* proposed co-opted members Minutes: Sandy Duck - SD 65.1 Welcome / Declaration of Interest: 65.2 Apologies for Absence: Owen Davies, Patrick Perks, Hazel Barnes, Amanda Jupp, Denise Campbell, Gordon Braun, Peter Woodman, Martin Spurrier, Gillian Knight. David Hart, Gordon Lindsay, The general meeting called for 21st July was not quorate and so an informal meeting was held in respect of which the following is a record of the discussions held. 65.3 Minutes of the Meeting: - 19th May 2011 Minutes to be held over and accepted as a true record at future meeting - 15th September 2011. 65.4 Matters Arising: - N/A 65.5 Co-option of members to the Committee Helen Abbott, Carol Terry & Pan Spencer - decision postponed until 15th September 2011 65.6 Financial Report: AB The financial report was handed to all present for review and will be attached to these notes Significant items of expenditure: £5,000 was paid to the Architect for the EYE project - the remainder of the expenditure is for the hire of meeting rooms for Community Centre 65.7 (A) projects: Brief Updates: 65.7.1 Community (Elderly / Disadvantaged) Elderly: -AB Luncheon Club - Now finished for the summer. To keep the group together and communicating, SD has arranged a weekly coffee morning at Burdfields, Mondays at 11.00am. Hopefully this will become a regular event when we resume the Lunch Club in September to fill the alternate Mondays when there is no Lunch Club. The outing is still to be arranged with the £250 donation received earlier in the year. Disadvantaged: - PS Nothing to report. 65.7.2 Youth: - DC - report sent in via email in her absence to read out at the meeting.
TAG All of this highlights the success and our ability to work in partnership with other important groups. TAG has now finished for the summer break YES We had a fundamental change in our membership base in September 2010 with many of the older male group deciding that TAG was too young for them and leaving. Advertising and word of mouth has resulted in a completely new membership base of around 20. Mostly girls aged 12 - 14. We still follow a non-curriculum based agenda but are guided by discussions and suggestions from the young people as to what activities we have. Last term we engaged with the young people to discuss eating disorders and body images presented by the media and how it affects young people' s perception of them. Special thanks and gratitude for help and support for these two projects must be given to Keith Brown and Maggie. EU DC Meeting EU Irish Group in Manchester this week-end for the final evaluations of the project. 65.7.3 Arts & Culture: Boat Project: TP / PS Tony and Pam helped with the Boat Project on Saturday 16th July - there were 23 donations. When the boat is built it will be sailing from Emsworth to Weymouth and then onto Greenwich. 65.7.4 Sports and Recreation: TP 1. BSRC are having a few problems financially - they have just had their oil stolen and are looking to do some fund raising. It was suggested they perhaps look to expand the membership to social members. KB Drink licence is now held by the Kings Arms and following the end of the matches people migrate to the pub rather than drink at the club house. Sports association are looking into the way the licence is held 2 - Fireworks: The annual firework display will be held on Saturday 22nd October supported by the Rotary and Lions. Need volunteers to attend the organising committee meeting on 9th August, 7.00pm. KP and TP will be attending. (B) Projects (Detailed)
1. Partnership Shop: Unfortunately the partnership could fail. Before using the 2 shops there is £3,500 worth of electrical work to do before they can be used. There is a dispute with the Agents as to who should pay the bill. One of the shop premises does not have any lighting at all. In the meantime 2 of the key people on the committee of 6 have decided to break away and go on their own and take the shop next to Laura's Gardens; these two were pivotal to the projects success. A 3rd person has now decided to pull out. Partnership shop is now under review. JG: - At least we will get another shop opened which is what the project was set out to do. Note: Love lane Vintage is moving out of the Village into larger premises with car parking facilities as she has done so well in Billingshurst and many of her clients travel in from outlying villages. 