| WUTF.823 | No declarations were made in respect of the any items on the agenda.
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| WUTF.825 | The meeting was attended by Neil Long (Assistant Director (Operations) Environment and Development Services) who gave a presentation on Recycling within Bury. The meeting was reminded that Bury Council had introduced a system of recycling household waste in October 2011 to reduce the amount sent to land fill. One of the main reasons for promoting recycling is the cost of disposal which cannot be sustained due to ever decreasing land fill space and increasing costs.
Bury currently recycles 46% of its refuse and is the 3rd best performing authority in Greater Manchester. This has saved the Council £1 million in waste collection and disposal costs. The Township Forum was informed that a recycle rate of 50% would save the Council at least £800,000 and in turn protect other Council services. Improved rates were easy to achieve and involved simply ensuring items such as bottles and paper were placed in the correct waste container. Every Bury household could contribute to this target by making part of their daily routine to separate items and place them into the appropriate bin.
Recycling was also being introduced to town centres and parks within Bury with small on-street recycling multi-bin containers to replace general waste single bin. It was also intended to increase commercial waste recycling as well as schools and council buildings.
Low recycling areas in Bury would be targeted through door to door canvassing to increase rates. The proposals would be explained as part of a promotional campaign targeted locally and in partnership across Greater Manchester. Residents across Bury are encouraged to recycle as part of their daily life and further information is available on the Council website.
Residents could also down-size their grey bins for no charge. The provision of a new replacement grey bin would cost £25.
The Chair invited questions.
Question: Should plastic food containers and bottles which have the recycling logo be included in the bin for recycling plastic, aluminium and glass?
Response: Plastic bottles can be recycled however plastic food containers should be placed in the general waste bin. The reason for this is that currently there is not a market available that is recycles the grade of plastic used in food packaging, however this position may change.
Question: Could the Council provide information on what is recyclable and what is not?
Response: The information is already included on the leaflet listing bin collection dates.
Question: Older or infirm people living in residential type accommodation may find it difficult to open the large hopper type industrial size shared bins. Could something be done to make the lids more user friendly for easier opening? Also in the event that items of refuse can’t be lifted into the bin and are left next to it, could refuse collections crews be requested take it instead of leaving on the kerbside.
Response: The Council is working to find bespoke solutions to this kind of issue and a dialogue is ongoing with bin manufacturers. In cases where it is difficult for a resident to place items in a bin an alternative could be to issue plastic sacks which could be left for collection.
Question: If the target of 50% recycling is not met will this have an impact on the Council’s budget and will further cuts have to be made as a result?
Response: The Council’s budget has the cost of refuse disposal at the current rate factored within it so it would not impact on services. The improved recycling targets could contribute positively to savings required in the future.
Question: Does the Council consider the potential of a terrorist act when choosing a litter bin.
Response: The Council is not aware of such threats at this present time. The bins used in public places are sourced from various manufacturers and not are constructed from bomb proof materials. Bins are checked and emptied on a regular basis.
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| WUTF.826 | Councillor Campbell (Cabinet member for Neighbourhoods and Regeneration) attended the meeting and gave a presentation on the Council’s StreetSafe Strategy. The StreetSafe Strategy has been introduced to improve road safety in residential streets and estates. The proposals have been designed to make it easier for people to walk, cycle and use public transport. The aim of the Strategy is to make Bury’s neighbourhoods a better place live and encourage communities to get out and about more.
StreetSafe involves the lowering of average vehicle speeds in residential areas and achieving this will in turn deliver benefits to residents. Reductions in vehicles speed to 20mph will greatly reduce the chances of serious injury or death following a collision. The introduction of 20mph limits and zones will be a major part of the strategy and these will be introduced over a 3 year period. Each area will be assessed according to its individual need. The outcome will be that 20mph speed limits will be in place across the borough by 2015.
