Minutes of the meeting on 07 September 2015

SAPHRA

The residents’ association for Sopwell Lane, Albert Street, Pageant Road, Hart Road, The Ryder Seed Mews Estate, Saracens Head Yard, Pearce’s Walk and Keyfield Terrace

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Minutes of Meeting held on Monday 07 September 2015 at 8pm
at the Clarion Collection Hotel, Holywell Hill.

1. Present: Avril Allen, Katie Barron, Bernadette Blade, Tim Boatswain, Kam Cheumb, Charles Davies, Anthony Hyde, Jenny Johnson, Pam Johnson, Cathy Jones, Angela King, Janet Miles, Roger Morton, Darryl Stannard

2. Apologies for absence: Mary Plackett

3. Minutes of previous meeting: The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 10 August 2015 and the minutes of the last AGM held on Monday 15 September 2014 had been circulated by email and a copy was made available at this meeting.

4. Matters arising: None

5. Transition Streets: Catherine Ross gave a talk on the various aspects of the Transition Streets project and offered members the opportunity to join a Transition Streets group. If anyone would like more information please contact either Roger Morton or Cathy Jones.

6. Finances: Anthony Hyde circulated a financial report for the year ended 31 August 2015. We started the year with £294.22, received £100, spent £80 and carried forward £314.22.

7. Election of Officers: The existing Officers were all willing to continue for the coming year and the meeting agreed unanimously that they should do so.

            Chair                           Roger Morton
            Vice Chair                   Katie Barron
            Secretary                    Cathy Jones
            Treasurer                    Anthony Hyde
            Webmaster                 Richard Barran

8. Neighbourhood Watch: Roger Morton encouraged SAPHRA members to sign up for the OWL (On-line Watch Liaison) scheme. He offered OWL sign-up forms to any interested party. For those members who do not have email it is possible to obtain OWL Messages via a home phone (landline). It is also possible to sign up for OWL Messages via www.owl.co.uk.

9. Our local environment:

  • Lorry ban / speed restriction / pinch-point in Sopwell Lane: Cllr Chris White is still chasing Hertfordshire County Council on this matter.
  • Green oasis in Sopwell Lane: The working group have completed some further clearing and sowed a selection of wild flower seeds and have plans for future work. Questions have been raised with regard to a waste and recycling bin in the centre of the site. SAPHRA will approach the District Council about this and possible further funding for this project.
  • Condition of wall at Holywell Hill end of Sopwell Lane: The District Council are continuing to put pressure on the owners of the wall to repair it. The tenants of the flats, having funded the initial unsuccessful repairs to the wall, are understandably reluctant to pay again for the work to be redone and the matter has reached an impasse.
  • Void in Albert Street (in the boundary wall of Ryder Seed Mews): We are still waiting for Phil Bruce-Green (Parks & Green Spaces Officer) to get back to Roger with a detailed proposal. Roger will chase him.
  • Albert Street car park: SAPHRA will submit a fresh application, for consideration next year, to make the two end spaces usable again.
  • Flattening of speed cushions in Albert Street: Cllr Chris White has been informed by the County Council that the work will be carried out sometime between October and November 2015.
  • Pearce’s Walk planter: A decision has yet to be reached with regard to the possible planting of this void space.
  • Keyfield Terrace Car Park: We are advised that the revised parking fees to allow for 1 hour parking at a reduced rate will come into effect in September 2015.
  • Weeds Clearance: This work still appears to be outstanding. SAPHRA will ask Cllr Chris White to chase this up.

10. The SAPHRA annual family barbeque was held in the garden of the White Hart Tap on Sunday 06 September 2015. It was a success although fewer members attended than in previous years.

11. Registering pubs as Assets of Community Value: This matter was deferred to the next meeting due to shortness of time.

12. Any other business:

  • Tim Boatswain of St Albans Civic Society spoke about St Albans Heritage Open Days to be held from 10 - 13 September 2015. He circulated flyers to the members. More details about this are available on www.stalbanscivicsociety.net.
  • Tim Boatswain also highlighted the e-petition to press Hertfordshire County Council to hold a full public debate before deciding whether or not to sell land to Helioslough for a proposed freight depot at Radlett. The e-petition can be found by googling Herts County Council e-petitions.
  • Katie Barron spoke about the central government grants available to Hertfordshire County Council to fund the taking in of refugees from Syria. The meeting agreed that SAPHRA should send a note to the County Council pressing them to apply for funding to accept refugees. Roger Morton, Katie Barron and Cathy Jones will action this.
  • It was suggested that SAPHRA should create a sign to be put up in the lobby of the Clarion Collection Hotel on meeting nights to direct people upstairs to the meeting room.
  • We agreed that we would hold our annual Christmas meal (open to everyone who has attended at least one meeting during the year) on Tuesday 08 December 2015 at the Café Rouge.

13. Date of next meeting: To be held on Monday 02 November 2015.