North Bournemouth Area Forum Meeting Notes – 22/11/2015 Attending: Mike Goodhew (Chairman – NBAF), Ted Taylor (Deputy Chairman – NBAF), Cllr Amedeo Angiolini, Cllr Mark Battistini, Cllr David Turtle, Cllr Laurence Fear, Cllr David d’Orton-Gibson, Cllr Jackie Edwards, Cllr David Smith (Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Planning and the Environment), Martha Searle (West Howe Neighbourhood Community Development Officer), Medi Bernard (Service & Strategy Manager - Bournemouth Libraries, Bournemouth Borough Council), Anthony Kirby (Engineering Design Manager, Bournemouth Borough Council), and Paul Ambrose (Flooding & Drainage Manager, Bournemouth Borough Council).
Welcome
1 minute silence - 1 minute silence was observed to remember the victims of the Paris attacks of November 13th, the victims of the bombing of Metrojet Flight 9268 over the Sinai peninsula on the 31st October, and the victims of the 20th November attack on the Radisson hotel in Bamako (Mali). Apologies - Apologies from Cllrs Roger Marley and Norman Decent who could not attend due to their ongoing campaigns in the Kinson South By-Election. Additional apologies from Cllr Steven Bartlett. Forum members were encouraged to vote in the upcoming election on the 10th December. Secretary position - Introduction of Michael Chizlett, minute secretary, Forum was notified of his intention to stand for the position of Secretary of the Forum next year. Forum was notified that Michael is a member of the Liberal Democrats.
Announcements
Kinson Village Christmas - Kinson Village Christmas (run by Kinson Business Forum) to be held on Saturday 28th November 2015 – a Fete that takes place on the Kinson Village Green, father Christmas will be giving out presents to children Kinson Hub Bake-off - Bake-off at the Kinson Hub Library on the 28th November 2015
Consultations 2 issues of consultation, due to lack of objections, these shall only be briefly discussed.
Ensbury Park Library On behalf of Bournemouth Borough Council, Medi Bernard, Service & Strategy Manager, Bournemouth Libraries, spoke on the proposed changes to Ensbury Park Library.
There is information on the proposals available at Ensbury Park Library, this information provides context on the Libraries service, the budget and the consultation. There is also information available about the Bournemouth Learning Centre.
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The public consultation will last for 2 months, the closing date for responses is the 1st February 2016. Earlier media reports said that the consultation would be carried out in November and December, however Bournemouth Council are now seeking to improve the consultation by ensuring that those who may be busy over the Christmas period are still able to contribute and by working with Bournemouth University’s Market Research Group. No decision will be made until the results of the consultation are analysed and considered. The consultation will give you the opportunity to comment and share your ideas, you will be asked about your use of the Ensbury Park Library and how any changes may affect you. You will also be asked for any alternative proposals you may have. You can respond to the consultation by completing the paper survey and returning it to any Bournemouth Library or returning it by post to the Town Hall. You can also complete the survey online on the Council website. In summary, the options under consultation are: 1) relocating to Ensbury Park Library Services and staff to the Bournemouth Learning Centre on Ensbury Avenue; 2) developing the site to include housing and a small library which would require the whole site, including the garden, and would be subject to planning approval and financial viability; and, 3) no change to the current location and building. If people have enquiries about the consultation you can contact the consultation team and there will be a Frequently Asked Questions page available online and in hard-copy at the library.
