Community meeting minutes

Community Meeting 26.6.19

Committee members present were:
Peter Cowling, Beth Ledger, Samantha Harper, Suzanne Bickerdike and Walter Breckin with guest member Mike Robinson. Apologies received from Camille Leach and Lynda O Rourke.

Leeds Councillors in attendance were Ben Garner and Karen Renshaw with apologies from Lisa Mulherin. Morley Independent Councillors Jim Aveyard and Robert Finnegan arrived later in proceedings.

Introductions and meeting etiquette was delivered by Chairman Peter Cowling, after which a brief introduction and overview of our Haigh Woods film was delivered by Mike Robinson prior to the film being shown. The film was met with a good response followed by a round of applause. General feedback from audience was positive and all seemed happy to share on social media upon release.

Sheree Hartley presented a cheque for £250 from the local Co op to the Bloom Group along with the information that they may able to give the group a further £250 if we fill in the appropriate forms in the store. It was also pledged that the store staff would like to be involved in future planting projects and litter picks organised.

An update on the following topics was delivered by Peter:

Save Haigh Woods Campaign, it was confirmed that the sites were being retained by the LCC SAP. This will be confirmed in a full council meeting to be held on 10th July 2019. Once the SAP is formally agreed the proposed building application will be fought at the Plans Panel by the Steering Group. WAAG will of course be providing support by trying to obtain more objections and keeping awareness in the community as well as trying to raise awareness through the films to reach a broader audience. An appeal for further volunteers to deliver the last batch of the latest leaflet was made.

Anti-social Behaviour/CCTV project, it was confirmed that we are looking to install CCTV cameras in three locations (Reservoir Car Park, Hesketh Lane Park & Hill Top Community Car Park). Locations have been identified and the approximate cost is £3K, plus fitting per camera. Robert Finnegan will be visiting a Rotherham site with the same cameras to confirm the positive effect before an order will be placed. Cllr Ben Garner confirmed that LCC will be happy to work with and contribute towards the cost for the Hill Top Community Car Park Camera if Robert can provide costs and confirmation that the system will be linked into the Leeds Watch system.

20mph Zone, Cllr Ben Garner confirmed that the Highways department had confirmed to him that a new proposal had been drafted and was awaiting approval. Once it has been approved anyone who objected to the planned 20mph zone will receive a letter informing them of the outcome.

Speeding traffic on Baghill Road, unfortunately the latest survey results indicate that the road speed should be increased to 40mph! However, the Highways Department will not be implementing this recommendation as it will need to be reassessed following the roll out of the 20mph zone.

Walter presented an overview of the document he has prepared to send to LCC detailing his concerns over the poor transport links in our area and the new Clean Air Policy being adopted by LCC. It was unanimous that an integrated system should be adopted and that residents want to see improvements. It was suggested by Cllr Jim Aveyard that residents should look into the possibility of car share schemes, walking buses for local schools the voluntary usage of local mini buses that would ordinarily be sat idle during the day. Cllr Ben Garner confirmed the LCC were looking to organise feedback sessions with community groups to further explore options such as those listed above.

Following the updates delivered, residents were invited to raise any concerns in an open forum – points raised were:

Following the recent release of the new Chidswell Plans will there be a more cohesive approach to the fighting of planning applications?
It was agreed that this would definitely be beneficial to both the Chidswell and Haigh Woods Campaigns and Peter/Jim Aveyard will arrange for the respective committees to meet with a view to arranging a large public meeting to discuss both campaigns and they can be fought.

Is it possible to link the work done on the 20mph zones further along to tackle speeding vehicles on Heybeck Lane?
This problem has been explored by Peter and Camille in the past without any clear remedy. Unfortunately, Heybeck Lane resides under Kirklees and as such they have confirmed that they have no concerns on the current speed of this road and the Kirklees Councillors seem uninterested in the residents concerns. Cllr Ben Garner suggested a more direct approach by attending the monthly surgery that Councillors hold. Cllr Karen Renshaw also suggested that it might be useful to find if residents could find out if Kirklees Council has any speed restriction policies concerning roads around Primary Schools as is the case in Leeds.

Residents were invited to add their email addresses if they were not already on the mailing list and the meeting was closed.

Actions from the meeting:

Peter/Jim Aveyard to arrange a meeting between WAAG and the Chidswell Group to discuss working together on campaigns.

Cllr Robert Finnigan to contact Cllr Ben Garner to discuss shared funding for the CCTV camera proposed for Hill Top Community Car Park.

Written by Beth