SHEFFIELD CITY CENTRE RESIDENTS ACTION GROUP Meeting held 8th April, 2014 at Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind, Mappin Street PRESENT: Amber Wilson (Chair), PC John Charlesworth, Linda Cooley, Pauline Egerton, Alex Evans, Amy Fieldhouse, Councillor Mohammad Maroof, Prod Mavridis, Sona Mehra, Gareth Slater, Anna Stevens and Julie Wilson. 1. WELCOME AND APOLOGIES. 1.1 Amber Wilson, appointed Chair of the meeting, welcomed all attendees to the meeting. 1.2 Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Jillian Creasy, Jean Cromar, Steve Hambleton, Amy Jones, Christine Sephton, Peter Sephton and Pankaj Snehi. 2. CHRISTINE SEPHTON 2.1 Linda Cooley provided an update on Christine s medical condition, indicating that, at present, the prognosis appeared positive. 2.2 The Group expressed its best wishes to Christine and Peter. 3. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING 3.1 The Group approved the minutes of its meeting held on 11 th and, arising therefrom:- (a) It was noted that Victoria Penman, Policy, Performance and Communications, City Council, would be attending the Group s meeting in June, 2014, to give a presentation on the Boundary Review, including details of the process involved and the consultation procedure; (b) PC John Charlesworth confirmed that the new arrangements, following the restructure of the Police s Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNTs), would take effect from 7 th the number of Police Officers covering the City Centre area; (c) Amber Wilson stated that the Group had been asked by Gavin Murray, Manager, McDonalds, if it would endorse the restaurant s proposal to extend its opening hours. Linda Cooley explained that she had written a letter, to be included in the application for the extension, indicating that the Group did not envisage any problems, so long as any conditions imposed were complied with and, on the basis that none of the immediate neighbours had objected to the proposal; and
(d) Councillor Mohammad Maroof referred to the Notice of Motion passed by the Council, at its meeting held on 2 nd regard to the growing number of betting shops, and the adverse effects of such shops on local communities. The Secretary stated that he would send a copy of the Notice of Motion to Linda, for circulation to the rest of the Group. 3.2 In connection with McDonalds proposals, Amber referred to the issue of vibrancy in the City Centre, specifically to the work of the City s Business Improvement District (BID) Steering Group, which Gavin Murray (Manager of McDonalds) reported on at the last meeting. The Steering Group was looking to submit a bid for funding from the Government and if successful, would use this funding, together with a levy to be collected from businesses, shops and stores in the City Centre, to help regenerate the area. 3.3 The Secretary referred to a report which was to be considered by the City Council s Economic and Environmental Wellbeing Scrutiny and Policy Development Committee on 9 th indicating that he would send a copy to Linda, for circulation to the rest of the Group. 3.4 ACTION: Secretary to forward Notice of Motion regarding betting shops and the Scrutiny report on City Centre Vibrancy to Linda. 4. PRESENTATION AND CONFERENCE ON THE WAY CITY CENTRES SHOULD DEVELOP 4.1 Linda Cooley reported on the proceedings of two events, which had been organised by the University of Sheffield, dealing with how City Centres should develop in the future, as follows:- (a) Presentation - Iterative Cities: Renewal and Revitalisation from the Bottom Up Marcus Westbury, Founder of Renew Newcastle (Australia) and Renew Australia, gave a presentation on an urban renewal scheme set up in 2008, and which involved landlords giving up long-term, vacant premises, free of charge, on a 30-day rolling contract, to enable small businesses to rent and operate from the premises. Since 2008,130 projects had been set up, with a number having now become commercially viable enterprises. The project had been replicated, and had resulted in a number of successes in, a number of other cities in Australia. (b) Conference - Shaping Our Public and Private Space (ShOPPS) The interdisciplinary research group (ShOPPS) is based at the University of Sheffield, bringing together the departments of Architecture, Landscape, Law and Town and Regional Planning. The focus of the conference was to consider Integrating interests: future proofing City Centre Retail Economies, and the main points on the relevance to Sheffield City Centre included:- (i) Implications of public/private ownership
