Minutes - Hamworthy East and West and Poole Town Area Committee - 15 April 2009

BOROUGH OF POOLE

HAMWORTHY EAST AND WEST AND POOLE TOWN AREA COMMITTEE

WEDNESDAY 15 APRIL 2009

ST JAMES’ CHURCH HALL, POOLE BH15 1LP

The Meeting commenced at 7.00 p.m. and concluded at 8.40 p.m.

Members of the Committee present:

Councillor Mrs Evans (Chairman)

Councillors Bulteel, Chandler, Gregory, Leverett, White and Wilkins

Officers present:

Steve Dean, Principal Engineer, Traffic and Parking, Transportation Services

Martin Whitchurch, Greenspace Development Officer, Leisure Services

Kathryn Gibbings, Democratic Support Officer, Legal and Democratic Services

Members of the public in attendance: 42

HEW35.09APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for late attendance were received from Councillor Gregory.

HEW36.09DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

No declarations of interest.

Note:Councillor Gregory arrived as Members were asked for any declarations of interest.

HEW37.09MINUTES

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 11 February 2009, having been previously circulated, be confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

HEW38.09MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES:

Twin Sails Bridge

The Democratic Support Officer advised the Meeting that whilst an update

on the Twin Sails Bridge had been requested and agreed for consideration at this Meeting, no Officers were able to attend this Meeting to provide such an update. It had therefore beenagreed with the Ward Members that this Item be addressed at the next Area Committee Meeting.

Public Announcement (PA) System

Mr. Chick advised the Meeting that whilst it was agreed, at the last Meeting that a PA System be used when future Meetings are held at Carter Community School, he and other residents wanted a PA System available at every future Meeting, regardless of its venue.

Coles Ave / Hinchliffe Road Signals

Transportation Services were asked to investigate the Traffic Lights at the Hinchliffe Road and the Co-op Junction on Blandford Road to ensure cyclists had adequate time to manoeuvre.

Transportation Services Officer advised the Meeting that a site visit had been carried out with the Traffic Signals Engineer. The ‘inter-green’ period was 5 seconds, and while this could have left cyclists in the Junction by the time oncoming vehicles had stopped, this was a rare occurrence and vehicles from the side roads were moving from stationary and had good visibility of the Junction. It was therefore not appropriate to increase the ‘inter-green’ to allow for the occasional cyclist whilst decreasing the ‘green’ time for the main road.

The Lifting Bridge

Transportation Services had been asked to investigate why the Lifting Bridge that links Hamworthy and Poole Town had been raised at different times to that on its Scheduled Lifting Times.

Transportation Services Officer advised the Meeting that comments relating to a late lifting of the Bridge had been received from time to time. Although the Council asked the Operators to adhere to the published times as closely as possible, there had been legitimate reasons for delaying the Operation for a few minutes, examples of such circumstances were given as follows:

The Emergency Services notifying the Council of its need to cross the Bridge at a time when a scheduled lift was due. To assist with dealing with the emergency, officers would delay a lift for up to 15 minutes.
If the Bridge Operators were notified that a commercial vessel (entitled to request an additional lift) was due to arrive at the Bridge a few minutes after a scheduled lift, officers would delay the lift to avoid the need, and subsequent disruption, from an additional lift.
The Control Room performed a range of functions. Once a lift had commenced the Operator was committed to completing the task. However if a lift were due, when all the Operators were dealing with an emergency or urgent task (such as operating the Lifeline System or working the CCTV System, to support a Police operation) a bridge lift would be delayed by a few minutes.

Under previous legislation the Council could not raise the Bridge before the published time but could delay a lift by up to 15 minutes for operational reasons such as those noted above. The principle of a 15 minutes tolerance was still practiced although, as far as possible, the Operators worked within a couple of minutes of the Scheduled Timetable.

Transportation Services was pleased to note that the travelling public had tried to time their journeys to miss the lifts, as this helped everyone, however unfortunately it could not guarantee that all lifts would occur exactly on time as those scheduled within the published times.

Mr. Winwood suggested that it would be more beneficial if the Bridge Notification Signs actually advised drivers of the next ‘lift time’, rather than ‘the Lifting Bridge is open to traffic, or closed to traffic’, as it had indicated.

Poole Fruits

Mr. Howard had requested a response from officers as to why the Town Centre Management Board had given authorisation for a temporary building to Poole Fruits in the upper High Street, only for an enforcement order by the Environmental and Consumer Protection Services to be served?

