| RTNM.817 | Councillor Wright referred to Minute number RTNM.665 and the comment recorded on page 440 of the Minutes and asked that this be changed to read:-
Councillor Wright asked whether any consideration had been given to reducing some of the larger salaries in the authority as there were currently over 70 officers who earned over £60,000.
|
| RTNM.818 | Stey Shaw, Staff Manager for First Manchester Buses, Bury division attended the meeting to report on acts of vandalism and anti social behaviour that had taken place on or at buses within the Ramsbottom, Tottington and North Manor areas.
There had been a few incidents relating to vandalism, one in particular where a house brick had been thrown through the window of a 474 bus. Stey explained that this was obviously dangerous to the driver and passengers and also meant that the bus had to be taken out of service for a time whilst repairs were made. The total cost to First Buses nationally for replacement glass was £2.2 million.
When an incident occurred the bus company would liaise with the police and local schools or colleges and had in the past worked alongside the Youth Offending Teams and Magistrates' courts.
Stey explained that he was attending the Township Forum Meetings to highlight the issue and to ask that people help by reporting any incidents they witness. This could be done by telephoning the police on their non emergency 101 number or by contacting the bus depot directly on 0161 765 3208.
The Chair invited questions, comments and representations from the Councillors’ and members of the public present at the meeting:-
• Councillor Colmbine explained that she was attending a Police meeting at Ramsbottom fire station the following evening and invited Stey to attend also.
• Dr Binns asked what the ages were of the main culprits.
Stey explained that most were high school age.
• Councillor Bevan asked if the information was was shared between different providers and operators.
Stey explained that First Buses shared their information with TfGM as did the other operators.
• Dr Binns asked whether a national campaign would work to highlight the issue.
• Councillor Carter asked whether the CCTV footage was shared with thee schools.
Stey explained that the police would take the CCTV images, as was correct procedure but First Bus would contact local schools to report that an incident had occurred.
|
| RTNM.819 | Ian Davenport and Claire Jenkins attended the meeting to update those present on the Welfare Reforms that would start to be implemented from 1 April 2013.
It was explained that the Governments aim was to reduce the welfare bill by £18 Billion; simplify the current system and give incentives to make work pay.
Disability Living Allowance (DLA)will be replaced by Personal Independence Payments which will have stricter eligibilty meaning that 20% less people will be eligible than are currently elligible for DLA. Personal Independence Payments will start in April 2013 for new claimants in the North West with current DLA claimants transferring over by 2015.
Universal Credit combines current benefits, housing benefits and tax credit into one monthly payment and this will be paid directly to the claimant. The Universal Credits will start in October 2013 for new claimants.
Under occupancy in social housing will reduce the amount of benefit paid to social housing tennants who under occupy. There will be a cut of 14% for one bedroom and 25% for two or more. The cuts will be introduced fro April 2013 and will affect approximately 2000 households in Bury.
The current Social Fund will be localised. Each local authority must come up with a local scheme. Bury Council's Cabinet approved the Bury scheme at a meeting in on 6 March 2013.
The Council Tax Support Scheme was agreed in December 2012 and will be introduced from April 2013.
Members of the Forum and the public present were given the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were raised:-
• A member of the public referred to the reforms and asked whether the Council felt that the area was equipped to deal with a rise in people living in poverty. It was asked whether there were known food banks in the borough.
Ian explained that there was a food bank operating in Bury and the Council did have links with them.
• A member of the public asked whether work would be increasing on catching fraudulent claimants.
Claire Jenkins explained that work in this area was ongoing and would continue to do so.
•Judith Kelly referred to the universal credit that was due to start for new claimants in October 213 and asked when current claimants would expect to be moved over.
It was explained that the department were expecting to migrate current claimants from April 2014.
• A member of the public explained that she worked within mental health services locally and was not aware of these changes until attending the meeting today. She explained that she was very worried by the information that had been given out particularly regarding the direct payments to claimants as this would affect a large number of vulnerable people.
