Agenda and draft minutes

The Chairman advised that information on the Cumulative Impact Assessment were on the tables, including how to make representations.  A petition was also available if anybody wished to sign it and the deadline for any comments was midnight tonight.

To receive any apologies from members unable to attend the meeting.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Sharp and Swift.

None

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2012.

The minutes from the meeting held on 10 December 2012 were agreed as an accurate record.

The Neighbourhood Manager advised that updates and details of completed actions had been provided in the handouts on the tables.  Key points raised were:

New Primary School at Gladstone Park Community Centre

·        Councillor Khan asked for clarification as to when the new school was proposed to be open.  The last meeting stated September 2014 but the Council’s budget book stated September 2015.

·        Cate Harding advised that she had hoped to have had an update from officers tonight but that had not been possible.  She could confirm that the funding for the school was now secured and it was still proposed to open in September 2014.  She had not been told anything that indicated it would be 2015 but she would provide an update as soon as possible.

·        Councillor Khan stated that if the school was to open in September 2014, he was concerned that there had still not been any consultation on the proposals.  People had not seen any proposed plans and the planning application had not been submitted.  He was concerned that the plans for the school would be railroaded through without any consultation.

·        Cate advised that she believed that the planning application was likely to be submitted in April but consultation was a priority.  There had been negotiations around governance which were due to be completed shortly.  There was no timescale on the consultation at this time but plans would be displayed in the Centre as soon as they were available.  There was a member briefing scheduled for tomorrow.

a)         Enterprise Peterborough – an opportunity to ask question about services provided in the area.

Enterprise Peterborough

Mick Robb from Enterprise Peterborough was present to answer any questions about services.  Comments and responses to questions included:

·         How were the new food waste bins working in the area?  Mick advised that they had been well received.  In January, across the city, 480 tonnes of food waste had been collected which saved the Council money in landfill tax.  Also, in warmer weather the black bins would not smell as much.

·         Replacement biodegradable bags were quite expensive in the shops was there a way that shops could be incentivised to offer them at a reduced rate?  Mick advised that householders were given a three or six month supply of the bags when they received the bins.  Enterprise Peterborough were looking at ways that people could purchase replacement bags as they accepted that the one available in supermarkets were not cheap. 

·         Could Enterprise Peterborough bulk buy a large supply of bags and let households buy them from you directly?  Mick confirmed that that was one of the options being considered, however it was not absolutely necessary to use the bags and the caddies could be lined with newspaper.  The advice however was to use the bags.

·         The bins were easy to lose, were replacement bins available?  It was accepted that due to their size the bins were very easy to lose but they could be replaced by ringing 747474.

·         Not all households in Central Ward had all three of the bins.  Mick advised that the brown bins were now available in Central Ward and residents could request one if they wanted one.  This was in line with the Council’s policy.  It was also a policy that households with larger families were able to have a larger black bin and extra green bins.

·         Councillor Khan stated that when the rest of the city got three bins, Central Ward only got two on the proviso of weekly collections.  Who renegotiated the change to fortnightly collections?  Mick advised that the policy was always for alternate collections.  When food waste was planned it was agreed to bring Central Ward in line with the rest of the city as food waste would be collected weekly.

·         There was no space in some properties for four bins.  Some families did not use food waste bins as they were too small.  Black bins were therefore overflowing and then not emptied.  Mick advised that households could have more than one food caddy.  He accepted that more work needed to be done with some of the residents and he would work with ward councillors around communications.

·         Who made the decision to go fortnightly as ward councillors were not consulted?  Mick advised that when the contract went out to tender all bidders had to submit plans for recycling, including food waste and the process behind it.    Change would have been discussed as it would have been a big change for the area.

·         Following the introduction of food waste collections has Enterprise Peterborough observed any problems with black bins?  Yes, there  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

An opportunity for any member of the public, elected and co-opted members of the Neighbourhood Committee to raise anything that affects your area. 

Attendees of the meeting were given the opportunity to ask questions and raise issues affecting the areas in which they lived. These included:

·        Part of the Committee’s £25,000 capital allocation had been prioritised for bins in Central Ward, what had happened?  Cate advised that there had been no spend on bins because due to negotiations with Enterprise Peterborough new bins had been implemented as part of their ongoing works.

·        What had the allocation for bins now been spent on?  Cate advised that four projects had been put forward and due to three of the projects being able to be provided through other ways that only left the landscaping scheme.  The ward members had felt that the priority was to remove the unneeded chicanes in the ward so the full £25,000 would be spent on that.

·        What was happening about finding a new cemetery as the Muslim site at Eastfield was reducing.  We had previously been told that Castor was a possible site but the Secretary of State had said it was not needed. The Chairman stated that he did not have full details but would be meeting with the Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council and would report back.

·        What was being done for young people in the area, what about government funding?  The Chairman advised that the Astroturf was under consultation and would be done when the new school was built.  He was not aware of government funding for youth work.  Cate would look into it and report back.

·        Every year the young people asked for a cricket pitch in the area for all of the summer.  Cate advised that discussions were being held about the lack of cricket pitches across the city but there was a difficulty in identifying suitable sites.  Vivacity were looking at using mobile cricket wickets in open spaces.

·        Brian Gascoyne stated that the Toys R Us and Maskew Avenue roundabouts were both dangerous and too high and reducing the height of the roundabouts would improve safety.  Cate advised that she would take on board the comments as she was aware of future improvements for Bourges Boulevard.