2012-06-28
Baytree Road Residents Association
Meeting no. 2 - Thursday 28th June 2012
Attendance: Thanks to all those who could join us at Rob and Verity's House for Meeting number 2!
Leadership Committee Members
Chair - Ian, 14
Vice Chair - Rob, 20
Deputy Treasurer – Kaye, 18
Members
Simon, 39
Stuart, 25
Mike, 37
Nina, 2
Verity , 20 [Took minutes in the absence of both secretaries.]
?Zoe, 9
James, Flat 3 Baytree Court
Council Representatives
Frederick Kees – Residential Cycle Parking Co-ordinator, Lambeth Council
Main Agenda Items:
• Minutes from last meeting
• Update from Kees including road changes, parking stress survey, cycle parking,
car club bay, feedback from the council and street trees.
Plus Boris Bikes, Lambeth Town Hall bus stop.
• Other business inc communicating with residents
• Next meeting
• Actions
MEETING MINUTES:
Constitution: The main action outstanding from the last meeting was the development of a constitution for the Association. Rob and Ian will meet to discuss and agree this.
Communication: It was agreed that an e-newsletter update, and minutes will be posted on the website after each meeting.
Update from Kees:
Road changes: When Kees checked at the weekend there was an 84% response rate in favour of the proposed changes and it looks like this could be about 90% when the survey closes. Feedback and comments generally reflect concerns raised over the past 3 months that have been discussed – except for a suggestion for a concave mirror outside Arlington Lodge.
Parking stress survey: Kees showed round hard copies of the survey, he’ll also sent out a soft copy. The poll was taken over 2 week days and one Saturday. They showed there is plenty of room for people to pass – we would need half of what’s shown on the survey which is plenty. This means there is no need for a separate bay so residents won’t need to give up a parking bay. There would still be the option to add space if things changed radically in future.
Question from Mike, 37- There’s a concentration of parked cars in the middle section of the road.
Backing up where 2 cars meet may be a possibility but should be manageable. However if this was a problem could it still be changed? Kees said he would doublecheck but he thought so.
Next steps & timeline: Kees will have an update report mid to late next week. He’ll share this with us for the any final comments, then the final designs will be developed. Kees will be away from 20th July to 5th September and is aiming to have the final designs agreed before he goes. If possible, he’ll run those final design by us. If not, he’ll try and get someone else to send it on to us. Rob suggested it be sent to a member of the Resident’s Association for them to pass round and prepare a coherent response. Kees said he will try - but to bear in mind limited ability to make any changes at this stage. The rough timescale:- After design, there’s a Traffic Order notice period (advertising in local press, including in South London Press, on lampposts, etc) which could take a couple of months. It is still on track to have the scheme implemented by October.
Cycle parking: Kees explained there wasn’t enough info to say just yet but most demand for cycle parking seemed to have come from Arlington Lodge. If only Arlington Lodge want this, it would go on estate scheme, separate to road. Various options – if on street would be Lambeth bike hanger. Would open onto street and provide 12 bike spaces for every car bay. Those using the hanger would pay an annual fee for the rent (to cover admin and costs) and have key. Others - Sheffield stands or Cycle hoops – hoops fixed to lamppost and generally installed in pairs. Final outcome will be based on results of the survey and may be option in future if not now.
Car Club bay: The car club bay suggestion was fairly popular. If established, Lambeth would charge an annual fee to the company (e.g. Zipcar). It’s at each company’s discretion whether they take up Lambeth on their offer. Initial feedback from the company approached was positive, but this will be confirmed when definite interest is confirmed. Lambeth'd decision on the bay will also be decided once this has been confirmed.
General feedback from the Council: They are very happy with the response to survey – 30% higher response rate than the previous consultation.
Response source:- Online versus Paper was a 50/50 split. (Only paper last time so no comparison). From the council’s perspective it’s been a great exercise!
The council also congratulated us too on our article in the Brixton blog!
Boris bikes: Question from Rob- who do we need to lobby to get Boris bikes?
Kees replied -TFL and Boris! There is money to take the scheme as far as Stockwell. TFL have said no to further expansion (ie. Brixton) but Lambeth are proactively lobbying this.
