held at the Methodist Church Hall, Barlaston Old Road at 7.00pm on 31st May 2018
Present: Sheila Weightman (Chair), John Redford (Vice Chair), Joan Shore (Treasurer), Sue Brookes (Secretary), Annette Greenwood, Peter Hayward, Elaine Hughes, Lesley Gerhardt (Committee Members), Cllrs Terry Follows and Dan Jellyman, Jack Brereton MP, PCSO Razeem “Jimmy” Akhtar, Charlotte Eccles (Local Matters Team) and 14 residents
Apologies: Peter Cash, John and Joyce Smith, Dave Botham and PCSO Scott Woodward SW welcomed everyone to the AGM and introduced the committee.
Local Police Report PCSO Jimmy Akhtar
Anti-social behaviour had increased in The Lea and Chessington Crescent and there had been complaints about noise. PCSO Akhtar advised against employing tradesmen who called without an appointment and recommended getting various quotations for work. LG asked about the littering in Hanford Park and PH did not like the fact that problems were “contained” within the park, this being unfair on local residents. PCSO Akhtar said that residents needed to make a complaint and any problems should be addressed to him and PCSO Scott Woodward. He said that one of the main problems was local teenagers who were drinking alcohol. The cable-cutting on the railway at Barlaston was an ongoing investigation.
Chairman’s Report Sheila Weightman
SW wanted to thank her fellow committee members, the two local councillors and our MP, the two PCSOs and Charlotte Eccles from The Local Matters Team for all their hard work and support. She said that, although there were already 5,500 houses in the Trentham locality according to CE, there were plans to build a further 2,500 in Trentham and Hanford combined within the next 20 years, although both councillors disputed this figure. If residents wanted to have an imput on development, they needed to participate in the Neighbourhood Plan by contacting Peter Hayward. TSRA had helped finance the Meadow Lane action group in their
fight against Barratt Homes and had also contributed to the debate on the Community Learning Centre to be built at Trentham Academy, although no date for completion of this had yet been decided. TSRA had raised its concerns with STW and the City Council about the large number of potholes, particularly on Barlaston Old Road, although these would continue to appear until tankers were banned from the road. Last summer the rupture of a ceramic sewage pipe with the inherent risks with the escape of raw sewage had occurred in the same location as the previous year and had taken five weeks to resolve only because a local resident
had contacted Liv Garfield, STW’s C.E.O., directly to explain the legal implications. Mrs Garfield, despite having been awarded Veuve Cliquot’s female C.E.O of 2018 (SB’s aside!) was usually reluctant to undertake any correspondence with residents. SW had complained to the City’s Highways Department about the lack of action and of the replacement of one
ceramic pipe with another but they said it was solely STW’s responsibility and subsequent to their denial, SW had contacted the Local Government Ombudsman’s Department and was still awaiting a reply! SW, JR and also Jack Brereton our MP had contacted Liv Garfield again about building a road directly on to the A34 but all had been informed that this was not in the company’s future plans. BOR would shortly be resurfaced and traffic calming measures introduced once there had been a public consultation and a vote on proposals. There had been two litter picks and an approach made to Staffordshire CC to provide dog-fouling notices. A request had been made to the Council to register formally the grassed areas on their schedule
of works. A defibrillator would be installed on the exterior wall of the Methodist Church on 2 nd July 2018, thanks to funding from Cllrs Follows and Jellyman. TSRA had now adopted a stretch of the Trent-Mersey Canal and volunteers were needed to look after this. The website www.TSRA.co.uk was in need of a volunteer to manage this. The balance in the account was
now £361.82 and had been audited the previous week.
Neighbourhood Plan Peter Hayward
PH said that a neighbourhood plan meant that local residents had a say as to what would be built in the locality and where exactly. Trentham and Hanford’s plan was one of only three being drawn up within the City. A proposal concerning recognition of a Neighbourhood Forum for Hanford and Trentham had been forwarded to the City Council in January 2018 but
receipt of this had not yet been acknowledged, although a new Director of Place, Phil Cresswell, had only recently been appointed. Once this had been approved, there would be a consultation with the local community and, after advice from independent consultants, payable with part of a £20,000 government grant, this would be sent to central government. The last
local plan drawn up by the City was in 2009 and the update would not be forwarded to central government before 2020. PH said that without a neighbourhood plan, the area was an “open goal” for any developer, but, with a plan, residents could decide where 20% of the section 106 payment would be spent, and as this was dependent on the number of properties built, this could be a substantial sum. There were also rumours that there was a planning application for 250 houses to be built on the flood plain near Hanford roundabout. Please contact PH if you are interested in learning more.