A speaker pointed out that Councils have to be very careful about selling large tracts of land to private developers as that would allow the developers to make decisions about how public spaces within that area could be used. (ii) Making use of the Sustainable Communities Act A speaker explained that Hackney Council, supported by 62 other Councils, had used the Sustainable Communities Act to propose a separate use class for betting shops. (iii) Sheffield s position post Sevenstone Simon Ogden, Head of City Regeneration, City Council, pointed out that the Council owned most of the land that would be used for the new retail quarter and that, since the failure of the Sevenstone scheme, Sheffield was in the position to be one of the first in a generation of cities that would have low carbon consumption and more public transport, whilst also encouraging walking and cycling in the City. Ranald Phillips, Ashcroft and Scottish Widows, pointed out that large- scale schemes could not be ignored as they could be a catalyst for small-scale schemes to follow. He called for more imaginative developments. 4.2 The Group noted the information now reported. 5. MEMBERS VIEWS ON ISSUES TO BE DEALT WITH AND TOPICS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS 5.1 Members of the Group raised issues of interest, and made suggestions on what the Group could consider at future meetings, as follows:- Gareth Slater raised issues regarding road safety in the Kelham Island area, relating specifically to two recent accidents and a number of near misses, mainly due to vehicles travelling the wrong way down Burton Road. He also mentioned that the Canoe Club was looking for help in connection with a clean-up in the Kelham Island area during Summer 2014. Linda Cooley reported that Councillor Jillian Creasy had suggested holding a hustings (debate) between the candidates standing for election in the Central Ward, in the forthcoming Municipal Elections. Linda Cooley reported that Jean Cromar had raised concerns regarding the problems caused by street drinkers outside Tesco, West Street. Sona Mehra referred to a possible application for a Premises Licence in respect of the former Steel House, West Street, by an adult entertainment company. Ms. Mehra and Amy Fieldhouse referred to the continuing problems being experienced by residents at the bottom end of West Street, with regard to noise and anti-social behaviour linked to the late opening of a number of licensed premises in the area. They expressed their frustration at the Council for granting extensions to opening hours, without giving any thought to those residents living nearby.
5.2 ACTIONS:- (a) Amber Wilson to advertise for helpers to assist with the planned clean-up in the Kelham Island area during Summer 2014. (b) The Group to discuss the possibility of arranging a hustings, but not to be held as part of a SCCRAG meeting. (c) Attempts be made to arrange for officers from the Council s Licensing and Planning Services to attend a future meeting of the Group to discuss both licensing and planning issues regarding licensed premises, and licensing issues regarding taxis. 6. PACT PRIORITIES 6.1 The PACT priorities from the last meeting included (a) street-drinking, (b) aggressive begging and (c) prostitution, particularly around Kelham Island. Arising there from, PC Charlesworth reported that:- Good progress had been made in terms of dealing with the problems of aggressive begging, with two prominent suspects having recently been arrested. The number of thefts from person had dropped significantly. The Police, working with a number of other agencies, were continuing to carry out a Vulnerability Sweep, on Thursdays, which involved them speaking to, and advising, young people they considered vulnerable Police were preparing for an expected increase in the level of theft from cars in the City Centre during the Snooker World Championships at the Crucible. There were continuing problems in terms of street drinkers hanging around outside Tesco on West Street. He confirmed that the Police could not arrest any drinkers if they were not actually seen drinking or causing a nuisance. He referred to a further issue in that some residents living nearby were providing the street drinkers with food, and suggested that, whilst the Police were powerless to stop people doing this, steps should be taken to advise the residents that doing this was not the best course of action due to the potential to attract further street drinkers to the area. He stated that he had arranged to meet with the Manager of Tesco to discuss possible options in terms of dealing with the street drinkers. In response to the comments raised with regard to people gaining access to apartment blocks and knocking on residents doors, it would be helpful for the residents to obtain stickers, indicating that the apartment block was designated as a No Calling Zone, as this would make it a lot easier for the Police to deal with any people they caught. The levels of prostitution in the Kelham Island area had reduced.
6.2 ACTION: PC Charlesworth to send details, including paperwork/ stickers, regarding No Calling Zones, to Amber. 6.3 The month s PACT priorities are:- Theft from persons Aggressive begging Street drinking, particularly outside Tesco, West Street and Prostitution, particularly around Kelham Island. 7. DATE OF NEXT MEETING 7.1 The next meeting of the Group will be held on Tuesday, 13th May, 2014, at 6.30 p.m., at the Sheffield Royal Society for the Blind, Mappin Street.