The Democratic Support Officer read the following statement from Poole Town Centre Management:

“There was a proposal from Poole Town Centre Management to the Council to bring a Street Market to the High Street, following the loss of the popular Stadium Market and the Indoor Market, in Poole High Street. The Council later approved this.

At that time it was a third party private sector business running the Street Traders. The Private Sector Business pulled out of running the Street Traders because it was not economically viable and then Poole Town Centre Management asked the Council for its approval for Poole Town Centre Management to employ its own Market Manager.

Anybody can apply to Environmental and Consumer Protection Services for a licence to trade on the Highway, however there was no mechanism for managing the actual space or the Traders, until Poole Town Centre Management had a market manager in place.

The temporary shed of Poole Fruits replaced another very old and very unattractive shed that sold sweets and was very rarely open, even during the busy summer weeks.

Poole Town Centre Management had the old shed removed and Poole Fruits asked if they could replace the old shed with a new shed and trade from this location. The design of the shed was discussed with Poole Fruits and it was agreed that they could ‘try’ a shed and warnings were given that it may have to be modified or even removed if Council Officers did not approve of it. Poole Fruits agreed to this and went on to build the Shed on the High Street.

The vision was to have an open sided structure that had fruit and vegetables on display all the way around it, making it look very attractive much like the type of structure that appears in the 'Streetscape' Manual of the Borough of Poole.

After the Shed was built Council Officers said that it was too big, so Poole Fruits were informed that they needed to make it smaller and reduce the bulk of the Shed.

They were very hesitant in making permanent adjustments to the Shed because they felt that one day they might have to sell the Shed if they had to remove it from the High Street.

As a result the Shed needed a building regulation application because of its size. Poole Fruits removed the Shed knowing that it would not pass the Building Regulations.

It was noted that there is nothing stopping ‘pedlars’ from trading on the High Street if they have a licence from the Police. The only effective mechanism for controlling an infestation of pedlars on the High Street is to have ‘authorised’ street traders who sell similar products. This way the ‘market’ for those goods are already catered for and the ‘pedlar’ will choose another town.

In conclusion, Poole Town Centre Management gave permission to have a fruit and vegetable stall in the High Street because it was envisaged that the stall would add a sense of vibrancy and animation to the High Street. Poole Fruits was quite a unique asset to the town and we are not aware of any other similar size Towns that still have greengrocers in its High Street. Many other Greengrocers have fallen at the mercy of the large supermarkets, yet Poole Fruits continued to serve the local people and many local businesses including restaurants in the Town Centre.

Poole Fruits had investigated taking up a vacant unit in the High Street, however the costs associated with a retail unit would mean Poole Fruits would have to raise its prices considerably higher than the supermarket prices.

The good news was that this scenario had highlighted many policies that affect what can and cannot be placed on the High Street and a strategy was being developed with the Environmental and Consumer Protection Services and The Planning Department, to produce a clear mechanism for managing street trading activity on the High Street.”

This was a brief summary of the reasons why Poole Town Centre Management gave permission for the Poole Fruits Shed. If any further information were required Richard Randle-Jones, the Acting Town Centre Manager, would appreciate a meeting in person to clarify any issues.

Proposed Hamworthy Rail Crossing

The Transportation Services Officer advised the Meeting that Transportation Services had appointed specialists from Mouchel Rail to advise on the implementation of the Council's preferred level crossing option, and the procedures necessary to deal with objections by the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail. As some railway regulations had changed since the options were first assessed 3 years ago, and the Poole-Wool resignalling Project was imminent, Mouchel Rail would also be advising if any of the rejected options should be reconsidered. The final report was expected in May 2009 and a non-technical summary would be provided at a future Area Committee Meeting.

Mr. Chick enquired as to what the time restrictions were for spending the Taywood contribution, in respect of Funding for the Rail Crossing?

The Chairman advised the Meeting, that none of the Officers present could verify the timescales and as such a written response would be provided.

RESOLVED that,

An update on the Twin Sails Bridge be presented at the next Meeting.
A Public Announcement (PA) System be provided at all future Meetings.
A non-technical summary of the proposed Hamworthy Rail Crossing be provided at a future Meeting.
A written response be given confirming the time restrictions for spending the Taywood’s Contribution for funding for the Hamworthy Rail Crossing.
Transportation Services note Mr. Winwood’s suggestions, in relation to the Lifting Bridge Notification Signs.

