Agenda item

Notes of the joint meeting of the DOVER NORTH and DOVER WEST Neighbourhood Forums held on 20 November 2008 at the Elvington Community Centre, Elvington at 6.30pm

 

Present:          St. Margaret’s Parish Cllr. David Hart             Chairman

                        Whitfield Parish Cllr Jeff Goodsell

                         

Other KCC, District and Parish Councillors and members of the public.                

 

Apologies for absence were received from DDC Cllrs Jennifer Record and Kit Smith

 

 

1.         Chairman’s welcome

David Hart welcomed those attending.

 

2.         ‘Active Dover’ – Dover District’s Community Sport Network

Sarah Philpott, DDC Sports Development Officer,  gave a brief presentation on the Community Sports Network, the purpose of which is to:

·         increase number of people taking part in sport and active recreation

·         widen access and opportunity for sport and active recreation

·         bring together partners’ priorities and action plans in a joined-up local action plan

 

Each Neighbourhood Forum is asked to send a representative to join the partnership, attend a maximum of 5 meetings per year, feed in information and report back to all Parish Councils in their Forum.

 

Action point:  Dover West and Dover North Forums to contact Sarah Philpott with nominated representative.

Action point:  Chairman to write on behalf of joint Forums to Vista Leisure regarding non-acceptance of vouchers for free sports/swimming sessions in Dover.

 

 

3.         Street Scene Consultation

            3.1  Christopher Allen, DDC Street Scene Project Manager, gave a

presentation on the Street Scene in the District which covered:

·         objectives for environment, residents and public realm

·         partnerships to ensure clean, tidy, well maintained and safe streets

·         top 10 and all other priorities for street scene

·         top issues for Community Safety Partnership (CSP)

·         service delivery: education, prevention, involvement, enforcement

·         partnerships between all tiers of local government and CSP

·         measuring how the service is doing

·         purpose of the consultation being to understand communities’ expectations from street scene service and how they can become involved

 

3.2  The Forum broke into three discussion groups to identify priorities and

suggest means of community involvement:

            Priorities:        

·         litter/street cleaning

·         speeding cars

·         dog fouling and loose dogs                

·         lighting and lamp posts, especially in rural areas

·         overhanging vegetation from private gardens and

·         untidy/overgrown sites

·         lorries parked illegally in lay-bys and on pavements,

particularly Whitfield and Capel-le-Ferne; effect on lay-bys,

surrounding land and roads in District.

·         fly-tipping, only some areas

·         road signs, cats-eyes and white lines need renewal and

cleaning                      

·         drains and gullies need cleaning to prevent flooding

·         anti-social behaviour/ vandalism

·         lack of play areas

·         pot holes

·         bus shelter cleaning and lighting in isolated areas                

 

            Community involvement:

·         have effective PCSOs.

·         provide litter bins and encourage use.

·         Parish Councils to work together e.g. borrowing speed guns.

·         education on dog fouling, littering plus publicity for results.  

 

Other issues: 

·         DDC to help Parishes with new legislation and how to draw up            own by-laws.

·         one central point to receive reports of street scene issues; each to be given report number for tracking and feedback.

·         don’t overburden volunteers: encourage, give credit and recruit more.

·         needs  ‘Road Champions’ to monitor and report state of lay-bys and problems with HGVs.

·         distinction necessary between rural and urban issues.

·        why is Street Scene initiative needed; why prioritise issues as majority listed were are responsibility of DDC/KCC currently paid for by our Council Tax so we should expect each to be dealt with accordingly. Each item is responsibility of a specific department with expertise and knowledge of subject, so why the need for another layer of management to co-ordinate them.

 

Action point:  DDC to give better publicity to achievements and successes which will reassure public that action is being taken.

 

3.3       Next steps:

·         Consultation to be completed in November with strategy adopted by Council in March 2009 to start in April 2009.

·         Consultation not restricted to Forums; individual responses welcomed.

·         KCC has been involved from the outset

·         All Forums will be updated on progress made with the street scene strategy  after April 2009.

             

 

The meeting ended at 9.00pm.