South Area Panel Minutes 12th May 2004
SOUTH AREA PANEL | ||
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Meeting held 12th May, 2004 | ||
at Meadowhead School, Dyche Lane | ||
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PRESENT: | Councillors Martin Lawton (Chair), John Campbell, Tessa Hainey, Mike Pye and Chris Tutt. | |
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| Also in attendance:- | |
| Steve Walmsley, Head of Corporate Human Resources Isobel Howie, Area Co-ordinator Amy Solder, Area Support Officer Debbie Merrill, Development Services Nick Fellgett, Street Force Elaine Muscroft, South West Primary Care Trust Jas Barn, South West Primary Care Trust Elaine Needham, South West Primary Care Trust Veronica Goddard, South West Primary Care Trust Becky Holdsworth, Lets Sort It Out Sheffield Project Manager Patrick Burns, Legal and Administrative Services And 27 members of the public. | |
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1. | APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE FROM MEMBERS OF THE PANEL | |
| There were no apologies for absence from members of the Panel. | |
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2. | PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS | |
| Members of the public asked questions and members of the Panel and officers responded as follows:- | |
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| Q. The stream at the entrance to Holmhirst Road had become a dumping ground. If the City Council could not afford to clear it, was it possible to arrange for volunteers to do so? | |
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| A. There was no objection to volunteers doing that work, but there would be health and safety issues of volunteers removing this form of debris and the stream was on land owned by Sheffield Homes. Street Force had done the clearing work in the past for the Housing Service on order. It was the duty of Sheffield Homes to clear the debris away. The Area Co-ordinator would investigate the possibility of volunteers during the work or of Street Force, Sheffield Homes and local residents clearing away the debris and then forming a Friends Group. She would also investigate the possibility of Section 106 funding being allocated to carry out environmental improvements in this area. | |
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| Q. Traffic holdups often occurred at Meersbrook and then there were further traffic hold ups on Queens Road due to way in which the traffic lights at Heeley Bridge worked. Could those lights be synchronised with the traffic lights at Woodseats? | |
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| A. This was an objective of the Woodseats Traffic Scheme. Extra traffic lights were being provided within the Scheme and the new Puffin Crossings at Woodseats would all be linked. The scheme was six weeks in advance of the timetable. | |
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| Q. Why had the pedestrian crossing for children attending Lowedges School not been installed at Chesterfield Road, when planning permission had been granted 18 months previously? | |
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| A. This would be investigated and a response would be sent to the questioner. | |
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| Q. The cars for sale which had been parked near the public toilets at Meadowhead had been moved, but they were now parked on the road approaching the garage concerned and car wheels were stored on the grass verge. Why was the land still being used as a car lot? | |
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| A. This was a matter for the South Yorkshire Police rather than the City Council to resolve and it would be passed to the Police for attention. | |
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| Q. Was this car dealership being operated as an unlicensed business? | |
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| A. It could not be proved that there was an unlicensed business as it appeared individuals were selling their own cars. A similar difficulty had arisen in another Ward and the South Yorkshire Police had stated that there were no powers for the Police to intervene if the cars were not abandoned, had current licences, were parked properly and were not causing an obstruction. However, if the cars were not licensed this could be reported to the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). The Area Co-ordinator would take the matter up with the South Yorkshire Police and the DVLA and would request them to investigate the matter. | |
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| Q. Why did the Councillors from the majority party, for this Ward, not attend the meetings of the Batemoor Tenants and Residents’ Association (TARA)? | |
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| A. This was unknown. The Chair (Councillor Lawton) was not a Councillor for the Ward but he attended the meetings of the TARA. | |
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| Q. Was it possible to install traffic lights on the Greenhill Parkway to enable residents to cross the road from Lowedges to Greenhill Village? | |
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| A. This would be taken up with the Highways Service and a response would be sent to the questioner. | |
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| Q. Residents had been promised that traffic lights would be installed at Dyche Lane for the children who were moving from Hazlebarrow School to Lowedges School but that had not been done. Instead a "lollipop lady” service had been provided. Would the traffic lights be installed in the near future? | |
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| A. This would be investigated and a response would be sent to the questioner. It was felt that the final location of the traffic lights would be a matter to be considered alongside the Meadowhead School Redevelopment Scheme. | |
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| Q. Did the Woodseats Traffic Scheme provide parking for disabled drivers? | |
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| A. This would be investigated and a response would be sent to the questioner. | |