• Councillor Gunther asked what was being done to promote the changes to ensure that all concerned were aware.
Ian explained that all Bury claimants had been written to to explain the changes and offer advice.
A representative from Six Town Housing explained that the information given to their residents was being broken down into individual sections so as not to bombard. People affected had been identified and officers were in the process of contacting those residents to ensure they were aware.
• Councillor Daly asked how Six Town Housing would work with people that defaulted on their rents due to the changes.
It was explained that a lot of work had been undertaken with residents to ensure that they were ready for the changes to the way that they received their benefits and work was continuing in this area.
• Councillor Carter referred to there being 938 under occupied properties that would be affected by the changes and asked whether there were enough alternative properties if residents wanted to move.
It was reported that there wouldn't be enough properties available to accommodate all of the needs should this happen but it was anticipated that most people would accept the change.
|
| RTNM.820 | Neil Long, Assistant Director EDS attending the meeting to update those present on recycling across the borough, how the scheme was working and plans for the future.
Neil explained that since the fortnightly collections and new bins had been intruduced in October 2011 there had been a rise in recycling from 28% to 46% which had saved over £1m and reduced the amount of waste going into landfill by 16,000 tonnes.
Neil explained that the improvements made to date were extremely positive and he thanked all Bury residents for helping to achieve this. It was explained that the Council would save a further £800,000 if the target of 50% was reached.
To help achieve this target there were a number of different initiatives being carried out; new recycling bins in town centres and recycling centres in parks, a promotional campaign across the borough, a double page spread in the Bury Times (paid for by GMWA) and door to door canvassing in areas where recycling was low or there was an issue with contaminated waste.
Neil explained that it was hoped that recycling would become a part of every day life.
Members of the Forum and the public present were given the opportunity to make comments and ask questions. The following points were raised:-
•Judith Kelly asked whether there were any plans to enable recycling of margarine tubs in the future.
Neil explained that there wasn’t currently the market for this type of plastic and until there was the pots would not be recycled.
• Councillor Wright asked that the residents of Bury be thanked for their contribution to recycling.
• Councillor Wright also stated that there had been occasion when the bin men had not collected extra bags of waste that had been left out with the grey bins.
Neil explained that there was a restriction on the amount of residual waste that could be collected and advised that if the bags were not collected they should be placed in the bin once that was emptied.
• A member of the public asked whether the Council took part in any schemes such as freecycle.
Neil explained that the Council worked with a number of different agencies and did promote re-use and repair.
• Dr Binns explained that Holcombe Village were unable to have all of the bins due to restricted space so residents used to use the recycling facilities at Holcombe precinct. These facilities had now been removed so the villagers now used the facilities at Morrisons in Ramsbottom. The bins at the site were always overflowing. Dr Binns asked if they could be emptied more frequently.
• A member of the public referred to the policy relating to contaminated bins and asked if the bin men could use some common sense when dealing with such situations instead of just refusing to empty the bin.
Neil explained that the bin men were on very restricted time scales for their collections and were unable to rectify problems in every bin. If a bin contained contaminated waste they would sticker the bin to explain what the issue was and the resident would be sent waste sacks through the post.
|
| RTNM.821 | Neil Long, Assistant Director of Operations, Environment and Development Services and Les Watts, Highways Officer attended the meeting to report on the new StreetSafe strategy that was being implemented across the borough.
It was explained that StreetSafe was a new strategy for improving road safety in residential streets and estates.
The aims of the strategy were to:-
Make our neighbourhoods beter places to live;
encourage communities to get out and about more.
StreetSafe would help to lower speeds in residential areas which in turn would:-
Deliver benefits to quality of life;
Encourage healthier and more environmentally friendly transport modes (walking, cycling etc);
reduce the number of road accidents, and;
make our streets safer
StreetSafe will involve 20mph speed limits and zones which will be phased in over the next three years. Each area will be considered individually and it is anticipated that by 2015, 20mph speed limits will be in place in most residential streets and estates across the borough.
