
RS had
requested that more keys be cut for the Notice Board but BH says we have
plenty. Members had noticed that the board outside
the Co-op was in a bad and dirty
state
with some graffiti. Co-op staff had
kindly tried to clean it up but it is the
responsibility
of the City Council to clean or replace it.
DB will write to Dave Stretton
to see
if anything can be done. DB
BH
had received a letter from Dave Ball of the History Society in relation to a
locally born pirate, John
Dean, who is buried in Wilford Cemetery.
It is the 25th
anniversary of the
Society in 2007 and he wondered if the WCG would like to get
involved in shipping two
cannon taken from John Dean’s sunken ship in Maine, USA,
back to Wilford. We need to know much more about this and the
possible costs
involved. Will Maine be contributing, for
example? BH will find out more. BH
5.
Secretary’s Report
John Lee had emailed DB about
motorbikes on footpaths etc. but he had been
unable
to attend our meeting. DB took the
point seriously about not restricting
wheelchair
users’ access to footpaths. BR said
that he would contact a wheelchair
bound
local resident to see if wheelchair access through the motorcycle inhibitor
barriers
is possible.
DB
had written to the Head of Emmanuel School re stone-throwing and received a
letter
back which declined to comment on a particular case because the
police
were involved. The Head had agreed to
attend one of WCG’s meetings and it
was
agreed it would be a good idea if she could come on the same occasion as
Diane
Topple so we could discuss the school travel plan.
DB
informed committee that further correspondence had been received objecting
to
the David Wilson development but as the plan had been approved, there was
nothing
the committee could do.
6.
Treasurer’s Report
SA requested that the raffle licence be
renewed. This was agreed unanimously.
Cheryll
Rawling (Tenant and Resident Officer) says we could apply for a running costs
grant
and an event grant. The WCG could get a
grant for a ‘Fun Day’ with street
performers
but this would need to be done very soon.
Forms have not yet arrived.
Various
opinions were expressed about the nature of the annual open event and some
Wanted
to keep its low-key approach.
Cheryll
is setting up residents meetings which may or may not be relevant for WCG
members
to attend. Officers of the Groups are invited.
The
WCG bank balance remains the same. FW
noted that the Silverdale Community
Group
had £15,000 in their ‘kitty’. Although
the WCG doesn’t need those kind of funds
he
suggested it might be useful to keep some of the money we raise for the group
to
use
as necessary.
7.
Summer 2006 Event Meeting
Agenda
There was a lengthy discussion about
which charity should be supported next year.
Suggested
organizations to support were:
·
Guide Dogs for the Blind
·
Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance
· Red Cross
· St. John Ambulance
· Motor Neurone Disease
· Alterations to the Church Hall for disabled
access
Information about the
first three were presented to the committee. No information had been received
in respect of a revised plan for disabled access to the Church Hall so this
could not be considered. It was agreed unanimously that the Lincolnshire and
Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance would be the first choice, subject to them being
able to provide support on the day to manage the Open Gardens admissions.
One
local resident had suggested we ask Gleeds to support the event in some way.
KC
reported that Collins Cash & Carry will donate a big prize and Boots will
contribute too. SA stated that it is important that we make
sure any organization donating to the event knows that some of the money raised
will stay with the WCG.
It
was agreed the KC will buy stamps and envelopes to send to raffle prize donors
up
to
£20.
8.
Ferry Inn Licensing Panel
Meeting
BH
and DB had attended the meeting as representatives of the WCG and FW attended
as
an independent resident. It had been an
interesting and fair hearing. The Brewery seemed very unprofessional,
being unaware of the details of
their
blanket application. There was no
record of any problems with their pubs and the
licence
for extended opening was duly granted.
Technically, they can remain open
until
1.00 0r 1.30 a.m. with unlimited drinking-up time (although FW thought 30
minutes
had
been agreed for drinking-up. In
addition, the pub must display clear notices asking
customers
to respect local residents, close doors and windows at 10.00 p.m. when their
is
live music, close the beer garden at 10.00 p.m., refrain from disposing of
empties until
after
10.00 a.m. and make sure all children are out by 9.30 p.m. The Landlord has the
right
to appeal and so do residents. It was
agreed that we should see how things go and
whether
there is increased noise or disturbance.
9.
Planning Application –
The Old Vicarage
BH
and DB had attended a site meeting four weeks ago with some other
residents. DB
had
sent a copy of his letter expressing the Group’s views to the City Council and
to
a local resident who had
requested a copy. The owner of the
Rectory will also get a copy if it is requested
The meeting closed at 11.00 p.m.
Approved……Brian Hardy……….(Chairman)
Date………12th December
2005………….