Questions Forum member - the decision has already been taken by the Council. o Ms Bernard – As an officer what I know is that there is a consultation, and I welcome that consultation because it gives a lot more information which helps us to put flesh on the bones of the statistical information. I do know that the preferred option, as has been stated in the media releases, is the relocation of the Ensbury Park Library Services to the Bournemouth Learning Centre. But it is not my understanding that that was a decision made earlier. I certainly welcome the consultation. Whichever way it goes I’m dedicated to trying to provide the best library services I can across the whole of the borough but I’m also very mindful that we have some really big budget challenges. Member of the forum notes that the minutes from the previous meeting should have been clearer, that under section 6 ‘Flooding’ it was minuted that there were flooding problems on Nutley Way and Nutley Close. Member of the forum noted that there was also flooding at the Park Home sites on the Stour. Chairman – Member’s comment is noted. Forum was further notified that a paper put out on the chairs by the forum member entitled ‘Scandels in Bournemouth’ did not reflect the views of the Forum.
Addington Clinic Chairman Mike Goodhew spoke briefly outlining the new proposals for the Addington Clinic.
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Addington Clinic was a home for people with disabilities at the bottom of Poole Lane, set back behind the School. It has since become derelict. There were issues selling it off for housing because it is next to Kinson Common (SSSI) which has a 400 meter exclusion zone for any property that is likely to have pets. There have been other suggestions for its use including an elderly persons home, planning permission has been passed for 65 homes and they are now wanting to increase that to 78. There has been a lot of consultation and there don’t seem to be any objections to it. The plans are for a rest-home for more able-bodied residents with warden care but there is also a nursing home attached so that residents do not have to move if they require higher levels of care. There will be allotments that the home’s residents will be able to use and the Chair of the Forum was assured by the developer that staff will be required to have a high standard of spoken English. Details of the plans were passed around. o Forum Member – It is a bit depressing putting an elderly person’s home next to a cemetery. Chairman – The Centre will be shielded with trees all around. Currently the centre is in a derelict state and is being used for drugs, the police are worried about it, and finding a use for it is difficult. The plans would aid the community in that it would provide jobs. However the plans will be put to the meeting and the Forum can vote on whether it supports or opposes the plans.
Police Reports Due to their work commitments the Police were unable to attend to give a report.
Flooding Presentation Anthony Kirby (Engineering Design Manager, Bournemouth Borough Council) & Paul Ambrose (Flooding & Drainage Manager, Bournemouth Borough Council) attended to give a presentation on flooding in the Borough.
Key Points:
Bournemouth Council is only responsible for surface run-off and minor streams - The Flood and Water Management Act 2010 defines what a flood is and sets out who is responsible for what. Flooding from main rivers, such as the River Stour, as well as from the sea is the responsibility of the Environment Agency. Flooding as a result of public sewers is the responsibility of Wessex Water. Bournemouth Borough Council is responsible for flooding from minor rivers, such as the Kinson or Bourne streams, and inland flooding as a result of surface run-off. The Council’s job is not to prevent all flooding - there will be some rainfall events that our drainage systems were not designed for, and cannot be reasonably be expected to cope with. The law does not require that Councils plan for or provide adequate drainage for all possible rainfall events and Councils are not required to replace old drains that don’t meet today’s standards; to require Councils to do those things would be much too expensive.
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The Council’s job is planning and risk management - The Council’s job is to come up with a local flood risk management strategy; the Council can also ensure that all new developments take into account drainage and flooding concerns. New data is giving us new insights into flooding in Bournemouth - New LIDAR data over Bournemouth shows that we’re sitting at the bottom of an old valley system. There is a Bourne Stream valley, there is a Boscombe Chine valley, there’s the Howeth Road valley, there is a valley that starts at the University and goes down to Cooper-Dean; you’d normally expect to see streams in those valleys and there are no streams. All these streams have ended up in pipes. And when there are large rainfall events and the pipes can’t cope the area floods. We seem to be getting more flooding than we should - We seem to be getting severe rainfall events much more often than current models would predict. This could be due to climate change but Bournemouth Borough Council and Wessex Water, together with the Met Office, are also investigating whether Bournemouth’s micro-climate makes it more prone to severe weather events. Prevention is better than cure - Looking at new developments, building your property 1ft higher costs very little, raising your property 1ft after your house has just been flooded is very expensive. Climate change is having an effect - We know that climate change is going to be a major issue. Winter rainfall is going to get heavier, but winter rainfall is often prolonged and low intensity, which our drainage systems can handle. Summer rainfall is going to be the real issue where we get very intense short bursts that our drainage systems can’t handle. Those very intense summer storms seem to be increasing in frequency. Options available to us: (1) bigger sewers and drains (2) sustainable urban planning. However these problems are not going to be solved overnight.
