In leafy Crosspool, the recent pause in garden waste collection has turned the humble green bin into a symbol of community spirit. As residents band together, sharing tips on composting and waste management, the green bins stand ready, like soldiers awaiting orders. They’re not just receptacles for clippings and peelings anymore; they’re beacons of cooperation, patiently lined up for the next collection day, Saturday, 26th October. Remember to set your alarmsand wheel out your green companion by 7am. Keep abreast of updates from the Sheffield County Council website and other local news sources.
Stephen Hill/Benty Lane junction still on the agenda – hope to have a report in the next Open Meeting.
Council grant for 20 Union flags & poles – to decorate the precinct in time for the 2012 Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and Olympic games.
Treasurer’s Report (Chris Batchelor)
Our bank account remains healthy– but this is because the grant for the flags has yet to be spent, and next years’ summer flowers will need to be paid for.
Crosspool Festival
This will start on 7th July with Crosspool Open Gardens, and end with the Summer Fayre on Sat 14th, & Open Air service on Sun 15th. The Festival Committee would like some more helpers – please contact Rev Frances Eccleston or Ian.
Police Report (Pc Louise Atha & Pc Dave Hall)
Allotment break-ins – especially to the society’s hut & container, from which several hundreds of pounds were taken, & a lot of mess caused. Residents were urged to post the serial numbers of eg lawnmowers and similar equipment on the website www.immobilize.com so stolen items can be traced back to them. Operation Herbaceous is in place to try to stop this.
Scrap metal & lead nicking; Operation Anchor has been targeting & stopping suspicious vehicles in Dore & Totley (19) and Bramall Lane & Ecclesall Rd (34) – & prosecuting those with unroadworthy vans or no waste carrying licences.
Car crime; there have been some break-ins to vehicles on Crookes/Crookesmoor. Residents were urged not to leave satnav cradles on display.
Operation Dark Nights is about to begin for Halloween & Bonfire Night, & shops being checked to ensure no underage sale of alcohol or fireworks is taking place.
Questions were taken on verge bollard use, bad parking on Manchester rd & the proposed closure of Manchester road round Stephen Hill, Delph Hse Rd & Selborne Rd for resurfacing.
Councillors’ Question time (Sylvia Anginotti, Brian Holmes & Geoff Smith)
Councillors answered questions such as a query on attic extension building and trespass by a neighbour, bus timetabling & the new Optio scheme (voluntary partnership agreement between Stagecoach & First – nos. 120 & 52 buses), and why the 51 never seems to come on time!
Residents were asked to keep details of timetabling failures & send them on to Ian Hague, or direct by phone to Pam Horner (SYPTE External Relationships Manager – 0114 2211452).
There were concerns over poor bus lane signage (Ripley St), silly bus lane sections (Mushroom Lane head), and why the 120 stop in town is Flat St & not the Interchange. The Vernon Tce bus shelter issue was raised again – & Cllr Anginotti suggested an online petition direct to Council about this.
Residents asked whether the post box could be moved from outside Craft Angels to a less congested spot in the shopping precinct, but this has been requested before & Royal Mail say they can not do so.
There was also a request to have the word ‘SLOW’ painted at the bottom of Sandygate Rd hill, where drivers come round the bend to the zebra crossing.
AOB
A special limited edition of Crosspool cards is available from Craft Angels – £2.50 per pack.
There will be a Christmas Disco at St Columba’s on 4th Dec; tickets from the Crosspool Pet Shop. Father Christmas will be there!
The Sheffield to Castleton & Bakewell bus (operated by Derbyshire County Council) that runs along Manchester rd is to change to number 273/4/5.
Ian Hague is hoping to get funding for an over-60s trip …. music will be involved!
Green Garden Waste bags; remember the last collection will be the week starting 31st Oct. A report on all aspects of waste collection throughout the city is expected, so until this is published there will be no green waste collections.
The Rivelin Valley Conservation Group has been given a Lifetime Achievement Award (collected by Graham Appleby & Keith Kendall).
The next Open Meeting will be Thursday, 26 January 2012. 7pm, St Columba’s.
