Minutes of the Meeting of Local Residents, Councillors, Council Officers & Other Agencies

Minutes of the Meeting of Local Residents, Councillors, Council Officers & Other Agencies held at TinsleyMethodistChurchon Thursday 4thSeptember 2008, 7pm-9pm

Present: 13 residents

Chair: Tracy Calvert

Staff & Trustees: 9

Apologies for Absence:Chris Goddard, Kulsoom Iqbal, Mr Afzal

Minutes of the last Tinsley Forum Open Meeting

The minutes of the meetings held on Thursday 13th March 2008 and Thursday 8th May 2008were accepted as being a true record.

Matters Arising

Minutes 13th March 08 – Item 6. Andrew Skelton gave assurance that the Big Art Project will be situated in Tinsley.

First Buses / SYPTE – community feedback

Neil Parry referred to an article from the July edition of the Tinsley Tribune (see handout). The article detailed a survey carried out by Neil, Eric Finbow and Sheila Sutherland on the age of buses servicing routes in Tinsley. In a 4 hour period 97.5% of the 40 buses that travelled along Bawtry Road had registrations suggesting that they were at least 10 years old. Neil informed the meeting that emissions standards had tightened considerably over this period and that Tinsley should be a priority area for newer, lower carbon emission buses due to its already high air pollution levels and associated health problems. A letter of complaint was sent to First Buses. A letter of response was received from Duncan McGraw, Public Relations Manager First Group plc (see handout). Due to the response not answering the questions posed, a further letter was sent to Mr McGraw. The reply stated that First would seriously review the need for lower emission buses to run in Tinsley (see handout). Neil informed the meeting that the situation would be closely monitored and followed up, should no movement be apparent over the next few months.

Resident Stephen Pendlebury requested that a representative from First attend at the next Forum meeting to answer questions directly.

Cllr. Mary Lea informed the meeting that the Council were both aware of and concerned over the situation. The response from First to the council has only been regarding their plans to renew current fleets.

Clive Betts MP reported that local councils do not have any power over bus companies, but that a bill was going through Parliament to give them more say. He said that at the moment all that can be done is to appeal to their better nature.

Feedback on the bus service since the No.69 was re-routed was mixed. It was generally agreed that the service was better, however it was noted that buses do still miss, and the courtesy of some of the drivers could be improved.

It was raised that the bus stop on St Lawrence Road has no seating, causing elderly residents to stand for lengthy periods, particularly when buses run late. Neil Parry suggested that a letter be sent to SYPTE asking them to provide a shelter with seating, and to request details of their renewal program for Tinsley.

It was agreed that Duncan McGraw and a representative from the Transport Executive be invited to the next Forum meeting to answer all concerns.

Community assemblies

Alan Barrow informed that meeting that from April 2009 the Liberal Democrats are to replace the existing 12 Area Panels with 7 Community Assemblies. Each assembly will be comprised of 4 electoral wards. Tinsley (Darnall Ward) will be included as part of a much wider area than it is currently, together with, Arbourthorne, Manor Castle and Richmond Wards.

Each assembly will be responsible for how certain budgets are spent in their area, e.g. parks & woodlands, libraries, and street cleaning. The assemblies will give people a more direct say in how budgets are spent, and will make Councillors directly accountable for what is happening in their areas. Currently Area Panels are able to influence how £50,000 is spent in their areas on these services. The budget for each area under the new community assemblies has not been confirmed.

Cllr Mary Lea stated that whilst Councillors will be able to make strong recommendations, the final say on spend will remain with full council.

Clive Betts MP said that at the moment it was unclear how it would all work, therefore at this time questions were difficult to answer. Heasked the community if they had any reservations that the size of the community assemblies may ‘lose’ Tinsley.

One resident replied that their main concern was that once available spend was divided up, Tinsley would end up with very little money.

Cllr Mary Lea suggested it would be beneficial to have community representation at each Community Assembly

There was general agreement that the idea of bringing things down to a community level was a good one, but there was concern over how it would all work.

Highgate Shopping Centre

Alan Barrow spoke about the redevelopment of Tinsley Highgate Shopping Centre.

Closing date for tenders was 3rd September 08. There is an estimated £800k of Housing Market Renewal monies available which have to be spent by March 2010 to avoid being lost.

Tinsley Forum have partnered with URBED Planning Consultants, to be involved with public consultation and to ensure that a clear link is established between proposed redevelopment and what the community would like to see.

The question was asked: Is there any chance of obtaining funding from other sources? The consultants will be responsible for sourcing other funds to finance redevelopment proposals. A proportion of the consultation monies are to commission a study to identify potential funding sources.

A resident asked what changes were likely to take place. As yet this is unclear as proposals will be based on community feedback. Initial ideas put forward included opening up the frontage to create a focal point, and to bring public services together e.g. surgery, pharmacy, library, bank, post office. It was suggested that a wider variety of shops be incorporated e.g. grocers, butchers, hairdressers etc. It was raised that these have been tried before but found to not be commercially viable.

