Minutes for Homerton Neighbourhood Forum meeting, Jul 15 2009, 7.00PM official page

AGREED that Councillor Taylor was appointed Chair of the HomertonNeighbourhood Forum for the municipal year 2009/10

AGREED that Councillor Nkafu was appointed Vice Chair of the Homerton Neighbourhood Forum for the municipal year 2009/10.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked residents to fill in the ethnic monitoring forms and elevations forms that had been left on attendees’ chairs, which were hoped would help the Council improve the delivery of future meetings and the attendance of local residents.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Akehurst, Patrick Nicolson and Boyd, from co-optees George Peretz and Kevin Thompson and from  Simon Nayyar, the Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Hackney South and Shoreditch. Apologies for lateness were received from Councillor Lloyd.

The Chair stated that Councillor Akehurst was unwell and that he would send him best wishes from attendees of the Forum.

ACTION: CHAIR

There were no declarations of interest

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 31 March 2009 were agreed as a correct record of the proceedings subject to the amendment that Councillor Webb did attend the meeting.

Matters Arising

1.  Pathfinder Page 2

Ian Williams, Corporate Director Finance, agreed to write to Caroline Gregory and have put in the minutes details relating to whether the phase II of the pathfinder project had commenced.

ACTION: IAN WILLIAMS

Post meeting note: phase II of the pathfinder project has begun. Designers have just been appointed and the finalised list has been mapped.  Sites in Homerton include:

Banister Estate

Gascoyne Estate

A press article about the new sites should appear in Hackney Today soon.

2.  Olympic Route Network workshop

Ian Williams, agreed to look into the issue of a workshop to discuss the Olympic Route Network being set up as proposed by Councillor Nicholson at a previous meeting.

ACTION: IAN WILLIAMS

Post meeting note: Officers had discuss this proposal with officers from the Olympic Delivery Authority who had agreed to progress it when more information was available.  A new Olympic Route Network Engagement Manager was due to start sometime in September 2009.

After the Chair’s brief explanation of the role and responsibilities of co-opted Members, it was AGREED that the following persons be re-appointed as co-optees to the Homerton Neighbourhood Forum for a further one year term:

Paul Smith

Emmi Poteliakhoff

Omole Oluwakemi

Stuart Maxwell

Malcolm Aickin

George Peretz

The Chair introduced Mayor Pipe to the meeting and invited questions from residents as follows:

8.1    The Narrowway

What is the Council doing to stop the congestion of the Narrowway in Hackney Central?

The Mayor explained that the Mayor of London had control of Transport for London (TFL) and that the Council had been lobbying his office to change the bus routes so buses did not use the Narrow Way as the Council would like to see this area for pedestrian use only.  He confirmed that there was an Area Action Plan for Hackney Central that intended to improve the area for residents and businesses.  The Mayor suggested that the Chair might like to write to Peter Hendy Commissioner for Transport for London on behalf of the Forum or that a petition be started to show the amount of public concern with regard to this issue.

  ACTION: CHAIR

  A resident stated that Transport for All a Disabled People Organisation had joined the Transport for London’s Citizens Jury panel and he suggested that a group from Hackney may like to join this panel.

Post meeting note:    It was later agreed that the co-optees of the Forum would write to the Hackney Gazette encouraging local residents to write to TFL with their concerns on this issue.

8.2  Housing Policy – Pat Turnbull

a.  Was the Council going to build any more Council housing in the near future as Housing Association housing rents were increasing?

b.  Was the piece of land on the New Kingshold Estate that residents wanted to see made into an Adventure Playground, to be used for housing?

a.  The Mayor stated that out of the 33 London Boroughs, Hackney had the highest number of social rented housing particularly those with 3 bedrooms or more, for families.  He stated that there was currently a demand for part buy part rent properties in the Borough some of which was being taken up by residents currently in council housing which meant that some council housing would be released.  He stated that following pressure from Councils including Hackney, the Government’s planned rent rise for Council properties was reduced from 6.2% to 3%, but unfortunately Housing Associations were funded in a different way and may therefore have had higher rent rises. 

