* co-opted members Minutes: Sandy Duck - SD 63.1 Welcome / Declaration of Interest: 63.2 Apologies for Absence: Gordon Braun; Susan Venturi; Peggy Davies; Tony Burke; Sue Samson; Carol Terry; Amanda Jupp; Hazel Barnes; Gillian Knight; 63.3 Minutes of the Meeting: - 20th January 2011 accepted as a true record. 63.4 Matters Arising: - None 63.5 Financial Report: AB There was no Financial Report due to AB being on holiday... 63.6 (A) projects: Brief Updates: 63.6.1 Community (Elderly / Disadvantaged) Disadvantaged: - Nothing to report. Elderly: -AB Luncheon Club - We have 3 new members to the Lunch Club and now have a regular average of 24 people attending, with a full programme of activities following the exercise class. Disadvantaged: - PS Headway is now relying on the voluntary sector for help. Health & Social Services have submitted an application for funding and waiting for the outcome. 63.6.2 Youth: - DC
TAG
20 -25 max. Mostly girls
and young - year 7 / 8 so not much of a problem at the moment - very compliant.
to participate. equipment. This is stored at the VH and will be available for use by youth clubs in the locality. (Pulborough, Barns Green, Loxwood). The X Box club is scheduled to reconvene at the VH from Wed 4th April. We have
received funding to support
this club from the Weald Youth Wing funds
Skate Park fund. behaviour of two individuals on the way back from Ireland. The group worked hard in various workshops culminating in making an Action Plan for the remainder of the project. The group will be making presentations to both the Lions and Rotary Clubs (as grant givers), involving themselves in the Skate Park project, taking part in the HDC annual youth conference "Speak Out", and doing further work on understanding the use/abuse of power, democracy and the interplay between the different levels of government. The final planned trip to meet on "neutral territory" is at present uncertain 63.6.3 Arts & Culture: - DC Village Hall management Committee: - DC attended
a seminar orgainsed by WSXCC to promote the County's part in the
cultural Olympiad in the build up to the Olympic Games. The WSXCC programme
called "Ahead of the Games" is participating in 3 of the 12
national arts events taking place between now and July 2012: There are problems with litter, break in' s and general vandalism at Jubilee Fields Pavilion. TP involved in the Firework Committee which is scheduled for October date to be confirmed. (B) Projects (Detailed) 63.6.5. Village Regeneration - (to include LDF/HDC/Sustainable Strategy/Economy Tourism & Parking Solutions. - KJ KJ reported on the progress on the Economy project. The Community Shop now has some 20 people interested in participating with some of the "Partners", who are either decorators or carpenters, offering to help with the fitting out of the shop. Two sites are under discussion one on the West and one on the East side of the High Street. Negotiations are on going with the agents. A 106 bid of c£20k has been submitted and we will present our case at April's meeting of HDC's 106 committee. The Marketing brochure is in a first draft and we are awaiting photography. Discussions have been held with the Developers re the regeneration of the centre of Billingshurst and any priorities we, as BCP, may have re any resulting 106, or NHB, from the proposed development should it come to fruition. We expressed our concerns re the capability of the existing infrastructure of Billingshurst and its capability to service the proposed number of new houses. We reiterated that it is our firm view that any development should have a substantial investment into new infrastructure capability commensurate with the number of new dwellings envisaged. 63.6.6. E.Y.E. (Education Youth Enterprise) Project: -JG Since the last meeting a presentation was made to BPC at the February council to update them on the project and to gain their support for EYE to apply for S106 funds to finance a planning application. Where a building is involved, funders require a planning consent as an indication that the project is serious. However, this support was declined on the grounds that the project details were not sufficiently advanced (particularly as regards a definite site) a typical ' chicken and egg' situation. It will be remembered from the BCP last meeting that a gas main had rendered our original site unusable and we were in discussion with the Station Road Gardens group to see if it was feasible for us to mount a joint project to share their site. As these discussions had not be finalised nor approved by the various Gardens and EYE committees, it was premature to suggest the idea to the BPC at the time, although we did volunteer that five sites were under consideration of which two were parish-council owned. Consequently, when the minutes of the Gardens committee meeting at which the joint venture was discussed, fell into the hands of some parish councillors, accusations were made suggesting collusion and subterfuge between the parties at the expense of the council. The agreement with the Gardens group is for the EYE centre (if built) to share a one third part of the old football pitch and preliminary drawings have been produced in joint agreement. It was then necessary for EYE to further present to BPC at the March meeting to clear up this misunderstanding. An explanatory fetter was sent via the Chairman to all councillors explaining the meeting protocols and attaching a full chronology of the various meetings at which the relevant site was discussed. Despite the indignations of the councillors, first mention of this possibility was at an EYE committee meeting in November attended by Cllr. Mike Bobker representing the parish council. The dates of the subsequent meeting clearly showed why it was not possible to announce the site at the February EYE presentation to the council. The leader of the EYE project attended the March meeting and explained the situation to full council. There were some questions for clarification but significantly there was no challenge to the integrity of those involved in the joint project. We offered to re-present the EYE project to the new council after the May elections and on this occasion we shall be asking for their approval for the joint project on the ' Gardens' site. Although the misunderstanding over the joint arrangement has