OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - WINTER 2023

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SUMMER 2023

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SPRING 2023

Dear OARA Members and Friends,

It's good to see the signs of Spring popping up around the area and in the OARA beds and barrels. This means it's also time for our:

Annual General Meeting

Monday 27th March

7:00 to 8:30pm

Avenue St Andrews Church

With refreshments from 6:45 and time to finish chatting until 9:00. The agenda, minutes of our last AGM and the Chair's Annual report can be found here. AGMs have a reputation for being dull, but not ours! This is a chance to review the last year, elect your officers and committee and, perhaps most importantly, plan for the year ahead. We want and need you and your views, ideas, contributions and a lively, good-humoured debate. It's only once a year so please do put the date in your diary if it isn't already there. We also need some fresh energy so why not think about joining the committee? If you'd like to find out more or make a nomination contact us at info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk In the meantime here are a few bits of OARA news and forthcoming events.

Clean Streets

Support for our first-Sunday-of-the-month has thankfully picked up with around twelve people helping out in February and March. It was great to see some of our local students coming along to lend a hand, plus help from individual members in Cedar and Avenue Rd who have been doing regular litter picking in their own time.

Street Clean

Sunday 2 April

10:00am

meet @ Alma Road Planters

We've also had some success, through liaison with the Council and our Councillors, with getting some of the contaminated blue recycling bins cleared. Another walkabout with officers is coming up to review the situation and we have asked for a roundtable meeting to discuss and tackle root causes. A meeting with the university is also scheduled to plan how to avoid end-of-year clearout issues.

The Greening Group

- have been out and about with the odd bit of guerrilla greening! More green fingers needed - if you could lend some please contact Sue Swallow at seswallow@gmail.com

Bevois Mount History

- have some interesting forthcoming events:

300 Years of Bevois Mount - a talk	Wednesday 15 March	7:30pm	Portswood Library
History Walk on the Common	Wednesday March 22nd	3:00pm	Cemetery Rd
OARA Street Party	Sunday May 7th	11:00am	Alma Road Planters

Open Studio Art Event

Calling all artists. OARA and Avenue St Andrew's will again be joining up to host the event over the August Bank Holiday. If you have an artistic streak and would like to take part, contact Barbro at barbrooara@gmail.com

That's all for now. Come and find out more at the AGM on the 27th.
Best wishes,
Hilary - OARA Secretary

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SUMMER 2022

HEADTEACHER MEETS UP WITH EX-PUPIL AT OARA OGM!

We were very pleased to welcome Cllr Satvir Kaur, the Leader of the Council, as Guest Speaker to our Members Meeting on July 4th, at our new Ave St Andrews venue. Cllr Kaur spoke about her own journey from local Bevois-born girl helping in her parents sari shop and market stall, attending her local Mount Pleasant primary school (where a certain OARA Chair, John Hayward, was Headteacher at the time and already thought she would go far!), becoming Head Girl at St Annes and studying at both of our city universities- to local Councillor for Shirley and now Leader of the Council. She outlined the Council's plans for the city, took up our theme of Our Council, Our Community: Working Together and then took questions and discussion from the audience, including friends from Inner Avenue and Highfield RAs. Unsurprisingly, many of the questions related to issues arising from the impact of high HMO density in our area, including cleanliness, waste, anti -social behaviour, landlord responsibility, protecting the green environment, ineffective planning controls and permitted development and the need for some serious joined-up thinking to tackle these issues and improve the quality of life for everyday residents. Cllr Kaur was able to outline actions the Council is already taking, such as a condition survey of rented property and the introduction of neighbourhood hubs, but also took away our concerns and suggestions, with a commitment to look at these and work together with us. The summary of concerns & suggestions shared with the Cllr Kaur after the meeting is attached at the end of this Bulletin.

COMMUNITY SPIRIT IN THE AIR AT BIG THANK-YOU PARTY

It already feels a while ago but the OARA 'Big Thank You Party' on June 4th has to have another mention! There was a great turnout, with lots of new faces, and a general consensus that it was a happy and successful event, made all the more so for being our first big get together after all the Covid caution and restrictions. Food to share, stalls to visit, local musicians Emily, Siobhan, John, Mike & Maggie and Bevois storyteller Mike O'Leary to enjoy, games to play , another wheelbarrow of donations for the local food bank, climate pledges made, support from our local PCSOs and Councillors and a visit from the Lord Mayor herself, our Councillor Jacqui Rayment. Good to feel so much community spirit in the air! And there were many personal thank you cards pegged up on the line, including for: carers, lovely neighbours, our Police, litter pickers, our friends at Avenue St Andrews, all the helpers and volunteers, the NHS, key workers, God, life, the natural world , an extra Public Holiday, the local gardeners and plants that make a difference in the area, friends and family, children and grandchildren, health and being well and the Queen on her Jubilee! Thank you to everyone who organised, contributed and came along.

BITTER VIRTUE TO CLOSE AT END OF AUGUST - END OF AN ERA

We are really sorry to hear that Bitter Virtue, our very own local specialist ale provider in Cambridge Road, will be closing down at the end of August. In their own words Chris and Ann "opened Bitter Virtue in 1997 - so that we could find others who shared our pleasure in the fruit of the hop". They have been a characterful part of the community for a long time and good friends to OARA. We shall miss them - and the ale - and wish them the very best for the future.

OARA BOUNDARY SUBMISSION - DON'T CUT US IN TWO!

OARA has made a submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission objecting to the proposal that the new ward boundary would run along Avenue Rd.

As you know from our previous mailings proposed changes to local council ward boundaries will affect our area and come into effect before the elections next May. The biggest change is the creation of an extra ward in the city, creating three wards from the existing Bargate and Bevois, with knock-on for surrounding areas. The proposal would see the new boundary between Bevois and Portswood run along Avenue Rd, cutting right through our Outer Avenue patch.

We have objected on the grounds that:

• Lodge Rd is a significant and much more logical existing boundary and main traffic route, as are Brookvale and Westwood Roads.
• The boundary cuts through an existing community which has shared identity, interests and activities, including the shared history of the Bevois Mount Estate.
• It would not make for more efficient local government to have different councillors representing either side of a narrow residential street which does not coincide with existing boundaries, including Residents' Associations.

Thank you to individuals who also made submissions. Results will be known in November.

HAPPY 10TH BIRTHDAY TO THE GREENING GROUP & MORE TREE NEWS

One of OARA's longstanding campaigns has been the planting and protection of trees in our neighbourhood. It is ten years since the OARA Greening Group was set up and planted the first of the at least 50 cherry trees that now adorn our area, as well as the many barrels, beds, planters and bits of guerrilla gardening! Happy birthday and thank you!

In addition to the new planting, we are still working to protect the trees and greenery we have. We have lobbied landlords not to cut down existing mature trees, on so many grounds: privacy, screening, shade, wildlife, vital green corridors, pollution absorption, visual beauty and our human wellbeing, which came ever more to the fore as a result of our experiences of lockdown. If a landlord has 200 houses what a massive difference their careful stewardship can make. Although every single garden and greenspace makes a difference. This came up in the questions at the OGM and we will continue to lobby the Council to make green and environmental responsibility part of landlords' responsibility. Take a tree out- put one back for starters! We are also in the process of plotting trees in our area that have or should have a Tree Protection Order - more on this next time. And thank you to all our members who brighten up our area with your lovely gardens and precious trees.

SMOOTH RIDE IN GORDON AVENUE

If you've travelled down Gordon Avenue recently, you'll have had a much smoother ride than previously! Major resurfacing works took place, involving an impressive array of "plant", and resulting in a "like new" surface along half the length of the road. In a time of pothole sticking plaster this was very welcome indeed. We're sending thanks to the Council and also a plea to be put on the list for pavements to be done too. Balfour Beattie have circulated a paper survey to houses in the street so please do send yours back if you have received one.

BEVOIS MOUNT HISTORY MARCHES ON

Work continues apace on our follow up to "A Walk Up the Avenue'. "A Walk Around the Common' will be available by late August. What is available is our 2023 calendar. (I know - it's a full five months until Christmas!) However, this is a limited edition to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Bevois Mount Estate and may be our last calendar due to the rising cost of printing. So, if you want to get ahead of the crowd, contact Ally at allyhayes3@aol.com

We will be arranging some more guided walks so keep an eye on our Facebook page.

WAGING WAR ON WASTE & END OF YEAR CLEAROUT REPORT

Now that the dust has mainly settled on the end-of-year student clearout and changeover time, it is time for a little reflection on how things went. As for a number of years, we worked with the Council and University to try and pre-empt the problems that perennially arise. The University put out info to students and paid for two extra waste collections. The Council organised these and the HMO team provided backup, collecting some additional waste and flytipping that we reported. Unfortunately, even though we were on standby, had alerted students and made sure bins were out, the lorry did not visit our area on the first of the planned extra Saturday collections due to filling up before they got to us - but we did benefit from the collection on 2 July. Overall, we would say the problems were not as extensive as we have sometimes known in the past but there were and are a number of stubborn hotspots. We have reported these and have had some success in getting these cleared. We have also appealed to the Council to hold these landlords to account- including financially.

