Minutes of the meeting on 03 September 2018

Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on Monday 03 September 2018 at 8pm
at the Clarion Collection Hotel, Holywell Hill.

 

1.    Present: Avril Allen, Bernadette Blade, Jacqueline Briggs, Kam Cheung, Phil Fletcher, Mary Green, Anthony Hyde, Pamela Johnson, Catherine Jones, Angela King, Barry Knight, Roger Morton, Mary Plackett, Ben Wilson

 

2.    Apologies for absence: Tim Boatswain, Alison Burroughs, Ghislein de Cruz, Linda Matthewman, Elaine Rainsford, Paul Rainsford, Cllr Jacqui Taylor, Cllr Chris White

 

3.    Minutes of previous meeting: The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 04 September 2017 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 advised that we began the financial year with a balance of £389.22, received £47 and spent £137 which left us with a balance at year end of £299.22.

 

6.    Election of officers: The current officers were all willing to continue for the coming year. The meeting agreed, unanimously, that the officers going forward would be as follows:

 

            Chair                           Roger Morton

            Vice Chair                   Angela King

            Secretary                    Cathy Jones

            Treasurer                    Anthony Hyde

            Webmaster                 Richard Barran

 

       There being no further business the AGM was declared closed.

 

Minutes of Meeting held on Monday 03 September 2018 at 8:10 pm
at the Clarion Collection Hotel, Holywell Hill.

 

1.    Present:  Avril Allen, Bernadette Blade, Jacqueline Briggs, Kam Cheung, Phil Fletcher, Mary Green, Anthony Hyde, Pamela Johnson, Catherine Jones, Angela King, Barry Knight, Roger Morton, Mary Plackett, Cllr Chris White, Ben Wilson

2.    Apologies: Tim Boatswain, Alison Burroughs, Ghislein de Cruz, Linda Matthewman, Elaine Rainsford, Paul Rainsford, Cllr Jacqui Taylor

3.    Minutes of previous meeting: The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 02 July 2018 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 advised that the balance in the bank remains at £299.22.

6.    Our local environment:

  • Parking changes and pinch point in Sopwell Lane:
    Cllr Chris White is organising a joint meeting between District Council officers and County Council officers to look again at the results of the public consultation and find a solution to the necessary parking changes in Sopwell Lane. He will advise us of any further developments.

    It was reported that an incident had occurred where an HGV had tried to access Holywell Hill via Sopwell Lane and was unable to manoeuvre the vehicle due to the restricted space, so had had to reverse the vehicle back the whole length of Sopwell Lane causing major disruption. The general feeling is that the current signage by the roundabout of Watsons Walk is too small and wrongly positioned so that motorists and HGV drivers are overlooking the size restriction warning. Cllr Chris White will follow this up.
  • Green oasis in Sopwell Lane:
    The revised plan for the Green Oasis has still not been submitted by Affinity Water. Roger will make enquiries to Affinity.

    Roger will ask Cllr Jacqui Taylor to continue to chase the Planning Enforcement Officers regarding the incomplete wall at the back of the oasis.
  • Street Cleaning, weeds, and rubbish bins:
    Regular amounts of litter and detritus are drifting down Albert Street towards the junction with Keyfield Terrace and are not being cleared up by street cleaners. We will continue to report this to the Council.

    Residents were, again, encouraged to report any areas that need cleaning by either visiting the Council website: www.stalbans.gov.uk/environmentandwaste/street-care-and-cleaning/default.aspx or email to: a.cleanerdistrict@stalbans.gov.uk
  • Blocked Drains:
    A drain at the junction of Pageant Road and Keyfield Terrace has been blocked by large amounts of plaster from building works. We will report this at  www.hertsdirect.org/services/transtreets/highways/hhonlineservices/hfr/
  • Broken Pavements:
    Although some broken paving slabs in front of the White Hart Tap have been replaced there are still a number that remain broken. These will be reported to the County Council.
  • Refuse behind Cafe Rouge:
    Since the introduction of the regular Sunday refuse collection there have been no overflowing bins and no further sightings of rats in the vicinity.

7.    City Neighbourhoods Committee:
The next CNC meeting will be held on 26 September 2018

8.    Residents’ Associations who attend the CNC meetings have been invited to attend a meeting of the District Council Community, Environment and Sport Scrutiny Committee to discuss the River Ver Project. This meeting is to be held on 31 October 2018 at 7.00pm at the Council offices. SAPHRA will consult with members who are known to hold allotments and will be represented at that meeting.

9.    Review of SAPHRA Summer barbeque:
The general response was that it was a success. There was a very good turnout at the Hare and Hounds and Elaine put on an excellent barbeque for the SAPHRA members. It was agreed that we will arrange to hold our next summer barbeque there

10.  Any other business:

  • A member reported that a credit card theft had taken place on her doorstep. She had just returned home from shopping when a young man appeared from nowhere asking her for directions to another house. At the same time, he informed her that a £20 note was dropped on the step. While she checked her purse the man who had held her shopping had managed to extract a credit card from her bag. It was only when he had gone that she realised the stolen card. She had reported the incident on OWL messaging.
  • Another member reported that whilst major building works were in progress at their property they were twice the victims of a break-in with valuable equipment being stolen.
  • A question was raised about the increased number of electric cars in the area, along with concerns about the inevitable demand that will be made for more car charging points within our streets. It was proposed that we should hold a discussion between members to come up with suggestions to submit to the Council for consideration.
  • The date for our annual SAPHRA Christmas meal will be Monday 03 December 2018 at the White Hart Tap pub.

11.  Dates of next meetings: 12 November 2018, 07 January 2019, 04 March 2019, 13 May 2019, 08 July 2019, 09 September 2019

 

       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).

       Highways fault reporting: (Potholes, street lamps not working, blocked drains etc.) can be reported to Hertfordshire County Council at: www.hertsdirect.org/services/transtreets/highways/hhonlineservices/hfr/

       Street cleaning issues: (litter, fly-tipping, overflowing litter bins etc.) can be reported to St Albans District Council by telephone to 01727 819285 or 01727 819598 or email to a.cleanerdistrict@stalbans.gov.uk or online at: www.stalbans.gov.uk/environmentandwaste/street-care-and-cleaning/default.aspx