Bob Sutherland welcomed Detective Superintendent Chris Lines from the AFP, the committee and members of the public.

Apologies were received from Sue Lebeuic, Jocelyn Murphy and Ken Galvin.

Bob Sutherland provided an overview of the Minutes from the June 99 meeting. These were moved by Rosemary Drabsch and seconded by Gillian Giles.

Cooleman Court Precinct - the official opening date is Thursday 12^th August at 10.30am on site, all welcome.

The WCCC put in a submission on the site for the proposed ACT prison, the report released favours Symonston over Kinlyside.

The media article on cars stored on residential house blocks created an unusually high response rate from residents, PALM and the AFP. There were some e-mail regarding a design fault in the new pedestrian mall at Cooleman Court [regarding access for trolleys from the payment onto the bitumen].

The ACT Government is undertaking and inquiry into warrants for road safety. This process allocates points for blackspots, with various locations scoring according to the number of accidents and other factors. It is hoped that this will provide a quantitative process for assessing blackspot improvements.

Another issue which has arisen is the external floodlighting of the Sukyo Mahikari building in Holder. There has been a site inspection, and the meeting suggested that the chairperson contact Mike Bessell from Mt Stromlo Observatory to discuss the issue.

Chris provided a brief introduction regarding himself and the Woden/Weston Police district. Questions were asked from the meeting.

Joint Services Complex - the joint services committee has met and determined that the preferred site is in Melrose Drive, Philip, adjacent to Furzer Street. There was good people and vehicle access and PALM would now become involved in the planning stages.

Neighbourhood Watch - Residents asked that there be an increased police presence in the suburbs to assist the efforts of the neighbourhood watch. Chris indicated that with limited resources there was little expectation that patrols would increase.

Weston Police Complex - Some visitors to Weston Creek were critical of the lack of landscaping around the car storage area in the Weston Police complex. Chris indicated that this may not be within the responsibility of the police, however, he would make inquiries as to it being a police responsibility. If it were not, the WCCC would raise it with the ACT Government.

Questions were asked from the meeting regarding the Westpac Bank leaving Weston Creek. Bob Sutherland indicated that he was not aware of any specific reason for the bank relocating out of Weston Creek except that this appears to be modern bank policy for all banks. The issue of encouraging a credit union to set up in Weston Creek was canvassed. The debate focussed on the number of potential customers in Weston Creek and the reasons why a financial institution may or may not establish itself in Weston Creek.

The meeting discussed the concerns regarding enrolments at Rivett Primary and the impact on the suburb. The meeting discussed the ballot of Rivett students’ parents and carers regarding the proposed approach to dealing with the issue. Until the outcome of the ballot was known it was not appropriate to pre-empt any action of the school by the WCCC.

Bob Sutherland advised that he had attended a recent ‘Meet the Minister’ and raised with Gary Humphries the concern that the new lease on the Phillip Swimming complex was to be 99 years. The Minister was somewhat surprised that such a long lease was being considered. ACTION: Bob to contact the Minister’s office.

Bob Sutherland raised with the meeting the possibility of having daytime meetings to encourage people who could not / would not attend evening meetings. The concern that WCCC holds its meeting in licensed premises was also discussed. Bob will investigate a daytime WCCC meeting, possibly in a local church hall.

The WCCC has been approached to convene a meeting to discuss the revision of Weston Creek bus timetable. The meeting agreed to allocate the August meeting to ACTION and pay to distribute a letterbox flyer. Bob Sutherland indicated that he would not be in Canberra on that date and the Deputy Chair, Jeff Carl would chair the meeting. Bob to confirm the date with Beth Hobson of ACTION.

The Treasurer, in response to the previous meeting minutes, confirmed that the Internet e-mail subscription of $125 was paid as well as a phone bill of $47.80 and a fax bill of $55.85

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The date of the next meeting would be 25^th August 1999

The meeting closed at 9:30 pm