Minutes of meeting held on 6th April 2017

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE CHARMOUTH NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN STEERING GROUP HELD AT THE LIBRARY,  CHARMOUTH, ON 6TH APRIL 2017 AT 7.30PM 

Present:  Carole Girling (Chair), Sarah Edwards (Secretary), Andy Bateman, David Clifford, Ros Cole, Simon Leech, Teresa Noel,  Adrian Ragbourne, Eden Thomson, Jan Gale.

Apologies:   Phil Davidson, Chris Lakeman Fraser, Beth Gillan, Steve Gillan, Peter Noel, Tanya Trenholm

Minutes of the last meeting were agreed.

The Chairman reminded members of the requirement under the Terms of Reference to declare any interest in any item on the agenda or in any topic that arises during the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed Jan Gale to the Group.

Matters Arising

Open Forums Attendance was good, with 50 attending in February and 33 in March.  The presentations were well received and there has been a lot of positive feedback.  Most people had heard about the Forums through the posters and the A board outside Morgans, and others through word of mouth and facebook.

Delivery of Village Survey 855 surveys have been delivered, with more copies being handed out in the library and Morgans. 244 have been returned so far and late ones will still be accepted. Deliveries round the village have highlighted how many properties are second/holiday homes.

NHP Website, email, mobile phone

AB stated that the ongoing commitments relating to the website, email and mobile can be shared.  Several people can be trained to post on the website, which needs to be up to date and relevant.  TT has offered to set up a facebook page, and she might also want to post on the website. JG expressed an interest and it was thought that BG and SL might also want to do the training.

CG offered to check email.

AB said that the phone is not ringing much, although he has had one or two irate calls.  He suggested an automated reply saying that the call will be responded to within a short time.

Budget

The funds available (up to £9000) will come to an end in March 2018.   Applications can be made online and there is a guidance booklet available.  CG and AB will draft an application, AG offered to help. Any funding should be paid into the Parish Council account.

Basic results of Survey

The return rate is 43%.  AB, ET and RC have spoken to Jo Seaman, who has experience in analysing surveys like this and has offered to help.

Each survey will be numbered and coded to show gender, age, whether resident in Charmouth etc. The quantitative data will be collated first, using a spreadsheet designed by Jo from which she can produce charts summarising the results.  It will be possible to correlate the responses to the demographic codes.  It was agreed that these first results could be shared at an open forum.

ET and RC will start coding and will ask for help when they are set up.

Analysing the qualitative information will be harder.  It was agreed that members of each topic group would go through their own topics questions, with piles of surveys circulating around the groups.

It was agreed that the preliminary results, which should be available by September, should be presented first to the Parish Council. 

It was noted that our terms of reference are to “obtain evidence to formulate policies”, and therefore we need to ensure it is clear that the Steering Group cannot implement anything, it can only formulate ideas based on evidence.  Some of the evidence from the Survey and other sources may not come within the remit of the final Plan, but will be included in an appendix so that valuable feedback on many issues concerning Charmouth is not lost.

It was agreed that an update on the response to the Survey should go in Shoreline and on the website and that TT should be asked to put it on facebook.

AOB

AR stated that preliminary plans for improved access to the beach have been drawn up.  Dorset has £5.5 million available towards coastal improvements.

It was agreed that a fossil would make a good prize for the lucky survey.  The draw could be made at the Parish Council AGM, and the presentation made at the Party in the Park. SE will ask Lisa Tuck whether it is appropriate for the cost to be met from the Group’s funding.

The date of the next meeting with be notified – probably 15th  or 22nd  June.

There being no further business the meeting ended at 9.10pm.

AB Andrew Bateman; DC David Clifford (PC); RC Ros Cole; PD Phil Davidson; SE Sarah Edwards; CF Chris Fraser; BG Beth Gillan; SG Steve Gillan; CG Carole Girling; SL Simon Leech; TN Teresa Noel; PN Peter Noel (PC); PO Paul Oatway (PC); AR Adrian Ragbourne;  ET Eden Thomson;  TT Tanya Trenholm;