Agenda and minutes

David Allen, Lynne Dilks, Nicola Douglas and Helen Rigby.

Councillor Morley declared a personal interest in agenda item 6 – Residents' Parking Scheme Update as a resident of Sutton Passeys, which could be affected by the introduction of a local residents parking scheme.  The interest did not preclude Councillor Morley from speaking or voting on the item.

The Area Committee confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 11 November 2013 as a correct record and they were signed by the Chair.

Progress Reports

(a)  Wollaton Park Play Area

A further meeting indicates that the proposal to move the site of the playing area means that the matter will need to be reconsidered divide development colleagues and English Heritage.  This should take 2-3 weeks and, if approved, would enable work to begin.

(b)  Middleton Boulevard Conservation Area - Title

The matter has been raised with Development colleagues, before taking the matter further, an indication costs will be needed and Development colleagues are able to work with local residents on documentation to be prepared for the consultation process.

(c)  Harmonisation of Vehicle Speed Limits

The issue is being progressed and responses from colleagues to queries regarding costs, et cetera,  are awaited.

Councillor Steve Battlemuch welcomed Rob Kirkwood to his first meeting of the Area Committee as the Community Representative for the newlyformed Friends of Wollaton Park Organisation.  Those present introduced themselves and Mr Kirkwood provided a brief overview of the organisation's work to date.

The Chair introduced Susan Thorpe, Senior Traffic and Safety Officer, Development Department, who outlined progress on the following matters of local interest:

(a)  School Traffic Enforcement Programme

The issue is the cause of many complaints to the City Council by residents and other road users, regarding congestion and nuisance being caused by inconsiderate driving and vehicle parking in the vicinity of local school premises at the beginning and end of each day.

To help manage and eliminate problems being caused, a week of action - style event has been developed in conjunction with police and enforcement division colleagues.  Using Area Committee boundaries, from February 2014, each area will be targeted by police and enforcement division colleagues during the roman times a day during identified week to monitor and, where necessary, issue fixed penalty charge notices to errant road users to mitigate situation.  The current intention is to revisit each area on a rolling basis every 5/6 weeks.

Locally, this Committee's first week of action will begin on 24 March 2014.  All  schools will be advised in advance of the proposed timing of the intervention and issued with toolkits to assist in identifying measures which may be taken to ensure that any adverse effects by/on local drivers are minimised.

In the meantime, the opportunity has also been taken to engage with vehicles/drivers outside local schools around the Harrow Road area on a three-day period during a recent week of action to test the reactions to proposals including installation and enforcement of zig - zag parking restrictions outside schoolson either both or just the non-school side of the road, or using an alternative off-site parking venue, such as Wollaton Community Centre and then encouraging children to walk into the score (four minutes away).

The exercise demonstrated the benefits to young people and residents on making areas, car-free zones, but measures to achieve this - such as yellow line parking restrictions -may not be popular with all the local residents.  It is also important to engage with the young people who attend the school.  Comments expressing a wide spectrum of views have been received to the proposal.

(b)  Residents' Parking Scheme

Sue Thorpe also drew attention to the processes associated with the possible introduction of a residents parking scheme once the current temporary traffic regulation order attached to the refurbishment of the Bluecoat School expired in April 2014.  Other alternatives, such as moving single yellow lines on bus routes to the opposite side of the road, and protecting junctions by the

.

ACTION

introduction of double yellow parking restrictions will also be consulted upon, although local residents seem currently in favour of the parking scheme

Resolved to note the current position.

The Area Committee had previously discussed the issue of replacing existing elements of the, now dilapidated, traffic calming measures on Bramcote Lane at its meetings on 16 September (minute 18) and 11 November 2013 (minute 26), when the Chair, Councillor Battlemuch, reported that current proposals, then costed at £123,000, exceed the budget available and further consultations would be required to determine a way forward.

Lylse-Anne Renwick introduced a report of the Director of Neighbourhood Services which summarised the latest position and showed a revised cost for the proposals of £100,000 to be funded by contributions of £60,000 from the Local Transport Plan provision and £40,000 from the Wollaton West Area Capital Fund.  The following range of replacement measures proposed to improve the vehicle driver experience along Bramcote Lane  were explained by Scott Harrison and Navid Arif of the Traffic and Safety Division:

•  Replacement of the existing 1.9m² speed cushion arrangement by 70 millimetre high round - topped road humps extending across the width of the carriageway which, due to their bituminous construction, would give a smoother ride for all vehicles;

•  Removal of the existing raised plateau close to the Bramcote Lane/Wollaton Road junction and installation of a zebra - crossing to enable residents to cross safely and improve their accessibility to bus stops, library, community centre, nursery and other local amenities;

•  Installing other traffic calming measures such as give-way build outs to slow traffic speeds, situated close to bus stops to improve accessibility to public transport, featuring dropped curbs with tactile paving to create shorter crossing distances;

•  Installing double yellow lines at all minor junctions along the route, to provide junction protection and improve visibility for all road users;

•  Working with Wollaton Historical and Conservation Society to tidy up the area around the water pump and consider using primrose yellow 50 mm lining in the Bramcote Lane area, so as to be more in keeping with the nature of the environment;

•  subject to funding, installing two, vehicle activated signs (VAS) along its length, to remind motorists that Bramcote Lane is a 20 mph speed zone.

