Cazenove Ward Forum – Note of discussions and actions arising from meeting of 22^nd September 2014

Date:       22nd September 2014

Venue:     Jubilee Primary School

In attendance:

                Members           Cllr Jacobson and Cllr Ian Sharer

                Public                12

                Council Officer   Tom Thorn

Notes

Topic 1 – Tell us what matters to you in Cazenove. If you’ve got a particular idea in mind or an idea for a local project, we can discuss how it might be moved forward.

Some of the discussions were covered within item 2 and were directly relevant to fitness. Some other points around Road Safety were raised within Topic 3, where the Forum was updated on what had happened following a survey which had been conducted within the Cazenove Ward around views towards the need for traffic management changes in the area. These are detailed under the relevant topics below. Other points raised about what the Ward Forum could come together to deliver included: A winter festival of some description. The Forum noted the Council’s grants programme which was inviting community groups to bid for grants of up to £1000 with which to deliver short term or one-off community projects and events delivered between November 2014 and March 2015. More information is available by clicking here, however, in short, applications would need to be shown to support the following objective: ‘To foster good relations by building a strong sense of community, neighbourliness and pride’. Applications needed to be submitted by midday on the 26th September and would need to be made by a constituted organisation or a structured local group.Iain Bruce, Chair of the Cazenove Area Action Group agreed to put forward an application in the group’s name. Suggestions for the event included: To incorporate a cycle training offer To invite local food businesses to offer tasters A bouncy castle One resident said that the Cazenove Ward was a diverse one and that offering an event or programme to bringing a wide range of communities together would be valuable, and should be used as an opportunity for residents to learn more about each others cultural practices. The winter event could offer workshops exploring the cultural practices of different community groups. Action: Iain to take forward an application for a winter festival.

Topic 2 – Health and fitness in Cazenove – proposed discussion around coming together to improve the offer in Cazenove

Outdoor Gyms

Many residents in attendance said that an outdoor gym would help increase levels of physical activity. Stoke Newington Common was mentioned as a place where it may be suitable to introduce one.

 

One mentioned the Outdoor Gym in Turnpike Lane (Ducketts Common) as being a good example. Another resident said that the equipment in Hackney Downs looked like it would involve little maintenance, so might not bring large ongoing costs. It was also suggested that facilities should be placed near schools or areas of children’s activities so that parents could access the equipment while or soon after doing parenting things.

Action: Cllr Jacobson to speak to relevant services of the Council.

Encouraging walking and engagement with existing offer.

One resident suggested creating an interactive map of the Cazenove Ward and surrounding areas, and adding suggested walking routes, or ‘activity itineraries’. So if you start here, walk down here, do 50 star jumps in this park and then walk back to the start, you will have burnt 200 calories. Then the map could also include local places to eat and drink, and other information. The map should separate the local areas into Zones, and have highlight guides of each.

Another suggestion was made around escorted walks. Another resident pointed out that the online streetlife facility already offered opportunities to arrange or join in, local walking groups and other activities.

Residents said that the availability of such open space in Springfield Park and the nearby river Lea should be promoted more.

A key view was that walking and other activities could be promoted just by sharing information in a better way.

A resident mentioned the range of activities being delivered by at The Boiler House Community Space on the George Downing Estate. Activities offered included singing, acting, zumba, pilates, and others, at an affordable cost.

Other activities identified in the Ward Forum which could get the community more active:

Escorted cycle rides

Escorted walks to school

Springfield Park and River tours

A programme of activities linked to prizes for the resident attending the most / losing the most weight

No resources were identified to take forward the development of an information tool or to get more activities delivered.

No actions were agreed, but after the meeting Tom heard about the Healthier Hackney Fund, a new grants scheme to provide community and voluntary groups with funding for innovative health projects.

This includes grants of up to £1,000 to kickstart neighbourhood projects that will get residents helping each other to be healthy.

Funding the creation of an interactive Cazenove Activity Tool could perhaps be the subject of a grant application.

Topic 3 – Follow ups from last Ward Forum

The Ward Forum was given an update on the findings of the survey that it designed, which gauged the levels of support for the Council carrying out studies to work out what traffic management changes may improve road safety in Cazenove.

The update was that there was a wide level of support. The findings had helped lead the Council to invest in carrying out traffic surveying throughout the areas during the summer, and that the results of these will be used to help understand the impacts that various interventions could have.

The information gained from the traffic surveys was being mapped out and analysed to better understand traffic volumes, patterns and behaviour within the area. Once this stage was complete the Council would then start to examine the potential impacts and implications of the various options discussed at the Ward Forum. This information would be shared with the Councillors for the Ward, who could then arrange feedback at the Ward Forum. Councillors could expect to receive the information by mid November.

 In terms of actual alterations to the roads, while investigations were being carried out to assess the impact that various interventions may have and the costs that would be involved, funding is not in place to do the actual work within current budgets. Therefore, any move to carry out works resulting from the surveys would not be likely to occur until after March 2015.

Actions arising from discussion following update:

Tom to seek clarity around when surveys were carried out as there was concern that this may have been during school holidays when roads were quieter.

Tom to find out if the traffic surveys and any report findings emerging from them would also consider accident data.

Tom to seek clarity on rules around cycling against the direction of the traffic on one way roads.

Tom to feedback to relevant officers that residents found that streets with rocks and boulders like the ones on Windus Road put in as traffic calming measures had been more effective than the flexible road bollards used on some other roads.The successes of the measures on Windus Road should be learnt from.

Tom to feedback to school liaison officers that levels of hooting by bus drivers had improved and to say thank you for this. Efforts had been effective and should be maintained.

Topic 4 – Other Issues

Other local issues identified are covered on the map below. These will be taken up via Councillor casework.

Next Cazenove Ward Forum:

Wednesday, 26^th November, 2014 7.00 pm

Proposed venue: Jubilee Primary School, Filey Avenue, London, N16 6NR