Agenda item

10.1

The Committee received the following questions from members of the public who had attended the meeting to raise them:-

(a)       Mick Daniels

Mick Daniels thanked members for the leaves being removed from Firth Park.

Mr Daniels believed that the committee had agreed that there would be a Christmas Tree installed in Firth Park but he had since been told that two yew trees were being planted instead.

Mr Daniels had been told that there would be a Post Office opened in the area by September but was since informed that it would be situated in Firth Park Library and the work needed for this to happen would take a couple of months.

Councillor Belbin responded to the questions explaining that the Firth Park Forum had discussed installing a Christmas Tree, however, the cost was high and there were insufficient funds available. A decision was made instead to plant two conical yew trees as a permanent solution and lights would be provided to put on them.

The situation with the Post Office was not within the Council’s control. The postmaster had decided on the new location but no definitive timescale could be given on when it would be ready.

(b)       Mr Sanni

Mr Sanni highlighted issues that he had encountered in the Firth Park area including the presence of rats and people leaving refuse in the building where he was a tenant rather than using the bins provided. He had reported the problems to his landlord but they had not been resolved.

Members agreed that this was not an acceptable situation and offered to discuss it further with Mr Sanni to find solutions such as pest control services provided by the council and support when contacting his landlord.

(c)        Pete Thornett - Scraithwood Estate Tenants and Residents Association

Mr Thornett highlighted that the Scraithwood Estate was a one road estate and that the requested 20mph speed limit was to protect residents who were disabled. A lot of the residents were elderly and Mr Thornett asked for an explanation why a 20mph speed limit could not be implemented.

Councillor Dunn suggested that an officer from the Transport department could visit the site and assess the situation.

Councillor Chaplin encouraged Mr Thornett to continue with his petition and agreed to continue to pursue the speed restrictions with Councillor Dunn.

(d)       June Luxon

June Luxon highlighted the problem of cars parking on Barnes Road blocking disabled ramps and preventing people from using the pavements. They had enquired about dropped kerbs being installed but permission was refused.

Councillor Belbin acknowledged that there was a problem with parking in that area but that enforcement resources were limited. The police were only able to provide enforcement if vehicles were causing an obstruction.

Serjeant Gulzar advised that there was unprecedented demand in this area but the police were working in partnership with parking services and he would feed this information back to the local Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs).

(e)       Margaret Whelan – Friends of Concord Park and Woolley Woods

Margaret thanked the committee and the police for helping to put on the lantern parade event which was a success.