MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
HELD ON MONDAY 15TH MAY 2017 AT 7 30PM
AT ST ANDREW’S HALL, BURNT ASH LANE
1. Welcome and introduction
Stephen
Hodges welcomed members to the meeting. He
extended a special welcome to the speakers and guests - Councillors Peter
Morgan, Michael Turner and Ellie Harmer; Rob Vale of Bromley Trading Standards;
Tony Isbitt, Chair of the Plaistow and Sundridge Safer Neighbourhood Panel; and
Reverend Liz Davis.
2.
Apologies for absence
Apologies had been received from:
Kath Goodwin
Malcolm
Goodwin
Theresa
McWhirter
Cheryl
Mulryne
3.
Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on 16th May 2016
The
minutes were approved.
4. Matters arising
There were no matters arising.
5.
Chair’s report
Stephen
outlined the Committee’s main activities and achievements during the past
year.
· Community affairs
We had continued to represent LERA at
a variety of local community groups and other meetings, including the Safer
Neighbourhood Panel where we voice members’ concerns, the Federation of Bromley
Residents’ Associations, the Council’s consultation meeting on Bromley’s budget
for the coming years, and the Planning seminar which looked at planning issues
within the Borough, including Bromley’s Local Plan for the next few years.
We worked with our Safer Neighbourhood
Team to resolve various problems, such as the young cyclists who had been
causing a nuisance to drivers on the Estate, and on promoting the Team’s online
survey which enabled residents to provide their views on the service they would
wish from the police. We also organised
a series of street briefings for residents by our Dedicated Ward Officers around
the Estate in March to discuss crime levels and action being taken.
We had worked closely with our
local Councillors and Council officers on a range of issues affecting the
Estate. This included a survey of the trees and agreeing a plan for the
replacement of diseased trees and the planting of new ones.
Stephen
expressed thanks for the support that our councillors had given to LERA.
· Development on the Estate
We
had kept members informed about continued proposals to re-develop the site at
the corner of Oak Tree Gardens and Portland Road with new houses. LERA had submitted objections to 2 further
applications, the first being refused by Bromley’s Planning Committee and is
currently subject to appeal with the Planning Inspectorate. The second application was approved by the
Planning Committee on 9th May.
· Communicating with
members
Membership of
LERA’s Facebook page had increased and there are now around 200 signed up. This is a useful vehicle not only to inform
members of topics of immediate interest, but also for members themselves to mobilise
action on issues, such as the recent campaign to stop Network Rail cutting down
the trees on the railway embankment backing on to Oak Tree Gardens and Ridgeway
Drive.
We continued to keep members
informed of news and other information of local interest through LERA’s website,
the Newsletter issued 3 times a year and occasional circulars.
The
meeting accepted the report.
Crime
and safety
Stephen read
out a report provided by the Plaistow and Sundridge Safer Neighbourhood Team
(SNT) who were unable to be represented at the meeting due to all the officers
being deployed elsewhere.
Sergeant
Neil Phillips had left the Team and had been temporarily replaced by Sergeant Paul
Thomas pending a permanent replacement. Inspector Gary Byfield, PCs Amy Barnes
and Gerald Hall and PCSO Peter Scott remained on the Team. Amy and Gerald are
also the Faith Liaison Officers dealing with the various faith groups across
the Borough. Along with the other local police offices across the Borough, the
office on Burnt Ash Parade had closed and the Team is now based at Bromley
Police Station at Bromley South.
The
Metropolitan Police had refreshed its website which now gives a whole range of
information, including updated crime figures, crime prevention advice and maps
showing hotspots where crimes are being committed, and enables crime incidents
to be reported online. It also enables residents to view crime statistics for
the Ward and compare these with other wards in the Borough. There is also a
Plaistow and Sundridge Twitter page (@MPSPlaisSund) which contains updates on
what the SNT is currently doing and other information, and it is planned to
launch a Facebook page which will contain details of police surgeries and
meetings as well as regular updates on the SNT’s work. The SNT can be contacted directly by email or
telephone about non-urgent issues that do not meet the criteria to be a crime
report
Since
the beginning of the year, there had been 10 Burglaries/Attempted Burglaries and
3 Theft from Motor Vehicles on the Links Estate (compared with 61
Burglaries/Attempted Burglaries across the Ward). Vehicle crime totalled 4, including theft
from motor vehicles and vehicle interference (65 for the Ward).
