STEERING GROUP

MINUTES

of the meeting held on Tuesday 14th May 2013

at the Village Hall, Boston Spa at 7.30p.m.

  1. Present: Geoff Shaw (Chair), David Thomson, Keith Jackson, Jill Jackson, Sandy Goodall, Mark Yeadon, Brian Charlton, Chris Newsome, Warren Meads, William Sparling, Naomi Barrow. Observer –Colin Bunyan

Note Taker: Vivienne Skinner

  1. Apologies for absence: Jeff Newton, Stefan Frontczak, Helen Ingle,
  2. Minutes and matters arising
  • The Minutes of the Meeting held on 9th April 2013 were approved.

4. Action Points Log

  • Action Point Log will be updated and circulated with the minutes.

5. Communications

5.1 The Questionnaire

i) Presentation Tuesday 11th June - Christine and Jonathon Pickup will be presenting the analysis of the questionnaires to the NPSG; TG members will also be invited. The large room at the back of the Village Hall will be booked.

  • There will be a follow up meeting between the Chair and the TGL’s on Thursday 13th June at 7.30pm to discuss how the work following the presentation will be taken forward and to firm up on the Village Hall Events (see agenda item 5.3).

ii) Junior Questionnaire - William Sparling and Naomi Barrow gave apresentation on the work they are doing to involve young people in the development of the Neighbourhood Plan:-

  • Leeds CC Youth Service run two youth groups on Tuesday and Friday evenings. William and Naomi have attended the Tuesday evening group and ran the first facilitated event to identify what young people like/dislike in the village. The initial findings require a level of interpretation however; the strongest concerns were around the limited public transport services and the cost; and the lack of meeting places and activities in the village.
  • Information on the services and activities for young people is not readily available; the lack of employment opportunities and affordable accommodation were also raised by young people.
  • The NPSG agreed that the initial feedback provided a useful insight into the concerns of young people in the village. Following further facilitated events with other groups William and Naomi will make a full presentation on the findings to the NPSG.
  • Vivienne Skinner will establish a link with the Leeds CC Youth Service and report back to the NPSG.

iii Questionnaire blitz before Monday 20th May - It was agreed a final gazebo event will take place Saturday 18th May in Millennium Gardens from 10:30am to 1:30pm.

5.2 Boston Spa Gala Saturday 15th June

  • The Gala Committee has invited the NPSG to run a Pimms Bar at the village Gala, Brian Charlton agreed to organize this.
  • The NP gazebo will be at the Gala with display boards to promote the July events and to continue collecting evidence of consultation.

5.3 Village Hall Events – Friday 12th July & Saturday 13th July; Wednesday 17th July

  • The events on the 12th & 13th July will include an exhibition promoting the analysis of the questionnaires and setting out a proposed way forward.
  • There will be individual tables for each topic area facilitated by TG members to encourage discussion with people and to gather comments.
  • Young people will be encouraged to be involved through the work with the schools project and the work William and Naomi are doing.
  • Chris Newsome will circulate a list of the tasks where volunteers will be required.
  • Discussions are ongoing with WiSE for the cafe’ to be open for the events.
  • Chris Newsome will organise a flier to be produced for distribution to all homes in the village advertising the events.
  • The event on the 17th July will start with a presentation by Christine and Jonathon Pickup followed by breakout discussions on each of the key issues. These will need to be time limited and Chris Newsome will consider the format in more detail

5.4 Website

  • Development continues. Consideration to be given to the use of video’s to raise awareness and interest via YouTube. However this will need production of video content by TGs. Other TG content could be updated and/or added to by other TGs.

5.5 Engagement Process Reporting

  • Chris Newsome and Geoff Shaw will analyse the evidence held to ensure it is strong enough to support the Neighbourhood Plan that will be submitted to Leeds CC. There are some concerns that not all sports groups have been identified and this will be discussed further with the Community & Wellbeing TG.
  • Chris will summarise the evidence from the gazebo events.
  • The Sport and Active Lifestyle Fair to be held at Boston Spa School in June is being well publicised and there has been a good take up of places for the stalls.

5.6 PR/Promotion

  • The search to find someone to take responsibility for PR continues. Mark Yeadon will discuss with a contact he has and report back on potential options.
  • Consideration will be given to producing prepared articles supported by photos for the Wetherby News.

6. Village Walkabout – actions arising

i) Village character & design statements - As part of the development of the Neighbourhood Plan buildings and land could be identified as potential Community Assets. If listed by Leeds then in the event of any Community Asset being offered for sale, the Parish Council would have a 6 month option to raise the finance to purchase at the market price. Examples of potential Community Assets were:- the Library; the BT building; and the Primrose Hill allotments.

ii) Plan objectives – short, medium, long term – Geoff Shaw will produce and circulate a paper setting out the objectives for comment.

7. Meeting with Leeds CC 14th May

  • Subject to clarification of the “rules” grants of up to £7,000 are available where a need can be demonstrated for specific projects. These are in addition to Front Runner funding.
  • A shared event with neighbouring parishes to be held in Boston Spa Village Hall is being investigated. It is important for the communities to see how the Neighbourhood Plans mesh together.
  • Keith Jackson reported back on a Climate Change seminar he and others attended in Leeds. The seminar included sustainability which provided useful links into the Neighbourhood Plan.

8. Topic Group Updates

Updates were circulated with the agenda for the meeting detailing the ongoing work of the groups. The following additional information was shared.

i) Housing & Development – It was stressed thatdesign and sustainability must be built into the Neighbourhood Plan. This will influence planning and environment decisions in the future, and will have to be considered by Leeds CC in their future planning for the area. There are currently 10 areas within Leeds CC developing Neighbourhood Plans. Leeds and Doncaster are two of the forerunners in developing plans.

ii) Community & Wellbeing – No further update.

iii) Environment & Infrastructure – work continues however, the group is waiting for the analysis of the questionnaires to compare with their anecdotal evidence.

iv) Business & Employment

  • There is ongoing liaison with Boston Spa businesses. Keith Jackson and Mark Yeadon met with Boroughbridge retailers to exchange ideas on promoting ‘shop local’.
  • Work is moving forward to pull together information on existing local employment and to develop ideas to improve and encourage employment opportunities.
  • Work to develop the Welcome Pack for the village continues.

9. Finances

  • No further items of expenditure to report.
  • Expenditure for 2013/2014 will continue to be recorded and monitored by the Parish Council

10. AOB None

Date of next meeting Tuesday 11th June at 7.30pm in the Village Hall. Agenda items to Vivienne Skinner by 3rd June.

Meeting closed at 22.00hrs

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