As part of our ongoing war on waste we arranged a walkabout of our area at the end of July with two officers from the Council. This followed on from our online meetings with the Uni and Council and our own OGM. It was a useful and productive session - and good to be able to share first-hand the problems that we battle with: contaminated bins, ignorance about recycling, uncollected bins, bins blocking pavements, excessive sidewaste, litter, weeds and lack of responsibility from many landlords. The photo shows one spectacular but not unusual example. The officers were taking back to the wider team evidence of what they found and we hope some coordinated action will follow. It was good to hear of new appointments in the Waste and Recycling Team and plans related to dealing with waste - including preventative education and door-knocking enforcement. There will be a more detailed report next Bulletin.

LANDLORDS SEEK MORE HMO APPROVAL - OARA SEEKS MEETING WITH COUNCIL

We seem to be experiencing another rash of LDC applications- that is an application for a "Lawful Development Certificate for existing use as a house in multiple occupation". Two current ones are at 81 Avenue Rd and 163 Earls Rd. These are essentially an application for retrospective planning approval for a house which has been operating as an HMO without prior approval for change of use. This is a backdoor way of officially turning a house into an HMO with planning permission- even though our area already has over 50% of HMO housing against the supposed 10% limit! These houses have been operating without approval, which landlords must have known, and are now seeking to legitimise the situation. They can do this by attempting to prove that they have been operating as an HMO for at last ten years and prior to the Article 4 change in the law regarding HMOs which came in in 2012, which made it a requirement to have planning permission for change of use.

As you can see from a recently posted application in Avenue Rd, we are not even allowed to question the merit of the application, only if it is lawful - with the law frustratingly on the landlords' side! We will, however, do our best to oppose attempts to subvert the intention of the laws limiting HMO development. To this end we have joined with Highfield Residents' Association to lobby our Council Leader and Cabinet Member to take action regarding the whole issue of overdensity of HMO properties. Some is fine - if they are well managed. They meet an important need but too many lead to a real imbalance in the health of a neighbourhood. A meeting is planned and we will report back! Not giving up on this!

OpenStudio EXHIBITION - OARA & AVE. St ANDREWS

27th - 29th August from 1pm - 5pm

Unleashed lockdown creativity. Theme, Our World. Big and Small, paintings, prints, cards, ceramics, photography, textiles, baskets, 3D. Collaboration of local artists hosted by Avenue St Andrews. A BIG exhibition! Refreshments. If you would like to know more, contact Barbro on barbrooara@gmail.com

Think that's all for now. We'll be taking a break in August but, in the meantime, here are some dates for your diary. Thank you for all your continuing support and we look forward to more working together and activities in Autumn. Enjoy the summer and the sunshine.

Last Street Clean before Summer Break - Sunday 31 July

Street Cleans restart - Sunday 4 September

Meet Your Neighbour Party - Saturday 8th October

Next Members' Meeting (OGM) - Monday 21 November

APPENDIX.

OARA OGM Monday 4 July 2022

Guest speaker - Cllr Satvir Kaur, Leader of Southampton City Council

Follow up to issues raised in presentation, questions and discussion

KEY ISSUES RAISED AND SUGGESTED WAYS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

The key issues that were raised centred on the impact of the density of HMO accommodation in the OARA (and similar) areas. These are well-rehearsed and include: continued creep of density through retrospective licensing, permitted development and increase in property occupation numbers, poor waste management, fly tipping, street (un)cleanliness, parking, anti-social behaviour, property neglect, lack of landlord accountability, stripping out of greenery, hollowing out of stable, more healthily-balanced communities, impact on health and wellbeing and spoiling of architectural heritage. Strategies were suggested that would tackle some of these issues and improve the quality of life in the area as well as being cost effective. Together these called for a more strategic and holistic approach from the Council to the issues which arise as a result of dense concentration of HMOs. It was acknowledged that HMO accommodation is needed in the city but that it needs controlling to reduce the negative impact in areas such as ours.

The strategies suggested included:

1. a joined-up thinking strategic-initiative from the Council to examine ways of tackling these issues - to include a meeting convened with relevant Cabinet Members and Councillors responsible for planning, waste, cleansing, environmental health, parking, HMO team. Plus representatives from RAs and landlords, universities and police? We know the problems - how can we join together agencies, thinking and actions to bring about lasting change for the better, both effectively and financially efficiently. Is there a key person in the Authority who can be responsible and coordinate this in an ongoing way?
2. review of HMO licensing. Do the licenses have the teeth they need to really hold landlords to account? If not - amend them so they do.
3. link between planning permission and HMO licensing - so that one can't happen without the other. We understand this is practice in other areas of the country.
4. refusal to grant any more licenses, including retrospective ones, or allow an increase in capacity in existing HMOs in areas that are already over the permitted density.
5. requirement for new owners of HMOs to have to reapply for an HMO licence - not automatic transfer.
6. Positive action to track down and limit the number of short term lets, such as Air BnBs.
7. More effective enforcement of current HMO legislation - including landlords' maintenance of their properties, management of waste etc (noted that a condition survey is taking place).
8. A review of the legislation relating to parking and parking zone surveys in dense HMO areas - to prevent the views and needs of permanent residents being always sidelined.
9. Better coordination of waste and cleansing services, including information to landlords & tenants and actions at key clearout / end of term times. A blueprint that does not need reinventing every year depending on changes in personnel.
10. A voluntary landlords' charter to highlight and recognise good practice and "nudge" landlords into more consistently responsible behaviour - bringing landlords on board.
11. An initiative to require landlords and businesses to behave in an environmentally responsible way. Too many strip out trees and greenery - to the detriment of the environment and wellbeing. More trees - and low cost but environmentally respectful ways or protecting and increasing green corridors/spaces. One tree out - one in for starters.
12. Improved monitoring of hostel-type provision, in the interest of hostel residents and neighbours
13. Inclusion in the Local Plan of vision and strategies linked to all of the above that will help areas such as ours be balanced, thriving, attractive and safe communities that we can genuinely be proud to live in.

There was also an acknowledgement that there are many positives in our community - the greening, the diversity the working together, street parties, getting to know neighbours, the Common, support from our Council and Councillors and more. We are very appreciative that the issues raised were listened to - and some already constructive replies given. We hope this summary can also contribute to future joined-up thinking on how to move forward together to tackle the issues and bring about improvement. We would welcome a meeting with relevant members / officers to discuss where we go from here. Ready when you are!

OARA - July 2022

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SPRING 2022

Annual General Meeting finally takes place!

We finally got together to hold our Annual General Meeting- although this time it should probably have been called a BGM- a Biennial General Meeting - given that our last one took place before lockdown in 2020! We met up on 11th April and, because of Covid, another week later than originally planned and in a new venue on the Concourse at Avenue St Andrews Church. 28 members and friends, including our local Councillors and PCSOs, attended for what felt like a bit of a relaunch. We were also pleased to welcome representatives from the Inner Avenue and Polygon. The general feeling was that, although activities had been curtailed because of the pandemic, OARA had nonetheless managed to keep going and not done too badly! A full account is in the Annual Report previously circulated. A new committee was elected with some of the old faces but also a very welcome addition of three new members - bringing some fresh energy and ideas.

Chair	John Hayward
Vice Chair	Sue Swallow
Treasurer	Wendy Stokes
Secretary	Hilary Jackson
Data / Membership	Jayanti Shah
Minutes Secretary	Ann Woolnough
Committee Members	Phine Dahle - Barbro Fitzjohn - Ally Hayes - Chris Jackson - Barbara Matcham - Paulina Ouzal
Associate	Ruth Magennis, Inner Avenue

The venue was deemed a success and we will be seeking to hold our future members' meetings there, with an AGM in the Spring (March /April) and OGMs in July and November. The constitutional changes were approved and Minutes will be available after our next Committee meeting.

We went on to discuss plans for 2022, with ideas from the floor adding to proposals put forward by the Committee. It looks like a pretty ambitious list which you'll find at the end of this Bulletin.

Celebrating Ten Years of Greening

Springtime sees the efforts of the OARA Greening Group really, literally, blossom! This year is the 10th anniversary of the group which, since its founding, has planted over 50 cherry blossom trees, installed 20 barrels and commandeered various beds and planters. The trees have looked magnificent this year and we are very grateful indeed for this wonderful, lasting, green legacy that the group have provided. Here's the latest tree addition sponsored by a student landlord in Gordon Avenue. One of our projects for the year is to plot all the OARA trees and greenery on our patch. More helpers are always needed so please do contact Sue Swallow on seswallow@gmail.com if you could lend a hand.

The June Street Party is back!

Keep Saturday 4th June free for the OARA Big Thankyou Party. There will be food, music, stalls and a chance to celebrate being back together and to thank whoever you feel needs thanking, be it your neighbours, NHS and other key workers, ten years of greening (see below), the Queen! Take your pick. It will be great to see everyone and stir up plenty of fun and community spirit.

Website

Just a quick website update. Our website is functioning but, as you'll know if you've taken a look, it is in need of updating and technical issues have prevented us being able to do this. The site is, therefore, currently under reconstruction in preparation for moving to a new host. We'll let you know when our updated site is ready for a relaunch.

