Minutes of the Board Meeting of St. Mary’s Island Residents’ Association Ltd. (SMIRA)
held at the Community Centre on Tuesday 10th July 2012 commencing at 7:00pm
Present:
Chair: David Taylor (DT)
Directors: Simon Taylor, Leslie James, Rosemary Goodson, Bob Muid (BM)
Visiting Members: Brenda Broady, Alan Bennett, Wendy Pinder, Michael Bates, Brian Viney, Arthur Fearria, Clare Muid, Ian Tanner, Claude King
CMT Representatives: Matthew Hill (CEO) John Grimes (Estate Manager)
Medway Councillors: Craig Mackinlay
Invited Guests: None
Apologies for absence: Sonia Allen, Carol Curness de Witty, Alan Sneller, Keith Robinson, Barry Woolford, Eve Martin, Tricia Matthewman, Andrew Mackness
Item 64/12: Minutes of the previous meeting: The minutes of the last meeting were adopted.
Item 65/12: Matters arising: Dog fouling and dogs off leads
Craig Mackinlay reported that we have lost Kevin Steel, our very active Community Safety Warden, and there is, currently, no sign of a replacement. This is a great loss as he was trained in dog control. Medway Council do not have a dog warden as such. So, unfortunately there is not much help from the Council as it comes down to how often we can get people down here to patrol. The Council are happy to patrol the island areas for which CMT are responsible. There are 6 signs on all the pedestrian entry points onto CMT managed land instructing people to keep their dogs on leads and 5 on Riverside Walk.
Andrew Mackness had previously reported that the Council had inspected the island regarding dog mess and it was generally viewed that it wasn’t a bad situation. There are many ‘No Dog Fouling’ signs around the island. We should remind people of this in our annual newsletter and put a copy of the estate rules on the notice boards. The Council have a pooper-scoop machine which seems to live in Rainham and Craig Mackinlay suggested getting it down for a day to deal with what we have on the island. If we were to do so then the operative could monitor how bad the situation is. We have quite a problem between the lock gate and the blue crane; it’s not down to boat owners but regulars who turn up in cars in the mornings and let their dogs out to run.
The boardwalk in basin 2 gets cleaned daily as does the riverside walk.
Item 66/12: Chair’s report: Nothing to report that isn’t covered in other items.
Item 67/12: Secretary’s report: One new member since the last meeting. Other items will be covered under the appropriate agenda sections.
Item 68/12: Treasurers report:
Carol apologised for her absence but has advised us that as of the 26th April the balance in the bank was £5,147.26, with current transactions of £835.60 we have a final balance of £4,311.66.
Item 69/12: Website:
A few directors reported that they regularly check the website. Alan Bennett reported that nowhere on the site were the Directors named.
BM asked the directors present if they would be happy for their names to appear on the website, perhaps with a small biography. It appears that some biographies were penned for the website a little while ago. Until these can be uploaded BM will list the Directors and Officers on the website on the ‘Board’ page.
A link to the survey about Traffic Regulation Orders has been put on the website ‘News’ page.
Item 70/12: CMT Report:
CCTV – John Grimes reported that 4 of the CCTV cameras were not working. These are the new ones (off the island) so technically they’ve never worked. They are expected to be online within a week or so. BM asked if the camera next to Dry Dock No.9 was new and John replied that it was installed in 2000. It is the only one that the developer has reserved the right to move or relocate when the final phase is built out.
DT enquired about the camera covering the Stones roundabout and the fact that a tree on the roundabout is now obscuring its view. John reported that the camera was originally installed to catch cars running the barriers on the lifting bridge and so is redundant as the bridge no longer lifts.
Starfish playground – As of yesterday the only organisation holding up the transfer is the HCA but they’ve said that they’ve sealed the transfer papers and they are in the post to the solicitors. There are some minor works to be done on the park before it can open but CMT hoped that the park would be open sometime during the school summer holidays.
