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 04 March 2019 at 8:00 pm
at the Clarion Collection Hotel, Holywell Hill.
1. Present: Avril Allen, Bernadette Blade, Kam Cheung, Phil Fletcher, Mary Green, Anthony Hyde, Jenny Johnson, Pamela Johnson, Cathy Jones, Angela King, Barry Knight, Roger Morton, Mary Plackett, Bob Shadrake, Cllr Jacqui Taylor, Cllr Chris White
2. Apologies: Jane Harris-Matthews
3. Minutes of previous meeting: The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 07 January 2019 had been circulated by email (and by hand to residents who do not use email) and a copy was made available at this meeting. The minutes were approved.
4. Matters arising: None
5. Finances: Anthony Hyde advised that having spent £42.00 on Domain name renewal for saphra.org.uk, for a further 5 years, the finances now stand at £437.22.
6. Our local environment:
- Parking changes and pinch point in Sopwell Lane:
Roger, Cllr Jacqui Taylor and Bob Shadrake have formed a working party to consult and assess on this subject. Following their first meeting Cllr Jacqui Taylor provided a printed copy of the Parking Zone maps for Zones M&N which mostly fall within the SAPHRA area and Bob Shadrake then did a ‘walk-about’ of Zones M and those parts of Zone N within the SAPHRA area. Bob Shadrake drafted up an initial paper for discussion with the working party.
Cllr Jacqui Taylor is still awaiting answers to some questions she put to the parking officers. We have an outline of the information needed to get changes into the work programme.
Cllr Jacqui Taylor confirmed that a speed survey in Sopwell Lane had been done and indicated that most vehicles are keeping to the 20mph limit. An additional specific survey about lorries has been agreed with the County Council.
- Green oasis in Sopwell Lane:
Roger received an email from Michelle Howard of Affinity Water explaining that they have approached several companies to carry out the work on the Oasis, but it has, unfortunately, taken longer than anticipated to agree terms with a contractor. We are still awaiting news of a start date. Roger will chase Affinity Water.
- Possible grit bin for Sopwell Lane:
Roger will now go ahead and purchase the new grit bin.
- Blocked Drains:
Cllr Chris White has successfully managed to get the blocked drains cleared in Keyfield Terrace, Hart Road and at the junction of Thorpe Road and Sopwell Lane.
7. City Neighbourhoods Committee:
The next CNC meeting will be held on 20 March 2019 at 7.00pm.
The minutes of the meeting are available on the District Council website.
8. Car charging points in our area:
The sub-committee, consisting of Barry Knight, Phil Fletcher and Anthony Hyde are
continuing with their enquiries with regards to viable options for car charging points. They will be working with the parking changes and pinch point sub-committee where appropriate.
9. Review of New Year get-together:
The New Year get-together at the Hare and Hounds pub was enjoyed by the handful of members who attended. It was agreed that any future New Year celebration should be held before January 06, when Christmas officially ends. This year’s event was held on 28 January 2019 which was felt to be too late, hence poorly attended. Members agreed that an e-mail notification sent out a week before the event would be preferable.
10. Any other business:
- Pub In The Park: Cllr Jacqui Taylor informed the members present of a 3 day event that will be taking place near the centre of Verulamium park over a weekend in September 2019. It is a food and music event promoted by the well-known chef, Tom Kerridge. SAPHRA was asked, by St Albans District Council, if they wanted to be involved in the discussions that will be taking place and to receive any information that will be made available. It was unanimously agreed that we would like to be consulted.
- St Albans Cyclists: Phil Fletcher informed the members present that St Albans County Council is putting campaign effort into Healthy Streets/School Streets, and part of that involves supporting (and being supported by) Playing Out local group.
- The Extinction Rebellion Meeting: Phil Fletcher informed the members of a meeting to be held on March 12 2019, at Trinity United Reformed Church, 1 Beaconsfield Road, St Albans, AL1 3RD at 7.30 – 9.30pm. The meeting is about Climate Change issues.
- Herts Care Line/ Community Alarms: Angela King wanted to inform members of the Herts Careline Service. They supply care alarm systems to enable independence, safety and wellbeing of people of all ages and circumstances across Hertfordshire. For more information follow the link Herts Careline.
11. Dates of next meetings: 13 May 2019, 08 July 2019, 09 September 2019, 11 November 2019, 13 January 2020, 09 March 2020...
Useful information
Neighbourhood Watch: SAPHRA members are encouraged to sign up for the OWL (On-line Watch Liaison) scheme. SAPHRA can provide OWL sign-up forms to any interested party. It is also possible to sign up for OWL Messages via www.owl.co.uk. For those members who do not have email it is possible to obtain OWL Messages via a home phone (landline).
Highways fault reporting: (Potholes, street lamps not working, blocked drains etc.) can be reported to Hertfordshire County Council at: www.hertsdirect.org/services/transtreets/highways/hhonlineservices/hfr/
Street cleaning issues: (litter, fly-tipping, overflowing litter bins etc.) can be reported to St Albans District Council by telephone to 01727 819285 or 01727 819598
or by email to a.cleanerdistrict@stalbans.gov.uk
or online at: www.stalbans.gov.uk/environmentandwaste/street-care-and-cleaning/default.aspx
Agendas and minutes for District Council meetings can be found at:
http://stalbans.moderngov.co.uk/ieDocHome.aspx?bcr=1
Opening times and locations of the St Albans foodbanks run by the Trussell Trust:
Tuesdays: 1 – 3 pm Christ Church, 3 High Oaks, New Greens AL3 6 DJ
Tuesdays: 4:00– 5:30 pm Cunningham Hub, Cell Barnes Lane AL1 5PX
Wednesdays: 12:30 – 2:30 pm Christadelphian Church Hall, 4-6 Abbotts Avenue AL1 2HX
Thursdays: 12:30 – 2:30 pm Hilldyke Community Centre, 17 Hilldyke Road AL4 8TU
Fridays: 1:00 - 3:00 pm Holcroft Road, Batford AL5 5BQ
More information from: www.stalbansdistrict.foodbank.org.uk. Tel.: 01727 613 019.
Noise pollution:
To make a complaint about noise:
Report online through your MyStAlbans account at https://stalbans.force.com/mysadc
or email environmental@stalbans.gov.uk
or call 01727 819406 during normal office hours.
On Friday and Saturday nights St Albans District Council operate an out-of-hours noise patrol service, which deals with noise complaints. You can contact the duty team on 01727 811155 between 6pm and 3am.
The District Council also operates a Licensing Hotline to report complaints about Licensed Premises (pubs, clubs, restaurants etc.,) out of hours. The number is 07770 701720.
Herts Careline:
Community alarms for older and vulnerable people in Hertfordshire