Kingsway Villagers

Yesterday I had a meeting with QUVL to have a discussion over communications and progress.

QUVL has a new Project Manager, Andy Smith, who is actually a local and lives in Quedgeley. We spent a fair bit of time discussing the most beneficial way of working and have come to an agreement about how we will communicate.

We also covered some specific issues which I believe are of interest to everyone as follows:

• Lighting: Andy hopes to have all the lampposts working and "lit" by the End of March (this year).
• The lighting under the bridge was also discussed and Andy will have that fixed by the end of March as well.
• The pavements on Thatcham Avenue should get topped off in the near future, QUVL are just risk-assessing the chances of having to dig them up again but currently believe it is very low.
• They are hoping to progress with adoption of Phase One (Woodvale and around).  They are waiting for the City Council to adopt the Balancing pond in Valley Gardens, in order that the rest of the process can be put in place. So I will be chasing up with the City Council as to what the hold up is.
• Once the pond is adopted, the drainage can be adopted by Severn Trent Water, and then The Council can adopt the roads… Which makes sense!
• Another interesting bit of information was that QUVL has been asked by the Highways Agency for their contribution to the J12 renovation as they are going to begin that in the Summer. It seems that I was misled in my other meeting and it’s not dependant on Hunts Grove. Funding has come from a number of sources, including the Quays.
• Andy is investigating to see if he can get me the official hurdles of how many houses need to be built before the public amenities have to be done.
• It seems that Robert Hitchins is keen to get started on the local shops and work should begin in April. Also the Pub should not be too far behind.

We will be having much more regular contact now and Andy also hopes to attend a Public Meeting in the summer.

Finally, if anyone sees any issues to do with Health and Safety, (slip/trip hazards etc), please let me know and I will pass it on to be actioned.

Barry

This is a summary of my notes taken from a meeting on the 4th Feb which people may find interesting. I will be able to answer any questions arising from this at the next residents meeting on the last Friday of this month.

Background

Fred Wood and Richard Graham proposed a meeting with me as Chair of Kingsway Residents Association. Both are Conservative candidates. Fred Wood is standing for City Councillor in replacement of one of one the current Councillors in Fieldcourt Ward. Richard Graham is the candidate for MP for Gloucester.

They had spent the two previous days in the Fieldcourt and Severnvale wards, having met with a number of relevant parties including the Parish Council.

As an agenda, I raised a summary of the issues of Kingsway to address.

The comments back from RG are in green beneath the individual items. These are notes only and not quotes, but aim to be factual. Where nothing is noted it was either glossed over or nothing of substance said!

Kingsway Issues

• Parking issues (Planning Problems) – Inadequate for commuter village
• Access – One way in, one way out
• State of the roads and pavements throughout Kingsway, even on phases which have long since finished being built on.
• Blocking of access road from Naas lane to Woodvale due to Robert Hitchins Ltd. putting rubble there to prevent said access.
  • RG said he knew senior people within the Robert Hitchins organisation and will take it on to see if he can get a resolution.

• A lack of communication between developers and the residents about their future plans for Kingsway.
• No telephone box
• The promised shops/facilities/amenities have not been built.
• Community Centre/Pub/Allotments etc

• Health Care Facility
• RG said this has always been waiting for 4000 people to be living on Kingsway before the PCT would consider anything.
  • I noted that this is not what he had been told by other stakeholders
• Kingsway Surgery will be in the Conservative literature.

• J12 Expansion – Needed
  • This was part of the Hunts Grove development. However RG has been in touch with Highways to attempt to push it on, but they won’t due to funding (being tied in to Hunts Grove).

Local

• Waste Disposal – Javelin Park – Incinerator
  • RG said that it was likely that Javelin Park will be the site of the final option as it ticks all the boxes and always has done. The timing is approx 2011 due to the current facility having to be closed or all council tax payers will have to foot a heftier bill for landfill tax.
  • The Council will produce a research paper by end of 2010, maybe earlier.
  • At least 3 of the final options are incinerator options (waste to energy).
  • The facility will not be a "10-story monster", more like a 3-story.
  • RG suggested getting someone from The Council to present the science of the incinerators at a Kingsway RA meeting.

AOB

RG was at pains to point out that the way he works is by getting involved and not highlighting everything in the paper. I did comment that in the research I had done, I could not find his stance on local issues.

RG asked what I thought of the City Councillors. I pointed out that none had bothered with us so far! All of my contact was at County Council with Jackie Hall as that has some effect, the City – for Quedgeley, does not. RG did say that the City Councillors were very keen to be involved.

Fred Wood said he was very pleased to finally meet me and hopes that they can keep in touch and work together in the future.

Summary

I think it was an interesting meeting and I hope some good will come of it at providing better relations between ourselves and City Council.

I attended a meeting of the RA Committee on Monday evening and one very important point was brought up:

Public Meeting Dates And Venue
1. The public meeting due on February 12th has been changed to February 26th.
2. The venue for all 2010 (public) Residents Association meetings was mistakenly reported as the Quedgeley Community Centre, when they will in fact be held at the Kingsway Comunity Centre.

In addition we discussed many plans for local events and future meetings which information will – when ready – be reported at the public meetings.

