(i)

the Radford Hide project had been initiated following the development of Badgers Wood when the old store building had passed to the Council to be used for environmental projects;

(ii)

that improvements to the site had included upgrading the building, formation of new footpaths, clearing out and enhancing ponds and building an outdoor classroom/seating area and link footpaths with bridges to Radford Woods;

(iii)

it was the latter of those improvements (seating area and footpath) which had caused a number of complaints about anti-social behaviour in and on the seating area;

(iv)

that over 200 leaflets had been distributed to residents in the area seeking their views and, as an interim measure, the path was being closed at night and reopened the next morning.  As a result, there had been a significant drop in complaints, however, the closing and opening of the paths on a daily basis could not continue due to the costs involved;

(v)

from residents of White Lady Road who expressed concern at the lack of consultation prior to installation of the decking;

(vi)

that a lot of good work had gone into redeveloping the site which was now a well-used community facility, particularly by schools as an excellent teaching facility.

(vii)

the Plym Youth Forum was a non-political, non-profit making, young person led voluntary organisation representing all young people between the ages of 13-19 which met every Thursday at 7.00 p.m. at the Morley Community Centre;

(viii)

the Forum had undertaken a survey of young people in the area to establish what it was that they wanted.  Out of the 500 questionnaires distributed, over 200 had been returned indicating that young people would like to have the following facilities available to them –

• Youth shelter
• Skate ramps
• Multi-use games area
• Places for young people to ‘hang out’

(ix)

a portable skate ramp was located at the Morley Community Centre on Wednesdays;

(x)

the Forum would be undertaking a further consultation to establish where young people would like the Youth Shelters to be located.

(i)

that the average number of crimes in this area had decreased from 87% to 81% (6%), compared to the same three month period last year;

(ii)

that a further Day of Action had taken place on 14 October involving partner agencies in events such as –

• Street Pastor patrols
• Visits to local parks and public open spaces by Animal Health and Welfare Officers
• MOD Marine Unit patrols of local waters
• Activities for young people at the Morley Centre
• Visits by the Neighbourhood Team to anti-social behaviour hot-spots

(iii)

PACT meetings would be held as follows –

• Elburton/Dunstone – 7 December at 7.00 p.m. at Church Hall
• Goosewell – 27 January at 7.00 p.m. at Radford Community Centre
• Plymstock – 27 January at 7.00 p.m. at William Venton Day Centre
• Hooe/Turnchapel/Oreston – 27 April at 6.30 p.m. at Hooe Baptist Church

(iv)

a new mobile Police Surgery would be commencing on the first Wednesday of every month operating as follows –

• Elburton Village – 9.00 a.m.
• Lake Road – 10.00 a.m.
• Plymstock Broadway Car Park – 2.00 p.m.
• Goosewell One-Stop Shop – 3.00 p.m.

(v)

unfortunately no-one had been able to attend the last Hooe/Turnchapel/Oreston PACT meeting due to staff sickness;

(vi)

PCSO Tim Quitterio had now left and had been replaced by Mark Rothwell;

(vii)

it had been very quiet in Plymstock over the Halloween/bonfire period with few incidents reported;

(viii)

the Police did react to ‘hot spots’ and welcomed information from residents in identifying problem areas.  The incidents highlighted at Lower Saltram and the Broadway Community Centre were noted and would be given extra attention;

(ix)

concerns regarding availability of PACT minutes and publication of priorities would be taken back;

(x)

it was acknowledged that the vehicle being used to trial the new mobile police surgery was not best suited for the purpose.  However, it was still early days and feedback on its operation would be fed back and used to determine whether or not it would continue.

(i)

the purpose of the presentation was to help establish the priorities for the Council over the forthcoming financial year;

(ii)

at present Plymouth City Council had over 300 different services and that most of these operated well, however, there are other areas that need some direction to improve their service. These areas were called Corporate Improvement Priorities (CIP’s) and were contained within the Corporate Plan;

(iii)

the CIP’s were changed on an annual basis and were formed from feedback gathered throughout the year via surveys, customer comments and complaints and information gathering in forums such as Area Committees.

(i)

the proposed footway improvement scheme comprised –

• Waiting restrictions on Oreston Road
• School entrance clearway outside Oreston Community Primary School
• 20mph speed limit on Oreston Road and on the approach to Oreston Road from Thornyville Villas and Thornyville Terrace

(ii)

the formal Traffic Regulation Order for the scheme was advertised between 17 September and 7 October, 2009;

(iii)

Ward Councillors and residents living within the vicinity had been notified of the proposals in writing.

(iv)

there were no plans to introduce a one-way system;

(v)

traffic calming measures along Plymstock Road were a requirement of the Wain Homes development and did not form part of the Oreston proposals;

(vi)

with regard to the build-out and priority give way proposals at Plymstock Road/Oreston Road, a 12m space would be available for parking/delivery purposes.

(1)

comments received as part of the Traffic Regulation Order advert be noted;

(2)

Cabinet Member for Transport be recommended to implement the following orders (as shown on the plans attached to the report) –

(a)

double yellow lines along Oreston Road and Thornyville Terrace;

(b)

20mph speed limit along Oreston Road outside the school;

(c)

proposed school entrance clearway outside Oreston Community Primary School;

(3)

Cabinet Member for Transport, Ward Councillor Michael Leaves and a representative from Amey meet to give further consideration to the priority give way (and build-out) proposals at Plymstock Road/Oreston Road.

(i)

surveillance techniques;

(ii)

disabled access at Plymstock Library;

(iii)

responses to questions raised at the last meeting.

(a)

with regard to (i) above, the Council did use surveillance techniques on special targets identified as undertaking criminal activity, e.g. Trading Standards in monitoring the sale of fake goods and Benefits in monitoring benefit fraud.  The Council was able to do this by using certain legislation, however, in doing so it was very tightly controlled and monitored;

(b)

with regard to (ii) above, the library was fully DDA compliant;

(c)

with regard to (iii) above –

• fencing had now been erected around the cliff-top by Mount Batten Tower
• Councillor Leaves was still waiting for a response from Amey with regard to the installation of the slow sign at the junction of St. John’s Road and Church Hill Road
• the committee was aware that the access road to the public slipway at Mount Batten was not owned by the Council.  However, in order to establish ownership enquiries would need to be made of the Land Registry.  As this had cost implications the Committee had not agreed to pursue the matter further
• Councillor Leaves had investigated the complaints of overnight parking and found this to not be a problem
• Councillor Leaves had investigated the concerns raised about the public toilets closing at 4.30 p.m. during the summer season and advised that, unfortunately, due to lack of resources within the Council, the toilets could not be open 24-hours a day and had to be locked on a rota basis.  Sometimes they were open until later depending in which order the City’s public toilets were locked that particular day/week