Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Davies, Erskine, and Williams.

NOTED

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

There were no declarations of interests.

NOTED

Nil.

RESOLVED

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Muswell Hill, Alexandra, Fortis Green and Highgate Area Committee held on 23 September 2013 be agreed as an accurate record of the proceedings.

Matters Arising

MH58

The Chair advised that she was still chasing on the disabled access at MH Library and community use of space behind the Library.

The Chair also advised that Cllr Newton and she had been interviewed by consultants who had been carrying out an appraisal on the future use of libraries, and they had both emphasised these issues.

NOTED

MH73 – Area Plans (SEE ITEM 7 – MH92  below)

MH80 (i) WALKSAFE N10

The Chair advised that the Council had agreed to extend the 20mph zone to Coppetts Road which was the main route past Coldfall and Coppetts Wood Primary Schools.  This work had now been completed together with some resurfacing and replacement speed cushions.

The Chair reported that Cllr Newton had requested some further signage and some works to the pedestrian crossing and mini roundabout junction with Creighton Avenue to make drivers more aware of the new speed limit and to make the pedestrian crossing safer.

NOTED

MH80 (ii) OVERCROWDING ON BUS ROUTES

Overcrowding of 43 and 134 between Colney Hatch Lane and Highgate Station in morning peak. TfL did a loading survey on MH Broadway on 1 May 2013 for 1 hour which didn't evidence people left behind. TfL did ask for further evidence.

Local Cllrs carried out a door-to-door survey to ask about overcrowding. The streets surveyed were Church Crescent, Woodland Gardens, Onslow Gardens, Woodland Rise, St James's Lane, Hillfield Park, Grand Avenue, Firs Avenue and Muswell Hill Road between 11–19^th January. 84 of the 117 people who said they regularly used 43 or 134 towards Highgate in the morning peak experienced overcrowding especially between 8 and 8.30am. This evidence has been forwarded to TfL who have promised an early response.

NOTED

MH85 – POLICE ISSUES

The Chair advised that Cllr Newton had written to the Borough Commander regarding the number of police in Borough and received the following response on 18 October 2013:

'The implementation of the Local Policing Model kept the number of officers funded for the borough the same; at 654. The Model allocated an increased number of posts for officers in the main Neighbourhood Policing Teams (known locally as clusters) to 117 Constables. In total there are 180 police officer posts for Neighbourhood Policing, including all the supervisory staff, the borough tasking team and the schools and partnership officers. At the moment the main Neighbourhood Policing Teams are 9 Constables short of the 117, and 9 Sergeants. The borough has already received 5 new Constables who started on the Neighbourhood Policing Teams a few weeks ago, and are currently expecting to receive an additional 11 between 22nd January and 10th February - all of these new officers will go to Neighbourhood Teams.'

The Chair felt that it was appropriate to seek an update from the Borough Commander.

ACTION  ...  view the full minutes text for item 90.

(i)            Planning Draft Site Allocations

Noted comments from Cllr Allison that the draft document should be circulated to as many people as possible to ensure maximum viewing.

ACTION: Ward Councillors to circulate a link to the consultation to local Residents Groups

(ii)          Licensing Issues

Councillor Scott advised that, in summary, in terms of the discussions during the Forum part of the proceedings the concerns that were reported highlighted the fundamental issues of current licensing law and that these concerns were legitimate in regard to a need for the law to be changed. The issue of evidence gathering was vital in terms of identifying when the public left licensed establishments and the nuisances caused by them, and the lack of adequate control by the licensees.

Councillor Scott urged that Councillors assist residents in respect of diarising, and cataloguing events, and the anti-social behaviour emanating therefrom in order to be able to present such information to the authorities to back their claims.

The Chair felt that it would be useful for Ward Cllrs to alert local residents to applications that might impact upon them.

ACTION : That officers be requested to ensure that Ward Cllrs remain aware of information relating to licence applications in their areas in order to assist Ward Cllrs in keeping residents informed.

(iii)          NORTH HILL TRAFFIC ISSUES

Noted – the excellent presentation by Richard Webber on the issues of out-of-date and contradictory signage, traffic and speeding.

Noted comments by Members relating to the probability of the old signage being removed.

Noted that a petition for pedestrian crossing facilities had been put out by local residents for signature.

ACTION : The comments of attendees to be taken back to Tony Kennedy by Michael Demesthenous for response to the Committee.

(iv)         Wellington Gyratory

Noted – the general aspirations expressed at the need for a reduction in speed limit from 40mph to 30mph in the stretch of Aylmer Road leading to and from the Wellington Gyratory together with modifications to the appearance of the dual carriageway to be less looking like a ‘motorway’.

ACTION : Cllr Newton to take this up with Tony Kennedy and Transport for London.

ACTION : The comments of attendees to be taken back to Tony Kennedy by Michael Demesthenous for response to the Committee.

Noted – comments of the Chair and Cllr Hare in relation to the possibility that the Wellington Gyratory could be reviewed as part of any future development programme of the local area.

 The Chair referred to the circulated abridged Area Plan and that the document highlighted aspirations as well as a number of ongoing issues.  The Chair advised that she had sent the document to the Area Champion for distribution to relevant senior officers.

In terms of the overall contents the document was a living one – to be added to by Ward Councillors i.e, the North Road issue.  

i.              Councillor Jenks commented that the document was a way to highlight in particular traffic issues.  The Chair asked that any further additions or changes to be sent to her.

Councillor Jenks referred to the issue of the 20mph consultation and issues highlighted regarding perceived need for 20mph in residential and town centre areas. Councillor Jenks also referred to the issues such as requests for Zebra crossings and that for such requests members needed to keep on lobbying for this type of request because there could be achievements even when told that there was no budget for such things e.g. the recent WalkSafe campaign etc. 

ii.            Councillor Solomon commented on the traffic issue and HGV problem at Palace Gates Road, which needed to be looked into and that this issue needed to be added to the list.

ACTION :  Cllr Solomon to send details to Chair to be incorporated in the Area Plan.

iii.           Councillor Allison referred to the refurbishment of cast iron lighting columns in Hillside Gardens. Following a survey the columns had been found to be structurally sound and their refurbishment would act as a pilot for similar schemes across the Borough.

NOTED

There were no other items of business.

Date and items for next meeting.

The Chair advised that the next meeting of the Area Forum/Committee would take place on Wednesday 12 March 2014 at 6.30pm at either the Transmitter Room, or The Londesborough Room at Alexandra Palace.

The main items on the Forum part of the meeting would be:

i.              Road Safety – Junctions of Colney Hatch Lane with Alexandra Park Road and Pages Lane

ii.            Alexandra Palace – Update from Duncan Wilson

There being no further business to discuss the meeting ended at 21.15hrs.