TMSTH Area Forum Meeting - 27th October 2016

Present: Cllrs. Clarke, Borthwick, Adams, and Weinhonig

1st speaker: Matt Sargent, Green Goals, Bournemouth Borough Council

The Green Goals programme is a start-up fund for environmental projects.

Following his talk, questions were taken from the audience:

Q. Does Green Goals provide any money for project running costs once set up?
A. Green Goals is for start-up funding only. It might be useful to seek out local business sponsorship for further help.

Cllr. Borthwick: The Local Improvement Fund may be able to help. Contact your local councillor.

Q. Can Green Goals approach local secondary schools to help reduce the amount of litter found at Curlew Way and the top of East Way?
A. They should look at working with secondary schools but they have not done so up to now.
A member of the audience thanked the Stour Valley Volunteers for their work.

2nd speaker: Brenda Moore, Strouden Park Community Centre

Brenda Moore said she would like to encourage people to volunteer at the centre which has been going since 1986 (started by Tony Avery and Paul Reynard). The Lunch Club has been going successfully for 25 years and people on community service help out at the centre. There is a Whist Club (Thursdays) and an indoor Kurling Club. They host events such as the recent 'Gardens in Bloom' day.

The Centre was rebuilt in 2012 and is on the corner of Vanguard and Bradpole Road. It has solar panels and a heat source pump and has three large rooms, one of which can be divided into two. The three people running the Centre are Brenda Moore, Michael Law and Gerry Winnick. Local councillors have been very supportive, but it is regretted that the Police no longer hold drop-in meetings.

Q. Is the hall available for hire?
A. Yes, visit the Council's website.

Q. Are the Scouts still there?
A. No, they’ve moved to Strouden Chapel.

Q. How are you doing financially?
A. Finances are healthy. The Community Centre is a charity and pays a peppercorn rent to the Council. They must pay for all repairs. However, there is a separate maintenance fund. Talbot Trust and Chase Manhattan have helped in the past e.g. providing computers.

Evenings are quite busy, but daytime less so.

3rd speaker Cllr. Weinhonig:

1. As regards the proposals for Dorset Councils' amalgamation, a high number of consultation questionnaires have been returned, the Daily Echo dated 27 October 2016 noting that "Early figures indicate that some 14,000 Dorset residents responded to the eight week public consultation..." Council meetings on the subject are due to take place in January 2017.

2. The Boundary Commission is also considering changes to parliamentary constituencies. All Bournemouth councillors are opposed to the Commission's suggestion that northern wards of Bournemouth can be taken into another constituency. He asked the audience to visit the Commission’s consultation website.

Cllr. Clarke noted that the proposed parliamentary boundary changes would result in a North Bournemouth and Christchurch constituency. The idea is to have a target of 75,000 constituents per constituency.

3. Also highlighted were the Council’s Homeless and Fuel Poverty strategies which help those in need.

Q. Regarding fuel poverty, what can be done for those with private landlords?
A. Council and Housing Association houses are fairly well covered, but outreach is needed to get to those most affected who are living in private accommodation (work with NHS). The Council's powers of selective licensing may be useful, though these are still being developed.

4. Regarding the Flood Advisory Group, it was noted that the next group Meeting was on 2nd November. It was stated that issues at Holdenhurst would be discussed at the meeting.

Cllr. Adams: Drainage problems were originally the responsibility of Wessex Water but are now the Council's. The Council uses modelling to predict problems, but it is very important to report any issues back to the local authority. Holdenhurst now has pumps in place. Flooding is a problem across Dorset.

Q. Who do you report to?
A. Paul Ambrose, Flooding Officer. Any work carried out will be done anonymously in order to address the fear of increased insurance costs. Please also report potholes. You can use the 'My Bournemouth' app - just take a picture and send.

5. Regarding the Local Development Framework Steering Group, a more robust reference to protecting Bournemouth's Greenbelt will be included in the Local Development Plan.

Q. Will Riverside Avenue be protected?
Cllr. Adams: We protected Riverside Avenue against the Travellers and we will protect it against development.

Cycle lanes: Cllr. Weinhonig said that works are taking place at Castlepoint to improve cycle lanes. Ray O’Luby will provide feedback to Bournemouth’s Cycle Officer as regards the faded cycle lane lines between Cooper Dean and the Hospital.

