MORA AGM Minutes 2019

Minutes of the 95th MORA AGM
30 April 2019 at Orchard Park High School, Orchard Way, Shirley

Invited representatives:
Cllrs Sue Bennett, Richard Chatterjee and Gareth Streeter and the Shirley North Safer Neighbourhood Team.

Members of the MORA Executive Committee present:

Sony Nair, Chair
Terry Greenwood, Treasurer
Derek Ritson, Planning
Dave Greenwood, Marketing
Nicola Ritson, Committee Member		 Kevin Martin, Vice-Chair / Editor
Ngaire Sharples, Secretary
Joan Pring, Police Liaison
Lianne Price, Co-ordinator

Apologies:
Committee Members: Mary Jennings

Meeting opened 7.30pm

Opening formalities – Sony Nair

  • Introduced himself, gave the ‘health and safety’ details, advising there was no planned fire drill for the evening, so if the alarm sounded we should meet in the car park at the assembly point. Only open toilets were upstairs
  • It had been a very busy year, especially with planning, and changes to the magazine and distribution, which would both be covered in more detail later
  • Introduced the invited representatives, advising that Cllr Gareth Street could not attend as was away on holiday, and Cllr Richard Chatterjee would be here, but was running late.

Terry Greenwood (Treasurer):

  • Because last year we could only produce one magazine instead of the usual four, it was decided it was not fair for the advertisers to pay, and also subs were not collected, so instead of the £2,500 collected the previous year for subs, this year it was £148- but part of that was money owing from the previous year. Advertising revenue, usually up to £600, was £10
  • We still had money going out for printing the magazine, hire of this hall, and other things, so unfortunately this year we had £537 more going out than coming in; normally we make a small profit. We are showing £14,130 at the end of the year, but there is still money owing to people, so that will go down
  • If we can get our advertisers to stay with us, and get 4 magazines out each year, hopefully we can look forward to a better year next year.

Sony Nair:

  • The Minutes of the 2018 AGM were printed in the Autumn/Winter magazine, and there were two action points:
    To bring the constitution up to date, and to make changes to the magazine and the way it is delivered:

a) We have started looking at the constitution and have several examples, but it will take time, as we also need to include a Code of Conduct, and this is not included in some of the examples we have looked at
b) Magazine – Kevin has some up-dates

  • To agree the Minutes of the 2018 AGM: Proposer – Derek Ritson / Seconder – Steve Smith
  • We would normally take nominations for, and elect, the MORA Executive Committee at this point, but I will leave that until the end of the presentation, however, many of you may recognise Nicola Ritson, Derek’s daughter, and this is her first AGM as a committee member.

Joan Pring (Police Liaison)

  • Unfortunately the police team cannot be here tonight as are on an early shift pattern, but they have sent a short report for April:

a) Have had some successes – a few days ago a large amount of Class A & B drugs was found, plus cash, and one person was arrested, and on 12 April there was an aggravated burglary on Woodmere Avenue – 3 suspects left the address and were later stopped in their vehicle and arrested

b) Vehicle crime seems to be down a little

c) If you want to follow the police, you can go to Shirley North Met Police, and also on Twitter: @MPSShirleyNorth

Kevin Martin (Vice Chair/Editor) – Magazine:

