Minutes of a Meeting of the Steering Group held at The Duke’s Head, Brockham Green, Brockham on Thursday 14 July 2005 at 8.00 pm

Present: Nick Caddick (Acting Chairman) Brockham Green Village Society
Bob Pritchard Brockham Parish Council
Vicky Stevenson Surrey Community Action
Iain Laurenson Buckland Parish Concil

1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Roger Hammond, Paul Ritchie, Hilary Budd,
Ian Hawkins resigned from the Committee.

2 MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
Minutes of the meeting held 15 June, 2005 were accepted apart from small typographic errors which were amended and signed by the acting chairman.

3 MATTERS ARISING
3.1 Circulated material
Nick Caddick requested that circulated material for comment should be responded to, if only to agree.

3.2 Recuitment
Roger Hammond was in the process of contacting Kate Lamb about contributing to the Parish Plan.
Mike Amin at the Spar shop had been approached by Roger Hammond and Nick Caddick had circulated minutes. Mr Amin had indicated that he would attend today’s meeting.
Hilary Budd had approached two people who would like to contribute to the group but could not commit to regular meetings.

3.3 Stakeholder map and informing stakeholders
No action taken yet. Paul Ritchie and Nick Caddick are still to produce a stakeholder map and Roger Hammond is still to produce a draft letter.

3.4 Children’s poster/logo competition
Nick Caddick had produced an A4 flyer for distribution by Brockham School to all children inviting them to enter into a poster and logo competition.
Paul Ritchie along with Lisa (a teacher’s assistant) had ensured Mr Starkie’s, the headmaster, support. The flyer unfortunately did not get distributed as promised but was available this week.
The deadline for entrants is Monday 18 July and work is to be handed into the School. Nick Caddick will ask Paul Ritchie how we go about collecting the items.
It was suggested that the closing date be extended until Wednesday evening so that more entrants could be gathered at the Village Fair weekend, particularly teenagers.
It was suggested that judges should come from a range of people associated with the community and may well help in preparing the village plan. The following were put forward:
• Helyn Clack – as a Surrey County councillor and trustee director of the Surrey Community Action, Helyn also has up to £500 to fund Parish Plans
• Valerie Homewood – as a alternative to Maurice Homewood and to offer broader outreach to Brockham and Strood Green
• Rev Jonathan Willans – to reach out to Church groups in the community
• Mr E Starkie – Headmaster of Brockham School
• Nick Caddick – to offer advise and guidance on suitable images for reproduction as a logo or poster.
Prizes were discussed and Iain Laurenson indicated that they gave away artists materials to the winner. It was also suggested that medals be produced as they were cheap but meant a lot to children, particularly those that were not used to receiving medals as the more active children do.

4 VILLAGE FAIR WEEKEND
The Parish Plan will be publicised at the Brockham Green Village Society stand. There are three key objectives:
1. To inform the community about the plan and to encourage people to take away a leaflet and hopefully fill in a skills survey
2. To publicise the logo/poster competition to young people 5 – 15 years
3. To recruit volunteers and steering group members
4.1 Brockham & Strood Green 2015 leaflet
Nick Caddick circulated a draft proposal for a third A4 leaflet entitled Brockham & Strood Green 2015. It is intended to offer a brief overview of the Parish Plan and to encourage people to participate either as volunteers or steering group members.
The leaflet includes a skills survey for people to complete and return.
There are two routes to return the completed survey:
• At the Village Fair – completed on the spot, and
• Returning them to the Post Office, Spar and/or Chitty & Sons
Bob Pritchard said he would approach these businesses to see if they would accept the forms. He asked that Nick Caddick send a copy to him so that he could show the retailers what to expect.

4.2 Poster/logo competition
The Village Fair ordinarily attracts a good number of teenagers and it would be useful to maximise the opportunity to encourage them to participate in the poster competition. Nick Caddick suggested that he tailor the existing flyer to something a little older. A contact number can be given for returning entries and perhaps this could be done via the Spar or Strood Green Post Office.

4.3 Recruitment
Critical to the success of the plan is in recruiting members of the community to fulfil a variety of tasks, including the delivery of leaflets and data entry. It is also important that there is a strong Steering Committee. Iain Laurenson pointed out that at Buckland the Steering Committee comprised on average 9 people who came in to lend support and then left. It was also clear that it was important to identify people with skill sets that could be utilised even for short periods.
It was noted that the loss of Ian Hawkins was not welcomed and Nick Caddick suggested he contact Ian to see if there was anything specifically that he was unhappy with and perhaps encourage his temporary support at the very least.

