The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, apologies were noted.  The forum was advised of a change in the order of agenda items to allow time for the Police to arrive.

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed as a correct record subject to the following change.

Remove – The Council and Coal Authority are aware of concerns.
Add – The redacted letter has not been discussed with the Coal Authority either by the resident or by Planning.

Mr Cropper advised that the redacted letter will be foremost in any future discussions and it will have to be addressed by both Planning and Homes England, when any further development is proposed.

Action Updates

Action 1: Speeding on Smithy Bridge Road
Response from Highways - Smithy Bridge Road does act as a locally strategic road with a number of businesses requiring HGV access.  The use of traffic calming may cause a number of additional noise issues (Highways already receive complaints about HGV noise).  If traffic calming was to be installed then it is almost certain that HGV noise will increase as they pass over the traffic calming features.  Whilst speed cushions do have a use in providing traffic calming on bus routes, it is the case that a number of vehicle types can straddle the humps without slowing down, which may not bring about the desired outcome for residents or Elected Members.  With this in mind, Elected Members could pay for a feasibility study into the options, but the recommendation from Highways’ officers may not necessarily include support for traffic calming and there is no budget available within Township or Highways to implement a traffic calming scheme.  Smithy Bridge Road is a mobile speed camera site and is regularly enforced by the Police Camera Team.

Action 2: Littleborough Public Conveniences
Rebecca’s Café, The Wheatsheaf Hotel and the Village Medical Centre are in the process of renewing their memberships.  Posters will be displayed when memberships are finalised.

Action 3: Resurfacing Calderbrook Road
Response from Highways - Calderbrook Road was due to be surface dressed, however, the damage is already quite extensive and it has now been passed over for full resurfacing with the top surface.  Obviously this course of action will be more expensive and will have to be considered within available budgets.  Clough Road is not included in any resurfacing programme.

A discussion took place regarding the funding for resurfacing Calderbrook Road; it isn’t clear whether funding is in place or not.
Action 1: Establish if there is an identified budget for resurfacing Calderbrook Road (Tracey Knight)

Action 4: Littleborough Train Station’s Platform Steps
A site meeting took place between Councillors and Planning and Highways Officers to look at the issues.  A formal response is being sought.

Action 5: Lockside Development, Halifax Road
Awaiting a response from the Council’s Planning and Enforcement.

Matters Arising

Safe Plate Event
A resident asked whether there had been any further development with this issue.
Action 2: Request an update from GMP (Tracey Knight)

PC Lucas McGregor, Neighbourhood Beat Officer for Littleborough, introduced himself and Sergeant Cannel, the new Sergeant covering the Pennines Township.  PC McGregor gave the following updates:

Crime figures for the last quarter

Wardle and West Littleborough
Burglary dwelling                                     4                   Previously            7
Burglary (other than dwelling)                 4                   Previously            5
Theft of motor vehicle                             5                   Previously          11
Theft from motor vehicle                      11                   Previously          14

Littleborough Lakeside
Burglary dwelling                                     4                   Previously          15
Burglary (other than dwelling)                 2                   Previously            5
Theft of motor vehicle                             9                   Previously          10
Theft from motor vehicle                      15                   Previously          16

The figures for anti-social behaviour are currently unavailable.

Residents’ issues

Serious incidents
A resident raised concerns regarding two recent serious incidents involving a stabbing at the top of Union Road and a shooting on St Andrews Drive and neither of which has been reported in the press.

The forum was advised that GMP’s Press Office deals with the media.  The investigations are ongoing and Officers are working with a number of agencies to reduce the impact of such incidents.

ASB and crime
A lengthy discussion took place regarding recent anti-social behaviour issues including assaults and the following points were made:

·         A small group of young people who are known to the Police are committing these crimes and terrorising the community.  Children are being mugged at knifepoint.

·         How are these young people allowed to get away with committing these crimes when they are under the care of Social Services; why aren’t all the agencies working together with the schools to tackle this matter.

·         Violence in the community is increasing; children are frightened; fear is growing within the community.

·         It was acknowledged that this isn’t just a Police issue; all the authorities need to be involved.

·         There needs to be more youth provision.

·         There is no support for the parents of the victims; they need advice.

·         A resident advised that each child under Social Services care should have a care plan in place which is a multi-agency joint plan that should detail and record the level of criminality.  It was suggested that the Council’s Children’s Social Care needs to be challenged by Councillors to establish how the issues are going to be strategically dealt with.

·         GMP are monitoring all related criminality and working with the Council and Housing to tackle the issues.  The offending youths are under the age of 18 which therefore creates difficulties in terms of punishments.

·         Residents are advised to report every incident via the usual channels as this builds up a picture of intelligence which increases the action that can be taken by the Police.

·         Littleborough is an incredible community which achieves a lot; everyone needs to work together to address these issues.

·         The Citizens Contract was discussed.  Residents are encouraged to get involved in a coordinated and positive way.

·         The Police are funding boxing sessions at Littleborough Boxing Club which is funded from the proceeds of crime money.  This activity is aimed at harder to engage young people.

