at Nottingham Moderns RFC

Present: David Boulton (DB) Chairman

Roger Steel (RS) Vice Chairman

Sheila Atherton (SA) Treasurer

Josie Foster (JF) Minute Secretary

Mike Cathcart (MC)

Kate Clark (KC)

Brian Hardy (BH)

Jonathan Shewell-Cooper (JSC)

Invited Guest: Councillor Brendan Clarke-Smith (BCS)

				ACTION
1	Apologies Brian Clark
2	Minutes of the Previous Meeting The Minutes were approved.
3	Review Actions from Previous Meeting
	3.1	Meeting with NET RS met with NET planners at Lawrence House. See minute 7.1 below.
	3.2	Wheelchair Access to the footpath on Coronation Avenue Carried over.		DB
	3.3	Unsightly pole and bad positioning of Road Sign on Corner of Holly Avenue DB will write to the Highways Department of the City Council regarding the road sign at the same time as he contacts them about Coronation Avenue. BT pole Carried over.		DB RS
	3.4	Location of Notice Boards DB reported that one notice board was in the possession of the Area Committee and a second was on order. DB felt that the first board should be placed at the Co-op (i.e., before Main Road) to avoid any possible accusation of “Village” bias. He was still chasing the Co-op Property Group about the legal documents that must be completed before the board is put up. DB will continue to chase.		DB
	3.5	Website Advertising No newsletter has been published since the last meeting, so this action is to be carried over until the next Church newsletter is distributed.		DB
	3.6	Contact Constabulary Field Intelligence Officer Carried over.		RS
	3.7	AGM Independent Chair It was noted that Councillor Andrew Price accepted the invitation to carry out this rôle as Lesley Lowe was not available.
	3.8	Appointment of Auditor for 2003/04 Year SA reported that the person who audited the accounts for 2002/03 has agreed to do so again for the forthcoming year.
	3.9	Bellway – Improving Site Line/Property fronting on to Pavement Carried over.		RS
	3.10	Bus Terminus See minute 7.2 below (NET).
	3.11	Community Allotments See minute 6.3.1 below.
	3.12	Draft Annual report and Accounts DB confirmed that these were placed in the Library prior to the AGM.
	3.13	Wilford House Sports Ground Development See minute 4.1.1 below.
	3.14	Area Committee DB confirmed that he had contacted Martin Parker and asked him to send the necessary paper to RS to have him formally accepted as the Community Group’s representative on the Area Committee in the place of BCS following his election to te City Council. RS informed the meeting that he had not received the papers and agreed to chase this up with Martin Parker.		RS
	3.15	No 8 Cribb Close Carried over.		RS
4	Chairman’s Report
	4.1	Correspondence
		4.1.1	David Wilson Homes DB confirmed that he had written to David Wilson Homes explaining the Group’s approach to the development and offering any services that might make the application acceptable to the Community Group. He then read out a letter of reply from David Wilson Homes.
		4.1.2	City Council regarding the Embankment Footpath DB has contacted John Lee with regard to the line of the footpath and the screening for properties in Hunters Close and Chancery Court. The footpath appears to be wrongly sited but John Lee has confirmed that the line is as discussed in Committee – along the top of the floodbank. With regard to the screening there is not enough in the budget to cover the cost of this at the moment and John Lee thought it was for the Environmental Agency to provide screening. It was understood that two thirds of the expenditure would be provided by the City Council and one third by the EA. The impression is that the City Council have now to fund the screening. Again DB contacted John Lee and asked if the EA had offered to do the screening. As yet there has been no response from John Lee. It was agreed that DB should write to John Lee formally, confirming that the Group’s position is the same as that decided at the resident’s consultation meeting and saying that the issue of screening should be addressed as soon as possible after the installation of the path.	DB
		4.1.3	Lord Mayor’s Civic Service DB informed the meeting that he had received an invitation to represent the Group at the Lord Mayor’s Civic Service and Reception.
	4.2	Website Discussion Forum Items of Interest
		4.2.1	Wilford Beat Officer DB reported that a resident has said that PC Brown is the new Beat Officer for Wilford and asked if anyone could confirm that and whether PC Jon Cooper is leaving. DB will pursue this matter and confirm the situation. Because of the report in the media about local stations being manned again it was suggested that a Beat Officer/Field Intelligence Officer be invited to a future meeting to inform the committee of the current situation.	DB
5	Vice Chairman’s Report
	5.1	Update from Area Committee Meeting Nothing to report that would be relevant to Wilford. There is a new development at the top end of Clifton going towards Gotham. There was a published expenditure list that we could pursue for use in Wilford but we need a theme and would have to provide a budget. There were future plans to hold meetings in Silverdale and Wilford but nothing had as yet been decided.
6	Sub Committee Report
	6.1	Planning and Development
		6.1.1	Fixings House DB reported that another application for residential development had been made and that he had received representations from a Ruddington Lane resident objecting to the development. DB expressed concerns that while the proposal was for two-story buildings instead of the previous three-storey buildings, the location of the rear of the buildings so close to the back of Ruddington Lane would still cause a loss of light to these properties. In addition, DB suggested that the plans for parking spaces and for three properties fronting Pinfold Lane were inappropriate.DB also reminded committee that the Group’s original objection was also based on change of use from business to residential. It was agreed unanimously that the group should object once more to this development and following a vote, it was also agreed that the “change of use” objection be repeated. DB will write to the City Council on this basis.	DB
	6.2	Young People
		6.2.1	Youth Club SA reported that the Youth Club on Wilford Lane has funding only until the end of March as there are not sufficient young people attending. SA will attend the AGM and ascertain whether the Management Committee is offering enough support. There is a lack of use by Silverdale and Wilford because of young people coming from Clifton and the Meadows taking over. If, they are banned from their own Youth Club the ban does not exclude them from visiting other Youth Clubs and this is what appears to be happening. SA suggested a joint effort by the Community Group and Youth Club to help get it up and running for Silverdale and Wilford members. The Committee gave approval, in principle, for using our funds at to assist in relaunching the Club. SA agreed to attend the AGM and develop a proposal for discussion and the next committee meeting.	SA
	6.3	Fundraising
		6.3.1	Community Allotments RS reported that he had not spoken to any of the Councils that may be responsible for the allotments in question, but did provide a newspaper cutting about Community Allotments. It was felt by a number of Committee members that this did not add to current knowledge and that it was not possible to make an informed decision about whether the Group should progress this as a feasible fundraising opportunity. DB expressed concern over the lack or progress with this item and stated that he was concerned that residents will become reluctant to donate to the Group if there was no reason to do so. DB also expressed concern that the Group will start to lose credibility if it is not seen to be making a significant change in Wilford now that the Group is approaching its first anniversary. RS felt that he could no longer take on the responsibility for this action and requested that it be pursued no further.
At this point, a short break was taken