New Stour Path: Cllr. Borthwick said that Michael Rowlands is in charge and that all the relevant procedures have been followed.

Kingfisher Barn, Muscliff: Cllr. Borthwick recommended visiting the Granby Road Barn and surrounding area.

Jewell Academy, traffic problems: Cllr. Weinhonig - who is also on the school’s Board of Governors - said that the school has been developing a Transport Policy (the Council have been working with them to do this). There is a need to encourage walking and cycling by making it safer to do so. Cllr. Trickett has got the 'green light' for an extension to double yellow lines on Ibbertson Road. There may be a possibility of a Lollipop Person being employed but this is not confirmed.

Mike Green and Richard Pearson are working on a 'hot spot' priority list for safety-related traffic problems, but Townsend is not on it. It does have a lack of traffic calming measures, however, and increasing traffic problems.

Cllr. Adams said that Cllr. Green, cabinet member, wants to encourage more people to walk and cycle.

Audience comment: When the school at Townsend re-opened it seemed mostly for those children who did not get their first choice of school elsewhere (unlike Townsend Primary School, which was mostly for local residents' children).

Audience comment: regarding the traffic problems, the difference between school term and holidays is considerable. The Council should have known about the problems. Why won’t the Council take responsibility?

Cllr. Borthwick replied that the traffic problems are a mark of the school’s success.

Cllr. Adams said that, as the school is now an academy, it is thus outside the Local Education Authority control. However, they do have to develop a Travel Plan.

Audience comment: We should be proud of the school’s success. Other areas have similar traffic problems.

Cllr. Weinhonig commented that the Police are working very hard to deal with problem drivers and that there are plenty of warning road signs.

Ray O’Luby, TMSTH Area Forum Chairman asked: What about a 20m/hr limit?

Cllr. Weinhonig: There are costs involved with all traffic calming measures.

Local Plan: Cllr. Weinhonig told the audience that there is one Local Plan with many subsidiary plans feeding into it. The Local Plan takes us up to 2035.

Broadway Lane: Cllr. Clarke will follow up on a reported pothole. In addition, he also said that Muscliffe Lane was soon due to be closed temporarily in the evening from 7pm-12midnight, but that it would be possible to exit onto Wimborne Road (detour via Moordown).

Bus situation in the Square: All questions to be directed to Mike Green. An audience member suggested allowing other buses to use Westover Road. Cllr. Borthwick said he would follow the idea up.

Bin collections: Cllr. Weinhonig apologised for the recent problems with waste collection. Bournemouth has a good reputation regarding recycling and does not want this tarnished by poor performance on the part of the contractors. The Council has been in contact with them.

Castlepoint car park: Despite the recent promise of works going ahead, there seem to be problems again. There are c25 insurance companies involved and no-one seems ready to pick up the bill.

Castlepoint vouchers: Cllr. Weinhonig will deliver the vouchers personally to those who won them.

Regarding the old church on the corner of Throop Road and Muscliffe Lane, Cllr. Borthwick said the works are going well to turn the church into a residence.

E-mail from Ian Kalra, Head of Transportation Services, Development Services, Bournemouth Council to Ray O'Luby

Hello Ray,

A couple of transport related updates for the Forum meeting.

A338 Schemes
Preliminary design and other associated scheme development works are progressing well for the new junction at Wessex Fields and highway improvements at Blackwater Junction.

Ground investigation (geotechnical) site surveys, to inform the design process, will start on site shortly so people will see small borehole rigs adjacent to the Wessex Way and at Blackwater over the coming weeks.

I envisage that public consultation and engagement will now take place around end February/early March next year (2017) so I will be able to provide you with exact dates in advance of your next Forum.

There will be a Planning Application submitted for the new junction at Wessex Fields next Summer (2017).

Carriageway Resurfacing Works on Castle Lane West

Resurfacing works on Castle Lane West in the vicinity of the Muscliffe Lane junction will be carried out between 7pm and midnight for one week starting on Monday 7 November. The works, which will require traffic diversions for eastbound traffic, are programmed to be completed on Friday 11 November.

Regards,
Ian Kalra