PINES AND CHINES
Branksome Park, Canford Cliffs & District Residents’ Association
Founded 1958
Minutes of monthly meeting held Wednesday 10 August 2016 at 7.30pm
PRESENT Roger Allen (RA) – Vice-Chairman
John Gunton (JG) – Magazine Editor
Cllr Mohan Iyengar (MI) – Canford Cliffs Ward Councillor
15 Members & Wardens
- Welcome and Apologies
Apologies: Cllr Mrs May Haines (Ward Councillor), Terry Stewart (President), Bob Reid (Chairman), Tracy Holmes (Planning Officer), Paul Fearnley (Treasurer), Mike Parkin (Membership Secretary) Carol Parkin (Secretary), David Reeves, Dawn Goodson, Zofia Allen & Martin Heath.
- Minutes of meeting 13 July 2016
Accepted as true record of last meeting, proposed by John Sprackling, seconded Chris Stracey and agreed by show of hands.
- Matters arising
Branksome Woods Tennis Courts – Aaron Russell. Head Coach, is in negotiation with Council over new lease.
Cllr MI reassured members that the conversion of the clubhouse to a café is for club use only and not for public or evening opening. The proposed new floodlighting will use new technology lighting which can be focused on the tennis court area only and should not cause any light pollution. MI said if it fails, it will be dealt with – there is no intention of causing problems.
Stan Alfert was still concerned that lights in evening would encourage evening use of café.
- On-street Parking Charges
RP reported that a Chairman’s Newsletter had been sent to all members updating the situation, particularly that the Cabinet had overturned the recommendation of the Place Overview & Scrutiny Committee and had asked Transportation to look at mitigation options, before the scheme was further considered as to whether it should go ahead.
The Association had asked a number of Freedom of Information (Fol) questions; answers had been unsatisfactory and were subject to internal review by the Council.
A Fol had also established that the Council had received no complaints about either congestion or lack of parking in the beaches area for the three years to 2015; this was considered a strong point against the scheme.
The consultation on the revision to the Poole Local Plan had shown Beach Road car park supporting 40 new dwellings; this runs counter to the need to maximise the existing car parking assets and was the subject of a further FOI..
RA reminded that charges from car parks only can go to Council General funds not on-street parking.
Stan Alfert made the point that Buccleuch Road is included in the plan but is never congested, whereas Tower Road West is congested from time to time but is not included in the plan. RA has suggested that the Association should enquire if anyone from the Council had walked the roads before the plan was drawn up.
Cllr MI explained the difficult financial position facing the Council and that it is required to produce a balanced Budget for 2017/18 or face being put into administration. If the road charging scheme was not to proceed then the Council would have to look at other means to raise revenue. He asked if ‘charging visitors’ might be more acceptable? MI said that the Council would be remiss in its responsibilities, if it did not look into this.
RA then raised the issue of commuter parking in Ormonde Road which is just outside Zone K, the County Gates Residential Parking Scheme area. RA explained how the scheme operates and pointed out that commuter parking permits can also be purchased.
Neil Denning said that this had been an ongoing problem and residents would like the County Gates Residential Parking Scheme area to be extended to include Ormonde Road. He had been in contact with various officers & Councillors for some time and was not making any progress. He had last contacted Cllr Drew Mellor, the Portfolio Holder, but had not received a reply. Cllr MI said that a Borough-wide parking review is currently underway.
RP said that he did not wish to take on more work but thinks this should be dealt with as a separate issue.
- Communication with members
RA said that he proposed to incorporate this item with item 8 on the Agenda.
- Planning issues
Tracy Holmes was unable to attend the meeting but had provided RA with a list of current ongoing planning applications, in which the Association is taking an interest.
15b Bury Rd: Hearing re Tree Appeal postponed A new date will be set by the Planning Inspectorate in due course. Chairman’s note: Appeal Hearing re-arranged for 14 September 2016
5-7 Chaddesley Glen: Letter of support on behalf of objectors registered by Association. Cllr MI said that this application is likely to be determined at September Planning Committee meeting with a strong officer recommendation to ‘Refuse’.
33 Cliff Drive: ditto. Chairman’s note: To be determined at Planning Committee meeting on 25 August 2016 with officer’s recommendation to ‘Grant with conditions’.
14 Pinewood Road: No decision regarding HMO, or conversion to flats. An extension of time has been allowed to 10th August.
Burnage Court, 6 Martello Park: Application granted with conditions, reserved matters for landscaping. Chairman’s note: Reserved matters application ‘Granted with conditions’ on 02 August 2016.
4 Brackenhill: Grant, demolish existing house and garage and construct one detached house.’ Stan Alfert pointed out that earlier application for two houses was still subject to appeal.
Other Planning applications within the area covered by the Association
7A Spencer Road: Grant with conditions, replacement of front boundary and alterations to property.
25 Chaddesley Glen: Grant with conditions, formation of new window.
4 Mornish Road: Planning permission granted to demolish existing dwelling and erect a new dwelling with integrated garage.
