The following COMMITTEE MEMBERS were willing to stand for re-election:-

• Leslie Deller
• Ray O’Luby
• Wendy Sharp
• Marion Oliver
• Chris Channell
• John Duncalfe
• Tony Fowle
• Dominic Coleman
• John Hamer
• Mike Davies
• Anne-Marie Nesfield

• - Chairman
• - Vice Chairman
• - Secretary
• - Treasurer
• - Committee Member
• - Committee Member
• - Committee Member
• - Committee Member
• - Committee Member
• - Committee Member
• - Committee Member

No objections were raised from the floor - Committee members remain as published.

Forum Chairman Les Deller stood down. Dominic Coleman was elected Chairman by Committee and sanctioned by Forum. Councillor Ron Whittaker thanked Les on behalf of Forum and the Councillors for all his excellent, hard work over the last 2 ½ years.

Les will remain as a member of the Committee.

Forum members were invited to complete Influencing Local Priorities, “Tell us your views” leaflets. They will be used by the Safer Neighbourhood Teams to know what issues are of concern to Members, so they can work with us and their partners to tackle them. Members were asked which Ward they live in and for three specific issues they think police and community safety partners should be tackling in our community in order of priority. Members are also asked what we think the police and their partners (Council, Health, Fire and Rescue, etc) or the community could do to tackle or prevent these issues.

Inspector Claxton praised the links to the Safer Neighbourhood teams that can be found on the forum website. Representatives from all three Safer Neighbourhood Teams attended Forum.

He demonstrated that in our three areas, crime is low and his message was “Lets Keep It That Way.” He explained that in Throop and Muscliff, PC Damien May has been transferred to CID and he introduced PC Keith Dixon who will be covering the area along with Moordown. PCSO Adam Lillywhite has joined the Safer Neighbourhood Team, along with PCSO Anna Maher. Inspector Claxton is confident these will make an excellent team as much of their work is community liaison based and he a letter of thanks from the Chair of Governors at Epiphany School - “The School were particularly impressed with the enthusiasm shown by Keith and Anna, and willingness to get involved... it fits well with the school’s Community Cohesion agenda, and Dorset Police’s commitment to community involvement and safer neighbourhoods. More importantly, the children loved it!”

Priorities for Throop and Muscliff Safer Neighbourhood Team are:-

• Anti-social Behaviour - Larksfield Avenue
• Speeding - Chesildene Drive / Shillingstone Road
• Parking problems around the schools

Strouden Park Safer Neighbourhood Team consists of PC Steve Shires, PCSO Mike Wheadon and PCSO Adam Cleaver. Anti-social Behaviour is tackled on a multi-agency basis and involves some arrests, Family Integration Programmes, Youth Services and Homewatch.

Priorities for Strouden Park Safer Neighbourhood Team are:-

• Anti-social Behaviour - Castle Way
• Anti-social Behaviour - Mallard Road Retail Park
• Home Watch - half the beat area is already covered by Home Watch schemes and anyone wishing to set up one in their neighbourhood is invited to talk to the Safer Neighbourhood Team

Townsend Safer Neighbourhood Team consists of PC Nikki Hughes, PCSO Lucy Weeks and PCSO Danny Lisk.

Priorities for Townsend Safer Neighbourhood Team are:-

• Drug Awareness for Youths - with help from Youth Services and Alcohol and Drugs advisors
• Anti-social Behaviour around the One Stop
• Raising awareness of Distraction Burglaries, also instituting “No Cold Calling Zones”

Inspector Claxton stressed that “Crime Prevention Begins at Home” and we should take steps to secure our homes, sheds, cars and bicycles.

Prevent vehicle crime by leaving your car empty and locked, follow the simple rules:-

• Remove sat navs, handbags, wallets, laptops, golf clubs, cash even if you are only leaving the car for a couple of minutes.
• Putting out of view is no longer enough!
• Empty your car... or a thief may do it for you.
• Remember to always lock your car.