The 20mph zones will be self enforcing with the use of additional traffic calming measures where required. Priority will be given to streets with schools and streets with documented problems resulting from traffic. Over the next three years zones will be introduced in each of the six townships and will be detailed on the StreetSafe website. Details of proposed schemes will be advertised and residents will be consulted and invited to contribute to the schemes in their area.
The StreetSafe schemes also invited motorist to make a pledge to drive safer in residential areas and be mindful of children and young people with a view to reducing the potential of a collision.
The Chair invited questions.
Question: Will the StreetSafe scheme look to repair pot holes which a cause of accidents to cyclists?
Response: The StreetSafe scheme has been designed to reduce accidents through the reduction of vehicle speed. With regard to potholes, the Council is considering and actively testing new products and methods for fixing potholes. Each pothole complaint received is recorded and acted upon quickly to prevent claims against the Council.
Question: Can the Council give priority to do something to address the problem of speeding vehicles on roads in the area around St Bernadette’s Primary School? Parents are very concerned for the safety of their children and parents have been asked to drive slower and safer.
Response: If parents go online and use the StreetSafe webpage to make comments and detail their concerns this will be fed into the process for prioritising schemes. The area concerned will also be leafleted to raise awareness of StreetSafe. The Council has already gathered data on area.
Question: How will the Council enforce the StreetSafe zone areas?
Response: The Council cannot enforce moving vehicles, only the police can do this. The police have agreed to carry out enforcement on areas in which the Council has created an environment for a 20mph zone where there is persistent speeding. It should be noted that proposals for areas will be unique and may not always involve the use of physical measures to reduce vehicle speed.
Question: What can be done to improve the Hollins Lane area which has a lot of speeding cars and residential properties.
Response: The Council would need to consider the ways to address this in view of the length of Hollins Lane.
Councillor Grimshaw reported that there was a problem of speeding vehicles around the Heathfield Road area which had three schools in its vicinity. Complaints had been submitted and the local PCSO had been involved but the situation had not improved.
Councillor Vincent asked if the danger to the safety of pedestrians and road users caused by vehicle drivers using mobile phones could be added to the campaign.
Councillor Matthews suggested that a chicane was a good physical deterrent to speeding vehicles when the police were not around to take enforcement action.
The Highways Officer reported that chicanes had been trialled but had resulted in residents loosing parking space if their property was adjacent to a chicane.
It was suggested that there would be greater benefits to children’s general health and improvements in road safety if parents were more proactive in encouraging their children to walk to school instead of dropping them off at the school gates.
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| WUTF.827 | The Township Forum received a presentation from Ian Davenport (Service Development Manager) on Welfare Reform. Also in attendance were Claire Jenkins (Head of Customer Support and Collections) and Ian Bevett (Citizens Advice Bureau).
The presentation summarised the aims of Welfare Reform. This included:
- Significantly reducing the national welfare bill by £18 billion;
- Simplifying the current system;
- Providing people with incentives to make work pay, and
- Reducing welfare dependency.
Other proposals under the reform include:
- Changes to Personal Independence Payments;
- The introduction of Universal Credit;
- The introduction of reductions for under occupancy in social housing;
- The localisation of the Social Fund; and
- Changes to the Council Tax Support Scheme.
The Chair invited questions.
Question: Has the reduction to council tax to people over 65 years been removed?
Response: Yes, however residents are encouraged to check if they can qualify for council tax support.
Question: In view of the payment of benefits being made directly to the individual, is there an assumption that with the choice of paying rent or feeding a family there will be an impact of rent collection.
Response: It is anticipated that the will be difficulties in collecting rent payments. The outcome of direct payments trials have demonstrated that tenants have accrued rent arrears for the reason that they have used the money to pay for other things. The CAB has received in increase in the number of requests for its services relating to benefit payments. It is recognised that the changes are causing a great deal of stress to the people concerned. The Council is examining ways to bring together the different organisations to make a corporate debt for individuals to help them keep control of their payments instead of receiving separate bills.
Question: Are payments going to be made on a calendar month or four weekly?