I must add that it’s very refreshing having so many committee members this year and I have very high hopes for the future of both the RA and the Kinsgway Community in 2010.

Last Friday (27th November) I attended two local meetings, as follows:

Police SCT Meeting

Complaints have been received from Kingway residents, regarding youths bullying younger children in the big park, and cars speeding on Woodvale and Thatcham Avenue. Both of these issues will receive close Police attention in the immediate future.

In addition, the Police are clamping down on local cyclists riding without lights. Spot fines will be issued and unsafe bikes may even be confiscated.

In January 2010, a new local "Beat Manager" – Sam Jones – will be joining PCSO Debbie Brimfield in Kingsway.

Youth Pod

Sheila Golder (Equals Youth Centre) reported that planning permission has (finally) been received for placement of the Youth Pod in the car park at Kingsway Primary School. The pod is expected to be sited by February 2010 (half term) and will provide some badly needed facilities for local youths.

Residents Association Meeting

The first meeting since the new committee was formed was to have included elections for the committee, but since there were 10 places and only 10 volunteers, elections were not necessary.

The meeting minutes are available on our Residents Association Home Page.

44 local people attended the Residents Association Resurrection Meeting on 22/10/’09, which was chaired by Barry Kirby.

Barry kicked of proceedings by running through a potted history of the Residents Association and thanking Emma (Miss_Lane) for her outstanding efforts in printing and distributing leaflets to publicise the event.

The agenda was summarised as 3 items:

1. Should the Residents Association go ahead?
2. What should be it’s mandate?
3. What is the best way forward?

Should the Residents Association go ahead?

There was general agreement that the Assocation could be a valuable asset to the local community.
Discussions followed regarding the structure of the Association and the meeting (in general) agreed that we should seek to elect:

1. A Chairman.
2. A Secretary.
3. A Treasurer.
4. A Social Secretary.
5. A Press Officer.
6. "General Committee Members" (X5).

What should be it’s mandate?

It was generally agreed that the RA should:

1. Be instrumental in promoting the local community.
2. Hold local events both to promote a sense of community spirit and offer opportunities for local people to meet each-other.
3. Present a "United Front" to the local press and promote some positive publicity to redress the balance following the recent negative press coverage (See Here).
4. Present a focussed approach to the QUVL and apply pressure on them to:
   • Communicate their plans and changes (eg: what is the latest schedule for the shops and facilities?)
   • Address issues which are adversely affecting residents (eg: builders hours, construction traffic, road and pavement surfaces, street lights and closed roads).
5. Liaise with local government (Quedgeley Parish Council and Gloucester City / County Councils).

Further suggestions included:

1. Inviting Fraser Mackie (Gloucester South SCT – Gloucester Police) to attend a meeting.
2. Inviting representatives from the various Housing Associations to attend meetings.
3. Asking QUVL to erect a sign (near the Village main entrance) to publicise future meetings.
4. Asking for permission to use the Kingsway Primary School for future meetings.
5. Holding a local event as soon as possible, in order to begin to create a wider sense of community spirit.
6. Organising a team of volunteers to remove the rubble blocking the Naas Lane link road! (Following a short discussion, it was agreed that this could constitute an illegal act and that the best approach would be to put pressure on the QUVL to open the road at the earliest opportunity).
7. Asking the School to assist in publicising forthcoming meetings via the School newsletter.

What is the best way forward?

To invite applications from local residents to fill the positions detailed above and to hold a meeting to elect the RA Committee.

To allow a 3-week period for local residents to apply.
Written applications should be delivered to Barry Kirby at 70, Thatcham Avenue, or emailed to him at mrbpkirby@hotmail.com by 13th November.

Elections will be held at a meeting on 27th November (hopefully at the School) and competing candidates will be expected to give a short "campaign speech".

AOB

We discussed an idea for appointing "local representatives" to publicise (leaflets and canvassing) future meetings and events etc; after some discussion we agreed that this should be left to the elected committee to decide.

We asked for volunteers to help with leaflet distribution and received 17 offers

All in all, it was a very productive meeting. Whilst some of those present expressed frustration (chiefly by those issues that affecting all of us), it was also apparent that the majority of us are very happy to be living in Kingsway Village and are keen to actively help to improve the area and it’s "public image".

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I would like – on behalf of everybody present – to thank Barry for organising and chairing the meeting.

Also – on a personal note – to thank Rich W. (Puzzlewood) for his kind comments, (I’m looking forward to reading your first post)

Folks

A brief note (which I hope to expand further) to say that I have booked a room in Kingsway Community Centre on Friday 23rd October at 2000h for a resurrection of the Residents Association.

This meeting will have a simple Agenda:

The primary aim is to determine if there is enough desire to make having the RA worthwhile.

Secondly it is to determine what the mandate of the organisation should be.

Finally it is to set a date for an Election of officers and for people to volunteer for their names to go forward for submission for that election.

If there are more agenda items to add, please make a comment here.

Please come, and drag your neighbours along. The last time I did this, I was accused of only talking to one portion of the village. This was not the case nor the intention. Everyone, providing you live here in Kingsway, has as much right as anyone else to make your feelings heard (what we can do about it is another issue).

Cheers
Barry