DT is to look over a draft letter to go to residents near Starfish regarding the siting of a CCTV camera to monitor the playground.
Community Centre – There will hopefully be a community launch day on Saturday 22nd September (time to be confirmed). The bridge naming ceremony will be on the same day; it will be known as HMS Chatham Bridge.
The launch day is to give people some idea of what the facilities are in the Centre, with a demonstration from one/some of the groups who use the Centre.
The improvements to the Centre will be carried out by the end of August and, as part of that, CMT will be doing some works themselves (including redecorations). They will also be installing a natural ventilation system, not air-conditioning but an environmentally friendly set of 3 ‘clock’ towers which have vents and a solar powered fan system which can blow air in or suck air out depending on the environmental conditions. It’s practically maintenance free, costs little or nothing to run and runs very quietly. The installation requires a planning application for the three towers.
There are no plans to install extra ventilation in the meeting rooms as they have enough windows.
There is a problem with the boiler which will need to be repaired or replaced. Slipping roof tiles will be checked when the scaffolding for the towers is put up.
All comments and enquires should be directed to
Shark Park – The notices installed outside Shark Park regarding the age range are advisory. However, children playing in the park should be supervised. The Trust follows the national guidelines for best practice with regard to maintenance and the park is litter picked once a day. £4000-5000 of repairs will be needed to the playground surfaces as there has been root damage from the shrubs in some areas. St Mary’s Island is built on compacted chalk and the roots are growing across its surface. The plan is to install deep kerbs which will stop the roots growing underneath and affecting the playground surfaces in the future. Replacement of the swing cradle seats, chains, bars in the basketball area and repairing the gates are all in hand.
Communication – The Trust is aware that communication with the community is sometimes not as good as it could be and they are looking to improve the website with a scrolling news feed and an improved method of contacting the Trust. The Friday Flyer and the Messenger will be archived on the website. There will still be two websites – one for the Trust and one for the Community Centre.
Caisson footbridge – The Trust is currently leading on this in terms of negotiating with Peel Ports. CMT have tried to have a meeting with Peel Ports and they have been assured that a meeting will take place.
Peel have sent out an engineering report on the caisson which was on the dockside for repairs. Andrew Mackness tried but unfortunately was unsuccessful in obtaining Section 106 money to be allocated for a replacement footbridge in the planning meeting on Chatham Waters. This was because the footbridge is outside the area where Section 106 money can be allocated from the project.
Other – The Messenger is just about to come out. There is an offer from the Morning Star Trust (printed in the Messenger) of a free berth on Morning Star of Revelation sailing from Corunna in Spain to Poole in Dorset from 2nd to 12th August 2012. This is offered to someone from the age of 16 upwards and will involve helping to sail the ship so a reasonable level of fitness is required. Applications to the Trust should be made before 5:00pm 17th July.
Arethusa information, the days for the children, will also be included in the Messenger.
The proposal to form a Historical Society has not been taken up yet. CMT have allocated some money to help set it up if anyone is interested.
Post Meeting Note: The Historical Society is being formed.
Photo Competition – CMT are running a photo competition, with prizes, in four categories: Community Life, Retired and Loving It, Island Living and Young and Carefree. Closing date for entries is 31st August. Some of the winning entries will be used on the walls of the Community Centre.
Staff Changes and New Appointments – John Grimes is leaving CMT in mid-September and David Taylor wanted it minuted that he was very sorry to see John leaving as, over the years, he has always upheld the interests of the residents on St. Mary’s Island and has been very helpful to SMIRA. We wished him well in his new post and thanked him for all his hard work. John thanked everyone for their kind thoughts.
