31st March 2016

Present:  Carole Girling (Chair), Sarah Edwards (Secretary), Andrew Bateman, Ros Cole, Beth Gillan, Steve Gillan, Simon Leech, Teresa Noel, Peter Noel, Jeff Prosser, Eden Thomson, Tanya Trenholm.

Apologies:  David Clifford, Phil Davidson, Paul Oatway, Adrian Ragbourne.

1  Minutes of the last meeting were agreed subject to amendments:

“AB, TT, BG and SG will look at facilities”

“TN will look at employment”.

Matters Arising

RC asked whether “facilities” included medical care and it was agreed that it did.

Mind map – PO has queried whether “church” was the correct term or whether it should read “religious centres”. TN stated that she had taken the words people had used as part of a preliminary working document that would be subject to change.

CG said that names will not be redacted from minutes of the Group’s meetings, and thanked PO for the steer he had given on that.

SE stated that she had spoken to Lisa Tuck about storage of evidence collected by the Group and the need to limit access to it to preserve its integrity.  PO and DC have also discussed this with Lisa. SE said that one option was to use dropbox, with a gatekeeping system for uploading information, and access for Group members only by password. TN said that this would be a simple system to set up. ET said that a member of the Steering Group for Uplyme’s Neighbourhood Plan (Terry Sweeney) had said he was willing to come and talk about how they had approached it.  It was agreed that it would be very interesting to hear from him before starting to gather evidence and before a system for information storage is set up.  ET will ask Terry Sweeney if he can come to the next meeting.

After some discussion, it was agreed that the sub-groups would work under headings agreed  previously rather than mirroring the Local Plan.

2  Draft Terms of Reference

A further draft of the Terms of Reference had been circulated prior to the meeting, incorporating the amendments suggested at the previous meeting and further amendments proposed by PO following discussion with Lisa Tuck about financial controls and members’ declarations of interest.  That draft (with some further minor amendments) was agreed by the Group.

3  Sub-groups and Methodology

CG reminded the meeting that sub-groups were free to co-opt anyone they felt would be helpful and to get evidence from any appropriate source.

Facilities – SG (leader), AB, TT, BG.

Demographics and Housing – SL (leader), TN, TT.  SL said he hopes to list all buildings in Charmouth, and produce a Parish map showing a complete inventory.

Transport and Tourism – PD (leader), AR

Employment – TN (leader), BG

Natural Environment – ET (leader), SE, RC

Communication – CG (leader), AB, RC. 

4  Communication update

AB spoke to his Communication and Activity Plans.  It was agreed that a questionnaire would be a good starting point.  SG has copies of previous questionnaires. PN suggested contact should be made with Phil Tritton, who was involved with the Charmouth Traders’ questionnaire a few years ago.  It was agreed that the questionnaire should not be too long: the sub-groups should each contribute five questions, to be discussed at the next meeting.  The role of the Steering Group was discussed: it was recognised that the Parish Council did not do much with the answers it received to the 2010 questionnaire, but the Steering Group has a different role, and has statutory backing to make a difference in some areas where the evidence exists.  It was agreed that it must be clear the Group is gathering information, not promising to do things.  The questionnaire will be followed by roadshows.  The timings on the Plans are tight, but it was agreed that dates could be altered as the work progressed.

CG will be making a short presentation at the Parish Council AGM on 28th April.

PO and DC are setting up a webpage.

5  Any Other Business

CG advised the meeting that Bob Hughes has stepped down from the Group, due to pressure of other commitments.  She thanked him for his contribution to the Group, and hoped that he might attend meetings in the future.

There was a discussion about whether a consultant should be involved at this stage, but it was agreed that it should be reconsidered after the Group has heard from Terry Sweeney and the questionnaire has been drafted.

CG spoke to her Mission Statement.  The content (taken from the “visions of Charmouth” written by members of the Group) was agreed but the difficulty in phrasing it in a neutral way was acknowledged.  CG will redraft with some suggested amendments.

The next meeting will be on Thursday 5th May at 7.30pm, in the Community Hall.

The meeting ended at 9.10pm.  

AB Andrew Bateman; ABr Alan Brownjohn; DC David Clifford; RC Ros Cole; LC Lorna Cowan; PD Phil Davidson; SE Sarah Edwards; SF Simon Farrington; CF Chris Fraser; BG Beth Gillan; SG Steve Gillan; CG Carole Girling; SL Simon Leech; TN Teresa Noel; PN Peter Noel; PO Paul Oatway; JP Jeff Prosser; AR Adrian Ragbourne;  BR Bernard Rogers; ET Eden Thomson;  TT Tanya Trenholm; TW Tim Warin