Old Colwyn East Residents’ Association

Annual Report for June 2008 / May 2009

This report is not exhaustive but covers the main issues addressed by the committee and members during the year.

Old Colwyn is a pleasant and in the main law abiding village.

As a residents association within their area, we have been supported financially by North Wales Housing Association. This year we have also been informed that a grant may be forthcoming from Bay of Colwyn Town Council. Voluntary contributions at meetings from our members are accounted for carefully each month and we are just ticking over financially. Thanks to all concerned for these contributions.

Parks and Gardens Department has made big changes to Tan y Coed gardens and Min y Don Woodland. They have failed to bow to vandalism and have kept the area looking good. In February a path was constructed by Parks and Gardens dept to the childrens’ area in Min y Don Park. Our Environmental Operatives are thanked for their work keeping the area clear of rubbish. Chris Perry has continued to support St John’s garden and we thank him for his help.

There was a serious spate of wheelie bin fires in the village and this was targeted and a suspect was arrested and interviewed. Thanks to our officers for dealing with that matter, it appears to have been resolved. 

Thanks to the police for organising the removal of graffiti at various times during the year and for organising the painting of the Llawr Pentre tunnel.  Thanks to the Community Service team for carrying out the graffiti removal work.

For a great proportion of the year, our CBM Mike Williams has been the only local officer covering our two local Council Wards; also his area has been increased to enable a Home office promise to have a policing team in every area. This has made his job difficult. We have made representations about this to the Police Authority and our local Police management and have been supported in this by our local councillors who recently had a meeting with Inspector Ahari. Since then PCSO Matthew Preston has joined our local policing team and PCSO Martyn Lewis has returned to duty. We have noted more police foot patrols and hope that this will make a big difference when supported by Operation Quest which is designed to maximise the availability of Response Officers to their core duties. The police through research have decided that they need to improve their management of calls and response. Our thanks go to our local policing team for their care of our area.

Unlawful Pedlars are a problem in Old Colwyn ~ Residents have regularly been advised to politely decline to look at the wares offered by doorstep traders. No Cold Calling Zones will continue to be rolled out across Old Colwyn we are told.

Over the last year, Old Colwyn has seen damage to trees and public gardens.  This is mindless vandalism, we have reported it regularly. It is hard to understand the mentality of people who damage property in the knowledge that they are spoiling an area.  

Drinking in public places and associated bad behaviour and careless disposal of the bottles, cans and boxes has been a common report in our agendas throughout the year as has rowdy groups of people walking the streets of the village in the late evening, at weekends and holiday periods, sometimes causing damage and intimidation,. This group behaviour was the focus of a Dispersal Order last year between May and November. It was reported that 70 people were dispersed from public gardens over the summer at various times. We have heard recently that the Local Authority is due to implement licensing changes and byelaws which may impact on these issues. Teamwork between the Police and Local Authority is a key strategy in combating licensing and other problems; it is reported to have been very successful in this area. Binge drinking although a national problem affects neighbourhoods.

Dog fouling has been a feature of our reports regularly and we have recently been told that the Council together with the PCSOs are gearing up to make a big difference to this issue.

Eighteen unused fibreglass telegraph poles were removed from Old Colwyn streets as a result of our enquiries. They were unused and forgotten after eighteen years. BT was very cooperative and removed them when contacted by the council on our behalf. That has made a big difference to the street scene.

On 31st March 2008 a dead rat was found in Station Road and another was found in back Abergele Road. In August a meeting took place with Barry Mulholland from the Welsh Water company. He undertook to bait the sewers in the area to look for signs. In November Mr Mulholland reported that there was no sign of rat infestation. He stated that the contracts were soon to be given to Conwy CBC to bait the sewers regularly as they used to do.

In August a person being cared for at Queens Court Care Establishment, approached a house nearby in the early hours. A letter expressing residents concerns was written from our committee to the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales who undertook to visit and inspect the home. In October, the Inspectors report was received and deemed to be a good result. CSSIW now has that establishment on their radar in support of the community. Mistakes and shortcomings were found and addressed and the premises will be monitored. This is a big step forward; CSSIW will not want any further misshaps.

St John’s Church Garden ~ The Residents Association was awarded a Green Pennant in 2008 by the Civic Trust.  The garden was also judged first in the Churches section of Colwyn in Bloom. It was also one of the gardens visited by Wales in Bloom judges in support of Colwyn Bay’s bid for the Large Town category which it won for the 7th time. Hours of voluntary work since April 2005 stand at 4220 hours.

Other correspondence ~ The committee has written letters to various bodies about issues

Police Authority ~

We addressed the police officer morale survey. Government targets and bureaucracy have added tremendous pressure. Rather than being allowed to be police officers that provide the visible, and reassuring presence that the public want, they complain of  chasing detections that are not there, in pursuit of targets.

In January we addressed the subject of the Fear of Crime at a Police Authority consultation meeting. The fact that we had written a letter was referred to in the minutes but the content was dismissed as unrepresentative of public opinion by the chief constable and not referred to in the minutes by the police authority. We expressed our views about this in writing and the letters are on our website for people to make their own minds up as to their validity.

In May we wrote a letter addressing the Police Authority priority for 2009 / 2010 of giving a better quality of service and made representations for inclusion in the agenda of the meeting about how they could best meet that priority in our view. On this occasion our views were better received and our opinions were summed up by the Chair of the meeting and taken forward for consultation with management.

Council ~

We have addressed the issue of the proposed Vodaphone mast near ALDI in support of our councillors and members. Our letters were addressed to David Jones MP and Darren Millar AM who both targeted the matter with Vodaphone on our behalf. We made representations at meetings which were organised. The application may now be amended as Vodaphone are to share masts with O2.

Highways Department have been very responsive in pursuing highway marking matters including left turn arrows on the road in Cadwgan Road to support the single sign which is sometimes obscured by vehicles. They have also continued preparations for yellow lines in Cliff Road, which is still under consideration, to prevent the obstruction of large vehicles passing along that road which often have to reverse out of the road.

Wheelie bins stored on the road and unsightly road furniture was also addressed with the council. They are looking into the problems. The police and our councillors have also commented on this issue in environmental audits.

Speakers during the year ~

July 2008 ~ Sgt Rob Taylor the NWP Wildlife Officer

August 2008 ~ David Jones MP

September 2008 ~ Darren Millar AM

February 2009 ~ Inspector Essi Ahari, Inspector for East Conwy.

February 2009 ~ Melanie Lawton, Arson reduction coordinator for North Wales Fire and rescue Service.

May 2009 ~ Mr Phil Rafferty, Head of Regulatory Services, Conwy CBC.

These were all extremely useful talks, of value to members and the minutes of the talks are on our website www.oldcolwyneast.co.uk . Visits to the website have grown over time and for instance in the last month, there have been 581 different persons visiting the website.