Neighbourhood Forum

The neighbourhood forum was very well-attended tonight. There were at least 30 people there!

We were able to ask questions of 3 borough councillors, a county councillor, a council warden, police officers, PCSOs, the neighbourhood watch lady, the town's crime prevention officer, and anything they couldn't answer was noted and will be passed on to someone who can.

The whole thing kicks off again on Thursday morning.

Bushes

Tollgate Hill has seen some radical work on the roadside bushes in the last couple of weeks. Whats the verdict?

Does it look better without all the bushes?


Or did it look better before?

Two bites of the cherry

The council are experimenting a bit with the Broadfield Neighbourhood Forum and having two sessions - one at the normal time, and a second one during the day for those who can't manage evenings or might prefer a daytime meeting.

The first meeting is on Tuesday 25th September at 7:30pm

The second meeting is on Thursday 27th September at 11:30am

Both meetings are being held at the Broadfield Youth & Community Centre (opposite the Library)

Toby has moved on and the Forum is now being organised by Marie Ovenden. If the name seems familiar its because she used to be the Manager of the Community Centre before leaving to join Crawley Borough Council. The meeting is being billed as "new and improved". The leaflets do not say how it is new and improved so to find out you will have to turn up I guess.

Tollgate Hill takes over the Broadfield Forum!

Last night's Broadfield Neighbourhood Forum was slightly disappointing insofar as only 7 members of the public were there - outnumbered by the representatives from councils, police and housing associations . But it was the highest ever attendance from Tollgate Hill residents: 4 out of the 7.

That is not necessarily good news though. Three of the newcomers from TH were there as a result of suffering some extreme anti-social behaviour. The police more or less admitted that their patrols do not routinely take in our area very often as "it is a nice area with not many problems".

If you are experiencing some sort of problem it is not much consolation to know that its unusual for your area, but the very fact that these issues were raised and discussed with the police must help to get a better response in the future.

One topic of local interest which was discussed was the imminent opening of the Tollgate Express shop in Mann Close. The police had expressed some concerns about the location of the shop and opportunities it might offer to encourage groups of youngsters to hang around, and the local residents also voiced some concerns.

Let's hope the shop turns out to be a positive addition to the area and the fears are not justified. It all depends on how the place is managed and we should wait and see before judging it.

Broadfield Forum - July 2007

The next Broadfield Forum will be held at 7pm on July 17th at the Community Centre.

At the May meeting there were several Tollgate Hill-related matters raised and discussed, including traffic speeds on Tollgate Hill and other roads, acident blackspots and the overgrown paths on the Greenway as it goes from Tollgate Hill to Broadfield Park.

Tollgate Express

I met the owner of the new shop at the top of Tollgate Hill the other day - the Tollgate Express in Mann Close.

He says he is expecting to open in the next couple of weeks, probably from 8am until 8pm, selling newspapers, milk, bread and other essentials. I expect sweeties will also be involved

Easter rubbish collection days

The days for collection of rubbish and recycling will be different over the Easter holidays.

For the Tollgate Hill area the revised days are:

This week

• Thursday 5th as normal + recycling

Next week

• Saturday 14th

The week after

• Friday 20th + recycling

After that its back to normal. The Tollgate Hill area is "week 1" for recycling.

M&S Simply Food

Until the new shop opens in Mann Close (any news about that? Anyone?) it looks like our local shop is now M&S Simply Food!

They have opened a branch in the Pease Pottage Services. The direct route there from Tollgate Hill is a bit scary on foot as it involves crossing the motorway slip roads at the main roundabout, but its not too much further to go the other way:

The other way is to go up the steps into the Old Brighton Road, then turn left at the flower shop and approach the services from that way. I think there is a pedestrian entrance to the services by the little roundabout. Its about the same distance to get the morning paper as going down the hill to the Barton, but a bit more scenic. You do still have to cross the A264 though - but there is a traffic island in the middle so it can be tackled in two stages.

Just remember that if you want to get any cash out while you are there, the ATM in the services costs money for withdrawals, but there is a free Nationwide machine at the petrol station.

West Crawley County Local Committee

On Thursday there is a meeting of the West Crawley County Local Committee. The meeting is to be held at 4:30pm at Langley Green Primary School.

This meeting covers Broadfield, Bewbush, Gossops Green, Ifield, West Green, Langley Green and Southgate and meets in a different one of those areas each time. At the moment they are experimenting with meeting times as well to see what works. Although this one is being held in Langley Green it still covers Broadfield, and thus Tollgate Hill.

There is one item on the agenda of particular interest to Tollgate Hill residents: item 6 on the agenda is the allocation of contributions to various highways schemes. One of the schemes under consideration is a proposed extension to the Crawley Cycle Network around Broadfield House, linking Buchan Park to Coachmans Drive and Tollgate Hill to Southgate Avenue.

The full agenda is here.

Broadfield Forum - Feb 2007

The next meting of the Broadfield Forum will be held on Feb 13th at 6:30pm at the Broadfield Community Centre (opposite the surgery). I received a letter about it the other day, which is reproduced here:

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Toby Shaw and I am a new Community development Officer at Crawley Borough Council. As part of my responsibilities, I will be the link worker for the Broadfield neighbourhood Forum, taking over from Mathew Steel who I am sure many of you have worked with.

I would like to invite you to the first forum of 2007, which I hope will be an opporunity for us to discuss ongoing issues and establish possible future areas of work for the Forum. Because this will be my first meeting with you, Cath Falvey (Senior Developmetn Officer) will accompany me to ensure that the Forum runs smoothly and efficiently.

The meeting will take place on:
18:30-20:30 13th February at Broadfield Community Centre

Please could you let me know if you are planning to attend so I can make appropriate arrangements. If you are unable to attend but are interested in the activity of the Forum, please contact me and I will ensure you receive information on future meetings.

I look forward to meeting you in person and very much hope that you will be able to attend.

So there you have it! A new council officer is running the meeting, so its an ideal meeting for anyone who has never been before - no need to worry that everyone will already know everyone else. As usual there will be a mixture of local residents from all over Broadfield (but not enough from Tollgate Hill!), councillors, council officers and others.

If you are interested let Toby know. He is on 4386222 at the town hall and I am 99% confident that his email will be toby.shaw@crawley.gov.uk