Addiscombe, Ashburton & Woodside 29 05 12 - Croydon Council

Addiscombe, Ashburton and WoodsideCOMMUNITY HOUSING PANELMinutes of the meeting of 29 May 2012Longheath Community CentreResidents:Michael HewlettJulian PaineMaurice BaxterRaymond ReevesDelroy BennettEric WebbChairOfficers:Yvonne MurrayHead of Croydon landlord services (south-central)Liz CollinsResident involvement officerGemma SmithResident Involvement Meetings coordinatorPatrick ManetNeighbourhood wardens manager (surgery Only)Emeka Obiandu Caretaking managerLaura Pestana Mears (surgery only)Nicola PayneTenancy officerDenise Wellington Tenancy officePC Steve Keahey Ashburton WardRef Subject Action1.0 Welcome, introductions & apologies1.12.02.1Michael Hewlett, the Chair, opened the meeting and welcomedeveryone.Apologies were given from Dan Kujawski – Planned Maintenance andimprovements, and the Recycling Team.Action plan and matters arising from minutesAction Plan(2.6-2.9)Issues of dead grass around paths. This action wasresponded to and the issue has not risen again but the letter ofresponse to Julian has not been received. Liz Collins has a copy andwill post it to Julian.(5.14) Overgrown tree has been partially resolved – it was suggestedthat this be raised with tenancy to pass to Trees & Woodlands officerfor review.(4.12) Response given(4.14) Recycling now installed in all flats – removed.(4.16) Deep clean of bins will be provided on a rolling schedule.(8.1) Caretaking Charges – Julian to raise this directly with thecaretaker manager over charges and amount of cleaning.

3.03.13.24.04.15.05.1Safer Neighbourhood TeamPC Keahey Ashburton ward attended and discussed issues in andaround the Ashburton ward.There is still a problem with regards to ASB in the area and they havea dispersal zone in effect, it has been discovered that some of thepeople causing the ASB are not from the area and are being moved onvery quickly, as well as working with the council and Housingassociations to help improve the situation.There is an application for a dispersal order around Longheath andArena but this is not yet in effect.There are issues with regards to motorbikes on Ashburton playingfield, the SNT are currently finding this hard to deal with as there arelimited resources to tackle this due to the fact on only a few police withbikes themselves which is the most effect way of catching them.Officers are currently being reallocated to other areas at short noticedue to the Olympics and resources from all the areas are beingstretched. Because of this if you are having trouble contacting yourSNT officers please call the 101 number for non emergencies and 999for emergencies. The non urgent calls will then be passed to the SNToffice for action according to availability.Around September 2012 there will be a change to the SNT team, theareas are being made bigger/merged that they patrol but this will becompensated by more officers being available and shift patternschanging in accordance with demand.Raymond Reeves commented that he has found the slow response ofthe police frustrating and because of this people not being caughtcommitting the offences as they are occurring. PC Keaheycommented that it is difficult to respond quickly to non emergencycalls. He also added that the particular event Raymond was talkingabout he was not aware of so unable to comment fully. He did addthat there is a new system in place for the police when reporting onASB which will make it easier for officers to disseminate informationthat will be useful for other officers e.g. offenders favourite places torun to/hide or known hang outs etc…Planned Maintenance & Improvement ServicesDue absence of the department due to sickness Gemma Smithhanded out some information on yearly performance stats and quicklyexplained the door entry programme schedule. Any questions fromthe panel members will happily be answered by the team if they wishto phone.Neighbourhood Wardens – Volunteer Scheme & New PowersYvonne Murray provided the panel with a quick overview of theneighbourhood warden volunteer scheme; volunteers have beenrequested from the whole of the Croydon borough. Volunteers have tobe a Croydon tenant or leaseholder to apply, if successful they will

work shadow out current wardens for 4 to 12 hours a week, full trainingwill be provided during the scheme which will give everyone involvedsome very useful transferable skills. This scheme is ideal for peopletrying to return to the work place after unemployment or and increasedspell away from work due to other reasons. The scheme will providepeople the opportunity to gain references which will help them getback into the workplace. The volunteer wardens will requirereferences from schools, job centre or previous employers and a CRBcheck will need to be carried out. The successful candidates will notwork in there area of residents as it is recognised that working in theseareas could cause personal issues.5.25.35.46.06.17.07.17.2The Neighbourhood warden’s new powers will come into effect fromthe middle of May 2012. All training has now been provided meaningthe wardens will be able to issue fixed penalty notices for dog foulingand littering, although initially an education programme will be adoptedin order to educate the local residents to behave appropriately. Afterthat if found to be violating the rules they will be issued with a £75.00fine or 5 hours community service. The issue of more dog bins/bags isbeing looked into but again there is an issue of finding the resources toadd these facilities to new areas. It was suggested that in areas wherethere are no bins you can request the council look at this or ask thelocal residents association if they may be able to get funding.These fixed penalty notices are only issued if the offence is on housingland, for penalties to be issued on highways and other areas it is up tothe Area enforcement officers to issue these as they have full powers.Chair asked if wardens have dog chip readers. The question wasraised by a member of staff during training and tenancy team do nothave an answer, this is something that Nicola Payne has agreed tofollow up.Recycling TeamThe recycling team were unable to attend but will be requested fornext meeting – They sent their apologies.Community Investment fund / Nature conservation fundCroydon Council are inviting groups to apply for funds to providecommunity activities in the London Borough of Croydon. Theseactivities could tackle negative behavior or build on positive qualitieswithin the community, for example• neighbourhood watch schemes• gardening projects• community events• activities for young people• lunch clubs.We will only fund resident or community groups that primarily serve theNP

interests of Croydon council tenants and leaseholders. Individualresidents or associations that primarily serve the interests of private orhousing association residents are not eligible.Please contact Theresa Rogers if you have any queries about thisfund.Croydon Council are inviting groups to apply for funds to providenature conservation activities in the London Borough of Croydon.Previous successful applications have included: woodland projects.• conservation of ponds• planting for conservation• access improvements.• purchase of tools and safety equipment to support volunteerprojectPlease contact Meike Weiser to discuss your project before you fillin the application form.8.08.19.09.110.010.110.211.011.1Panel ReportsReports on the Sheltered housing panel, Disability panel,Leaseholders panel and Ethnic Minority Action group are attached withthe minutes.Elections Chair, Vice Chair & TLPChair – Nomination for Michael Hewlett to continue as chair by JulianPayne, this was seconded by Eric Webb and carried.Vice Chair – Nomination for vice chair was Eric Webb, this was backedup by 5 other panel members and carried.Reps for TLP – Michael Hewlett, Eric Webb and Julian Payne.AOBJulian Payne commented about the poor conditions of the roads andstreet lighting – This is a highways issue and it was requested thatJulian follow up any complaints with this department directly.Raymond Reeves had a complaint about the bins at 62-84 Academygardens; this was referred to the caretaker manager as he waspresent at the meeting and it was a first timecomplaint.Date and time of next meetingTuesday 11 th September 2012 @ 1900 – Longheath CommunityCentre