Outer Avenue Gets a Spring Clean

We made one of our regular appeals to the Council to come and do a bit of a sweep-up while the students and their cars were away over the Easter holiday. We were delighted to hear the swish of the road sweeper brushes in response to our request. Thank you to Jayne Goddard and her team for making a difference. And the OARA Street Clean is now happening again every first Sunday of the month - meeting up at 11 at the Alma Rd Mural. Everyone definitely very welcome- more help always needed.

OARA response to City Plan Consultation

OARA has made two contributions to the Council consultation on the City Plan for the future of the city, both at the initial stage and in response to later more focussed questions. Our response included, as you might expect, points related to: maintaining a balance of housing; restricting overdevelopment and density, particularly of HMOs; improving the cleanliness of the city; protecting the green environment, and increasing green spaces and tree planting; reducing pollution.

Planning to keep it clear at the end of the year!

We are again working with the University of Southampton and stakeholders such as the local Council, student landlords, the Students' Union and neighbouring Residents' Associations to try and ensure that the student clearout time, in June at the end of their tenancies, goes smoothly and does not result in excess rubbish in the streets and flytipping. Actions include information out to student households and their landlords on how to deal with the rubbish and access recycling points and additional Council waste collection rounds on key dates funded by the University.

Bus shelter campaign pays off

Have you seen the bright, shiny, new bus shelter on the Avenue, outside Leighton's Opticians near Stag Gates? One of our OARA members has been campaigning persistently to get this bus shelter reinstated after previous road works left a very damp and draughty gap. Good to see the campaign paid off, supported for one final push by Councillor Jacqui Rayment.

Coffee and Cake Anyone?

Every month on the Concourse at Avenue St Andrews Church, on the Avenue opposite the entrance to the Common. The next session is Saturday 30th April from 10-12. Everyone welcome.

OpenStudio Art event - OARA & Ave St Andrews

27th - 29th August from 1pm - 5pm

Unleashed lockdown creativity. Theme, Our World. Big and small, paintings, prints, cards, ceramics, photography, textiles, baskets, 3D. Collaboration of local artists hosted by Avenue St Andrews. A BIG exhibition! Refreshments. If you would like to take part, contact Barbro on barbrooara@gmail.com

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SPRING 2019

CLEAN STREETS

Thank you to all of you who are keeping your small patch of street clean. It really makes a difference!

If you see any fly-tipping contact us. We can get it removed.

To avoid the chaos of student change-over and rubbish being strewn all around, we are meeting with the council, the university and and students' union to plan ways of minimising disruption caused by the piles of rubbish we've had in the past that are left out on pavements and scattered by scavengers.

Regular monthly litter-picks still take place. Look out for updates. We'd love you to come and join us!

MEMBERSHIP

Our annual voluntary membership fee is £5 per person. This helps to pay for all of our activities and additional expenses.

From now on, existing members will get an email when it is time to renew with an attached membership form to fill in and they can either pay by cheque and post it to the:

Membership Secretary, 104 Alma Road, SO14 6UW,

or pay by bank credit (quoting your OARA membership number as the payment reference)

COMMUNITY

Anti-Social Parties

OARA now has several strategies we can employ in response to anti-social student parties. Our advice is not to tackle them at the time, but contact us, so that we can help with follow-up actions which we have found to be successful in the past.

Big Lunch Street Party

Our Big Lunch street party will take place on Sunday 2nd of June in Alma Road. More information to follow.

Lodge Road Community Event

An art exhibition and community event is proposed for Saturday 11th May at Blue Door in Lodge Road.

Preliminary plans are for a get-together to share ideas about local projects followed by a street clean of Lodge Road. The day will finish with chats, discussion forum, sale of plants, arts and crafts exhibition and sale. More information to come. Any ideas welcome!

GREENING

Greening activities continue across the OARA patch. Meanwhile the cherries have been in full blossom!

The tree pit outside Waitrose has been colourful, as are the half-barrels around the area.

This year we hope to be involved in the initiative 'Make Lodge Road Great Again!' and keeping our fingers crossed for success in our funding bid to the council for money to improve street furniture, planting to improve air quality and visual image.

We are in need of more volunteers to keep up the good work.

If you are interested in being involved in local gardening projects, please contact the OARA secretary (details to follow.)

PLANNING

We continue to monitor planning applications and raise objections where appropriate. We have a solid track record of helping to stop inappropriate developments in the area.

Please contact us if you have any concerns about local planning applications.

BEVOIS MOUNT HISTORY

As you can see, Bevois Mount History Group has just adopted a new logo. They have been very active recently giving history talks and commissioning blue plaques to commemorate notable local people, one of whom is John Arlott, the famous cricket commentator.

A major project they have undertaken is to produce a 'Welcome to Bevois Mount Sign' which is now in place on Lodge Road near the Stag Gates Garage.

It shows Stag Gates, and using 3D printing, a tram coming through the gates and sticking out of the sign. Most impressive!

PPG - PATIENT PARTICIPATION GROUP

The Alma Road Surgery PPG holds regular meetings for people to express their views about the surgery and hear about the latest developments. Notification for these meetings can be found on the PPG notice-board in the surgery or through OARA.

CONTACT

Contact the secretary at:
info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

We have a notice-board at the planters in Alma Road.
We are also on Facebook

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SPRING 2017

CLEAN STREETS

We continue to work with local residents and the council to keep our streets clean. In addition to bi-monthly litter picks and alerting the council about fly-tipping, we recently organised a 'street sparkle' for when the students were on holiday. This involved a mechanical street sweeper.

If you can help with litter picks, or notice any examples of fly-tipping, please let us know.

We are also trying to be more pro-active to try and avoid the chaos that is change-over time (rubbish bags left on the pavement and ripped open by scavengers.) This will involve working with The Students' Union and the council.

MEMBERSHIP

Our annual voluntary membership fee is £5 per person. This helps to pay for all of our activities and additional expenses.

From now on, existing members will get an e-mail when it is time to renew with an attached membership form to fill in and they can either pay by cheque and post it to the:

Membership Secretary, 104 Alma Road, SO14 6UW,

or pay by bank credit (quoting your OARA membership number as the payment reference) to A/C no 53004597, Sort Code 20-79-25.

COMMUNITY

The Big Lunch Annual Street Party
Sunday June 3rd from 1pm to 4pm
In Alma Road in front of The Mural

Fun for all the family!

*Games
*Live music
*Dance
*Give your small teddy a ride on the train!
*Meet your friends and neighbours
* Bring food to share

Supported by The Students’ Union & Avenue St Andrew’s

Coming up soon! Don't miss it!

REMEMBERING ROSY

Rosy Maguire, partner, friend, artist, musician, cyclist and community activist, 1958-2018

In April Blue Door presented a retrospective exhibition of Rosy’s photographs spanning 30 years of art practice. Rosy was a very much loved and liked member of the local community. She was active in the planting of 50 cherry trees in The OARA area and often turned up for the bi-monthly Sunday street clean, and litter pick to make our immediate environment more pleasant for everyone.

Rosy was also an initiator in setting up "The Behind The Blue Door" Exhibitions where local talents exhibited their art work. A collection of her photographs on loan from friends, neighbours and Solent University were on display at the exhibition and A Secret Auction of other artists' work help raise £646 of which £ 606 have been donated on the Just Giving site under Rosy's name for Maytree Charity and the rest will go to planting a wall of climbing roses by Clifford Dibben Mews / Avenue Road close to Rosy’s home.

GREENING

Greening activities continue across the OARA patch. Meanwhile the cherries have been in full blossom!

We are in need of more volunteers to keep up the good work.

If you are interested in being involved in local gardening projects, please contact the OARA secretary (details to follow.)

PLANNING

We continue to monitor planning applications and raise objections where appropriate. We have a solid track record of helping to stop inappropriate developments in the area.

Please contact us if you have any concerns about local planning applications.

BEVOIS MOUNT HISTORY

The history group have been busy making presentations in libraries and schools relating to suffragettes and their history in our area.

The group have also been installing blue plaques on local houses where the previous occupants were people of historical interest.

There is also an application in for a grant to install a 'Welcome to Bevois Mount' sign in Lodge Road. The proposed sign will have an historical theme, and will feature an image of Stag Gates.

RENEWALS

A membership drive is planned for early July. This will consist of committee members canvassing for membership renewals and looking for new members. Part of this process will be seeking your opinions as to how OARA can improve to serve the local community better.

We're always ready to welcome new members.

CONTACT

Contact the secretary at:
info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

We have a notice-board at the planters in Alma Road.
We are also on Facebook

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - AUTUMN 2017

Meet Your Neighbours Street Party

We held a very successful street party on October 8th in conjunction with The Students' Union. Hot soup and rolls were served to well over 100 people. Thanks goes to all who helped and participated!

The next OARA celebration will be our Xmas party at The Guide Dog Pub in early December. Date to be arranged. Watch for updates!

Greening Projects

Greening work continues throughout the OARA patch and is much appreciated by local residents and visitors. We can always do with 'greenfingered help' to enable the work to continue. Contact Sue Swallow through our OARA web address: info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

Membership

The membership list (including students) is at present, about 170. For simplicity, all members will be asked to pay the voluntary subs of £5 in June 2018. Meanwhile, all contributions are welcome.

