PRESENT
Chairman: Alan Leeds Treasurer: Karol Smal Secretary: Jackie Steinitz
Committee members: Patrick Rayner, Gordon Bell, Deborah Robinson, Andrew Jordan, Jill Collis, Charlotte Stockley, Rachel Rafter
Residents: Approximately 60
Guests: Deirdre Ferrier and Anne Williams (New University Project team, Kingston University), Inspector Rob Weir (Operations / Town Centre Inspector at Kingston Police Station), Councillors Chrissie Hitchcock, Rachel O’Connor and Bart Ricketts, (Councillors for Grove Ward), Edward Davey (MP 1997-2005 and candidate at next week’s election)

1. Minutes of the 2004 AGM
These were approved. (Proposer: Karol Smal, Seconder: Gordon Bell)

2. Chairman’s Report
Community life has continued to flourish – there have been many events in the Spring Grove area. Thank you to all who organised, were involved with, and supported these events, and thank you to Joan McConn and the Parish Hall committee for their work associated with the hall. Over £7300 was raised in total for charity plus over £2100 for local causes.

During the year the committee has been active on a number of issues:

• It has kept in contact with councillors, the MP, the university and the police on issues of relevance to the area, and has held meetings with the university with both the Student Life Office about student behaviour and with the New University Project team about proposed developments in the university.
• It monitors all planning applications in the area.
• It has organised a number of local events
• In June the committee organised a survey amongst all local residents into their views about the proposed student village, and sent the results of the survey together with a summary of the comments made at the 2004 AGM on the issue to Kingston Council and the Planning Inspectorate. [Note that the application to develop the village has now been withdrawn].
• The committee has arranged to have a representative on Kingston Town Conservation Area Advisory Committee.
• 5 issues of Springboard have been delivered to all residents. The SGRA website has now been running for one year.

There had been several departures during the year: Chris Boucher and Adrian Simpson had resigned from the SGRA committee, and Roger Hayes had resigned from Kingston Council. Thanks were expressed for all their work on behalf of the area in the past. Annabel Shilson-Thomas was welcomed as priest in charge of St Johns in September.

3. Treasurer's Report
The accounts for FY2004/5 were simpler than the previous year as in 2003/4 a number of special events were held to celebrate the centenary of the Parish Hall (Street party, dinner/dance, raffle). Income totalled £490.87 generated primarily from the barn dance (£220), advertising receipts from Springboard (£160) and the SGRA’s share of the profit from the jumble sale (£94). Expenditure totalled £444.34 of which Springboard costs plus other administrative expenses were the largest item (£217) followed by annual public liability insurance (£123). Income thus exceeded expenditure by £46.53. At 31 March 2005 the SGRA had an accumulated fund of £543.90. The accounts have been audited. All the records were at the meeting and available for inspection.

4. Election of the Committee
All posts were unopposed.
Chairman: Alan Leeds (Proposer : Karol Smal, Seconder : Jill Collis)
Treasurer: Karol Smal (Proposer : Gordon Bell, Seconder : Deborah Robinson)
Secretary: Jackie Steinitz (Proposer Karol Smal. Seconder : Joan McConn)
Committee Members; Patrick Rayner, Gordon Bell, Deborah Robinson, Jill Collis, Rachel Rafter, Charlotte Stockley and Andrew Jordan all offered themselves for re-election. (proposed by Karol Smal, seconded by Debbie ???). Phil Chapman has agreed to represent Alfred Road. (Proposer Karol Smal : Seconder Rachel Rafter).
There were no volunteers to represent either Lingfield Ave or Villiers Road.

5. Introduction of Guests
The Chairman introduced the guests (see list at top) and thanked them for attending.

6. University Issues / New University Project (Deirdre Ferrier)
Deirdre Ferrier thanked the SGRA for inviting the team to the meeting. She distributed a number of leaflets from her colleagues Helen Trott and Clare Nightingale, including the events calendar, a leaflet on the Readers’ Festival, a list of contact numbers in case of any concern relating to the university, and a card of key facts and figures.

