Agenda item

At the last meeting of the Community Meeting. It was agreed to set up a Street Cleaning Task Group to identify the specific issues in the ward and come up with proposals for spending the Ward Action Plan budget.

This item is for the meeting to receive a progress update on this work.

Steve Letten introduced the item relating to Street Cleaning. A number issues were then discussed by the meeting.

Beaumont Walk

Nik Krneta, City Warden noted that there were problems with waste in this area and that efforts as part of the recent environment action day were not sufficient and funding for CCTV was being sought to hopefully keep the area clear. Councillor Westley recommended that a bid for funding be submitted to the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership. Although the Neighbourhood Housing Manager was slightly sceptical that CCTV would make improvements to the area.

An environmental action week was also being proposed.

The Parks Officer commented that his team were looking to clear the area, but there was a problem with deep ditches.

Barleycroft Shops

The City Warden informed the meeting that he had visited the shops and tried to engage with the young people he met there. He received abuse and subsequently reported this to Beaumont Leys School.

Councillor Dempster asked that it be found out who owns the shops and they be written to with the request to keep area tidy outside their shops.

The Member Support Officer proposed that a small event be organised with the shops, the school and the healthy living centre to promote keeping the area clean.

It was also requested that the broken steps in the vicinity be repaired.

Bulky Items

Councillor Westley noted that the Council offered a bulky waste collection service. He queried whether this was promoted enough? Barbara Whitcombe, City Warden Manager commented that leafleting had been done in the ward and more was also to be done.

The Poppins

It was noted that was a big problem with littering and dog mess on the grass area at the back of the houses. It was even alleged that Council staff had thrown waste in the ditch. The Chair commented that this shouldn’t be happening. A resident offered to pick litter up himself if the filled bags were collected. It was requested that efforts be made to provide bins in the area and other measures be considered to help prevent the littering.

Prosecutions

The Chair queried whether any prosecutions had taken place for fly tipping / littering. The City Warden Manager stated that, none had taken place to date, but there were 20 cases pending. The Chair welcomed this.

-Patchwalk – Glebelands / Taverners Road

The Member Support Officer reported back to the meeting about a ‘patchwalk’ which local Councillors had attended last September.Most of the issues, such as clearing of litter, dog fouling and cutting back greenery had now been dealt with and those that hadn’t were largely due to issues where ownership hadn’t been established. The Ward Councillors would be writing to residents in the area and informing them of the progress.

Councillor Dempster commented that this had been a worthwhile exercise and offered that she and her co-Councillors would go to other areas, which covered two or three streets, to look at the problems which existed and try to get something about them.