Footbridge gritting

John Fareham and John Abbott have arranged for the footbridge over the railway line to be included in the winter gritting programme.

We received complaints from local residents that this bridge was prone to accumulating ice and could then be dangerous to cross.  We therefore contacted the officers and we asked them to arrange for the bridge to be gritted as part of the regular schedule when neighbouring areas were being treated; we have since seen for ourselves that the bridge has indeed been gritted and had confirmation from staff at Appleton Primary School that the bridge had been treated twice in two days; this is of course encouraging but we will continue to take an interest in whether the bridge is being treated when it needs to be or not.

Goddard Avenue open space and the City Plan

John Fareham and John Abbott report that the City Council have approved the revised Local Plan including reclassification of the open land behind Goddard Avenue as no longer protected greenspace.

The ruling group’s stated position on this matter was that, given sanctions imposed on other councils for not revising their local plans quickly enough, we could wait no longer in revising ours.  We tabled an amendment to the motion passing the Local Plan and argued that it was insufficient to rely on the wisdom and goodwill of Planning Committee to protect our scarce open greenspace, that the consultation process on the draft had left out asking Area Committees, and it was simply wrong to suggest that all manner of evil would befall us if we took another month to get it right. We would like to thank the Liberal Democrats for supporting our amendment; as agreed in advance, we would have supported theirs as well if Labour had not had it ruled out on the specious grounds that their amendment was effectively the same as ours. (It wasn’t.) The argument about whether this was correct came close to getting out of control; it says much about the amount of screaming and shouting that ensued that for once we wouldn’t recommend trying to watch the meeting webcast! 

National Avenue drainage ditch cleaning

John Fareham and John Abbott have arranged for the cleaning out of the National Avenue drainage ditch.

We have had demarcation issues in the past, notably when a deceased cat was found and it took our intervention to sort the matter out, in respect of who dredges out this drainage ditch. We now understand that the responsibility lies with the City Council, that an excavator situated nearby will be used to get everything cleared out and that when all the stuff has been excavated, the plastic bottles, litter, balls and the like will be removed, and the biodegradable elements will be left on the bank. We also understand that steps are to be installed to make it easier for Council employees to get at the grate and clear it of rubbish in future.

Chanterlands Avenue sub station graffiti

John Fareham and John Abbott arranged for graffiti to be cleaned off the electricity sub-station on Chanterlands Avenue.

We received complaints about this from local residents and, having seen how much spray paint had been applied, reported the matter to the officers.  As the Council is not directly responsible for the management of electricity-board buildings they in turn forwarded the matter to the electricity suppliers.  The graffiti have now been cleaned off, commendably quickly given that the matter was reported online, and we stand ready to assist should there be any further instances of graffiti or vandalism on this building which is, after all, of benefit to all neighbouring electricity users.

Chanterlands Avenue North resurfacing

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to secure the resurfacing of Chanterlands Avenue North from the Bricknell Avenue roundabout to Goddard Avenue.

Papers for the November meeting of Wyke Area Committee stated that the scheme has been priced up, is now at the design stage, and is expected to be complete by March next year. It goes without saying that we will continue to take an interest in the status of this scheme and that, as soon as we have a start date for the works, we will pass it on in order to ensure that local residents can be sure what, if anything, they need to avoid being inconvenienced by the works while they are actually in progress.

Newland Park street lighting levels

John Fareham and John Abbott are working to secure an increase in the street lighting level on Newland Park.

Barrington Avenue has recently had all its street lights replaced and the lights taken out are identical with those now lighting Newland Park. We are therefore working with the officers to draw up a scheme for the installation of these street lights in Newland Park as additional lighting which will form part of our long term commitment to upgrading lighting all across the ward.  As soon as we have specific details of the proposed locations for the additional lights and of their proposed time of installation, we will of course let local residents know.

Hartoft Road tree trimming

John Fareham and John Abbott discovered the reasons behind the cutting down of trees on Hartoft Road.

We received complaints from local residents about the trees being removed and instituted enquiries with the officers as to what was going on.  They informed us that the trees had been planted between 60 and 70 year ago and as a result were becoming elderly in tree terms and potentially hazardous. In the light of the fact that fresh trees had already been planted it was therefore decided to chop them down rather than have them fall down and possibly injure somebody.  We understand the concerns of local residents as regards what this will do in the short term to the residential and visual amenity of the area but we hope this explanation will show that we are not concerned here with wanton vandalism by the corporate centre but rather with responsible long term tree management planned by those who know what they are doing.

Newland Park lamp posts

John Fareham and John Abbott have further details of the colour of paint applied to the Newland Park lamp posts.

The colours residents are now seeing are the preparatory coats and do not reflect the final colour.  The limitations of our printing technology mean we could not reproduce it in our newsletter, but for those who want to look it up online the final colour will be RAL6001. That colour is as close as we can remember to it being when we last made sure they were finally clean and painted, and is sometimes described as emerald green although we are ware that phrase covers many shades. We do hope this helps reassure people that we have not had a rush of blood to the head and we are not trying to be adventurous.