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| Q. Two years previously a project had been set up for a pedestrian crossing at Dyche Lane, but a year ago residents had been told that papers had been lost. Was that not very convenient? | |
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| A. It was not possible to comment on this. | |
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| Q. Could the police station at Jordanthorpe, which was sited out of the way, be moved to an empty shop property on Dyche Lane so that everyone could see that there was a Police presence. The questioner had been informed that the police were unwilling to move because the present property was held rent free and some people contacting the police would prefer not to be seen going into a police station. | |
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| A. This was an internal decision for the Police to consider but the questioner could raise the matter at the next meeting of the South Yorkshire Police Community Forum, due to be organised shortly. The Area Co-ordinator would pass to the Police information regarding local organisations and the addresses of members of the public who gave her this information at the end of the meeting to enable the Police to publicise the date of the next meeting. | |
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| Q. There was no bus service from Lowedges to the Moor. Could anything be done about this? | |
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| A. This would be investigated and a response would be sent to the questioner. | |
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3. | SOUTH WEST PRIMARY CARE TRUST - LIFT PROGRAMME | |
| Ms. Elaine Muscroft, South West Primary Care Trust (PCT) gave a presentation on the PCT, with regard to (a) the area and population served by the PCT, (b) the work carried out by the PCT’s 650 members of staff, (c) the services for which the PCT was responsible, particularly GPs, dentists and opticians, (d) the allocation of the PCT's budget of £100m, (e) the role of the PCT in terms of health care, (f) the health needs of the 4,000 residents in the Lowedges, Batemoor and Jordanthorpe areas, (g) the census 2001 information relating to the area, particularly with regard to age, long term illness and unemployment, (h) the health indicators generally and from hospital data, relating to the area, (i) the views of local GPs regarding the issues affecting the health of local residents, particularly housing, the areas of service where improvement was needed and the main priorities for the community in terms of the health workforce and (j) the need for the PCT to obtain residents’ views to enable it to work with the community and to ensure that service developments were informed by local health needs. | |
| Veronica Goddard, PCT gave a presentation on the LIFT Programme for the Panel's area. She stated that the PCT had considered the information it had regarding health issues to find a focus for services and had decided that those services should be focussed particularly on chest and heart diseases. The decision had been taken to make the new Jordanthorpe Centre a specialist centre for those illnesses. For example, it would be the base for a substantial number of physiotherapists to help patients suffering from those illnesses. The Jordanthorpe Centre would also contain a GP practice, a dental surgery, a chiropodist and education/training facilities to teach staff from other parts of the City. There would also be a healthy eating café, an optician and a pharmacy within the building. Other LIFT Projects at Woodseats and Lowedges were planned and it was envisaged that the Lowedges Centre would focus on chest and heart disease and children's services. | |
| Elaine Needham, PCT gave a presentation on the Jordanthorpe LIFT Programme. She stated that there were 42 LIFT Projects throughout the country involving a budget of £1bn over 25 years, as part of the reform of the National Health Service's provision of Primary Care Services. The site for the Jordanthorpe Centre had been acquired on 19th April, 2004 and the functional layout of the Centre had been determined. Detailed design would begin at the end of this month. Work was planned to begin on site in November, 2004 and was scheduled to be completed in October, 2005 with the Centre opening in December, 2005. The Woodseats and Lowedges Centres had been prioritised by the Trust for the second phase of development and the PCT was focussing on Woodseats first, because a potential site had become available. The local community would be consulted on the content of the Centre. The Trust was also examining other potential sites at Woodseats and possible sites at Lowedges. There had already been one meeting with the Lowedges Tenants and Residents’ Association (TARA) to ensure that as many local people as possible would have an input to the scheme. There would be regular updates on the scheme to the local community and staff. The PCT would establish a web page and there would be an Open Day when the Centre was completed. The PCT was seeking as much public involvement as possible. | |
| Members of the public asked questions and Ms. Muscroft, Ms. Goddard and Ms. Needham responded as follows:- | |
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| Q. Were there plans to combat a possible tuberculosis epidemic and was it necessary to have a booster immunisation? | |
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| A. The tuberculosis immunisation scheme was still available and it was probably only necessary to be immunised once, but this matter would be taken up with the Consultant for Communicable Disease and a written response would be sent to the questioner. | |
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| Q. How would the shortage of doctors nationally be overcome if the Government was cutting back on University places for doctors? | |
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| A. It was probably the case that more doctors were being trained now. The PCT was working hard to achieve the best high quality care for people in Jordanthorpe. | |