  • The magazine is proving very popular to members, but it takes a lot of time to produce and deliver, and at last year’s AGM we mentioned some options for making the magazine more sustainable. We also felt it wasn’t reaching enough of the MORA catchment, and at the AGM it was agreed we should look at a wider coverage
  • You will have received the Spring magazine two or three weeks ago, and have seen that it has a new look and feel. Sony, Dave and I met one night to see if we could make it easier for everyone, so it now includes QR codes to link directly to articles on our website, using the camera on your mobile phone/tablet/ipad. Also, the magazine is now available on-line almost as soon as it has been delivered to people – this is a first for us. Sony has worked wonders creating a little flip magazine so you can scroll through just as you would a paper one
  • Also last year we looked at lots of different options of how we were going to produce the magazine, deliver it and what was going to be included in it – we looked at our website and social media, the number of pages to the magazine, number of editions per year, increased on-line content on our website and other social media and the possibility of delivering to every household in the MORA catchment, using a distribution company. To do that we had to create a new database of the number of residential properties in the MORA catchment, and that was a journey in itself. We thought we had it all sorted, then hit a hurdle with the distribution companies not being able to perform; they couldn’t commit because of the “small” volume we had, or they wanted us to reduce the number of pages – volume and weight are both factored in it
  • You might have noticed that the Spring magazine was a lot lighter – I think only 24 pages. We rely on local residents to help supply articles; if we don’t get articles, unless the committee has got time to have a look around to see what is going on and include extra stuff, the magazine will be thinner. Hopefully the next one will be a bit bigger
  • We also looked at our area. Sony and I used a bit of magic to try to update the map, to help us identify visually all the roads within our boundary; you can see it on our website. Whilst creating this map we realised the version in the constitution has a slightly different outline; it is missing the bottom part of The Glade and Long Lane. We believe it was missed off the 2014 update because at the time there were no road stewards for that section. Rule No. 4 of our constitution states “to represent any resident within the boundaries as shown on the map opposite. The boundaries as shown to be modified by a two thirds majority of those entitled to vote at an AGM”. Until we make a full update to the constitution, we suggest we embed this new map into the current constitution so it correctly reflects the catchment area. Can I have a show of hands please to agree that’s OK. Motion passed
  • Just moving on to membership a little bit. Using this map as our guide, we then used a number of sources to determine all the houses we need to deliver to, however even this was not accurate, so ended up doing a manual look-up, and we now have a complete database. It is accessible on our website, so take a look – you can search by postcode or road name. This will help volunteers to see how many houses they will be expected to deliver magazines to. As we said last year, we will no longer collect a subscription fee as this is not sustainable; instead the magazine will be funded by the advertising revenue and any donations we receive
  • As for the future of the magazine, it turns out we actually have 226 postcodes, 139 roads and currently 3,879 households, but with the planning authority green-lighting all these new developments, this will soon reach 4,000. So rather than using a distribution company, we will look to members to become volunteers to distribute the magazine. We will update the on-line household database to reflect which postcodes/roads have volunteers and which ones are vacant. We’ll be producing a flyer within the next couple of weeks to deliver to all households, welcoming them and introducing MORA. This will be done via a leaflet distribution company – apparently they are capable of delivering leaflets
  • On to our website, which has had significant updates recently. Nicola has helped hugely with this, especially the magazine archiving and planning reports; this is not a simple task, and in fact she managed to catalogue our publications since 1997, all within a few weeks. While reading through the archives, when MORA needed an online presence it was actually Nicola who built MORA’s first website way back in the autumn of 2001! The website is a great way of keeping informed, it works across all media, and contains upcoming events and important planning information outside of the quarterly magazine. We have our Facebook page and also Twitter account, which has a lot of live information there, including information from the police, so it’s a good way of keeping up-to-date.

Sony:

  • Just to clarify regarding the magazine delivery, we are still talking to one or two distributors to see what they can do, but in the interim we are going to have to be reliant on members to help, so we will update the database on the website. I have already reached out to some of the current road stewards and they are willing to take on their existing area, and to deliver to the whole of the entire road. At the moment deliveries on some streets are so sparse, that we can increase our cover just by delivering to all households. Then we hope to fill the gaps by using the flyer after that, saying we would love to deliver the magazine to them, but we need help to deliver it; you will see more of that soon, via the flyer and the website

  • Planning: All the planning work is still done by Derek, one of MORA’s greatest assets and has been for a number of years. He works tirelessly and sets a high bar to follow; he’s an octogenarian now, and still going strong. I would not like to do what he does. Derek has asked me to speak on his behalf – I will try to capture everything he has told me.

(a) For those of you who have attended planning committee meetings, it is apparent the planning authority is approving applications to meet Government housing targets rather than to meet the various planning policies. The planning policies are hierarchical: National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), set by Government, then the London Plan and finally the Croydon Local Plan, and it seems home owners wanting to expand their living space hit the full force of these planning policies, while developers get a free pass

(b) SPD2 (supplementary planning document), was adopted in March 2019, and since then they have approved the demolition of 5 properties to make way for 41 residences; many of you will know these properties. To visualise this we have drawn up a map (Sony showed a slide of a map of the area with different coloured dots showing where approval has been given, or is likely to be given, for the demolition of family homes, to be replaced by blocks of flats). Many exceed, or are at the upper limit of, the densities set out in the plans. Quite a few of you have been to council planning meetings and every time there is an approval we, as residents, have no way to appeal a decision made, whereas developers can appeal against a rejection; our only recourse is judicial review, at a cost of between £35,000 and £50,000 – and all that does is to look at the process used to make the decision, so it is a useless option. So, we have started using the council’s own complaints procedure, lodging our concerns where applications are approved that blatantly disregard planning policies: 9a Orchard Rise has gone to stage one of the complaints procedure and 20/22 The Glade has been through stage one and two, and will now be referred to the local ombudsman, so we wait to hear back, and will update you