Response: The payments are made monthly in order to mimic the way a salary would be paid.
The Township Co-ordinator reported that a Health Inequalities Group was arranged to take place providing information on the changes being made to benefits in 2013. The event would take place between 10:00am and 2:00pm on 17 April at the New Jerusalem Church Hall, Charles Street in Whitefield.
Councillor Vincent stated that people claiming benefit as well as those not claiming should be made aware of what Welfare Reform involved.
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| WUTF.828 | The Township Co-ordinator gave an update on issues raised during Public Question Time.
Church Lane, Whitefield - problem caused by a blocked gullies
The Highways Inspector inspected the length of Church Lane on the 11th March 2013 and all accessible blocked gullies were cleared. Arrangements will be made to get access to those gullies on the even numbers side that could not be cleared due to parked vehicles. The Council's Gully Cleansing Crew will return to Church Lane to clear any gullies in the parking bays and single yellow lines area of the carriageway.
Flooding on Bury New Road, Prestwich Martins Bakery/ White Horse PH. Also, downspout at Martins Bakery flows onto pavement. The pavement is made a potential slip hazard to pedestrians in wet and freezing conditions.
Problem caused by reinstatements in the carriageway and settlement of flags within the footway. A level survey will be carried out to ascertain precisely what the problems is and then decide on a suitable solution, which will probably involve relaying some carriageway and footway surfacing. In the meantime instructions have been given to The Council’s Highways Operations Group to clear the drainage channel in the footway and nearby gullies in the carriageway.
Whitefield Town Hall - Councillor FitzGerald read out a statement concerning the current position regarding the Whitefield Town Hall site.
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| WUTF.829 | For a period of thirty minutes the Chair invited questions from the members of the public present.
Dog Fouling - Bury Council (Environmental Services) do not employ a dog warden, and instead buy in time from a private provider. Currently this is one day per week for the entire Borough. If members of the public witness dog fouling, they should report as many details as possible via Customer Services 253 5353. Information such as names and addresses, description of the dog(s) and owner(s), times that the fouling usually takes place is required. This can be done anonymously but if a member of the public is willing to give a statement it is very useful in helping to take the appropriate action.
The meeting was informed that if someone is letting their dog out without an owner, the dog can be picked up as a ‘stray’. There will be a cost to the owner to get the dog back of £110. The Council was recently successful in prosecuting a dog owner from Tottington. This involved the non-payment of a Fixed Penalty Notice which led to a prosecution and heavy fine. Details of complaints will be sent to the enforcement team and all complaints will be investigated.
Can the Council take action to remove tree roots on Wingate Drive that are damaging drains and underground cables?
Can action be taken to remove the graffiti on the bridge at Dales Lane which has been there a number of months?
Could Six Town Housing be requested to take action regarding the damage caused to aerial cables to properties on Welcome Walk?
Could the Council arrange for a large plastic shop sign to be removed from the grassed area on Ripper Lane where it has been dumped?
Could the Council take action regarding vehicle speed at the junction of Thatch Leach Lane and Oak Lane since the removal of trees? There had been reports made by residents of damage to parked cars. Councillor FitzGerald reported that she would be meeting with Highways officers to discuss trees and highways issues. She undertook to report the outcome of the meeting back to Mr Boden.
Could the Council provide more information for the residents of Bury on the GM Green Deal? The Township Co-ordinator reported that she would arrange for a representative to attend a future meeting to talk on the issue.
The Chair informed the meeting that Bury needed more people to become foster carers to children and young people. The Township Co-ordinator reported that representatives from the foster carer service would attend a future meeting.
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| WUTF.830 | A copy of the Whitefield and Unsworth Area Plan was submitted for information. |
| WUTF.831 | A copy of the Community Funding report was submitted containing details of the grant funding allocations for the Whitefield and Unsworth Township Forum in 2012/2013.
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| WUTF.832 | The Township Forum expressed it’s appreciation to Councillor Ken Audin for his time as Chair of the Township Forum.
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