- Are residents aware that a number of consultation meetings are run by the various homelessness agencies operating in Petersfield?

- Jimmy's holds regular open meetings for local residents?

- Wintercomfort have set up an advisory group for the Elizabeth Way Shelter and have invited local representation from the Riverside area, in the form of Ward Councillors and two local residents.

- How can representation be best achieved on these bodies?

- Ward councillors already attend to represent residents' views and report on developments in the Petersfield Voice.

- Should a PACT representative also represent local views; whom would they - represent; who would elect them and what would be their mandate?

- Police will help set up Neighbourhood Watch schemes if asked - Spokesperspon for elderly and distressed is what councillors believe they are elected to be. If there are instances when they are failing, they need to know.

- Concern about Mill Rd cemetery is shared by ward councillors; but:

- not all collapsing gravestones are due to vandalism;- some have succumbed to age and subsidence.

- City Council is contracted to do some maintenance, and has produced a management agreement to try to improve maintenance effectiveness

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- The nature of schemes is governed by very tight government regulation, on things like the length of road, distance between hazards etc; so they are often not quite what people want or expect.

- Experience (eg St Matthew's St and Romsey) is that schemes are only popular until they are introduced; then they become unpopular with local residents who find them noisy, that they induce subsidence and increased exhaust fumes as drivers slow down and accelerate over bumps or chicanes.

- The City Council used to subsidise calming schemes, but does this no longer partly for above reasons, partly because it confuses accountability

- Unofficial advice is that the best and much the cheapest form of control is staggered parking (as in York St)

- Ward councillors have given a lot of consideration to calming in Norfolk St, but have reluctantly accepted officer advice that the form that it would be required by law to take would not reflect what residents want or achieve any effective results.

Suggestions ?

- Remember this in only an outline plan, not the real thing - it is the red line round the outside that is being decided at this stage, not the detail

- But it is essential at this stage that any planning gain that is going to be sought from the scheme should be flagged up. Considerations that PACT may want to take into account:

The next PACT meeting on Jan 12th is likely to be too late to influence what the outline Planning Agreement asks of the developers; so PACT members need to find a means to consider and suggest ideas quickly.

- Ambitions need to be tempered because:

- The proposed scheme is not large enough to entitle the planning authority to insist on large planning gain;

- Planning gains need to be self-financing if they are not to impact on Council budgets;

- impact on Council budgets would mean a service not being delivered somewhere else, which would have to be justified, not just within the area, but across the city.

- It may therefore be appropriate to ask the developer to fund activity in an existing building (eg Young St) rather than paying the costs of a new building and leaving someone else to pay for activity. Ward Councillors are currently pursuing that as a possible option.

- It may also be appropriate to ask the developer to fund improvement to Coldham's Lane railway bridge, to improve access to sports facilities on Coldham's Lane.

- St Matthew's Church also produces Streetwise, which is a nationally applauded local publication. Contact is the vicar, at the Vicarage in Geldart St

- There is a notice board outside St Matthew's School on Norfolk St which is badly neglected. PACT (or other residents' organisations) could probably use it. Elaine Shortt (City Council Community Development) is the contact for this.

- Allotments - New St is fully occupied. Unoccupied ones are available on Stourbridge and Fairfax Rd sites (off Coldham's Lane). It would not be justifiable to introduce more while these have low rates of occupancy.

- Parkside has a budget for youth activity. A youth facility not under control of Parkside would probably have to be funded by users themselves. Is that a price worth paying for continued hostility to Parkside ?

- The same applies to the Mallett, which might be persuaded to offer, for example, the coffee morning and lunch club facilities which have been suggested

- Cherry Trees in St Matthew's St offers daytime facilities to over-55s every weekday except Thursday

- Ditchburn Place also runs a day centre for the elderly, with coffee, entertainment etc.

- Bingo takes place Sundays and Tuesdays at Alex Wood Hall

- Alex Wood Hall is used by the community already, as is St Matthew's Church Hall.

- Post Office closure in Burleigh St is now being replaced by one opening in Tredgold St - between Grafton Centre and Newmarket Rd

- A new Chemist has now opened next to the surgery at 125 Newmarket Rd