Lambeth Town Hall bus stop: Question from Nina - Any update on suggestion to cut the bus stop into the pavement and ease congestion?
Kees replied – This is still pending as the costs have not yet been approved.
Street trees: These will be available from the autumn- we can send in suggestions to the Council for which trees we want. Suggestion was to have bay trees!
Some tree species are not allowed - for example, apples and cherries – they council do not recommend anything hard or squishy.
Others that tend to be preferred are Rowan’s and natives. Advised to bear in mind that the root structure tends to mirrors the canopy. A ‘tree man’ would come out to survey the site.
Other community initiatives:
Kees pointed out that there is the opportunity to do some really interesting projects eg. edible bus stop nr Lander Road.
http://www.theediblebusstop.org/The_Edible_Bus_Stop/EBS_Summary.html
There are various local community initiatives to look out for eg. Brixton Brewing Company- who are encouraging people to grow hops to make beer http://city-farmers.co.uk/?p=200.
The Windmill were also looking for people to grow wheat to make bread.
We would access this via Kees or the Green Community Champions / Onion Shed
http://projectdirt.com/group/greencommunitychampions
http://projectdirt.com/group/theonionshed
Worth joining the email list for the Green Community Champions at
greenchampion@lambeth.gov.uk
Any Other Business:
After Kees left we had a general discussion about some of the projects/issues/ideas that the Resident’s Association might like to tackle via the sub-committees identified last time, including:
Gardening and environment
Communications- newsletter, Google group, tackling isolation on the street
Social including Street Party
Road Layout
Neighbourhood Watch
Stuart, 25 – suggested a potential longer term project to tackle some of the anti-social issues around Acre Lane eg. campaign for improvements inc drug dealing – ‘a beautiful street with potential.’ There is an Acre Lane Residents Association although they mostly seem to have a web presence rather than meetings.
Nina, 2- suggested the development scheme behind Acre Lane. Stuart, 25 said they have got the go ahead for a Genesis Housing Scheme but Councillor Steve Reed wants Sudbourne school to move there.
James, 3 Baytree Court – works for Streetscape http://www.streetscape.org.uk/ so could potentially advise on landscaping and will ask landscapers about what tree species might be suitable for the road. He could also potentially provide stock where have too much eg. geraniums.
Rob, 20 – Is planning to create a website using a template based on Googlesites which allows users to edit content easily. The pages currently being considered are as follows:-
Homepage- Welcome and details of next meeting
Constitution
Info on Committee meetings
Minutes etc from previous meetings
Pages for the sub-committees
Road changes page would link to council designs etc
Who the Committee are
News eg. Brixton blog
History of Baytree – which everyone could add into
Links section eg. ALRA, Tenants Assoc at Arlington
Rob will kick start this to get it live, then others can feed in eg. take responsibility for preparing content for say the history section. Leadership Team only to have editing rights at this stage. BaytreeRoad.org domain name is available if we wanted proper website in future!
Ian, 14 - Mooted how we might want to think about sharing resources and skills - for example a hard copy directory of people – printed with a mug shot, house number and what’s being offered. But perhaps only for Residents Association members?
Verity, 20- Suggested an informal special interest session for future meetings to be included on the agenda as and when someone feels they have something to share that would be of interest to members and pertinent to our aims.
Other points: It was agreed that meetings will be held 1 x month initially, then moving to once a quarter. (The sub-committees will organise themselves in-between). We also agreed the need for better communication before the next meeting to encourage attendance, i.e. a flyer drop as well as email. And that it’s important to have all Committee roles represented. The need for membership fees to cover costs was discounted at this stage, members were happy to cover costs of e.g. printing or snacks and drinks themselves. Nothing else we really need money for at this stage.
ACTIONS:
• Rob and Ian to discuss constitution, agree document to bring to next meeting. Within next 2 weeks.
• Rob to provide initial website.
• Kees to send out soft copy of parking stress survey.
• Kees to ask what tree species the Council tend to go for.
• Leadership team to think about how to take forward sub-committees.
• All Residents to send in suggestions for what tree species they would like.
• Stuart to send Ian ALRA website info
Next meeting: Suggested date for next meeting of Wednesday 8th August – to be confirmed among leadership team then circulated.