Forgewood Community Council

MINUTE of a Monthly Meeting Held on gfhMarch 2004 in Forgewood Community Centre

Present: Office Bearers Community Councillors Tommy Hughes (Chair) Shirley Bean Maureen Boyle (Vice Chair) Jason Pollock Jill McGarrell (Treasurer) Gavin Nichol (Secretary)

In Attendance: Jackie Bettley.

Aqenda Action Item No Required by

1 Apologies for Absence & Chair’s Welcome.

Apologies had been received from Marion Craig, Louise Law, Hazel Brunton (Co-opted) and Provost Connelly. The Chair warmly welcomed Jackie Bettley to her second meeting.

2 Minute of Previous Meeting.

The draft Minute of the previous meeting held on the gthFebruary 2004 was reviewed. Subject to two changes, one of spelling and the second of content the Minute was agreed as a true and accurate record. The Secretary is to action the Secretary two amendments and then is to e-mail the approved Minute to North Council (NLC).

3 Matters Arising.

The Inventory of equipment possessed by the Community Council is nearing completion. The Chair Chair & and Secretary will report back to the Council when the Secretary Inventory is fully completed

Item 6 - Treasurer’s Report: All approved Minutes and Reports have been submitted to Council. Ttie Secretary will write to the Director of Secretary Administration requesting that our Grant for 2003 - 2004 be issued.

Item 7 - Community Safety: The Secretary wrote to Provost Connelly on the 2”d March to request the attendance of Gavin Whitefield, Chief Executive, NLC at Forgewood Communify Council

our April meeting. The main aim would be to learn about the main NLC initiatives that will impact on Ward 3. Plus the meeting will give the CE an opportunity to learn about some of the ‘grass root’ concerns of our residents.

d) Item 8 - Adobe Acrobat software update: It has been decided that this update is too expensive and did not fully meet our requirements.

4 Correspondence.

a) The Council had been invited to attend a ‘BioDiversity’ seminar in . Jackie Bettley kindly agreed to Jackie Bettley represent us and to verbally report back at a future Community Council meeting.

b) The former Secretary had forwarded two recent letters from the ‘Water Customer Consultation Panels’. The Chair stated that Provost Connelly is keen that the Community Council makes an input into this consultative process. The Secretary will review this Secretary correspondence and report back at the next Council meeting.

c) Notification had been received from NLC that the Quadrennial Elections for Community Councils would be held on the 8‘h October 2004. By the 26 July, NLC will issue an initial letter advising of arrangements for the stand down from existing office by Councillors and of the re-electionlelection procedures. The Chair stated that this was an ideal opportunity to welcome more residents onto the Council. It should be noted that the All Community last date for the lodging of nominations is Tuesday the Councillors 14‘h September. The matter will be fully discussed at future Council meetings.

d) The Planning & Environment Department, NLC wrote to inform us that a survey is being carried out in North Lanarkshire to identify all houses in multiple occupation (HMQ). A house is deemed to be In multiple occupation if 3 or more unrelated adults live there. The Council was Councillors asked to contact the Senior Environmental Health Officer if it is aware of any H

5 Treasurer’s Report.

There has been no major change to our financial status since the full report given by the Treasurer last month. Also, see Item 3 b) above.

The Secretary has submitted the paperwork required by the RBS to authorise the present Chair, Secretary and Treasurer to Forgewood Community Council

be the signatories on the cheques for both of our bank accounts.

6 Feedbac WReports.

a) Forgewood Management Group (FMG): - Maureen Boyle verbally briefed the Council on the latest FMG meeting that was held on the lstof March. The meeting was well attended by 14 persons who represented amongst others NLC, the 2 main RSLs (i.e. FHCL and LHA), Woodville Rise (Phase II & 111) Residents Group, FWAG, the ASTF of NLC and ‘N’ Division Strathclyde Police.