The
Estate had suffered from relatively
low anti-social behaviour throughout the year. Last year there were many
complaints around youths on cycles. This was and still is a Borough-wide problem
and not confined to the Links Estate. The SNT had had a report that the
cyclists have been causing a problem again, riding in front of cars and being
abusive. Residents who have problems with the youths are advised to report the
incidents to the police. This helps the SNT to build a case to take appropriate
action against them.
Peter
Skipp asked members to also inform their LERA representatives of incidents that
they report to the police so that we can influence the police response.
6. Treasurer’s report
Diane Bex presented the accounts for 2016-17,
copies of which had been distributed at the meeting.
LERA’s
finances remained in a relatively healthy state. Income over expenditure produced a surplus
for the year of £243. The main income
continued to be the membership subscriptions which had been held at
£2.00. Expenditure covered the usual administrative expenses.
Total
assets stood at £7,699 in the current account with NatWest.
The
meeting approved the accounts.
Diane
proposed that the membership subscription should remain at £2.00 for 2017-18. However,
it may be necessary to increase the subscription in future years. The meeting
approved the proposal.
7. Election of Committee
members
The
following were re-elected unanimously:
John
Crutchlow (Ridgeway Drive and Treewall Gardens)
Sandro Gor (Lead on Street Cleaning
issues)
Margaret Hearn (Leamington Close and Milverton Place)
Pam Lucken (Leamington Avenue)
Theresa McWhirter (Oak Tree Gardens)
Michelle Pike (Upper Portland Road)
Clive
Robeson (Website Manager)
Peter Skipp (Safer Neighbourhood Panel
representative)
Peter Smith (Briary Gardens).
All
the above, with the exception of Sandro Gor, Clive Robeson and Peter Skipp,
also serve as Street Representatives (roads are indicated in brackets).
In
addition, the following serve as Street Representatives:
Betty Donoghue (Broadlands Road)
Irene Lambell (Ridgeway Drive)
Jackie Taylor (Ridgeway Drive)
Laurel and Roy Wretham (New Street Hill).
Paul
Bellinfantie had resigned from the Committee and as the Street Representative
for Nos 1 to 41 Oak Tree Gardens.
Members were invited to volunteer to become Street Representatives.
8.
Appointment of Honorary Auditor
The meeting approved the
re-appointment of Steve Mace as Honorary Auditor. The meeting expressed
their thanks for his continued support to LERA by a round of applause.
9.
Presentation on Trading Standards – Rob Vale, London Borough of Bromley
Rob Vale
showed a video about the latest scams.
He explained that the scams are frauds which are frequently perpetrated
by organised crime gangs who operate from overseas. Examples include offers of cheap products
that lead to bogus prize draws; donations for bogus charities; ‘micro’ scams; ‘binary
options’ which are effectively betting or investment schemes; courier frauds
which involve victims disclosing their bank details to telephone callers
claiming to be the individual’s bank or the police and someone being sent to
collect their bank card; and rogue traders who can charge extortionate sums for
undertaking unnecessary work on houses or gardens. These scams normally target vulnerable and
elderly people living on their own who tend to be socially isolated. Potential victims can be targeted by
telephone, post, email or doorstep calls and the consequences can be
devastating – known cases have involved victims losing their life savings or
their houses to pay off ‘debts’. Trading
Standards will intervene if they are alerted in time and will prosecute
offenders.
Rob stressed
that PIN numbers should never be disclosed to other parties in any
circumstances. He also advised against
answering the front door to cold callers.
He urged members to keep an eye on neighbours who may be vulnerable to
scams and to report to Trading Standards if they suspect a fraud has been
committed. Warning signs can include the
neighbour accumulating large amounts of junk mail or seemingly unnecessary
consumable or other products, and scaffolding erected for roof repairs.