4.4 Rota at Village Fair
It is important that the stand be manned by members of the Steering Committee to answer questions from the community and to support all of the above. Nick Caddick would circulate an email.

5 BUCKLAND PARISH PLAN
Iain Laurenson was asked about some of the issues faced in Buckland.
5.1 Distribution
Critical to the success of the Plan and outreach to the community was the recruitment of foot soldiers or wardens for distribution/collection of questionnaires etc.
Buckland operated a warden scheme where a volunteer was given a road that was his/hers to look after. This has the added benefit of encouraging greater community awareness and neighbourliness. This is a tactic that has been used for other organisations to some good effect.
It was important that these volunteers had separate meetings – this made them feel ‘special’ and cared about.
Iain believes the volunteer programme helped them achieve an 85% response.

5.2 Questionnaire
This seemed to be the most contentious area. Buckland used the Cheltenham & Gloucester questionnaire of some 360 but found it a challenging task getting agreement on the final 60-70 questions. There were three key issues:
• The group was large to begin with and everyone had an opinion – so it was decided to appoint 3 people who would review the questions and present a solution to the main group. This was far more effective and was achieved in a short space of time.
• It was important to have some indication of what the outcome of asking a question could be.
• Buckland did not feel that all the questions were very helpful and there were at times too many options.
In the main they found the C&G questionnaire useful but could have been improved.
Vicky Stevenson suggested that the questionnaire stage was some way off because recruitment, the Open Days and publicity were more important at the moment. The Open Days themselves would help formulate some of the decision making with regards to the questionnaires.
Vicky suggested that she would bring a copy of the C&G questionnaire to the next meeting and show the group what it was like and the ease with which data can be manipulated. Vicky also indicated that the questionnaire had not been updated since it was last used at Buckland 3-4 years ago.

5.3 Budgets
Iain Laurenson provided copies of the budget and actual figures for the preparation of the Parish Plan. Approximately 250 copies of the final report were produced. Part of the questionnaire could have a tick box for people to indicate whether they wanted a copy of the final report – therefore numbers could be calculated in advance. The budget was £4,500 and the actual cost was £3,000. Vicky indicated that the actual cost was reflective of the average cost.

5.4 Delivery of Parish Plan
It was clear that the benefits of the Parish Plan were more than simply achieving the actions defined in the final report. Some key points:
• expectations require managing; while particular goals may be set it may take a while to achieve those goals
• support on a wider basis for critical issues can be achieved through MVDC who are very supportive of the outcomes from Parish Plans
• a key benefit in Buckland has been bringing the community together more and two visible outcomes have been:
o the bi-annual clearing of Buckland Pond in conjunction with British Conservation
o the creation of a terrapin sanctuary

5.5 Time capsule
A very interesting project that Buckland created was their ‘Time Capsule’. Iain suggested that a time capsule could be made for £20 rather than buying a ‘bespoke’ model which are in the order of £135.

5.6 Copies of Buckland Plan
Iain Laurenson left copies of the questionnaire and a number of other items from the Parish Plan for circulation.

6 Summary of Action Items
Follow up with Michael Amin RH
Outreach to other potential steering group members All
Approach Judo Club PR
Research teenagers taking Duke of Edinburgh award in Brockham All
Draft stakeholder letter RH
Draft stakeholder map PR/NC
Check availability of pencils from Brockham Parish Council RH
Research historical information All
Discuss with Clare Ritchie funding for community projects PR
Require feedback from leaflet by Saturday morning so that copies can be produced in time. All
Approach judges for poster/logo competition NC
Contact Carolyn Bosdet at MVDC re funding of £1,000 NC
Contact Helyn Clack re funding from Surrey Community Action NC
Contact retail outlets for return of skills questionnaires RP
Create web page for Parish Plan NC
Provide sample C&G questionnaire VS

It being brought to the attention of the group that Vicky Stevenson was to be married on 2 September; on behalf of the entire group we all wished her well for the day.
There being no further business, the Acting Chairman brought the meeting to a close at 21:45hrs.

Acting Chairman
The next Committee meeting will be held at 8.00 pm on Thursday 8 September 2005 at Village Hall Reading Room, Brockham
Wherever possible the Secretary will circulate the papers for the meetings by electronic means. Members unable to attend a meeting with an outstanding action point are requested to provide an update, either via a paper or verbally, to the Chairman/Secretary. Consideration may be given to publishing the minutes on the Brockham Village website.

Use our feedback form to make your comments on the key issues that Brockham should address now and in the future.

Brockham Parish Plan Steering Group

October 2005

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