Wilford Community Group

Minutes of the Committee Meeting

held on Monday 17^th March 2008

at Wilford Social and Bowls Club

Present: Brian Hardy (BH) Chairman

Roger Steel (RS) Vice Chair

Dave Boulton (DB) Secretary

Sheila Atherton Treasurer

Stephanie Taylor (ST)

Frank Wakelin (FW)

Bill Roughton (BR)

Josie Foster (JF)

Chris Allsopp(CA)

The meeting was also joined by Elaine Stenson (our Area 9 Committee representative) and several local residents.

		Action
1.	The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and specially Phil Cummings, General Manager of Pork Farms who had come to explain how the recent ammonia leaks had occurred and what had been done about them. Pork Farms had recently installed a new cooling system that uses ammonia. There had been two faults in the installation process and these had been corrected by the installation engineers. Any ammonia leak triggers the alarm system and the consequent attendance of the emergency services who turned up in force, hence the interest of the local press. Many checks and risk assessments had been carried out on the system and both Pork Farm managers and the Fire Service are confident that no further leaks will occur. There is a rigorous monitoring process in place and, in any case, ammonia quickly dissipates in the atmosphere and there is little chance that any local community would be affected. Mr. Cummings gave a detailed and very clear account of the way in which the leaks had occurred and the measures taken to prevent any recurrence. The WCG was very grateful to him for taking the time to do this and extended their thanks to him. The group felt very reassured by his account of the incidents. JF suggested that WCG should invite a representative from the Player factory to attend one of the meetings to explain what is being done to alleviate the strong smell of tobacco that has recently been evident in Wilford.
2.	Apologies Ed Armstrong, Diane Moore.
3.	Matters Arising from the meeting of 21 January 2008: Rear of Co-Op- premises: No progress. It was noted that the area around the Co-op is looking worse than ever. Elaine Stenson offered to see if any action is being taken to improve things. This issue is carried forward and RS to try to progress. NET: a letter from DB and RS about using land adjacent to Wilford Lane as a plantstore had been acknowledge by NET and although it had technically arrived too late to be considered it had been forwarded to the Secretary of State. Litter bins: still awaited in the village. Library: an advertisement had been placed in Neighbourhood News with the new opening times but, unfortunately, it was incorrect. It was hoped that the library service would pay for another. The Wilford Library manager had conducted a ‘footfall’ survey recently which had been very disappointing but efforts are being made to encourage more users in.	RS
4.	Secretary’s Report: DB relayed recent crime figures which PC Nigel Brown had sent by email as he is on annual leave: for the area City boundary Ruddington Lane to Toll Bridge 18 crimes, 2 damages to cars, 1 robbery on Main Road, 2 house burglaries, Launceston Crescent and St Austell Drive, a shed broken into in Manor House Close (late report from January). The Cherries (new development next to Co-op) broken into and some tools stolen from incomplete building and some simple thefts from shop and vehicles. The police have been involved in a series of night observations regarding auto crime and 2 arrests were made this month and auto crime has dropped off again. There have also been 5 burglaries in 7 days Silverdale/Wilford (Ruddington side of cross roads) Plain clothes officers and extra PCSO's from outside the area have patrolled the streets. No burglaries on the patch since last Tuesday (11.3) when a house on Silverdale was broken into.
5.	Iremonger’s Pond: The committee is still meeting and Julian is in the process of writing a constitution for the proposed ‘Iremonger’s Pond Association’ which would be the name of the group who would take on the lease of the pond area. Julian Taylor will chair the group. BR will be on the committee too, providing a link with the WCG, although the Association itself will be independent. BH agreed to look at the group’s books annually. John Wood, who has done much of the clearing up of the pond area, has been told that it may not be wise to work there alone. The British Trust of Conservation Volunteers recently visited the pond. 9 June 2008 had been suggested as a day on which volunteers could meet to do some clearing up. Julian Taylor will be trying to involve schools and the clear-up may be mentioned in the Evening Post and possibly on the radio. There had been some concern that the stepping stones across the pond were not tall enough. BR explained that the water is not deep and that when there is flood water the stones are covered so no one could be tempted to use them. John Wood believes that Clifton fishermen may be stealing carp from the pond and using them to stock ponds in Clifton.	BH
6.	Area 9 Committee Meeting: The whole of the last meeting had been devoted to youth matters. The Youth Service gave a presentation and there was comment that Wilford now has no youth clubs at all. The church youth club had been run by volunteers who were unable to cope with the issues presented by the young people. It is hoped that in the future young people in this area will attend a ‘Centre of Excellence’ at the Green Lane centre in Clifton. The WCG wanted to find out what kind of social facility local young people would like and it was suggested that there should be a meeting to which young people, parents, the Youth Service etc. would be invited. The meeting would be advertised on the notice boards, at schools and in places where young people gather. It was felt an attraction such as a climbing wall might attract youngsters but Elaine pointed out that this would have to be paid for. BH offered to ask Area 9 for financial support for the meeting. The meeting is proposed for the third Monday in May at Benjamin Carter Hall.	BH DB
7.	Any Other Business: - Elaine Stenson reported that there were not enough helpers to undertake a litter pick at Emmanuel School Gates during the Big Spring Clean Up. She had asked the school to raise awareness of the litter issue. - Elaine asked that WCG members raise awareness of bulk collections of unwanted goods, a service provided by the City Council. No white goods or TVs allowed. - Attention was drawn to a Job Training Fair to be held at Cornerstone in Clifton on 11 April 2008 from 10.00 – 2.00. - Elaine asked that anyone who is aware of events of interest to local councillors or community workers informs them by email so that they can attend. - DB had now sent a letter outlining local residents’ concerns about the planning application relating to the Dorothy Boot Homes. He will email a copy of it to everyone. It was noted that work has now stopped at the homes, possibly on the orders of the Conservation Officer. - BR had established that burglaries in the village were not linked to a group of double glazing reps. working in the area around that time. - Parking - BR reported that he had written to the school suggesting that they should make more effort to help with the problem. Glendon (Community Support Officer) had been at the school every day and PC Brown also attended on various occasions. Some tickets had been issued. - SA congratulated CA on his new career and reminded him that he had had WCG’s tombola items in store. He will find them and see what there is. Toiletries etc. may be out of date by now. - RS requested permission to put a notice on the board advertising a Bikeathon in Clumber Park. Agreed.	DB

