Hawarden Community Council
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HAWARDEN COMMUNITY COUNCIL Minutes of the MEETING of the STAFF AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE held on 19 FEBRUARY 2009 PRESENT: Chair: Councillor R Small Vice-Chair: Councillor Mr J E Angell Councillors: As per Council Meeting plus Councillor J P Edwards Officers: Mr R N Barnes, Clerk & Financial Officer APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Apologies for absence were received from Councillors G Hardcastle, Miss H Yale, D I Mackie and Mrs J Royds. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST: No declarations of interest were made by Members. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING: IT WAS RESOLVED: that the Minutes of the Meeting of the Committee held on 12 January 2009 be received as a true record and that they be signed by the Chair. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES: Police Matters The Clerk said that he had written to Inspector Oldfield in connection with the issue of non attendance at recent Council meetings by local CBM’s and the report of the disturbance at Aston Hall Lane. As a consequence Inspector Oldfield had convened a meeting with the Chair of Council and PC Twells at which Councillor Halford had been in attendance. Councillor Halford advised that the situation concerning attendance at the Council’s meetings had been discussed and resolved and that there appeared to have been some misunderstanding between the Police Control Room and the resident of Aston Hall Lane who had reported a disturbance. PC Twells advised that the Police did attend when called out in connection with disturbances caused by parties but that if there was a persistent problem then the matter was referred to the County Environmental Health Department who would carry out a monitoring exercise. Pedestrian Crossing outside Hawarden High School The Chair referred Members to the letter of reply received from Flintshire County Council addressing the Council’s suggestion to bring forward the lighting hours on the street lighting columns outside Hawarden High School. The Committee agreed to note the difficulties involved with this but following some discussion concerning the - 116 - Chairman’s Signature _________________ proposed bid to the Welsh Assembly Government for funding towards safety measures the Clerk was asked to seek clarification as to precisely what measures would be included in the scheme. POLICE MATTERS: The Chair welcomed PC Twells, PC Skyler, PCSO Wilson and PCSO Price to the meeting and invited the Officers to address the Committee. PC Twells apologised for having been absent at the Council’s January meeting but explained that she had been dealing with drug offences in the Hawarden Records Office car park. PC Twells outlined the following relevant matters with which she was involved. • Continued vigilance at Aston Mead • The Yowley Road Residents’ Association was working well and had led to a reduction in calls being made to the Police. • The Pub Watch Partnership Scheme was showing signs of success. • An initiative was being pursued to make older people aware of abstraction burglaries and bogus callers. The meetings were taking place at St David’s Park Hotel and were attended by all relevant agencies. • There had been an increase in shop lifting in the area including at a store in Ewloe. PC Twells informed the Committee that Inspector Oldfield would welcome the opportunity to make a presentation to the Council on the work which was being undertaken in the Division. She also offered Members the opportunity to visit the Central Control Room at St Asaph if they so wished. Finally PC Twells said that she was aware that there had been some comments about Members not being able to contact her and she therefore issued a time-sheet for herself and PCSO Wilson for the next few weeks. In response to Councillor Halford PC Twells confirmed that the preferred method of contact was by email as these were easy to deal with and could be replied to at any time of the day. PCSO Price said that there were no particular issues affecting Mancot but said that arrangements were being made for speed checks to be carried out along Ash Lane and Leaches Lane. Councillor Carver asked if this could be extended to include Cross Tree Lane, particularly at the time of Airbus shift changes. The Chair invited Members to raise any relevant issues with the Officers. Councillor Carver questioned whether Officers were aware of problems associated with youngsters running over cars in the lay-by adjacent to Thomas C Adams Office on The Highway, Hawarden. The Officers confirmed that they were. The Chair thanked the Offers for their attendance at the meeting. - 117 - Chairman’s Signature _________________ IT WAS RESOLVED: that if necessary a special meeting of the Committee be convened to receive the presentation by Inspector Oldfield. PARTNERSHIP COUNCIL FOR WALES: The Chair referred Members to the letter which had been received from the North Wales Association of Town and Larger Community Councils asking that the Council solicit the support of its local Assembly Member to seek full representation on the Partnership Council for Wales. The Committee noted that Hawarden Community Council along with many other Town and Community Councils in North Wales was not a Member of One Voice Wales preferring instead to align with the North Wales Association and considered that that organisation should have full representative status on the Partnership Council. Councillor Ms Halford questioned whether the Assembly’s unwillingness to agree to this was contrary to its discrimination policy. IT WAS RESOLVED: to write to the Assembly Member for Alyn and Deeside soliciting his support in this matter. FLINTSHIRE COUNTY FORUM: The Chair advised that the Council had been invited to put forward topics to be discussed at the future meeting of the Forum of the County, Town and Community Councils. IT WAS RESOLVED: to request that there should be discussion on the issue of dog fouling, which affected all towns and communities in Flintshire. CLERK’S REPORT: The following matters were reported:- a) Moor Lane would be closed for five days from 9 February 2009 to facilitate emergency gas mains replacement. b) The Council had incurred thefts of scrap from its depot, full details of which had been provided to the Police. IT WAS RESOLVED: that the report be noted. MEMBERS’ INFORMATION ITEMS: The Chair of Committee referred to a complaint he had received from residents of Leaches Lane, Mancot in connection with the brightness of the lights on the rear of the Catherine Gladstone Hospital. The Clerk undertook to write to the Health Authority to ask for the lighting to be dimmed. - 118 - Chairman’s Signature _________________ .