ACTION

Councillor Culley, by way of an amendment, proposed that:

(1)  the existing speed cushions should be removed and, instead of replacing them with round - topped road humps, undertake a thorough consultation exercise seeking residents and road users views on all possible options;

(2)  the removal of the existing raised plateau close to the Bramcote Lane/Wollaton Road junction and the remaining aspects, excluding (1), above should be proposals for consultation only at this stage.

Honorary Alderman Hamilton circulated the observations of the Wollaton Historical and Conservation Society on the proposals contained in the report, which broadly supported Councillor Culley's amendment.

They also drew attention to:

•  the extension of a 20 mph speed zone into the area, but without the benefit of other traffic calming measures currently included on Bramcote Lane, making it an apparent anomaly. The 20 mph speed zone could be extended eastwards of the Admiral  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.

RESOLVED to clarify, for the Area Committee, voting arrangements on agenda items by Community Representatives on Area Committees.

John Marsh

RESOLVED to approve the works listed in Table 1 below, funded under the local transport plan (LTP) and Public Realm (PR) elements of the Area Capital Programme and, in Table 2, to note the resulting state of LTP and PR elements and the de-commitments of the Area Capital Fund Programmes for 2013 - 15:

Table 1 – Approvals:

Ward/Location

Work

Estimated

Cost £

Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey

LTP – Wollaton Park Estate

Parking

16,000

P Realm Farndon Green

Lining

453

Total:

16,453

Wollaton West

None this Period.

0

Decommissions:

Hambledon/Heckington Footpath

Drop-down Bollard

933

Table 2 - Summary:

Budget Element

2013-15

Wollaton West

Wollaton East

& Lenton Abbey

£

£

Capital Programme Allocation

95,994

93,838

-  LTP Scheme Costs

31,190

19,359

-  PR Scheme Costs

3,000

453

+  De-committed Funds

1,166

12,530

Total Funds Available to spend:

62,970

86,376

RESOLVED: to approve the following schemes to Nottingham City Homes properties, funded from the Housing Revenue Fund:

Proposed Work(s)

Ward Costs

Wollaton West

Wollaton East

& Lenton Abbey

£

£

Budget Brought Forward:

17,454.52

16,750.00

53-61 Manton Crescent & 24-26 Audley Drive (Security Gates)

2 x £657.34

1,314.68

Total Cost(s):

Capital Court Wollaton, re-cover existing paved f'paths in tarmac, fit new seating outside Nos 21-37

12,994.72

Budget Carry Forward:

£4,459.80

£15,435.32

Sgt Hallsworth, John Marsh, Lylse-Ann Renwick and Pauline Dorey introduced two reports of the Director of Neighbourhood Services which detailed the performance of the Wollaton West and Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey wards against a range of performance measures contained in The Nottingham Plan during the period ending December 2013.

(a)  Statistical Summaries

Incident Category

Year 2013/14

Wollaton West

Wollaton East & L A

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Burglaries:

  Dwellings

9

3

20

5

15

22

  Unoccupied Dwelling

1

0

1

0

0

0

  Other

2

2

8

2

3

9

Theft: of/from vehicles

7

5

28

8

13

5

Criminal Damage

5

3

14

6

6

7

Anti-Social Behaviour

19

29

37

26

22

39

Totals:

43

42

96

47

59

82

Incident Category

Year 2013/14

Wollaton West

Wollaton East & L A

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Cleanliness (%)

94

97

87

91

96

91

Graffiti Reports

12

2

2

64

2

7

8

Fly Tipping

6

3

2

151

8

7

6

Ward Unemployment

266

207

196

136

127

*

* Data not yet available

Community Protection

  Orders Issued

3

1

0

2

2

Fixed Penalty Notices

0

Anti-Social Behaviour

15

23

10

6

9

Fires

1

1

3

3

1

ACTION

(b)  Police and Neighbourhood Development Updates

Sgt Hallsworth reported recent personnel changes within the area and, to the detail in the report, referred to the following:

Burglaries: appropriate measures have been put in place to stem the recent rise in burglaries on domestic properties.  A similar approach will also be taken to reduce the levels of car crime.

Violent crime, etc: Police colleagues are working with representatives of the University to reduce cycle thefts, where four arrests have been made so far and violence at the Queens medical Centre.  Comments that some localities did not currently have an allocated beat officer will be followed up and the emergence of racist graffiti in Lenton Abbey will be investigated.

John Marsh commented on neighbourhood environmental matters including the levels of cleanliness in the wards, that attempts will continue to be made to improve the current 48-hour collection service for large domestic waste items and the refurbishment of the Sheila Roper Community Centre has been completed successfully.

RESOLVED to note the Ward performance for Quarter 3, 2013/14

ACTION

RESOLVED to note further financial allocations towards the following schemes from Ward Councillor budgets since the last meeting on 11 November 2013:

Scheme

Detail

Allocation

£

Wollaton West

Wollaton West Community Engagement

800.00

Wollaton library

pruning of overhanging trees

140.13

teenage area - funding

1898.00

Friends of Wollaton Local Nature Reserves

Funding

590.28

Total:

3428.41

Uncommitted balances January 2014:

6540.00

Scheme

Detail

Allocation

£

Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey

None this period.

RESOLVED to note that the Area Committee is next due to meet at 5.00 p.m. on Monday, 2 June 2014.