With Sonia Kehoe leaving as well it has given the Trust the opportunity to look at how it is organised. They will be splitting John’s role between three different positions and amalgamating Sonia’s as well. The costs stay pretty much the same. There will be an Asset Management Surveyor, who will deal with the professional work, a Residential Services Officer who will have a role similar to Sonia’s and they will be the key contact for the residents of SMI and will line manage the Community Centre. A third person will deal with contracts and procurement. It means the Trust will have more capacity spread across the board and will enable them to work more effectively. As part of the recruitment process, Alan Sneller has offered to help select the Procurement and Contracts applicants and SMIRA will have an input into the recruitment of the Residential Services Officer. CMT offered thanks to David Taylor for organising that.
There will be some changes to the Trust over the next few months regarding communication and staff structures. They will be announced in the Messenger.
Item 71/12: Homes and Communities Agency:
Nothing to report.
Post Meeting Note: DT has sent a letter to Jonathan Sadler, Development Director of Thames Gateway Homes and Communities Agency, expressing the importance that residents place and assurance that they enjoy as a result of the HCA’s involvement and continued commitment to the joint development of St Mary’s Island and Chatham Maritime.
Item 72/12: Ring Road adoption, landscaping and Traffic Regulation Orders consultation
Works have now begun on the pavements and cycle ways along the ring road.
Bob Muid has met with Ron Shaw (Medway Traffic Management Engineer), Colin Green (Traffic Management) and Sue Orms (Road Safety) to discuss the Council’s thoughts on the Traffic Regulation Orders. They have suggested keeping the ring road at 30mph and putting double yellow lines at the roundabout near the school, particularly at the points where the 'pedestrian crossings' are. They would also like to see the reinstatement of the school ‘Walking Bus’ to and from the Ship & Trades car park to reduce car parking around the school area.
They agreed that it would be a good idea to canvass residents’ opinions on the Traffic Regulation Orders and a survey has been constructed in order to do this. It can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VMX7WL8 Directions to the survey are also on the SMIRA website and are included in the Messenger.
The whole ring road will be resurfaced.
Post Meeting Note: DT and Councillor Mackness attended a site meeting to review the programme and traffic control provisions for the resurfacing of the ring road.
The works will commence on Monday the 20th August and, subject to weather, will be completed by Tuesday 4th September. A best endeavours programme was tabled and it was stressed that the priority would be to complete the section from Stones Roundabout to the school before the children returned from the summer break. Access to the doctors surgery, pharmacy school and community centre will be maintained at all times.
The process involved planing off the existing surfaces and the laying of a smooth “black top” surface. There will be short periods when the road has been planed but not resurfaced and there will be debris and raised manholes etc. that residents will need to negotiate and drive carefully through. Given the early signage it is hoped that residents will not park on the ring road for the period of the works. Offending cars will be dealt with by the police.
Residents should expect short delays and are asked to cooperate with the traffic management at all times.
Following the resurfacing the existing white lining will be reinstated.
Any yellow restricting lining, which is the subject of the a Traffic Regulation Orders currently in a consultation phase, will not be carried out until the results of the residents consultation are known and considered. Medway have agreed to come back to SMIRA (Bob Muid) with their proposals prior to implementation.
There was another walk around looking at the landscaping and there are now two dedicated people looking after our landscaping. David Taylor, Andrew Mackness and Alan Sneller will be regularly walking around inspecting the condition of the landscaping including that on the secondary roads.
Post Meeting Note: DT completed a walk-around with the developer and landscape contractor on the 14th August. It was noted that a number of both the newly planted and existing shrubs were suffering and in some cases had died off. The cause of this is to be investigated but could be lack of watering maintenance in the case of the new shrubs and an attack on some species, particularly some of the hebes, by Mealybugs. In any case, any dying shrubs will be replaced and any areas of bare soil replanted in the autumn planting season. The bare areas will be dug over in the meanwhile. Again a number of areas of landscaping in the ownership of residents that were poorly or not at all maintained were pointed out to DT by the developer and it is hoped that residents can be persuaded to attend to these in the interests of the majority of residents and the maintenance of the “Street Scene”