Minutes of Trentham South Residents’ Association Committee Meeting held at the Methodist Church Hall, Barlaston Old Road at 6.45pm on Tuesday 28th February 2017
Present: Sheila Weightman (Chair), John Redford (Vice Chair), Joan Shore (Treasurer), Peter Hayward, PCSO Scott Woodward, Ross Podyma (Sporting Communities Officer), Andy Fishwick (Website Development), Cllrs Terry Follows and Dan Jellyman and Sue Brookes (Secretary)
Apologies: Charlotte Eccles (Local Matters Team) and Annette Greenwood
There were no amendments to the minutes or matters arising from 7th December 2016 Meeting.
1. Correspondence
Hanford/Trentham R.A: TF and DJ said that the Southern Fayre would be held on 24th July from 12 noon with Stoke Lions’ Group organising the stalls. Although the Neighbourhood Plan would not be in place then, PH would arrange a stall to advertise this, as the neighbourhood area had yet to be determined
2. General Matters
iJR will attend future FOSRA and Southern Partnership meetings where appropriate’
ii.SB has emailed Natwest Trentham re: funding for a community defibrillator but was awaiting a reply. She has looked at the guidance for the Police and Crime Comissioner’s fund and defibrillators are excluded but is awaiting a reply from The British Heart Foundation.
iii.PH is arranging a drop-in session at the Travelodge concerning the Neighbourhood Plan/Forum on Saturday 29th April. He said that St Modwens (Mike Herbert at Trentham Gardens), the Co-op and Aldi had shown an interest and STW had funded the publication of the initial leaflet. Interested residents will be asked to attend three meetings a year and eight to ten people will be required to join the steering group. The Sentinel had published a brief article about this on 27th February.
iv.AF has created a working website for the Neighbourhood Plan/Forum together with Facebook and Twitter pages; this has been operational for only a few days but has already been visited by local residents. RP also suggested creating a “gifting/funding” page on the NHP website.
www.st48futureplan.co.uk [email protected]
Dr Thomas had agreed to do a regular health and well-being article. PH said that there should be new items added weekly to maintain interest. SW suggested that there be a link to Staffordshire Smart Alert (staffordshiresmartalert.uk/staffs) so that residents could be informed of local crime. AF will also be designing a TSRA website and abridged minutes of committee meetings would in future be found there. RP said that he would contribute an article for this. AF was thanked for his hard work.
v.SW has information on “Walk from Home” which is to take place on 29th March as part of
S-o-T’s European City of Sport initiative. RP will look into this and forward information to the web page
3. Councillors
i. DJ said that the grass verges on BOR had continued to be adopted by S-o-T CC. The
ditches were still full but there had been no further fly-tipping.
ii.The traffic-calming work has finished on New Inn Lane and DJ has a meeting arranged in the next month or so about traffic-calming measures on BOR.
iv.TF said that STW has not yet submitted a traffic-management plan so work cannot begin before this is in place, ie June/July. Residents felt that STW should ensure that traffic to and from Strongford should be allowed only from Monday to Friday between the hours of 9am and 5pm; traffic should use the southern route or install a one-way system ie. enter via the northern route along BOR and exit via the southern route. Traffic lights on the chicane would be beneficial. ‘SW will write to MP Rob Flello to stress concerns over the details on the Traffic Management Plan ; and that the southern route does not include Tittsoner Road but extends along the purpose built Meaford Road
It was suggested that a “class action” should be entered in pursuit of a reduction in council taxes in Trentham because of traffic congestion and that such a course of action could be raised on the website. DJ felt that “calling-in” was effective as it slowed down STW’s planned expansion and he aimed to call-in any future planning applications for the same reason. PH wanted BOR designated a “quiet lane” under Protection of Rural England proposals; this need not be the whole length of BOR but just a proportion. SB would write to S-o-T about this.
iv.A meeting between Meadow Lane residents and Barratt Homes had been organised about the possibility of a footbridge being built over the canal; as this would be just for pedestrians, the traffic problem at the Meadow Lane/Longton Road junction would not be solved. This was due before the planning committee ( a development of 227 homes and facilities) in May 2017. If the application is rejected it would then, it is surmised, go to appeal.
v.New Park: DJ had been asked to “call-in” the application for 9 retirement bungalows and 3 detached houses by the Residents’ Committee at New Park, who were wary of overcrowding and a loss of garden space.
vi.Trentham High School – Trentham Community Centre: it is anticipated that this would be built by September 2017. PH and SB were worried that THS would completely take over the building and that the community would lose any control of something that had been considered a community asset. PH had written to S-o-T’s C.E.O., David Sidaway, a year before but had yet to receive a reply. He felt that Mr Sidaway should write directly to TCA’s legal officer, Tim Gray, about formalising the situation and DJ would arrange this. SB felt that the community centre should have a separate governing body from that of THS with 50% community representation on this. RP explained the function of Sporting Communities (www.sportingcommunitiescic.org) in organising youth activities and training in sports leadership and said that he and his colleagues would like to take over the library building and site on Trentley Road as a base and would put in a bid for the land. TF said that the Council’s intention was that this land should be sold and six bungalows built and said that forty neighbours in Trentley Road wanted this to happen. PH pointed out that one thousand residents had supported a community centre being built on Trentley Road.
vi. Concern was expressed at the safety of the current construction at 194 BOR.
4. PCSO
Burglaries had decreased recently but SWo said it was significant that generally these occurred in premises where there were no burglar alarms. SWo was also checking on youngsters who were gathering in the New Inn Lane area. He was holding a monthly surgery at Hanford Court but was also looking for a venue in Trentham, so would contact Moira Blurton at Trentham Methodist Church Hall.
5. A.O.B
City Wide Clean-up: this could not be accommodated on the date envisaged but was being arranged for Thursday 16th March. Volunteers should meet at the junction of Jonathon Road and BOR at 10 am to collect implements with the suggested area being BOR and the canal towpath, depending on the number of volunteers. SB and JS would put notices on the community boards.
7. Date of next Meeting
Tuesday 25th April at 6.45pm at Trentham Methodist Church Hall (apologies from SW; JR will chair)
Further committee meetings in 2017: 25th July, 26th September, 28th November
AGM: 30th May 2017