18th January 2016

Present: Carol Girling (Chair), Sarah Edwards (Secretary), Paul Oatway, David Clifford, Simon Leech, Bob Hughes, Eden Thomson, Teresa Noel, Phil Davidson, Chris Lakeman Fraser, Bernard Rogers, Tanya Trenholm.

Apologies: Alan Brownjohn, Tim Warin, Ros Cole, Bob Hughes, Jeff Prosser, Lorna Cowan.

Minutes: The Notes of the previous meeting were agreed.

There was a general discussion about individual visions of Charmouth in the future. Some members of the Group had committed theirs to paper. Comments covered a range of issues:

Preservation of the character of the village.
Environment and climate change: risks (eg flooding) to be evaluated; how to enhance the natural environment.
Housing: the need for affordable housing (at least some not for resale cf community land trusts) in small developments appropriate in size and design; the balance between owner occupied/rented/second homes.
Demographic breakdown: how many live and work in Charmouth/live here but work elsewhere/work here but live elsewhere; how does housing affect employment/the school etc?
Transport: especially public transport in the evenings and at weekends
Support for trade/retail: summer trade is not enough to sustain local traders
Facilities for small businesses: eg use of land or rural buildings for offices/arts & crafts/storage/small businesses etc.
Evening economy: little nightlife in Charmouth, few choices for eating out
Few facilities for youngsters: the playground could be improved (with perhaps added facilities for adults?); older children are not catered for.
Tourism: how to attract more visitors; how many?

The Group then discussed how to proceed.

It was accepted that this is not a quick project to deliver; the timescale is approximately two to three years. During this time it is imperative that residents of Charmouth should be involved and consulted as much as possible. There will be little to consult on initially during the first stages of fact-finding but it was agreed that updates on the Group’s work should be published. The best way of doing this will be discussed at the next meeting.

It was agreed that the Group’s starting point will be to find out what makes up Charmouth. Developing the rough headings listed above by adding sub-headings will help in this initial fact-finding exercise. (It was noted that a copy of the survey of visitors done two years ago should be obtained.)

It was agreed that:

SL will produce a larger scale map of the Parish.

TN and SE will do a mind map.

ET will produce sub-headings for Demographics, Facilites and Environment,

PD will do the same for Transport and Tourism,

CF will do the same for Small Businesses and

AB and AR will do the same for communications (to be emailed to SE before the next meeting if possible).

It was agreed that at this early stage of the project meetings should continue to be held monthly.

The next meeting will be on Monday, 22nd February at The Elms.

The meeting ended at 9.10pm.