2. Skills & Enterprise in rural West Sussex WSCC are running a research programme. A pilot exercise is to be carried out in Billingshurst to research rural skills which will also link into the Weald and BCP have been approached and may be working with the research company. £40,000 SEEDA money has become available - Women' s Wisdom will be replacing Business Link - The £40,000 will be split £20,000 for Arundel and £20,000 for Billingshurst BCP £ 5,000 Women' s Wisdom £15,000 SEEDA £20,000 Total £40,000 These funds will produce a business plan and fund 1 business adviser for 12months to undertake and initiate the business plan. A minimum of 250 people will be involved, which will be from the unemployed, youngsters out of work, entrepreneurs and home workers. Through a qualified advisor they will be supported in preparation for getting a job or help with starting a business. The challenge is to help get people into work. Our role will be the people who manage the grant and pay the bills and have responsibility to make the project work. 3. WSCC exercise on Localism: PP note sent to read in his absence. We have been asked on a number of occasions as to the impact our projects make on the community. We are not alone! WSCC have produced a guidance document as to how one can measure this impact. I propose a small working group to look at this and recommend a way forward. I am happy to head this up. It will entail a couple of public consultations but that will help us with exposure and could well be a lead- in for the next action plan 65.7.6. E.Y.E. (Education Youth Enterprise) Project: -JG 1. In November, after a lot of work including a site survey by architects and the drawing up of some provisional building designs and visualisations, we were distraught to discover that a gas main runs through our original Myrtle Lane site rendering the land unsuitable for building. This was a devastating blow as so much work had been done in relation to this site - but now it was back to the drawing board (literally). 2. It is never a good idea to have all one' s eggs in the one basket and it is true to say that we had earlier coveted an alternative site on parish council community land on the old football pitch next to the new swimming pool. However, by the time we received the news regarding the Myrtle Lane site, the old football pitch and cricket field had already been allocated by the Parish Council to the Friends of the Garden project who were keen to convert these grounds into formal gardens and a recreation area for the village. The football pitch site was attractive to the EYE project as it met all the site criteria i.e. near to but not on the Weald campus; accessible to main services; close to existing parking; away from residential properties; close to the station and no security issues. 3. We met with the Gardens committee to discuss our dilemma and after much consideration it was agreed that the EYE project and Gardens project could work in tandem and, provided that the Parish Council agreed, the Gardens Group were prepared to give up a 1/3rd of the football pitch as a site for the Youth facility. 4. In February the EYE project had already planned to present to the Parish Council - not at this stage to ask for permission for the site as this had still not been finalised with the Gardens Group and would have been premature - but the approach to the Parish Council at this point was simply to ask for their approval for the EYE project to apply for S106 funds (planning gain money) in order that we could work up some new designs for the building. We were due to return to the Parish Council at a later date when we would be better able to answer some of the questions they had raised regarding Trust Status, business plans, facility usage and so on. 5. Unfortunately, some councillors in the outgoing council were upset that we had approached the Gardens project before we had talked to them. A typical Catch22 situation for had it been the other way round the Gardens Group could have been forgiven for thinking that we were trying to wrestle the land away from them. It was a very sensitive situation. 6. The upshot was the Parish Council withheld their consent for us to apply for S106 funds. However, despite this setback, we have, nonetheless, managed to obtain funding of £15.5k from a combination of youth and community budgets at HDC and WSCC and a donation from the Lions, and we now have some new building designs being drawn up by our architect. A final design has yet to be approved but good progress is being made. We hope to be ready to push the buttons on a planning application later this year. 7. We are also preparing to apply for Charitable Trust status and are hoping to make a final decision in the coming weeks. 8. Finally, we are working on a business plan to assess the financial viability of the project and, although it is too early to make a definitive version, we are encouraged by what we are seeing. Obviously, at this stage we are having to make some estimates as to usage of the facility and accruing revenues, but we can put more flesh on the bones as the project progresses. 