Action

The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and specially Phil Cummings, General Manager of Pork Farms who had come to explain how the recent ammonia leaks had occurred and what had been done about them. Pork Farms had recently installed a new cooling system that uses ammonia. There had been two faults in the installation process and these had been corrected by the installation engineers. Any ammonia leak triggers the alarm system and the consequent attendance of the emergency services who turned up in force, hence the interest of the local press. Many checks and risk assessments had been carried out on the system and both Pork Farm managers and the Fire Service are confident that no further leaks will occur. There is a rigorous monitoring process in place and, in any case, ammonia quickly dissipates in the atmosphere and there is little chance that any local community would be affected. Mr. Cummings gave a detailed and very clear account of the way in which the leaks had occurred and the measures taken to prevent any recurrence. The WCG was very grateful to him for taking the time to do this and extended their thanks to him. The group felt very reassured by his account of the incidents.

JF suggested that WCG should invite a representative from the Player factory to attend one of the meetings to explain what is being done to alleviate the strong smell of tobacco that has recently been evident in Wilford.

Apologies

Ed Armstrong, Diane Moore.

Matters Arising from the meeting of 21 January 2008:

Rear of Co-Op- premises: No progress. It was noted that the area around the Co-op is looking worse than ever. Elaine Stenson offered to see if any action is being taken to improve things. This issue is carried forward and RS to try to progress.
NET: a letter from DB and RS about using land adjacent to Wilford Lane as a plantstore had been acknowledge by NET and although it had technically arrived too late to be considered it had been forwarded to the Secretary of State.
Litter bins: still awaited in the village.
Library: an advertisement had been placed in Neighbourhood News with the new opening times but, unfortunately, it was incorrect. It was hoped that the library service would pay for another. The Wilford Library manager had conducted a ‘footfall’ survey recently which had been very disappointing but efforts are being made to encourage more users in.

