General Meeting – 14th April 2015

KENLEY AND DISTRICT RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION – MINUTES OF THE 500th MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE
14th April 2015 (Available as a PDF download – Minutes of GM 14th April 2015)
Present: Chair: Chris Stanley, John Davenport, Anthony Lewis, Phil Royse, Geoff James, Marilyn Poulton. Cllrs
Jan Buttinger & Steve O’Connell (from 8:30pm), PC Joe D’Silva.
Apologies: Richard Cowper, Laura L, Willem Buttinger, Mike Van der Vord, Cllr Steve Hollands.
Visitors: Lynn Williams from All Saints Church
The meeting was quorate.
500.1 .0 The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, and noted that it is the 500th committee meeting,
which represents approximately 45 years of committee meetings. CS and AL had supplied
some wine and the committee toasted this landmark.
500.1.1 Minutes of meeting 499 held on 10th March were agreed.
500.1.2 Matters Arising: Action Points from this and previous meetings
Geoff J 496.3.1 research the commercial email sending services.
499.3.11 to follow up on 261 Hayes Lane with Council officers
500.2.2 email the councillors so that they can send an enforcement officer to investigate the
state of the pavement outside the Kenley Hotel.
500.3.3 meet with JD (and possibly CS/LL) to go through the workings of the membership
spreadsheet
Chris S 497.3.29 write/email John Carr to thank him for the list of WW1 service personnel and
request if we could use or publish this
491.3.9 Draft a welcome letter/pack for Road Stewards to hand to new residents.
500.2.2 email the councillors outlining his concerns regarding the review into urgent care
services in Croydon, so that they may follow up with the relevant officials in the council.
500.3.8 contact Scaena Theatre Group regarding their application, and Purley Scout’s
regarding the KMH memorial garden.
500.3.33 respond to member regarding possible litter pick.
AnthonyL 500.3.1 Put together some suggested questions for the Borough Commander
500.3.11 approach SmartWater to see if they can give us a more competitive price, and try to
find out what the Met are paying for Met Trace.
Steve H 499.2.2.1 Follow up on potholes along Old Lodge Lane with Council officers.
RichardC 499.3.3.1 Feedback on National Rail progress on the New Barn Lane footbridge, from the
ESTC meeting on 11th March.
Mike V 499.3.4 Contact Philip Clifton to ask if he would be interested in becoming an Area
Steward.
500.2.2 Police
i. There were 10 burglaries in the Kenley Ward in March. A suspect was arrested in
Coulsdon who is now on bail. PC JD’S explained that he believes the burglars operate as
a group, driving into the area in high-powered cars, committing the crime, and then
leaving.
ii. There have been reports of ASB around the shops in upper Old Lodge Lane. PC JD’S
was interviewing a suspect regarding robberies and noticed a knife handle on his person.
This is now being taken forward by the CPS.
iii. The SNT have been involved in anti-speeding operations around schools. One vehicle
has been issued with a section 59 notice which is the equivalent of an ASBO in a car.
iv. Burglary from garden outbuildings is continuing, typically of mountain bikes, and some
of these border the Higher Drive Recreation ground.
v. Theft from motor vehicles has gone down, and includes thefts of number plates.
vi. Domestic violence has increased Borough-wide, and also in Kenley. The Coommunity
Safety Unit will investigate these crimes. AL confirmed that this had been discussed at
the last Safer Neighbourhood Board panel, as there has been a 41% y-o-y increase in
Kenley. There are often repeat DV crimes.
vii. There has been no feedback regarding possible increased ASB due to the Kenley Hotel
longer opening hours.
viii. AL confirmed that we have had agreement in principle for the funding for the smart water
scheme. The next step is for the funds to be transferred to the SNB, which will probably
take a month.
