At the end of the summer term all the residents of Leaside Way had a letter from St George’s School inviting them to a meeting to discuss the traffic problems caused by the buses and cars taking the boys to and from school.

I went along and found them understanding of our concerns i.e. cars parked on the verges and at times a line of five or six buses belching out fumes for minutes at a time. I was assured action would be taken.
Although outside the remit of the talks, litter and hedge-breaking were discussed. They will do all they can to correct this behaviour. They said, and I believe them, it is only a small percentage of boys who behave in this way.

I attended another meeting on the 12th September. I learnt that the installation of the pedestrian phase in the traffic lights at the Stoneham Lane/ Bassett Green Road crossroads had been put on hold for financial reasons. I will only go to future meetings when, as promised, they let me know that something relevant to us is coming up.

This walk takes us on a circular route via the Wide Lane Playing Fields and Stoneham Lane. The walk takes about one hour and a quarter.
Go down Bassett Green Road and under the railway arch. Just after the Fleming Arms enter the northern section of the Monk’s Brook Greenway and walk along the path. Just before a little bridge over a drain, you will see on your right a path leading to a stile and some steps to a pedestrian crossing over the railway line. Taking this, you emerge in Wide Lane on the south side of the Ford Employees’ Car Park.
Go along Wide Lane, under the M27 and past Southampton Airport Station. Continue a little further along Wide Lane to the car park of Southampton University’s Wide Lane Playing Field. Enter and go clockwise around this splendid playing field following the south and then west boundary. In the north west corner find a path that leads out to the byway Doncaster Drove, south of the Concorde Club.
Go over the bridge, cross the main road and enter old Stoneham Lane. Go along Stoneham Lane past North Stoneham Church. After passing under the M27 enter the field on your right and cross it diagonally. While crossing the next playing-field to the west you will see on your left St George’s School. Go to the left of the basket-ball pitches and pick up the path that skirts the School and leads out to Leaside Way and so back into Bassett Green Road.
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Are you a car or van driver? Where do you park your car? Is it in front of your neighbour’s window? Would you appreciate a vehicle parked outside your house? Think before you park!
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Ethelburt Avenue Residents were well represented at this year’s AGM, and many offered advice about the appropriate work that needs to be done to keep the road in good order. Within the financial constraints it was generally agreed that the current road surface requires regular and frequent repair, and that this is best done by residents.
This year’s volunteer repair work has mainly been organised by resident Ralph Page. The potholes were to be filled on Saturday 5th October, but unfortunately after delivery of material, this had to be postponed at short notice. A week or two after the potholes are filled in, we will use a roller to pack down the surface, which should slow the formation of new potholes.

At the AGM, there were suggestions that traffic calming measures (such as speed humps or width constrictions) might be needed to slow the traffic, and to deter use of the Avenue as a cut-through. If you have an opinion about this, then please get in touch by letter or email.

Everyone agreed that drainage was a problem, but there was some concern about the best way to solve this. We plan to employ contractors to repair the drains in the Avenue, but we are still considering options to ensure that the drains are effective and do actually collect the water that currently runs down the middle of the road!
Finally, we will make house calls to collect this year’s remaining maintenance contributions (of £30) this week.

Moving the AGM to the lighter evenings of mid-September more than doubled the attendance of the previous year. The meeting amended the rules to extend the scope of the Association to Summerfield Gardens. Ray George in his report mentioned the formation of the Southampton North Neighbourhoods Partnership. At present the Association is not represented on this bodyand is missing out on an opportunity to push for local improvements.
Steve Mackenzie reported on repair work to Ethelburt Avenue (see below).
The agenda item on ‘Damage to trees’ produced a lively discussion. Although a contrary view was expressed, the prevailing view of the meeting was that swings should not be set up in trees, because of the potential damage to the tree and also the destruction of the bulbs planted beneath the tree. (Contributions on this subject are invited for the next Newsletter.)

Only half-an-hour was left for an informative talk by Jane Davies on ‘Conservation – Illustrations from the New Forest’. She showed real feeling and sensitivity for the built environment.
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On July 25th, the Hampshire Police Authority held a public consultation meeting in the Guildhall. During the evening we divided into five groups based on the areas covered by the Neighbourhoods Partnerships to prioritise our concerns. The North Neighbourhoods'(Swaythling, Bassett and Highfield) top three priorities were action against antisocialbehaviour, more resources for crime prevention and provision of police foot patrols.

The 2002 AGM of the Association will be on Monday 16th September at 7.30pm in the Hardmoor Early Years Centre, Leaside Way. This is a month earlier than previously to take advantage of the lighter evenings.
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On previous occasions the Committee has drawn attention to damage caused by putting swings and ropes in trees which rub off the bark and so kill the branches. A tree surgeon has advised us that branches must be protected by wrapping plastic foam around them.
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To complement the Southampton Partnership described in the last Newsletter, the City Council is setting up five ‘Neighbourhoods Partnerships’. The aim is to bring together a range of agencies and community groups to influence strategic developments which affect the neighbourhood. The Southampton North Neighbourhoods Partnership, covering the wards of Bassett, Highfield and Swaythling was launched at  meetings on July 4th and 18th.

The Swaythling and District Community Action Forum is being disbanded.

On June 22, I attended the annual Community Conference at the Southampton Institute organised by the Southampton Environment Centre. There was a choice of 12 workshops. After solving the City’s transport problems at the ‘Getting around Southampton’ workshop, I went to one called ‘Graffiti Fix’ where the City’s Cleansing Officer, John Martin introduced us to the Sparkling Southampton Community Cleanup Kit. The graffiti damage in Southampton is at least £300,000 per year and is getting worse. We practised removing some graffiti on a bottle bank in the grounds of the Institute and were then presented with our own cleanup kits. If you would like to use the kit to remove some graffiti near you, give me a ring on 023 8055 6056.