created some tension with certain councillors, we take comfort from the fact that at the February council a unanimous decision was given in favour of the EYE project in principle. Since Cllr. Bobker' s resignation from the council we have no BPC representative on the EYE committee. We are now sending our minutes to the council via the parish clerk and formally asked for a replacement representative (in particular the councillor responsible for youth). To date we have had not response. We are currently working closely with the Gardens Group, and plan to have a joint fund-raising event in July. As we have been denied access to S106 funds for the time being, we are actively seeking alternative methods to support our next stage and are hopeful of doing this prior to returning to the BPC. We have also had informal discussions with the consortium of developers both at various open meetings / exhibitions, and off-line, and have made them fully aware of the EYE project. We are hopeful that we may acquire some ' planning gain' funding for the project if and when the proposed Option 3 development to the east of Billingshurst is successful. However, we are most mindful not to rely on this possibility and are pursuing all avenues open to us. Our next full committee is due to meet on May 4th at which progress is hoped to have been made on a number of fronts such as funding, planning outline, business plan etc. 63.7 Membership of and reports from, other organisations affiliations: 63.7.1. 6 Towns: - KJ Nothing to report 63.7.2. South East Towns Partnership: - PP Funding through SEEDA stops at the end of financial year April 2012 LEP to replace this: LEP is Coast to Capital, which will incorporate Kent, Sussex and Surrey This is currently being established. Full minutes and associated documents of the SERTP meeting held on 10th February 2011 are attached to these minute. 63.7.3. Garden Project: - KB Date of last meeting 9th March 2011. 1. Agreed in principle to work as a joint venture with the EYE project. 2. Drainage work to commence on the old football pitch, work to be carried out by HDC. 3. Have gone out to 4 landscape contractors for quotes for pathways. 4. Play equipment seeking quotes, ongoing. 5. Planting. Estimated cost c£5000 -Tesco offered 2 people for a day to help with planting. 6. Constitution - Status: - Options needed for fundraising. Registered Charity or Limited company by guarantee, Ken Johnson has been invited to our next meeting to give guidance. 7. Summer fund raising events - dates to be advised. The first event will be held as a joint venture with the EYE project. 8. Insurance, KP asked if the fund raising events could be covered by the BCP Public Liability Insurance. 9. Next Meeting 18th May 2011. 63.8 Billifest - Saturday 4th December: AB Considering the snowy weather conditions and the fear that it might have to be cancelled we made the decision to go ahead and it proved to be the right decision as it was a great day. Financially we broke even with the help of the Parish Council support of £2,000. We had lots of volunteers on the day from both the Partnership and Chamber of Commerce and would like to convey a special thanks to those people who helped. 63.9 Chamber of Commerce; SD The Chamber is still growing stronger in membership and has introduced regular monthly Breakfast Club meetings with visiting speakers. The position Paper regarding the proposed development has now been delivered, with a press release. It is proposed to stage ' Billibiz The Show' at the Village Hall in the Autumn on the lines of HDC ' Microbiz' with the support of HDC. AOB: 1 - Italian Market - PP The first Italian Market for 2011 was held and it was a good day with earnings of £150. A French Market is scheduled for Sunday 25th September. 2. - Rubbish in the ditch in front of Swimming Pool KB KP has had a meeting with HDC to request the clearing of the rubbish from the ditch, but for Health and Safety reasons they cannot help. Keith has volunteered to clear this himself, with the aid of any volunteers who may like to assist.
3. - East of Billingshurst Development - Position of the Parish Council. Alan Grant The Parish Council objected to the original inclusion by HDC of two sites in the Parish for possible development. When this was reduced to one, East of Billingshurst, it retained its position of objection but initiated 2 surveys 1. A housing needs survey in Billingshurst which is being undertaken by AiRS through HDC. The results were expected by early March at the latest but although submitted to HDC have not been passed on to the PC. 2. A survey of parishioners to discover their wishes for development and to confirm their wish list for community benefits if the development goes ahead. This was not actioned as HDC and the Developers were both undertaking similar surveys and promised the results to the Parish Council before it made it submission. The Developers results have been given to the PC but HDC will not complete their analysis until the middle of June. The results of these 2 surveys were considered essential by the PC as the first would show the actual need for houses within Billingshurst and the second would show the wishes of the Parish. The Parish Council also wished to know exactly what would be available from the Developers and HDC in the provision of essential services and for community benefits if the development took place. The developers have produced some clarity but HDC has not disclosed what 106, Community Infrastructure Levy and the New Homes Bonus would be available for expenditure within the Parish. With this lack of essential information the PC has retained its position of objection to the proposed development. Once it had the facts it would review this decision. Although apparently at odds with the C of C both bodies are saying no support without proper commitment to the future improvement of the village. C of C know the views of their members the PC does not yet know the views of its parishioners. Alan Grant, Parish Council Representative. 63.10 Date of next meeting - Thursday 19th May 2011. Meeting
closed at 9.45 pm
Ref 63 Owner Owen Davies Author
S Duck
Name Owen Davies Role Chair, Billingshurst Community Partnership Management Committee Release Date 19th May 2011 Signature………………………………………………………….
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