10. Community services up-date
·
Councillor Peter Morgan,
Portfolio Holder for Renewal and Recreation
Peter explained that although Bromley’s government grant was continually
being cut, it was expected that the Borough could live within its budget for
the next 2 years with accrued savings of £85 million anticipated and the sale
of unused Council assets which had raised £10 million.
Planning
The draft Local Plan had now been approved following a public
consultation. This provided for over
3,000 dwellings to be built in the Borough over the next 3 years. The strategy is for high density building on
brownfield land in order to protect the green belt. The plans for Bromley Town centre included:
·
Bromley North –
the proposed sale of the land next to the station by Network Rail and Transport
for London to build 700 apartments and a new bus station;
·
Tweedy Road –
development of new blocks of flats which had been approved;
·
Churchill
Gardens – re-development of the area next to the Churchill Theatre with 383 new
flats;
·
the multiplex
cinema in the High Street will become a boutique cinema;
·
the section of
the High Street from the Market Square to the far end of the Glades will be
smartened up. The market stalls will be
relocated nearer the Market Square; and
·
the old Town
Hall building, previously planned to be converted into a hotel and apartments, will
be re-occupied by the Council and staff remaining on the Stockwell Close site
will be concentrated into two older buildings with the rest of the site being
sold off for re-development.
Also, the re-development of Bromley South was progressing well, and a
developer had expressed interest in re-developing the office blocks in Elmfield
Road which will encourage more businesses to locate in Bromley.
Libraries
It is planned to enter into a contract with Greenwich Leisure Limited to
manage the 14 libraries within the Borough.
This should provide for an improved service with no redundancies and
annual savings of around £0.5 million.
In response to questions from members, Councillor Morgan said:
Parking – this continued to be a problem across the Borough but
introducing parking restrictions in some areas only pushed the problem
elsewhere. The Council planned to take
measures to alleviate the parking on the Links Estate;
Job Centre building at Bromley South – it was planned to build a new
school on the site;
Health centres, playgrounds and other facilities – the Council is taking
steps to ensure that adequate facilities are provided;
Brindley Road car park – Peter will pursue a response which is
outstanding to the issues that have been raised with the Council;
Central Library – the sides of the building had been cordoned off due to
loose tiles presenting a health and safety risk;
Potholes in Briary Gardens – these should be reported for repair via
FixMyStreet on Bromley’s website and Peter will follow up.
·
Tony Isbitt, Chair of Plaistow
& Sundridge Safer Neighbourhood Panel (SNP)
Tony
explained that the SNP was formed around 9 years ago as a result of an
initiative designed to bring together the police and the community. Support for the SNP had grown and membership
included our local councillors and representatives of residents’ associations
and Neighbourhood Watch as well as our SNT. The SNP aimed to make the Ward a
safe place to live, work and play and worked to get action taken to improve the
locality. It was hoped to tackle the
problem of the young cyclists causing a nuisance across the Ward by getting
them together to enable them to put their energy into a more positive activity.
He
encouraged members to be observant and report criminal and anti-social
behaviour incidents to their local representative so the SNP can put pressure
on the police to address problems.
11.
Any other business
Tony Beskeen
mentioned his recent charity walk of 11 miles to raise funds for St
Christopher’s Hospice. He invited members and guests to make donations either
directly to him or via his website page virginmoneygiving.com/tonybeskeen
Councillor Ellie Harmer explained the role of the
local charity, CarePlus, which provided volunteers to support elderly people in
their homes. This support can prevent
people ending up in hospital. She
encouraged members to become volunteers.
Reverend Liz Davis encouraged members to support
this year’s Community Fun Day in King’s Meadow which was being held on Saturday
15th July.
Margaret Smith commended the recent Summer Festival
on Burnt Ash Parade. Tony Isbitt said
that it was planned to make this an annual event, along with the Christmas
Fayre on the Parade and the Community Fun Day.
The meeting formally closed at 9 20pm.
Following the meeting, LERA members
and the guests mingled informally and enjoyed refreshments.
Around 50 members and guests
attended.
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