20 Bury Road: Granted variation of code 13.
2 Western Ave: Grant with conditions, alterations to existing dwelling.
30 Chaddesley Glen: Grant, demolition of existing dwelling and construction of two new dwellings.
7 Flaghead Road: Grant, demolish existing buildings and erect one 4 bed roomed house and garage.
37A The Avenue: Grant with conditions, two storey extension to rear and alterations to roof.
17 & 20 Baillie Park, 7-9 Forest Road: Grant with conditions, single storey extension.
15 Eaton Road: Refuse, demolition of existing garage and retaining wall, erect new garage, garden room and sun deck.
2 Haig Ave: Grant with conditions, extensions and alterations.
6 Burton Road: Refuse, extensions and refurbishments.
- Beach sports event, Licence
This year’s planned Beach Football event planned for end-July 2016 at Canford Cliffs Chine was cancelled.
A Licensing Sub-Committee meeting was held on 26 July 2016 to determine an application for a premises licence, presumably, for a next year’s event (A 5 day event Thursday – Monday for plays, films, live music, recorded music, performances of dance or similar and supply of alcohol. Times 09:00 – midnight on Thurs, 09:00 – 01:00 Friday, and Saturday and 09:00 -23:00 Monday. Also late night refreshment 23:00 until close each day as above. The committee decided that the each day’s events should close at 11.00pm.) Chairman’s note: The Minutes of this meeting have yet to be posted on the BoP website.
John Sprackling expressed concern that the report for the above meeting was shown as ‘Confidential’ on the BoP website and Cllr MI said he would investigate.
- Autumn Magazine and Facebook
RA said that, prompted by the issue of the Chairman’s Newsletter about the Association’s campaign against the Council’s continuing determination to introduce On-street parking charges on roads adjacent to beaches, consideration had been given to the issuing of a Newsletter from time to time to supplement the half-yearly publication of the ‘Pines & Chines’ magazine.
This was not proceeded with as it was felt that the Association’s Wardens are largely elderly and it did not seem a good idea to burden them with this additional role. Distribution by post was also discounted as the cost would be prohibitive.
RA said that Bob Reid had had some success in contacting members via the two ‘Pines & Chines’ Facebook pages. The On-street parking Newsletter had been posted on the two Facebook pages for 10 days at a cost of £60 and had resulted in 1,400 hits, of which 104 had read the Newsletter.
It was agreed that e-mail communication best suited the Association’s present membership.
RA reported that, in consultation with JG, the Autumn 2016 edition of Pines & Chines’ magazine will in photographs in colour. For example, Wayne Hancock will be allocated two pages to promote the work of his team at the Pinecliff Gardens Sunken Garden.
It was suggested that…
(a) The Membership application form should be separate from the magazine with an invitation to introduce a friend. This would avoid the necessity of having to remove this from the magazine with the resultant loss of text/advertisements on the reverse side of the relevant pages.
(b) The Association should “connect” with major businesses in the area such as Tesco in Poole Road. Wayne Hancock to speak with the Tesco Community Officer with regard to placing an advertisement in the magazine in return for some editorial space.
(c) The Association should do more to attract the under 30s
The deadline for material for the next magazine is 09 September 2016, with a target distribution date of 31 October 2016.
- Accounts
RA said that a copy of the Association’s latest cash position for the period 01 January to 31 July 2016 was available for any member who wished to see this.
- A.O.B
Purchase of Projection Screen – Chris Stracey had been tasked at the last meeting with sourcing a suitable screen and put forward three alternative to members. After some discussion, Roy Pointer proposed and seconded by Stan Alfert to opt for an 8’ x 6’ Da-Lite Picture King Tripod Screen @ £351.00 plus soft carry case @ £61 = £494.40 inc VAT. Agreed by show of hands.
Chairman’s note. An original budget of £1,000 was agreed (BPCCRA £500, Canford Cliffs Land Society £250 and Branksome Park, Canford Cliffs & Sandbanks Neighbourhood Watch £250).
Medium Term Financial Plan Update – William Mutlow reported on this report presented at the Cabinet meeting on 12 July 2016.
The Council has estimated additional resources for the three years 2017/18 to 2019/20 of £9.7m but cost pressures over the same period amount to £21.2m. resulting in a shortfall of £11.5m. For the year 2017/18, the current budgeted shortfall is £3.4m. This assumes a 3.99% increase in Council Tax.
Tony Clayton – JG reported the sad news that Tony Clayton, a long standing member of the Association and had assisted JG with the editing of the magazine had died on 22 July 2016. JG and his wife, Charlotte and John & Diana Sprackling had attended Tony’s funeral on 08 August 2016. It was agreed to send a letter of condolences to Tony’s wife on behalf of the Association.
- Date of next meeting – Wednesday, 14 September 2016 Committee room (formerly known as The Lounge), rear of Branksome St Aldhelms Parish Centre (access via Lindsay Road)