Minutes of a Meeting of the Steering Group held at the Reading Rooms, Village Hall, Brockham Green, Brockham on Wednesday 15 June 2005 at 8.00 pm

Present:

R Hammond (Acting Chairman), Brockham Parish Council
Anthony Hamilton, Brockham Parish Council
Hilary Budd, Brockham Parish Council
Peter Ritchie,
Ian Hawkins, Brockham Green Village Society
Nick Caddick, Brockham Green Village Society
Vicky Stevenson, Surrey Community Action
Robert Pritchard

1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
None.

2 MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
Minutes of the meeting held 25 May, 2005 were accepted

3 MATTERS ARISING
None.

4 ESTABLISHING A STEERING GROUP
4.1 Role of Chairman and involvement of Brockham Parish Council
Copies of a sample constitution provided by Surrey Community Action were distributed by Roger Hammond. Mr Hammond noted that the sample indicated no more than two members from the parish council should be elected to the steering committee. As such, he suggested that he would step back from the committee until a suitable ‘independent’ Chairman was found and that he would act in a ‘floating capacity’, being on hand to provide supplementary support and advice.
Vicky Stevenson emphasised that the parish council should oversee the plan, and links to the parish council are necessary, but it should be independently created.

4.2 Approaches to other potential committee members
Miss Stevenson re-iterated that the steering group should represent a cross section of the community an that the major organisations in the village should be involved.
Hilary Budd had approached Claire Jordan who was keen to be involved but felt she was too overcommitted with Church duties.
Mr Hammond had approached Michael Amin at Brockham Spar to represent retailing in Brockham and Mr Amin had seem very positive about joining. Mr Hammond would invite Mr Amin to the next meeting.
Miss Stevenson said that it was important to have people ‘on the books’ who had particular skills that could be useful in the creation of the parish plan, but it was important that they had specific tasks to do. It was also necessary to recruit a number of ‘foot soldiers’ to help with tasks such as the distribution of materials.
Roger Hammond said that recruitment of younger people to date had been unsuccessful.
Paul Ritchie suggested that people working with young people should be approached, and that major representatives from school would be suitable candidates.
Mr Hammond said that the major sports clubs, ie, football, cricket and rugby were in the main focused on under twelve years.
Mr Ritchie said he would approach the judo club. He suggested that approaching teenagers undertaking the Duke of Edinburgh award would be suitable candidates as part of the award is for community service. He suggested Ashcombe school would be a useful contact.
Mr Hammond indicated that Kate Lamb could be approached, whose parents live in the Borough, is in her first year at Reading University. She may be able to contribute during the summer recess.
It was unlikely that Matthew Harbour, the incoming landlord of the Royal Oak or Chris, the landlord at the Duke’s Head, would be involved on an ongoing basis with the steering group, however it was suggested that they should be informed about what was happening and asking them to support the committee’s work indirectly perhaps with keeping/promoting suggestion boxes or displaying notices.
Vicky Stevenson said that at a minimum eight members were generally required to start the process.
It was important that skills were identified in the Steering Group and also in the broader community.

5 NEXT STEPS
5.1 Informing stakeholders
Vicky Stevenson said that it was important to inform key stakeholders of what was happening in order to elicit appropriate support, including councillors at Surrey County Council, MVDC Community Strategy (Caroline and Cathy), schools etc. Paul Ritchie agreed to produce an initial stakeholder map with Nick Caddick for comment by the committee. MVDC would be particularly interested in any outcomes from the Parish Plan in order to better serve the community.
Roger Hammond would draft a letter to the key stakeholders and circulate to the steering group.
Paul Ritchie indicated that Clare Ritchie, who was a PA to Director of Services MVDC, could help research funding through the Community Funds from MVDC and SCC.