If you no longer live in the area or wish to unsubscribe to the list, please contact: barbrooara@gmail.com

Patient Participation Group

OARA and our Patient Partnership Group (PPG) invited Dave Shields, Councillor for Community Health and Safety, and Dr Ord Hume, Senior Partner at our Alma Rd Surgery to a very energetic and enlightening 'Health in our Community' OARA OGM meeting last week. How do we care for ourselves? Self Care Week begins Monday 13th November! More information to follow.

Bevois Mount History

Two new history murals have appeared in our area! The Earl of Peterborough in Earl's Road and Alexander Pope in Lodge Road. One created the Bevois Mount Estate, and the other was a frequent visitor.

The 2018 Bevois Mount History calendar is now on sale. You can buy it at:

Bitter Virtue, Small Fries, HQ Salon, Cherry's Fitness, Avenue Dental Practice, The Guide Dog Pub, Bookshop Alehouse, Lodge Road Premier Shop, October Books.

Art and Craft Fair

Bevois Mount History are also organising an Art and Craft Fair at Blue Door Estate Agents in Lodge Road on Saturday 11th of November 10 – 6pm and Sunday 12th November 11 – 4pm

Police and Community

At our recent PACT meeting, the neighbourhood policing team wanted to emphasise to residents that if there is anything at all that you think seems suspicious, or that you think they should follow up on, ring 101. It may not get an instant response, but information given is used to add to their data-base, so that they know where to target precious resources. Never be reluctant to ring 101. If you wish to email your concerns, Google 'Hampshire Constabulary Bevois' and this will take you to the local team and their email contact details.

PCSO Michaela Taylor has now moved, and our new PCSO is:

Louise.griffiths-grozier@hampshire.pnn.police.uk

Fly-Tipping

Earlier in the year, we suffered an enormous amount of fly-tipping. Fortunately, we managed to get the council to remove most of it. There are hefty fines for fly-tipping, so if you know who is doing it, report it directly to the council, or to us, and we will pass the information on.

But on the positive side…!

Regular litter picks continue on the first and third Sundays each month at 11 o'clock. Meet at the planters in Alma Road. In addition to the litter-pick, we report any fly-tipping for the council to clear up. Come and join us, all welcome!

Blue Door and OARA art exhibition and birthday party

It is The Blue Door's Estate Agents' birthday. We would like to celebrate this by inviting you to an exhibition of local artists’ work at 102 Lodge Road on the first weekend of December.

Preview Friday 1st December 7-9 pm with drinks and nibbles.

Main Exhibition Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd from 10:00-16:00 with tea and cake.

Blue Door are working on making this a spectacular event with some brilliant surprises; more of this later…

Contact us…

info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk
or find us on Facebook

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - AUTUMN 2016

Meet Your Neighbours October 9th

Our best attended street party to date. Many residents and students enjoyed an afternoon of entertainment with hot soup and rolls supplied by OARA. There were performances by two local bands and solo singer, plus a folk group, two dance groups and street magicians provided by the university. One of the highlights of the afternoon was the inauguration of the Bevois Mount History Mural by Mike O'Leary, local author and storyteller.

Table Top Sale 15th October

We changed the location for our regular table top fundraiser sale to the forecourt in front of Blockbusters. This proved to be very successful and attracted quite a bit of passing trade. All money raised goes to greening projects.

Winter Art Fair 26th / 27th of November

Our second Art Fair took place at Blue Door Estate Agents' on Lodge Road. Many local artists put in a piece for blind auction to raise funds for OARA, plus selling their other art-works. The whole event was enjoyed by a large number of visitors, and a considerable sum was raised for OARA. A big thanks goes to all of those artists who generously donated their art works for the sale and to Blue Door who loaned their facilities which provided such a warm and inviting venue.

Greening Group

Lost and Found!

A small cherry tree and half-barrel were taken from Avenue Road.

Both have been found and returned.

Projects continue, and thoughts turn to the possibility of greening work in Lodge Road in co-ordination with the Inner Avenue Residents' Association.

Traffic / Parking Survey

The survey is still continuing and possibilities for change are being explored.

Smart Streets

Regular street cleans twice a month continue. We want to encourage the idea of local monitors to alert us of problems in particular streets. The idea of street reps to be floated at the upcoming AGM / OGM in January.

Bevois Mount History Group

The mural was completed and inaugurated at the street party in October. Sadly, it was vandalised the day before the party, but with a combination of anti-graffiti paint and community action we cleaned everything up in time for the festivities.

Our 2017 calendar has been on sale and has sold well. Plans for new projects include an exhibition at Blue Door and another mural bringing 'The Earl' back to Earl's Road.

OARA Christmas Party Dec 4th

Our annual Xmas party took place at The Guide Dog pub in Earl's Road. There was live music, carol singing, a quiz and a raffle. The party was well attended and there was plenty of Christmas cheer!

The Longest Night of The Year

A Christmas event took place on the longest night of the year. A small group of OARA neighbours walked around the area with lantern in hand, and appreciated all of the beautifully adorned doors and front gardens. Twenty four houses had made particularly nice displays and were each given a card with the text: “Many thanks for making our neighbourhood a little cheerier on the longest night of the year."

Contact Details and Dates:

AGM Bevois Town School Monday 23rd Jan 7 for 7:30 start.

Contact us:

info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

We are also on Facebook.

And finally, from all of us, we wish you a Happy New year 2017.

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SUMMER 2016 #2

Bevois Mount Mural

Yes, the mural has been completed and is looking magnificent! The history team spent three weeks in July supporting Slam Daniels, our artist. We took photos, explained what was happening to passers-by, and some of us helped with a little bit of the painting supervised by our expert, Slam.

The inauguration of the mural will take place at our 'Meet Your Neighbours' street party on Sunday October 9th from 1pm to 4pm. Inauguration at 2:30pm.

History Group Extra

In addition to working on the mural, the Bevois Mount History Group have conducted another local history walk which was very well attended (by about 30 people) and have produced the 2017 calendar which is on sale now.

A busy time!

Greening Group

The group has been busy tidying a local landlord's garden in return for him providing a water-butt for greening purposes.

As part of the 'Blooming Concrete' programme, an extra half-barrel, smaller tubs and window-boxes have been established in the lower part of Gordon Avenue, below the cut through to Westwood Road.

Traffic / Parking Survey

The survey is still continuing.

Alma Road Surgery

OARA is setting up links with the surgery through the 'Patient Participation Group' i.e. how can our community support and share information with our Health Centre / Surgery and vice-versa. Work in progress, updates to follow.

Next Meeting: 13th October 7pm at Alma Road Surgery. All welcome.

Winter Art Fair

Building on the huge success of our first art exhibition at Blue Door, another exhibition is taking place in November.

Clean Streets

We took a break from from regular litter-picks in August but continued to keep an eye out for particular problems. As a result, we reported numerous incidents to the council of flytipping. The HMO Wardens and the Refuse teams, assisted by the Community Payback have been excellent in removing rubbish, and also holding landlords to account for removal of rubbish and for paying for provision of sufficient bins in high density accommodation.

Twice-monthly street cleans have now resumed on the first and third Sunday of each month. Meet at 11.00am at the Mural.

Contact Details And Upcoming Events

October 9th – 'Meet Your Neighbours' street party and inauguration of the new history mural. 1 -4 by the mural in Alma Road.

October 15th or 16th – Table Top Sale outside Block Busters

October 17th – OGM 7 for 7:30 at Bevois Town School, Guest speakers: Sam Fox – Planning, Sam Ings – HMO Licensing

October 27th – PACT Meeting Bevois Town School 7.30

December – Christmas Party. Details to follow.

Contact us: info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

We are also on Facebook

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SUMMER 2016 #1

Greening Group

The Greening Group continued their fund-raising efforts with a tabletop sale on the Portswood Church site, opposite Waitrose. There was a steady stream of customers and £135 was raised. The money will go towards greening projects in our area.

The group carried on maintaining existing plots, planters and barrels. A successful plant swap took place at The Planters on the 10th June.

The 'Bloomin Concrete' project to improve the lower part of Gordon Ave, is under way. There are a few blooming window boxes and tubs in place.

A current aim is to monitor and try to protect mature trees in the area which can easily be lost overnight when properties are

Bevois Mount History

The History Group held a very successful bazaar at Avenue St Andrew's Church to raise funds for the mural. Coffee and cakes were served whilst people browsed the goods on sale. The afternoon ended with a Sir Bevis tale from Mike O'Leary, story-teller, and a raffle. We raised over £500 for the mural from the event. Many thanks to all who supported.

The Mural

Preparations for the mural are well under-way. The first stage, preparing the wall, has been completed, as you can see from the pictures.

Slam Daniels, our artist, will be commencing work on the project on July 5th. Please take the opportunity to take a look as the mural progresses. It should take 7 to 10 days to complete.

We’d like to thank all of the businesses and local residents who have supported this project. We are still fund-raising. If you wish to donate, contact: allyhayes3@aol.com

Street Cleaning

June is always a busy time on the Clean Streets front with so many student households and their possessions on the move. We have been working with the Council and the Students’ Union to alleviate the impact of this on the streets around us. Our actions, on top of our usual twice monthly litter picks, have included:

• encouraging students to use the SUSU red bags to recycle unwanted items as part of the Shift Your Stuff Campaign- and even storing some items for them until the collection lorry came!
• alerting the Council to abandoned items and bags left as a result of the annual clear-out, including sending photos of debris strewn down the street after bags had been deliberately cut and rifled through.
• alerting landlords to the mess left outside their properties and requesting they attend to it. One informed us they were sending inspectors out to check the problem and deal with it.