The Community Council was pleased to learn of NLC’s plan to demolish some of their flats in Fife Drive. It is encouraging to see the beginning of the demolition of unsustainable housing stock. The Community Council is keen that the resultant cleared land is fully landscaped and properly fenced off, at the rear of the site, to stop unauthorised access into the back gardens of adjoining properties.

b) Lanarkshire Housing Association’s “Wider Role Proiect” & Tenants Survey: - Maureen Boyle and the Secretary attended an Open Event, on the above topic, in the Community Centre on the 24‘h February. Copies of LHA’s formal Report on their Tenants Survey were given to Councillors during the discussion. A ‘Crime Prevention Survey Report’, by the Police Office, on the Shops & Surrounding Area of Kylemore Crescent was included as an Appendix to LHA’s Tenants Survey.

LHA is to be applauded on their efforts; if all the recommendations are implemented they will improve both community safety and well-being. Some of the proposals are: -

e Closelfence off the car parking facility opposite the supermarket. e Landscapelclean-up and perform other general environmental improvements to the area around their housing stock. a Improved Lighting.

6) CCANL-SD ‘NLC Corporate Plan’ briefing by Gavin Whitefield, Chief Executive, NLC.

The Chair and Secretary attended this briefing that was organised by the Community Council Association for Forgewood Community Council

North Lanarkshire - Southern Division (CCANL-SD). The event was held in the Bentley Hotel, Motherwell on the 2”dof March. The event was well attended by approximately 30 people who represented many Community and voluntary organisations. Gavin Whitefield’s briefing on the Corporate Plan was well received and was followed by an interesting question and answer session.

7 Estate Management. Forgewood Community Trust TFCT]: - On the 2!jth February Cathy Brien, Depute Director, Forgewood Housing Co-operative Limited wrote to the Community Council on the subject of the FCT - ‘Developing a Stable Community’. The letter stated that over the last decade significant progress has been made to help regenerate Forgewood. The FCT, currently operating as the Forgewood Wider Action Group, will take forward much of this activity.

FHCL has recently received Communities ‘Wider Role’ funding for a project aimed at ‘developing a stable community’. FHCL wishes to work with key local partners to develop, implement and evaluate a more comprehensive strategic approach to the planning and delivery of its services across the areas of housing, health, education, recreation, crime, safety and jobs at the neighbourhood level.

A meeting of the key partners will be held on the gthof March in Forgewood Community Centre. Louise Law had agreed to represent Forgewood Community Council at this meeting. Louise will report back to us at a future Lolsise Law Community Council meeting.

A further discussion of estate management issues then ensued. It was felt by the meeting that most of the ‘Estate Management’ efforts over the past few years have only slowed the decline in our estate. Very little has been done to improve the situation faced by the residents of Forgewood by tackling the root causes.

The relevant public bodies have made some environmental improvements. The good work done by the Central Scotland Forest Trust on the Strathclyde Park/Ravenscraig ‘Green Link’ is worthy of high praise. We earlier this evening acknowledge the environmental improvements being initiated by LHA. NLC has made some internal improvements to the Community Centre. Forgewood Community Council

The violent activities, in our Ward, of rival young groups from Forgewood and Bellshill were discussed. The Secretary will invite Inspector Elaine Gardiner to a future Council meeting to Secretary discuss this issue and other relevant Policing matters.

8 Awards for All - Team Building ‘Get Together’.

The event held on the 27‘h February was deemed a great success. All who attended felt reinvigorated and fully focussed to meet the future challenges that will arise for our voluntary statutory organisation.

9 AOCB.

Maureen Boyle, Shirley Bean and Jill McGarrell all expressed their heartfelt thanks to the Community Council for their recent honorariumslgrants.

10 Next Meeting and further Future Meetings.

The next meeting of Forgewood Community Council will be held on Monday the 5‘h of April 2004 at 7:15pm in the All Community Community Centre, Forgewood. Cou nciI lors

The Secretary is to book the Community Centre for the following future Meetings - 10 May, 07 June (AGM), Secretary 06 September, 04 October 01 November and 06 December 2004.

Note of Action: -All 6 dates (and venue) have been booked and All Community confirmed by NLC. Councillors

T ’~p Hughes

Tommy Hughes Chair Forgewood community Council