Minutes of the Committee Meeting of the
Albrighton & District
Civic Society
held
at APC Office, 82B High St, Albrighton,
on
Monday 9th January 2012 at 2pm
Present
:
Peter Woodman – Chairman
Rod Smith - Secretary
Ron Kidson
Peter Leigh
Mike Pitchford
Hugh Hughes
David Beechey – ex-officio, representing
Donington-with-Boscobel PC
David Murray – ex-officio, representing
Tong PC
Michael Ward – ex-officio, representing
Albrighton PC
1.
Apologies received from DH and JB
2.
Minutes of Meeting of 12th December 2011 were approved.
3.Main
Issues
a. Station
Centre. To be dealt with at a meeting of the Station Centre Task Group (SCTG) immediately
following this committee meeting.
b. Villages
Entrance Scheme
HH
reported that David Austin Roses (DAR) will prepare and plant the Entrance
at the end of Bowling Green Lane.
ACTION:
PW will speak to Gaynor Richards (Alb Trade Association) to see if the naming of
an “Albrighton Rose” by DAR has been progressed as this will appear on
the new village signing.
MW
will ask Glen McGrandle (SC) to inspect the piles of cleared weeds at Kingswood
Rd/A41 to check if the compactor vehicle can take these away.
c. School
Awards Scheme
ACTION:
MW to speak to don Hickman (Governor) to see if Idsall School can be persuaded
to participate.
d. Local
Listing
ACTION:
RS to ask Matthew Knight (SC Conservation Officer for help in establishing the
criteria for adding a property to the List.
e. Meetings
with SC Officers
- ACTION:
PW to ask Chris Edwards to come to our next meeting to deal with several items
many involving planning.
- ACTION:
PW to contact Ralph Finlay (CEO Wolverhampton & Dudley Brewery) to see if he can deal with the drain (blocked?) in the centre
of the Crown car park where flooding occurs ands also to repair the
surface which is breaking up. MW thought that SC, which leases the
car park from the brewery for daytime use, may have some responsibility
to repair it but PW will contact RF as a first step.
-
ADCS has pressed SC many times for the Society to be a consultee on planning
applications as other Societies (such as Brewood with Staffordshire County
Council).
ACTION:
PW/PL to check with other Civic Societies in Shropshire to see if we can find a precedent.
f. Membership
Secretary
Chairman
explained that to increase the membership and spread our message to a wider
audience it would be helpful if a committee member took on this role to
mobilise our efforts in this area. The committee was pleased that Mike Pitchford
accepted the role and thanked him for undertaking this important task and
promised to support him in the work. While Mike would be the focus and lead
the work he could not do this alone and he would need the help of all members.
g. Treasurer.
PW reported that David Hughes was ill and undergoing medical treatment
and David had asked if someone could temporarily take over the Treasurer’s
role until he was able to return to the task. The committee was grateful
that Mike Pitchford, who had helped David previously, would now be acting
Treasurer until David’s return. The whole committee expressed their
good wishes for David’s swift recovery and the Chairman would formally
send our best wishes to David.
4.
Any other business
a.
- A sewerage smell was reported on Cross Rd in the area outside No.
8 and Briary Croft. Many said this had been noticed now and again over
several years. RK said the previous owner of Briary Croft, Brian Watton,
had flushed out his drains from time to time to get rid of the smell.
- ACTION: RS to ask advice from Brian Watton.
b. ACTION:
PW to invite the committee of Brewood Civic Society to visit us one evening in
the Spring to reciprocate for our very warm welcome we had received
last year at Brewood.
ACTION:
PL would ask Ernie Howells (Historical Society) to conduct a guided tour as part
of their visit. (Post Meeting Note: PW had obtained a portable loud speaker
system, used by tourist guides, and it may be useful to have a dry run
with Ernie beforehand which would also allow us to fix the timing and
route etc)
c.
PW reported that we had received an invitation to have a table at the
Valentine Event at the Red House on 11th February. This was seen as a welcome invitation and one supported by the committee
but unfortunately most members already had previous commitments on that
date and a table could not be filled. ACTION: PW would reply accordingly.
d.
Lea Cottage, Newhouse Lane.
HH
reported that the sale to an Albrighton resident had fallen through due
to the lender not willing to provide a mortgage without a working kitchen
or bathroom (both trashed during the dilapidation over many years).
ACTION:
PW to speak to the potential buyer in order to identify the current owner.
e.
Tourism Website by Shropshire Council
DB
reported that Albrighton Parish Council could not agree a name for the
Albrighton part of the website. Several names proposed such as “Albrighton-tourism”
but no agreement yet. Some councillors preferred to have a name such
as
Albrighton & Cosford to distinguish our village from the Albrighton near Shrewsbury.
The
ADCS meeting felt that adding “Cosford” seemed arbitrary and could imply
ruling out the other smaller surrounding villages such as Boningale, Donington-with-Boscobel
and Tong. It was felt that, as the website was focused on tourism, then
“Albrighton-tourism” was a good title and RS suggested that on its first
page the location of “our” Albrighton could be made clear to address the
points made by some Councillors.
Next
meeting: 2 p.m. Monday 6th February 2012
Following
Meeting will be at 2pm on Monday 5th March 2012.
All Committee Meetings, unless otherwise noted, are on the first Monday of each month at
Alb
PC Offices, 82B High Street, Albrighton WV7 3JA (T: 375455).
(All future AGMs are on the second
Monday of October
–
NOTE FOR YOUR DIARY: this year’s AGM is at 7pm on 8th October
2012)