Officers: Lily Leaver (Treasurer) and Bob Muid (Secretary)

Minutes of the Board Meeting of St. Mary’s Island Residents’ Association Ltd. (SMIRA)
held at the Community Centre on Tuesday 22nd September 2015
commencing at 7:00pm

Present:

Chair: David Taylor

Directors: Peter Haigh, Allan Sneller, Leslie James, Keith Robinson, Chris Reynolds and Barry Woolford.

Officers: Lily Leaver (Treasurer) and Bob Muid (Secretary).

Visiting Members: Barrie Davis, Susan Sneller, John Jones, Wendy Pinder, Jean Huckstepp, Barry Huckstepp, John Wilson, Gary page, Alan Bennett, Jim Spree, Pat O’Brien, Denis O’Brien, Les Pattenden, Brian Viney, Dawn Elms, Nanette Crawford, Adele Fairman, Paul Fairman and Peter Rumsby.

CMT Representatives: Dalia Halpern-Matthews (CEO), Grant Leathwhite.

Medway Councillors: Cllr. Andrew Mackness.

Guests: Yusuf Çinar (Community Warden), Helen McConnell (F.M. Conway) and Ben McGowan (Moat Housing), PCSO Helen Kristic and a team from the Environment Agency.

Apologies for absence: none

Abbreviations: CMT – Chatham Maritime Trust, CML – Countryside Maritime Ltd. (developers), HCA – Homes and Communities Agency (SMI landowner), SMI – St. Mary’s Island.

Item 76/15: Presentation from the Environment Agency

David Taylor introduced Mark Jager from the Environment Agency (EA) who introduced his colleague Kerry and Barbara and Roger who are entomologists. Mark explained that there are only certain sites at Chatham Docks which the EA are involved with. He went on to talk about Hoo Island (the island in the middle of the Medway closest to the Fisherman’s Village) which originally was a permitted site for the dumping of dredged material from the River Medway. It had a permit because it was a waste site where waste building material was used to create walls to contain the dredged material. There had been problems with the collapse of the walls and the dredging escaped back into the river. The plan now is to stop this work and create a nature reserve on the Island (Peel Ports in conjunction with Natural England). So the works being carried on now are to profile the Island to a standard to make it beautiful and a habitat for wildfowl and lizards. Mark will keep SMIRA informed when the works are completed.

Mark explained that the EA was formed because originally the water industry and the waste industry was self-regulating with the usual problems. Now the EA oversee those industries to include power stations, emissions, waste sites, flood defences, rivers and conservation sites. Waste sites need a permit from the EA to operate and are monitored to ensure compliance. Permits come in two forms a standard permit and a bespoke permit. The standard permit covers lower risk operations and the conditions in the permit are generic (London & Kent Metals have a standard permit). The more expensive bespoke permit covers processes with a lot higher risk and the companies applying for such a permit can specify the waste materials processed and the processes involved. The EA inspect companies with these permits more regularly and there is consultation with affected parties (e.g. residents) before the permit is granted (Street Fuels have a bespoke permit).

On the SMI side of Chatham Docks operate Street Fuels (wood storage and metal storage), Port Sheerness (a subsidiary of Peel Ports operate a transfer station but are using the site currently to store timber), London & Kent Metals (who were at our previous SMIRA meeting) and MCS (a small demolition waste transfer station – permit pending).

ArcelorMittal Kent Wire are on the other side of Basin 2 but because they are not a waste company (they manufacture wire product) they do not require an EA permit to operate. They are the biggest operator in Chatham Docks and recently have moved closer to SMI because of the development of Chatham Waters. David Taylor said that residents were experiencing a lot of noise nuisance from ArcelorMittal Kent Wire because of their 24 hour 7 day a week operation. Dalia Halpern-Matthews (CMT) had introduced David to Phil Taylor the CEO of ArcelorMittal Kent Wire. David Taylor has proposed that a few directors of SMIRA meet with Phil Taylor to see if Kent Wire could adjust their operation to mitigate the effects on SMI residents. Cllr. Andrew Mackness pointed out that Chatham Docks has rights to operate 24 hours a day and they can work when they want. If residents are being kept awake at night they need to keep a log and the more residents who complain to Medway Council Environmental Health Team with evidence the more likely any complaint will be upheld. However noise nuisance is very subjective and most complaints are unsuccessful (without corresponding evidence). Residents should contact the Medway Council Environmental Health Team who will supply them with logs which need to be filled in and returned to the Council.

Street Fuels are still being monitored fortnightly and they appear to be dealing with the fly problem.

Anybody suffering from problems generated from the permitted sites (listed above) such as dust, noise or flies should complain to the EA (phone 0800 807060 or email: ).

