Billingshurst Community Partnership Ltd

Company No. 05573204. A Company limited by guarantee
Registered in England & Wales.

Minutes: Sandy Duck -SD

39.1 Declaration of Interest: None.

39.2 Apologies for Absence: 0Geoff Lawes; Jacky Gillard; Geoff State; Nova Bridle, Martin Kerr; Owen Davies; Ken Johnson; Jason Russell.

39.3 Minutes of the Meeting held on the 12th July 2007: - Approved

39.4 Matters Arising: - None

39.5 Election of Vice Chairman. PP. proposed Denise Campbell for the post of
Vice Chairman. This was seconded by AB and carried unanimously by all members. Denise accepted and was duly elected as Vice Chairman for Billingshurst Community Partnership for 2007/2008.

39.6 39.6Financial Report:
AB reported the Annual Accounts for 2006 / 2007 were back from the Independent Examiner David Louis Archer, with his signature and declaration to confirm all was in order. A copy was handed to all members present and AB asked to meeting to approve accounts so that they could be sent off. This was proposed by Pam Spencer and seconded by John Griffin - all agreed.

AB proceeded to report on activity since last meeting: Not a great deal of activity to report, funds for Burnt Row have been drawn down, with £812.to spend. There is an outstanding amount shown, in the sum of £1,236 to come, however not confident that we will get this. (September Financial Report attached)

AB requested that moves should be made to set and agree the Budgets for 2008 – PP agreed and AB will bring them to the October’s meeting.

DC raised a question regarding invoices still outstanding for BilliRox, Tickets for Under Milk Wood and Table Tennis Room Hire. AB assured her would these would be paid as soon as possible, just needed to get the cheques signed.

PP was happy to report under finance that the Grant that was applied for through SEEDA for C4C in the sum of £120,000 has been approved and he is due to take receipt of this in the form of a cheque at a meeting on 26th September

39.7 Project working group progress:

1. Community / Youth / Elderly / Disadvantaged.

Community: - Nothing to report

Youth:
BilliRox: DC reported - 2 microphones went missing after the last gig in July. Suspect it was last band on the stage, who, unfortunately are not local. HDLMA have replaced these and have sent us an invoice to cover the cost of £164.

TAG: Good news – Now have 2 new volunteer youth workers, who have already been police checked.
DC asked AB if we need to add them to the Insurance Policy. AB responded that it will not be necessary.

PP raised the point that we do need more volunteers to support Denise with TAG etc. Denise is becoming so stretched in existing projects she has undertaken for BCP. Now these projects are up and running she needs to be able to step back, and just over see them, with other volunteers picking up the day to day running of them. This will release her to move forward on other new projects.

Flyers are going out in all Parish Magazines to invite volunteers to come forward.

PP suggested an article to be produced and placed in the Magazine to promote what we are doing, drawing particular attention to the flyers. Denise agreed to put something together.

Table Tennis: Nothing to report at present

Youth Shelter & Ball Park: Following the recent Parish Council meting on 10th September where the Station Road Memorial Gardens were discussed. KBr & DC are to obtain the costs of the most appropriate Shelter and Ball Park Billingshurst.
Contact will be made with Howard Collins at HDC to establish whether there are alternative/other funding sources than Section 106. The estimated cost for the project is £40-£50K

Elderly:

AB reported they are still on summer break; the first lunch club meeting is on 17th September,

Disadvantaged:

PS reported that Headway has written to all local Hospitals, MP’s and Local Papers to appeal against the proposed downgrading of the local hospitals. She felt that nobody seems to understand how serious the implications will be for all of us if this goes through.
PP suggested PS prepare and an article for publication in the Parish Magazine.

PS advised her office space within the VH is now up and running and the staff at the Village Hall have made Headway very welcome.

2. Sustainable Hub:
This will be presented by Les Amstead to the PC at their extraordinary meeting on 24th September at 7.30pm in VH. PP requested support at this meeting.
Funding of £12,000 has been approved - 50% HDC – Section 106 money - we have received £5,000 which means we can bring on board the consultant and get this up and running.
AB asked who will provide the rest – PP responded this will come from SEEDA.

3. Economy and Environment:
Chamber of Commerce: (KJ reported through PP in his absence),
This is progressing but still a little on “thin ice”. We are holding a formation meeting focussing on the shops. Empty Shops are a concern to C of C. A Village Shops adviser is available to help, this will have to be funded and the HDC have agreed to support us.

This meeting is to be held on 26th September at 6pm in Village Hall. It is essential that a robust committee is formed.

