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LINKS ESTATE RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 23 APRIL 2012 AT
7 30 PM AT ST ANDREW’S CHURCH HALL, BURNT ASH LANE
1. Welcome and introduction by the Chairman
Peter Skipp (Chairman) welcomed members to the meeting. He extended a special welcome to Sergeant Dave Morbin and his colleagues from the Plaistow and Sundridge Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) who had given up their day off to enable them to attend. He also welcomed Tony Isbitt who would be giving a presentation on the forthcoming Community Day event. He explained that this year’s AGM was taking place rather earlier than usual now that the St Andrew’s Hall re-building appeal had achieved its target, we hoped that we would be able to hold the 2013 AGM in the new premises.
2. Apologies for absence
Apologies had been received from:
Tony Beskeen, Shirley Eagar, Marion Glass, Pam Lucken, Cllr Ellie Harmer.
3. Minutes of Annual General Meeting held on 16 May 2011
The minutes were approved.
4. Matters arising
Sergeant Morbin would be giving members an up-date on the SNT’s activities later in the meeting.
LERA had launched its website and Clive Robeson would be giving a presentation later.
No progress had been made on establishing a Friends Group to maintain the open space by the railway bridge in New Street Hill as Steve Glass had been unable to follow this up.
The Garden competition that was held to mark LERA’s 20th anniversary had produced some excellent entries. Peter extended thanks to Lucia Parnell and Margaret Hearn for all their help and support and who had participated with him as judges.
5. Officers’ reports
Chairman’s report
The full report had been circulated to members with the notice of the AGM.
Peter highlighted some of the key points:
• LERA volunteers
More volunteers were needed urgently to fill vacancies for Street Representatives and to help with distributing Newsletters and other material and collecting subscriptions, and also to help with representing LERA at London Borough of Bromley (LBB) meetings to enable us to keep abreast of local issues and to inform members. Members were invited to put their names forward.
• Resigning Committee members and Street Representatives
Peter extended thanks for all their work on behalf of LERA to Jan Arnold, Julia Wilson and Esther Holmes who were giving up their roles as Committee members and Street Representatives. All had served in these roles for some considerable time and Esther had been a founding Committee member when LERA was established 21 years ago.
The meeting expressed their appreciation with a round of applause.
• Leamington Close development
Although LERA and LBB had opposed the planning application, the Planning Inspector had upheld the appeal by the developer and the building work was now going ahead.
• Snow Friends Scheme
LERA had taken part in this year’s scheme for the Estate and had obtained from LBB and distributed shovels and bags of salt to enable residents to clear the public footpaths outside their houses. Individual residents had also participated in the scheme. Peter invited volunteers to take on the organisation for LERA for next winter.
The meeting approved the report.
Treasurer’ report
Chris Larkin presented the accounts for 2011/12, copies of which had been distributed at the meeting.
Although there had been increased expenditure on printing and AGM expenses and the additional costs of the prizes for the Garden competition, the finances remained in a healthy state with the level of income from membership subscriptions being broadly maintained.
Chris thanked Steve Mace for his help in auditing the accounts.
The accounts were approved.
Peter announced that Chris was having to give up the role of Treasurer as he had moved away from the Estate. He thanked Chris for all his work in managing LERA’s finances for the past 2 years.
Members expressed their appreciation with a round of applause.
6. Subscriptions for 2012/13
The meeting approved the proposal that the subscription should remain at £2.00 for the coming year.
7. Election of Officers
Secretary – Pat Pattenden. Nominated by Peter Skipp and was unanimously re-elected.
Treasurer – Diane Bex. Nominated by Peter Skipp and was unanimously elected.
Committee members - The following were re-elected unanimously:
- Paul Bellinfantie (Oak Tree Gardens)
- John Crutchlow (Ridgeway Drive and Treewall Gardens)
- Marion Glass (Upper Portland Road)
- Margaret Hearn (Leamington Close)
- Pam Lucken (Leamington Avenue)
- Clive Robeson (Ridgeway Drive – and Website Manager)
- Peter Smith (Briary Gardens)
- Kath Goodwin (Newsletter Editor)
- Malcolm Goodwin.
8. Appointment of Auditor
The meeting agreed that Steve Mace should continue in the role of Honorary Auditor. The meeting expressed their appreciation for his continuing support to LERA by a round of applause.
9. LERA website
Clive Robeson explained how he had developed the website. The web address (http://leralink.blogspot.com/) had been advertised through the Newsletter. Maintenance of and access to the website were free of charge. Since October it had received around 1,000 hits.