(c) Croydon council has also started producing CLP3, but don’t seem to want to engage with us, even though they are supposed to. As members of the Shirley Planning Forum (SPF), we are working alongside other RAs to ensure the council get us involved – we’ve got Trevor Ashby here, chair of the SPF – and we’re working with him as well to try to drive those updates from the council. Councillors are involved as well. The last update we had from the guys in planning is that the council is looking at ways to engage residents and associations! Well, we are here, we have always been here, we were here for CLP2. We are on at them, but it’s like knocking on a door, but there is no answer

(d) New draft London Plan – Derek did a huge amount of work on this. He submitted 4 written representations to the new London plan hearings on behalf of MORA, and one of them was ‘M39 – Density’, which is one of the main objections Derek has to many applications. It’s a personal achievement for Derek because it was actually included on the agenda list for discussion. I think we should give him a round of applause for that

(e) We have mentioned website updates. If you haven’t been on the website recently, take a look. We have still kept it nice and simple, but we put significant updates on it; one of those is a new planning section, so that map I showed you with the densities can now be seen on the Planning Report section. We have also included the monthly planning reports, starting in March. You can flick through these and if there is one you are particularly interested in, you can jump straight to that and follow links for more information. As we’ve mentioned before, a lot goes on between magazines; the website is updated in between that, so we can now give regular and more up-to-date information on key planning issues – there is a lot more detail, but it is still easy to follow. The quarterly magazine will still contain a summary, but all Derek’s objections, responses and any further actions can be seen on the website. A reminder to use our planning table – it saves us a huge amount of time, and is still going strong; it monitors and tracks planning applications within the whole of the MORA catchment, and recently it has allowed email alerts, so you can sign up to receive alerts, and check any new applications. It is updated on a weekly basis, usually on a Saturday. It’s interesting to see applications and responses; just last week someone wanted to put a side dormer on their house and it was rejected as not reflecting the character of the area, yet just above that 20/22 The Glade was approved – it is just mind-boggling

(f) A slide was shown of The Sandrock Pub on Upper Shirley Road. This closed last year and the developers who own it have put in an application for 20 flats in the car park. This is the second application; the first one was withdrawn. That could mean 70 occupants. We are supporting SPRA (Spring Park RA), and have already submitted our objections – it’s on the April planning report if you want to have a look at reasons for the objection, as there are many. Derek spent a lot of time on this, but I will summarise the reasons here: an over-development for the area, vastly exceeds residential densities, does not reflect the local character of the surrounding area. To be honest I’m surprised it’s not a listed building. Not surprisingly it has insufficient minimum space standards, and insufficient car parking space, which will result in overspill on to already congested surrounding roads. Consultation closes 10th May, so you can still submit your own comments. Target decision date is 16 July. It is a large development so we may call for residents to come along to the council meeting, to the public gallery, when it goes to planning; I know we are often accused of making a lot of noise, but if we don’t go along, the council will feel they have the green light to do anything.

Sony:

  • It is now time to elect the Executive Committee.

(a) We meet every month for a couple of hours, and also attend council meetings, the Shirley Planning Forum and maybe other meetings – the councilors themselves have a lot of meetings of their own that we are invited to. It is not easy juggling family, work and other things that life throws at us, so I would like to thank all committee members for the hard work they do

(b) I took on the position of chair at the start of the Save Shirley campaign, because I felt I needed to at the time, but it has been a bit of a journey and I feel perhaps it is a position I have taken on earlier in life than I would have thought. I would be more than happy to stand aside should someone else wish to lead MORA – unfortunately I don’t see that happening, so I will continue to do my very best to keep MORA striving – I absolutely want to see MORA’s centenary – we’re only 5 years away from that, so that’s the goal

(c) Kevin said he would be standing down this year, but I have managed to twist his arm into staying on because we need him – and because I fully blame Kevin for my being here in the first place! Honestly though, without his design skills the branding exercise we did a few years ago, changes to the magazine, creating the website – that needs skills and effort, so I am glad he is staying on – he thinks he’s going, but he’s not going anywhere

