London Road L.A.T.- Minutes: Tuesday, 5th April 2016
72 Viaduct Road-18:15 for 18:30
- Welcome, introductions and apologies
In Attendance:
Sue Bowes- safety team
Tony Firmin -local resident
Mike Hedgethorne – local resident
Philip Taylor-local resident Winchester street
Richard Carter- Other Place Productions (The Warren Fringe Festival)
Nicola (Nicky) Haydn-Drama Teacher Varndean College-works with Other Place Brighton
Sandy Crowhurst- North Laine Community Association
Penny Morley-local resident
Mario Ishag –Manager at McDonalds London Road
Margarita Loce -McDonalds London Road
Bob Chilton- local resident
Mark and Daphne de Boissiere- local resident, Morley Road
Dean Spears -Accommodation Team Sussex Uni
Alex Cook -journalist student, resident Viaduct Road
Calum Rutter -journalist student, resident Viaduct Road
Elspeth Broady -Secretary of Ditchling Rise Residents Association, Community Garden
Chris Sevink –Ditchling Rise Residents Association
Richard Baraball-local resident
Cath Prenton- MRICS and Beaconsfield road resident
Andy Winter-BHT, local resident
(21 present)
Apologies
Amanda Healy- St. Barts
Cllr Pete West
Jonathan Ridley-Town Safety Team
Mary-Louise Maeder -London Road Town Team
Anne Townsend-London Road Town Team
Andy Keefe-Uni Brighton Accommodation
(Has had one enquire from a resident about build up of refuse on viaduct road)
Nicola & Sharon-PCSOs
Lucy Dunleavy-vice chair
- Minutes of last meeting
These were approved.
- date of next meeting 10th May 2016
-This date was agreed upon
Future dates discussed included 7th June and 5th July
–>Phil to confirm these dates and put on website.
- Financial position
From Mike Hedgethorne:
-ongoing difficulty getting funding from council.
-have gotten money asked for nearly a year ago just last month
-church has allowed one year’s free rent starting with September 2015: finances now in a good position
– a future news letter could thus be paid for by the funds in our account
- Policing report and priorities
-N.B: no police presence at this meeting due to illness, but normally arrange date around police so they can be there
Currently policing priorities are:
-Shoplifting
-prevention of Youth Disorder on London Road (changed last time) in regards to McDonalds
-The Level (drug use, rough sleeping, etc.)
YOUTH DISORDER
From Sue Bowes, Council Safety Team:
-some youths arrested in McD’s on Western road for bearing kitchen knives
– all of these youths are known to services including Town Safety Team, Youth Offending Service and Brighton Police
-could be that they could eventually become subject to a criminal behaviour order
–Sue would like to stress the importance of reporting this behaviour
–emergency: 999, non emergency- 101
-now a free app called ‘Self Evident’ which allows you to report anti-social behaviour on your smartphone
[https://www.witnessconfident.org/self-evident-app]
–Youth Offending Services will mostly likely take the lead on this (along with the police)
-Direct any questions to Jonathan Ridley and he can pass on to the Youth Offending and Police team
Report read by Ph.W. from PCSOs:
-Calls about youth behaviour have still been low
-As of a month ago there had been an arrest in conjunction with London Road
THE LEVEL
Phil asked Sue to give an update on the level
Sue Bowes:
– the council is considering a large number of open spaces in the city (The Greenway, Wildpark)
-would like to make a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO): a national piece of legislation that would enable them to take certain measures in those areas
-council officers were tasked to look at open spaces in the city to look at which ones might be put into that category
-The Level is not on that list
–Important to respond to consultation on the council’s website
About Public Space Protection Orders:
-not a fix-all, but provide some powers to add to the tool box of powers that already exist
– there can be high expectations associated with PSPOs that won’t necessarily be met
-NB: any currently happening illegal behaviour is ALREADY illegal and can be dealt with under existing laws
-in order for a PSPO to cover the area, has to be PROVEN that it will make a difference to the area
–Direction questions to Peter Castleton-head of Community Safety, Brighton Hove City Council (will take emails and calls about this)
–can also speak to local cllrs about this
Elspeth Broady:
-travellers would be moved on under PSPOs
–for clarification of PSPOs Elspeth recommended going to Policy Document of July 2015 on Council Website, can be found on this link:
-concerned that PSPOs could be criminalising behaviour which up until this time hasn’t been criminalised (homeless encampment, etc.)
PW reported that he had been told that there weren’t enough reports to warrant that the Level be included for PSPO consideration.
It was proposed to keep policing priorities the same at:
-The level
-shoplifting
-youth disorder
- Viaduct Road- updates
- Elspeth Broady (DRARA, London Road station partnership) has kindly agreed to come and tell us about “greening” ideas that could potentially include Viaduct Road as well as the surrounding area (see below)
Phil Wells:
-we asked Damien from City Clean what could be done about wheelie bins and recycling after they had been emptied
-Damien said they would do a door to door on London road to encourage people to put bins out and remove them in a timely manner
-Damien says: we have started door to door sessions, but slow; now starting stronger letters and an enforcement team to persuade people to take care of bins
Tony Firmin:
-seems like things have just gotten worst since we’ve started this initiative
-rubbish piled high, and many bins
-don’t have faith in City Clean
Cath Prenton:
-seems to be confusion about whose responsibility pavement/wheelie bins are: if it’s on the pavement its City Clean, off the pavement it’s Environmental Health
Tony F. suggested getting Environmental Health involved
Cath P. to let Philip know the contact for Environmental Health
Dean Spears from Sussex Uni gave an update on their efforts on Viaduct Road:
-have sent letters to students and tried to go see them
-only have 3 Viaduct Rd. properties but got really good feedback
-students were surprised bins were causing such a problem.