She then outlined the main features of the "New University Project" - the university’s long term estates plan. This centrepiece of the project is the potential purchase of County Hall from Surrey County Council which would offer the university a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rationalise and significantly enhance its real estate. A copy of the presentation is available on the SGRA website. Key points were:

• the objectives of the project (a civic university to be proud of, improved experience for students and staff, better access for the community, increased efficiency, reducing the number of split site faculties, improved academic structure, better use of space, new ways of working/learning/teaching)
• the importance of the NUP (Government target of 50% of 18-30 year-olds with significant exposure to higher education, university a major contributor to local economy with 1800 employees, 17,000 students, a direct turnover of £100m+ and an indirect turnover of £250m+).
• Major projects (Consolidate university into 3 main sites: the town centre, Kingston Hill and Roehampton Vale. This will involve the purchase and refurbishment of County Hall/the Surrey Club, improvements to Penrhyn Rd, a link between the two sides of Penrhyn Rd, the sale of Knights Park and River House).
• The university has appointed a project management and design team (Arup and McAslan).

Deirdre stressed that the university is keen to maintain an ongoing dialogue with the community and is actively seeking input from residents at each stage of the project. Regular public meetings will be arranged, with the first on Wednesday 18 May at 6.30pm in the Picton Room, Penrhyn Road Campus.

In the subsequent Q+A session Deirdre confirmed that there are no firm plans for County Hall yet but it will definitely not be used for student residences or for a student union bar. The purchase of County Hall would not increase student numbers beyond what is planned anyway [Note: In an email the following day Deirdre confirmed that the forecast in on-campus student numbers is 10% between 2003/4 to 2006/7 and then 9% between 2006/7 to 2009/10 – modest compared to other universities in the region]. The proposed link between the Penrhyn Road site and County Hall would probably just be a pelican crossing; while a tunnel, or a grand bridge which acts as an entrance to Kingston Town Centre, would be highly desirable, they are not in current plans as they are too expensive. Knights Park will only be sold if the purchase of County Hall goes ahead. If County Hall cannot be purchased the university is likely to reinvest in Knights Park.

There were complaints by residents of Portland Road about the behaviour of students, the noise from the Terrace Bar at Knights Park, and speeding by university buses/ vans.

Action: Deirdre Ferrier to report back concerns of residents of Portland Rd about noise and speeding to relevant people in the University.

Note: Deirdre did the above straightaway. This is her reply

"a) Managers from every section of both KUSCO and the University which has a van have been asked to speak to staff about keeping within speed limits and respecting our neighbours. Tellings (the bus operator) are also being instructed to remind its drivers about speed limits and good neighbourly relations.
b) The University’s Student Life Office is continuing its liaison with the community police team. The Student Life Office, KUSCO security and the Students Union are meeting with them this month to discuss health and safety issues involving students and looking at student behaviour in the community.
c) Specifically on noise from Knights Park bar, the General Manager of KUSU assures me that the Union takes its neighbourly responsibilities very seriously and have introduced a number of measures to promote quietness. The Union accepts that noise inevitably carries and, to minimise this to the levels of a beer garden – people talking etc - it makes an active effort to ensure any music playing in the bar does not leak out, and it bans all reproduced / amplified music from the terrace. The bar closes at 11pm and in all seasons they ensure the terrace and bridge are cleared by 11.10 pm. The Union would welcome independent inspection of the disturbance, perhaps by the Council, and is considering active ways in which this could be carried out.

7. Community Policing (Inspector Rob Weir)
Inspector Weir (RW) has been Operation/Town Centre Inspector for the last 9 months. The town centre team has just been relaunched and now comprises a sergeant, 6 officers and 6 training officers. A sergeant and 3 officers have just been appointed for Grove Ward; they will be starting on the streets of the area in the next few weeks.

RW said that he stood at the meeting with a degree of humility as he knew that there was not a track record of community policing in Grove Ward and that there were issues that had not been dealt with in the past. However while he could not promise the earth the new team, which will be led by Sgt Matt Smith, are of very high calibre and are anxious to demonstrate success. There will be a public meeting on 10 May when the team will be launched. There will be maps at the meeting and people will be invited to point out issues and "hot spots", and the team will seek to the best of their ability to work on these issues. RW and the team aim to develop links with the university and local community. The team will become familiar faces to the community and will deal with all non-emergency issues. 999 calls however will continue to be answered by response cars – this will not be the job of the Grove Ward team.