(d) All but one of our existing committee members are standing for re-election; John Kerbel is standing down, and we would like to thank him for his contribution over the last 2 years. We have one new nomination, Jane Warwick-Ansall, and I’m happy to second it. We recently worked with Jane and other local residents on planning objections for 9A Orchard Rise. We were not successful with the objection but it has obviously given Jane a view of the work we do and she would like to get involved. Sony called for any other nominations (there were none), and asked for a proposer and seconder for the 2019/2020 committee: Proposer – Mary Sedgebeer / Seconder – Bob Price

(e) So, looking at the committee, we do a lot together. I think we’re a good team. We get a lot done, though sometimes it doesn’t feel like that, but what we really need are people with the skills and time to move us forward. At the moment Derek does planning, so we need extra support for him – I read everything and have learnt a lot, but would I take on planning? Hell, no! We need support for graphic design and for the website. We also want to do some social events. We would love to have someone with a financial background to support Terry, and would love some legal assistance. Last year, for example, working through GDPR (general data protection regulation). I don’t have a legal background and it took a lot of time to read up all the information to work out what we can and can’t do – which is why we had to scrap the membership database. I am hoping that once the magazine goes out to a wider distribution, those professionals living in our area will come forward, and they will help, as we do, to give back to the community.

Questions from the floor:

Question 1: Submitted by new committee member Jane Warwick-Ansall MBE: This is not a question, but I would like to draw your attention to another backyard development that seems to be going through. John and I live in Oakview Grove, and a neighbour at No. 3 says he regularly each month receives emails from Croydon Council offering to buy half of their back garden, which backs on to Parkfields, one of the few open spaces left in the area. Rumours are rife that they are wanting to build on it. Planning approval has already been given for nearby 9a Orchard Rise, another backyard development of 5 x 3 bed houses and a block of 4 flats, which will have a devastating effect on the area, with a huge increase in the number of work vehicles going up Orchard Rise. This is a development where the driveway is too narrow for emergency vehicles. Houses are to be timber-framed yet there is no access for fire engines; developers will install water sprinklers, so apparently that is OK! Seems Croydon Council no longer advises residents of planning applications, or puts notices on posts etc, so we must all keep our eyes and ears open to know what is going on. I want to thank Derek, who was absolutely outstanding in the work he did to fight this application, for his time and knowledge.

Response: Cllr Sue Bennett said she was very concerned to hear about the rumours for Parkfields and would be interested to see the emails the resident of Oakview Grove has received from Croydon Council, as cannot believe they would consider building on this community space. Jane said she would try to get the emails, but the resident has already sold his property. It was noted that the council has mentioned building on 9 different parks throughout Croydon, and that the council owns Parkfields so it was possible they might have another Brick by Brick project in mind for it.

Question 2: two points: (a) in the next MORA magazine could we suggest to residents that they keep their greenery cut back where it overhangs the footpath, and (b) if the 20 mph zones are not being enforced, can we take the signs down and sell them to another council?

Response: Sony mentioned he is often over-taken on Orchard Ave and that it can be very dangerous keeping to the speed limit as other vehicles overtake. There was a recent serious accident where a vehicle was turning right into Orchard Ave, and both vehicles were written off. Sony mentioned that when the 20 mph zone was being planned it was asked how this would be enforced, and the response was that it would be enforced the same way as the 30 mph zone is enforced! Police say it is only enforceable by council.

On the point about keeping greenery cut back, Sony said this could be mentioned in the magazine.

Question 3: Regarding plans by Parklife to build a football facility on Ashburton Playing Fields. Some months ago the Council held a meeting at the church hall to show and explain their plans, and to hear residents’ comments. The plans included parking on green space. A neighbour got a petition up, signed by 100 people. We got blanked on that one, but residents were supposed to be told when the council would meet to discuss it and we’ve heard nothing more; is MORA able to tell us anything further about when that might happen.

Response: Sony said it went to committee for pre-planning approval, he thinks in September last year, and they were told to go away and draw up some new plans. This is why a formal planning application has not yet been put in. This was supposed to happen in November, but didn’t, and Derek has been chasing Xander, the Project Manager, but no response. Until we see what the next set of proposals are, we cannot take any action, and we don’t know when this is going to be: spring this year was mentioned. A member of the audience said things seem to be happening in secret as people have been seen with cameras, and when residents ask what they are doing, they’ve been told they’re not allowed to say. She also said a row of trees has been planted all along one side, presumably to stop light going into peoples’ gardens, but there has been no notification telling us what’s happening.

