Agenda and minutes

S Davies (Graig) & B Miles (Wentlooge), Bartlett (Nash)  

Graig Representative R Caston announced that N Mountain had passed away recently.  N Mountain had been a regular attendee of the meeting for over 10 years.  The Chair offered his condolences.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2016 were submitted. 

Agreed:

That the Minutes of the meeting of 22 September 2016 were recorded as a true.

Presentation from J Gossage, Green Services Manager and M Lea, Green Services Assistant.

An informative presentation was provided by J Gossage, Green Services Manager and M Lea, Green Services Assistant on the Active Travel Act (Wales) 2013, highlighting the purpose of the Bill which was to improve the health of people in Wales, by encouraging them to walk and cycle to their destinations as an alternative to public or personal transport.

The designated localities recognised as active travel links were outlined and the Welsh Government requested Local Authorities to produce a map of the existing routes that were ‘safe and suitable’ for members of the public.

A presentation was given to Rogerstone Community Councillors and officers were planning to visit five further communities.  Dates for workshops were sent to Community Council Clerks by A Jenkins along with a link to the Newport City Council website showing details of the workshops.

This was an ideal opportunity for Community Councillors to put forward their views regarding accessibility for people with disabilities, sharing access with cyclists, pedestrians and provision for people with visual impairment.

Sustrans would also be visiting schools along with Newport City Council and additional stakeholder meetings with ONS and IPO.  Positive feedback had been provided by Newport residents, which overall had the most responses out of all the authorities in Wales.

A poster advertising the Active Travel Plan would be sent out by A Jenkins so that clerks could print out and display within their local community centres.

A representative from Graig mentioned that there was a resent presentation and asked if officers would be prepared to return to give another talk to residents.  The officers agreed that this would be possible.

Graig representatives were concerned about footpath near Friendly Fox which the Council agreed needed replacing and was also on safe route to school programme.  Parents with their children will not walk the route because of the dangers on the road, and therefore preferred to drive to school rather than walk.  The Green Services Manager advised that the Council could put in a bid through the Active Travel Plan to try and make the path more accessible and safer to use and suggested that Graig put a viable scheme forward.

Councillor Cornelious also referred to a request for a 20mph speed limit which was refused by Streetscene.  The Green Services Manager would contact the Senior Strategy Manager for further information.

The Chair thanked the officers for their informative and interesting presentation.

The Chair reminded those present of the adopted New Code of Conduct and a reminder was sent to Community Council Clerks asking that they inform the Chair that their Community Council had complied with the New Code, a record of which would be kept by the Council’s Audit Committee.

Refresher Training for members and Community Councils would be arranged on the New Code of Conduct after the Local Elections in May 2017.

A vacancy for a position on the Standards Committee as Community Council representative would be available in May 2017.  This was a vital role on the committee and it was important that a replacement was found as the Committee would not be deemed quorate.

G Hancock was the current representative and recently addressed community councillors from Wentlooge on his role and experience as a member of the Standards Committee as well as how interesting the post was.  Any nominations or further information could be sent to A Jenkins.  For those Community Councils that might like to hear from Mr Hancock, he would be more than happy to attend any meetings that the Community Councillors might convene.

Further to a meeting of the Streetscene, Regeneration and Safety Scrutiny Committee in October a copy of the Head of Finance’s report was circulated to clerks via email.  A fourth option put forward by the Head of Finance, basing the allocation on existing expenditure was preferred by the committee this option also avoided double taxation.  The recommended option would be discussed with the Cabinet Member for Finance & Resources but this would be too late to meet the next financial year deadline but would not take effect until April 2018.  The Cabinet Member however might decide to phase in the allocation.  A Jenkins would inform the clerks of the decision and when it took effect.

§  Policing in Rural Areas (Graig Community Council).

Concern regarding the lack of Police presence in Graig was discussed and whether other Community Councils were of a similar view, it was also felt that there had been an increase in crimes within the area.  Police had originally been based in Rogerstone but had recently been moved to Bettws.  The local Sergeant used to visit once or twice a year but hasn’t been seen in about two years.  Residents had also complained about lack of police presence therefore Graig Community Council wanted to know how Newport City Council were addressing this issue.  The Police Crime Commissioner recently visited Graig and mentioned that new PCSOs would be employed to patrol the area but this still hasn’t improved the police presence.

A representative from Penhow advised that they had a similar problem and that they never saw the police.  There were no Neighbourhood Committees but Ward members can have ward meetings and most do, this is up to the discretion of the Councillor in the ward.  Police are invited and discuss PACT issues.  Lead officers from NCC are invited to all of these wards and Police can be contacted and requested to attend.

Lengthy discussion ensued and clerks asked could Newport City Council put their concerns forward to the Police.  They appreciated that there had been cuts but within the Police however they wanted to ensure that the Police Crime Commissioner was aware and try and engage more with the Community Councillors.

In addition, should community councillors want to raise any Police matters, their local Councillors, if requested would hold ward meetings and the Police could attend to discuss PACT issue.  Ward meetings were advertised in Newport Matters, although a representative of Wentlooge informed the Chair that they hadn’t received the newsletter for a while and considered the possibility that it was their CF post code that stopped their delivery.  A Jenkins would contact the Communications Manager to investigate further.

The Wentlooge representative raised fly tipping issues within the rural areas.  The Chair suggested that Streetscene attend a future meeting to a presentation.  Discussion ensued regarding illegal dumping of rubbish.  Fly tipping was an enforcement issue and not a matter for the Police as they could not prosecute.

To agree the following dates:

23 March, 6pm, Room 1

22 June, 6pm, Room 1

21 September, 6pm, Room 1

7 December, 6pm, Room 1

23 March, 6pm, Room 1

22 June, 6pm, Room 1

21 September, 6pm, Room 1

7 December, 6pm, Room 1