-each Sussex Uni. house has a notice that details bin and recycling days
-usually not Sussex Uni students causing the problem
-work with Environmental health and Damien as well
–opened shop on Lewes Road; opened M-F; can try to help email address is housing@sussex.co.uk
Richard B. mentioned issues with York HIll Communal bins:
– 3 communal bins near London Road Carpark area, behind New England House
-phoned city clean and says they’re emptied every day or every other day but they always seem to be overflowing
-Richard to email Phil about this item and Phil will pass on
Phil:
-at the recent Environment, Transport and Sustainability meeting, the vote was passed that there will be a consultation on communal bins for Viaduct Road
-Cllr Pete West stuck up for people of London road
-Question of bin’s design is up for discussion. Would be really nice if we could come up with something that looked attractive
–Phil to ask Damien when bins would be in place (Damien expected by the summer)
Elspeth Broady spoke about the ‘Greening Plan’ for London road.
The ‘Greening Plan’
-What are the possibilities of applying for funding if local groups got together to grow something?
-would like to make Viaduct road more green and try to mitigate the pollution by planting wildflower areas, edible plants (herbs,etc.)
-Would like to start ‘greening’ by using planting to obscure the ugly presentation of communal bins (if they are placed on London Road)
-Would like to try a short term approach by positioning the communal bins behind the black planters
-Would like to go door to door to try to get people involved in doing some planting
-has been looking at plans with the Woodland Trust
Considerations of ‘Greening’
-can’t reduce visibility for traffic
-requires some commitment from people who live around
-might be a time to come back to the universities
-costs of flowers isn’t the issue: it’s getting people to maintain gardens
-would need permission from landowners to have a team who would come and plant in residents’ gardens
Dean S.:
-Sussex would like to be involved and already have students/staff who volunteer with the triangle on Lewes Road
-environmental issues are very important to Sussex Uni
– have some money for environmental projects like this
Elspeth:
-anything that community groups do is a plus because Council can only do absolute minimum
-if there is community support behind this, then it can happen
-the most important things is to get expressions of interest
-in DRARA, we’ve gone to the council website to contact property managers
Cath P:
-if you can get people growing small things, then little by little people will start taking pride in where they live
Phil W.:
-there is the potential that it won’t take or plants get vandalised
-if after all of this we could achieve something with a bit of beauty it would make it all worthwhile
Chris S. :
-when we take about enforcement in Viaduct road, it’s always pushing back to individuals
-I think it’d be good to put together a team that will help clear the front gardens: might be costly, people have no transport, can’t get rid of it
-if we provide help it might go for a real clear out
–Chris to put it on the residents association agenda to see if people would come and help
Mike Hedgethorne suggested seeking help from City Clean and Dean Spears said Sussex Uni would help. Discussion was then moved on.
- HMO issues update
Mike H.:
-attended meeting about HMOS
-useful meeting: about a dozen groups represented from centre of Brighton
–distributed a sheet that showed the steps to take to see if an HMO is listed
-if an area goes above 20% HMOs, then you can enforce planning permission in a certain area
-will have another meeting this Thursday in which we’ll talk about the issues with refuse and recycling to do with HMOs
Cath P.:
-between Viaduct and Duke of Yorks at least 8 HMOs are not registered
-on Beaconsfield, at saturation at about 50%
-can’t find a single planning application attached to any one of these properties
-if they can’t prove they were in operation before 2010, they must apply for planning permission
–if they are on the HMO register, then you can get the info on the landlord immediately
-We can give people the information on how to ensure HMOs are registered but useless if Council doesn’t do anything
Several problems were discussed surrounding HMOS:
-quickly-changing HMO residents
-takes nearly 2 years for the Council to take action on illegal HMOs
-most people don’t know how to check if an HMO is legal.
-Phil W. said he had uploaded the previous documents on to website that details how to check an HMO’s status (via Cllr Tracey Hill)
-council doesn’t go searching for unregistered people
–Tony F. to feed back information from upcoming meeting on HMOs
Penny M:
-if Council is able to fine money, should be a mechanism by which fines could be fed back in to help pay to stop future illegal HMOs
-Tony F. to suggest this at meeting and feedback
- Other updates
-Need 2 representatives for development half-day on 25th April (2-5pm Brighthelm Centre) meeting 25th April, will discuss how LATs help communities
-London Road Town Team – AGM April 19th at Barclays
-London Road BID “business improvement district” has money put aside to promote London Road interests
-Richard B. mentioned Stanmer Organics has an open day on 1st May-would a group like to visit?
Recycling Discussion:
Discussion ensued on how recycling bins are sorted: glass/not glass, etc.
-Members are to go out and determine if bin signs are confusing
Greenway
-Should we publicise to new block of flats next to greenway?
-Phil to write to Amanda Healey and ask if they have any info via their school project regarding the greenway etc.
Emporium/Vertical Drinking
-Andy w. Mentioned that they may be changing Emporium to vertical drinking establishment
-was intended as a theatre venue
-Rumour that they might be changing things on [vertical] drinking
gave us assurances that they would be a theatrical venue
-Phil W. said managing structure has changed, and now difficult to know who to contact – but would try to find out.
- Close
Next meeting 10.5.16
London Road Area Local Action Team 