Canal Trust (formerly British Waterways) John Redford
JR said that Trentham Centre R.A. and Barlaston R.A.were also adopting stretches of the Trent-Mersey Canal, so the adopted area would extend from the City as far as Stone. He said that the Canal Trust was a charity encouraging the development of wild life and flowers, boating, walking and cycling. TSRA’s stretch extended from Longton Road to the Wedgwood locks. One working party had already started to clear the banks and towpaths but now a second group of volunteers was needed to maintain these and to start painting the locks. Please contact JR, if you would like to help.
Jack Brereton M.P.
Jack would continue to offer assistance regarding the problem with STW’s tankers and with the local Neighbourhood Plan which he encouraged residents to support. He said that the City was one of the lowest paid areas in the country and was in need of investment. He had now been elected on to the Government’s Transport Select Committee and was advocating more
funding to halt traffic congestion, which would increase, particularly along the A34 when HS2 was being built. He reminded people that he held surgeries at his constituency office on 69 The Strand, Longton and could be contacted on 01782-922525 or on [email protected]
Councillors’ Reports Cllrs Follows and Jellyman
TF and DJ said that, contrary to the numbers mentioned previously, there were 850 houses to be built on brownfield sites in the whole City and 500 in Newcastle-under-Lyme over the next five years. There had been a planning application for 500 houses to be built by the rugby club in New Inn Lane. The City’s website provided figures of the number of houses to be built in
each area. (The website is not very clear, so you can sign up and be sent regular updates, if mailto:[email protected] you wish to be consulted on the local plan: [email protected]:SB ) The Meadow Lane application had again been refused but this did not mean that Barratt Homes would not attempt to revive it (greenfield sites being cheaper to develop than brownfields) and would probably resubmit this with fewer houses being proposed. However, there were still seven exits to and from Meadow Lane, so it was dangerous. It was thought that the Neighbourhood Plan would be in place before the City Plan. BOR presented a problem not just with the presence of heavy vehicles (one truck every 7 minutes) but also with excessive speeding, so it was being proposed that chicanes be installed after public consultation with local residents starting before
the end of this year. BOR would also be resurfaced this year with a further £6 million being spent on repairing potholes, which should all be repaired by the end of the summer months.
DJ asked residents to report any potholes to the Council’s helpline via the website. 4000 had already been reported throughout the City. Highways England had responsibility for Hanford roundabout, the A50 and the A500.Unfortunately, most of the planning committee supported STW’s application for extension of the Strongford site as, theoretically, traffic would not increase after the development stage. DJ had suggested that the Council formally adopt Trentham’s green spaces within the next few weeks and had also asked that the traffic lights at Stanley Matthews Way be refigured as this lack of synchronisation might be causing tailbacks. The open day at Trentham Mausoleum had been successful with 300 people attending. DJ said that Council employees were remaining in Stoke Civic Centre, while the two new buildings in Hanley were housing private businesses which paid rent to the Council; the proposed Hilton Hotel was being partly funded by the Council with the loan being repaid at a rate of £100,000 p.a. DJ also mentioned that £11 – £18 million would be spent on Fenton within the next two years, £11 million on Burslem within 6 years, £2,500,000 on repairing Longton Town Hall and £2 million on developing Stoke’s historic Spode site with the installation of 50 businesses, a hotel, museum and café. Residents felt that Trentham was always being deprived of funding. The area had lost its library and the Community Learning Centre at Trentham Academy, being a shared facility and perhaps governable by the Academy’s diktats, might well be a poor substitute for a community hub. Finally, it was mentioned that there were rumours that the Natwest building had been sold. (There is an open evening from 4pm – 6pm on Tuesday 12th June at Natwest Bank about this: SB)
Election of Officers Charlotte Eccles
CE thanked all the residents and the committee and asked for nominations for the 2018-2019 period.
SW was nominated as Chair by PH, seconded by AG
JR was nominated as Vice Chair by SW, seconded by SB
SB was nominated as Secretary by JR, seconded by AG with Elaine Hughes acting as support
JS was nominated as Treasurer by SW, seconded by SB
AG, LG and EH all agreed to stand again as members of the general committee
There being no other business, the meeting finished at 9.00pm
The next committee meeting will be held at 11 Barlaston Old Road at 6.30pm on Monday 13th August 2018