Martins Heron, The Warren & Neighbourhood Action Group 8 February 2011 10.00 am - 12.00 pm

Present: Councillor Trevor Kensall, Forest Council (Chairman) Councillor Mrs Shelagh R Pile, Council Sgt Matt Gray, G. Hillard, Vincent Rise Resident A. Hillard, Vincent Rise Resident David Parkin, Parish Councillor. Roger Whiteford-Mulkern, Chairman, Martin's Heron & The Warren Community Association Malcolm Young, Winkfield Parish Council Rachel Bowers, Ripplesmere Neighbourhood Watch

In attendance: Wendy French, Bracknell Forest Council

Apologies: David Little, Martins Heron Resident Councillor Chris Turrell, Bracknell Forest Council Bianca Gallipoli, The Wayz Youth Centre

Action Points

Minute Item

45 Notes of Previous Meeting

The notes of the meeting held on 12 October 2010 were agreed.

46 Neighbourhood Priority Action Updates

• Nuisance caused by vehicles, commuter parking in Martin’s Heron David Parkin, reported to the Group as part of the Nuisance Parking Group. He reported that to date 30 responses had been received to the 750 letters that had been distributed to local residents regarding parking in the local area. He had already contacted 75% of the respondents and the issues centred around commuter parking and generally people parking badly and disregarding yellow lines.

In particular, around Martin Heron’s train station, parking wardens would be visiting the area daily. Residents stated that if Police were accessible, parking problems could be easily sorted out, however on occasions Police were not available to assist. Generally residents would like to see the Police being more proactive. It was reported that one resident had car parked across their driveway twice, in two days.

David Parkin reported that he had been in discussions with the Manager (Paul Davis) at Tesco, about allowing 50 commuter cars into the Tesco car park. In addition, he reported that Tesco would like a crossing on Whitton Road as well as the removal of the single yellow line. There were regular complaints around wing mirrors being knocked off by vehicles driving along Whitton Road. He stated that his full report would be available to the Group by the end of March.

The Group noted that parking charges and the congestion charging in had led to increased parking pressures around local train stations.

• Litter and Environment Councillor Mrs Pile reported that the litter pick had been successful and that youngsters from The Wayz Youth Centre had assisted. Main problem areas appeared to be to the south of the train station and the Savenak Park.

The Chairman advised that Bracknell Forest Homes had a Neat Team that should be contacted if a problem area was discovered.

Members of the Group reported problems with abandoned Tesco trolleys, it was advised that Paul Davis at Tesco be contacted about this.

• Speeding throughout all areas in the neighbourhood Thames Valley Police reported that all PCSO’s were now trained to use the speed indicator devices. The device was proving useful, so long as the PCSO’s were not too visible.

In particular, there seemed to be problems with speeding as vehicles came in from Bagshot Road and into Harmans Water. The Chairman reported that the Highways team were currently looking at the traffic around the bend near Harmans Water shops.

Thames Valley Police advised that if problem areas were highlighted, enforcement work could be targeted to these areas.

47 Set NAG Priorities for 2011

The Chairman reported that usually the NAG’s priorities would be set by considering the arising issues from the local resident’s survey, however this year a survey had not been undertaken.

The Group agreed that the three working groups already in place working on current priorities should complete their work and then adopt two major projects for 2011 /2012. It was agreed that the NAG would take on a major clean up of “The Bull Brook” and the Allsmoor Pond. A second project would concentrate on road safety within the neighbourhood.

David Parkin reported that he would be calling a special meeting to consider the working group’s report around nuisance caused by vehicles and commuter parking in Martin’s Heron.

48 Neighbourhood Action Group Fund Update

Wendy French agreed to check exactly how much the Group had remaining in their budget and report back to the Chairman.

49 Neighbourhood Police Team Update

Thames Valley Police officers reported that they hoped to run Film Night’s at the Wayz, during the summer months, following the success of last year. It was agreed that grant funding would be sought from the Town Council for this and that the NAG could fund one or two nights if necessary.

Thames Valley Police officers reported that a new crime mapper website had been launched which would centralise statistics and so a breakdown would no longer be available. Officers reported that there had been a slight increase in violent crimes and a jump in anti-social behaviour over the last few months.

50 Overview of Public Forums

The Chairman reported that there had been two public forums last year, the Martins Heron Forum had been well attended whilst the Harmans Water Forum was not as well attended.

At The Harmans Water Forum Donald Findley, Director of “1Church100Uses” gave a presentation on the proposed re-development of St Paul’s Church Harmans Water.

At The Martins Heron Forum Desmond Brown from South East Water gave a presentation about the S E Water Bray Water Pipeline project that was now nearing completion.

The Minutes of these forums would be circulated later in the week.

51 Feedback from Neighbourhood Action Group Chairs' Meeting on 12 January 2011

It was reported that there had been a discussion around how NAG Forums could be more effective, one suggestion had been that rather than have the meetings as stand alone meetings, that they could be combined with other community events such as a school parent’s evening. The Chairman suggested that at their next NAG meeting, an agenda item be included to discuss how forums could be more effective.

It was reported that Chair’s had suggested that NAG Forums be scheduled in September instead of October/November as there would be more light in the evenings. This in turn would mean that NAG meetings in the Autumn would move from October to September.

It was reported that any unspent NAG budget would be returned to the Police to be spent to the benefit of Bracknell Forest as a whole. One idea for the funding was to purchase solar powered cameras to monitor anti-social behaviour, which could be moved around the Borough.

The Chairman reported that it had been agreed that funding would be held by the Martin’s Heron Resident’s Association until the Group were ready to spend it.

It was reported that Thames Valley Police had a large quantity of paint, in various colours, should NAG’s wish to use it for community projects.

52 Dates of Future Meetings

th th Tuesday 5 July 2011 and Tuesday 6 September 2011.