Minutes of Meeting 27th March 2003 Present: Mike Goodman - Chair Jack Dodds - R.B.L George Penman - Wansbeck F.D.G Tom Arkle - Newbiggin CWFC Cllr Tom Saunders - NCC William Cooper - SECA Stephen Peel - High fliers J.J.Taylor - Neighbourhood Watch Cllr M. Boon - WDC Joan Rose - Newbiggin History Group Will Rogers - New Bigginings Bobbie Glen - W.I Pat Fenwick - Newbiggin ladies Bowls Club Gordon Burn - Newbiggin Sailing Club Susan Hawkins - Wansbeck Action Team Cllr A Thompson - WDC Judith Grieve - St Bartholomew's Mabel Wallace - Welfare Cres Res. Ass Guests: Viv Schwartzberg - WCVS In attendance: Jenny Costello - WDC Charles Tremeer - WDC Bill Gale - Wansbeck CVS/ CEF 1. Apologies Lynn Yates - Kidz Avenue Jean Thompson - Newbiggin Ramblers Melanie Ord/Alison Holmes Trinity Youth Association Carol Butchart - Newbiggin Colliery Terry Garnick - WDC H Gustard - Newbiggin Allotment Association John Davison - St.Andrews Methodist Church Joyce Rutter - Community Fayre Association Vaun Campbell - Alcan 2. Minutes of the last meeting The minutes of the last meeting on 20th February were received and approved as a true record. 3. Matters Arising The Chair gave a brief update on the progress of regeneration projects in Newbiggin: Skateboard Park - to be completed by Tues. 1st April. Dixons Corner - to be completed this coming weekend. Prom seats - all are being replaced, any reusable old ones could be installed elsewhere in Newbiggin - locations to be agreed by the Partnership. Litter bins will be installed soon. Flowerbeds - have now all been removed. Avis Avenue - CT has received a telephone complaint about the removal of the planters but has not as yet received a formal letter of complaint. Woodhorn Gateway Project - work should hopefully begin in September 2003. Re. Rumours of housing plans. Granger Trust do have plans to build on the Rammys Ranch site, they have agreed to fall in with the proposals of Cheviot Housing. The Chair cannot find any evidence to substantiate rumours of building on the site of Windsor First School. Spital Play Area - nearing completion. Milburn Park - should be complete by Tues.1st April. In response to a query regarding the figures for money spent on E&CQIP Projects from Cllr Thompson, the Chair confirmed he did not have the figures yet, he will bring them to the meeting as soon as they are available. 4. PALS Unfortunately Lilian Hodgson was not able to attend to present to the group. She sent her apologies and will hopefully come to the next meeting. 5. Cheviot Housing The Chair met with John Johnston from Cheviot Housing last week. All funding for the Project should be in place in the next couple of months, the LSP have supported the application for funding from the NSP so it is very hopeful. Cheviot will soon be recruiting their Project team so that they will be ready to start when funding is confirmed, they will be based in the housing office next to the Police Station. In response to a question regarding how the money would be spent, the Chair confirmed that around half would be spent on staff and associated costs. 6. Neighbourhood Workshop Viv Schwartzberg was present to talk about the Workshop which is to take place this coming Saturday 29th March (see minutes 20/2/03). She gave some background to why the topic of the day is to be Adult Education - the topic had been chosen, as adult education classes recently set up had not had a good response. The Learning and Skills Council are investing in the area so information about what local people would like to see offered, would be fed back to them. The Partnership also had not expressed wishes for any other topic to be explored. Viv explained that if there was a topic the Partnership would like explored in the future, other Workshops could be planned. They could even be run as Partnership meetings. Viv outlined how the day had been promoted, including distribution of leaflets by the OUR PART team, leaflets at People's House, direct contact with individuals by CVS. They do not have a booking system for the day so presently do not have an estimate of how many people will be going but they have had an encouraging response from the leaflets. Viv asked that every Partnership member ask someone else, this would immediately create more interest. The day will be run however many people show. The East Bedlington and East Ashington (North Seaton) Workshops were very successful. Judith Grieve advised Viv that she did not receive the leaflets until last week, a little late. Viv apologised and said that there should be a longer run in time for the Workshops in the future. Viv confirmed that all those over 16 could attend. In response to a question from the Chair, Viv explained that people can come along for part of the day, but if they turn up they may have to wait until the next activity starts as much of the day would involve group work. Some of the Members said they would be attending the day. Others unfortunately already had commitments. 7. Avis Avenue See Matters Arising. It was pointed out that the space was now being used to park cars. Stephen P suggested a possible project for next year would be to get parking lines painted on so there were clear spaces. 