Those present John Yates, Elizabeth Owen, Maurey Lancaster, Garry Turnbull, Belinda Cooper, Timothy Sutton, Chris Van Duuren, Melissa Hadley, Okko Eskes and Ben Morris
Apologies from Jeremy Beer, Nellie Tee, Sue Ryder and Pat Rose.
1. The minutes for the previous meeting on the 22nd January 2002 were approved.
2. In accordance with the JAG constitution of 1987 the following members were nominated and seconded to the following positions:-
John Yates and Maurey Lancaster Joint Chair
Timothy Sutton Secretary
Okko Eskes and Chris Van Duuren Joint Treasurer
Members present were then asked which of the groups priorities they would choose:
Elizabeth Owen Rush Common and Conservation
Graham Turnbull Traffic
Belinda Cooper Practical Issues
Okko Eskes and Melissa Hadley Street Clean and Prostitution
Chris Van Duuren Security
Timothy Sutton JAG Communication
Maurey Lancaster Police
John Yates Funding and liaising with other residents associations
3. Street Clean Spring 2002 - After a general discussion it was decided to hold this year’s Street Clean in April. Melissa would contact Pat Rose to find out contact names and numbers and then liaise with Maurey, Okko and Belinda to organise this year’s event. It was also decided that some form of guide should be distributed to residents advising them on rubbish pick up points (pavement or roadside to be decided between council and JAG) and the danger of needles etc. Also Elizabeth agreed to contact Ian Leonard (Lambeth Council Tree Surgeon) to arrange a mutually agreeable time when both he, Steve (a private tree surgeon) and members of JAG (Okko and /or Tim) could take a tour of the street.
4. Graffiti - Sue Ryder has offered to organise a graffiti cleaning event. It was decided that Tim would contact Sue with the names of those interested at the meeting and would suggest that Sue organise it from there on via newsgroup and telephone. It was during this discussion that it was decided that clearer instructions on how to join the newsgroup were needed on the web site.
5. Abandoned Cars - Belinda and Tim reported that after a survey of the street, nine cars were confirmed as abandoned by residents. Three of these are on London Quadrant Housing Association and following a telephone conversation with Charisse Darnell (tel 020 8225 3500) on 31/01/02 with Tim we were told that “there would be no problem with removing them” and that she would be in the avenue that afternoon, take photographs and start things rolling. The remaining cars are in the process of being removed by their owners and this will be followed up by Tim and Belinda.
6. Street Signs - Okko, Maurey and Ben offered to erect the anti-prostitution signs (made by Pat), Okko to organise. Tim agreed to produce a leaflet explaining their purpose and police contact telephone numbers (Vice Squad and Local Ward Officers), first draft to be approved by the above three members.
7. Collapsed Post @ No. 5 - Tim has spoken to both Anne Brown (resident and owner) and the Police. According to PC Turner (Local Ward Office) there are two possible action Anne can take at the moment :
(i) Wait until the traffic offence case goes to court and try to add a case of ‘damage to property’. Money could then be retrieved via the driver’s insurance policy. Unfortunately this is in some doubt at the the moment as the police seem to have lost their records of the incident and it is still unsure whether there is any insurance.
(ii) Take a small claims court action against the driver.
JAG would like to offer every help possible whichever route Anne Brown decides to take.
8. Jubilee Street Party - It was generally accepted that Graham Lane’s newsgroup suggestion of a street theatre event was a good one, the two possibilities so far are the Bubble Theatre Company and a Shakespeare Theatre Company, a contact of Belinda’s. Graham and Belinda to follow up respectively. Another suggestion was a street barbecue on a midsummer’s night theme. It would seem that funding is available for Jubilee events for the whole year but preferably May to July, around the 3-4th June official date. Maurey agreed to look into possible funding for the avenue.
9. Other Matters -
White Horse Public House late licence application - Ben Morris (licensee and resident) presented a letter to the group (see attached) asking for our support in his application for a one hour late night extension Sunday to Thursday. Some of the committee were ‘for’ and some were ‘against’ but without a survey of residents (and maybe other matters) it was felt that a decision could not be made. Members are encouraged to make their own individual responses.
History Leaflet - Elisabeth has written a short history of the Avenue and Rush Common. Tim has offered to design and produce a leaflet from this text and this will be distributed with the Spring Street Clean flyer as well as being précide and put on the Web history pages.
Parking - Garry informed the group that he had been in contact with James Ross (Lambeth Transport Division) regarding traffic and parking, especially the Brixton Hill end of the avenue. Apparently there are no plans at the moment by the council to look into this. Garry will draft a letter asking the council to investigate this matter as soon as possible.
SOCIAL EVENT - John expressed a wish to have a more ‘social event’ later in the year. This will be discussed at our next meeting.
Meeting closed at 9.45pm.
NEXT MEETING TO BE 6th March, 7.30pm at 1 Helix Gardens
TO DO LIST:
Chris Van Duuren - Contact with Paul at No. 9 regarding old treasurer details.
Melissa Hadley - Contact Pat Rose at No 15 regarding Street Clean and contacts with Lambeth Council.
Elisabeth Owen - Contact Ian Leonard (Lambeth Council Tree Surgeon) to arrange meeting with Steve and JAG members.
Okko Eskes - Erect street ant-prostitution signs with Ben Morris
Maurey Lancaster - Investigate possible funding and theatre groups for Jubilee Street Party.
Belinda Cooper - Investigate possibilities of Shakespeare Theatre Group for Street Party. On-going car removal project.
Timothy Sutton - Leaflets for anti-prostitution street signs. Leaflet for local history/rush common.
Garry Turnbull - Traffic letter to council (to be sent to Tim for typing up).
John Yates - Continuing liaison with other local residents associations.