Another resident mentioned that 48 trees in total have been planted on the Bywood end, up to the old changing sheds, but not at the Woodmere end. There is a double-banking of trees on Bywood where there are two oaks which have to be preserved, which is why they cannot have access on the Bywood end. They have effectively put us in the situation where there can be no development on that side of the field – they haven’t done that by accident.

Resident: When residents met them at St Georges Hall, we were asked for our objections and comments on the plan, which we gave. We did receive a reply and they blanked every single one we put to them, and they have yet to come back with any further information on what is happening.

Sony asked if the councillors could respond. Sue Bennet said they had a meeting with Xander, but that was last year. The Shirley councillors believe it is a good project, but in the wrong place. She did mention there is going to be a second one, but that is on the Purley Way, which is probably a good place for it. They did question the number of car parks, 80, but were told because of the very low PTAL for the area this number was necessary. Said this is going to be a very large project and she believes this council has probably already made their minds up as to what they are going to do.

Cllr Chatterjee added that the petition that was signed could not be submitted as a planning application has not yet been submitted, but agreed with Cllr Bennet’s comment that the council has probably already made up its mind. He said that to go back to more general planning applications, when you attend planning committee meetings you hear time and again objections over-ruled because of the urgent need for more housing. There is a statutory requirement to look after those with the highest need, but the council does not seem to know what types of properties are required by those on the housing list, so housing is not targeted to those who need it and the hard work that Derek and others put in to try to ensure appropriate housing in their area is brushed aside.

Sony said this is the battle we have – different rules for residents and developers – and none of what is being done will help those on the housing list; it does not help the affordable housing requirement. This is just developers trying to put the most housing on the smallest possible piece of land, with no thought to access, parking or the effect on the character of an area.

Question 4: A small matter concerning road safety on Orchard Grove, the road opposite the school between Orchard Way and The Glade. There are double yellow lines on one side of the road but it is very difficult when coming up to Orchard Way because of cars parked right up to the kerb. Wondering if the yellow no-parking lines going from Orchard Way can be extended to where they used to be.

Response: Sony said we could get that looked at and asked Cllr Chatterjee if he would pass it on to Highways. Sony mentioned that the demolition of 41-43 Orchard Way and 8-10 The Glade, with replacement by 4 blocks of 9 flats, had made the parking situation worse, especially with the entrance to 41-43 Orchard Way now on Orchard Grove.

Question 5: Similar question to the last speaker – no parking lines on Tower View where it meets Orchard Avenue. I raised this question in 2017 but nothing has been done. There are no footpaths on Tower View so 90% of the people walk on the road. When you are coming from the library direction the last house on the left has big trees which obscure the view when turning into Tower View and it’s very dangerous. Much of the time it is OK, and when inspected it has probably been perfectly clear, but especially at the weekend when allotment people are there, it is impossible to go round safely. There are also often a couple of large vans parked there close to the corner. Something needs to be done before there is a major accident.

Response: Sony agreed that we could raise this question as well.

Question 6: To continue the topic raised earlier by another resident concerning vegetation over-hanging from properties on to the public highway. There are several places in the whole MORA area where this is a public safety hazard, particularly to people on mobility scooters and where the pathway slopes to allow for drainage. I wonder whether there is anyone here, perhaps the councillors, who know what the legal situation is. In the old days you could ring your councillor and they would get in touch with someone in council who would probably drop a note into the offending property asking that the vegetation be cut back, and if it wasn’t done after a few days someone from council would go along with a chainsaw and do it. Council is probably not interested in this duty of care these days but wondered what the legal situation is? Also perhaps MORA could take on the responsibility of a public safety and courtesy notice to people whose vegetation is causing a public hazard.

Response: Cllr Chatterjee said there used to be officers walking around the area, taking note of such things and following up. There are still officers, but far fewer of them, and they rely on residents to let them know where there is a problem. He said people could let him know where these places are, or Sony/MORA, and Steve Isles can be advised. He is a busy man but has been around for a long time and knows how to get things done, but he needs specific information; it is a public nuisance and against the bylaws.

Kevin invited those who had asked the questions to write an article about it, to go into the next magazine; they could send it via email or drop it to us.

Jane Warwick-Ansall took the mic again to expand on the situation of planning approval for 9a Orchard Rise, the implications of the driveway width which would not allow emergency vehicles access, and the “reasons” given by the council for dismissing this concern. The recent fire in a block of flats in London and the speed with which it spread was mentioned to council and they just said fire engines would be able to access it from Orchard Ave – Jane said she thought they must mean Orchard Rise, but this just goes to show how the council will railroad people to get planning applications approved. There are no footpaths along there, so difficult for people in wheelchairs or with pushchairs and the access to the property is on a blind bend.