8. Ocean Youth Trust The Chair gave a brief background to the Project - funding had been sought to send some local youngsters on a sea voyage on a large ship - the James Cook. Alcan have kindly offered £550 which will cover the cost of sending three youngsters on the trip. The cheque should arrive next week. The Chair formerly thanked Alcan and particularly Vaun Campbell for their support. Ashley Brown from Hirst High School is assisting in the selection of the youngsters, he is cleared to work with children and is in regular contact with individuals who may be suitable for the trip. A question was raised regarding the method of selection. Will R replied that the criteria would be 1. The person must come from Newbiggin, 2. They must be someone who would genuinely benefit from the experience, eg. never been away before. The Chair confirmed that the Partnership would have the ultimate decision as to who will go. 9. Memorial Park The Chair handed out two architect's reports, one on Memorial Park and one on the War Memorial. The chair asked that members read the reports and consult their groups before coming back with questions or points to raise. In response to a point raised by Cllr Boon, the Chair confirmed that the Project would have to involve the local schools in order to control children playing in Memorial Park. Members discussed the issue of a safe road crossing by the Park and the problem of traffic calming as there is a problem with speeding cars down that stretch. Cllr Thompson advised the group that Police checks are currently being carried out day and night, particularly to catch those who do not have a current tax disc or are speeding excessively. There has been some success as a result of this. Stephen P has suggested to the Police that they would have more success concentrating on the 6pm - 11pm timeslot, on Fridays and Saturdays particularly, this is when most speeding occurs. Cllr Saunders advised that the process of consultation for the input of traffic calming measures takes around 15 months. The Chair was asked if there was a possibility of another company doing the restoration work. The Chair replied that the architect's report were purely consultation documents, once a plan of action has been decided, tenders will go out for the work to be done. 10. County Plan The issue if whether Newbiggin should apply for secondary settlement status had been raised at the Management Committee meeting. There was concern that Newbiggin may be missing out on economic investment due to it's status. Charles T had since gained information from WDC regarding the issue, a summary of which was sent to all members. It explains the criteria used to determine secondary settlement status and suggests that there is no evidence that Newbiggin is disadvantaged for gaining funding due to it not being a secondary settlement. The Chair had also consulted a number of parties who had also suggested that the status should not affect funding. The document also explains that there are Government proposals to change the Development Plan system, in doing so abolishing the current primary and secondary settlement status. There was a discussion between members as to whether Newbiggin should apply for secondary settlement status and what benefit it would have for the town. Cllr Thompson informed the meeting that Newbiggin had previously been a secondary settlement, the status has been dropped in 1996 and that other towns had fought hard for the status. He suggested that lack of status might prevent businesses from coming to the area. Members agreed that they did not wish to see huge industrial estates, rather smaller 'cottage' industries and small businesses, which would benefit from and improve tourism. Those in favour of applying for secondary status agreed that it could be important for the future and could build on the existing positive regeneration work now being done and proposed in the area. Charles T informed the group that the County Structure Plan is being reviewed next month, this will likely confirm the current status of Newbiggin. Stephen P proposed that in principle, the Partnership do pursue secondary settlement status, even if a formal proposal is put on hold until the review of the County Structure Plan. This was seconded by Bill Cooper A vote, via a show of hands, showed 7 members in agreement, 4 against the proposal and the rest abstaining or do not have a vote due to their membership status. Resolved - the Partnership agree in principle to the pursuit of secondary settlement status but will wait until the review of the County Plan to decide on an exact course of action. 11. Skills Share Day Bill Gale informed members that the Day is on 16th April in Hartlepool. It is a day to share experiences and knowledge with other people in the North East involved with Community Partnerships. There are 8 places available for voluntary representatives from Wansbeck. Bill had received requests from the Chair, from Will Rogers and from Jack Dodds to attend. No one else at the meeting expressed an interest attending. Resolved - Members were in agreement that the three above mentioned will attend the Day on 16th April and report back to the Partnership. 12. Newbiggin-by-the-Sea Clean Beach (N.C.B) A letter from Alfie Dower from N.C.B regarding the action he has taken towards improving the cleanliness of the beach was enclosed with the meeting papers to all members. Photos of the beach were circulated at the meeting. Jack D suggested the Partnership should send a letter to Wansbeck District Council to request that the beach cleaning service is resumed. Other members supported the idea. Resolved - the Chair will write to the Council on behalf of the Partnership. 13. Correspondence None. The Chair took the opportunity to request that members submit items for the Agenda at least 2 weeks before the meeting date so that papers can be circulated in plenty of time, allowing members to consult with their groups on matters to be discussed. The Chair formally thanked Karen Maclean, on behalf of the Partnership, for all her hard work whilst in post as Community Partnership Officer. 14. Date and time of next meeting Thursday 29th May, 7pm at Newbiggin Sports Centre.