7	NET Meeting and Consultation
	7.1	Update on NET Meeting We are registered as an interested party with NET and as such RS met an Officer at Lawrence House and saw the plans, at that time, (plans can be amended until publication) and the scheme was discussed in detail. RS outlined the scheme to the Committee with the information he had received from that meeting together with information from 9^th August (see minute 7.2).
	7.2	Update on Vernon Avenue/Coronation Avenue Consultation A further meeting with two NET officials took place on Saturday 9^th August with residents of Coronation Avenue and Vernon Avenue, basically to outline and discuss the development of the scheme from the Toll Bridge, via Coronation Avenue through to Wilford Lane. Committee members who attended this meeting outlined the information they had received and described the areas that need to be pursued further.
	7.3	Next Steps for Community Group Committee Assuming that the tram is routed through Wilford, the Community Group should have some say on the manner in which this is carried out and at this stage of the design it could be made safer, have more convenient tram stops and car parking is a particular issue and needs addressing. It was agreed that the Committee should take steps to spread the word and, in particular, study the proposals when the plans are published. It should encourage people to write with their views to NET whether in support or opposition. RS pointed out that some proposals had been dismissed because not enough people had come out in support. It was pointed out that while the Community group may have a relatively loud voice with NET, residents should be encouraged to make their own voices known. To gather residents’ views to be put forward on their behalf by the Group, it was agreed that a newsletter devoted to tram information would be distributed as soon as possible after NET’s published documents had been sent out. Following this, a public consultation would be carried out to gather residents’ views to be passed on to NET. A resident (Bill Roughton) suggested that this should be a “surgery” format to enable as many residents as possible to make their views known on a one-to-one basis with committee members and any volunteers who would like to help. Committee accepted this idea and thanked Mr Roughton for his contribution. DB said that the Committee must be prepared to move quickly and the following actions were agreed: · BCS agreed to find out when the planned consultation would take place; · DB agreed to draft the newsletter and distribute to committee for consideration. It was felt that the venues for the consultation should be spread around Wilford. Committee also agreed that it might be necessary to pay for the copying of the newsletter to get it out quickly.		BCS DB
8	Refuse Collection There are strong objections to the new scheme, mainly the fortnightly emptying of household waste (Green Bin). It was agreed that a letter to be sent to the Chief Executive stating our grave concerns about the health and safety issues, i.e. maggots and smell. Residents would like a weekly collection of the Green Bins. Mention should also be made of the shoddy and unprofessional way the scheme was implemented.			DB
9	Spring Bulb Planting JSC has not been able to reach his contact at the Council due to holidays but she will be back on the 12^th September. JSC stated that local schools (Emmanuel and South Wilford)have agreed to help with our planting schemes. RS agreed to provide JSC with a contact at the Beckett. MC agreed to check with Severn Trent/the Environment Agency to see if we can plant on the Flood Bank to the Toll Bridge. RS has various sites identified and a planting scheme with numbers of bulbs required.			RS MC
10	Dates of Open Community Group and Closed Committee Meetings SA questioned the frequency of committee meetings (not enough if matters were to be progressed at an acceptable pace). DB agreed to rework the dates for the forthcoming year. 25^th September was agreed as the date of the first open Community Group meeting and DB agreed to arrange the publicity for this. 9^th October was agreed as the date for the next closed Committee meeting. RS agreed to secure room bookings for these meetings. A full list of open meetings would be published on the website with the rota for committee member attendance. The list of closed committee meeting dates would be distributed to committee.			DB RS DB DB
11	Any Other Business (Urgent Items Only) RS reminded committee that the annual Bonfire and Fireworks would be held on Saturday 1^st November and this might be a good publicity and fundraising opportunity for the Group. SA agreed to investigate the most appropriate form of stall to ensure that something was not set up that was already being done by another group (e.g. Scouts)			SA
The meeting closed at 10:45pm

Signed

David Boulton…………………..

Chairman

Date

9^th October 2003………………..