Questions
Forum Member – Is anything being done to ensure that insurance companies continue to cover home-owners’ homes and pay-out when there is a flood? o Mr Ambrose – “Yes, the government is looking at the problem of insurance and it is going through Parliament at the moment, something called ‘Flood Re’. And basically it is a levy on everyone’s insurance policy to ensure that people will continue to able to get insurance. But insurance is a commercial thing, it is not something that is within the power of this Council to do anything about. Flood Re seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time to go through Parliament, I keep getting updates from Defra, it is trundling slowing through Parliament but yes the government have looked at that issue and it is ongoing. But at the end of the day insurance is provided by commercial firms, that is how insurance in this country has always operated. They look at the risks involved and make a commercial decision as to whether they are prepared to insure you or not.” Forum member – was the management of surface water properly planned for in the first place? o Mr Ambrose – in some ways we’re dealing with a historical legacy, I was talking to a colleague who used to work here in the drainage department 40 years ago and we were talking about this and he said back in my day we used to design these surface
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water sewers for a 1 in 10 year storm. So what happens when a storm is bigger than 1 in 10 years, well the drains can’t cope. Some of the very old drains just went in according to a rule of thumb. Forum member – why didn’t anyone tell us about this? I moved into this area 20 years ago, no one ever told us about this. o Mr Ambrose – What has changed over the last couple of years is the ability to model and predict these things. That surface water mapping we saw was the first time we had ever seen that. Forum member – we have over-developed the area around Turbary Common, prior to the development of the area there wasn’t any flooding. o Mr Ambrose – There has been a lot of research that shows that people are all tarmacking their front gardens to put their cars on it, building patios on the back, building extensions. None of these things are controlled by the council, they’re all permitted development, there is nothing to stop people paving their back garden and turning it completely to concrete. Forum member – would it help if the streams are kept clear? Because what happens on Turbary is that the stream gets blocked up o Mr Ambrose – Back in the late 1980s the River Stour was straitened. And that was because of lots and lots of flooding along the River Stour and it was the National Rivers Authority that came and straightened the river out. And that is why Bournemouth’s boundary is such a funny wiggly line and doesn’t follow the river that’s because when the river was straightened the boundary didn’t go with it. Back in the 1980s that was the thinking, make the rivers bigger get that water downstream, the trouble is by getting it all down somewhere else quicker you actually tend to move the flooding further downstream. If you start doing that you have to do that all the way down to the point where they discharge into the sea. So there’s two ways of looking at it, in some ways the springs on Turbary Common, the modern thinking is to try and hold the water there. If Turbary Common floods, so what? So the modern thinking in some ways is actually the opposite, to slow the streams down. That is now what the government is looking at, trying to retain water in upland area s. 20-30 years ago they were being given grants to put ditches in to drain the land and now they’re being given grants to block the ditches up to keep the water in the upland areas. Things change, people’s ideas change and the modern thinking is now to try and keep the water in the upland areas. Forum member – could water be saved and flooding averted by individuals storing rainwater and using it for flushing toilets etc.? o Mr Ambrose – You know Poundbury, Prince Charles’ Development? That is very ecologically sound. And they were very much in favour of rainwater harvesting. They spent an awful lot of money and they put these big tanks in, people had to have pumps in order to pump the water up to their toilets etc. And I was talking to the developer and he said, you know 2 or 3 years later most of the people come in to me saying this is such a faff, we have to spend money for electricity for the electric pumps to pump it up and we have to maintain all this. The amount of money we save for the water is £20-30 per year and yet it costs us £120-140 to run these systems. The bottom line is that water is too cheap, now you might not agree with
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NBAF Meeting Minutes – 21/11/2015 that, but until the cost of water goes up dramatically an awful lot of these water saving devices are not going to be in widespread use.
