Councillor Melvin Collin was nominated Vice-Chair and members agreed the nomination.

Resolved:

Councillor Melvin Collins was appointed Vice-Chair.

Page 3:  Day Opportunities Consultation

Not here last meeting – problems following form

        See Cllr Lal/Celia who will take details and make sure the form forwarded on to the consultation team.

Page 5 (37) double yellow lines at Bedfont Park

The traffic section requested the right location

        Celia asked Malvina to identify the right location to pass to traffic section.

Page 5 Issue raised by Gary O’Flynn regarding fly tipping. 

        The Chair said that the council was looking at the issue of fly-tipping in this area and will keep members updated.

The Chair announced the nomination of a new member for the forum top table from the charity, Safety Hounslow, Sharon Birch.  He asked members to welcome Sharon to the top table.

The minutes of the meeting were agreed as an accurate record.

The Chair introduced Steve Prince, Head of Parking and Traffic Enforcement Services to update members on the changes to Blue Badge applications and Parking Policy.

Steve Prince welcomed the opportunity to tell members of the following changes to Parking Policy:

        Following a trial period, parking policy had been changed last year to allow blue badge holders to park in residents’ bays with the blue badge and clock on display. 

Forum members indicated that they were not aware of the policy change.  Steve replied that any changes to CPZs (controlled parking zones) would have been advertised in the local press and consultations arranged including the local Area Forum.

        An issue was raised regarding mobility scooters where there was no possibility of displaying a badge.  Steve replied that a mobility scooter was not considered a road vehicle but it was considered a motorised wheelchair.  It was not a registered vehicle in terms of traffic enforcement.

        A question was asked about Yates car park which Steve stated was private land and was unable to comment.  The Chair asked members to let Celia know of any personal parking issues to pass to Steve for reply.  Steve advised members that in the public car parks in Hounslow disabled users can park in any bay with there badge on clear display.  It did not have to be a marked disabled bay.

Regarding Blue Badge applications and renewals he explained that those who had applied in recent months would have realised there was a problem with the speed of processing and he would like to explain why:

        At the end of 2011 around October/November Parking Services was advised by the NHS that GPs will no longer be assessing blue badge criteria.  The application process was dependent on doctors carrying out assessments and providing feedback on eligibility for a Blue Badge. 

        The Council tendered for a private medical practice to assess blue badge applications and following consultation, appointed a firm called Able2 who were experienced in dealing with blue badge assessments, physicals, as well as looking over the application criteria.  This would be effective from 1^st April 2012 but due to a delay, the system was not fully in place on 1^st April 2012.  GPs were returning applications to the Civic Centre unprocessed and it would take a number of weeks to get the Able2 process working effectively.  There were also changes to the issue and design of Blue Badges by the Government incorporating new fraud prevention measures.  Northgate will send out the Blue Badges, once approved, in 7 days.

        Steve was asked what the new organisation was doing to speed up the processing.  He replied that a backlog of 300-400 applications in the Civic Centre two weeks ago had been processed and sent to Able2 for assessment.  When assessed the application would be returned to the Council and he had asked for more resources to input outcomes on the database for Northgate to issue the new badges. 

        There had been a number of complaints about  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

The Chair introduced Amarpal Soor to the forum to talk about accessibility and traffic inclusion and respond to questions raised in the forum by members.

Amarpal outlined the areas the department covered:

        Road safety for children

        Walking patrols

        Cycling drills

        Cycle training

        Implement, after consultation, road safety schemes

        Holds funding from TfL to implement road safety schemes after reviewing accident statistics.

        Look at requests from residents to implement schemes

        Deal with Wait & Load restriction, amendments and implementation of new ones.

        Install controlled parking zones and review.

        Deal with footway parking schemes.

        Have a dedicated member of staff who looks after requests for disabled bays.  Amarpal will leave a contact number with Celia.

        Review disabled parking issues and increase disabled parking bays as required.

