Minutes of the meeting on 09 May 2016

SAPHRA

The residents’ association for Sopwell Lane, Albert Street, Pageant Road, Hart Road, The Ryder Seed Mews Estate, Saracens Head Yard, Pearce’s Walk and Keyfield Terrace

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Minutes of Meeting held on Monday 09 May 2016 at 8pm
at the Clarion Collection Hotel, Holywell Hill.

1. Present: Avril Allen, Cllr Alec Campbell, Anthony Hyde, Jennifer Johnson, Pam Johnson, Cathy Jones, Angela King, Roger Morton, Mary Plackett, Darryl Stannard

2. Apologies for absence: Katie Barron, Bernadette Blade, Jacqueline Briggs, Ania Buckley, Rob Buckley, Charles Davies, Cllr Simon Grover, Linda Mathewman, Liz Thorpe

3. Minutes of previous meeting: The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 07 March 2016 had been circulated by email and a copy was made available at this meeting. The minutes were approved.

4. Matters arising: None

5. Finances: Anthony Hyde confirmed that the balance in the bank still remained at £354.22.

6. Our local environment:

  • Lorry ban / speed restriction / pinch-point in Sopwell Lane: Herts County Council has now completed the informal public consultation about the proposed speed restriction. As yet no further information has been received.
  • Green oasis in Sopwell Lane: A working party will reconvene to carry out further work on this site. It was noted that since the removal of the rubbish bins there had been an absence of litter but there was an issue with regular dog fouling.
  • Missing bollards in Sopwell Lane (near the Hare And Hounds): Cllr Chris White is still in discussions with Herts County Council with regard to the replacement of the bollards.
  • Void in Albert Street (in the boundary wall of Ryder Seed Mews): Phil Bruce-Green (Parks & Green Spaces Officer) came back with a £2,000 quote to open up the void by removing the front part of the wall. This would let in more light and make planting possible but is six times more expensive than the agreed funding. Roger will discuss this further with our Ward Councillors.
  • Improving access to Albert Street Car Park: Roger is still awaiting a quote from St Albans District Council for the removal of the kerb stones so that an application for a grant from the City Neighbourhoods Committee can be submitted. Roger will chase this up again.
  • Reinstatement of speed cushions in Albert Street: Cllr Chris White made a formal complaint to the Herts County Council after they failed to restore the humps in March 2016. Any further work to correct this will be carried out when the 20mph speed restriction is put in place in Albert Street.
  • Pearce’s Walk planter: Roger and Cathy Jones will be planting shrubs on this site and laying down bark chippings to discourage weed growth. The neighbour will be consulted with regards to the works.
  • Parking in London Road: It had been noticed that parking on London Road between the London Road Post Office and Watsons Walk appeared to be a grey area. Cllr Chris White investigated this and confirmed that it is a restricted parking area and that parking officers do in fact enforce this. There are no free parking spaces.
  • LED lights: After the wrongful removal of many swan neck lamp post fittings in both Albert Street and Sopwell Lane, Angela King organised a protest and, with help from Cllr Chris White, the swan necks have now all been reinstated (albeit with LED light fittings in place of the original lamps). This is felt to be an acceptable compromise – saving energy without destroying the street scene.
  • Path pipes (cross-pavement rain water drainage): Cllr Chris White is still seeking clarification with regard to who is responsible for faulty path pipes.

7. City Neighbourhoods Committee:

  • The CNC has met since SAPHRA’s last meeting. The minutes of CNC meetings are available on the District Council website
  • The next meeting is on 08 June 2016.

8. Registering pubs as Assets of Community Value: Roger and Cathy had attended a workshop held by CAMRA on this subject. They established that SAPHRA would be able to get help from CAMRA in registering pubs as ACV’s. It was agreed, unanimously, that we will begin by preparing an application in respect of the White Hart Tap. Roger and Cathy will put together the application and then begin collecting signatures from willing members of SAPHRA.

9. Register of local contractors: It was agreed that it would be useful for SAPHRA to maintain an informal list of local contractors who had successfully carried out work for residents of our area. Cathy offered to compile this list based on information provided by residents. Please let Cathy know if you wish to recommend any local business that has done work for you by supplying the name of the business, the work that they do and their contact details

10. Any other business: None

11. Dates:

Next SAPHRA meeting: To be held on Monday 11 July 2016.

Family Barbeque: Sunday 04 September 2016 – (confirmed booking at the White Lion pub, Sopwell Lane)

AGM: Monday 05 September 2016

 

Note regarding Neighbourhood Watch: SAPHRA members are encouraged to sign up for the OWL (On-line Watch Liaison) scheme. SAPHRA can provide OWL sign-up forms to any interested party. It is also possible to sign up for OWL Messages via www.owl.co.uk. For those members who do not have email it is possible to obtain OWL Messages via a home phone (landline).