500.2.1 LBC
i. JB informed the meeting that there is a full council meeting on Monday 20th. A 600
signature petition will be presented by SO’C on behalf of Mike Street and others
regarding the proposal to have the lower section of Hayes Lane made one-way. The
council will consider this petition. CS stated that Kendra has never taken a stance on this
issue other than to insist that affected residents are consulted before any changes are
made. SO’C confirmed that there will be an opportunity to put across our views.
ii. MP raised an issue affecting Mark Kelly regarding installing flood valves in the culverts
in the gardens behind houses on the Dale Road end of Godstone Road. There is some
confusion as to who is responsible for this. The councillors suggested he contact them
directly or Steve Iles.
iii. CS asked the whether the Council was involved with the wide-ranging review that the
Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group is undertaking into urgent care provision in the
Croydon Borough. CS attended a “consultation” session in March, at which it was
suggested that urgent care provision will only be provided by A&E departments, Urgent
Care Centres, and GP practices. This would have obvious implications for Purley
Hospital MIU. The Councillors were not aware of any involvement so CS will email the
councillors outlining his concerns, so that they may follow up with the relevant officials
in the council.
iv. GJ observed that under the new administration, many more planning applications seem
to be granted. SOC advised that the planning committee Chair has new powers.
v. CS asked the councillors whether they have received any feedback from residents
regarding the proposed Farmers’ market, in Kenley station car park. GJ said there were
concerns about the proposed 5 AM set up time; also, MP pointed out that many people
go to the car park on a Sunday to empty their recycling.
vi. SO’C confirmed that there is support for extending the shop parking outside the KMH,
and also the suggestion to extend the red lines opposite the shops.
vii. GJ has received a complaint regarding the state of the pavement outside the Kenley hotel.
GJ will email the councillors so that they can send an enforcement officer to investigate.
500.3 NEW, and ONGOING, BUSINESS (items under unused ref numbers are C/F to next meeting)
500.3.1 AGM arrangement:
i. AL will announce the smart water scheme funding. The committee agreed that AL should
purchase a pack to demonstrate to the meeting.
ii. CS will present the accounts in Phil Royse’s absence. CS will bring the sound system,
and AL and GJ will help set up, doors will be opened at 6:30 PM. CS will arrange for 12
red (Robertsons Merlot) and 24 white wine (Marlborough Ridge) on sale or return, and
six cartons of mixed fruit juice, and lemonade. The committee unanimously approved
for AL to purchase 100 plastic wine glasses, up to the value of £25. CS will do the
minutes from the recording. JD will confirm which local groups are giving reports.
iii. AL will put together some suggested questions for the Borough Commander e.g.
regarding the proposed new SNT cluster base, local policing model, reduced resources
because we are a low crime area, the Community Safety Partnership which puts
obligations on other statutory bodies to take action to reduce ASB. The police had
investigated relocating from New Addington to Brighton Road, Purley. MP queried
whether the new development in central Purley could be a suitable base for the Southern
cluster.
iv. CS will outline the planning table proposals from GJ, and highlight the Amazon purchase
service. WURA have offered a donation if we were to let them use the Planning Table
service under our banner. GJ reported that he has not had much feedback on the inclusion
of trees in the Planning Table.
500.3.2 All Saints Xmas trees (email 26 Mar): LW outlined the proposals for a Christmas Tree
Festival to be held in All Saints Church on the weekend 11th
– 13th December. It will be
nonprofitmaking. It will be open to residents to come and view the decorated trees and enjoy
some refreshments and live music inside the hall. Organisations can sponsor and decorate a
tree for either £30 or £50 depending on the size of the tree. Trees can be decorated in whatever
manner the organisations chooses, however there should not be any Santas. CS suggested that
we could advertise the festival in our Autumn/Winter newsletter, and provide details on our
website. The majority (4 to 2) of the committee agreed to sponsor a £50 tree, to support the
event and advertise Kendra; MP will decorate.
500.3.3 Newsletter: new editor/team. Review CW suggestions, attached:
i. there have been no reported problems with subscription collections, except that there
appears to be more residents renting in Welcomes Road than previously. Also the
question was raised as to how Road Stewards would know who has paid online.
