We met at St Barnabas School on Hart Street today.  It was freezing cold and sitting on children’s chairs is not ideal.  There was not a huge amount on the agenda although we had a useful update on street scene issues and a City Centre Police report from Insp. Matt Bullivant.

There were no planning applications although we did talk about the plans to make Jericho a conservation area and put an article 4 direction area in place (which basically removes permitted development rights from building owners).  Although some buildings in Jericho, notably St. Barnabas Church, are worth preserving I must say that a lot of the housing is very substandard with no cavity walls, poorly insulated windows and incredibly insubstantial foundations.  I’m not quite sure why we are preserving rows and rows of cheap houses that were originally built as mass housing for the poor.  I think the planning restrictions will severely limit people’s ability or inclination to make their properties more energy efficient and I think that’s a real shame.

There was a presentation from a County Council officer about the cuts to libraries and youth services.  I was very embarrassed at the hard time one member of the committee gave the officer, especially in public!  It’s not the officer that decided on the cuts – it was the Tory County Councillors!  Talk about shoot the messenger!

We finished just after 7.30pm all very cold and uncomfortable on the children’s chairs.