Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Hall, Greek Orthodox Church of St John the Baptist, Wightman Road, London N8 0LY

Contact: Helen Chapman  2615

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for absence (if any)

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Schmitz.

2.

Minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 52 KB

Minutes:

RESOLVED

 

That the minutes of the previous meeting held on 21 July 2011 be approved and signed by the Chair.

3.

Urgent business

Minutes:

There were no new items of urgent business.

4.

Declarations of interest

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

5.

Deputations and petitions

Minutes:

There were no deputations and petitions.

6.

Green Lanes Food Festival

Minutes:

The recent Green Lanes Food Festival was discussed during the Forum part of the meeting, and it was felt that there was nothing to add formally at the Committee.

7.

Disturbances in Tottenham

Minutes:

The Tottenham Disturbances item was discussed during the Forum part of the meeting, and it was felt that there was nothing to add formally at the Committee.

 

8.

Area Committee Profile

Minutes:

Claire Kowalska encouraged people to respond to the consultation either via the Council’s website or using the forms distributed at the meeting. It was intended that a planning exercise would be undertaken, based on the key issues identified during the consultation, at the next meeting in January.

 

The Committee suggested that the consultation be posted on Harringay Online as a useful community resource, in addition to which the consultation should be sent to key organisations such as residents’ associations and existing mailing lists.

 

The Committee raised the issue of how items were added to the agendas for the area forums and committees, and it was agreed that there should be a greater community input into the agenda items. In response to a suggestion from the Committee, the Chief Executive stated that he would work with the Chair on a process by which residents could feed into the agenda-setting for future meetings. It was also suggested that the Members of the Committee should meet at an early stage in the agenda-setting process, in order to develop agenda items together.

 

With regard to the types of item which should be on the agenda, the Committee suggested that more strategic issues such as the Localism Bill should be covered, as well as local issues, for example Enforcement updates for the local area and the roll-out of the HMO discretionary licence scheme, as these were the sorts of issues that residents felt strongly about. It was felt that the new format meetings were still not fully engaging with local residents, and that the more people who were attracted to the meetings, the more they could then feed into future agenda items. It was reported that under the former Area Assemblies, groups such as the Green Lanes Strategy Group fed back on their work to the meetings, and enforcement updates were also reported; ideas like this could be incorporated into the new format meetings, which it was acknowledged were still in a development stage.

 

It was agreed that increasing attendance was a long-term issue for making the meetings reach their potential, and that thought needed to be given as to how best to reach people, including using new technologies. It was further felt that if agendas were made more engaging and more locally-focussed then attendances would begin to increase.

 

It was noted that local residents’ groups could feed updates on their work into the Committee, and a specific request was made at the meeting for an agenda item at the next meeting on affordable additions to the Area Plan consisting of estate agents’ boards, obsolete street signs, more tree planting more dog litter bins etc.

9.

Making the difference pdf icon PDF 84 KB

Minutes:

The Committee considered the report setting out the recommendations in respect of allocating the Making the Difference funding. In response to a question from the Committee it was clarified that information on the number of users for the Gateway Community Initiative bid had been received to the satisfaction of the authority, but questions were raised regarding whether those users were in fact local residents. It was agreed that approval for the granting of funding for this bid would be delegated to the Chair and conditional on satisfactory information, confirming that the service users would be local residents, being received.

 

It was:

 

RESOLVED

 

That funding be agreed for the recommended projects and amounts as outlined in appendix 1 of the Making the Difference Bids report.

 

The Committee noted that this decision meant that there was a remaining £5k to be allocated. It was agreed that a further call for submission of bids for this funding be issued, with a submission deadline of 1st November 2011. All present were encouraged to publicise this call for applications widely.

 

Claire Kowalska, Community Safety and Engagement Manager, clarified the process for payment, which would be on submission of invoices for the work undertaken.

10.

Pothole funding pdf icon PDF 111 KB

Minutes:

Tunji Oladejo, Traffic Manager Sustainable Transport, presented the report

on proposed allocation of additional funding for the repair of potholes which did not currently meet the Council’s threshold for intervention, in order to address such issues before they deteriorated over the winter period. Committee approval was required in order to commence the works.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the allocation of the £21,400 for additional road repairs, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report, be agreed.

 

11.

Winter Plan

Minutes:

The Committee expressed concern regarding drains and gulleys, particularly in St Ann’s Ward where there were areas which were very prone to flooding. Cllr Canver advised that she was in discussion with officers regarding releasing some funding to address this issue.

12.

Chestnuts Park

Minutes:

The Committee noted that, if there were issues with the licence at the Chestnuts Community Centre, these should be openly discussed between the Council and the Community Centre to ensure that everything is out in the open and prevent rumours spreading.

 

With regards to the current work on Chestnuts Park, Cllr Canver confirmed that a small amount of funding had been identified to employ stewards to undertake daily cleaning at the park for a fixed period, until mid-October. It had also been agreed with the Police that inspections at the park would be made more frequently.

 

13.

Discussion on venues and agenda items for future meetings

Thursday, 26 January 2012

Thursday, 19 April 2012

Minutes:

It was agreed that the next meeting would be held at the Cypress Kitchen, as this was a central location. Attendance statistics would be looked at for each of the venues used after the next meeting, to decide on future venue options.

14.

Any other business of an urgent nature

Minutes:

There were no items of urgent business.

 

 

 

The meeting closed at 9.25pm.