We have been very grateful for the prompt response from the Council team to information we have provided a well as for their planned, proactive approach at this time of year, with refuse teams clearly instructed to go the extra mile to empty all bins and side waste.

Working together in this way has made a big difference. Please let us know if you have any related issues to report so that we can get them dealt with as soon as possible.

Residents of Alma Road may have noticed that all the bins are now numbered to help to keep them in their right locations.

Thanks goes to the council for supplying the numbers, and to Barbara Matcham and her team for sticking them on!

Big Lunch Street Party

We were very lucky with the weather which threatened to rain us off, but the whole event went very well with a good response from local residents and an exciting programme of music and dance. Food was generously donated by OARA members which this year included a barbecue. We are also very grateful to Avenue St Andrew's Church for loaning their tables and chairs.

The Students' Union were very supportive in providing a folk group and Zumba Squad, plus helping with promotion and street games.

Additional live music was provided by Bex, Barny, Maggie and Mike and The Ukofonics.

I think that all who attended had a very enjoyable afternoon. It was the Queen's birthday, but we celebrated the birthday of one of our favourite residents – Gladys, who was 97 in June.

Police and Community Meeting (PACT)

Local residents attended a meeting convened by the local community policing team. Some of the points raised were as follows:

Burglaries: Most of the local burglaries have targeted student houses because of lack of security and students having desired items. Residents are urged to photograph valuable items and register them with web sites such as Immobilise.

Anti-social behaviour: We were told that less than 10% of street beggars are homeless. Most live in hostels around the city. Beggars come to Southampton because it is so lucrative.

OARA has developed an official letter with Environmental Health and SUSU to be given to students after a noisy party. Contact OARA.

If you have a constant noise problem, contact Environment Health who can monitor the situation, and take action.

Drugs

Residents are encouraged to report any suspicious activities to Crimestoppers (anonymously) or Hampshire police.

In Conclusion

The main message to come out of the meeting was not to be afraid of reporting concerns. As resources are stretched, the police need information in order to target their activities. Please don't ever feel that you're wasting police time.

Call Hampshire police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

Members Meeting

The OGM in May was a well-attended meeting, with over 30 present. We received a useful report from our three local councillors, heard from Becky Farminer who is our new link in SCC Refuse and Recycling , voted to give formal approval for the History Mural , caught up with Common Ground reports on Greening, Cleaning, Community and Planning and began a debate about the thorny issue of parking (See below). Full details can be found in the minutes on our website.

Parking

As we all know, parking presents an ongoing problem for many of us who live in the Outer Avenue Area. We all agree that it is often difficult to find a parking space but there is a lot less agreement about how to tackle this problem. The Committee, therefore, proposed that, rather than frequent short airings of frustrations, we should research views and options in more depth with a view to holding an informed and informative special meeting, calling on residents, the Council and those with similar experiences in the process.

Following approval from the meeting, the Committee has begun this project. The first step will be to carry out a wider written consultation with members. This will seek to gather their experiences and identify the exact scope and nature of the problems, prior to any further fact-finding with the Council and then a full members' meeting sometime in the autumn. We will be in touch with members in due course to start making progress with this.

Alma Road Surgery

A group from OARA met recently with a representative from the Alma Road Surgery. The purpose was to forge closer links with our local medical centre and to discuss possible implications of the closure of their Newtown branch surgery, including parking and appointment times, on our area. An OARA rep will now be attending the Patient Participation Group and we will be able to keep members better informed about future developments.

Contact Details And Dates

October 9th – 'Meet Your Neighbours' street party and inauguration of the new history mural

October 27th – PACT Meeting Bevois Town School 7.30

Contact us: info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

We are also on Facebook

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SPRING 2016

The Greening Group plants 50th cherry tree!

Congratulations to Sue and all who were involved in the tree-planting event on the 29th of March at 58 Gordon Avenue. There was a remarkable turn-out despite the threatening weather, and the way the whole event was conducted generated a lovely atmosphere. The scene was set with our display boards, banner, and table set up with food and drinks. Maggie striking up with ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’ on the accordion (most appropriate) just added to the warmth of the occasion.

Roy Lancaster from Hilliers was the perfect guest of honour and his speech was pitched just right. Full of fun anecdotes and not too long! It was also impressive to see Stephen Barnes-Andrews there plus a representative from Posh Pads who hosted the tree on one of their properties. This all helps to foster positive relationships with local landlords and our local councillors.

Things like this don’t happen without a team (The Greeners ) who make a very positive contribution to the work of OARA and to improving the look of our area. We must pay special tribute to Sue and her dogged persistence in helping to make all of this happen – the 50 trees, and all of the other greening projects undertaken locally.

Look out for the trees, many of which are in bloom at the moment.

Bevois Mount History Mural Project

Plans are well under-way for the production of our history mural on the wall of Bitter Virtue in Alma Road. As you can see, the mural will be extremely large and will make a big impact. We hope it will excite local interest in the fabulous history of this part of Southampton and put the whole area on the map. We are at the fund-raising stage at the moment. We aim to raise £3000 to make this mural a reality.

We have held one fund-raising event and have several more planned before June when the mural is scheduled to be painted. If you would like to make a donation, or would like to help in the creation of the mural contact: allyhayes3@aol.com

Blue DoorArt Exhibition

Local artists exhibited their work at The Blue Door Estate Agency on Lodge Road over the weekend of the 22nd to the 24th of April. Many had never exhibited their work before, and all donated pieces towards a fund raising effort for the Bevois Mount History mural project. The overall quality of the art was outstanding. We were amazed that over £500 was raised.

Great credit goes to Barbro and Rosy who thought of the idea and put it into action, and the artists, who so generously donated their work. The event was so successful that there is talk of putting on another one in the autumn.

Clean Streets

Working with the council we arranged for a crew to give local streets a 'mini-sparkle' during Easter when the students were away and the streets were clearer of cars. This, coupled with volunteers putting bins away meant that both men and machines were able to get at gutters and pavements. A weedkiller session will follow.

We are also teaming up with the council to audit and number bins in more streets following a successful Gordon Avenue pilot.

Litter picks continue on the first and third Sundays of the month.

Meet at the Alma Road planters at 11 o'clock.

Jason Evans from the council who has been very supportive of our efforts is moving departments. He will be greatly missed by OARA.

Can You Lend A Hand?

Could you spare a bit of time to help out with OARA efforts to improve our part of Southampton? Do any of these appeal to you?

• IT design
• Photography
• Poster design / promotion
• Musical talent?
• Helping with street cleaning on a Sunday?
• Keeping your section of street litter-free?

If you can help with any of the above, please contact: info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

OARA Events Coming Up Soon

Tuesday May 10th – OARA OGM (7 for 7:30 Bevois Town School)

Saturday May 14th Greening Table – Top Sale outside Portswood Church (opposite Waitrose) 11 – 1:00

Saturday 21st May – Mural open-day / bazaar at Avenue St Andrews 1:00 – 4

Sunday June 12th – Big Lunch Street party 1 – 4 Alma Road

Finally…

It was with sadness that we heard of the sudden passing of Dr Julian Jenkinson, owner of ‘Student No Fee’ who has many properties in our area. Julian was one of the first landlords to appreciate the work we do, by supporting us. He recognised that improvement in the environment was good for everybody, residents, students and landlords. We hope the new owners will still work with us in the same way.

Contact us: info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

We are also on Facebook

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - AUTUMN 2014

Welcome to our 'Common Ground'

WELCOME… to this special edition of the OARA newsletter and to the Outer Avenue if you are new to this part of the city.

We would also like to welcome you to the new Common Ground project which is taking off in our area.

Read on to find out more about OARA, the community you live in, what people are doing to make it even better and how you can be part of it.

Where is the Outer Avenue?

If this newsletter comes through your door you live in the Outer Avenue area, in one the roads in white on the map.

It is a lively, characterful and interesting part of the city, with a diverse community, many amenities and good schools, attractive Victorian properties and a fascinating history.

There are many long-term residents and families who enjoy living here. The area is now also home to many students and others who choose to live here for a particular period in their lives.

What is OARA?

OARA, the Outer Avenue Residents' Association, is your local residents' association.

Our aim is to make sure the space we all share is a good place to live, work and invest in, one we can all be proud of and feel safe in. We work with others and take practical actions to aim to achieve this.

Why common ground?

Why is this special edition of the OARA newsletter called Common Ground? It is because we are launching a Common Ground Charter and we hope you will want to be part of it.

The Outer Avenue is a great place to live. The diverse mix of residents brings a lively energy to the area. That can however sometimes lead to conflicting needs and lack of mutual understanding which can impact on the quality of our lives.

We want the area to be the best it can be for all of us who share it, whether here over time or just passing through. That only happens when people get to know each other and work together. So, in July OARA brought together residents, student reps, councillors and council officers who cover our area, some landlords, businesses and a local place of worship to discuss what is good about our area and what bugs us, to find important "common ground" and, most importantly, to decide what we can actually do to make it a better place.