KJ asked Sandy if she would be available to act as Minutes Secretary – Sandy agreed to help..

BilliLinks: This has lain quiet for a few months as the team looking after this at WSCC were made redundant. HDC have been slow to pick it up and run with it, but this is now confirmed. BCT/ Lynne has agreed take over management and we are working out how to proceed.

Jake has agreed to take over the booking system and we will need to work with him more closely. It needs a lot of promotion.

4. Tourism:
Finger Posts: We now have the designs and costs. The 5 Town Group are currently reviewing these.

Information Boards: - Information Boards are proposed for the 4 main road entrances to Billingshurst, at a cost of £5,000. Funding will be provided from the Market Towns and Section 106.

5. Village Regeneration:
Station Road Gardens Project
Parish Council hosted a workshop at the Village Hall on 12th September, it was well supported, with many of the ideas from those present very much in line with each other.

Next Steps are for out line plans to be drawn up and circulated, followed by a further meeting to review outcomes.
.
6. Arts & Culture:
Under Milk Wood
Poster and tickets are now available for this production which will be performed at the Village Hall on 10th October at 7.30pm.
Sandy has worked hard to put together a mailing list. We are doing our best to market this production, and it is hoped this will reflect in the ticket sales.

Arts & Sports Festival Jubilee Fields – 26th April 2008
An initial meeting with Same Sky established the bones of the project.
The overriding theme will be the Olympics,

Draft outline plan as follows:

Workshops with local groups in the 6 – 8 weeks - Leading up to the event which will include dance, music, theatre, creation of decorative items for the arena sites and a procession. Creation of ‘sporting heroes’ sculptures, design and graffiti workshops, to create Billingshurst’s own Olympic logo. (This will be central to advertising material and possibly permanent art pieces). Possibly a competition. Permanent art pieces to be eventually cited at either the Pavilion, Weald School or VH.

Daytime event
Opening of the “games” will be with dancers, drummers etc. It will be loud, and colourful.
There will be timed events around the field. With 5/6 arenas depicting different aspects which encompass sport and art. Details are undecided at this point and will largely depend on funding.

Ideas so far:

Origins of the Olympics - Greek/ Roman myths and legends, Recycle the bust made last time

Sports Heroes – Local or otherwise, Iconic images. These could be made into a mural.

Olympic Village - BBQ, Cricket Teas, bar, themed food, candy floss and encouraging local economy to be involved. Make like a carnival atmosphere.

Fishing Lake- Hosted in the countries only Olympic sized pond. Aimed for the younger children. This area is to be floodlit in the evening. Possible site for fireworks.

Dog Track - Assault / agility course.

Evening Event Closing Ceremony
Procession from the Library car park to JF followed by closing ceremony –
More dancing, drumming etc. and finally a firework display to include burning of the Olympic rings.

Funding possibilities are being looked into. Have arranged a meeting with Howard Collins and Luna Russell at HDC next week to more this forward ASAP. Estimated budget at moment is £40K

We need to think about promoting this now; PP suggested an article in the Parish Magazine.
DC agreed and also suggested a letter to go out to all organisations at the same time.

7. C4C
Really good news, the building contracts can now be placed. The only thing that is holding this up is the Lease agreements from the Parish Council.

The not so good news is, the funding applied for from Viridor has been rejected on the basis that we are outside their zone. This amounts to £40k.

8. Sports & Recreation
Jubilee Fields
A drainage report together with funding needed for this work is being submitted to HDC on 16th October. The application is for £10 – 12K. The total cost of the project will be in the region of £35 – 36K. If we get Section106 funding, this will allow work on opening up the ditches which will help the problem enormously.

Excellent News!!!! Jubilee Fields were “Highly Commended” in the recent WSCC Design & Sustainability awards for 2007. In Category 4 - The Open Space Award
(Certificate Attached)

This award is for the best landscaping (hard or soft) around and individual building or group of buildings, a public open space, new public art, or an example of quality street scene design and layout.

A note of thanks must go to Wendy Wright of Parish Council who nominated Jubilee Fields for this award. Sandy to arrange a bouquet of flowers and card for Wendy to show our appreciation for the nomination.

The not so good news: PP reported Jubilee Fields have suffered terrible damage with trees torn up and benches thrown into the lake. The cost of this damage is in the region of £3,500.

A proposal is being made to the council for a bylaw to be drawn up and passed, prohibiting, for example swimming in the lake, litter, dog fouling – the removal or damage to plants, trees and aquatics – the lighting of fires and disturbing wild life in general and damage to any installed habitats as well as damage to installations, the pavilion and other community facilities. Also it is proposed to make it an alcohol free area,

This will enable the Police to take specific action and deal with these situations, and both the Police and Parish Council are in support of this proposal.

