Minutes of the Meeting of the Albrighton and District Civic Society held at Elwood House,
Present
: Peter Woodman – Chairman
Rod
Smith - Secretary
David
Hughes -Treasurer
John
Bulmer
Hugh
Hughes
Paul
Joseland
1.
Apologies received from David Harding, Peter Leigh, Malcolm Pate and Michael
Ward
2.
Minutes of the meeting held on 29th June May 2009 were approved
3.
Matters Arising
a)
There was agreement that the work of the Society should not conflict
with but should be complimentary to the work of Albrighton Parish
Council (APC) and Donington with Boscobel Parish Council (DBPC)
and Boningale Parish Council (BPC). The Clerks of APC & DBPC had been invited to be ex-officio members of the committee to ensure a
good working link between the Society and the councils. The committee
was pleased that Michael Ward had joined us and our discussions
had gone very well and the Society was now supporting several initiatives
begun by APC eg the work at Albrighton station, conservation area
etc. PW reminded the meeting that the Clerk of DBPC had initially
felt that he may not able to attend our meetings so PW would write
to DBPC to formally invite the Clerk to be an ex-officio member.
b)
There were no others except those appearing as items on the Agenda
4.
Albrighton Fayre. Members reported that the stall at the Fayre had
proved more successful than expected with many buyers of the raffle
tickets showing interest in the aims of ADCS and being positive about
becoming a member. The £1 membership fee (or £2 for a family) seemed
to be a very acceptable and small price for most people who readily
joined. 101 memberships were registered on Fayre day being about 63
individual memberships and 38 family memberships, although we had
not recorded them separately (we will do this in future). A few people
paid for the raffle ticket but did not join. The Treasurer confirmed
that £160 had been taken. It was agreed that we should have a similar
stall at next year’s Fayre.
5.
Rod Smith was appointed Secretary of the Society for the period up to
6.
Priorities for Action
PW
reported that following its sale to the Bromley family, who have a good
track record running the Goldthorne Hotel in
No
further news reported since David Thompson has written to say it would
be part of the
PL
had contacted Brian Bennett of Shropshire Council regarding street furniture
and lighting and requested that the necessary repairs/repainting as agreed
with APC be done. PL reported no response from Mr Bennett. By this minute
Michael Ward is asked if APC can put pressure on Mr Bennett to take action.
PW
had written to ABP to express concern over the nuisance caused by
the Lime trees. JB had surveyed the trees and reported that there
were 40 trees in total, of which 30 No. were Lime trees. Many branches
were too low and only 1m above the ground. He considered that 23 No.
limes needed immediate pruning. PW reported that roots of many were
now lifting the road surface and causing trip hazards. It was understood
that APC is seeking quotations for the tree pruning and road re-surfacing.
PW said that the roots of many would need to be removed prior to road re-surfacing or the problem would continue and he suggested that the
Lime trees should be cut down and new more appropriate trees planted.
Members agreed that this was probably the best technical solution
but that it was likely to be unacceptable from an aesthetic or cost
point of view if all trees were suddenly removed. PJ said that any
replacement programme would have to be on a phased basis JB also agreed
that to remove all would create a bad visual impact on the area and
suggested that as a first step alternate trees be cut down and the
rest pruned. This was generally thought a good working solution pending
a long term plan being agreed. The Society should ask for details
of the work, for which APC was seeking quotations, to check if the
scope was in line with residents’ expectations. It was recognised
that ADCS had no decision-making powers but were acting in an advisory
capacity on this issue.
PW
would write to BT concerning the phone box
Proposed
development at The
RS reported that the school has continued its objections at a recent APC meeting citing anticipated problems with the bus (provided by the RAF for Cosford children) stopping outside the development. APC is organising a meeting of APC, Head Teacher, Chairman of Governors, SC highway dept, police and others at the school in September to see the problem at first hand.
Nothing
further to report at this stage
Action: DH to monitor
Tipping
of rubbish between the “crescent” and
HH
reported that he understood the owner lived in
JB
reported that Michael Ward had informed him that refurbishment would go
ahead.
PW
had written to the selling agents who had replied that it was about to
be sold.
7.
Consideration of the Brewood Civic Society model and to agree if and to
what extent the Society should follow this.
RS
handed out copies of the documents provided by BCS. RS would send copies
to absent members.
It
was agreed that the Society should generally follow the Brewood model,
as it had proved successful over many years.
The
Constitution of ADCS will be based on that of Brewood and the first
draft will be made by the three officers (Chairman, Secretary & Treasurer) and then circulated to committee members for further development
as necessary. This work will be done prior to the next committee
meeting.
PJ’s
suggestion that the Constitution should include the clause “The committee
of ADCS should meet enough times to carry out the business of the Society
but not less than quarterly” was agreed.
