PUBLIC MEETING
07 June 2016
SPRINGWELL SOCIAL CLUB

MINUTES
Present: Chair A. Templeman
Vice Chair M. Johnson
Secretary P. Cooper
Treasurer G. Martin
Other committee members M.Lambton
D.Lambton
H. Fife
C. Brown
S. Thomas
Apologies
Cllr B Scaplehorn
PC Vicki Noble
Lesley Pickup
Steph Gray
Guest: Gillan Gibson, CPRE

Cllrs H and D Trueman did not feel it appropriate to attend because of the need for an open discussion on the Local Plan.

Approx 40 members of the public attended.

1. Mrs Aitken requested the minutes of the previous meeting be amended to include a vote of thanks to the outgoing Committee. The minutes of the previous meeting were otherwise agreed.

2. SVRA has been given Mayor’s Award for work with the community.

3. Thompsons: Dust Issues: Environment Agency had been twice. Improvements to dust management are being made. These include:
• reinstatement of a dust suppressor on the crusher
• use of a mobile trailer with irrigation sprinklers and wander hoses
• as well as Springwell Road being cleaned the sweeper now cleans the path
• Samples of crushed products will be taken and analysed by an independent consultant on a monthly basis
• 95% of incoming waste rubble comes from Thompsons own contracts and is screened on site before coming to Springwell
• All third party deliveries are thoroughly screened
Scrap metal: recent scrap metal on site has now been disposed of. In future, scrap metal will be stored beside the crusher until it can be disposed of.

Bowes Railway: it is hoped to develop Bowes Railway as a major tourist attraction. Suggested that trees could be planted to screen the quarry along the route taken by trains. Agreed by residents.
Thompsons have donated stone to Bowes for the repair of its damaged wall on Springwell Road. Bowes will carry out the stone cutting themselves on the Thompsons site and will submit a detailed risk assessment and method statement before any works commence.
Wheel Wash: improvements being made

4. Seldom Seen: Beds ready for planting. Request was made for donations of plants and volunteers to do some work. Raffle held to raise money for plants.

Dog fouling: Big issue throughout village. SVRA getting a lot of complaints particularly about children treading in fouled pavements on their way to and from school, which is clearly unacceptable. There’s a dog control order in place at Seldom Seen park, anyone caught allowing their dog to foul can get an £80 on the spot fine. Regular offending can result in going to court and a fine of up to £1k.

Residents were asked to report incidents of dog fouling to Council who will arrange to clean but really it’s a matter of education.

Council has been asked to provide a bin on Uplands Way (budget concerns though) and to place more stickers on lampposts around the village. Request that people contact Council – details on their website. Northumbria Police website signposts to Council website.

5. Police: Crime/ASB: (3 crimes)
3 disputes over parking – Railway Close/Badger Mews
3 driving incidents – drink, dangerous, RTC
2 complaints re young people playing in Somerford Park – balls hitting cars
Complaint re dune buggy being driven around area of Mount Lonnen.

Report of suspicious male in Ferndale Terrace, this turned out to be harmless fish sellers but please continue to be vigilant with particular regard to the elderly and call the police if suspicious about strangers.

6. Planning: There were 394 objections to planning app on Warren Lea – it was refused.
Local Plan: Plan sets out how land can be used over next 18 years – every subsequent planning application MUST fit within the plan.

Council is putting on consultation events – not well attended – details in consultation leaflet.
Government stipulates how much housing is needed and also says local authorities must add some growth – to try to satisfy the nationally recognised need for new houses.

Sunderland is claiming healthy growth in jobs, but decline in working age population, lots of people travelling into the city for work and lots travelling out. They claim they need more houses to attract people to live in the city.

Council putting forward 3 options – Low (really a benchmark), Med and High. Results of consultation will determine which one will be fully worked up. Political support for high growth. Low growth very unlikely to get political support.

Government says how many houses should be built based on estimate of population and ALSO says they expect LAs to factor in some growth above that.

The only absolute fact is that the higher the growth, the more likely greenbelt will be needed.
Experts advise us to be careful because should we “say” vote for medium growth, then subsequently this needs release of greenbelt, it would be more difficult to object.

Possibilities for SVRA are:
(a) Not to vote for an option at all but make comments supporting growth but not at the expense of losing more greenbelt than was needed for IAMP
(b) Vote for an option and also make the comments as above

Committee recommended (a) and this received overwhelming support in the vote. This was after much debate and support for the “Low Growth” option – there was no support for the high growth option.

Individuals were encouraged to respond to the consultation – forms were distributed and more are available at the Hall, Club and Guide Post. Completed forms to be left at the Hall. SVRA will collect and deliver to the Council

7. AOB:
• request for clearing of pathway at Heugh Hill/Peareth Hall Road where fly tipping has taken place
• request for potholes to be repaired on Springwell Road and into Mount Lane
SVRA to look into both issues.

8. Next Meeting: it was proposed that meetings take place every six weeks and more often if there were major issues to discuss – this was agreed by overwhelming support in the vote. Next meeting 26th July 2016.