Sat navs are very popular, but the mark of the suction pad may tempt thieves to break in and check if they have been put in the glove box.

Pedal Cycles - lock them up securely to an immovable object. Take a photograph of it and keep the serial number safe so that Police can identify you bike if it is found. Have it security marked and remember to lock it or lose it!

Burglaries:

• Do not leave doors unlocked and install security lights. Remove your keys.
• Use your intruder alarm if you have one
• Lock and secure sheds and garages
• Lock side gates
• If you are going away, use timer switches to switch on lights or ask neighbours to pull curtains, etc; if neighbours put your bins out, ensure you ask them to put them back in.
• Do not advertise your new purchases to thieves by leaving re-cycling cardboard from your new television or computer, out on show.
• Security mark property. Take photographs and note down any serial numbers, identifying features. Keep a list of all property, but not on the computer!

“Sheducation” - Bikes and power tools are vulnerable. Safer Neighbourhood Teams have a supply of suitable alarms at a special price of £10 (from £20). Thieves may use the tools from the shed to break into the house. See SHEDUCATION leaflet reproduced at the end of these minutes.

Question:

Twice in past year, Forum member has had cold callers in the hours of darkness. Vanguard Road and Craigmoor Avenue are “No Cold Calling Zones and Hastings Road soon will be. What can be done? Forum member rang his councillor.

Answer:

Only open the door to who you want and do not go to the door when it is dark. Get quotes for all jobs. If any problems, ring the Police station. If in a No Cold Calling Zone, ring Trading Standards in office hours or Police 222222 if out of office hours.

On 11th November, a Forum Member was contacted by the research agency Hill Taylor doing a Council Customer Satisfaction Survey despite having requested the Council remove his details from the Electoral Role for such purposes and asking him questions on what he thought about his rubbish collections. When challenged the researcher put the phone down on him, so the Forum Member asked the Throop and Muscliff Councillors how much he was paying for this and how many other surveys are the council conducting using our money.

Councillor MacLoughlin states the Council has a legal duty to consult and involve local people. This is done through the “Measuring Up” programme and telephone surveys alone have cost more than £66,000 over the last two years. However, the Council is setting up the E-Panel on its website, as a new low cost survey option.

As a good citizen, and your Secretary, I decided to sign up for this, until I saw the registration form. I expected name / address / age / disability / ethnicity questions, but it goes on “What is your religion or belief” and “What is your sexual orientation,” but for bureaucracy gone mad, “Do you identify as transgender or transsexual?

The Council (Consultation and Engagement Team) claims this comes from Government, so I looked up the new questions we will all be asked in next year’s National Census. Despite years of consultation and discussion around the questions, they will NOT be asking if we are transsexual or transgender - so why does our Council discriminate? Please tell me what difference it would make to the consultations that have taken place on for example, the Core Strategy, Dog Bylaws or whether I am satisfied with bin collections, whether I was born Wendy as you see me now, or William, now living as Wendy?

I raised this and other points with Councillor MacLoughlin and you can see the full report on the Forum website. I believe it is time to call a halt - this Council should be thinking about every penny it is spending, not encouraging invasive, bureaucratic empire building or spending £66,000 on annoying telephone surveys. We have Councillors; we have Forums and more ways than ever before to make our voices heard, so please stop this insidious, creeping invasion of our privacy.

Response: Councillor MacLoughlin stated the council must take the needs of minority groups into consideration in Council Policies. He stated there are many different types of household in this town and domestic abuse may need a different response in different situations.

The Troika plans were approved in May 2007 for offices at Wessex Fields, together with park and ride and access roads in the Green Belt at Riverside Avenue, and with another junction on the Spur Road near the Cooper Dean Flyover.

The office plans would lapse if not renewed by May this year, and an e-mail 5/2/10 to local Councillor Ron Whittaker, from Bournemouth Council Principal Planner, Mr. Barry Carse, said: "I have recently had contact from the agent acting for Troika, who has indicated that an application to renew the approvals is likely to be made before expiry of the B1 offices scheme in May."

