Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillor Sean Serridge and County Councillor David Stansfield

Also in attendance were:

·  Peter Wood

·  Tim Nuttall

·  Cllr Ann Kerrigan

·  Kathy Fishwick

·  Brian Michael

·  Cllr Tony Howarth

·  Leonard Entwistle

·  J Atherton

The note of the meeting held on 3 December 2014 was agreed as a correct record

The action sheet from the last meeting was noted and members made the following additional comments:

·  It was clarified that the issue at Manchester Road was in Haslingden and not Rawtenstall as stated on the action sheet. It was updated that the new posts had been in place approximately 5 weeks with new 'no waiting' signs

·  Regarding the block paving on Deardengate it was noted that this issue has not been completed. Members wanted to know how long the 'temporary' repairs will be in place for

·  Parking attendants – not attending Haslingden at all. It was agreed that further investigation should be carried out to address the situation

·  De-cluttering of redundant signage –

o  it was acknowledged that it is the responsibility of the building contractors to remove them. Highways team are writing to them to ask them to remove the signs

o  outside the mobile phone shop in Rossendale – same sign on both sides of the road, one needs to be removed

o  Government guidance states that councils have policies in place to address the de-cluttering of signs. Potential H&S aspect. Forum members to be provided with a copy of the current policy. It was felt that particularly in rural areas redundant signage can have an adverse effect on tourism.

·  Setts on Bank Street (near Ormerod St) – repairs not yet done and it was felt it was quite dangerous as many of the setts are sunken. It was stated that possibly the adjacent culvert is the reason why many of the setts have sunk and the problem may be more structural. An update is required

·  Parking enforcement – members expressed concerns regarding parking outside schools, in particular in Waterfoot. The reasons behind this issue were discussed in detail by the forum and a number of potential solutions were suggested. One such suggestion was the use of 'boards' placed on the yellow lines by the school and it was felt that this proactive initiative could be replicated at other schools. CC Oakes agreed to take this action forward. A question was asked as to whether schools could stagger their 'end of day' times so they didn't all finish at the same time. It was acknowledged that the timings of the school day is not the responsibility of the local authority and suggested that they should contact the school governing body

·  Newhall Hey roundabout – concerns regarding the design of the roundabout and whether any further remodelling will be carried out. CC Cheetham explained the issue is being looked at as part of a wider traffic and highways review. It was hoped that it would be part of the Rawtenstall town centre work (Pennine Reach). It was agreed that people need to be made aware of what the Pennine Reach programme of work actually includes and CC Cheetham offered to follow this up and make the information available

·  Following a number of other localised parking and traffic issues the Chair expressed concerns that the Forum would easily get  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Chair explained the current situation regarding the officer support for 3 Tier Forums and asked the Forum how it wanted to move forward. Following a discussion the main points were:

·  General consensus that there should still be an opportunity for local residents to be able to meet face to face with locally elected representatives

·  It was felt that the existing local Neighbourhood Forums could be utilised as a way of dealing with locality based issues whilst still having a link to borough and county officers and elected members. Important that local issues can be discussed and dealt with in the community rather than have to go to Preston to get anything resolved.

·  Concerns were expressed regarding how actions would be progressed and followed through if no officer support was available

·  It was suggested that the neighbourhood notice boards be used more to promote what is happening locally from a council point of view. Often the boards were just used to display community based events. Some members offered to update the information on the boards if officers provided them with the posters and notifications.

·  No administrative support would be available. The Borough Council offered to circulate the agenda and minutes on behalf of the Neighbourhood Forums

During the discussion members were made aware of the Local Delivery Scheme which was replacing Parish Lengthsmen. Local group could register an interest to carry out small remedial works. CC Oakes to circulate additional information on the scheme

It was resolved that

  i.  the membership of the 3 Tier Forum would in future 'tag' on to the Neighbourhood Forums (NF) in some way (maybe have half an hour on individual NF agendas)

  ii.  CC Oakes to circulate information on the Local Delivery Scheme to members.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. 

There was no urgent business

To be advised.

To be confirmed