TONG AND FULNECK VALLEY ASSOCIATION

Minutes of the meeting of the Trustees held at The Schoolroom, Tong Village on Thursday 24th January 2013 at 8 pm

Present:

The Rev’d Canon Gordon Dey
(in the Chair) / Graham Inskip
Michelle Ward / Andrew Brook
Martin Bennett
Tony Wadsworth
  1. Welcome and Apologies. Canon Dey expressed a welcome to the trustees present. He also explained that Michelle Morgan and her partner Andy had now agreed to be co- opted on to the board but they were unable to attend this evening as they had gone on a last minute holiday.Apologies Daniel Bridgman, Shaun Wright, John Harrison, Michelle Morgan, Andy, John Finnigan
  2. Minutes of Trustees Meeting The minutes of the meeting of the Trustees held on 13 November 2012 were received and noted by those present as being a correct record of that meeting.
  3. Matters arising from Minutes of 13 Nov 2012
  1. Item 5 : (LandscapeAssessment) Andrew Brook has contacted Andrew Good at DEFRA re the levels of pesticides in Tong Valley. The Green Rating shows that there is no pesticide problem. The quality of the agricultural land is good - it is the 2nd grade down from the highest quality of agricultural land. Refer to the DEFRA online website. Furthermore, there are some mushroom species in the valley which are not in evidence elsewhere. Chris Bem, a neck surgeon@BRI is interested in the medicinal properties of mushrooms.
  1. Item 6:1 and 7. ( Black Carr Woods) Martin Bennett has visited the gas works near Black Carr Woods. Murphy's are carrying out the ground works and are fashioning a "road" with grass growing through and are planting in the area. Martin had no concerns re this. Bob Thorpe has been in contact re inspecting the footpaths in the woods. It was agreed that GD and Martin Bennett will meet with him on behalf of TFVA and report back to the next meeting.. It is not clear as to whether the meeting will include David Wilford of the HOPES organization who have also expressed an interest.
  1. Item 6:2. (Photo Competition) Thisistobefollowedup with John Harrison.
  1. Communications : The Website is to be adapted to accept membership applications online. GD to ask Michelle Morgan and Andy to facilitate this. The web application form will also be printable. Graham Inskip will process any postal membership applications. He agreed to his address being included on the website and on the printed leaflets which we need to amend and get re-printed. His address is as follows - 77, Westgate Hill Street, Bradford, BD4 0SL (Martin suggested we look at the format of the York & Dales Green Lanes Alliance form.) Michelle Ward will check online applications weekly, and so will need to contact Michelle Morgan to acquire a password to access the emails sent.
  1. Chairman's report and update on housing proposals
  2. Plan-it Document

This document published by Bradford Council in December was distributed and examined. The document states that 'the earliest date for consideration of the Publication Draft Core Strategy by Elected Members is March 2013. This means that the Proposals would need to be published in Feb. They will first go to the Executive then to the full Council if approved. There will then be a 6 week period of consultation prior to the proposals being considered by the Planning Inspectorate. GD to check with Bradford Council to get an update on their proposed timescale.

  1. PUDSEY Link Road

GD advised that John Finnigan contacted Councillor Richard Lewis at Leeds City Council to get an update on the current state of this proposal. He confirmed that Bradford has put in a bid for a Link road but this is one amongst many. There is no evidence as yet that Leeds Council would back such a proposal, and it would in contrast to the opposition they have expressed to Bradford’s green belt housing proposals at Westgate Hill. We will need to keep up to date with this situation.

  1. T&A Campaign - Brownfield Sites and Empty Houses It has been reported in the T& A that Councillor Val Slater (the Housing Portfolio holder) wants Bradford Council to focus on new housing development on Brownfield sites Council. The Trustees recognised that this was an encouraging sign in response to considerable public demand.
  1. Objections to previous LDF Draft Proposals

These are now available to view at Jacobs Well. Was decided that GD, GI and MW go and look at these.

6. Treasurers Report and Bank Account

John Harrison the treasurer was absent but there was nothing to report.

7. Planning future activities

1. Planning the TVA Response to the Core Document.

Gordon stressed that we do not want to be premature in formulating a response until Bradford Council have published the final draft of their Core Strategy proposals. Our campaign should focus on the Greenbelt status of the land. This differentiates our campaign from those conducted by WARD over in Wharfedale where the issue concerns Greenfield sites.( Interestingly, Martin advised us that WARD had had a meeting with NIck Bowles, the Housing Minister.)

We need to be ready to spring into action with a response once the 6 week consultation period starts, both in the detailed response we made to the proposals, and in the gaining of support from local people and organisations in the community. If large scale green belt release is still being sought we should be clear that only objections made to the final draft will be taken account of. We may also again seek support from regional and national environmental organization such as CPRE.

Tony Wadsworth again urged us to seek technical advice from those with good planning expertise. The person he had previously suggested had not responded to Gordon’s e mail, and so Gordon agreed to make a further attempt to obtain his support. He also suggested that we might gain help from John Denham, the local CPRE representative to help us formulate our response.

We also need to get individuals to object rather then gather a petition. We may also need to organise a series of public meetings in the areas affectd – the follow venues were suggested: East Bierley Cricket Club, Fulneck, Tong Village, Holme Wood, Gateway Community Centre, Tyersal Community Hall. We will eventually need to contact these venues and formulate a letter for the attendees to sign and send in. We also need to update ourselves on the empty housing situation in the City.

2. Publicity

Once the Council’s proposals are published we will probably need to approach the T& A and the various local radio stations, Pulse, Leeds, and local T.V to advertise our campaign which Paul Inskip nay again be able to help with . We may also need a newsletter and an updating of the website, with a suitable poster campaign.

8. Any other business

The issue of membership was discussed. Do we want to charge a membership fee, thus obtaining a stronger core, with a membership that is financially supporting our aims and aspirations. MW to discuss with John Finnigan.

MW is to write a letter to the Holiday Inn expressing our support for them following the armed robbery the previous week.

9. Date of next meeting

Provisional Date - Thursday 28th February 7.45pm – but see note below

Since the meeting Gordon has ascertained that publication of the Draft Core Strategy has now been further deferred to May 2013, so that the June meeting of the Executive Committee is the one that is planned to receive this, followed by a debate and decision to approve by the full Council. It is therefore likely that the statutory six week period of consultation that will follow this will be taking place in July and August 2013.