There were very strong objections to the original plans, as the junction was seen as the first stage of developing the Green Belt for housing in any of the areas from Holdenhurst to Muscliff, and this is borne out in e-mail 5/2/10 to Cllr. Whittaker from Bournemouth Council Development Control and Forward Planning Manager, Mr. Mike Campkin. Details were on the notice board regarding Bournemouth Council Planning website which could be consulted by those wishing to find out further details in order to object to the renewal of the Troika plans.

For many months, Forum has been spearheading a campaign to get the Council to look at the phasing of all the traffic lights along Castle Lane to improve the flow. It has been a long and frustrating campaign, but headway is being made and assessments carried out.

The latest correspondence is detailed below:-

Response:-

And part e-mail 8th January 2010

Forum, well supported by Councillor Whittaker, objects to the delays being applied to this matter and the Chairman now proposes to take a deputation to full Council on this matter. Fuller information can be found on the website.

Development of the Community centre remains on hold due to the economic climate.

Yellow lines by Post Office in Strouden:

There have been various surveys of shop keepers and residents of Bradpole Road. Some of the shop keepers would like nothing altered, some would like 30min or 1 hour parking restrictions and the hairdresser would need 3 hours. Most of the residents of Bradpole Road do not want anything altered or they will get even more parking in front of them. However the main problem by the Post Office is that there is a bus stop on the pavement island on the far side of the slip road. Some of the buses can be used by elderly people in electric buggies / wheelchairs and there is a dropped kerb on to the slip road, but cars keep parking over the corresponding dropped kerb in front of the Post Office - leaving disabled people stranded. There is also another dropped kerb on the west slip road which suffers the same fate. It is therefore proposed to put double yellow lines just in front of these dropped kerbs (and this is being paid for out of capital funds).

Also: many cars have been parking so close to the corner in front of and beside the convenience store and up to number 1 Bradpole Road that the junction is restricted and dangerous. It is therefore proposed to have double yellow lines on that corner and up to 1 Bradpole Road. These lines will not have bars, so Blue Badge holders and delivery vehicles will still be able to use the space when safe to do so. The proposals were advertised between the 18th December and 15th January and scheme is now progressing.

Under the terms of the Draft Regional Spatial Strategy which was produced by the now defunct South West Regional Assembly, Bournemouth Borough Council could be forced to build 1,500 new homes on the Green Belt right through the heart of our Forum area. Forum has joined a Consortium of other Bournemouth and other Local Authorities, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and organisations to fight development in the Green Belt throughout Dorset, and a successful High Court challenge by the East of England to their Spatial Strategy, has delayed the final publication of ours.

On 2nd February 2010, Phil Robinson, Planning Conservation and Design Officer, sent the following e-mail:-

If we have a change of Government at the next election, the Regional Spatial Strategy will be scrapped, but the Regional Assemblies have been replaced by even less accountable, Regional Development Agencies, which may cause us to fight again in the future. More about this is on the website.

Tobias Ellwood was then asked to comment:-

This is a very important issue for Bournemouth and we all should and have, all been working closely. The Regional Development Agency will also disappear if we have a change of Government and power will be returned to Dorset.

Parliamentary Questions:-

Tobias Ellwood (- Shadow Minister, Culture, Media and Sport; Bournemouth East, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many houses are expected to be built in (a) the Bournemouth area, (b) the Dorset area and (c) the South West in 2010.

Ian Austin (Minister of State (the West Midlands ), Regional Affairs; Dudley North, Labour)

As part of the refresh of Local Area Agreements, including the Local Area Agreement for Dorset, the Government office for the south west is currently discussing with local authorities expected house building for 2009-10 and 2010-11 to reflect realistic assumptions. I expect those discussions to be concluded in March 2010. Until these Local Area Agreement negotiations are concluded, no figures are currently available.

