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.
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