b.  The Mayor said that the piece of land on the New Kingshold Estate had originally been looked at for building a new sports centre on but unfortunately due to this land being owned by the Councils Housing Revenue Account this piece of land could not be used for purposes other than housing.  He confirmed that the Council would be working with some of the Government Housing schemes in building more Council housing in the Borough.  To this Simon Rix, stated that the Council had been granted planning permission to build a sport centre on this site in 2001.  He held up a plan showing housing on the site and asked for the number of dwellings that were to be  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

John Wade, Manager of Green Spaces, stated that The Well Street Common Premises Licence application was initiated at this time mainly for The Well Street Common User Group which holds an annual May Festival on the Common.  This user group event requires a Premises Licence as the event has licensable activities and the numbers were now expected to exceed 500 people. A licence for the venue would negate the need for the user group to apply for a licence each year at a financial cost.  It was noted that certain conditions such as size of event, number of people allowed to attend and what time the event should end could be added to the Licence.

In regards to the consultation process, the guidelines as per the Licensing Act 2003 had been followed.  In addition to that, and the Licensing Service’s arrangement for details of applications to be placed on their web site register, Ward Councillors in both Victoria and Wick had been advised prior to the application being submitted, as was the Well Street Common User Group.

It was noted that that the premises licence application did not allow for the provision of alcohol. This was a separate process whereby any event organiser could apply for a Temporary Events Notice. A Temporary Events Notice covers up to 499 people and must be agreed by the Police.

Finally John Wade stated that it must be understood that the Council had an event application process in place that ensures any proposed event was only granted approval once they have demonstrated they were adhering to all current health and safety legislation and the terms and conditions for the hire of a park. In all cases, Officers would be mindful of the proximity of residents in determining whether particular events were suitable for a particular location.

The Licensing Sub Committee, to which members of the public were welcome to attend, would meet on the following evening to this meeting at 7.00pm (16^th July 2009) to determine this application and an application for Springfield Park.

In reply to a question from the Chair John Wade confirmed that the proposal to hold an Olympic Carnival on the Common was not going ahead it was thought that this event would be held on Hackney Downs.

Caroline Gregory a representative of the Well Street Common Users Group stated that the Group was in favour of the Council’s application as the annual Well Street Common Users Group event had become, over the years, more expensive to hold and having to apply for a Licence each year only added to the expense.

Tom Wooley said he and other residents were in favour of the Well Street Common User Group event being held each year but were concerned that this Licence could open the way for other events with potentially thousands of people attending similar to events held in Victoria Park.  John Wade stated that currently any Group could apply for temporary events if the Council was granted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

Unfortunately the representative from Sanctuary Hereward Housing had left the meeting by this time in the meeting which the Chair and local residents were most displeased about as residents had particularly attended the meeting for this item.

Post meeting note:  The Chair has written to Stephanie Killer London Regional Director of Sanctuary Hereward Housing expressing his and residents’ disappointment in the representative for Sanctuary Hereward Housing leaving the meeting before this item had been discuss.

Residents and Councillors were concerned to hear that generally repairs and maintenance issues were not always being carried out by Sanctuary Hereward Housing upon request. 

The following were some issues raised:

• Door to electricity equipment in lift lobby left open
• Lock on entry doors not working allowing youngsters to sit in stair wells of flats and behave anti socially
• Door to rubbish area not closing properly
• CCTV not working
• Rents had been increased and it appeared that service had decreased.
• Manhole covers not being level with the ground

Ward councillors agreed to take these issues up with Sanctuary Hereward Housing.

A Police Officer stated that Police Officers were working hard to combat antisocial behaviour on the Estate but that issues such as above must be addressed by Sanctuary Hereward Housing to help them with this.

NOTED the Gambling Policy Review briefing note attached to the agenda and the questionnaires on the gambling policy that were available at the meeting.

The Chair explained that the policy had to be reviewed every three years.  Residents generally felt that the Council’s gambling policy was appropriate and gave it their continued support.

Future meetings will be held on 22 September 2009, 14 January 2010, and 24 March 2010.

Future meetings would be held on 22 September 2009, 14 January 2010, and 24 March 2010 the venues for which were to be confirmed.

Post meeting note The next meeting of the Forum, to be held on 22 September 2009, would be held in Hackney Town Hall.