STF Coordination Group Meeting
Wednesday 21st September 2016
Edgar Hall, Somerton
Notes of meeting
Item / Notes / Action1. Attendance / 1.1 Present:
Matt Day (MD) - STF independent consultant
Roger Powell (RP) - Martock Parish Council
Fiona Hook (FH) - Martock Parish Council
Charles Wood (CW) - Vision for Frome
1.2 Apologies:
John Richards, Watchet Association of Commerce, Environment and Trade, Amanda Broom, Chard TC, Mel Usher, Frome Town Council
2. Meeting Chair / 2.1. MD agreed to Chair and take notes.
3. Notes and actions from the last meeting on 11thMay 2016 / 3.1 Notes agreed as accurate. All actions to be covered later in meeting.
4. Conference report and outcomes / 4.1 The Bridging the Gap Conference in June was attended by 74 delegates, we had good feedback and many conversations were started around preventative work by local communities which have continued since.
4.2 One of these has resulted in STF co-hosting the Health & Wellbeing Board’s Annual Conference on Oct 18th in Bridgwater. STF will provide a display highlighting two member projects (Martock’s Our Place & Frome’s Active & In Touch), with Martock also presenting. STF has also helped the production of some case studies by Public Health.
5. Finance update & new Treasurer / 5.1. All invoices have been paid. Only outstanding membership subscriptions are from Ilminster Forum and Frome Town Council. With 12 members we have £600 income pa.
5.2. We spent all but £23 of the A4A grant for the Improving Communications project which ran until 18th August. There is £1584 STF free funds.
5.3. As Roger is standing down from Martock Parish Council at the end of September, we need a new treasurer. John Richards kindly offered to do this, and the bank account information was passed to John.
6. Future of Forum / 6.1. Justin Robinson from SALC gave his apologies, but reported that the idea of a new meeting of Town/larger Council representatives (2-3 meetings/year) had received support at their AGM and would be raised at their Area meetings in Nov & Dec. MD to help enable this if needed.
6.2. MD reported the difficulties he’d had in arranging the next event, after Somerton Town Council dropped out. Thankfully Chard Town Council have agreed to host an event on Nov 23rd, which MD is organising (and being paid for).
6.3. This highlighted the fact that our previous hosting arrangement, where member organisations were meant to arrange one event and chair the Coordination meeting, is not working. There was a wider discussion about the lack of engagement in the Forum, even among member organisations, and the reasons for this. Is STF still adding value?
6.4. At our next coordination meetingwe will discuss the closure of STF,and if the bulletins and website archive can be continued. CW asked if the Community Council for Somerset might have a view on taking on STF type activities, as is SALC with the town councils. MD to find out.
Members will be asked before then for any offers of hosting eventsin 2017. / MD
MD
MD
7. Next event / 7.1. Chard Town Council are hosting this on Nov 23rd, which will look at 4 projects in the town. Could all members please book ASAP. / ALL
8. AOB / 8.1. MD & CW thanked Roger for all his work with STF over the years.
9. Date of Next Meeting / 9.1. January 11th2017 at 3pm. Meeting Room, Edgar Hall, Somerton.