Meetings Minutes: 26 July 2007

Minutes of Grantham Future Board Meeting 24 May 2007

Present

1. Welcome and apologies

Cllr Nick Craft, newly appointed SKDC Councillor representative, was unable to attend at short notice, following the Full Council meeting on May 17th, the first one after the recent local government elections.

All were welcomed to the meeting, and informed that sadly, Cllr Mary Wheat had passed away. Jackie Smith had sent a message of condolence to Graham Wheat.

As some new attendees present, round the table introductions were carried out.

2. Minutes of last meeting

These were agreed as a true record, and a copy signed by the chairman, for filing by Duncan Andrew.

3. Matters Arising

There were no matters arising

4. New town centre manager

This was the first meeting held since the new Town Centre Manager, Lia Ibbotson, had been appointed. Lia introduced herself to the Group, and commented that she was in the process of meeting everyone and getting to grips with the job.

5. SKDC Representation

As a result of the recent local government elections, and the vacancy which had existed on GF Board, SKDC representation on Grantham Future had been re-evaluated at the first Full Council meeting after the election.

Representatives chosen were Cllr Alan Parkin and Cllr Nick Craft for the Board and Cllr Mike Taylor for the Projects Group. It had also been noted at the Council meeting that a Charter Trustee would be nominated.

These arrangements conflict somewhat with the Terms of Reference for Grantham Future, which allow for one SKDC Councillor and one Charter Trustee on the Board and one SKDC Cllr on the Projects Group. In addition the mandate of the Charter Trustees to make or be party to decisions about the town centre had been challenged.

Board members were therefore asked whether they wanted to change the Terms of reference to include 2 District Councillors but with no Charter Trustee.

Following discussion the board decided that the terms of reference should stand and that as Cllr Parkin was also a Charter Trustee, there was no need for any more members to be elected/nominated. The membership from SKDC is therefore Cllr Alan Parkin as Charter Trustee, Cllr Nick Craft as SKDC on the Board and Cllr Mike Taylor on the Projects Group.

6. Masterplan Update

6.1. Nick Vass explained that the Masterplan had not originally included reference to the Grantham Growth Point status as this had not been given at that time, and had not included costings.

Costings had been done now, and a development brief had been prepared ready for the next stage which would be public consultation once the SKDC Portfolio Holder had agreed to this. Copes of the development paper were distributed to GF members. The four key areas were still Station Approach, Greyfriars, Wharf Place and Greenwoods Row. Basic foundation work was currently being carried out by Eco Dev officers.

The Growth Point status was being considered in conjunction with the Canal Basin Study with Lincs Development, and the Grantham Transport Study was due for completion this summer. The questionnaires distributed at the public event on the Transport Study had had a good response – 1744 responses had been received. The three highest scoring short term solutions were the Bypass, Pennine Way and the Relief road, and the three highest scoring long term solutions were Bus Services, improvements to town centre parking and pedestrianisation. The next stage was traffic modelling. Conflicts with the Master plan were a) the bus station, as LCC were reluctant to remove in its entirety; b) Station Point and its Access road.

The High Street shuttle system was not now going forward, as there had been a lot of public opinion against it.

6.2. Pedestrianisation of the Market Area. Board members felt that this should be covered in the public consultation. Neil Cuttell informed the Board that it has been decided to amalgamate this area with Greyfriars development. Emda had agreed to accept a higher application on this basis. An update would be given to GF regularly.

6.3. Station Point plan had been redrawn as the Railway cottages were listed; this was however only a conceptual drawing. Paul Wheatley of Lincs Development had indicated interest in managed office space at this location after the Masterplan was adopted.

6.4. Public Consultation. The problems associated with consultation overload were briefly discussed, and it was noted that consultation with the public had not actually been significant, and that it was important to do the consultation properly. The County Council are now much more engaged and both GF Board members and the SKDC Portfolio Holder would be updated at every opportunity.

The actual consultation would take place in suitable locations around the town centre and also on the SKDC website. Details would be circulated asap. Regeneration and Renewal magazine had also express an interest in running a free article on this – the Board agreed to this.

6.5. The Grantham Bypass was mentioned as being a key part of any plans to develop Grantham . Neil Cuttell reported that initial discussions were underway with local landowners and the Growth point studies are picking up how plans could be brought forward. It was suggested that Mark Harrison of SKDC planning Policy may be able to give an update on this.
Action: Mark Harrison to be approached for future meeting.