There was a meeting with the Police and Parish Council on 12th September to discuss possible resolutions to this ongoing problem.

PP suggested we look at what Pulborough are doing as they seem to be having some success, however again this needs volunteers to come forward to help
Consultation needs to take place with the youngsters – Weald School & Brinsbury College

BAIT reported through the minutes of their last meeting - the cost for 3 CCTV cameras for Jubilee Fields to cover the entrance would be £3,450 plus VAT. Viridor would the on the ongoing maintenance costs but PC will have to pay for any damage due to vandalism.

39.8 Members of and reports from other organisations or affiliations BAIT:
Extract from BAIT meeting of 4th August:

Cherry Tree Close play area had been quieter with PCSO’s regularly checking the area for problems. The PCSO’s were aware of some issues in Roman Way.

Jengers Mead had been experiencing problems. The PCSO’s were in contact with some of the traders and they had some names of individuals and would be monitoring more closely. There are also some problems with Big issue sellers becoming intimidating.

There had been a quite a few break-ins at the Bowling Club. These had all been reported.
The Club are keen to talk with the Crime Prevention Officer regarding CCTV coverage.

Generally the Billingshurst area had been quieter than usual in respect of anti social behaviour. The Police were eager to target the key trouble makers and offenders. ABC’s and ASBO’s were considered in some cases and in turn these could have conditions attached, for example that a person cannot visit a certain area.

Church Path Lighting: response from PC newsletter about possibly improving lighting along the Church Path has been fairly good. Church will support the project

Station Road Gardens Project: CCTV coverage should be planned in to the project from the start to help protect the area once it has been developed. The area to be suitably fenced, practically to prevent vehicles from entering, and that consideration should be given to locking the area at night.

Waste Bins: The bins in Cleveland Gardens are regularly overflowing and the bins in the High Street are inadequate to deal with the amount of rubbish from the take-aways. Mr Berry will ensure that the minutes from BAIT meeting of 4th August will be sent to the HDC Environmental Health highlighting this issue.

39.9 New Action Plan
SD reported that the action plan has now been separated into the 3 areas of responsibility. Horsham District Council, Billingshurst Parish Council & Billingshurst Community Partnership.

It is proposed that Sandy will contact HDC & BPC individually, with a view to arranging a meeting with the most appropriate people, deliver the documentation, and walk them through the process and responses from the public consultation, which come under each of their areas of responsibility for consideration for action.

The responses which come under responsibility for BCP for consideration and action will be processed into a working document, with responses being placed under the appropriate project headings and will be used a point of reference when working on future projects.

36.10 Xmas Billifest 2007
PP reported that it has been agreed to go ahead with the Billifest 2007 and the date for this will be Saturday 1st December. The theme for this will be A “Latin Quarter Market”.

AB advised this is the same date as the Rotary Club are holding their Craft Fair and Jazz evening. And it was agreed that it would be a good idea to join forces with them and make it a really great day.

AB asked where was the money coming from. PP replied that £3,000 will be coming from the PC.

PP asked for volunteers for a working party to get together.
The working party will be John Griffin, Ken Johnson, Tony Burke, Sandy Duck and Patrick Perks.
PP said he would be contacting PC and Rotary and once agreement had been reached a planning meeting will be called shortly to start the ball rolling.

36.11 A.O.B

South Downs and Low Weald Leader EOI – (extract of document was handed to all at the meeting and is attached)

Leader Programme:

This is an initiative to promote the operation and development of joint understanding and innovative ways of dealing with change. In addition, communities, individuals, organisations and enterprises can benefit form sharing ideas, innovations and sharing best practice.

At the moment we don’t have to do anything, the full document will be sent to SEEDA advising them what we would like to do.

WSCC, HDC, are supportive of this, as are many major financial institutions,
Brinsbury College and Brighton University and Learning Skills Council are also involved

The funding is for £500,000 per year over 5 years. Ken is working with the 5 markets towns on our behalf. It is very important to us, as it fits in with what we want to achieve, and fits in with rural strategy,

39.12 - Date for the next meeting 11th October 2007 at 7.30pm

Meeting closed 9.05pm

Title Minutes dated 13th September 2007.

Ref 39

Owner P Perks

Author S Duck

Name P Perks
Role Chair, Billingshurst Community Partnership Management Committee

Release Date 14^th June 2007

Signature - Patrick Perks

Those present

Apologies

BPC

Library