5.2 Publicity
A number of routes for publicity were suggested including the FOBS newsletter, school newsletter, Parish Magazine and web sites.
Paul Ritchie said that he would talk to Mr Starkie, Head of Brockham School about school involvement, including poster and logo competitions. Nick Caddick offered to attend the school and perhaps discuss logos/posters with the children.
It was suggested that the outcome of the poster and logo competition could be announced at the Village Fair weekend on 15-17 July. A prize would be required and Roger Hammond offered pencils (that Brockham Parish Council had produced for the annual litter purge in the Village) for all children who participated in the competition.
It was agreed that an Open Day would not feasible to arrange at the Village Fair weekend and that the opportunity should be taken to promote the Parish Plan and establish an Open Weekend in mid September to counsel initial views about what people would like from the Parish Plan.
It was suggested that an event, which would engage with all members of the community, might be arranged in September to attract people to the Open Day.
Nick Caddick offered the use of the BGVS stand at the Village Weekend to promote the Parish Plan and the Open Day. A board and leaflets would be required. Roger Hammond indicated that the Parish Council would possibly pick up the cost of the production of such leaflets to be reimbursed perhaps at a later date.
Mr Hammond offered to write the first draft and Nick Caddick would review and produce the artwork for a leaflet.
Nick Caddick suggested that a promotional plan should be created to focus activities.

5.3 Framework and guidelines
Paul Ritchie asked if the framework was set down in statute.
Vicky Stevenson indicated that the guidelines suggested by The Countryside Agency are good practice. She added that the major change is in funding which originally was to go through the Parish Council. This has now been scrapped to make the process more flexible. Miss Stevenson also indicated that there are a number of generic criteria to achieve which should address all aspects of the Parish, including social, environmental, economic, transport, housing, etc. These guidelines are available from the web at:
http://www.countryside.gov.uk/Publications/articles/Publication_tcm2-4306.asp
The objective of the Parish Plan was to identify action plans for the short, medium and long term and that the plans should be living documents not to sit on a shelf.
Vicky Stevenson remarked that the Action Plan should take between 12 -18 months to create and once delivered to the Parish Council the steering group will disband and form action groups specifically targeted at achieving the goals indicated in the parish plan.
Paul Ritchie indicated that management plans tend to be very dry and uninviting. Nick Caddick suggested that it was important they were presented in as lively and engaging way as possible.
Miss Stevenson suggested that the group discuss with other communities on how they developed their Parish Plan.
Nick Caddick offered to contact Iain Laurenson at Buckland to perhaps attend the next meeting.

5.4 Research
Miss Stevenson indicated that it was important to research what surveys and historical information could be gleaned to enable the action plan to be more informed and possible reduce the risk of duplication.
Items suggested include the Census, Star Project, Local and Strategic Plan by MVDC and SCC, Countryside profile, Strood Green PO Survey, Housing surveys, maps of designated sites and protected areas; status of land, Community Speed Watch statistics.
Roger Hammond said that a Youth Club had been formed in Brockham some years ago at Brockham School. It attracted a number of 12 – 17 yr olds but only survived for two years before disbanding. An amount of money was still held in trust by the Parish Council.
Mr Ritchie remarked on the changing nature of families and the community and suggested as individuals are less able to move because of increasing house prices then there will be an increased demand in facilities for teenagers.

6 Summary of Action Items
It was agreed that an amount of work would need to be achieved between this and the next meeting and items would be circulated where possible electronically to members of the Steering Committee.
Invite Michael Amin to next meeting RH
Outreach to other potential steering group members All
Approach Judo Club PR
Contact Kate Lamb RH
Research teenagers taking Duke of Edinburgh award in Brockham All
Draft stakeholder letter RH
Draft stakeholder map PR/NC
Draft leaflet copy RH
Revise leaflet copy and produce leaflet artwork NC
Draft promotional plan NC
Approach Brockham School re poster/logo competition PR
Check availability of pencils from Brockham Parish Council RH
Research historical information All
Identify board/message for Village Fete NC
Contact Iain Laurenson NC
Discuss with Clare Ritchie funding for community projects PR

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 14 July 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.

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Brockham Parish Plan Steering Group

October 2005

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