Secretary’s Report:

DB relayed recent crime figures which PC Nigel Brown had sent by email as he is on annual leave: for the area City boundary Ruddington Lane to Toll Bridge 18 crimes, 2 damages to cars, 1 robbery on Main Road, 2 house burglaries, Launceston Crescent and St Austell Drive, a shed broken into in Manor House Close (late report from January). The Cherries (new development next to Co-op) broken into and some tools stolen from incomplete building and some simple thefts from shop and vehicles.

The police have been involved in a series of night observations regarding auto crime and 2 arrests were made this month and auto crime has dropped off again. There have also been 5 burglaries in 7 days Silverdale/Wilford (Ruddington side of cross roads) Plain clothes officers and extra PCSO's from outside the area have patrolled the streets. No burglaries on the patch since last Tuesday (11.3) when a house on Silverdale was broken into.

Iremonger’s Pond:

The committee is still meeting and Julian is in the process of writing a constitution for the proposed ‘Iremonger’s Pond Association’ which would be the name of the group who would take on the lease of the pond area. Julian Taylor will chair the group. BR will be on the committee too, providing a link with the WCG, although the Association itself will be independent. BH agreed to look at the group’s books annually.

John Wood, who has done much of the clearing up of the pond area, has been told that it may not be wise to work there alone.

The British Trust of Conservation Volunteers recently visited the pond. 9 June 2008 had been suggested as a day on which volunteers could meet to do some clearing up. Julian Taylor will be trying to involve schools and the clear-up may be mentioned in the Evening Post and possibly on the radio.

There had been some concern that the stepping stones across the pond were not tall enough. BR explained that the water is not deep and that when there is flood water the stones are covered so no one could be tempted to use them.

John Wood believes that Clifton fishermen may be stealing carp from the pond and using them to stock ponds in Clifton.

Area 9 Committee Meeting:

The whole of the last meeting had been devoted to youth matters. The Youth Service gave a presentation and there was comment that Wilford now has no youth clubs at all. The church youth club had been run by volunteers who were unable to cope with the issues presented by the young people. It is hoped that in the future young people in this area will attend a ‘Centre of Excellence’ at the Green Lane centre in Clifton. The WCG wanted to find out what kind of social facility local young people would like and it was suggested that there should be a meeting to which young people, parents, the Youth Service etc. would be invited.

The meeting would be advertised on the notice boards, at schools and in places where young people gather. It was felt an attraction such as a climbing wall might attract youngsters but Elaine pointed out that this would have to be paid for. BH offered to ask Area 9 for financial support for the meeting. The meeting is proposed for the third Monday in May at Benjamin Carter Hall.

Any Other Business:

- Elaine Stenson reported that there were not enough helpers to undertake a litter pick at Emmanuel School Gates during the Big Spring Clean Up. She had asked the school to raise awareness of the litter issue.

- Elaine asked that WCG members raise awareness of bulk collections of unwanted goods, a service provided by the City Council. No white goods or TVs allowed.

- Attention was drawn to a Job Training Fair to be held at Cornerstone in Clifton on 11 April 2008 from 10.00 – 2.00.

- Elaine asked that anyone who is aware of events of interest to local councillors or community workers informs them by email so that they can attend.

- DB had now sent a letter outlining local residents’ concerns about the planning application relating to the Dorothy Boot Homes. He will email a copy of it to everyone. It was noted that work has now stopped at the homes, possibly on the orders of the Conservation Officer.

- BR had established that burglaries in the village were not linked to a group of double glazing reps. working in the area around that time.

- Parking - BR reported that he had written to the school suggesting that they should make more effort to help with the problem. Glendon (Community Support Officer) had been at the school every day and PC Brown also attended on various occasions. Some tickets had been issued.

- SA congratulated CA on his new career and reminded him that he had had WCG’s tombola items in store. He will find them and see what there is. Toiletries etc. may be out of date by now.

- RS requested permission to put a notice on the board advertising a Bikeathon in Clumber Park. Agreed.

The meeting closed at 21.30

The next meeting is at The Wilford Bowls and Social Club on Monday 21 April 2008 at 7.30 p.m.

Approved…Brian Hardy….(Chairman) Date…………21^st April 2008…………….