Although, due to the technical problems, online collections are currently disabled.
ii. Communications with Road Stewards are generally done through the Area Steward. We
need to review how payments received online or directly, are communicated to the
Stewards. GJ and JD will meet to go through the workings of the membership
spreadsheet. LL and CS should attend this meeting to review how the new online
database is implemented. The online membership database will remain suspended until
we have ironed out the issues identified so far. GJ suggested that online membership
registration should only be available from January to March.
iii. Without a dedicated newsletter editor, CS suggested that we could not run four
newsletters a year. The previous edition took up much more of CS’s time than
anticipated. The magazine can only be used for features, due to the delay between copy
date and delivery date, which is between six and eight weeks. Therefore we need to have
the more time-critical articles on the website.
500.3.5 ½ New OLL fly-tipping, and Kendra role ? (MVV): SO’C confirmed that the council were
aware of the problem and that there are operations under way. In general terms the council
are quite good at removing fly tipping from private land.
We are not aware of any progress on Kendra helping to fund the purchase of a covertly
operated camera.
500.3.7 Privacy statement etc (AL): AL has drafted a privacy statement, which is relevant to the
website and online subscription database, which JD commented on. The committee
unanimously agreed the statement which was previously circulated, with the inclusion of a
£10 charge for data investigation enquiries. At present, only one email will be sent out,
incorporating various topics. Therefore, we do not need opt-out options for different subjects.
500.3.8 Community Youth Grants: we have received one application in the current round, from the
Scaena youth theatre group. The application was previously circulated to the committee. The
committee discussed the application, and whilst we support the idea of a youth theatre group,
the specific application did not meet the brief for the Youth Grant i.e. a clearly-defined project
or event in Kenley for the benefit of Kenley residents. Therefore the committee unanimously
decided not to award a grant. CS will respond to them, notify them of this and outlining our
reasons why. Disappointingly, no other applications have been received. CS will contact
Purley Scouts regarding the KMH memorial garden.
500.3.9 Website maintenance (LL): the new website has been built on a template website. However,
this has uncovered an issue with regards to committee email addresses. In brief, the new
website host cannot redirect more than five website addresses, and cannot redirect to
circulation groups, which is a useful facility offered by the existing provider. Therefore as a
temporary measure, the old website has a manual redirection link to the new website and the
email redirection remains with the original website host. This issue needs to be resolved, which
requires involvement from LL.
500.3.11 Update on Kenley Crime Statistics, SmartWater packs, and letter to MOPAC (AL); the
Met-sponsored Met Trace property marking initiative, is a rebranded SmartWater operation.
Our cheapest option was with Selecta DNA, however there would be some merit in using the
same provider as the Metropolitan Police Met Trace. Therefore AL will approach Smart Water
to see if they can give us a more competitive price, and try to find out what the Met are paying
for Met Trace.
500.3.33 AOB
CS has received an enquiry from a member wishing to organise a litter pick. The committee
thought this was an excellent idea but suggested be held in the summer so that it could be
advertised in the summer newsletter. CS will respond to the enquiry, and ascertain the
suggested location for the litter pick.
GJ has noticed that some Residents Associations offer affiliate membership for blocks of flats,
whereby one resident is a coordinator and collects membership fees at a discounted rate. There
was doubt in the committee as to whether this would work in our interests, so this idea will be
put on hold. However it might be a good way of getting more penetration in the gated
apartment blocks in our area.
Date of next Committee meeting: Tuesday 12th May 2015, 8 pm, Kenley Memorial Hall.
Apr 28 AGM, May 12 committee meeting, May 26 Geoff’s kitchen, June 9 committee
meeting and outreach meeting St. James Church hall, Little Roke Avenue.
500.4 OTHER ONGOING / OUTSTANDING BUSINESS
Support of vulnerable residents (CPJS), Croydon Energy-from-Waste plant, Waste
management and SLWP, Liaise with schools as means of promoting KENDRA (CPJS),
Closure of Purley Fire Station, Archives and financial documents, Glider Cable incident,
Changes to Insurance policy, Kendra signs at east end of Valley Road
500.5 Committee Reports.
Written reports received & circulated from: Vice Chairman, Hon. Sec, Treasurer, Planning,
Website.
500.6 PREVIOUS BUSINESS (Dormant or semi-dormant but unfinishable)
Higher Drive RecreatIon, Mosque on OLL, The Moorings PP Group. Unannounced changes
to train timetables Bridge by Kenley Primary School