As part of the response to the recession, the Government will be investing a further £1.5 billion as part of the housing pledge to build an extra 20,000 new affordable homes for rent and low cost sale. This will also create an estimated 45,000 additional jobs in the construction and related industries.

Regarding the re-surfacing of the Bournemouth Spur Road between the Cooper Dean Roundabout and the Ashley Heath junction with the A31, due to be implemented during six months from Autumn this year, you can see from the leaflets on the notice board, that during closures of the Spur Road because of the road-works, Castle Lane West is noted as a "suggested alternative route". It appears that vehicles would then travel via Northbourne to the A31.

As seen during the recent preparatory works on the Spur Road, there is again likely to be serious congestion in Castle Lane West. Apart from the delays to motorists, there could also be an impact on residents from air pollution.

Mr David Diaz, Dorset County Council Project Manager for the road works, said in a letter to me dated 22/01/10, regarding Air Quality monitoring at Castle Lane West, that "in recent years the nitrogen dioxide levels do not exceed the Air Quality Standard". However, no figures have been provided for other pollutants which, together with nitrogen dioxide levels, would also require to be monitored during traffic congestion caused by the road works.

The Secretary of State with responsibility for the Environment, is stated to have the power after June this year, under a European Directive concerning Cleaner Air for Europe, to implement short-term action plans, in such a case, if monitoring shows exceedences of the Air Quality limits. Further information is needed on this, and also regarding monitoring of other pollutants. An update would therefore be provided at the next Forum Public Meeting.

Councillor MacLoughlin stated this year is difficult as we don’t know what the future holds.

The incoming Government will make an announcement nationally and we are expecting bad news for local government service providers. In anticipation of this, the Council has devised a two year strategy to make savings of £8 million per annum in the years 2010/11 and 2011/12. It is proposed to do this through efficiencies and joined-up local services. It is anticipated there will be resources required for additional duties imposed by the Government and the recent pay and grading restructuring will have an impact on the payroll. Cabinet will meet next week and all Councillors will vote on the budget on 23rd February.

Following public consultation, protected areas will be crime and anti-social behaviour with a preventative agenda of having the right people, Social Workers, supporting families to prevent young people getting into trouble. There will be reductions in some services, e.g. less money for Bowling Clubs and greens.

Next steps: - if there are any issues, please contact your local Councillors.

The Council Tax rise is expected to be 3½% this year, next year is unknown. This does not include the rise for the Police and Fire and Rescue portions.

Chairman noted the Consultation on the Town Centre Action Plan up to 2026 ends on 8th March. Leaflets were available at the back of the hall.

Question 1 and 2:

In 2002 a report suggested the Town centre trade would dry in the absence of a Park and Ride scheme. Also, re: maintaining of the Green Belt, is there a hidden message to vote Conservative here? The population of the UK is due to rise to 71 million; we cannot pretend it will go away.

Answer:

Councillor MacLoughlin: The town centre is important and needs to thrive. Shops are suffering and the key to a tourist resort is the quality of its town centre. Since 2007, the council has been looking at the town centre for the next 20 years - what type of shops/transport infrastructure/car parking/homes. For retailers and day visitors, the parking needs to be in the town centre, but park and ride is suitable for commuters with good road access.

Homes: sites in the centre are available for homes. Sites could include air spaces above car parks to reduce pressure on the Green Belt. Housing waiting list is 8,300 - we need the right homes in the right space.

Tobias Ellwood MP: This is not the right forum for discussion of immigration, but we do need homes. To explain Conservative policy, if elected, there will not be Regional Development Agencies imposing number, instead, local authorities will be able to decide. Under any Conservative government, all Council Tax raised by new building will be kept by the local authority, which gets to choose, where and when. There will be no pressure from outside to residents choose, knowing Council Tax raised will stay in the area. Tobias suggested we could even look at building above the railway station, as at the Waterloo regeneration.

Question 3 and 4:

Yellow lines. With all the extra proliferation, will they be monitored? Also, are there plans for buildings to go on Strouden Woods, behind the old bus station?