Read on to find out what happened next!

Outer Space

News from the Outer Avenue space we share

Residents launch Common Ground Charter

Calling the Common Ground meeting was a risk. Would community spirit prevail or would differences prove an insurmountable barrier? Happily we found a lot to agree on and a combined will to find ways to work together. There was a lot to like as well as bugbears:

What people like

• Diversity
• Lively atmosphere
• Attractive houses
• Good neighbours
• Flowers and greening
• Amenities: shops, places to eat
• Customers for businesses
• Near the common
• Thriving residents' association
• Interesting local history

What bugs them

• Litter, rubbish & flytipping
• Bins & bottle boxes on the pavements
• Loud noise & drinking on the street
• Late, loud parties
• Too many lettings boards
• Parking problems
• Poorly maintained houses
• Neglected/concreted front gardens
• Removal of front walls
• Loss of sense of community

How can you be part of it and make a difference?

• Please read it and lend your support
• Put it in your window to show others you are on board.
• Let us know on info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk so we can add your household, group or business to the growing number of supporters who want to make a difference.
• And most importantly do what you can to put the principles into practice.

Be a good neighbour

Being a good neighbour is an important part of the Common Ground project. Here are some ways we can all do that:

• Say hello, be welcoming and introduce ourselves
• Keep the area outside our own houses clean, tidy and free of litter
• Be a good bin buddy: recycle carefully, only put loose paper, card, cans and plastic bottles in our blue bin and especially, if we have space, take our bins off the pavement once they are emptied
• Enjoy our own music but don't play it so loud that our neighbours have to listen too
• Park carefully so there is room for all
• And just be considerate and lend a hand if needed.

This all led to the Common Ground Charter, which we are delighted to launch in this special edition of the OARA newsletter and which is set out in full on the back page.

Useful Contacts Let OARA or someone else know if you are experiencing problems or need help.

Your councillors Stephen Barnes-Andrews, Derek Burke and Jacqui Raiment, on 023 8083 2430 or democraticservices@southampton.gov.uk

Refuse and recycling issues actionline@southampton.gov.uk or 08005 19 19 19 or use the Recycle for Southampton App

HMO Warden barry.olson@southampton.gov.uk or 023 8083 2606

Police and your PCSO Call them on 101 – the non emergency line

Southampton University Students Union SUSU 023 8059 5200

What does OARA actually DO?!

OARA has blossomed over recent years. Here is a taste of what they have been doing, often in partnership with others who have a stake in the area.

"Greening": planting beds and barrels with flowers and establishing 31 signature cherry trees in front gardens, paid for by residents, some landlords and OARA fundraising.

A recent "raid" on a littered and weedy patch, aided by the donation of compost and plants by Waitrose produced the satisfying results shown in these before and after pictures. Thank you to local shopkeepers who have now adopted the patch and are keeping it watered. And to the student who made us a cup of tea at the last planting session in the Gordon Avenue/Westwood Road cut!

Watch out for table top sales to help raise funds and plant swaps to spread the greening effect. Have you got space to adopt a tree – for just £20? Email us and we'll tell you how.

Keeping the streets clean: OARA members carry out regular litter picks and street cleans on the first and third Sunday of each month. Meet at 11.00 at the Gordon Avenue/Alma Road planters to lend a hand.

We have also initiated a Clean Streets Group which has met with council officers. Recently this resulted in the council organising clearance of fly-tipped items; a two-day September Street Sparkle in Gordon and Alma Roads; a pilot scheme in Livingstone Road aimed at eradicating the costly problem of contaminated bins and reducing the number of bins on the pavements.

Organising "get to know you" social events for all the community: long term residents, students and newer members of the community including some of our Polish families, came together in June to enjoy a Big Lunch Street Party and student arrivals enjoyed a Meet Your Neighbour Sunday lunchtime session, complete with live music and free soup, in October.

Setting up a local history group: since its formation in 2013 the OARA Bevois Mount History Group has unearthed heaps of fascinating information about our area. Did you know Bevois Mount House, owned by the Earl of Peterborough, stood on the site of the sports club on Lodge Road from 1723 until the 1940s? Most of the houses in Outer Avenue are built on land from that estate.

Find out more on bevoismounthistory facebook page or website. Look out for news of the 2015 Bevois Mount History Calendar.

• Monitoring planning applications to help keep a balanced community, in an area where 50% of residences are now Houses of Multiple Occupation – HMOs.
• Working with the students' union e.g. to set up a "meet your neighbour event", produce information for students moving into the area and to tackle the forest of lettings boards.
• Setting up a pilot bin-buddy scheme with a student landlord.
• Liaising with Barry Olson, the HMO warden. He promotes responsible management by landlords and good citizenship by tenants, investigating complaints of poor conditions and nuisance as well as ensuring letting boards are not left up for excessive periods of time.
• And now launching the Common Ground project to work together to improve the place we share.

Why not come and join us?

OARA membership is open to all Outer Avenue residents and costs just £3.00 a year.

• Meet others in the community and keep in touch with what is going on
• Make your voice heard at 3x yearly meetings
• Enjoy discounts at local cafes shops with your membership card

info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

Outer Avenue Community Common Ground Charter

The Outer Avenue is a thriving, diverse and historical area of Southampton. We want to make sure it is an attractive, clean, well looked-after and safe area of the city, where there is a good sense of community, where residents, old and new, feel welcome and where those who have a stake in the area work together to make it a good place to live in and share.

To play our part in this we will:

• Be considerate and respectful members of our community, who take responsibility for making it a decent place to live
• Take steps to welcome and get to know others in the community and be a good neighbour to them
• Look after and take pride in the homes we live in and/or own
• Look after the physical environment, including keeping our streets and pavements free from litter, rubbish and bins, recycling all we can and caring for and improving our green spaces
• Find ways to communicate and share information with each other so we understand what is going on and what we need to do
• Let each other know when problems arise and try to find constructive ways to solve them
• Acknowledge, share (and even reward) the good things that people do to make the area a better place to live in

This charter came about as a result of a number of groups and individuals coming together with OARA, the Outer Avenue Residents' Association, to find "common ground", with the aim of improving the area we have a common interest in. Those represented so far include; Residents' Association members, landlords, Southampton City Council, students, local places of worship and businesses.

Will you join with us and support the charter?

Email us at info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk to let us know.

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - SUMMER 2013

MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE

MEMBERSHIPS: A YEAR ON

One year on and we're delighted to see people using their Membership Cards. Now it's time to renew them.

They encourage a sense of belonging in the community.

• It raises money for OARA residents who work towards trying to create a better sense of community in the area.
• You may have seen cherry trees planted in the area to brighten it up - they were made possible with the funds from OARA, including the membership fees.
• We can continue to run events like the Street Party, and plant more trees in the area with the money that we raise from membership fees.
• For those who already have a membership card, please check whether it's time to RENEW it. If it is, you can do so at the link below:

Resident of the month… Mandy

Why do we love her?

Mandy was born in Richmond Gardens, Southampton in 1960 and since 1976 has lived at number 2 Rose Road.

What's she like?

Mandy has a strong love for plants and the outdoors, claiming that: "you can't beat British Countryside or RHS Wisley Gardens on a lovely day!" Her other love is for Cocker Spaniels which was sparked when her dad brought her one in South Africa to rid her fear of dogs.

Meet the Family

Between the years of 1965 and 1973, Mandy moved back to South Africa. Their house overlooked the mountains where she used to play with her two younger sisters, Deborah and Tracey. Thanks to Mandy's father, her family were well known within their town. Still to this day, when visiting, her when members of the community shout "Chef Lee" at her mother.

Mandy at work

Mandy has worked for many conservationist departments in many councils. After gaining experience at BTCV in Winchester, Mandy began work at Portsmouth Conservation Practice. Mandy's team consisted of those who were in long-term unemployment and they would receive a supplement on top of their benefits for helping Mandy. The projects also allowed them to take courses in handling chainsaws and now one of her old team members is a tree surgeon!

Mandy's life now

In 1992 Mandy began working in Copthorne Nursery Fawley, where local adults with learning disabilities receive training in horticulture. She took on the role, which allows those who come from day care centres to socialise and even learn RHS Horticultural Classes.

Why She's a Good Neighbour to Have…?

If you need any advice on horticulture or a friendly chat in her lovely garden, Mandy is definitely your neighbour to go to!

Last Season update:

Party in Portswood!

By Rachel Lily

This year's street party was bigger and better than ever. On 2 June, people from all over Portswood gathered at Alma enjoy this year's Street Party - and what a success it was. With competitions hosted by various members of OARA and music conducted all day by John Hayward and his band, it was a social occasion for all ages.

One of the main events was the Vegetable Sculpting competition which was filled with a variety of fruity designs. But there was no beating the bulky, veggie, bird built with potatoes, parsnips and… sleeping pills! The winner, Peter Wirgm his winning vegetable sculpture and put his success down to "finding anything in the fridge that was past its sell by date."

Other competitions included the Guess the Sweets in the Sweet jar, which was won by both Chris Johnson and Peter Clarke, who ended up sharing the mighty 143 sweets.

And it wasn't just adults soaking up the social atmosphere. were in and out of the hand-made 'Musical Playground' and glamming up at the face painting area.

