WOODS

There is a meeting at the woods at Friday at 4.00 p.m. A local horticulturalist and council representatives were to put together an action plan and residents were invited to attend and have an input in this plan.

CONFERENCE FOR TENANTS

Debbie Gorman from TMBC spoke about the proposed conference for tenants in May, and made an appeal for representatives from the Broomwood to come along, and also for items to be put on the agenda. She said it would be beneficial for us to meet with people from other tenants groups and to share ideas, this being one of the aims of the conference. People were asked to consider putting themselves forward.

COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

Paul then explained that we have decided to form a community association as it can attract more funding for the estate than a tenant and residents group would. A small steering group of residents had been meeting over the past couple of months and have come up with a consitution, copies of which are on the table. The launch meeting will be on 18th March at 6.30 p.m. at the school. To give everybody in the catchment area a chance to come along 2000 leaflets have been printed and will be distributed to every house no later than March 11th. People were asked to consider whether they would like to stand for any position on the committee. An independent advisor has been asked to chair this meeting. The constitution will allow non-voting members from interested agencies on the estate such as the police, Irwell Valley, TMBC etc, and they will be invited to join once we are formed.

TRANSPORT (Reported on by Sonia Cubrillo)

Following the meeting between GMPTE/Stagecoach/TMBC and two residents Arriva have agreed to change their bus route to incorporate the layby on Aimson Road/Shaftesbury Avenue lights. This will start on 29th April. If there are no problems with this Arriva stated that they would be prepared to consider extending the service into the estate and hopefully reinstate the service fully. This is all dependant on how the bus service is received and any trouble that may or may not occur. Sonia Cubrillo then stated that she thought that this was a good start and that she hoped residents would use the service.

HOUSING OFFICE ON REDBROOK ROAD (Reported on by Sonia Cubrillo)

It is planned to extend the services available from this office to include a surgery for Irwell Valley residents. A timetable is still to be finalised for this.

POLICE SURGERY (Reported on by Sonia Cubrillo)

The police have agreed that sometime in March they will set up a surgery in the housing office where residents can speak to the police. This will run in the afternoon on the last Wednesday in every month.

All the issues that Sonia has mentioned will be included in a TMBC newsletter which will be distributed in the very near future.

ENVIRONMENTAL WARDENS (Reported on by Sonia Cubrillo)

Sonia stated that following the advertising of the post of environmental wardens interviews will be held in the next 2/3 weeks. She of behalf of TMBC invited us to offer community representatives to come along on the day of the interviews to speak to the potential candidates, although they would not have any input on the interview itself. The question was raised about how useful this could be if we could not influence in any way the judgement of the interview panel. Sonia stated that we could not be involved in the decision because of legal reasons, but she felt it would be good to come along anyway. It was left open for people to put themselves forward for this. Also the question arose as to whether residents had actually seen the advert. After the meeting it was found out that it was advertised in Trafford Today, Sale and Altrincham Messenger, and that at least one person off the estate had applied for the job.

LEAFLETS

Two leaflets were distributed, one about families, and the other about the Trafford Crime and Disorder Partnership.

CAMERA

It was noted that the camera outside the shops is now domed. Thanks were expressed to the council for this, and it is now hoped that this will modify the behaviour of youths around the shops as they will not be able to see if the camera is facing them.

PLAY AREA

The question was asked as to why the construction of the play area had not happened as we were led to believe it would commence within weeks of planning permission approval which was received in November. Irwell Valley commented on the fact that they hoped to be starting this in early summer. This has been delayed because the council now wanted to extend Irwell Valleys responsibility for maintenance of the park from what Irwell Valley understood had been initially agreed to be a period of 5 years to potentially up to 22 years. It was mentioned that this could potentially add up to £100,000 to the cost of the park, which would need to come out of the remainder of the money that Irwell Valley agreed to spend on the estate. Irwell Valley and TMBC are still discussing this problem and attempting to agree the way forward.

THE OLD PARK LAND

The question was raised as to what is happening to the land where the old park is. Sonia said that the council were currently looking at all potential assets on the estate, and that all options were being considered internally at the council. Residents expressed the view that they should be involved in any decision making and Sonia assured us that the residents would be drawn into any consultation at the earliest opportunity.

SCOUT HUT

Paul and Tina then talked about plans that they were trying to progress which would bring the scout hut back into community use for the youth based work called the Dream Scheme. If this went ahead it could also potentially be opened to other residents groups eg Credit Unions, drop ins, community association, women' groups etc. These plans are only in their initial stages. Irwell valley agreed that they would support the concept of a Dream Scheme project.

BUNGALOWS

Some residents have seen the plans for the new bungalows at the shops and were concerned about parking problems that would occur outside the bungalows and the shops. These comments were noted by IVHA at that meeting and we are still awaiting their response to this.

HEALTH PROJECT

The result for this project which was carried out on the estate are still not available but are expected in soon.

HEALTH CENTRE BEHIND SHOPS

A date of 1st April has been pencilled in to find out once and for all whether this option is still open. If it ends up that a health centre is not viable then IVHA stated that they would start considering using the land for other things eg houses etc.

SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS

Sonia Cubrillo asked for suggestion where minor improvements regarding issues such as improved lighting/shrub removal could be made on the estate in an effort to reduce crime and disorder. People were asked to consider this and let her know. Residents mentioned Brookes Drive/Redbrook Road junction as a well used area that would benefit from extra lighting. Barnfield Walk was also mentioned. Sonia mentioned that the amount of money was limited and would be used to enhance existing lighting, it would not be possible to put new lighting in unlit areas. -

BINS IN REDBROOK ROAD FLATS

A resident brought up the fact that since the introduction of the wheely bins there have been problems with dumping of rubbish out of the bins, and there have been 3 fires as the bins are not locked away like the old metal ones were. He also stated that the rubbish chute had been blocked. Sonia agreed to talk to him at the end of the meeting in an effort to move the issue forward.

QUEENS JUBILEE

Sonia stated that the Area Board were trying to put together a package of events, which would potentially include events on the estate. However, funding would not be available for individual groups to organise events.

The meeting was closed at 8.00 p.m.