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 Annual General Meeting held on Monday 16 September 2019 at 8pm
at the Clarion Collection Hotel, Holywell Hill.
1. Present: Avril Allen, Bernadette Blade, Kam Cheung, Phil Fletcher, Mary Green, Anthony Hyde, Pamela Johnson, Catherine Jones, Angela King, Roger Morton, Bob Shadrake
2. Apologies for absence:, Alison Burroughes, Jenny Johnson, Barry Knight, Mary Plackett, Cllr Jacqui Taylor, Cllr Will Tucker, Cllr Chris White
3. Minutes of previous meeting: The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 03 September 2018 had been circulated by email and a copy was made available at this meeting. The minutes were approved.
4. Matters arising: None
5. Finances: Anthony Hyde presented a detailed account of the finances for the year ended 31 August 2019. In summary, we began the financial year with a balance of £299.22, received £200 and spent £157.94 which left us with a balance at year end of £341.28
6. Election of officers: The current officers were all willing to continue for the coming year. The meeting agreed, unanimously, that the officers going forward would be as follows:
Chair Roger Morton
Vice Chair Angela King
Secretary Cathy Jones
Treasurer Anthony Hyde
Webmaster Richard Barran
There being no further business the AGM was declared closed.
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
___________________________________________________________________________________
Minutes of Meeting held on Monday 16 September 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, Pamela Johnson, Cathy Jones, Angela King, Roger Morton, Bob Shadrake
2. Apologies: Alison Burroughes, Jenny Johnson, Barry Knight, Mary Plackett, Cllr Jacqui Taylor, Cllr Will Tucker, Cllr Chris White
3. Minutes of previous meeting: The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 09 July 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 the bank balance is £341.28.
6. Green oasis in Sopwell Lane:
Affinity are still awaiting written confirmation from the District Council (owner of the land) that the works are approved. Roger will send an email to Cllr Jacqui Taylor to express our concerns about the delay and the possibility of losing their funding.
7. Car charging points in our area:
We are still awaiting a response from local councillors with regards to a submitted paper outlining SAPHRA’s thoughts on car charging points.
8. Parking changes and pinch point in Sopwell Lane:
Cllr Jacqui Taylor reported, by email, that a meeting with the County Council Highways team is due to take place next week to properly discuss the Sopwell Lane pinch point and Hart Road bay markings since HCC resurfaced.
9. Other matters affecting our area:
- The broken street name plate in Sopwell Lane: This has now been replaced.
- The broken parking sign in Sopwell Lane: The parking sign is still lying on the Green Oasis site and the broken base, left in the ground, is quite jagged and unsafe. Roger has reported both items.
- 20mph roundels on the road surface in Sopwell Lane: These were scheduled but not installed.
- Cycle stands for Malthouse Court/elsewhere in our area: SAPHRA will apply for a grant from the CNC to purchase some cycle stands for use at Malthouse Court or elsewhere in our area. Phil is taking the lead on this.
- Location for our second grit bin: Phil will approach the Hare and Hounds pub to discuss the possibility of placing it on their forecourt.
- Bolts missing from street name plate in Albert Street: Roger has reported this.
- Missing planters in the void in the wall in Albert Street: The residents of Ryder Seed Mews have very kindly donated a new prickly shrub in a large planter which is now in place. Thank you, Anthony, for instigating this.
- Hedge trimming in Albert Street CPZ car parks and around Keyfield Terrace car park: The contract for managing the car parks will be taken back in- house by the Council in the autumn. Recently the car parks in our area have been trimmed but some vegetation has been left obscuring some of the parking signs. Local residents have been trimming back vegetation from the signs.
- Conservation 50 events: Conservation 50 is a collaboration between St Albans Civic Society, Abbey Precincts Residents Association and Aboyne Residents Association. Public events were organised to celebrate the first St Albans Conservation area, to assess its value to the city and residents throughout the District. The feedback from the members was favourable especially with regards to the guided tours which were very informative and very well organised.
- Pub in the Park (13 – 15 September 2019): The feedback from this event was positive. Very few people were aware of any major impact, transport wise or pedestrian wise. The feeling was that it had been a very well organised event. There was general surprise at how small an area the event had taken up.
10. City Neighbourhoods Committee:
The CNC is an executive body of St Albans District Council. Its members are District Councillors drawn from the unparished wards in the City centre and co-opted residents’ associations from the same area. The CNC has not met since 26 June 2019. The minutes of the meeting should be available on the District Council website. The next CNC meeting is 18 September 2019. Roger will be unable to attend this meeting so Angela will represent SAPHRA.
11. Review of Summer get-together at the White Lion 14 July 2019:
The get-together took place in the garden of the White Lion at 4pm. It was very well attended and there were several new faces. A good time was had by all.
12. Dates of next meetings: In order to ensure that more people have an opportunity to attend our meetings we will be alternating between Mondays and Tuesdays in future. Here is a list of our revised dates: Tuesday 12 November 2019, Monday 13 January 2020, Tuesday 10 March 2020. Additional dates for the diary are: Monday 11 May 2020, Tuesday 14 July 2020, Monday 14 September 2020.
Date & venue proposed for our Christmas meal: Tuesday 3 December 2019 at 7.30 for 8.00pm in the White Hart Tap pub.
13. Any other business:
Bernadette had recently visited Elizabeth Barber, who is now feeling and moving much better. It was agreed that SAPHRA would send a Christmas card to Elizabeth and to Jacqueline Briggs (another member who recently moved away)
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
Details of planning applications can be found at:
https://planningapplications.stalbans.gov.uk/planning
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
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.