Amarpal then answered questions from forum members on the following issues:

Pick up and drop off restrictions at Feltham Station

Having heard the difficulties with pick up and drop off at Feltham station, Amarpal said that from 16^th April 2012 restriction times had changed for the bus stand at the station.  From this date anybody can pick up and drop off passengers between 5.30pm and 7.30am the following morning and at weekends.  Passengers could be dropped off at any part of the forecourt to the station.  It was pointed out to Amarpal that there was signage to indicate the restriction times.  He would talk to Chris Calvey-Freeman about making this clear at the station.

Regarding parking for the local chemist and post office on Staines Road, he told members that this was a private forecourt and that the Council had no jurisdiction on parking in this area.

Amarpal also informed members that the booklet for the Blue Badge Scheme is clear that disabled drivers can park on single and double yellow lines outside the loading and waiting restrictions with the badge clearly displayed for the time allowed.  He reminded members to be careful not to park across dropped kerbs.

There was a variety of road safety schemes which the department implemented depending on the views and locality of the scheme and following consultation with the local area. 

The Department was involved in the design and implementation of road safety schemes so able to incorporate suggestions from interested parties and tailor the scheme for the designated area.  

Schemes were regularly reviewed and updated.

The Chair thanked Amarpal for attending the forum.

Foundation Trust update: what you need to know

The Chair welcomed Stephen Sword, Chairman of Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare NHS Trust (HRCHT).

Mr Sword gave a short presentation on the HRCHT to inform members of what the organisation does:

        Provide community-based health services to the 425,000 people living in Hounslow and Richmond.

        Community healthcare covered most services outside hospitals or GP surgeries:

o       District nursing, health visiting, podiatry, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, sexual health.

        It also provided specialist services such as continence, diabetes and neuro-rehabilitation.

        The organisation also ran the Hounslow Urgent Care Centre and walk-in centre at Teddington Memorial Hospital.

The HRCHT mission and strategy was to provide care that we and our families would want to use for:

        Preventing illness, improving health and wellbeing

        Maintaining independence, preventing deterioration in health

        Preventing avoidable hospital admissions/extended stays in hospital

        Providing high quality end of life care

Mr Sword outlined the new structure for the HRCHT which consisted of:

        Members – drawn from local people and staff and that they already had 3000+ members

        Council of Governors elected by members – pubic and staff members with appointments from organisational partners

        Board of Directors – Chief Executive, non-executive and executive directors

He invited interested residents to apply for membership which was free to anyone aged 16 or over and said that members could be involved as much or as little as they wished.  This included just receiving newsletters or taking part in surveys or attending meetings and also standing for election to the Council of Governors.  Forms and information were available at www.hrch.nhs.uk or by e-mail to communications@hrch.nhs.uk or requested by telephone on 020 89733143

In response to a question from a member, Mr Sword explained the differences in the services available with foundation trust status.

Some forum members expressed an interest in becoming members and the Chair urged forum members to become members of HRCH and be involved in shaping health provision in Hounslow and Richmond.

Mr Sword left some information for forum members to take away after the meeting.

The Chair thanked Mr Sword for attending the Disability Community Forum to talk to members.

The Chair allowed 5 minutes for Members to raise issues in the open forum:

        A request was made to invite someone from the organisation responsible for parking services at West Middlesex Hospital.

Action: Celia will make enquiries and request a representative attend a future Disability Community Forum Meeting,

        A request was made for the chairs at the meeting to be reviewed as some were not suitable for people with back/spinal problems.

Action: Celia and the Clerk will look into this issue.

        A request was made to invite an officer from Capital One call to the meeting to discuss issues regarding disability services and taxicard usage.

Action: Celia will look into inviting someone from this organisation to a future Disability Community Forum.

John Seear informed members of the new Head of Crime Support Project, Operating Data and Storage Centre. He passed around a leaflet to members and advised them of a drop in service from Monday to Wednesday for anyone who felt they had been a victim.

Future items for consideration

The next meeting of the Disability Community Forum will be Wednesday 17^th October 2012 at 6.30pm.