FORDER COMMUNITY AND CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Monday 21st March 2016 at 7.15 pm in the Hall
MINUTES
PRESENT: Roger Fursier (acting Chair), Francis Russell (Minute Sec.), Tony Parry, Sandy Parry, John Lidstone, John Beale (Treasurer), Marianne Beale, Carole Brown, Jenny Pilgrim, Keith Rawlings, Cllr. Bob Austin, Pat Salt, David Salt, Joe Hall, Andrea Cohen, plus Arthur Cotterill, Peter Wilkinson, John Hooper, and Sue Hooper (visitors).
- APOLOGIES: Mave Hall, Pat Crawford & Phyllis Crawford, Derek Pilgrim, Bryan Preston, Cllr. David Yates, Bryan Baker, Lynn Vickers.
2. MINUTES of the AGM on 9th, March 2015 were circulated. Roger asked for two minor corrections – Tony Parry (not Parsons) and Trustees signatures needed for 2015-2016 (not 2014-15). These corrected minutes were taken as read, proposed to be accepted by Joe Hall and seconded by Keith Rawlings, and signed by the acting Chairman.
3. MATTERS ARISING: Roger noted that the sewerage and flooding issue still remained a concern and had not been resolved. The most serious concerns relates to the effects of small and large developments within the Latchbrook and the Forder sewage pumping station catchment. The FCCA should take the opportunity to make further representations on this issue.
4. REPORT OF OFFICERS (2015/16)
Chairman's report/ Secretary's report: Roger reported on particular highlights over the past year (a separate report will be attached to these minutes).
5. Treasurer's report: John Beale distributed a financial report and balance sheet for the year. He read his report to the members (the full report will be attached with these minutes). To summarise, the state of FCCA finances are satisfactory. A surplus of £796 income over expenditure has been achieved.
There were some exceptional expenses in the year, £575 new noticeboard, £154 new orchard expenses, £320 additional gazebos. Total donations given during the year totalled £681, just over 10% of gross income. Mooring income at £5,483 was near record levels. However, the fete income was down at £669 due to reduced takings on the day (12/07/15)
John thanked fellow committee members and the new Independent Examiner, Colin Brown.
To conclude, Tony Parry proposed that the accounts be accepted, Keith Rawlings seconded this and all present were in favour that these financial accounts be carried.
6. Mooring Officer's report: David Salt reported that over the year 50 moorings had been let bringing in close to record levels of income. There is currently a small waiting list for moorings. He is currently working on the Queen's Harbour Master permit application – they are looking for a bit more information this year.
7. Other reports
Neighbourhood watch: Pat Salt reported that the new noticeboard was a nice feature and is drawing a lot of attention from visitors.
Conservation Officer - nothing to report
Associate members' representative. – nothing to report
8) Nominations for Honorary Officers and Committee for 2016/17
Roger reported that he had received a nomination for the vacant position of Chairman – Tony Parry had offered to stand, and David and Pat Salt had been nominated to stand again in their current roles. In addition, John Lidstone had offered to stand as a committee member. John Beale proposed these, Keith Rawlings seconded and all present were in favour. At Roger's suggestion it was decided to keep the role of Correspondence secretary separate from that of Minute secretary. Roger agreed to stay on as acting Correspondence secretary for the coming year. A new Minute secretary will be required from the end of June when Francis Russell is intending to step down as he is leaving the village in the summer.
9) Election of Officers and Committee for 2016/17
As there were no other nominations, and current committee members were prepared to continue in post, it was proposed that they be reappointed en block: all agreed without invididual voting.
Elected Committee Members will be asked to sign the sheet in the Minute Book to show that they agreed to be trustees for 2016-2017.
