At the recent meeting of Pennar and Bufferland Community Association, the following matters were discussed:

Local initiative to fund a skateboard park gets off to a flying start: Local youths responded with great enthusiasm to the idea of a sponsored 12-hour endurance/skateboarding display in the Bush Street Youth Centre. Each skateboarder taking part in the event obtained £20 sponsorship, and local residents donated generously to help to fund an outdoor skateboard facility in the Memorial Park. When all the sponsorship and donations are accounted, it is estimated that the event will have raised over £600 towards this much-needed facility, which is to be located at the south end of the Memorial Park and well away from residential areas. The P&BCA donated £50 towards providing refreshments for the skateboarders and spectators.

Residents' reactions to PCC's partial extinguishment of street lighting: The meeting was the first opportunity for members to express their opinion on the recently established partial extinguishment of street lighting under the PCC 'Carbon Reduction Commitment' policy. Under this arrangement, the street lights in all residential streets in Pennar and Bufferland (except for those designated as being primary walking routes) will be switched off between the hours of midnight and 5.30 am. It was not expected that the scheme would meet with all the residents' approval, so the fact that no member reported that they had not met with any local resident who supported it was not very surprising! Max Shankland, the licensee of The Alma Inn, said that the street lights in Bufferland Terrace were often switched off anywhere between 11 pm and midnight, and that he felt obliged to keep the light over the entrance of the pub switched on to help customers and others negotiate the 90 degree corner close to his establishment. Dai Mathias produced an early edition of the Western Telegraph that reported a serious case of sexual assault in Prospect Place, close to the corner with Belle Vue Terrace and soon after the switching off of the street lights. The partial extinguishment of street lights at midnight, or sometimes before midnight, had met with total disapproval.