Agenda and minutes

That the Minutes of the meeting of the Area Committee held on 18 June 2014 be agreed as a correct record.

All Members were present.

None were declared.

There was none.

There was none.

The Committee heard representations from Councillor Amy Trevethan requesting  an update on the feasibility study into road safety measures in and around Chesterfield Road EN5 including options for 20mph speed limits, the review into bus routes and direction of flow, along with bus stop and stand locations, any potential additional or improved crossing points in the area including near the school, any use of underutilised land near to the school to improve road safety, and operation of the local School Travel Plan.

The July Environment Committee tasked officers with producing this feasibility study, so that the Area Committee could make a decision on how to proceed. 

RESOLVED - That officers report back to the next appropriate meeting of the Area Committee on the outcome of the feasibility study, any initiatives and options including the following agreed by the Environment Committee:

·           20mph speed limits,

·           reviewing the bus routes and direction of flow, along with bus stop and stand locations,

·           potential additional or improved crossing points in the area near to the park and school,

·           whether underutilised land near to the school could be used in helping achieve safety improvements in the area and also

·           continuing the good work done with the school via their School Travel Plans to educate and encourage improved Road Safety and modal shift to other forms of transport

The committee heard from the Commissioning and Policy Advisor regarding Town Centres in the Chipping Barnet Constituency area.

On September 8^th 2014 Assets, Regeneration and Growth Committee agreed that consultation should begin on an approach to tailoring the support the Council gives to different types of town centre. This was agreed in order to reflect town centres’ differing roles, scales and needs in future years.

The proposals relate to town centres in particular the proposal to differentiate the support available to main, district and local town centres. The Area Committees have been invited to make recommendations as to which town centres should be included in each of these three categories.

Following discussion and consideration of the report the main points raised by the Committee

·                     That Chipping Barnet has the designation “Main” town Centre for the constituency area.

·                     That the third “Neighbourhood and Local” is superfluous and should be dispensed with, therefore all town centres in the constituency area (other than Chipping Barnet) should be classed “District Centres.”

·                     With respect to the differences in size and function between established district centres like Whetstone and local centres such as Hampden Way or Great North way, the Committee felt that the broad classification did not accurately capture the local nature of the many of the smaller town centres as they tend to primarily focus on providing high quality services and meeting the needs of residents within the immediate local area.

RESOLVED –

1.            That the Committee note the specific proposals relating to town centres set out in Appendix B to the report, which are currently the subject of public consultation.

2.         That the Committees comments set out below are incorporated into the public consultation and fed back to the Assets, Regeneration and Growth Committee:

·                     That Chipping Barnet has the designation “Main” town Centre for the constituency area.

·                     That the third category “Neighbourhood and Local” is superfluous and should be dispensed with, therefore all town centres in the constituency area (other than Chipping Barnet) should be classed “District Centres.”

·                     With respect to the differences in size and function between established district centres like Whetstone and local centres such as Hampden Way or Great North way, the Committee felt that the broad classification did not accurately capture the local nature of the many of the smaller town centres as they tend to primarily focus on providing high quality services and meeting the needs of residents within the immediate local area.

The Traffic and Development Officer introduced the report.

RESOLVED –

1.            That the committee notes the shortlisted option from the feasibility study Report shown in Appendix A, and Barnet officer comments in 6.2 of the report.

2.         That the Committee instructs the Strategic Director for Environment and Growth to progress all Options including simultaneous landscaping of the green area belonging to Open Spaces, as preferred in item 6.2 below, to detailed design and implementation stages, ensuring consultation and negotiation with stakeholders to include, but not limited to, the NHS Trust (Barnet General Hospital), London Buses, Transport for London, Barnet (Open Spaces) and all affected stakeholders including utility companies and statutory bodies.

The Committee received the item on Brunswick Park Playground which had been referred to the Committee by the Chairman of the Chipping Barnet Area Residents’ Forum

The Committee heard from Mr Peter White, Chairman of Governors, Brunswick Park Primary & Nursery School who was requesting to have fencing installed at Brunswick Park Playground. Amongst the main concerns were:

·                Dogs running into the unfenced area and scaring children

·                Potential problems with dog and fox fouling in the playground area

·                Lack of fencing around the play equipment means that it will be very difficult to safeguard the children of Brunswick Park School whilst using the equipment as a group.

·                Within close proximity of Pymmes Brooks there is hole in the bushes which leads to a steep bank with a drop of about 20ft. Children could easily fall through as it is not easily seen.

The Greenspace Manger stated that the due to the style and design of the play space it was never the intention to fence the trim trail/adventure playground.Fencing this space would also detract from the wider park which the play space currently blends into.

The installation of the play equipment utilised all available funding to ensure it delivered the best and maximum amount of play equipment on the ground.Fencing the area would have resulted in a much smaller play area with very little play equipment,

The Greenspaces Manager further stated there aren’t any significant problems with dogs in the play area. She added that from experience with some of Barnets’ other parks that don’t have fencing there may have been initial issues with dogs and dog fouling. But that this was soon resolved once dog owners learned and became aware of the impacts of such anti-social behaviour and the fact that these parts of the park were being used for play.

To install a fence that meets the required standard would cost in the region of about £20,000, the parks budget does not have provision for expenditure of this scale.

It was suggested to Mr White that if this issue continues he may wish to put the scheme forward for alternative funding opportunities, with the school having to match fund any grant received.

RESOLVED – That the Brunswick Park Primary & Nursery School explore the possibility of obtaining match funding and report back to Greenspaces on any progress made.

There were none.