The following officers were elected or re-elected:
Patron: Bryan Preston
Chairman:Tony Parry
Treasurer: John Beale
Correspondence Secretary: Roger Fursier
Minute Secretary: Francis Russell
Events Secretary: Carole Brown
Moorings Officer: David Salt
Neighbourhood Watch Rep.: Pat Salt
Conservation Officer: Keith Rawlings
Associate Members’ Rep.: Keith Rawlings
Committee Members: Joe Hall, John Lidstone
Independent Examiner: Colin Brown
10. Appointment of Independent Examiner for 2016/17
Colin Brown has agreed to act as independent examiner for the coming year.
11. Treasurer – proposed budget for 2016/17
John Beale summarised a proposed budget for the coming year. He stressed the need to maintain reserves for possible quay wall repairs and legal expenses. Tony Parry added that legal fees could be considerably higher depending on events and wanted members to be aware. Roger commented that it would be nice to lay on a celebration on 50th anniversary of the founding of the organisation and requested that some money be made available from the reserves.
The budget was proposed by Tony Parry and seconded by Jenny Pilgrim, all in favour, none against, therefore the budget was approved.
12. Moorings officer – proposed mooring fees for 2016/17
The treasurer and moorings officer agreed that as the income from moorings was covering the expenses it would be acceptable to leave the fees unchanged for this year. Current rates are £100 per mooring with an additional £2 per foot for boats exceeding 10ft.
13. Items for discussion
Future of FCCA
Roger expressed concerns that the organisation faced an uncertain future due to ageing committee members and lack of fresh faces at meetings. There is a danger that this could perpetuate the notion that we are a 'clique' that only exists for our own benefit. The future of the FCCA (aims and objectives and future aspirations etc.) had not been properly discussed despite having raised this a number of occasions. Roger posed the question should we consider expanding the area of eligibility to extend outside the conservation area especially as we share similar issues with residents in Burraton Coombe. Jenny Pilgrim suggested sending out a colourful flyer to advertise all coming events; this could be circulated widely in the vicinity – Trehan, Elm Gate, Antony Passage, Burraton Coombe. Keith Rawlings suggested getting these done professionally. This was considered to be a good idea that could stimulate new membership, Roger asked if Jenny could take this forward and liaise with Carole.
Changing the day of the monthly meeting
The suggestion of changing the meeting day from a Monday was discussed as a way of enabling other residents to attend (that couldn't make Mondays). This was considered but offered no overall gain and therefore it was agreed to stay with a Monday but to change this to the 3rd Monday in the month to enable Councillor Bob Austin to attend for the whole meeting.
14. Any other business
John Beale welcomed Sue and John Hooper and gave recognition to the useful input that Sue has provided to the FCCA from her perspective as a Councillor on the Saltash Town Council. Roger suggested that Sue might like to become an associate member and she agreed (Keith agreed to action this).
Sue asked members for permission to read out a report that she had prepared in relation to a recent flooding incident in Burraton Coombe caused by increased run-off of water coming into the area from higher up in Saltash. She summarised a recent incident that occurred in the night and required emergency work on a culvert to be carried out by SW Water to avert flooding of a property. Consequently, Sue prepared a full report and circulated this to Councillors asking for it to be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of Saltash Town Council, at which she proposed that a Flooding Forum be set up. Although her concerns were shared at this meeting the outcome was that the majority of councillors considered that the Saltash Neighbourhood Plan was already an existing forum to deal with these drainage issues.
Sue concluded in her report to FCCA members by saying that she did try to raise this issue and stressed the need for an independent group to voice this in the future, especially before the final planning permission is granted for the Broadmoor Farm development.
Bob Austin added that Sue is perfectly right to be concerned but suggested that the planners and architects have already taken steps to address this in their water management scheme and seem confident that the water volumes entering the Latchbrook will be significantly reduced. However, an existing application for 400 properties in the Latchbrook/Trematon area would be up before planning in September. He was not aware of any additional water/drainage plans to this area but this would cause an additional 'loading' of water and sewerage into the existing systems.
15. Date of next meeting. The next AGM will be held at 7.15 pm in the Hall on (provisionally) 20 March 2017. The meeting closed at 8.35 pm.