BURNGREAVE AREA 
CO-ORDINATORS COLUMN

by Stuart Bolton

This is Stuart Bolton, your Area Co-ordinator, reporting on what your Area Panel have been doing for you in March and what issues you have asked us to take up. 

Don’t forget you can contact the Area Panel at: Christ Church, Pitsmoor Road, tel. 276 9134 or write to us at: Room G44, Sheffield City Council, Old Town Hall, Sheffield, S1 2HH or email us on s.bolton@unisonfree.net. Also, all minutes and agendas for Area Panel meetings are available on the Internet at www.sheffield.gov.uk

WORKING TOGETHER 
Your Area Panel is always working with Tenants and Residents Associations as we both want to help make changes that make Burngreave an even better place for you to live in. As an example we recently asked all the Tenants and Residents Associations to tell us what small improvements they would like your Area Panel to help fund. I am happy to say that of the three replies we got we have been able to help with two for putting in new benches for the Firshill and Margate area.

GET READY FOR LAUNCH
The group that is working to set up the Fir Vale Forum had a day at Osgathorpe Park Pavilion to help them plan what needs to happen next. It was decided that the next meeting on 17th April would be about these two bits of work:
• planning for the Forum’s launch at its first big meeting at the end of June
• putting together a newsletter which tells people about the Forum
If you would like to help with one of these then please come along to the meeting. You can get more details from the Area Panel office (see above)


EVEN MORE RUBBISH
The change over of rubbish and dustbin collection by the new private company Onyx has meant we have had to wait but now your Area Panel has been able to buy you some extra Bring Out Your Rubbish Days. These will have happened at the end of March in the Page Hall and Owler Lane area and the Panel is sure that they will have been as popular as ever.

PLANNING A BETTER BURNGREAVE
Our last meeting on the changes you want made to the Unitary Development Plan, which is the plan that says what can and can’t be built in Burngreave and will help change where you live, is on:10th April 2002 at3pm, All Saint’s Community Centre, Lyon Close. 

It will start at 3.00 pm with the first two hours for women only and after that anyone can drop in and stay for as long as they want. From 6.30 to 8.30 p.m. we will be having a full public meeting so you can talk about issues and ask questions. You can find out more about the Unitary Development Plan at Burngreave library and the Council’s website or you can telephone 273 4157. If you can’t get to any of the meetings please get in touch with your ideas.

We have already had meetings in Fir Vale and Woodside and at your last meeting at Firshill Junior School you told us about the problems with traffic, transport and the poor image Burngreave has. You said how this could be changed with ideas about Supertram going to the Northern General Hospital, having more busses and making it easier and safer for people to walk about. You also said there is a need to make people more aware of what Burngreave can offer as a multicultural centre and by its industrial history.

You can meet your local Area Panel Councillors at their regular surgeries. These are at: 
• Burngreave Library, Spital Hill - every Saturday 11.00 to 12.00 pm 
• Pakistani Advice Centre, 58 Owler Lane - every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of month 3.30 to 4.30 pm 
• Firshill TARA Office, 11a Firshill Glade - Saturday 18th May 12.00 to 1.00 pm 

HAVE YOUR SAY - 
NEXT AREA PANEL MEETINGS

The dates for your next Area Panel meetings are:.
Thursday 16th May 2002 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm
Thursday 20th June 2002 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm
The issues and venues have not been set and if you have something that you want covered then please tell us.

What do you think? Join the debate on our Local Government and New Deal  bulletin board