Hawarden Junior Community Council

Meeting 2

Date: 21st October2008

Venue: HawardenHigh School Library

Councillors Present:

Councillors Absent:

Senior Members

Present:

The meeting took place as follows:

1)APOLOGIES OF ABSENCE

Apologies of Absence were received for Alice Iddon and Matthew King (Vice Chair)

2)CONFIRMING THE MINUTES

The Minutes were confirmed by all present to be a true and accurate record of the last meeting.

3)MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

Matters were then discussed which came up at the last meeting and have been acted upon. These were as follows:

Police Panel Meeting:

From the police panel meeting the police told us that a new action plan had been set up. This includes: ~ a clamp-down on Anti-Social Behaviour,

~ An increase in Road Safety

(including a crossing by Busy bees)

~ OAP Doorstep Scheme

(preventing doorstop crime on OAPS)

Invitation To The RemembranceService

A letter was received via the Secretary inviting all members of the Junior Community Council to the Remembrance Service on Sunday 9thNovember. Members who wish to go should contact the Secretary in due course.

Civic Service

Following the Civic Service a request was made from Hawarden’s Youth Worker asking to be invited to come to a future meeting regarding the opening of a computer club in the area.

4)LETTERHEADS/BADGE DESIGNS

The designs for our letterheads and badges were chosen via a majority vote.

Liam Bell is to see Mr Schafer about making the badges.

It was noted that the badge design chosen may be too complicated to make on a badge and so it may have to be simplified.

5)PRESS RELEASE

A Press Release was discussed, it was noted that Hawarden Junior Community Council is already on the internet.

It was suggested that posters could be made which could be put up in shops etc to advertise Hawarden Junior Community Council’s presence in the area.

It was also suggested that some Hawarden Junior Community Councillors could go into local schools in the area to talk to younger children about our work and encourage them to get involved with some of Hawarden Junior Community Council’s projects and suggest ideas to the JuniorCouncil. This would have to be organised and discussed at a later date.

An Open Evening was suggested, this would have to be further investigated.

A Community Cake Sale was also suggested to take place, though after discussion it was decided that this wouldn’t be that effective and so was dismissed.

6) DISCUSSION OF THREE MAIN ISSUES

The three main issues discussed at the last meeting werediscussed further and in more detail.

  1. Road Safety

The Police informed us that a test had been carried out to see if the Highway was suitable for a Zebra-Crossing to be installed outside of school.However, when the test was carried out the auditors believed that it was not suitable due to the Puffin Crossing by the CO-OP.

The JuniorCouncil, upon hearing this news, felt that that was not justified and have decided that the issue of road safety is too important to leave be and it was decided that the Highways Agency will be contacted again to carry out another audit and try to get some kind of Traffic-Calming Scheme installed in the area. Many young people in the area have informed the JuniorCouncil about their fears crossing the road and thus Hawarden Junior Community Council decided that they cannot give up on this issue and will try again on behalf of all the young people it represents.

Another way of possibly increasing road safety and reducing congestion is to have a walk to school week. This would take place in the Spring when the weather is better. It would aim to reduce congestion and the JuniorCouncil would try to get as many people involved in it as possible. The Police said they would be happy to help at this sort of event,they also suggested that it may be a good idea to hire a lollipop-lady to help children crossing the roads though this would have to be investigated.

  1. Waste Disposal

Mr Barritt an eco-schools representative could not attend the meeting. However,the issue was stilldiscussed.

It was suggested that a recycling centre should be set up on a small scale in Gladstone Playing Fields. The County Council however, will only provide recycling centres in areas where they are going to be used, the Senior Community Council have raised the issue with them before, and the County Council have said that there is a Recycling Centre in Queensferry and therefore they are not wiling to provide one in the Hawarden area.

It was noted that there are not enough normal bins in the area. This is something, which is going to be discussed at a further meeting. Some issues were drawn to the JuniorCouncil’s attention regarding bins. One is the fact that metal bins are often destroyed in Play Areas and burnt so thus there is a dilemma do you provide a bin and risk it being destroyed or do you just leave people to litter?

The Police mentionedthat they are going to be tackling environmental crime within the next few months and tickets and on the spot fines will be issued in the near future to try tostop people from littering the streets. It was suggested that an article about this and the fact that littering is unacceptable could go in the Hawarden Living Magazine.

A Litter Pick day was also suggested which would be co-ordinated alongside ‘Keep Wales Tidy’. This would have to be organised and would probably take place in the Spring when the weather would be better.

It was also noted that it is often people’s attitudes which are wrong and therefore an educational event was suggested to take place. No conclusion was reached on this issue.

The idea of having a Park Warden was also raised, it was decided that this was impractical and the notion was therefore dismissed.

  1. Gladstone Improvement Scheme

The issue about the fact that there is not enough lighting in the park and thus it could be dangerous. It came to light that the issue had actually been discussed in a Senior Council meeting and it was decided that a light had to be installed on the Pavilion for safety purposes however more lights could encourage more anti-social behaviour and so it was decided that no more lighting should be installed.

The issue of painting the railings was raised. Hawarden Community Councilis responsible for painting some of the parks including Gladstone Playing Fields. It was proposed that Hawarden Junior Community Council could take part in this as good PR.

A safety issue regarding people’s muddy boots was raised. Some people after football practice have been stepping on to the ramps creating a hazard for the people who are using the ramps. Fencing has been installed in the past to try and prevent this but the path leads straight through the skate park so it is an ongoing problem.

Two possible solutions were suggested: one was to completely enclose the area in fencing however, this would be costly.

The other was to speak to the team and ask them to be more considerate about this as it is very dangerous. The other possible solution would be to put up posters in the changing rooms to politely remind people to clean their boots elsewhere (i.e. not on theskate park).

The issue of extra seating was also raised, as was graffiti.Someone proposed the idea of a graffiti wall however, the Police said that it would be inappropriate to encourage graffiti in an area where it is not a problem and currently the graffiti issue in ‘Chippy Lane is being addressed. It was decided that there were too many issues regarding the park and therefore Hawarden Junior Community Council would write to a Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator who would carry out an audit on the Council’s behalf. The date for this would be confirmed.

Charity Events were mentioned, in passing someone suggested sponging teachers this was dismissed by the JuniorCouncil as being inappropriate. A Talent Show, Car Boot Sale, Swap Shop, Christmas Hamper, Coffee Morning, Chocolate Bingo and a Rock Concert were the other ideas mentioned. It was decided that some of them could be viable but it was not appropriate to discuss fundraising at this meeting as it was not on the agenda. It was therefore suggested that this were to be put on a future agenda in order to be discussedthoroughly.

7)TREASURER’S REPORT

The accounts are as follows:

£7 has been spent so far on photocopying leaving a balance of £1268.

A possible grant from ‘Money Supermarket.com’ of £2000 was also mentioned if we were to come up with a worthwhile project, which required extra funds. This would be investigated further.

8)FORWARD PLAN

Issues were raised which people wished to discuss at a future meeting. Some ideas included:

Asking Flintshire County Council to buy the butcher’s shop inEwloe and getting the Youth Club involved with our work. It was decided that it would be impractical to but the Butcher’s Shop and the issue of getting the Youth Club involved with our work came under the title of publicity and was thus already under way.

The main issues, which were chosen to be discussed, were:

  • Fundraising
  • Gladstone-Playing Fields

If any JuniorCommunity Councillor has something they wish to go on the Agenda before the next meeting please inform the Secretary as soon as possible who will pass on the information to the Chair if appropriate.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday 2nd December 2008 in the Library at 3:30pm.