Minutes of Chafford Hundred Community Forum Meeting

Minutes of Chafford Hundred Community Forum Meeting

12thMarch 2012, Drake Road Community Centre

1. Welcome and apologies

Ladychair welcomed everyone to tonight’s important meeting. We received apologies from CouncillorGary Hague.

2. Minutes from previous evening

Ladychair said she is in the process of updating the website with minutes from previous meetings.

3. Treasurer’s report

There is no longer funding from Thurrock Council to the forums so local groups cannot request funding.

4. Main topics for discussion

(i)The Big Energy Switch

Thurrock Council is promoting a collective energy switch between 15th February and 8th April. A tariff will be offered by the energy companies. The more people who sign up, the more bargaining power there is to drive down the price. It is free to join and there’s no obligation to accept the tariff which is offered.

For more information visit thurrock.gov.uk/bigswitch or call 01375 366103

In other parts of the country people have saved up to £250 a year by joining collective energy switching.

(ii)Pre school

A representative from the Chafford Hundred Pre school attended the meeting asking for advice on funding opportunities. Different parts of the country have received enourmous grants for developing preschools and our guess is that many say Chafford is perceived as an affluent area and therefore it is hard to get funding.

We advised her to investigate every available means of funding, and to ask for help from Thurrock Council, particularly Andrea Winterflood who has given enormous support to the Forum with the park funding.

Councillor Wootton suggested she approached Lakeside, and also Thurrock Community Chest. Other suggestions included speaking to the church and Sainsburys.

(iii)Gangs on the Streets

A 19 year old local resident who was present at the meeting was subjected to a vile attack just last Saturday. He was walking from his home with a friend at just 9pm when a gang of five black youths followed him, approached him trying to steal his mobile then followed him in to a private driveway where they stabbed him three times with a blade, one was a deep wound which was near fatal.

This prompted a long discussion about the crime we are experiencing on this estate and the safety of residents.

It was agreed by the majority including the councilors that crime on Chafford has gone from being subtle to more serious, but not yet on a par with inner London, however, we agreed that unless something serious is done soon, this estate will soon resemble an inner London estate.

Two PCSOs attented on the night and kindly answered questions posed by concerned residents. Until this week, their focus had been primarily car crime but hinted that there was a pending operation to tackle increasing gang/drug/antisocial crime on Chafford.

As always, the Police urged anyone that needs to report a serious crime to call 999, and to use 101 for non urgent matters. No matter how trivial the information that you have, the Police will always listen. So please report anything suspicious that you see.

We also had great support from the three ward councilors on the night, Charlie Keys, Simon Wootton and Tunde Ojetola who will each be following up with Essex Police as a matter of urgency.

5. Updates

(i)ChaffordHundredPark

Ladychair updated residents on the latest with the new park. The park is now complete. The last feedback residents was that there was enough for young people and we needed to add an outdoor gym suitable for adult use. We were successful in fundraising and seven new bits of apparatus have been installed. There will be an open day once the weather gets warmer, to thank all those who have supported and donated in this project.

(i)Parking around schools

There will be mobile CCTV cars in operation monitoring illegal and thoughtless parking across the borough. It was suggested that our traffic wardens in the borough could alternate around schools at key times of day.

6. Any other business

(i)Next meeting - AGM

Date of AGM to be advertised on our website and noticeboard. This will be an informal meeting, drinks and nibbles will be served.

Thank you to everyone that attended. Best wishes, Ladychair and Team.