HEW39.09SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES ACT

Councillor Leverett presented the Report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, which outlined some of the provisions of the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 and advised the Meeting the implications this Act had on the Borough of Poole and its residents.

He explained that this Act was aimed to promote the sustainability of local communities and to increase the involvement of local people in the work of Central, and Local Government. It encouraged local communities to come forward, via their local Council, with ideas and proposals to promote the sustainability of their local area. One example given was additional powers to enable Post Offices to be kept open.

Cabinet, at its Meeting on 3 March 2009 had resolved that each of the Council’s Area Committees considered the implications of the Act, in order that the Council could gauge the level of interest amongst residents towards engaging in this process and be advised of the ideas and areas of policy that the Meetings felt should receive further consideration under the Act. Such suggestions would be noted and fed into the Cabinet’s appointed Working Party to consider this matter further.

The main points raised in the Report were as follows:

The primary principle behind the Act was that local people know best what needed to happen to promote the sustainability of their area, but that Central Government had sometimes in the past unwittingly placed obstacles in the way of progress.
‘Sustainability’ was defined in the Act in very broad terms, covering anything that could improve the economic, social, or environmental well being of the area, or promote participation in civic or political activity.
The Act required The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to periodically issue invitations to submit proposals, together with deadlines and such proposals must be received and then assessed by the ‘Selector’. The first ‘window’ for proposals announced on 14 October 2008 would close on 31 July 2009.
All proposals made under the Act would have to be submitted via Local Councils, who would then discuss it with local panels to decide which proposals to send onto a national ‘Selector’ body, whose role was to consider proposals made under the Act. A final shortlist of proposals would then be submitted to the Secretary of State. The Local Government Association had been appointed to the role of ‘Selector’ by Central Government.
A basic criterion was that all proposals required some form of action from Central Government such as a change in legislation, a transfer of responsibilities from one public body to another, a new national policy or a change, or strengthening of policy.
Ultimately, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government would decide which proposals to put into effect, but in doing so, the Act would require co-operation with the ‘Selector’, to ‘try to reach an agreement’ over the proposals.The Secretary of State would then be required to publish reasons for decisions, an action plan on how such proposals would be implemented, together with an annual report to Parliament each year on progress being made under the Act.
Before making proposals, a local authority must ‘have regard’ to a list of matters set out in the Schedule to the Act, reflecting issues of concern raised by organisations, which supported the Act during its passage through Parliament, such as preserving local jobs, services and facilities, energy conservation, sustainable transport and food production. (A copy of the Schedule was included within the Meetings Agenda).
It would be possible for a single resident to suggest a proposal, via their Council. However, the Government’s expectation was that most proposals would emanate collectively from community organisations, neighbourhood forums, residents and tenants associations, for example.
There was not a specific Central Government budget available to distribute under the Act. Therefore, although proposals might be made to the Government that would require new funding, it appeared that, if successful, such proposals would need to be resourced from existing public funds.

Mr. Winwood expressed his view on Government interference and suggested that Planning was an area that needed changes. He felt developers had greater rights of appeal than residents and that this should not be the case, residents should have equal rights?

Mr. Howard highlighted that before making any proposals the Council had to establish a panel of representatives of local persons to consult about any proposals and had to try to reach an agreement with the Panel about such proposals. The Regulations required that, where a Panel was constituted, sufficient representatives had to be involved in the Panel, so that in the opinion of the Authority the Panel adequately represented local persons.

Councillor Leverett confirmed that residents must be consulted and the difficulties the Council faced, in consulting those most difficult to reach individuals.

RESOLVED that,

The Members of the public that wished to formally submit suggestions for proposals that they believe should be progressed by Borough of Poole under the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 contact Tim Martin, Head of Legal and Democratic Services, with a summary, together with their full contact details, under the heading ‘Sustainable Communities Act 2007’.
Comments from this Meeting and the other Area Committees on the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 be collated for consideration by the Working Party for subsequent recommendations to Cabinet and Council.

HEW40.09TRAFFIC PROGRAMME REPORT

The Transportation Services Officer advised the Meeting that it had a budget of £6,100 available for its 2009/10 Financial Year. Transportation Services had recommended that approval be given to implement four minor traffic schemes during 2009/10, at a cost of £4,000, having been approved under Delegated Powers. It was explained that if approved the Schemes would then need to be advertised.