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| Q. Would the Lowedges Centre provide accommodation for local drugs workers? | |
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| A. That would be the case. | |
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| Q. How would patients be referred to the LIFT Centres? Would it be done via their GPs? | |
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| A. That would be the case but patients from outside the immediate area could attend the Centres, to access the specialist services or staff would visit and take the services out to the patients. The possibility of the dental services being available to patients outside the immediate area would be investigated and a response would be sent to the questioner. | |
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| Q. Where was the site for the Woodseats Centre? | |
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| A. The proposed site was a former engineering works at Holmhirst Road. | |
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| Q. Would the LIFT Centre be a new build property? | |
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| A. That would be the case. | |
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| Q. Was the inclusion of adjacent empty shop premises within the scheme a possible option? | |
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| A. That was the case. | |
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| Q. Was the land identified not available for use by St. Luke's? | |
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| A. It would not be available for any use until a planning application for the site had been determined. | |
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| Q. Would there be future updates on the LIFT Scheme? | |
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| A. There would be Consultation Events during the summer and autumn of this year. | |
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| Q. Was it possible for there to be a choice of treatment for patients? | |
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| A. For particular conditions, especially orthopaedic ones, that would be done. The Government had imposed strict access targets for PCTs. | |
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| Q. Housing conditions contributed to ill-health. Was the Housing Service fair in its allocation of medical priority to tenants? | |
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| A. There had been a meeting today to determine a Health Strategy for Older People through the Housing Market Renewal Initiative. Strategies to achieve this had been discussed and there would be better linking between Sheffield Homes and the Primary Care Trusts to do so. | |
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| Q. Was the LIFT Initiative a partnership between the private and public sectors? | |
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| A. That was the case. | |
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| Q. What would the private sector obtain from this Initiative? | |
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| A. The private sector companies would have investors who would be shareholders and they would receive dividends through profits. | |
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| The Panel thanked Ms. Muscroft, Ms. Needham and Ms. Goddard for their presentations and noted the information reported. | |
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4. | LET’S SORT IT SHEFFIELD WASTE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN | |
| Becky Holdsworth, Project Manager, gave a presentation on the Let’s Sort It Sheffield Waste Awareness Campaign. She stated that the campaign had begun in January,2003 with the intention of raising awareness of domestic waste issues and to prompt action to deal with those issues. The Initiative was funded by the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme. Ms. Holdsworth worked for an independent consultancy, Eventure Consultancy Limited. The Initiative linked with the City Council's Waste Strategy. The profile of the Initiative had been increased by activities to encourage more sustainable waste management, through advertising on the buses, on the radio, within libraries, at skating rinks and in cinemas. The campaign had addressed a number of recycling Initiatives, the most recent one being composting, linking with International Composting Awareness Week from 3rd – 9th May, 2004. The work carried out locally together with the City Council and Onyx would tie in with national initiatives. The Project was scheduled to last for three years. | |
| Members of the public asked questions and Ms. Holdsworth, members of the Panel and officers responded as follows:- | |
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| Q. Could the blue bins be used for recycling tin cans and glass? | |
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| A. It was not possible to say for sure whether this would be the case but Onyx had been recommended to accept recycling of those materials. At the moment Onyx was focusing on recycling paper and card and green waste, as they were the most profitable materials. The paper and card market was buoyant. Funding had been obtained for a pilot Green Waste Collection Scheme although the areas in question had not yet been determined. If the scheme was successful and further funds were available, the plan was to extend the scheme across the City. There may also be pilot schemes for recycling tin cans and glass in the City in the future. | |
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| Q. There was a recycling facility at Sainsburys Supermarket on Archer Lane. Why was there nothing at Woodseats? | |
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| A. There were facilities at the Safeway and Iceland Supermarkets at Meadowhead. The possibility of other facilities being available would be investigated and a response be sent to the questioner. If suggestions were made regarding suitable sites for recycling Ms. Holdsworth would pass them on to Onyx. | |
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| Q. Could a list of recycling centres be placed on the City Council’s website? | |
