Minutes of Meeting of Thursday 21st July 2007

NEWTOWN AREA RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION

HELD 21 JUNE 2007 AT WESLEY ROAD CLUB AT 8:00PM

Attending: Fran Markotic, Claudia Huwald, Drew Thomas, Sue Gibbs, Di Jones, Gill Curl, Eileen Haswell, Graham Hedley (District & Town Cllr), Clive Blackmore (Town Councillor), Douglas Chisholm, Linda Conley (Portfolio Holder Environment).

Apologies: Steve Cladingboel, Mark McLauchlan, Nicola Horrell

FM chaired, CH took the minutes.

The minutes from previous meeting were approved without amendment.

N.B. – PLEASE SEE THE END OF THESE MINUTES FOR ACTIONS REQUIRED to get things done.

Rose’s Bakery – GH e-mailed Graeme Lawes about the huge pile of rubbish at Rose’s. GL cleaned it up himself. Improvements have been noted since then. GL is trying to get £300 from Andy Powell, the landlord, to pay for an industrial size bin, but AP is currently out of the country, so money is not forthcoming. It’s difficult for tenants to get rid of their rubbish when they move in / out as they often only stay for a short time.

Linda Conley – LC took over the role as Portfolio Holder Environment on 3rd May 2007.
Central government has put big pressure on councils to increase recycling. Waste disposal / recycling are very expensive and noone wants to pay more money for it. We cannot return to weekly collections, so we have to try to make the best of our two-bin collection system and educate people. LC is trying to sort out the “mess” that we are in, but there is no one solution that fits all. She has had 700 e-mails from West Wiltshire residents and she is trying to keep a 2 way conversation going in order to sort out the problem. She realises that Newtown Area is a specifically difficult area because of the access problems, which is why she came to the meeting to hear our opinions. FM explained about the survey that was carried out in Newtown and that we have not had a lot of feedback from this. LC explained that there are now 2 enforcement officers at the council, who are particularly targeting flytipping. Many bring sites have been converted from paper & glass bottles to cardboard & plastic bottles. There are currently 30 sites, which are emptied three times per week (enormous volume) and still swamped. District Council is working hard to catch up and slowly coming on top of it. LC is trying to create a bring site in Newtown, maybe in Wesley Road Club carpark, but there are access problems. A review will be published in October. The two-bin system works well in some areas but there will be others that can’t be part of the majority scheme. However, LC pointed out that each exception causes its own problems. There followed a general discussion about the situation. Many people want to recycle, but some still don’t flatten their tins or plastic bottles or cannot get to bring sites. Many counties have smaller black bins to reduce the amount of landfill rubbish. It was commented that volume of landfill would be reduced if plastic bottles were collected, but as was mentioned before, this is not possible due to the volume and related increased use of fuel for transport. Plastic bottles can be recycled at some bring sites and at the Canal Road recycling centre (only PET2). LC explained that the District Council is the collection authority, but the County Council is the disposal authority and responsible for collection of recycling. District Council can’t always get their way. They try to lobby businesses to avoid creation of plastic waste in the first place. As long as we all keep buying stuff that can’t be recycled it’ll have to go into landfill. It would have to be central government that makes retailers take back any excessive packaging. People mentioned that they find general rubbish (e.g. plastic bag) in their green bins that they didn’t put in themselves, so bin men won’t take the green bins. Question was asked why bin men can’t, in such cases, just remove the single plastic bag and take the rest, rather than leave the whole lot. LC will do a day on each of the collection rounds to see the problems that the bin men come up against. She thinks they face a lot of problems themselves and probably can’t be expected to sort through people’s rubbish while trying to do their rounds.

West Wilts Show (Thursday 26- Saturday 28 July) – We have received details from Toun Council. Our stand is right opposite the entrance, next to seating area. There will be a separate meeting of those who are organising the stand. Outfit needed for Monica, the mannequin. Tasks to do at the stand: Talk to people about our area, out meetings, that they are a chance to meet the councillors etc. PR for Newtown and NARA.

Newsletter –Unfortunately didn’t print very well but was delivered.

Carboot Sale in Wesley Road Club Car Park – We would still need organisers for this.
[Comment since meeting: Would we need public liability insurance for this??]

Front Garden Fiesta – Prizes so far: Bottle of wine from corner shop in Gloucester Road, Voucher for cut and blow dry from haidresser in Waterworks Road, Voucher from Lock Inn Café in Bradford on Avon. More prizes are needed. FM still to contact Airsprung, CH to speak to landlord of Hope & Anchor. Next year we should try to organise prizes earlier so we could advertise them in the newsletter.

Drains – GH enquired if there were any problems during recent heavy rains. He had gone through Newtown Area on Bank Holiday Monday and listed all the blocked drains to Clarence. Noone had noticed any since then, but he urged anyone who does in future to report them to Clarence and let him know as well. If it’s one that he had reported before he will follow it up with them.

Road Sweeping – Some people have noticed that road sweeping vehicle had come round the area twice on early on Sunday mornings, when all the cars were parked on the street. This can’t be very effective and is probably expensive due to weekend working. GH advised that it’s the County Council’s responsibility, they contract West Wiltshire District Council, who in turn contract third party. If the latter want to do this on a Sunday morning there it’s their decision. GH is involved in review of road cleanliness.

The meeting closed at approx. 9:00pm
NEXT MEETINGS:
THURSDAY 26 JULY 2007
THURSDAY 20 SEPT 2007
THURSDAY 25 OCTOBER 2007
THURSDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2007
13 DECEMBER 2007
24 JANUARY 2008

Useful numbers

When street drains are blocked and causing flooding, 0800 23 23 23

If you see anyone flytipping, contact Graeme Lawes on 01225 776655 or email on glawes@westwiltshire.gov.uk as soon as you can, so that the tipper may be caught and, given sufficient evidence, prosecuted.

PCSO Mike Caine can be reached on 0845 408 7000 and email mike.caine@wiltshire.pnn.police.uk

Fran Markotic, NARA Secretary & nominal Chair 01225 710457 fran.jason@btinternet.com

ACTIONS

West Wilts Show – MM/DT/FM to prepare leaflets and posters and arrange an easel or board upon which things can be displayed. Separate meeting to be held of those who are organising the stand.

Fiesta prizes - FM to speak to AirSprung - unless someone else would be willing? CH to collect voucher from hairdresser’s in Waterworks Road and to speak to Hope & Anchor landlord.

Front Garden Fiesta – Can everyone please keep their eyes open and tell SC if they want to suggest a garden they particularly like.

Speakers FM is to remind Rev. Andrew Budzynski of the Polish Church (operating closely with the Polish Club) in Waterworks Road about speaking at September’s meeting, as he cannot attend in July. SC to contact Graeme Lawes

NARA Meetings – Please display posters in your front windows to make people aware that meetings take place

Accounts – no transactions took place in last financial year but accounts still need to be audited. CH to organise.

NOTE - Outstanding topic of discussion from meeting held on 24 May: “Eileen suggested we start a campaign with schools, whose students make so much of a mess and often put plastic etc rubbish in green bins along the roads. SC thought this a good idea and this will be raised again next meeting to see how it could be done. “