·         There is a continuing catalogue of incidents; there doesn’t  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Approved funding updates
Functional Fitness Course – Link4Life; Todmorden Road speed surveys; Blokes & Hare Hill House; Littleborough Remembrances Sunday; Community Partnership Building at Littleborough Fire Station; Hare Hill Park Skate Park CCTV;Refurbishment of instruments for Wardle Anderson Band; Wardle FC fencing; Wardle & West Littleborough Ward replacement bollards; Repair of ABC steps

Clean and Green Schemes
Calderbrook Terrace; Brown Lodge, Abbey Drive and Lincoln Drive areas; Path near Stansfield Hall Primary School; Woodbank Road, Smithy Bridge; Todmorden Road, Summit; Smithy Bridge Road and Eafield Road; Sawley Avenue/Shore Road; Hare Hill Road; Sale Street; Proofings site on Hare Hill Road; Church Street, Littleborough; Rakewood Road near to Bear Hill; Temple Lane; Calder Avenue; Dean Head; Redland Close; Todmorden Road; Timbercliffe Estate; Welbeck Avenue; Dearden Street; Ferrand Lodge; Hollingworth Road; Rake Terrace; Smithy Bridge Station Car Park; Stubley Lane;  Joseph Street Footpath; Footpath top of Watling Street; Land at bottom of Stopford Avenue; Shoremount; Waterhouse Close; Wheelwright Drive; Ribble Avenue/Hodder Avenue; Green Meadow and Noble Meadow

Other Councillor Updates
New street nameplate for Warley Street has been fitted; Pot holes have been filled in on the road leading to Timbercliffe Estate; Two new gullies and some pipe work has been installed outside Olive Standring on Todmorden Road; A conifer that was blocking the footpath near the Royal Exchange has been trimmed back; A new bollard on the path of Smithy Bridge Road (going down to the playing fields) has now been put back in place: A new Rochdale Borough Council Business Eco scheme will be launched to encourage businesses to reduce their environmental impact. More on this in November; Opposed the application for development on the GMSF site off Smithy Bridge Road through the Pennines Planning Panel; Working with homelessness groups to support an initiative to provide an alternative to giving money to people on the street - Real Change for Rochdale; Inputted into the development for a Township Masterplan based around Littleborough station; Several roads resurfaced through micro-asphalt and as such have been feeding in resident issues around street sweeping; Various double yellow lines have been repainted or laid down including on Hollingworth Road, Regent Street and elsewhere; Congratulations to all of the people who organised great community activities over the summer including Little Glastonbury, Rushbearing, Heritage Open Days, Littleborough Arts Festival launch and more; Great news that Hare Hill Park has retained its Green Flag status. Thanks to the Friends of Hare Hill Park for their ongoing work; Lots of small improvements and upgrades across the ward including a new a frame gate by the Shopwood Road estate, road repairs on Town House Road, clearing an old skip on Halifax Road and many more; Cabinet and GM responsibilities, work on school admissions, student loans, mental health issues, assisting residents with planning issues, family credit and housing; Littleborough Lakeside Ward Councillors have a new surgery in the ward in Stansfield with the first tomorrow (Wednesday 25 September 2019) at 3.30pm in Stansfield Primary. This surgery is in addition to their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Littleborough Flood Resilience group are a sub-group of the Littleborough Civic Trust.  The group formed following the boxing day flood in 2015.  The aim of the group is to keep people informed of all aspects of flood resilience and to provide refuge for people in case of future evacuation due to flooding.  The group is looking for local people to get involved, please make contact via www.littleborughcivictrust.co.uk Facebook – Littleborough Civic Trust.

Dog bags
A resident asked if the Council were still supplying free dog bags.
Action 5: Request a definitive answer from Environmental Management (Tracey Knight)

New school in Littleborough
A resident had sent a question in advance to request any information on the possible new secondary school in Littleborough.  The response from the School Place Planning Manager: Cabinet has approved the Littleborough playing fields as the site of the new school in Pennines, and the new academy school will be delivered by Central Government (The Department for Education).  The project is still in its very earliest stages and no timescale or project dates have yet been set.  The Schools Organisation Team at the local authority will continue to put pressure on the Department for Education on delivery timescales because of the ongoing need for school places in Pennines.

Church Street zebra crossing
A resident raised concerns regarding the lack of visibility at the crossing during peak times.  The traffic builds up due to the traffic lights; Highways have been made aware of the issues.

Surface issue Hare Hill Road
A resident advised that there was an area on Hare Hill Road outside the former Proofings site that the developer had filled with concrete and not tarmac, there were a number of complaints regarding this issue.
Action 6: Report issue to Highways and request action to restore the road (Tracey Knight)

Planning Portal objections
A resident advised the forum that objections to planning applications are no longer visible on the Planning Portal; the resident is challenging this situation via Planning Officers.  Councillors are aware of this issue and have also challenged the reasoning behind the change; they are taking further advice on the matter.

Save the Greenbelt Group
The forum was given a brief verbal update regarding the purpose and activities of the group.  The group are continuing to meet with other similar groups to share advice and experiences.  Events are in the planning which will help to raise awareness and group funds.  Residents that had made responses to the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework consultation (GMSF) were urged to check if their responses were qualified/counted; this can be done by checking the automated GMSF response email.

2020 VE Day
An event to celebrate VE day will be hosted in Hare Hill Park.  The community are urged to get involved, particularly the older generation, some of which may be able to recall and share their experiences with others.  A planning meeting will be advertised on Discuss Littleborough Facebook page.

17 December 2019


Rochdale East
Tel                   0161 856 8549
Email               rochdaleeast@gmp.police.uk
Facebook        GMPRochdaleEast
Twitter             @gmprochdaleeast
Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 www.crimestoppers-uk.org
Police non-emergency calls 101
Emergency calls 999

PC Lucas McGregor
Email: lucas.mcgregor@gmp.police.uk