There was an extended discussion at the meeting about a number of concerns which have been recorded separately. Inspector Weir gave his commitment to stay at the end of the meeting to take down particulars, to review the situation, to take immediate necessary action and to report back at the next meeting of the committee.

There was some discussion about Neighbourhood Watch. One resident had agreed four months ago to become the local co-ordinator but had become disillusioned after four months of non-contact and struggling by failing to find out any information about it. Another resident has since agreed to become involved. RW was not aware of the details of the Neighbourhood Watch programme in Kingston but has agreed to find out and report back.

Action: Inspector Weir to notify the SGRA about the time and venue of the meeting to launch the Grove Ward police team [Subsequent Note: It will be on May 10^th at 7.30 at Kingston College], to investigate specific issues raised at the meeting and to report back to the committee on the issues and on Neighbourhood Watch.

8. Hogsmill Party on the Blue Bridge – Sunday 19^th June (Ruth Dalton)
Last year’s party was a joint venture between the Hogsmill Action Group (HAG) and a specially formed local committee. Kingston Council no longer have a representative for HAG so this year’s party is being organised just by a committee. So far, and by chance, the committee happens to consist of residents from north of the river, but the committee would welcome members from the Spring Grove with open arms. If you are interested in helping in any way please get in touch either directly with Ruth or via the SGRA committee/website. The event will probably start at 2pm and continue in the evening.

9. Jubilee Bridge
The SGRA have received a letter form Capita Symonds, an infrastructure consultancy, who have been appointed by Kingston Council to look at various options for repair and replacement of the Hogsmill Jubilee Footbridge (which runs from Portland Road to the Stanley Picker Gallery). They recommend that the existing structure is too corroded for repair and have considered a number of different forms of construction taking into account site constraints and the desire of residents for something similar in appearance to the original. Their recommendation is for a steel construction replacement bridge and they have sent drawings for our information – these were on display at the meeting. The proposals will be subject to formal planning consent but RBK have asked for any informal views prior to the planning process. Residents are invited to submit their views either through the committee or directly.

Annita Barbieri of the Mill Street Residents Association provided some background to the bridge. It had been repainted in green and gold in 2002 by local residents to celebrate the Queen’s jubilee. Mill Street Residents have already replied to Capita Symonds. In their letter they have agreed that they would wish any replacement bridge to be of similar design to the original, and have asked for a meeting on site to discuss details. However they have pointed out that if there are major development works at Knights Park this could result in damage to any new bridge. Also the potential planning gain when the site is redeveloped should not be overlooked.

Action: SGRA committee to reply to Capita Symonds regarding the Hogsmill Bridge

10. Spring Grove Residents’ Website - www.springgrovekingston.co.uk
The website was launched at the AGM last year so has been running for exactly a year. The website now has 16 main pages as summarised in the table below. Print-outs of some of the pages were on display at the meeting.

Two new pages as of this week are:

• Timetables (#6 below) which shows bus timetables for the stops in Lingfield and Villiers Rd. South West Trains have been contacted to ask for timetables for Surbiton and Kingston stations; hopefully these can be put added to the site soon.
• Local businesses (#9 below): Please get in touch if you would like to advertise.

SGRA Website - Main Pages as of April 2005

Two favourite pages include the Maps/weather page (#3) which has a five day weather forecast for this area, and Useful links (#4) which has links to many relevant sites so that with a couple of clicks you can find out what’s on at the cinema, council information, when the school holidays are, how to get to wherever you want to go etc.

For the future we would like to maximise the benefit of the website to the community and would welcome: suggestions of anything that would be useful, write-ups of anything relevant, photos and advertisements. A website is like a snowball – the more people who use and contribute to it the bigger and better it can become. Thank you to those who have already used it, and thank you in advance for adding it to your list of favourites and using it in the future.