Ward Reports Kinson South
West Howe Health Helpers - We have a new organisation, West Howe Health Helpers, in Kinson South. It is aimed at reducing health inequalities. Public Health fund this project and is recruiting volunteers to encourage people to make healthier lifestyle choices. The project already has 8 volunteers that are out in the community and a new training course for volunteers is going to be running in the new year. Mental health summit - over 65 people attended from all different services from across the statutory and voluntary sectors. The aim was to see how these different organisations can work more closely to tackle mental health issues. Streetwise - celebrated their 17th birthday, there were over 170 attendees. Drugs on Turbary Common – residents have found lots of ‘drug dens’ on Turbary Common when they are picking litter and walking dogs, Councillor said he would take it up with the Police.
Kinson North
Kinson Village Green – Councillor seeking further improvements to the Village green, seeking a more boulevard effect and also cutting away some more of the bushes around the toilet to create a better garden effect. Homeland Security – Councillor encouraged people in the local community to report suspicious activity to the Police. Remembrance service - an amazing turnout for the Kinson Remembrance Service on the Village green on the 11th November, the Vicar of St Andrews (Lee Shirvill) conducted the service and both Kinson and Kingsleigh schools brought down students for the event. Bus shelter (Millhams Road) – Roof on the bus shelter has been leaking, that is soon to be corrected very soon.
Redhill & Northbourne
Local improvement fund – donated £1,000 to Cherry Tree Nursery which they’ll be using to make some more benches, also donated some to all three schools in the ward. Planning issues - Wimborne Road and Columbia Gardens Green bins – have to save a lot of money, by default we’re trying to encourage people to do it online, if you haven’t got internet access you can phone the council and manage the account over the phone and by sending in a cheque.
Annual Election of Officers
Volunteers needed - We have annual election of officers every year. Forms are available to nominate officers. The current Chairman (Mike Goodhew) is not going to be standing, nor is the current treasurer (Angela Westborough) going to be standing. On Monday (23rd
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NBAF Meeting Minutes – 21/11/2015 November) there will be a group meeting to ensure that Forum will keep going should officers not be found to fulfil the required roles.
Kinson Business Forum
Apologies from Mike Edwards from the Kinson Business Forum who couldn’t attend the Area Forum meeting.
Community Development Team Report Martha Searle (West Howe Neighbourhood Community Development Officer) attended to give her regular community development report.
Henry Brown Youth Centre - The Henry Brown Youth Centre will be closed until end of February at least for renovation and all the projects have now moved out of the Centre and are running from other venues. Christmas Carolling – there are two community Christmas Carol services taking place, the first is on Monday 7th December, 6:30pm at Heathlands School; and another at West Howe Library on the 10th Decmeber at 10:00am. Both have local school children participating, please feel free to come along.