RS
said that Brewood had explained that they review planning applications
that are sent to them by their County Council. PW will speak to MP to find out the mechanism for ADCS
to be informed by Shropshire Council of planning applications made
in our area. It was agreed that ADCS would not intend to comment on
all
minor applications but to focus on major schemes such as the Shaw
Lane/Beamish Lane Development or The Hollies Development,
Subscriptions. The
model already chosen was £1 individual and £2 for a whole family and
this had proved successful at Fayre day. However to generate enough
income many more members were needed. (Brewood has 875 members which is about 1/3 of the
population of 2500. Its 13 committee members collect on the doorstep
from approx 100 houses each. If we assume 3 to 5 minutes per house
then it would take each member about 5 to 8 hours of collecting ie
say 3 evening sessions).
DH suggested that we would need at least £1000 income per annum based on Brewood’s accounts – insurance alone was several hundred pounds. We had collected £160 from about 100 people on Fayre day and so we would need many more members at £1 to £2 each
The
following options were possible:
a)
collect as
at Brewood. This would need the 9 committee members plus say 21 volunteers to collect from
say 100 houses each – Albrighton having about 3000 No. houses (could
Michael Ward confirm the number?) if it was intended to cover the whole
village.
b)
a
committee member to ask other Abrighton Clubs or Societies if they would
allow the member to address one of their meetings for 5 minutes to explain
what ADCS does and to ask for members to join there and then. The committee member to take the ADCS Leaflet and Membership Certificates to
the meeting and to collect the subscription (probably need 2 people to
do it, based on Fayre day experience)
c)
advertise in
the Parish Magazine for members to come forward to join.
d)
set up
a street collection on several Saturdays (similar to a flag day).
RS
felt that c) alone was unlikely to get members in the sort of numbers
needed to produce the income reported by DH and that a) seemed the
better method, as demonstrated by Brewood, but it would need to be on a bigger scale at Albrighton and it would entail a lot
of effort by many members. We would also need to recruit about 21
volunteers to help. Members were not enthusiastic about a). It was
felt we would need a license to do method d).
It was agreed that we would advertise in the Parish Magazine and that method b) be tried out as follows:
Club Committee
Member to visit the meeting
Bridge
Club JB
Bowls
Club JB
Cinema
Club PW
Tennis
Club PW
Cricket
Club PW
Retired
Mens Society HH
(Added
post meeting) Other Clubs/Societies may include?:-
Abrighton
Womens Institute
Albric
Womens Institute
Men’s
Link
Ladies
Link
AP
Council (to recruit the Councillors)
DBP
Council ( “ “ )
BP
Council ( “ “ )
PW
to ask Diana Crawford for her list of Albrighton Clubs/Societies and then
we could add to the list above.
RS
would print more of the ADCS Leaflet and Membership Certificates for committee
Members to take on the recruiting drive to the above Clubs.
It was also agreed that if some committee members wanted to try method a) on a small scale then this would be a useful trial.
Brewood
Civic Society also acts as the Historical Society and many of its
open meetings have speakers covering the types of topics that are
covered by the Albrighton Historical Society (AHS). It was agreed
that ADCS should ask if AHS would like to hold some joint meetings
– the programmes for the new season of society meetings is probably
being drawn un now and so we need to act now.
Action:
PL/DH (action allocated in their absence so please confirm if ok)
PW would also write to DBPC and Boningale Parish Council (BPC) to ask if there were any issues which residents wish to raise for the Society to look at.
RS
felt that the committee will need to do most of the above work now before the next meeting as there is a lot to organise in order to present ourselves
at the October Open Meeting as a solidly based organisation with most
items resolved.
8.
Plans for the Open Meeting October 209
DH
confirmed that the Bar Room (with bar open) at the Red House has been
booked from
The meeting will include introduction to ADCS, presentation of Brewood CS by Peter Jackson, presentation of ADCS Constitution and vote by all members for its adoption, review of some of the issues we have already looked at and the outcome or status, open forum for attendees to suggest items for ADCS review. PW would borrow laptop, projector and screen for the event. The Brewood and ADCS presentations to include the use of PowerPoint to provide images.
Action:
PW
RS
to prepare a draft detailed agenda and circulate it for comments/suggestions
9.
Any Other Business
It was also agreed at the last meeting that advice should be sought as to appropriate insurance cover for ADCS’s activities as the cover provided by the now defunct Civic Trust had now lapsed and MP agreed to obtain quotations for insurance.
Action:
PL/PBW & MP
Publicity
It
was agreed that further publicity in the Parish Magazine and in the
local newspapers should be arranged in advance of the Open Meeting
planned for October 2009. MP said at last meeting that he would commence work on an ADCS website as soon
as he could do so
Date
of next meeting
RS5.08.09