Roger who works with the EA and also teaches entomological skills including identification talked about the different types of fly and about the fly survey on SMI. Roger has been catching flies on the Island, at Street Fuel and in people’s houses and recording the data. The EA did surveys in May, June, July and August installing traps for two days on each occasion (which is considered to be adequate). At the Street Fuel site, there was only one ‘bluebottle’ (Calliphoridae) caught and almost no Musca domestica (the most common of all domestic flies, accounting for about 91% of all flies in human habitations). In the houses the EA didn’t catch that many flies in their survey and this may be due to Street Fuels control of the fly problem and also that it’s been a cool summer. Flies will breed quicker in warmer weather. Street Fuels have their own pest control consultant and they are spraying to keep the fly problem under control every two weeks. The higher incidence of Calliphoridae in houses may be due to dog fouling or dead rats etc. in the outside areas. A lot of Sciaridae (very small flies) were found but these are not coming from Street Fuels, instead are probably coming from household pot plants as they live in compost. A number of Megaselia scalaris (commonly known as the coffin fly or scuttle fly) may be coming from Street Fuels but they will breed up to large numbers in domestic situations as well, so there may be multiple sources of this species.

There is one more round of trapping to be done and the traps will be collected on Thursday and counted on Friday. As it has cooled down Roger is not expecting to see many flies. A report will then be compiled for the EA who will then determine what, if anything, is to be done.

The EA may do the fly survey again next year if there is a problem and if they have the resource to do it.

The attendees showed their appreciation to the guests from the EA.

Item 77/15: Minutes of the previous meeting:

Adoption of the minutes of the meeting of the 11th August 2015 were proposed by Peter Haigh, seconded by Barry Woolford and unanimously adopted.

Item 78/15: Chatham Maritime Trust Report.
Dalia Halpern-Matthews (CEO) reported that:

Ship & Trades area:
CMT have had a lot of good feedback about their maintaining the soft landscaping and the hard landscaping around the Ship & Trades area. Remedial works have been carried out and there will be some addition bins going in around the area to accommodate weekend waste. Parking is still under review and there will be some minor tweaks to resolve some outstanding issues there.

Allan Sneller wanted to thank CMT for getting to grips with the Ship & Trades area and on behalf of the silent majority for dealing with the granite blocks in the Avenue.

Christmas Fair
The Christmas Fair will be held at St. Mary's Island Community Centre on Saturday 28th November from 2:00 to 5:00pm. The winner of the Design a Christmas Card Competition will be announced at that event.

Finsborough Down Bulb Planting/Estate Walk:
Saturday 3rd October is the bulb planting day and also the Estate Walk and everyone is welcome. Turfsoil, CMT’s gardening contractors, are organising the volunteer bulb planting day on Finsborough Down. Members of Medway Sunlight Rotary Club, who meet weekly at the Community Centre, will be joining the residents in the planting of 25,000 mauve crocus bulbs on that day. The aim is to eventually plant Finsborough Down and the Central East and West Bunds with spring flowering bulbs of different colours depicting different charities. This year the mauve crocus bulbs represent the International Rotary initiative of “End Polio Now” throughout the world. After many years of raising funds, Polio is now down to just two countries.

David Taylor encouraged all residents to help out with the bulb planting as it is for the benefit of all. It also shows the Trust that the residents support the work that they are doing to improve the look of our Island

The tree survey on Finsborough Down has been completed and there will be some remedial husbandry going on within the next couple of months and then it is a rolling program over the next five years.

Basin 2 – watersports hub
Phase 1 will be opening in spring (March/April) and Dalia Halpern-Matthews will be looking at the caisson bridge as part of that project. This will be done as soon as possible – phase 2 at the latest. CMT are talking to Peel Ports and the HCA to deal with the issues as quickly as possible. The watersports hub will cater for all age groups including the disabled and will provide more activities than at present.

Trust Open Afternoon/Evening
The Trust are having an open afternoon/evening on Friday 25th September between 2:00pm and 7:00pm so residents can come along to the Observatory to see how the Trust works, have a chat and a coffee and air any concerns. Residents are encouraged to attend.

Transfers
There have been more transfers of land from HCA and the developers to the Trust including the footbridge over Pier Road and southern bullnose. These will now be maintained to CMT’s high standard. Before any transfers of land to the Trust are agreed the land must be at a certain standard of maintenance and some remedial works may be required or the Trust may require some money to be transferred with the land.

Central Walk
Dalia Halpern-Matthews wanted to thank everyone who contributed to the Central Walk consultation. CMT really appreciated the feedback they received and they hope the transfer will be complete within the next six weeks.

Outfall 15
The Trust intends to continue the planting and turf work to the new ramp improving the landscaping there.

Parking
Dalia Halpern-Matthews has started her review to look at possible options to improve the parking on the Island which she knows is a very hot topic. This is the next big project after the Restrictive Covenants review has been completed. CMT are talking to developers and Medway Council, looking at best practice. There will not be an overnight solution but Dalia promised that CMT will be working on it as fast as they can. Dalia has met with Jason Rea and Nigel Garrett regarding the parking issues at Watersmeet and they are working together to achieve a solution for everybody.