Answer:

Councillor Weinhonig: Yellow lines must be monitored as road safety is important. It is now a Civil Enforcement matter. Houses on Strouden Woods were mooted by residents at the same time consultation took place on the Strouden Community Centre development. There are no plans.

Councillor Trickett: The yellow lines will cover the dropped kerbs and we will lose 2/3 spaces at the end of Bradpole road, which will make the junction clearer, however, the convenience store has a forecourt which could be used instead and the dropped kerbs will benefit disabled wheelchair/buggy drivers. Illegal parking is a Civil offence. He has raised the issue with the parking enforcement team, who use most of their resources around schools in the morning and afternoon. They cannot be everywhere, but mobile officers will monitor as resources allow. If Forum members notice persistent offenders, phone the Town hall, or if they are on double yellow lines, without blue badges, ring the Councillors on their mobiles.

Secretary pointed out she was shown draft drawings of housing, facing inwards, around the perimeter of Strouden Park. In Holdenhurst Village, where homes face the Village green, there is some enhancement in safety for children playing there and for the green itself. Putting housing facing in to green spaces was a Victorian concept, which worked well for those reasons.

Question 5:

Why is there not limited parking on the Strouden Park Parade, 90% of vehicles are there all day.

Answer:

There was no accord among shop keepers and residents of Bradpole Road. See Updates.

Question 6:

Pedestrian lights outside the Library are out of phase with the 2 sets of vehicle lights. They are also slow to respond - pedestrians press to cross the road, then there will be a space in traffic, but still they do not alter - people get annoyed, give up and cross, eventually the lights change and motorists are annoyed as no-one is there.

Answer:

Les Deller: Agree, exactly the point. In London they are all well phased and the traffic flows. Councillor MacLoughlin was asked to look into this.

Question 7:

Tobias mentioned building over the railway station - this would not be in keeping.

Answer:

Farnham Railway Station has houses built over it and a retail park around it. Victoria and Waterloo Station are now lovely. It would be better to build there than in the Green Belt.

Question 8:

To Councillor MacLoughlin. Can we say that homes are for local people who have lived here for years?

Answer:

Councillor MacLoughlin: Housing Waiting list has 5 criteria, one of which is a local connection for 3 years. If not it is more difficult, but there are some exceptions, e.g. young mothers with babies.

Question 9:

Where Charminster Avenue meets Charminster Road, the pavement “bulges” to stop vehicles going round at such speed. Could the same be done at the top of West Way, where speed is excessive?

Answer:

Councillor Weinhonig asked the forum member to meet him at the weekend and look at it. Safety issues have certain criteria. Could Forum member get a petition together?

Question 10:

Could the Bike Light Project be linked with an electronic tagging session?

Answer:

Councillor Anne Rey: At this late stage, it is not on the pamphlets or website. Sgt Steve Houston is taking the lead in this project and on the day they have just one hour. Electronic tagging usually takes place at the Muscliff Fun Day.

Inspector Mike Claxton: There is no funding available at the moment for electronic tagging. He appealed for people to buy a decent light and they would like to see helmets. When bikes are recovered, they often cannot identify an owner, so please photograph your bike to go with the police records.

Question 11:

Why does Bournemouth need 54 Councillors when Southampton and Bristol have a much lower number?

Answer:

Councillor MacLoughlin: Agreed. Last time the Electoral Commission looked at Bournemouth, it reduced the number of Wards. It may look at the boundaries again or reduce the number of Councillors to 2 per Ward. It is however, important that Councillors have sufficient time, but it is a well made arguement which could be supported.

Question 12:

Can ultraviolet pens be used to mark bicycles?

Answer:

Inspector Claxton: Yes, some pens were available on the desk at the back of the hall. They can also be stamped (with post code) have an electronic chip and please write down the serial number.

Question 13:

What is happening to the IMAX?

