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Sorry this has taken me a while to get to make a posting on my meeting with Roger Walton, only Jean has been very poorly in Canterbury hospital - she went in Tuesay afternoon and I brought her home yesterday afternoon, but is very weak and not particularly happy; she is at Buckland just now undergoing her Haemodialysis.
Anyway, I met Roger on Thursday morning and had a good, productive conversation on the many problems facing the residents of Folkestone Road and the surrounding roads.
It made me smile when I read about " I have a piece of paper from Herr Walton" but I have received reassurances that there are external agencies and DDC departments involved.
They have drawn up a map of all the houses along the Folkestone Road, from the beginning, up to Underdown Road, all with a description of the problems with which ones (many of course, cause no problems whatsover).
Because there is not a surfeit of officers, it will take time to resolve all the issues and because we do have quite a transient population here, what will be succesful now, will need to be done again after a while, because we will have new people who don't know what is expected of them.
Someone asked what powers will be used to sort out the rubbish problem and it is section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act.
Others come under planning.
I wrote a paper on the questions I wanted to ask and will reproduce that below (I hope you don't mind that this is a long email)
Meeting with Roger Walton -Thursday 12th. of June 2012
Q - What departments are involved in sorting out the various problems we have and how are they doing it ?
A - Waste services, Planning, Private Rented Housing, Environmental Health, Community Safety Unit. Externally, Social Services and the Police.
1) Waste and rubbish issues,
2) Anti-social behaviour - all sorts
3) Noise late - at night (sometimes during the day too)
4) Over-crowding - too many people for the numbers registered
5) Children not going to school - mostly East European
6) Dog-poo - almost everywhere
7) Too many businesses looking after "vulnerable" people - and not managed properly
8) Rogue Landlords - bad housing with bad tenants
9) Front gardens not looked after - bringing the area down
Q - Do we have the legal support to effectively stop the above activities ? A - Yes.
Q - Do we have the resources ? A - yes, but it will take (longer) time.
Q - Is there an extra cost involved ? A - No.
Q - When do we expect the zero-tolerance approach with an outside body issuing fines, to start ? A - October
Q - An officer from the CSU went round with the PCSO Ryan Bullows last week, how did they get on ? A - no update (I'll ask them direct)
As Chairman of the Priory Forum, we are going to do another clean-up; we applied for funding last year from "Clean Kent" for the one we completed in September and there is money left over, but we can't do a proper job without a petrol strimmer.
We asked for the left-over funds to be used to buy one (they cost around £80 to £90) but was told no, so one of us has had to buy one - how daft is that ?
We are also intending to hold a get-together with all members of the local community (all will be invited) at the Clarendon and Westbury Community Association Hall on Belgrave Road. We feel this will be a start try to understand each other's needs and (cultural) differences. Perhaps then we can build a community comprised of all the local people - maybe a bit fanciful, but we must try.
There may also be a chance that we can get some volunteers to help clear up/tidy some of the front gardens in the lower part of Folkestone Road. We have to work out how we do this, but it is an intention.
Hope that helps explain where we are.
Roger