If you’ve had a busy Easter weekend in the garden, you’ll be pleased to know that green garden refuses sacks are available once again and the collection service appears to be back in full swing.
It seems that you can once again pick up green plastic sacks for garden refuse from all the places across the city we were using such as libraries, housing offices and First Point locations.
Having filled between three and 12 bags it is your responsibility to contact Veolia on 0114 273 4567 to arrange collection which will be within the following 20 working days. Soil, rocks, large logs will not be collected. If you do not ring Veolia they will not pick up your sacks even if they are left out on the path or verge.
Meanwhile, the reusable hessian sack scheme for green waste that was announced last November has been scrapped following the budget cuts to local authority spending. Plastic sacks were seen as a more affordable alternative.
A new collection system for green waste has been announced by the council and Veolia.
The city-wide scheme includes Crosspool and will see the introduction of reusable green sacks instead of green plastic bags.
Households can expect delivery of the reusable green sacks and a collection calendar in February and March next year. The collections will run every four weeks.
The new system means that residents will no longer need to collect sacks from distribution outlets or contact Veolia to arrange collection.
Crosspool householders are reminded that the final collection of plastic green waste sacks is this week (commencing 8 November 2010) in S10.
After the November collection and before the new system is introduced in 2011, the service will revert back to the previous procedure, where residents are required to to phone Veolia on 0114 2734 567 option 1 and then leave them outside property boundaries for collection on the arranged date.
Green plastic sacks will soon be a thing of the past for the Crosspool green waste collection service
Second computer course (St Columba’s) very successful
More spring bulbs have been planted. Christmas trees are expected to be erected in early December.
Crosspool Forum website has really taken off – thank you to Robin Byles
Another successful Summer Fayre and first-time Crosspool Festival; both are planned to continue next year – helpers and ideas please
The Crosspool Harvest scheme has had some set backs but hopes to rally
The Motor World site (Turner Investments) – planning officer recommends refusal
The Forum Committee still has a vacancy for one more member.
Treasurer’s Report and balance sheet was presented.
Police report and incidents -PCSO Garry Hizam
Graffiti artists have been making reparation – ‘restorative justice’
The week beginning 1 November the police will be cracking-down on school childrens’ behaviour in the Crosspool shops area
Operation Dark Night from 31 October to 5 November will target disruptive behaviour.
Environmental Enforcement Officer (Sheffield City Council) – Andrew Ashforth
Crosspool shops and business correct waste-disposal project. All businesses must have special arrangements for the removal of their non-domestic waste, and ensure the rear of their property is kept clean and tidy, as well as the front.
Scrap collecting vehicles – in four days Andrew has stopped and searched 6 of these. Householders (arranging for eg fridges to be removed) must ensure the company they deal with has the correct licence to do this work – or will be held liable of the item is then fly-tipped.
Tyres are not to be put in skips – the skip companies will give advice on their disposal.
Wheelie bins must be removed from the highway as soon as possible after emptying – residents can be fined if they persist in not doing so.
Portable CCTV cameras – Sheffield City Council have a few available they can fix on lampposts to target fly-tipping sites.
Nuisance bonfires on allotments to the rear of gardens; talk to the allotment association chair about getting all the allotment owners to have one big fire rather that lots of little ones, or composting the waste.
Should residents wish to contact Andrew at the council, his telephone number is 0114 293 0347.
Garden Waste scheme (green bags)
This scheme is being phased out and shortly no more green bags will be available. After 8 November residents will need to phone up for the next date of full bag collection in this area, but from February 2011 a waxed/hessian bag scheme may be in place; these will be reuseable.
Anyone needing more green bags this autumn and winter – or indeed with far too many unused ones! – to contact the Clarion so these bags can be put to good use and not wasted.
Planning
Vernon Terrace bus shelter – no further information.
Crosspool Tavern old car park entrance – this should have been ‘greened over’ a year or so back – this will be chased up.
Benty Lane/Manchester Road junction; an urgent Highways engineer’s visit is requested; a ‘no right turn’ onto Manchester Road sign, or mini roundabout is needed here.
Crosspool Coffee Shop – an application to allow this to become a house has been accepted.
Crosspool News - crosspool.info 