9. Until we have some of these matters decided it will, I believe, be premature to present our case to the Parish Council but as it stands we are hoping to be in a position to present a strong case for Parish Council support by the time of the October council meeting. 10. Meanwhile, we are planning some more fund-raising / public relations events in conjunction with the Gardens Group to follow on from the highly successful Willie Austen event last Sunday. These events will also provide some good publicity for this joint community project which, when completed will provide the village with an amenity which will be the envy of Sussex. 65.8 Membership of and reports from, other organisations affiliations: 65.8.1. 6 Towns: - KJ 1. Nick Herbert and Francis Maude are to attend a 6 Towns forum meeting in the Autumn to discuss the Localism Bill and what it means before the bill goes to parliament. A date to be confirmed. 2. HDC want to undertake a 'Bench Marking' project to measure business activity in the Villages within the district to include, for example; levels of unemployment, retail performance and the number of empty shops. The businesses who get involved will at no time be asked to provide any financial information about their business. It will be purely measured on the percentage of increase / decrease the business has experienced over a quarterly period. 65.8.3. Garden Project: - KB The Willie Austin Concert was a great success, around 300 people attended the event and £698.20 was raised from the BBQ and Raffle. Thank you to all who gave time and effort in making this a success. Thanks go to Willie and the band for the fantastic performance they put on and all the local businesses that supported us by donating the food for the BBQ, soft drinks and prizes for the raffle. The next event is Saturday 21st August at 2.00pm - 5.00pm. Music will be provided by The Strollers free of charge, this will be supported by a BBQ, Bouncy Castle, Giant Connect 4, Jenga, Snakes and Ladders and Face Painting. Those who are available to help on the day, please let me know, we will start setting up at 11.am. I can report that Friends of the Station Road Gardens & Kavanagh Budgens or Billingshurst have laid the ground roots of a partnership to raise funds to develop the Station Gardens into a real haven for the benefit of the Community of Billingshurst. The plans are to hold an apple day extravaganza in early September. Date to be confirmed. The Friends of Station Road Gardens is now a Limited Company by Guarantee. 65.8.3. B.A.I.T - PP No report. 65.9. Meeting with Parish Council 27th June Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) - Parish Council have set up a committee to review and we will be asked to join in. We are now and independent group. 65.10. BilliFest 3rd December 2011 Planning meeting in August - This year will be an Italian / English Market 65. 10. AOB: 1. BCP Membership Alan Grant has asked how he can become a member of the partnership without being on any committees. Which is an interesting point. We should be looking to encourage people to be a part of BCP - this needs to be looked at. 2. Letter from Mr Jerome. KJ/SD Letter received via HDC email - asking how what the BCP had done to achieve the Queens Award, also what relationship BCP have with BPC, and how were BCP nominated. This has been responded to and also SD has spoken with Mr Jerome to make sure he was happy with our response to his questions - yes he was fine and very grateful for the call. . 3. QAV' s PP - report sent in his absence. I would like this to be recorded - It took two years for the award following the nomination. Nominations are confidential and the administrators will not divulge any information as to the nominee nor the submission (source QAVS web site). The assessment is in three stages. The local Lord Lieutenant, as the Queens representative, organise a local assessment panel who look at the eligibility of the nominated groups who are then interviewed by one of the deputies (in our Case Mrs Brenda Large who talked to us on three occasions in depth for some 2 hours per session). The local panel then forwards their recommendation to the Specialist Assessment Committee who if they agree then pass their recommendation on to the final stage the Main Awards Committee who then pass their recommendation on the Palace. The members of the committees can be found at www.direct.gov.uk 65.11. Date of next meeting - Thursday 15th September 2011. Meeting
closed at 9.15pm
Title Minutes dated 21st July 2011 Ref 65 Owner John Griffin (Vice Chair) Author
S Duck
Name Owen Davies Role Chair, Billingshurst Community Partnership Management Committee Release Date 15th September 2011 Signature………………………………………………………….
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