Questions
Forum Member – what has happened to the funding given to Kinson because it is a deprived area? o Ms Searle - Parts of Kinson South are viewed by the ONS as being areas with multiple deprivations. More people than you would find typically in other areas have not enjoyed their school life and have not had a full education. There is therefore a lower level of skills within the adult population there. Also 49% of houses in the West Howe area (within Kinson South) are social housing, and social housing exists to support people who are going through a difficult time in life or who are vulnerable, have disabilities or long term health conditions etc. The local authority has looked at West Howe and Boscombe and they’ve said we need to put extra focus into these areas, these areas need a little more support than others. They’ve brought together a group of people known as the West Howe Regeneration Partnership, which consists of strategic level decision-makers from the Council, Health, the Police, the voluntary sector and (more recently) faith groups. In 2012 they commissioned some research so that we really can understand West Howe well. It’s a public document 118 pages long which shows us exactly where the issues are. There isn’t a huge amount of money around in the public and voluntary sectors so they need to be able to prioritize and target their support. From that research some recommendations were drawn. One of the recommendations was that we need to help people to maximize their income, making sure people are claiming all the benefits they are entitled to. Another recommendation was about helping people manage their expenditure and helping people in debt. The research also talks about skills and how a lot of children in the area aren’t getting the best opportunities throughout their whole childhood. They have delayed speech
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development, they struggle in school, and more children who live in the West Howe area are not getting as many GCSEs as those who live in other areas. Another priority is to work with adults who have perhaps missed out from a good educational start and are not employed to their full potential and so helping those from a skills perspective. Finally there is a stigma around the area, the area is a beautiful area and a very safe place, but people who don’t know the area have the perception that it is a dangerous area to live. We need to address that, people have said that they think that people are prejudiced against them because of their address. The money has come from Bournemouth 2026, which used to be called the Local Strategic Partnership, who were awarded money from the government and still hold the money which must be used for the benefit of Bournemouth. It is not a lot of money, its £35,000, but it’s not the only source of money. Forum member - we seem to be neglected in simple areas such as weeds going up the roads. Hedges are out in the middle of the road. Places like Westbourne seem to be cleaned much more often than West Howe. o Ms Searle – You’re right, certain roads in Westbourne, for example, because they are very busy and they’ve got much higher traffic than we have they will be cleaned more often. West Howe is predominantly a quiet residential area and you’re right the Council cleans some busier areas more often than it does quieter areas and that means that we can look at places like Westbourne and say that’s not fair. But what I have found is that the Council’s Technical Services, their Cleansing Department are very responsive. So I phone them regularly, in fact most weeks, to report issues. If you phone they’ll sort it out. With Council housing, under the Council tenancies, the hedges are the responsibility of the tenant and not the council. So people need to be chopping their own hedges, if they don’t there is some enforcement action that the Council can take. So what we need to be doing is we need to be getting on the phone all the time and getting on to the Council and saying ‘Excuse me, the hedge at number 23 is ridiculous, can your enforcement officers come and visit please.’. We do get a lot of broken glass in certain areas, I’m thinking particularly Heathlands Walk, for example, but every time we phone it through it does get picked up. Forum member – I am concerned that you are talking down our schools. o Ms Searle – I’m sorry I gave that impression because you’re right, that’s unfair, and I need to own up to being the chair of governors at Heathlands Primary school. It is not within my interests at all to talk down the education being delivered in our schools which, and you’re absolutely right, the standard of teaching is very good. We’re pleased about what’s happening in the schools. However I think we need to be very honest about the situation, we are working in what is known in education terms as a challenging context. This is not an area where the majority of families don’t have issues, we have a lot of families in this area who day-by-day week-byweek are experiencing enormous challenges: perhaps in terms of their relationships, perhaps in terms of the security of their housing, perhaps in terms of the security of their finances. We’ve got families under stress, that stress affects the whole family, including the children. And the children are not in the best position to take advantage of what’s available to them and we know that as Governors. So I’m sorry if I gave that impression; I’m glad that you picked me up on that, because I don’t
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mean to do that. But we do need to be really responsible for the fact that as a community we need to be supporting children so that they have an equality of opportunity so that the children in West Howe have just as good outcomes to look forward to as children anywhere else in country. Forum member – why aren’t there more inspections of the estate? o Ms Searle – I can assure you that the two inspections that Housing Officers do each year are not the only times they come onto the estate. I do know that both councillors and council officers and volunteers are regularly looking at the area and reporting concerns.
Close
Introduction of Kim Leaver who will be taking over in the Kinson Community Centre office from the 8th December. Next meeting of the Forum will be on the 16th January which includes the change of the Forum’s officers.
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