11. Councillors
Chrissie Hitchcock added a few points on the issues that had been raised during the meeting.

• She welcomed the new police team to Grove Ward.
• Councillors were now having regular meetings with university and seeking to work together in closer partnership. There had been some very positive meetings about the New University Project. The Council had made it clear that they wished to be closely involved in the Knights Park site.
• Anti-social behaviour is on the increase; graffiti in particular was on the rise. CH has been in discussion with the press asking them not to publish photographs of the graffiti as this is adding to the "success" of the graffiti vandals. Rachel O’Connor agreed to send the SGRA details of the Graffiti hotline to add to the website.
• Councillors have to be careful what they say about planning issues. Two councillors of the three from each ward are on the planning committee leaving one able to speak freely without prejudicing an outcome. If you have a planning issue please telephone Chrissie and she will point you to the relevant councillor.

Action: Rachel O’Connor to send the SGRA details of the Graffiti hotline to add to the website
[Subsequent note: This has been done. The phone number for the graffiti hotline is 020 8547 4646 and it is available 24 hours a day as there is a voicemail facility on the line. Also graffiti can be reported at graffiti@rbk.kingston.gov.uk. It is also possible to fill in a form online and all the details are at www.kingston.gov.uk/graffiti]

12. Edward Davey
Ed stressed that since the dissolution of Parliament on April 11 he was not currently the MP for this area – his status was that of candidate for the next election. Since the other candidates were not at the meeting he did not want to gain unfair advantage by talking politically so would ensure that all his comments were non-political, relating only to feedback on local issues and information on topics raised this evening:

• The Police/Law and order: This had been both a key theme of the evening and a priority for Ed since the 2001 election, who has lobbied extensively on the issue and held many meetings with the Metropolitan Police particularly those involved in a recent major review. In the last two years there have two key developments in Kingston:
• A number of safer neighbourhood/community policing teams have been set up in the borough dedicated to specific neighbourhoods.
• The Metropolitan Police Authority accepted recommendations in February to revise the "Resource Allocation Formula" which allocates police officers to the boroughs. The new allocation will give Kingston five more officers (rising to 269 from 264), while removing the long-held fear of major cuts (under the original formula Kingston’s force would have been cut to 231). When the new Safer Neighbourhood and community police teams are also taken into account, Kingston police numbers will have increased by almost 50 in just over 2 years.
• Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB): There is now a new weapon, the Acceptable Behaviour Contract (ABCs), to deal with Anti-Social behaviour in addition to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders. ABCs are a voluntary written agreement between a person who has been involved in anti-social behaviour and one or more local agencies whose role it is to prevent such behaviour (e.g. police and housing). The contract specifies a list of anti-social acts in which the person has been involved and which they agree not to continue. Legal action in the form of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) or possession order (if the young person is in social housing) should be stated on the contract where this is the potential consequence of breach. The threat of legal action provides an incentive to ensure that the contract is adhered to. These have been very successful in a number of cases and may be appropriate for local ASB.
• Speeding: With regards to residents’ concerns about speeding, when the offender is from a recognisable organisation then contact the organisation involved and if necessary then use the MP and councillors also to press further on the issue.
• Graffiti: While it was undoubtedly good to clear up graffiti up quickly and ensure that there was no publicity it was even better to catch and punish the graffiti vandals, preferably by making them scrub clean their work. This gives a clear signal that graffiti is not tolerated – though of course it requires a high investment in police time and magistrate education. Graffiti tends to go in cycles; the problem had subsided somewhat in the area in the last year or two but recently has picked up again, presumably because of a new generation of graffiti vandals.
• Strategic Issues the community may wish to involve themselves in include:
• The K+20 plan (the 20 year plan for Kingston) which will involve major remodelling of the town centre. Plans will be published in June/July. The council genuinely wants input from the community.
• University development – the University are also keen to involve residents.
• The Rose of Kingston Theatre
• The Eurostar move from Waterloo to Kings Cross in 2007 will free up 5 platforms at Waterloo. It is important to ensure that they are used to reduce bottlenecks outside Waterloo station and improve local services.

13. Any Other Business
There was a question about the fading paint on a disabled parking space. The Councillors agreed to address this.

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The meeting closed at 10pm