The 20mph limits would be self enforcing in most cases with additional traffic calming measures where the average speed currently exceeds 25mph.
The schemes will be introduced by priority with the highest being streets where a school is present and streets with recognised problems caused by through traffic.
There are 19 schools currently located within an existing 20mph zone and this is expected to be increased to 58. It was also explained that town centre areas with substantial pedestrian activity were being considered.
The schemes will be introduced over the coming three years and across all of the six townships. The schemes under consideration can be viewed online on the StreetSafe website and residents can put forward their own suggestions also.
It was explained that residents and other relevant stakeholders
would be consulted on the schemes and invited to contribute.
Questions, comments and representations were invited from members of the public present at the meeting:-
• Mr Winch, a resident of Summerseat explained that the community had carried out a survey across the village asking if residents would be in favour of this type of scheme. There had been a 91% response rate from the 400 properties in favour. Mr Winch asked that Summerseat be given priority for a scheme to be implemented.
• Councillor Bevan referred to the fact that Lancashire Council had implemented a number of these schemes and asked whether highways had consulted with them about how their schemes worked.
Les explained that he had been in touch with Lancashire Council as well as a number of other Local Authorites and some useful information had been shared through doing so.
• Dr Binns referred to the scheme and asked why Holcombe Village would not benefit from it. The village had been campaigning for over 10 years for speed restrictions . There had been 'The first 20 is plenty' campaign and a petition with over 800 signatures and nothing had been done.
Les Watts explained that the strategy was purely for residential estates and will exclude A and B roads. The road that Dr Binns was referring to was a B road and therefore not eligible.
• Dr Binns asked that an exception be made for Holcombe.
• Councillor Carter referred to the list setting out the schemes that were a priority and asked whether the list was liable to change.
It was explained that all of the information available relating to specific areas would be considered when looking at priorities.
• Councillor Daly asked whether Summerseat Village was a priority.
Les Watts stated that he thought this was the case.
• Councillor Wright stated that StreetSafe was good news for the whole of the borough but it was disappointing that it had taken so long for something like this to be implemented.
|
| RTNM.822 | • Dr Bins referred to the signage at the chemists at Market Place in Ramsbottom. Dr Binns explained that the signage was completely out of place with the environment and was in a conservation area.
Councillor Gunther explained that Dave Thomas was working on this issue.
• A member of the public referred to the poor state that the highways were in and asked when repairs would be made as the roads were hazardous.
Neil Long explained that there was a new streetcare inspector in post who was out all of the time looking at where repairs were needed. The Council were also changing the way in which they carried out repairs which would hopefully make the repairs last longer.
• A member of the public referred to the planning application that had been submitted in relation to the Ramsbottom Cottage Hospital site and the fact that the trees on the site had beencut down and asked whether Members would like to comment on the proposals.
Councillor Bevan explained that he would be attending the Planning Control Committee Meeting to make representation on behalf of local residents against the application.
Councillor Columbine explained that she was a Member of the Planning Control Committee but would be abstaining from voting for this particular application as she had been involved with the application. Councillor Columbine explained that that the building had been up or sale but there had been no interest. The trees that had been removed from the site had no tree preservation orders attached to them so could be removed.
• A member of the public explained that she had been involved in running vintage fairs across the North West and had recently held one at Ramsbottom Civic Hall.
The fair had been extremely well attended and received and had attracting hundreds of visitors to Ramsbottom. The organisers had booked the hall for the first Sunday of every month to hold future events only to be informed by the markets department that they weren’t allowed to do this.
Councillor Columbine explained that she would contact the relevant department to see if she could get some answers and a possible solution.
• It was reported that the Rossendale Free Press would be celebrating its 130th anniversary the following week. The newspaper was holding an event to celebrate and all those present were invited to attend.
• Councillor Gunther explained that this would be the last meeting of the Township Forum that she would the Chair of. Councillor Gunther thanked all those present for attending the meetings.
|