Signage
Signage is being looked at as a whole across the estate and at the last SMIRA meeting the issue of signage to the Doctor’s surgery was raised so this will be included as well as the Community Centre, school and pharmacy.

PCSO
Dalia Halpern-Matthews said that she had spoken to Kent Police to say how happy CMT were with our PCSO Helen Kristic and that she has been doing a great job. Dalia also forwarded the request that Helen had made regarding getting official speed gun operatives onto the Island so that speeding tickets can be issued to offending drivers.

Community Warden
Yusuf Çinar, our Community Warden, said that there has been a reorganisation of the Community Warden service and he is being moved to Gillingham North. He will be replaced by Rebecca Pease from 1st November. Yusuf has been our Community Warden for three years and David Taylor wanted to thank him, on behalf of SMIRA and the SMI residents, for all the help and hard work he has done.

Item 79/15 Chair’s report:

The draft SMIRA accounts to the financial year end March 2015 have previously been sent to all directors for approval and David Taylor asked for a proposer and seconder. Allan Sneller proposed and Chris Reynolds seconded that the accounts be approved and this was passed unanimously. The financial statement, which is the shorter version of the accounts, will be sent to all members as part of the AGM documentation.

The AGM is Friday 4th December in the large hall of the Community Centre. Two directors are obliged to retire by rotation (David Taylor and Allan Sneller) but they can volunteer to continue if the members re-elect them. Nomination forms for new directors can be found on the SMIRA website on the meetings page. There will be three presentations at the AGM, one from Dalia Halpern-Matthews as new CEO of Chatham Maritime Trust, one from Brian Portway, Hon. Secretary of the SMI History Group on the history of SMI and possibly one from Dr Lawrence.

Prior to the AGM, SMIRA send out their annual newsletter and David asked for any contributions to be submitted to him.

Item 80/15: Secretary’s report:

Bob Muid said that David had already covered all of what he was going to say about the AGM and had very little more to add.

Item 81/15: Treasurers report:

David Taylor asked the attendees to show their appreciation of the work Lily Leaver puts in as Treasurer.

Lily reported that we have a balance of £3,105.08 which includes the grant of £3,000 from CMT and £1,000 from our Councillors. Most of the money SMIRA spends will be on the AGM and newsletter (printing, distribution and room hire).

Item 82/15: Homes and Communities Agency:

Nothing new to report but Peter Haigh, one of SMIRA’s directors has been photographing bits of landscaping, seats and dog bins which aren’t being properly looked after which are in the areas of HCA’s current ownership. Dalia Halpern-Matthews has been chasing up the HCA about those issues.

Allan Sneller said that there were some areas that the HCA owned that were not disabled person friendly and asked if he supplied Dalia with the information could she follow this up? Dalia agreed that if there was something that could be done she would try.

Item 83/15: Roads, road adoption and landscaping:

David Taylor said that the next meeting about the road adoption would be on 2nd October.

SMIRA had understood that all the traffic for the final phase build out would go over the bascule bridge and into the back of the site. Unfortunately this has been challenged by the developers and CML produced a compelling case to have the traffic proceed along Island Way West and into the site at the junction with Samphire Way.

Because there could be safety issues SMIRA are talking to Ruth Du-Lieu of Medway Council and CML to look at the possibility of having a lollipop person but preferably installing a permanent crossing near the Community Centre. When the Assisted Living Centre is built in the final phase we will need a crossing from there to the Community Centre/Doctor’s Surgery. This crossing would also serve the need of the parents of schoolchildren who will be able to use the new parking spaces/drop off/pick up area for the school in the new development. Also the crossing in Island Way West nearest the Stones Roundabout should be moved further away from the roundabout as it is becoming hazardous for people crossing the road with traffic exiting the roundabout at speed.

There are major concerns about the speeds of lorries, particularly those delivering to the site.

Dalia Halpern-Matthews said that they had managed to get CML to constrain the timings of their deliveries to the site to outside the school start and finishing times. There are also limits to how early and how late deliveries can be made to the site. If there are any breaches of this agreement then residents should let the Trust know so that they can take it up with CML.

Cllr Mackness said that if the lollipop person solution was employed SMIRA and CMT should ensure that the person is on the Medway Roster so that there is cover during illness or holidays. He also said that there were already plans to move the crossing in Island Way West nearest the Stones Roundabout. These were drawn up 6 months ago but currently there is no funding for this, although the Council are talking to CML. There are also plans to change the Stones Roundabout at the exit from the Island across HMS Chatham Bridge in order to slow traffic. Cllr Mackness was disappointed that CML seem not to be as considerate to the Island residents as they used to be.