Wilford Community Group

Minutes of the committee meeting

held on Monday 12^th December 2005

at Wilford Social and Bowls Club

Present: Brian Hardy (BH) Chairman

Bill Roughton (BR) Vice Chairman

Dave Boulton (DB) Secretary

Sheila Atherton (SA) Treasurer

Chris Allsopp (CA)

Stephanie Taylor (ST)

Frank Wakelin (FW)

Kate Clark (KC)

Guests: Diane Topple (DT), School Travel Plan Adviser, Nottingham City Council

Clare Darby (CD), Deputy Headteacher, Nottingham Emmanuel School

				Action
1	School Travel Plan (STP) Diane Topple and Clare Darby were invited to the meeting to discuss School Travel Plans, how they were formulated and how local communities could assist in their production. It was noted that the Head of South Wilford School and the governor responsible for the school travel plan were also invited but prior commitments prevented them from attending. However, BR did inform the committee that South Wilford School is working to produce its travel plan. DT explained that School Travel Plans are created by the school and are a package of measures to encourage sustainable ways of travelling to school, avoiding car use where possible. If a school demonstrates a commitment to the community in its school travel plan, this is viewed favourably by OFSTED. DT stressed that although her rôle was to assist schools in producing their STPs, it is vital that each school takes ownership of the plan and travel issues, and implement the measures proposed in the STP. Whilst there is no real obligation on schools to produce and STP, there is a requirement on the local authority to develop them and the government wants all schools to have a travel plan by 2010. There is a one-off capital grant of £5,500 available to schools once the STP is in place. CD explained that travel options had been planned from the establishment of the school and measures included school buses dropping off and picking up students on the Meadows side of the Toll Bridge (thus no Emmanuel school buses travel through Wilford Village), working with Nottingham City and Rushcliffe Councils to improve cycle routes and encouraging parents to drop children at the junction of Coronation Avenue and Main Road by preventing vehicular access to the school. When the new buildings are started, all construction traffic will use the access road from Wilford Lane, and when the build is complete, only cycle/pedestrian access to the school will be possible from Coronation Avenue. It is a condition of the planning application for the new Nottingham Emmanuel School that a travel plan be produced. DT explained that the highest priority for Wilford was to have an STP in place for South Wilford school as there were concerns about the amount of traffic on Main Road at the time of the school run. BR reminded the meeting of the accident that had occurred the previous week where a car had swerved onto the embankment on Main Road and collided with a lamppost when a large number of cars were parked. The previous Walking Bus was discussed and the DT stated that the problem with these schemes was that they relied on volunteers to walk the children to and from school. The alternative “Walk-and-Stride” scheme where parents park at, say, The Harvester and walk their children to school. The meeting discussed the usefulness of a tram stop at Bader Road, for which the Community Group had been lobbying. It was explained that this stop could serve both secondary schools and also South Wilford School if the gate at the bottom of their playing field were made accessible. DT and CT said that they would contact NET to discuss this proposal. The committee thanked DT and CD for attending the meeting.
2	Apologies Roger Steel, Brian Clark Absent Jonathan Shewell-Cooper, Maggie Hamilton
3	Minutes of 14^th November Committee Meeting Agreed, subject to the first line of the Treasurer’s Report being changed from “The raffle licence has been approved” to “SA requested approval that the raffle licence be renewed. This was agreed unanimously”.
4	Review Outstanding Actions
	a.	Invitation to Diane Topple Complete, see above.
	b.	Boundary change Carried forward, dependant on agreeing a meeting date with the Environment Agency.		DB
	c.	Top Up Grant SA reported that one form had been received. See Treasurer’s report below.
	d.	Committee Photographs BR provided a photograph of FW for DB to scan and add to the website. A photograph of CA would be provided after the meeting. Both photographs would be added to the Notice Board papers.
	e.	Neighbourhood Wardens DB had received the contact details and it was agreed that they would be invited to the January meeting. DB would also check the website to ensure that the correct details are there.		DB DB
	f.	Notice Board Cleaning DB informed the committee that Dave Stretton had agreed to ask his graffiti team to visit the board at the Co-op to see if it could be cleaned.
	g.	John Deane Cannon BH agreed to invite Dave Ball of the History Society to the January meeting to discuss what might be involved in bringing a cannon from Maine University back to Wilford.
5	Chairman’s Report The committee discussed further the accident that occurred on Main Road where a car travelling south swerved on to embankment and collided with a lamppost. BR stated that the driver drove off but the registration number had been noted. BR agreed to contact the City Council as the lamppost was not facing the correct way. BH told the meeting that he had received a letter from Natalie Sellears (Library Services Manager, Nottingham City Council) who has said that she will be happy to attend the February committee to discuss the future of Wilford library. BH will confirm this. BH said that the library does not meet government requirements for libraries in respect of computer provision and also reminded everyone that the catchment for the library would be increasing by as much possibly as 400 people when the new David Wilson development is complete. Wilford library also suffers from the fact that although it is a “city” library, its catchment includes Compton Acres in the county. BH agreed to invite Area 9 councillors to the February meeting.			BR BH BH
6	Secretary’s Report DB read out a series of emails that had been exchanged with the Revd David Rowe on the subject of the beneficiary group for the 2006 Summer Event. Following an extended discussion, it was agreed that the committee would offer advice and assistance at any event that might be organised to raise money for disabled access to the Church Hall. DB will email David Rowe. DB reported that the Spirit Group were appealing against the decision of the licensing panel that had been attended by BH and DB. At this stage it was not known which parts of the decision were being appealed against. DB had contacted John Lee (Footpaths Officer) regarding the broken fence near the pumping station. The latter had agreed that it was the council’s responsibility to maintain this fence and he would investigate.			DB
7	Treasurer’s Report SA reported that the Rotary Club would once again be donating £100 to group funds from their annual Bonfire and Fireworks event. SA reported that, for an application for a top-up grant, the Group would need to demonstrate previous spend (on hiring venues, producing publicity, etc) or based on future planned events. SA agreed to produce a budget to justify an application for top-up funds.			SA
8	Summer 2006 Event Discussion took place over the final wording of the letter to potential raffle prize donors. The wording was agreed and DB will distribute the final version.			DB
9	Road Traffic Issues
	9.1		B679 Clifton Lane
			It was agreed that no further action would be taken.
	9.2		Wilford Lane / Main Road / Ruddington Lane Traffic Lights
			It was agreed that no further action would be taken.
	9.3		Main Road Traffic Speed
			It was agreed that the Group could investigate the issue of traffic speed throughout Wilford independently of any formal police involvement. DB agreed to investigate the possibility of borrowing a handheld speed monitor from the police (via Nigel Brown) or the cost of hiring one.	DB
10	Any Other Business
	a.	BR reiterated to the Committee that wheelchairs users could pass through the motorcycle inhibitor barriers. He had also exchanged further emails with a Silverdale resident with regard to potential modifications to the barriers. However, it was agreed to not pursue this issue further.
	b.	DB stated that the next committee meeting would be held on Monday 9^th January 2006. It was agreed that the next Open Gardens meeting would take place on Monday 23^rd January 2006 at Wilford Social and Bowls Club, starting at 7:30pm.

The meeting closed at 21:40.

Approved…Brian Hardy…….(Chairman)

Date……9^th January 2006……..