Answer:

Councillor MacLoughlin: The Council has bought the IMAX. It has been looking at doing so for 2 years, but it was too expensive and now it has dropped to affordable. Council now controls the site, but it has sub-tenants and we need to get vacant possession. Council is looking to demolish the building, but replace it with another visitor attraction, which would have positive architectural features and will be viable.

Councillor Whittaker stated that the Planning Board took a lot of stick over the IMAX. It changed over 2 years of construction and grew another 17 ft. At that point, the council could have put stop notices on it, but there had only been 2 objections to the original application and the Chamber of Trade was applying pressure. This time, there will be 8 on the IMAX task group.

Question 14:

Why not charge people £5 for the use of a hammer?

Answer:

We need something that gets public support. A lot of local people have never used the IMAX. People will be asked for their views and BH Life will have an article on this subject. The IMAX will be the subject of a dedicated consultation exercise.

Councillor Derek Borthwick stated he is glad there will be a consultation on this subject, but pointed out that the consultation on the Bowls Clubs mentioned earlier, had been carried out on the internet. Out of 169 thousand people in Bournemouth, only 600 replied as a lot of older people do not have e-mail. 2,000 people use the bowling Greens. He hopes this survey will be a paper one.

Forum Chair asked for a show of hands to see how many people at Forum use emails. Approximately half of the forum members attending do so.

Question 15:

What has happened to the Castle Lane Relief Road - it is essential - ambulances get stuck along Castle Lane - the A3060 is a major trunk route? The only other alternative would be to join the Wessex Way to Dorset Way.

Answer:

Councillor Ron Whittaker: In 1972, this came under the then County Borough Council’s North Bournemouth policy Proposals. The line then proposed would have been a disaster and was deleted. The County Council needed an alternative and came up with the one across the flood plain with two bridges. The present owner of that land is trying to get gravel extraction on that site (there will be a meeting in June) but Dorset County Council are not happy about the bunding that would be required as flooding would then affect Granby Road and other areas further along the river. In those days, there were no Section 106 agreements - these days, developers would have to contribute to road building. If housing develops on the Green Belt, developers will have to fund the road and 1,500 houses would be unviable. This Government has lied about Green Belt development, but if it does take place, there must be infrastructure. Sadly there is no infrastructure in the Regional Spatial Strategy. The council will fight any plans to force us to build 1500 homes in the Green belt through legal channels. There will never be a “Relief” road as it is not possible to get it in. In 1972, we were looking at dualling Muscliff Lane all the way through - this is not possible now.

We will have to do something about it. There are Development Lines all along Castle lane, which would take traffic right up to people’s front door. Councillor Whittaker would rather live with the present conditions that affect properties like that. When Castlepoint was built, the late Councillor Margaret Hogarth wanted a link at the rear to the A338, but it was not done and Castlepoint was built facing on to Castle Lane.

Les Deller: Reminded Forum we had stopped the land grab of front gardens some years ago. We went to the Council, made deputations and it was put on hold. Forum will relook at it if traffic gets bad. People don’t like the road, but to have cars closer to houses is equally bad. It is hoped that getting the lights in Castle Lane properly phased will help the problem.

Question 16:

What is happening with the Castlepoint car park? Does it not contravene Planning regulations?

Answer:

Secretary had e-mailed Peter Matthews, Manager of Castlepoint, two weeks ago. No change in situation, they are still negotiating.

Bicycle Light Project

Councillor Anne Rey stated the Local Improvement Funds will end next year due to Council cut-backs. £550 from Throop and Muscliff is to be spent on a Bicycle Light Project in conjunction with the police - event to be held at the Shack 25th February, 7pm - 8pm, where the first 35 people will get a set of bike lights for £5.

Forum Chair pointed out it is not just young people who need bicycle lights.

Muscliff Fun Day - 18th July 2010

Townsend Fun Day - 4th June 2010

Holdenhurst Village Country Fayre and Flower Festival - 16th, 17th and 18th July 2010