The aim was to up-date the website weekly with topics of interest. Current items included a survey about the proposed closure of the local library which members were encouraged to complete, news from the Met police, information about road closures and diversions during the Olympics, future changes to local train services, and the forthcoming visit of the Queen to Bromley.
The ‘blog’ format enables members to post their comments. Members were encouraged to use this facility as it provides an important means of communication across the LERA community. Suggestions for improving the website were also welcomed.
Peter thanked Clive for his presentation and for all his work in developing and maintaining the website. He said that it was designed to complement the Newsletter which will be issued 3 times a year from now on. He encouraged members to spread the word about it and to contribute material.
10. Open forum
Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT)
- Sergeant Morbin explained that he had now taken over the Bickley SNT in addition to his responsibility for Plaistow and Sundridge. Although there had been a number of staff changes during the year, the SNT had retained its complement of 2 PCs and 6 PCSOs. The team works an 8 hour day and much of this time is spent out of the office on patrols and dealing with other matters. Their shifts are from 10 00 am to 6 00 pm and evenings until 10 00 pm. The shift patterns will change during the Olympic period – further information will be available on the SNT’s website. The officers can be contacted by mobile. Otherwise the new ‘101’ number should be used for non-emergencies, and ‘999’ for emergencies.
- The Estate had experienced an increase in crime in recent months. The SNT had called on all the householders to offer safety advice. Members should contact the SNT if they would like a further visit.
- The Safer Neighbourhood Panel has set the following priorities: Reduce burglary; Stop anti-social behaviour; Tackle drugs; Reduce vehicle crime.
- Several arrests have been made for burglary. There have been 2 major operations to target burglaries in the Bromley North area which involved flooding the area with police from across the Borough.
- The Ward is currently experiencing relatively low levels of anti-social behaviour which includes noisy neighbours, but this may increase when the weather improves.
- The SNT operates a zero tolerance drugs policy and has continued to use drugs warrants and to make early morning raids in addition to using ‘stop and search’ procedures.
- In response to questions from members about the need to install traffic speeding controls and permanent signage in Burnt Ash Lane, Sergeant Morbin agreed to speak to his colleagues in the police garage who will be able to put down monitoring equipment. Also, the PCSOs are trained to use speed guns and follow up with offending drivers. However, road signage is the responsibility of LBB rather than the police.
- A member expressed his appreciation of the prompt and professional service that he and his wife had received from the police when they had experienced a burglary earlier in the year.
- Peter thanked Sergeant Morbin for his informative and helpful presentation, and the meeting expressed their appreciation by a round of applause.
Community Day
- Tony Isbitt outlined the event that was taking place on Saturday 14 July in King’s Meadow to celebrate the Olympics. The event had been organised by a small committee which he led supported by the Rev Liz Davies of St Andrew’s Church and Ned McWhirter of Just B. It aimed to bring together people of all ages in the area to enjoy a day of fun and entertainment. There were lots of activities planned, including music, face painting, Olympic-type events, a boxing tournament, ice cream, and a barbeque. The event was the biggest being held on this side of Bromley and was open to all residents in the Borough.
- Tony encouraged LERA members to spread the word to help promote the event to ensure its success. Whilst the schools in the area had shown little interest, the PTAs were very supportive so this was likely to be a better route for getting children to be involved.
- Peter proposed that LERA should support the event by donating £250 towards the costs. The meeting approved the proposal. Peter also invited volunteers to organise a LERA stall.
Any other business
Fallen leaves
A member mentioned his experience of sweeping up the leaves from the public footpath in New Street Hill and expressed his concern about LBB requiring payment for the collection of bags of leaves which residents had cleared themselves. He suggested that there should be some arrangement with LBB to collect the bags with self help from LERA.
It was suggested that our Councillors should be asked to take the matter up with LBB, pressing the health and safety issues. However, a member confirmed that under Bromley’s Street Friends Scheme the Council will provide residents with ‘green’ bags for such purposes and will collect them within a week or so free of charge.
Quaggy culvert refurbishment
Peter Smith said that the recent work on the culvert had resulted in certain toxic substances flowing into the Quaggy which had caused the death of fish in the river. The London Borough of Lewisham had taken test samples and advised that dogs should be kept out of the river until such time as the all clear was given.
A discussion of the refurbishment concluded that the work had been completed, at least at the Portland Road end.
Members expressed their concern about the sumps that had been installed for the overflow from the railway embankment by the golf course and whether the Quaggy could cope with the excess water. Further information was required.
Peter closed the meeting by thanking members for their attendance.
The meeting formally closed at 8 45 pm.
Following the meeting, LERA members and the guests mingled informally and enjoyed refreshments.
Approximately 50 members attended.
