NACRA
Newtown Area Community and Residents Association
Monthly Committee Meeting
Date: 25th January 2010
Venue: Strings
Time: 19:00 hrs
Present: Janet Farrow (Chairman) PRESENT
Julie Greening (Sec) PRESENT
Bill Ritter APOLOGIES
Dave Witts PRESENT
Jane Lucking (Treasurer) PRESENT
Steve Tandy (Minutes Sec) PRESENT
Angie Thompson PRESENT
John Lucking PRESENT
Peter Aldridge PRESENT
Graham Dawson APOLOGIES
Charlotte Francis PRESENT
TB Cllr John McCloy PRESENT
C Cllr Vernon Smith APOLOGIES
TT Cllr Tina Brookes APOLOGIES
TT Cllr Andy Smith PRESENT
Agenda
1 Minutes from last meeting
2 Matters arising 2a Walton Cardiff Lane Play Park
2b NACRA Road Speeding Survey
2c Ditch cleaning Walton Cardiff Lane etc
3 Distribution and amendments of minutes
4 Open Meeting
5 TRI Parking update
6 Any Other Business
1. Janet welcomed all present.
Janet then asked if the minutes from the last committee meeting were a true record of that meeting, the committee agreed
2. Matters arising from the last minutes.
2a Walton Cardiff Lane Play Park TT Clr Andy Smith stated that all the equipment had been ordered and work should start on the 3rd of February and expected to finish at the end of February. Severn Trent is to erect the new fence as soon as possible now that the tree work had been completed. The design of the park is in a circle of equipment starting from the first hump. The zip wire will be 20M long. So far no grant has been received for the mugger that had been planned. The police are looking into creating a 20mph speed limit around the area of the play park.
2b NACRA Road Speeding Survey Janet and Julie had used the hand held speed gun on two separate dates, the 14th and 18th of December, and Pete Aldridge on one other date the 16th December. Their comments were that most people were inside the speed limit with only a few outside the limit. The highest recorded speed was 57mph which is nearly double the speed limit. Although it was thought that lorries tail gated regularly down the Ashchurch road, none had been seen during the survey. The comment was made that being close to Christmas people were being more careful as they know that the police are more vigilant at this time.
2c Ditch cleaning Walton Cardiff Lane etc Dave Witts reported that a resident at Tirlebank Way had commented that the recent floods had dispersed very quickly and in his mind that was as a result of all the ditch work that had been done. Dave went on to say that the Tirlebrook was the next to be cleaned out. He stated that at last Tewkesbury Borough Council and Gloucestershire County Council are working together to put the necessary work and money in to improve the drainage around Newtown. Dave stated that Mrs Berry of Knights Way had complained about bank collapsing at the side of her garden after the work to clear out the ditches had been done. TB Cllr John McCloy stated that she had had a meeting with the Borough before Christmas but did not know the outcome.
2d Easter Park update Janet stated that NACRA had written to Nigel Rigler and Mark Hawthorn objecting to the Easter Park project and this had had some effect as the plan has been rejected.
3. Distribution and process of amending the minutes Steve Tandy who writes the minutes wanted clarification on how the minutes should be amended. What had been happening was that he wrote the minutes and issued them to Janet and Julie for a proof read, and any comments from them where put right by email quickly, then minutes agreed at the next meeting. One amendment came in six weeks after the minutes were issued and was only one word changed, which he thought was excessive amount of work for one word. After talking to other members of the committee it was thought that the process of altering anything in the minutes should be dealt with at the next committee meeting with everyone agreeing the changes, this procedure was agreed. He was also asked why he issued a Word version and a PDF version of the minutes. This is because not everyone can read the latest version of Word on their PC; therefore it was also agreed that from now on only one version (PDF) would be emailed.
4. Open meeting The next Open Meeting was planned for either 20th or 27th April. Julie would approach Tirlebrook School and find out which nights are available. We need time to get a letter out to the members/residents first. It was asked if suggestions for guest speakers be bought to the next meeting. Dave Witts suggested Jonathan Porritt.
5. TRI Parking update Julie stated that at the last TRI December meeting, the committee had agreed that the 45 min parking limit on some of the streets should be increased to one hour to be in line with other streets, also some of the streets that had restricted parking during the day and residential parking over night to change from 8am 6pm to 9am 5am, this would help residents greatly. This was to be put to Glos County Council Highways Dept before the April deadline.
6. Any Other Business Dave Witts asked if anyone had been to the meeting about the Joint Core Strategy, John Lucking stated that he had been and he questioned about if small one off building of housing counted against the total number of proposed houses. He was assured it was, but he had his doubts. Dave went on to say that through SAVCF, and as a committee member of NACRA, he had a consultation with Elaine McTiernan, and what came from that was the JCS document, Other members of the JCS Team had read and agreed the document. A copy was sent to Steve Tandy. The CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) is a national group for saving the countryside, and their document was read to see if any could be gleaned from their thoughts. There is to be an exhibition in the Town Hall in March or April when the local MP Lawrence Robertson will be there and various project groups (like TRI) can inform people of Tewkesbury about what they are trying to do on their behalf. The Chamber of Commerce and J9 are writing to large companies to come to Tewkesbury and see for themselves, like IKEA and Next. With good rail and road networks Tewkesbury had allot to offer. Watch this space.
TB Cllr John McCloy stated that he had written to every house in Newtown about the Joint Core Strategy meeting and emphasised how important it was for people to take advantage of the meeting to put their views forward. John went on to show an email he had received stating that Glos CC were assessing all Tewkesbury BC Flood Response Action Plans
(FRAP). When the assessment is over in April 2010, the County Council will have a better idea on which projects can be prioritised and get the work done in the correct order and what budget is required.
Charlotte Francis made a point about the amount of litter on the Ashchurch Road and generally in Newtown. It appears to have got worse since the shop at Nicholls Garage had started selling Pasties and Sausage Rolls as the wrappers were clogging the drains.
Dave Witts proposed that we write to John Reilly, headmaster at Tewkesbury School to state the problem and see if anything can be done, Steve Tandy seconded the proposal. John McCloy said he would ask TBC about their litter pickups in the area.
Dave Witts stated that if anyone wanted to go along to Swindon Village Hall on 17th February at 7.45pm, he would be giving a talk on Planning and Flood Management
Janet thanked everyone for attending. The meeting closed around 8.30pm.
Next NACRA meeting Monday 15th February2010 at Strings 7.00pm