One resident expressed concern over the upkeep of the area, pointing out that Highgate has not been well maintained. Cllr Mary Lea asked the resident to speak to her about this further after the meeting.

Blackburn Meadows Art Project

Andrew Skelton, Public Art Officer with Sheffield City Council introduced himself to the meeting. He spoke about the forthcoming Art Project, beginning with the negative event of the TinsleyCoolingTowers, and the desire to turn this into a positive by creating an artwork to serve as an icon for Sheffield.

Eon UK has donated £500k toward the project. Andrew pointed out that to achieve what is desired then a substantially larger amount will be required. Processes have been put in motion to source additional funding for the project.

Three artists are to be selected who will then spend time in Tinsley before presenting their proposals. A winning design will then be chosen. Andrew confirmed that extensive community consultation will take place. Members of the steering group are to decide on the artists to be invited. He stressed the importance of each artist showing a clear understanding of Sheffield, and proposing designs to reflect this, and not something that is transferable from place to place.

The Sheffield Civic Trust held a meeting in May at SheffieldTown Hall to debate the proposed artwork, where many ideas and opinions were put forward to Andrew and members of the steering group committee.

One resident voiced that she felt the artwork should be thoroughly representative of Tinsley, and preferably not abstract. Another said that she would like the artwork to be symbolic of the TinsleyTowers.

Andrew informed the meeting that an initial exploration of the area by the steering group had revealed several quality areas, all well connected with the community. He pointed out that opportunity will be a major factor, and the site will be dependant on what is available at the right time.

In response to concerns from the community that the artwork may be centred elsewhere in the City, Andrew assured the meeting that there were many strong reasons to base the artwork in Tinsley, including its transition into the North, its accessibility i.e. roadways, railways, canal etc. and it being located in the centre of Sheffield’s East End steel industry.

One resident queried why such a large amount of money was to be spent on a piece of artwork, and asked if the money could instead be spent on the Highgate Shopping Centre redevelopment.

Andrew replied that this was a fair question, but the two pots of money were individual and non transferable. He pointed out that artwork such as ‘The Angel of the North’ can have a big impact on the economic regeneration of the area, improving perception and generating interest.

Another resident stated that he felt that priorities were wrong, spending in excess of £500k on an iconic structure, bringing increased traffic to the area, and further impacting on the poor air quality.

Anyone wishing to contact Andrew regarding the Art Project can obtain his contact details from Tinsley Forum.

The Chair expressed thanks to Andrew on behalf of the meeting.

Relocation of the schools

Neil Parryspoke about one of the original HMR proposals to relocate the schools away from the M1 motorway, due to poor air quality and noise pollution.

Neil, Alan Barrow and Lyn Brandon attended a meeting with Cllr. Andrew SangarCabinet member for Children’s Services and Lifelong Learning. Over the next few months there is to be a further review of priorities for new build schools, and Mr Sanger agreed that health should be included as a criterion for review. Various health criteria are to be developed that should put Tinsley higher on the priority list for new builds. Efforts are being made to include ‘proximity of schools to main roads’ as an indicator.

Any other business

Residents’ letter: Alan Barrow read out a letter from resident Mrs Faith Magowan. Mrs Magowan was unable to attend due to a prior commitment, but wished to express to the meeting her views on agenda items no’s 4 and 7. Alan confirmed that he would pass Mrs Magowans comments onto the relevant organisations.

Fireworks: Alan Barrow referred to a handout from the Safer Neighbourhood Team that stated: Due to issues in and around Bonfire night, particularly the misuse of and anti-social behaviour related to fireworks, the Darnall, Tinsley, Attercliffe and Meadowhall Safer Neighbourhoods Team will be applying for a Section 30 Dispersal Order.

Should a police constable or PCSO have grounds for believing that the presence of a group of two or more people in a public place be likely to result in a member of the public being alarmed, distressed, harassed or intimidated, Community Constables and PCSO’s will be able to direct the group to disperse, require those who do not live in the relevant locality to leave the area, and prohibit those who do not live in the relevant locality from returning for 24 hours.

Anti-social Behaviour: Alan Barrow informed the meeting that Community Constables and PCSO’s had been informed of the instances of anti-social behaviour in and around the car-parks at Highgate, and that these would be acted upon.

A resident voiced concerns over youths performing hand-brake turns and using speed bumps as ‘ramps’. It was suggested that a letter be sent to the Safer Neighbourhoods Team, stating these concerns.

Tree Planting: Leonie Kapadie, Community Forester for Burngreave, Darnall and Tinsley spoke about tree planting taking place in Tinsley and asked for community feedback. One resident raised the question of who is responsible for clearing the fallen leaves from the pavements and roads. It was reported that the responsibility lies with SCC.

The meeting closed at 9pm

Time and date of the next meeting

Tinsley Forum Annual General Meeting:

Thursday 23rd October 2008, 7pm at Tinsley Methodist Church

Meeting of Residents Councillors, Council Officers and other Agencies:

Thursday 4th December 2008, 7pm at TinsleyMethodistChurch

Tinsley Forum – Working in Partnership with The Local Community and:

This project is part- financed by the European Union

European Regional Development Fund

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