From all the neighbours in Portswood, a huge was involved in setting up this wonderful event.

The Mayor's Visit

At the end of April, the OARA Committee were invited to Southampton then Mayor, Cllr Derek Burke. The Mayor wanted to show his appreciation to the Residents Association for the good work they have done in the past 3 years by giving us a special

The Mayor gave us a tour of the and the Council chamber and then pressing issues that OARA is tackling. The Mayor pledged the continuing support himself to our endeavours and hoped that the good example we have been setting rubs off on other areas of the city to organise themselves effective residents associations

The new BIG project

• Do you ever wonder who lives just down the street from you?
• Do you ever think, I wonder who lived in my house before me?

OARA'S exciting new venture is to EXPLORE our community. Many people suggested during the OARA annual general meeting that people in the area could create a 'scrapbook' of information about the people who live in the area and the history of their homes…

What would be collected?

• Historical information about the area such as mapping sites of long-gone shops, businesses and pubs etc.
• House histories and old photos
• Your stories!
• Local archives at the City Library

What do we need to get started?

• A small project group to drive this project forward
• People who wish to contribute their knowledge and experience of living in the OARA area
• An IT whizz who can help produce an imaginative and accessible online scrapbook
• Copies of historical documents and photographs
• People who would like to do local history research
• Funding ideas to pay for hiring a room for the launch event and any extra materials including copies of documents and photographs

Can you help us?

If you wanted to get involved, please contact OARA and let's start talking! info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

OUTER AVENUE RESIDENTS' ASSOCIATION BULLETIN - WINTER 2013

MATTERS OF IMPORTANCE

WHAT ON EARTH ARE HMO'S?!

The idiots guide to HOUSE IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION…
Courtesy of Jerry Gillen

• An HMO is any property shared by "three or more unrelated people"
• There are 2 types of HMO's
  1. Occupied by 3 to 6 people (AKA 'Class C4')
  2. Occupied by 7 or more (AKA 'Sui Generis')
• Since the 23rd of March 2012, Under Council Regulation anyone buying a house wanting to convert it into an HMO MUST apply for planning permission first.
• There are thresholds to the amount of HMO's in a given area called Supplementary Planning Documents. For our area in Portswood, it is a maximum of 20% of dwellings.
• The SPD says that "a radius of 40metres or a minimum of 10 houses is the area within which the threshold should be calculated" (So no more than one in this radius!)
• It is obvious that in both Portswood, Bassett and Bevois Wards, these thresholds have already been exceeded hence no more HMO's will be allowed in these areas
• HMO's can also 'FLIP' to convert themselves back to a family home without losing the right to become an HMO again

WHAT WE ALL NEED TO DO…

To ensure that there are no more HMO's, it is super important to look out for unauthorised house conversions and report it to OARA and the council. They can do the rest; whether it's offering a Planning Contravention Order or asking the owner to desist.

Resident of the Month… GLADYS

Why do we love her?

Gladys is 92, has lived in Alma Road for 62 years and she is the best neighbour you can have!

What's she like?

As a teenager she was rebellious having left school before matriculating. Now, she loves to garden, do tricky crosswords and socialise with the residents of the White Lodge Care home. Gladys is also an Elder of Avenue St. Andrews Church!

What else has Gladys done in Southampton?

Gladys worked in a sweet shop/tobacconist where Lloyds bank is now. She also worked in her father's cycle shop -with no special favours! Later she taught English to women immigrants and helped children read at May Field Nursery. On her 90th birthday, Gladys bought herself a new racing bike!

Meet the Family

Her father opened a cycle shop in Portswood and she and her two sisters went to a Girls Grammar School in Argyll Road. She met her husband, Len, at the Regents Cycling Club and has two sons, Malcolm and Frank, who often played with their go-cart in Cambridge Road.

Why She's a Good Neighbour to Have…

Gladys is a caring and friendly person who, in the past, has opened her home to the homeless under the Nightstop initiative. She often has a long list of cats, dogs and chickens to look after up and down Alma Road, and she still owns the best tended garden in the neighbourhood!

Last Season update:

KEEP CALM AND KEEP DIGGING

By Rachel Lil

Many people were alarmed to see mass holes in their front gardens and wielding villagers running around carrying pitchforks and spades through the streets of Avenue Road, Gordon Avenue and Alma Road on December 3rd. But it was soon to their relief to be reminded of the latest Greening group project, planting blossom trees around Portswood as part of the National Tree Planting period.

In total, an impressive 25 trees were placed in the ground as a celebration of the tree planting season and an initiator for community integration. Over the past few months, the Greening group has worked hard to raise funds to cut down the cost of the trees so that more people could get involved. Successful table top sales and gardeners evenings meant that the trees were sold at a humble £20 with gardening provided by the members of the group.

Although the group is mainly resident based, there is always an open invitation for more students to get involved and feel part of the community. The organisers of the event Susan Swallow, Judith Payling and Maggie O'Connor are always thinking ahead, planning another 5 trees to be planted in the Spring time and have high hopes that projects like these will give people things to do together and introduce people to their neighbours. A big thanks to Hilliers Nurseries for providing the trees.

Lights, Hampers, Action!

By Jemma Percy

For the residents of Portswood, Christmas 2012 may not have been a 'white' one, but thanks to creative neighbours, it was defiantly a bright one. Fuelled with imaginative thinking and festive spirit, residents took to designing a decorative display of seasonal stars and lights outside their homes to celebrate the season and ignite the streets. And, this year such talent did not go unnoticed.

The OARA team and a small group of neighbours took to the streets and followed the lit pathways to admire the creative sparks of homeowners who had dressed their houses. As a result one would be announced Portswood's Best Dressed House of Christmas 2012 and win the prize of a luxury hamper. Judge and local resident, Barbro Fitzjohn described the displays as, "fantastic, charming and cheerful" as the panel admired the lights. After much conferring among the judges, it was decided that locals Peter and Birgit, were the winners. Barbro Fitzjohn felt their garden was, "friendly and uplifting to walk by". The runner ups were Maggie and Mike, who won by their "magical tree", and those at 60 Alma Road for their "classical tasteful house so well kept with all the old features intact and with matching symmetrical decorations in period". Congratulations to our winners and a big thank you to all those who took part! Keep up to date with the OARA newsletter for more competitions!

GET INVOLVED!

Do you fancy trying something new? Here's some of the activities we run:

• Greening Group
• Street Cleaning
• Wheelie bin management

Welcome to the first newsletter of the Outer Avenue Residents Association.

It serves as a scene setter to outline what we do, what we have done and what we want to do in the future.

Simple!

The OARA was established last year to create a greater sense of community and within its first few months, it has made great strides in harnessing a warm and friendly spirit in this area through the organisation of various activities including street cleaning, a street party and a popular plant swap. Read all our news stories to find out more.

This is a diverse neighbourhood presenting plenty of opportunities for conflict but through our goals of talking to our neighbours and building relationships, we aim to keep those at bay and focus on making this a more active and vibrant community that makes residents want to stay put and visitors to return.

These are the OARA objectives:

• Build relationships and a sense of community
• Build relationships with landlords - so the look of our community can be improved – and with our neighbours who are invariably their tenants.
• Make the area greener - planting trees and improving front gardens
• Clean up the streets - removing litter, rubbish and sorting out bins
• Understand planning issues and processes - to have a better chance of influencing them

We would love more people to get involved with these goals so have a read of Oara News and email any comments to:
info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk
or find time to come to the next OARA meeting on December 6th 2011.

Skills Boutique

We have discovered since setting up OARA in 2009 that there are some surprisingly adept and clever citizens littered around these streets ranging from Olympic training athletes to rock band music teachers to lifestyle coaches and train drivers. There are also gardeners, electricians, plumbers, publicity experts (known as PR professionals), artists, car mechanics, handymen and cleaners. Some are interested in creating a community skills store to offer their local talent for properly priced local jobs that need completing.
If you have something to offer and want to go on the list, send name, skills and contact details to:
info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk
They will appear in next newsletter and on our website.

Ssh! Campaign at SUSU

Last year, in response to issues raised by local residents about noise levels from students on their way home from night-time events at The Union, SUSU (the Students' Union at the University of Southampton) launched the Ssh! Campaign. The Ssh! Campaign, which stands for Southampton Street Harmony, aims to reduce noise disruption from students on their way home from our venue as well as encouraging students to be a good neighbour.

The SUSU Venues Team has been helping to support the Ssh! Campaign in a number of great ways; one of these being a new Marshalling Scheme. This involves a number of uniformed marshals out on the streets near Glen Eyre Halls of Residence, Church Lane and other areas surrounding the Students' Union, who encourage students to keep the noise down on their way home.

We have also introduced a Duty Manager, who is present at all SUSU club nights. The Duty Manager can be reached on 07412 068331 in case you need to report any noise or other issues associated with students. We would really appreciate you taking the time to report any issues to the Duty Manager so that we can ensure that they are followed up.

The success of this campaign also relies on effective communication with students, which is why this year we will be trying out some innovative ways to get the Ssh! message across. For example, production has just finished on a Neighbours themed video starring your very own Chair of the Outer Avenue Residents' Association, Gordon Gillies.