Question 7: Could we ask the councillors if they have any feedback on the Corporate Government review on the Croydon Council regarding Planning not talking to the residents’ associations.

Response: Cllr Chatterjee: it is called the Government’s Review, set up in the autumn to report in time to go to the annual review in May but the scope kept getting wider and deeper. Various parts of the council have given information but the consultation to go out to ordinary people and residents is still to happen so it won’t be ready for the May review. Cllr Chatterjee is on the review and says it goes along very slowly and takes a lot of time, and whether or not it is going to make a difference in terms of the way the planning committee behaves is another matter. In theory it shouldn’t because the planning committee should be behaving itself anyway. In response to comments from the floor, Cllr Chatterjee said that in effect this was more of a survey, and ultimately it would be up to the council to decide what to accept. He said again that it is going along very slowly and in fact is still discussing which company to use for the consultation.

Question 8: Seeking clarity on MORA subscriptions – are they being abandoned or just in obeisance during the reorganisation?

Response: Sony said they have been abandoned as the combination of delivering a magazine and collecting money just doesn’t have the volunteer network it used to. Road stewards did a magnificent job, but with people getting older, mobility issues etc, there are just not enough volunteers and people my age are just not interested in delivering magazines so it is simply not sustainable. People need to step forward, to get involved, as it cannot be run by just a small number of people. We are still looking at the possibility of a distribution company, so things may change, but I can’t see that happening. The collection of fees is just not workable.

The audience questioned whether we could ask for voluntary subs. Sony said it is on the ‘to do’ list to include a button on the website that would allow people to do this automatically on-line, but at the moment this was not possible as the type of account MORA has cannot handle any modern methods of paying or receiving money; Terry can’t even look on line to see transactions so he has to wait until a transaction has taken place and the bank posts out a new statement. We need a new bank account.

Terry added that the trouble we have with collecting money is that we were running out of road stewards and area managers. Many people don’t mind pushing a magazine through a door, but don’t want to collect money, or sometimes road stewards had to go back several times just to collect £2 or £4. This resulted in some people no longer receiving the magazine and the delivery area getting smaller so the decision was made to deliver to the whole of the MORA catchment area but not to collect fees. However, we still need to cover our overheads. If the advertisers stay with us we should be OK with that income plus donations, but last year we received just £6 in donations, which doesn’t go far to cover costs.

There were murmurings from the floor about placing a donations box on the table tonight and Sony said he will ensure it is there before we leave this evening!

Terry said, going back to planning, this is a big issue for MORA. Derek has been handling planning for MORA for many, many years and knows the planning regulations inside out. When he objects to a planning application it is based on the regulations that the council themselves have put in place, yet they ignore the objections. The only recourse to object to a planning application that has been approved is to take it to judicial review, but that is very expensive and not many residents’ associations could afford to do that. We have been trying to tackle a back-garden development for several years now. A planning application was put in and refused by council. The lady who owned the property appealed the refusal, but it was refused again. She already had a partially completed building there, which could not be completed so she then sold off the front of the property, with the house on it, and moved away. But she had fenced off the back-garden, and tried again to get approval to build. She was refused again and the back-garden was left to rot and become a rubbish tip. Derek went back to the council again and again trying to get them to order the removal of the building, and the tidying up of the area. The council responded that they had issued a notice, had spoken to her, had given her a deadline for getting the work done, and on and on it goes, still not resolved. So, you can see, some issues we win, some are just ignored.

Resident: going back to the issue of greenery overhanging the footpath, you say there are officers going around looking for it, if you would like to send them to Bywood Avenue, near the shops, you will see a nicely trimmed hedge, but on the other side of the footpath is a tree the council has planted and it comes out over the pavement so that there is very little space to get through.

Cllr Chatterjee said what he was trying to say is that they don’t wander round as much as they used to and it is more target driven, so he would get more details afterwards.

Sony: That brings us to the end of this AGM – thank you all for coming along, and thank you to the committee for all your hard work. Hopefully next year we will have more positive news to talk about. Thank you to members for your support when there are objections to planning applications.

The meeting closed at 8.55 pm.

NGAIRE SHARPLES
MORA Secretary

MORA AGM Minutes 2020 >