Issues Raised at February Meeting

Minutes of the meeting held on 1st February are below. The following photos were circulated which illustrate a common parking issue which isn't just limited to the hospital related parking.
Inconsiderate parking such as this, not only blocks the pavement making people with pushchairs or wheelchairs have to walk along the road. It can also make it very difficult for people to get in or out of their front door, especially if they are carrying shopping etc - see section 2 below on how the police can ticket offenders.





Opening the meeting, Susan welcomed Tony Hall, Environmental Health Enforcement Officer for Barnes and Pallion and Cecilia Gofton, Labour Councillor for Pallion ward.

1. Environmental Health Matters
Guest speaker Tony Hall gave an informative talk about some aspects of his work as Environmental Health Enforcement Officer (see attached summary). He noted the specific waste/litter problems raised by members and will arrange for these to be investigated. Susan thanked Tony for his attendance and for being so helpful.

Weekly Collections: Cllr Gofton stated that there is no intention to change normal weekly collections to fortnightly. Despite huge reductions in the budget, as far as possible services will be maintained as they are.

Street Cleaning: Cllr Dixon advised that streets are scheduled to be cleaned the day following waste collections. If you have a problem with dirty back lanes or streets, you can ring the Council on 520 5503 and request a street clean.
Potholes: In reply to Linda's question about the repair of potholes, Cllr Gofton said that this is one of the budgets affected, but there is a schedule of works which is continuing. You can report a pothole on 520 5503 and ask what can be done about it. However, main roads take priority.

2. Pallion Residents Issues
Members were shown photographs of parking on the pavement in Percival Street (see photos above) which left little room for people to pass. Cllr Dixon advised that residents could take the vehicle registration number and phone the local police who can contact the driver; alternatively they can email their local councillor. Only those drivers causing severe obstruction will be ticketed.
It was reported thatdrug dealers are said to be back in Pallion but no further information is available. This will be brought up at the meeting with the Police on the 14th. Discussion ensued on the problems created by bad neighbours. The Association will try to deliver our leaflets to people in Pallion so they can be aware we are here to try to get something done.

3. Chairman's Reports
Parking Management Scheme
Ken has organised a meeting for 4th February with local councillors who didn't get a chance to attend the last workshop. There's no need for members to attend but councillors will let us know if we need to organise another workshop.
Ken has advised that Blue Badge holders, both residents and visitors, are exempt from the parking management scheme as they are just looking to deter hospital staff. As some authorities have schemes where Blue Badge visitors are excluded, we will monitor it. We'll also monitor weekend parking which is a problem for Bexley Street residents.

Traffic lights – Kayll Road/Chester Road/Ormonde Street
A copy of James Newell's letter of 17th January was circulated. As his reply talks about traffic flow it was felt he hasn't addressed our concerns about the problems created for residents in the side streets. Other issues raised included: we must be the only city to have a 4-way junction with only 3 pedestrian crossings; why not have a filter sequence at the lights; is it necessary to have 2 sets of lights/crossings outside the hospital entrance on Chester Rd while the Kayll Rd entrance has none; the pedestrian signals on the new traffic lights are ill-positioned and easily obstructed. We'll write to Mr Newell again.

4. Any Other Business
Gordon has noticed that recently there was litter strewn along the back lanes of the ABC streets after that day's bin collections, suggesting the bin men may have been responsible and not residents. He also reported that in America there are notices at the beginning of each street saying "No parking on Thursday for cleaning purposes" and Cllr Gofton thought this might be something that could be looked into.

Date of Next Meeting
Tuesday, 1st March 2011 at 7.00pm in St Mary Magdalene's Church Hall.

Anyone living or working in the area is welcome to join us.

Update

Most residents will be now be aware that in several streets in the hospital area, the majority of residents voted for a residents parking scheme and the Council are now in the process of finalising the scheme and hope that it will be up and running in the summer. Both the Council and the Resident's Association will be monitoring the effect of the scheme.

In the mean time, the Resident's Association are committed to tackling other issues in Barnes, Pallion and Millfield.

At our February meeting Tony Hall, an Environmental Health Enforcement Officer at Sunderland Council told us a bit about his work and answered residents' questions.

• Environmental Health have taken on extra staff and there are now 2 Enforcement Officers in the Barnes and Pallion area.

• Complaints have been received recently about the amount of rubbish dumped in back lanes. In response Environmental Health staff are searching any abandoned waste for letters/bank statements etc to determine where it is coming from, and with photographic evidence they speak to the offender. A Section 46 Notice is issued; this outlines the resident's responsibilities regarding waste and advises that if it incurs again a fixed penalty notice will be served. If this fine isn't paid the offender is taken to Court when additional costs of approximately £300 will be added and the offender will have a criminal record. The Section 46 Notices, once served on every resident in an area, are now only served on targeted individuals.

If you find rubbish being dumped in your back lane, ring the Council's Contact Centre on 520 5503 and it will be investigated.

• Bins being constantly left out. These cause problems as they can be used to get over a wall to access a property, or be set alight which costs the Council to replace. They also attract others to leave rubbish out and lanes become a mess. In the Barnes area, if the bin is still out 2 days after it has been emptied, a yellow sticker is affixed across the lid to temporarily stop it being opened. The sticker advises the resident when the bin should have been taken in. A Section 46 notice will be served again outlining their responsibility to store and present their waste correctly for collection. If they continue to leave their bin in the rear lane a fixed penalty notice will be issued with the possibility that the bin will be confiscated.

• Anyone caught dropping litter gets an on-the-spot fine of £75, reducing to £50 if paid within 10 days. School children can't be fined but parents and schools are informed.

• Spitting out chewing gum incurs a fine of £80.

• Litter Street Control Notices can be served on a shop if a number of their bags/wrappers are seen to be littering the area within 100m of their shop. The shop must pick up the wrapper regardless of who has dropped it.

• Every house has a free collection service of up to 8 items per collection 3 times a year. Arrangements can be made by ringing the Council on 520 5503. You'll be given a date for collection and advised to put the items out as late as possible the night before or as early as possible on the morning of collection as collections start at 6.30 am. If something prevents a collection, eg access problems, the refuse staff will endeavour to return to collect. Sunderland Council don't charge for this service; they are determined to keep the area clean.