We have also just run a competition at Swaythling Primary School, where we asked the children to draw Ssh! themed pictures that we can use on the new campaign posters. The pictures have now been judged, and 3 designs have been chosen to use on the posters. Look out for the completed posters around SUSU and in Halls of Residence soon!

Last but not least, SUSU also produces a Community Newsletter 3-4 times a year, which highlights positive activities that students are doing in the local community as well as sharing relevant news. To help us to produce this newsletter, we offer Local Residents' Associations the chance to share their stories with students and the wider community.
If you have a story that you'd like to share, you can email this to:
communitynews@susu.org

If you have any queries about the Ssh! Campaign or would like to speak about SUSU's engagement in the community please contact Frankie Fry, the Vice President Welfare and Communities, at vpwelfare@susu.org

Leaving on a U1 bus

Buses in Portswood are FANTASTIC and about to get even better. New 'touch in' and 'touch out' ticketing technology is to be introduced across First in Hampshire and Dorset's 359 strong bus fleet at a cost of £1.9 million. The night bus service operated by Bluestar provides a safe alternative journey home from the city centre on Friday and Saturday nights to locations across the region including Eastleigh, Hedge End, Lordshill, Millbrook, Shirley, Netley, Bitterne, Thornhill, Waterside and Winchester. See the Bluestar website. The Unilink service connects Wessex Halls with the Avenue, the Station, the Airport and West Quay Shopping in its superb network.
See the Unilinkbus website for timetables and prices.

Planters Community Garden

The large brick planters that form the traffic barrier between Gordon Avenue and Alma Rd have been a bit bare and barren after radical council pruning. The OARA greening group negotiated with the council to take responsibility for cultivating them. A planting plan was made and funding applied for but as the wheels of bureaucracy were spinning into action, Spring suddenly arrived so using plants left over from the plant swap and other exotic species from our gardens, we planted herbs and sweet smelling lavender and flowers and threw in a few seeds for good luck! There is a longer term plan working with the Royal Horticultural Society and advisors from the council but in the meantime , instead of weeds and litter we have flowers, shrubs and verdant greenery and even some tomatoes.

Bin strike continues

Your bin men went on strike in May and are now working to rule which means our wheelie bins are being collected and emptied - every two weeks – so long as the bin is placed on the pavement outside the house and the lid is down. They won't come into your garden and shift it onto the pavement, according to Cllr Stephen Barnes-Andrew, one of three Southampton City Council councillors who represent the Bevois ward, and there is no sign of the industrial dispute being resolved. Things got a bit whiffy during the summer down this way but the bi-weekly collections - including garden refuse (which has to be put in special green Council bag) and recyclables - are better than nothing. You can always take your rubbish down to the Household Waste Recycling Centre - otherwise known as The Dump – at Endle Street if you get antsy about the slow progress.

To park or not to park

It won't take you long to work out that drivers can experience both heaven and hell on our streets depending on whether parking is regulated or not. Non drivers, notably mothers with prams and wheelchair users are however consigned ALWAYS to hellish encounters as they try and navigate the kerbs, tyres, car doors, cones, supermarket trollies and other pavement detritus scattered throughout.Here are a few tips on how to remain King or Queen of the road.

1. Don't over-rev your engine or slam doors late at night or early in the morning
2. Park close to the kerb, turn your wing mirrors in and put your aerial down
3. Leave room for the people to get out without bumping you
4. Leave room for Emergency vehicles. VERY IMPORTANT
5. Don't park across driveways, in disabled bays, on pavements
6. Don't use your horn between 11:30 pm and 07:00 am

It's obvious really, innit.

Huge Sainsbury's on our doorstep

A brand new – and quite humungous – Sainsbury's superstore is due to open locally in Spring 2012 on the site of the old bus station, on the corner of Portswood Road and Highfield Lane. It will provide 400 jobs with recruiting due to start early next year via the local job centre and the company website:
Sainsburys.jobs

A doctor's surgery and 140 new homes promised in the first plans submitted five years ago have been revised with up to 60 new houses and 30 flats now planned. A community facility will also be built above the store as well as a children's play area and 344 parking spaces. Waitrose, Aldi, Tesco Express, Coop and now Sainsbury's. Spoilt for choice, eh!

Give it a 'Grow'

So you've poked the garlic into your Sunday leg of lamb but where's the freakin rosemary? Ah ha you think. Mr Seenbetter at 25 has a rosemary bush in his front garden so let's be having some of that. Better idea? Grow it yourself in your front garden starting with a sprig from the Planters swap that takes place in this 'give it a grow' neighbourhood. On a fine Tuesday evening last May people gathered at the planters between Alma Rd and Gordon Ave with a bunch of surplus plants and pots. Students took away bean plants, others picked up mint and rosemary for cooking and children wanted to know how, what and when. Garden enthusiasts and 'give it a grow' novices got to know each other while advice and plants were swapped.

Our Big Wet OARA Lunch

If you weren't there you missed out! Despite sun dances, prayers and some loud expletives directed at TV's bumbling weather forecasters, our first major social gig - the OARA big lunch – on Sunday 5 June, was hit by rain. Despite that, around 70 people turned up! Gazebos, umbrellas, balloons and paper bunting made at planning meetings all survived the rain as did a robust and lively atmosphere which could not be dampened. Guests brought yummy Polish soup, salad nicoise, freshly made pizza , whole baked salmon, scrumptious home made cakes and puddings. Egg and strawberry races (improvised snail racing!) chocolate games, hula hoops, stocks and wet sponges provided entertainment alongside face painting and some heavyweight bubble blowing.The lunch was a morale-boosting exercise in fostering a vibrant community spirit with guests meeting new people, including local police and getting to know each other better. Young people
from Kinsgsley House offered an endless supply of soft drinks and much appreciated muscle power to move concrete umbrella bases in the grand cooperative clear up at the end! The Big Lunch is a national project with the next event set to take place on Sunday 5 June

Buddy can you spare me some time

In urgent need of a bicycle pump or perhaps a drill and no damn clue how to lay your hands on one for a few minutes? Here's a suggestion. Go next door and see if your neighbour can help. OARA member Lynn Murphy is in the process of setting up a 'buddy' system to ensure all new residents get a welcome knock at their door.
This has many benefits. Having a buddy helps new folk settle into the neighbourhood as well as into their house. "Those of us who live here permanently need to take the initiative", Lynn explained. This scheme is still taking shape but we urge you to talk to your neighbour whoever they are because they are mostly interesting and nice.

Stat Attack

A group from OARA recently undertook a mapping exercise to get an idea how houses and flats in our community were being filled, people wise. Were they houses with multiple private tenants, aka HMOs or limited occupancy units? After hours and hours of trawling the streets of OARA we discovered that a fraction over half (51%) of the 562 residences surveyed so far were occupied by at least three tenants who share toilet, bathroom or kitchen facilities. The rest were either owner occupied or selectively tenanted.

Highcliffe Avenue and Earls Road provided the highest levels of multiple occupancy while Gordon Avenue proved a fabulous smorgasbord of mixed living and Cambridge Road and Cedar Road were weighted heavily in favour of grown up privacy. See for yourself. It makes for interesting reading but try not to pass judgement. You just never know what lurks behind those big oak doors!

OARA exists to serve local residents, taking action on issues of concern or interest in ways that improve the area and incorporate the values of local residents.

These are the streets embraced in OARA:

• Alma Road
• Avenue Road
• Rose Road
• Cambridge Road
• Cedar Road
• Earls Road
• Spear Road
• Rigby Road
• Livingstone Road
• Gordon Avenue
• Clifford Dibben Mews
• Cedar Gardens
• Highcliff Avenue

OARA Membership

If you feel strongly about your community and want to serve local residents, taking action on issues of concern or interest in ways that improve the area and incorporate the values of local residents then contact us to become a member. There is no fee though with all the cuts in public spending, we are running shy of any funding so always appreciate a voluntary contribution. If you are either wanting to savour the taste of local peer power or you are seeking ways of fighting that power, then you need to become an OARA member. This is what we are aiming to achieve:

1. To build relationships and a sense of community
2. To build relationships with landlords - so the look of our community can be improved - and welcome tenants as neighbours.
3. To make the area greener - planting trees and improving front gardens
4. To clean up the streets - removing litter, rubbish and sorting out bins
5. To understand planning issues and processes - so we have a better chance of influencing them

Useful information

We have an excellent OARA committee of professional and committed individuals
All of whom can be contacted at: info@outeravenueresidents.co.uk

Officer Position	Held by
Chair	Gordon Gillies
Vice Chair	Richard Hill
Secretary	Lynn Murphy
Treasurer	Andrew Haslehurst
Membership Secretary	T Jacobs
Committee Members	Rosy Maguire - Phine Dahle

PARKING

Council transport services

LIBRARIES

Portswood Library
Central Library

TRANSPORT

Busses

Bluestar
First Bus
Unilink

Trains

National Rail Enquiries
South West Trains

Ferries

Red Funnel
Wightlink

Air

Southampton Int. Airport

HEALTH

NHS Direct
Southampton General Hospital

OARA CALENDAR 2011

December 6th 2011	OARA Meeting - 7:30pm Cedar Road School
January 24th 2012	OARA Annual General Meeting