7. Funded Projects Update

7.1. Somerby Roundabout. A resident of Old Somerby had offered to pay for the costs of improving the Roundabout at Somerby Hill, which just left the maintenance costs of £1300 per annum to find. A draft contract and decisions from Section 151 (Finance) officer and Monitoring Officer were now awaited before approaching the portfolio holder, Cllr John Smith to approve DC funding for this.

Grantham Future board members were invited to sponsor this but declined.

7.2. Grantham on Water. This event was taking place the coming weekend (end May). There had been publicity in local papers, and banners and the SKDC website. It was not known why the Grantham Future logo had not been put on their flyers as expected because of GF sponsorship of the event.

7.3 St Peters Hill Green Project. The start of this project was imminent as confirmed by Anthony Hardy. Sleepers were not now to be used around the copper beech tree, but rocks would be placed between the roots which protrude, to make an ornamental rockery type planted bed. Duncan Andrew commented that perhaps rocks were not so good an option as the original idea of a planted bed. Nick to pass comments back to Anthony.
Action: Nick Vass

7.4 Grantham Future Website. Lia Ibbotson had investigated costs for setting up and maintaining a website for GF to raise awareness of the group and to increase marketing. Approximate costs were £2.59 for the domain name registration, up to £1000 for setting up and £500 per annum to maintain. When established it would be possible to count hits and to hopefully to recoup costs through hyperlinks to local businesses. Details of the Masterplan and links to SKDC and the Business Club could also be included

Board members agreed that this would be a useful tool to invest in and agreed £1500 setup costs and £500 a year maintenance.

8. SKDC Funding Allocation For 07/08

The allocated funding from SKDC this year amounted to £30k revenue pot available. This was the highest of all SK TCMPs and does not include the TCM costs. These are paid currently from Lincs Enterprise funding of which there were 8 months worth left. There were also small budgets for other items (town centre management revenue), and additionally, SKDC had allocated a significant amount to Town Centre regeneration projects across the District. It was hoped that this funding could pump prime other funding.

9. Heritage Vales Of Lincolnshire Brochure

Barbara Copley of SKDC was in attendance to request a contribution from GF of £1250 towards the production of the brochure. Twice as many copies (70k) were to be produced this year to be distributed over a much wider area of the country and to include an extra 12 pages for local businesses to advertise ie where to shop, visit and eat. Board members agreed unanimously to approve this contribution.

It was suggested that the GF logo be included. The deadline for updates etc is 29 June 07, and Barbara requested that if any local businesses were interested in advertising they should contact her direct.

10. Fellowes Café Timeline

An Awards for All draft application had been done with the agreement of GF to act as accountable body, as at the last meeting. Other funding sources had been identified, but it would assist the application if GF contributed a nominal amount. The project was £15k in total and £10k was being requested from Awards for All. A contribution of £500 was therefore requested from GF.

The timeline was to be painted on the wall of the café not the listed wall opposite, with students carrying out the painting. New paving and awnings were also planned. Board members were not in agreement on funding, so this was refused but were still happy to be the applicant body, as there was no financial responsibility in this.

11. Invoices To Be Paid

The Chairman informed the board that invoices outstanding were

1. Wyndham Park Forum for Easter Eggs
2. Duncan and Toplis for services re setting up of the company £246.75
3. Grantham on Water £1000

The Chairman also asked SKDC officers present if an invoice could be sent to SKDC for the funding allocated for this year. The answer was yes, an invoice could be sent. The decision to pay, however would be subject to Portfolio holder’s (Cllr Frances Cartwright) permission.

The Chairman requested that payments should go out from GF not from SKDC in the interests of clarity.

Duncan Andrew asked if there were projects which the District Council wanted GF to consider helping with. Neil Cuttell replied that the DC was keen not to dictate what GF was involved with, and had asked the TCMs to put projects forward. Working together to access funding was an important.

12. Any Other Business

Dates for Future meetings. GF board members agreed to set meetings in advance, at 2 monthly intervals.

Two dates agreed at this meeting were Thursday 26 July and Thursday 27 September, 8 am at Springfield House.

Other dates to be approved, but are nominally Thursday November 29 2007 and Thursday 31 January 2008