Next Meeting - Change of Venue

The next BPMRA meeting will be on Tuesday 28th July, at St Mary Magdelene's Church Hall at 7.00pm.

The Council Cabinet meet the following day to discuss the plans for the parking management scheme. There are plans for several members of the residents association to attend the meeting. We understand that none of the original seven options presented to residents will be used (including the option of doing nothing) but we have yet to find out what type of scheme will be implemented. At the last public meeting, Cllr Paul Watson said that they had been talking to a Civil Servant from the Department for Transport to see if they could introduce a scheme without having to use parking bays and yellow lines. Hopefully therefore, the total number of on street parking spaces will not be reduced.

Come along on the 28th to find out more.


Minutes of Meeting held in St Josephs Parish Centre
Tuesday 30th June at 7.0pm
Present: Malcolm Vickers, Ian Heptinstall, Keith Watson, Moyra Watson, Ken Wilkinson, G Percival, Alan Donkin, Beryl Smith, Robert Tones, Joy Hickman, Muriel Carr, Kate Wilson, Elizabeth Lardner, Maureen Stanger, Amanda Robinson, Maureen
Langley, Ina Murton, Linda Ranton, Susan Adamson, Paul Dixon.

Apologies: Ann Tumman, Marcel Lundy.

Public Meeting 2nd June, St Mary Magdelene Church HallAmanda (Chair) opened the meeting by asking peoples comments on the recent public meeting. It was noted that Carol Harries (Hospital Trust) spoke of the hospitals ongoing determination to find a solution but was not directly challenged. I Murton pointed out that all challenges were directed at the councillors. She agreed to contact Carol Harries to ask if any further progress had been made towards a solution to the car parking problem.

Planning Meeting 16th June, Civic CentreThose residents who attended the planning meeting agreed it had been handled very badly and was totally one-sided in favour of the hospital trust. The councillors voted by party with labour being the majority. The Chairperson cast her vote when she should have only done so when the votes were tied. We felt badly let down by Councillor O’Connor who represents the people of Millfield yet voted with his party in favour of the planning application. K Wilkinson pointed out that Kate’s arguments and quoted statistics and facts were totally ignored. Keith Lowes was arrogant and even chewed gum throughout the whole proceedings. Cllr Forbes stressed that the meeting should not have gone ahead without the assurances of the hospital trust that matters of concern including adequate parking arrangements had been met. She and Councillor Morrissey were highly praised by the residents for their arguments against the planning application. Councillor Miller showed no manners and appeared to in breach of codes of conduct by his behaviour towards opposition councillors. Councillor Watson (Leader of the Council) who at the public meeting promised to do all he could to find a solution was noticeable by his absence from the meeting. The meeting agreed letters be sent to Cllr Watson and Cllr O’Connor expressing our disgust at their behaviour and letters to Cllr Morrissey and Cllr Forbes expressing our appreciation of their efforts on our behalf.

Constitution
Amanda explained that the draft constitution had been accepted and now only needed the signatures of those present to formalise the document. If any members of the association thought changes could be made for the better, then these should be put in writing and would be discussed and voted upon at the Annual General Meeting which would probably be in May next year. The document was thus signed.

Fr Skelton had been very pleased with the donations amounting to £27.00 received at the public meeting in his church hall.

Blog Update
Kate stated that the blog was still doing very well and agreed to put minutes and notes from the recent meetings on the site. The meeting requested that it would be a good idea for her to present a blog update in printed form for the benefit of those members who did not have internet access. Linda Ranton also offered to print off copies of the blog site for the next meeting.

Any Other Business
The meeting was informed that a council meeting on proposed parking schemes was to go ahead on 29th July. P. Dixon would let us know the precise details. Public can attend but would not be allowed to speak. Any proposals cannot go before cabinet until after consultation with John Munns (Dept of Transport).
L Ranton proposed writing to local MP’s Bill Etherington and Chris Mullen to ask for their assistance.
Following discussion the meeting agreed that it would be unfair to patients and visitors to protest outside of the hospital. They did agree to protest outside of the next council cabinet meeting at the end of July. The Echo and television to be informed. Also advertise our meetings in the Echo – Down Your Way and News in Brief.
M Vickers suggested we write to Mr Munns (Dept of Transport) stressing our situation and the urgency and importance of finding a solution.
P Dixon stated Millfield police have been ticketing cars, he had been out on patrol with them. They had promised to patrol as often as they could. M Langley stated that no improvement had been noted. P Dixon stressed the need to keep logging calls with the police. He would supply contact details for each of the community police areas.
B Smith stated the council now had the power to issue obstructive parking tickets. P Dixon explained the Council could but had not yet taken up the option. They hadn’t yet issued any fines for littering.

The meeting closed at 7.55pm