Hindley Green Residents Association Minutes of General Meeting held at 7 p.m. On 7 th Feb 2018, at the Bethel Centre

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1 Hindley Green Residents Association Minutes of General Meeting held at 7 p.m. On 7 th Feb 2018, at the Bethel Centre Present: Chairman: John Vickers, (JV), Secretary: Ivy Dickens (ID), Treasurer: Barbara Lane (BL), Webmaster: Jeff Unsworth (JU), Mike Walsh (MW), Ruth Latchford (RL), Gena Merrett, Cllr. Frank Carmichael (CFC), Julie Bradshaw, Cllr. Bob Brierley (CBB), John Thomason Tribute: The Chairman sadly announced the death of two members of the Committee. Mike Lynch was a founder member and had served the Association well. Danny Murray joined later but was a stalwart member and made a valuable contribution to the Association. Sincere condolences were expressed. A minutes silence was held in remembrance of these two gentlemen who would be very much missed. Barbara Lane had sent flowers to both families. 1. Apologies for Absence: Tom Jackson. Avis Shone. 2. Minutes of Last Meeting: Proposed: Jeff Unsworth. Seconded: Phil Cooksey. 3. Actions from previous Minutes: (a) Resurfacing of Unadopted Road: Because of unsuitable weather conditions, the resurfacing could not take place. The Contractor was waiting for a dry period to carry out the work. Action 304 (ID/BL/CFC) (b) Repointing of paved area next to the Bethel: A quotation had been received for (inc). CFC would support a Brighter Borough funding application. Regarding the question of the ongoing maintenance, the Association were reluctant to take on the responsibility of a lease because we do not carry Public Liability Insurance. CFC said that other Groups had assumed responsibility for various sites in the Borough under the terms of The Deal, but he would make enquiries. ID would send him the relevant paperwork. JU asked CBB if the damaged fence around the area could be mended. CBB would look into the matter. Action 322 (JU/BL/ID) (c) Westlake problems: CBB reported that in January, an Association member, together with family and friends, had collected 10 bags of rubbish around Westlake. Other problems were being dealt with. Action 327 complete. (PL/ID) (d) Replanting of Floral tubs. A quotation from Mossbank Nurseries had been received for 2,500 plus VAT. This would cover the whole of this year s planting, Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter, including maintenance. CFC would support a B.B. funding application. The matter of future planting was left in abeyance for the time being. Action 328 (ID/CFC)

2 4. Arcadis Report: Reports and correspondence were published on the Website. The matter was ongoing and further surveys were expected. CFC had submitted a report regarding PPG Industries (UK) Limited, whose plant was on former Turner and Newall Land. In the 1980 s, they had commissioned an investigation of the site, which was subsequently cleared at a cost of 1 million. The plant was sold to Nippon Electric Glass Co. Ltd in However, there were still unconfirmed reports of asbestos in the area, particularly in the stretch of land on the other side of the now defunct railway line and it was felt that if anyone had any significant details, they should come forward and makes them known. 5. Surgery Closure. ID reported that Miss Fovargue, MP. had sent a copy of a letter from Wigan CCG. dated It referred to the forthcoming Consultation Exercise, which has now taken place. It also referred to the expansion of the main site which is something to be explored with Bridgewater Community Health Care Community Trust who are the owners of the building. A member reported that he was now a member of the PPG Group. 400 Consultation forms had been sent out, but only 180 had been returned and were being evaluated. He hoped to have an update at the next PPG Meeting. 6. School Bus. A reply had been received from TfGM. Although it contained long and detailed information regarding travel concessions etc., for young people, and apologised for the difficulties encountered when booking a ticket for a particular journey, it made no mention of the crowded school bus situation which was in our original complaint. It was agreed to contact them again. Action 326 (MW/TfGM/AB/YF) 7. No. 32 Bus. Chair read out a copy of a letter from Andy Burnham, Gtr. Manchester Mayor, which had been sent to Ms. Fovargue, M.P. Mr. Burnham repeated that the withdrawal of the No. 32 was a commercial decision. Passengers from Hindley Green are able to board the 132 bus to Atherton, albeit making one change, before changing to the frequent V2 service into the city. He was working with TfGM to explore new mechanisms and opportunities for the reform of the bus services provided by powers devolved by the Bus Services Act which was passed by Parliament earlier this year. This gives him the option to introduce bus franchising subject to public consultation. Members still felt that Hindley Green was badly served with Public transport. The V2 bus did not go to Piccadilly, so passengers were disadvantaged. Action 319 (JU/BL/JV) 8. Planning Matters: There was just one item, as follows: A/18/83832/CON Open land East Condition Discharge Pending Of 242 Atherton Application for consideration. Road, Hindley. Previously approved A/17/83832/FULL To discharge Conditions 1-10

3 9. Finance Report: Balance at : 2, Income: Outgoings: Balance at 2, Any Other Business. (a) Website Charges Ratification: The Website charges for 2018 were Members accepted this sum with a show of hands. (b) Dray King: Both CFC and CBB submitted an update on the situation at the Dray King site, as follows: Change of use and conversion of public house together with a two storey extension to form 22 apartments for sheltered housing (class C3b) and proposed development of 2 semi-detached dwellings With work now underway, we have received queries about how long the development might take and about who will be living in the apartments. The site is now under the ownership of Enabling Homes and my enquiries to the new owners received the following response: The planning permission still stands for our intended use as stipulated on the planning consent and this will not be deviated from, we aim to do this with little to no disruption. All the individuals that will reside there will have been assessed to have capacity to live safely in the community, in fact I would anticipate that some individuals that may live there now live in the local community already. The people who may live there could have a Learning Disability or under lying Mental Health issue or a Physical Disability I certainly do not expect that the individuals that will be living there would pose any concern to the community and staff will be onsite 24 hours a day to help them live an independent and meaningful life. We have also been advised that whilst no specific end date can be given at this time, the development is expected to be completed before the end of the year (b) Defibrillator Training: Mr. Marshall, Bethel Caretaker, had reported that one of the Elders had taken a First Aid Course which included defibrillator training. Mr. Marshall was anxious that all the Groups using the premises should be familiar with the handling of the machine. Therefore, he wished to know if anyone from HGRA would agree to attend a Training Session at the Bethel. It was agreed to contact members on line to see if anyone was interested in volunteering Action 329 (EM/ID). (d) Raffle: The Raffle prize was donated by the Pharmacy and won by Mr. Phil Cooksey.

4 11. Date of Next General Meeting: Wednesday, 7 th March, Date of Next Committee Meeting: Tuesday, 20 th February, 2018 The Meeting closed at 8.95 p.m. E&OE ACTION LIST Action No Date Item Action by Comments Report Resurfacing of unadopted road area (near Sculptures Hairdresser) ID/BL/ No 32 Bus petition JU/BL/JV Repointing of paved area next to Bethel Recreation Ground Thomas Street Problems with School Bus Replanting of Floral tubs 329 Defibrillator Training JU/BL/ID ID/KB Quotation received Sept Sent to Andy Burnham Mayor Gtr. Mcr. Costings to be obtained. Awaiting report from Arcadis MW/TfGM/AB/YF Complaint submitted Refused ID/CBB/CFC Nov EM/ID Canvas members for training. Awaiting better weather conditions Contact again Costings obtained. Apply for B.B. funding Reports etc., submitted. Now on the Website Ongoing B.B. funding to be applied for

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