Residents' Update:
Sunday 22nd November 2015

Dear All,
 
This week’s update includes:- Proposed new School for Whitley; Rubbish left by footballers on Whitley Common; Council Tax Fraud; ‘Government grant’ telephone call; Strange Early Morning Noises from Whitley Incinerator; Coventry & Solihull Waste Disposal Company Visit; Cheylesmore Community Centre Mirrors installed; City of Culture Bid 2021; St James Christmas Bazaar 28 November; Coventry Blitz Commemoration Service; Visit Santa at Coventry Motor Museum; Christmas Parking Offers; Regeneration of Coventry City Centre; Coventry City Council Budget; Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) information; Scams; Traineeship, Apprenticeship & Personal Development Opportunities; Diary; Useful Links. And Finally …

Proposed new School for Whitley
This week the Council has announced proposals for a new primary school for children with special needs to be built on the old Alice Stevens school site. Tiverton Primary special school in Coundon is set to close and be rebuilt on the redundant school site at Whitley.
 
The proposals include provision for a nursery and will also see close links between the two primary schools evolve. The report, seeking to go out to consultation, will go to a cabinet member meeting for Education next Thursday 26th November. Click to read the letter the school has issued.
 
Residents will be able to comment at the consultation meetings. We will keep you informed.
 
Rubbish left by footballers on Whitley Common
Yet again residents have reported to us that bottles, cans and rubbish have been left behind on Whitley Common after football matches. Here is the response from Ann Akerman, War Memorial Park Manager about what action they are taking to deal with the culprits.
 
Dear Helen and Cllr Noonan,
I have written to the two teams that officially play at Whitley and I have also sent their response and information regarding unofficial play to our environmental crime officers. I am copying them into the fixtures and they are monitoring to see who is causing the problems. The official footballers are very conscious of the need to clear up after themselves but we do get a lot of unofficial play at this site and this monitoring should hopefully determine who is leaving the litter and what action can be taken against them. Martin McHugh is my contact in Environmental Services and he may be able to advise better on any progress with this aspect. I will email the leagues again to see what the area was like when they played on the weekend in question.
 
I hope this helps a little.
 
Council Tax Fraud
We all moan about having to pay our Council Tax and are not happy when we hear about those who avoid payment.
 
The Council has commissioned a firm called ‘Civica’ to review the Council Tax payers who live alone and so claim the single person’s discount.
 
A number of residents have contacted us concerned and distressed about receiving letters from this firm asking for information on ‘other’ persons living at their address. It appears that even having a parcel delivered to someone else at your address can trigger a receipt of their letter.
 
Everyone wants to see fraud stamped out but these letters can be upsetting for innocent residents. If you receive one please get in-touch so that we can contact the correct department to sort it out.
 
Government grant telephone call 
A Whitley resident contacted Hazel to report a scam telephone call they received. The caller said he was calling on behalf of the Government in London. He informed the resident he had been awarded a grant of £8,000. The caller then asked the resident to confirm their name and age to enable them to process the money. The resident then said ‘not interested’ and put the phone down. Hazel reported this to the Council’s Trading Standards officer who sent the reply below
 
Good Afternoon Cllr Noonan,
 
In reference to the call that one of your residents has reported, we can confirm that this is indeed a scam.
 
We were first made aware of this one back in August and issued a scam alert.
 
We will now issue another alert to put residents on their guard.
 
Kind regards, 
Debbie Morgan


Read more
 
Strange Early Morning Noises from Whitley Incinerator
Residents near to the Whitley Incinerator on London Road were woken up at 5am on Monday morning with noises coming from the site. Below is the response from Richard Scawin, Compliance & Performance Manager, Coventry & Solihull Waste Disposal Co Ltd 
Dear Cllr Noonan,
 
May I apologise to your residents for waking them up Monday morning and explain the reason for the noise. It was caused by the contract gardeners used to cut down the trees/vegetation around the Household Waste Site. We have limited time to undertake the work as we need to keep the site open for the public, hence the early start (To cut back the vegetation and clean up before we open up). This work normally happens once / twice a year so I’m not sure exactly why it has caused a problem this time but I accept something must have changed.
 
We will review the work the next time it is scheduled to prevent a disturbance in future. May I apologise again and if they is any further information you require please do not hesitate to contact me.
 
Coventry & Solihull Waste Disposal Company Visit
By coincidence, Mark & Roger went on a tour of the Coventry & Solihull Waste Disposal premises, this week (see top photo). Many may know this site as the ‘Coventry Tip’.
Opening in 1975, the plant was built as a way of dealing with the general waste from cities. Initially, some of the heat produced from burning the waste was sold to the nearby Peugeot factory in Stoke however more recently it provides heating to many City Centre buildings; with the excess heat being turned into electricity.
 
It is one of the few waste disposal centres that is still local authority owned, the shareholders being Coventry (66%), Solihull (33%) and Warwickshire (1%). Over 300,000 vehicles deliver to the site each year from Coventry, Solihull, Warwickshire and Hinckley, and 11 tons of rubbish is processed per hour. The plant recycles around 69% of the waste with only 4% going to landfill. It operates 24 hours a day for 365 days a year with 69 full time staff.

It was stressed that the plant continually monitors emissions and must operate within stringent emission parameters.
 
Cheylesmore Community Centre Mirrors installed
As a result of the ‘Have More in Cheylesmore’ process of distributing the Asda ‘106 money’, the community centre was successful in their bid for money to buy mirrors.
 
After the relocation of radiators and plug sockets plus the levelling of walls, the mirrors are now in place.

They are each 6ft by 2ft with 8 have being installed in the Main hall and 7 in the Games hall.
 
These mirrors will benefit the many groups that use this centre such as: 
·  Black Sun Karate
·  GKR Karate
·  Flyte Gymnastics
·  Freeman Dance
·  Coventry Corps Drums

And a number of Adult Education classes including Zumba, Pilates, Salsa, fit mix, line dancing, yoga and dance.


Last week Mark attended the Broad Street City of Culture presentation and Roger the one at Fargo Village. Talks were given by Shona McCarthy and Andrew Dixon the successful Derry and Hull co-ordinators. 

Team Cheylesmore

Mark, Hazel and Roger are campaigning on local issues and working to make a difference in our area. They are always happy to hear from local residents and you can contact them on  
            024 7683 1101   

or e-mail Roger.Bailey@coventry.gov.uk Hazel.Noonan@coventry.gov.uk 
mtaylor24@live.co.uk