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| A. This could be done. Onyx's website contained that information based on the enquirer's postcode and there was a link from the City Council’s website to the Onyx website. | |
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| Q. Until recently one booklet regarding recycling sites had been available. Why was that not available now? | |
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| A. Ms. Holdsworth was working with the City Council to do this and a bid for funding had been made to produce a single booklet. | |
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| Q. Why was this information only available on the website and why was there no reference in the current booklets to telephone numbers and addresses? | |
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| A. All the leaflets contained telephone numbers and a Telephone Hotline had been set up. | |
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| Q. The questioner had asked Onyx to collect a wooden bed for recycling purposes and had been informed that he would be charged £26 as a householder but if he had been in rented accommodation he would not have had to pay a charge. What was the reason for this? | |
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| A. That was unknown. | |
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| Q. Charging for the collection of rubbish led to dumping so should the policy of Onyx be reviewed? | |
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| A. This would be referred to Onyx and a response would be sent to the questioner. It was a policy decision which had been taken by the City Council and it could be reviewed. Each year six Bring Out Your Rubbish Days were provided by the Panel at different locations around the area of the Panel but there were budget issues regarding the provision of further Days. The funding for a scheme for recycling furniture had ended. | |
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| The Panel thanked Ms. Holdsworth for her presentation and noted the | |
| information reported. | |
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5. | AREA CO-ORDINATOR’S REPORT | |
| Isobel Howie, Area Co-ordinator reported that (a) the Woodseats Traffic Scheme was progressing well and a leaflet regarding the scheme would be circulated in the Woodseats area shortly, (b) Phase 2 of the Scheme would commence shortly afterwards, (c) the first Scheme was due for completion by 31st August, 2004, (d) there would be a further update report to the Panel on the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund Budget at the next meeting and (e) consideration had been given to improving the method of answering public questions raised at the Panel’s meetings. The Panel and members of the public were requested to note the report circulated with the agenda (Copy A) on the action taken to follow up previous questions. The aim was to provide a similar report at future meetings. | |
| Members of the public asked questions and Ms. Howie and members of the Panel responded as follows:- | |
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| Q. Why were there still flooding difficulties at the junction of Chesterfield Road and The Dale? | |
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| A. This question would be passed on to the contractors for the Woodseats Scheme and a response would be sent to the questioner. | |
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| Q. How often were the gullies cleaned at Woodseats? | |
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| A. This would be investigated and a response would be sent to the questioner. | |
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| Q. What was the present position regarding the provision of children's play equipment at the Carter Hall Playing Fields? | |
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| A. This would be investigated and a report back would be made to the Panel. | |
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6. | ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | |
| Ms. Isobel Howie, Ms. Amy Solder and Councillor Tessa Hainey | |
| The Chair reported that Ms. I. Howie, Area Co-ordinator would be seconded in the near future to the post of Partnership Manager with Sheffield First for Inclusion, Ms. Amy Solder, Area Support Officer would be taking up a post with the Arts Council next month and Councillor Tessa Hainey would not be standing for re-election at the forthcoming Municipal Elections. | |
| The Panel expressed its thanks to Ms Isobel Howie, Ms. Amy Solder and Councillor Tessa Hainey for their contribution to the work of the Panel and extended to them its best wishes for the future. | |
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| Mr. Michael Fidler | |
| The Chair reported that Mr. Michael Fidler had retired from his position as the Chair of the 66 Club, Scarsdale Road. | |
| The Panel expressed its appreciation to Mr. Michael Fidler for his contribution to the work of the 66 Club in providing activities for young people in the surrounding area and extended to him its best wishes for the future. | |
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7. | CITIZENS' AWARDS | |
| The Chair reported on a proposal that the Panel make Citizens’ Awards each year. | |
| The Panel agreed that nominations for Citizens’ Awards be sought from Local Community Organisations and individuals within the area of the Panel and that such Awards be made each year. | |
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8. | MINUTES | |
| The Panel (a) approved the minutes of the meeting of the Panel held on 17th March, 2004 and (b) received and noted the minutes of (i) the South Area Housing Meeting held on 13th April, 2004 and (ii) the Gleadless Area Housing Meeting held on 21st April, 2004. | |
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9. | DATE AND VENUE OF NEXT MEETING | |
| The Panel noted that the next meeting would be held on 14th July, 2004 at 6.30 p.m. at the Gleadless Valley Methodist Church, Blackstock Road. | |
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