Present: Christine Perry Colin Roberts Dave Crewes Gemma Hoyle Billy Calton David Perry Michael Perry Dixon Gunn Valerie Gunn Douglas Stephens Jenny Warner Sandra Williams Pat Harvey John Flynn Brian McCarthy Chris Egan Paul Wills Derek Middleditch C Matta T Hackman Anna Sebald Alice Stevens Pat Davenport Graeme Webber Mary Bird David Swindells Glynis Duffield Barry Daniels ST COLUMB MAJOR REGENERATION FORUM Annual General Meeting St. Columb Town Hall - 19 th July 2012 at 7.00 PM 1. Welcome & Apologies: Apologies were received from Linda Heggie and Felicity Penneycard. The Chairman welcomed everyone and requested all present to complete the attendance sheet. They would then be recognised as members of the Regeneration Forum and would receive copies of minutes and other Regeneration Forum information. A copy of the minutes of any open Regeneration Forum meeting will be lodged in the Library. She advised those present of the emergency procedures, location of the W.C. and requested that all mobile phones and electronic equipment be turned off. 2. Election of Chairman: A correctly completed nomination paper had been received nominating the present Vice-Chairman, Colin Roberts for the position of Chairman. He was therefore elected. 1
He agreed to take on this position on the proviso that he could rely on the support of the Officers, Committee members and the Regeneration Forum as a whole. This was not to be a one man band. 3. Minutes of AGM held on 28 th April 2011 in the Town Hall A correction to these Minutes was requested. In the Chairman s report the reference to the Cornish Wrestling Club as follows: It is worth noting that St Columb Major is one of only two venues in the County where this activity takes place. The word venues is to read clubs. Proposed by Colin Roberts, seconded by Jenny Warner and unanimously approved. This correction having been made Billy Calton proposed and Glynis Duffield seconded that the Minutes be accepted as a true record. This motion was unanimously carried by those who had been present at the meeting and the Chairman signed the Minutes. 4. Out-going Chairman s Report: Having been elected Chairman in June 2007 and having, therefore, served just over 5 years, this will be my last report. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those people who have served on the committee during that time but feel I must single out Billy Calton, Jenny Warner and Sandra Williams together with Pat Harvey who are the stalwarts from the original committee. During this period I feel we have made some contribution to St Columb Major. Some of you may remember that, at the last AGM, the final pieces destined for the Tile Project were displayed prior to being mounted. I hope you will have now all noticed that this is completed and will agree with me that it is an asset to the town, particularly for traffic having to pause before entering Fore Street. Thank you, Max, for all the effort you made to overcome the trials and tribulations. One of perhaps the two most significant projects we have undertaken was the Bag Project. You must all be aware of the effort that this entailed and I am pleased to see that the use of these bags is still very evident around the town. I think it is also apparent that there are less plastic bags littering the streets so we can claim a victory there. The other significant project was the Town Map. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and perhaps some of you are aware that we have been forced to replace both the map and the glass this year. Unfortunately the intense sunlight last year (not something we have experienced this year) faded the map almost beyond recognition. We enlisted Dick Twinney s help and he, once again, came up trumps. He has replaced the map using different materials in the hope that this will combat any future deterioration. The glass has also been replaced with a tinted glass and it is now felt to be much improved. The wooden frame was in need of sanding and re-oiling and we are grateful to Billy Calton for carrying out this work. The annual payments for the advertising cards around the map are almost all received and this year, and in future years, the revenue is to come direct to the Regeneration Forum for the benefit of the town. My thanks to Jenny Warner, our Treasurer, for all the work she has done to chase up these sums. One of our unsuccessful projects was the Mortuary Chapels. This was due, in the present economic climate, to it proving very difficult to locate funding. As reported at the last AGM the file relating to all the preparatory work undertaken was passed to 2
the Clerk of the Council. It would now appear that the Town Council are considering the possibility of bringing this project to fruition so time will tell... Although we want to see the Youth Club succeed and expand and will do all we can to support it we feel the duty of care rests with the Trustees. It has, therefore, been agreed by all Committee members that until, we have seen full certification and proof that the building is safe and the safeguarding of children is assured, no further funds will be released. After much discussion we reluctantly decided to shelve our plans for displaying certain road signs in the town in both Cornish and English. The more investigation we made the more problematic it turned out to be. As you are probably by now aware, the Town and Parish Plan has recently been launched at the Columba Centre. That was an extremely successful evening and also gave the town the chance to see what improvements can be made by observing the refurbishment recently completed. Several members of the Regeneration Forum had served on the Steering Group which produced the plan. In the light of that you are probably aware that the Regeneration Forum has, during the last year, only undertaken the minimum stated requirement to fulfil our obligation under our Constitution. There was no point in our considering any further project until the people of the town had had their say. Now this task is complete I am pleased to say that several of the members of the Steering Group have agreed to join what I hope will be a newly revitalised Regeneration Forum to take the completed plan forward. As I stated last year that I would be standing down as Chairman at this time I am really happy to be leaving a Committee that is full of new blood and I wish you, Colin, as Chairman, and every one of the Committee my very best wishes for the work that you will now do in regenerating the town. This is a brief resume of this past year and, if you wish to make any comments or ask questions, there will an opportunity for you at the end of this meeting. 5. Election of Officers: It was reported that correctly completed nomination papers had been received for the posts of Vice Chairman, Treasurer and Secretary. These were Jenny Warner, Vice Chairman Dave Crewes, Treasurer Chris Egan, Secretary As no other nominations had been received and all agreed to serve, these positions were confirmed. 6. Special motion to amend the Constitution as follows: 5.2.2. to increase the number of members of the Management Committee from no more than six in number to no more than nine in number. The Chairman explained that this was a decision made by the previous Committee and related to the wish to take forward the Parish Plan. The meeting was reminded that a three quarter majority was required to carry a motion to amend the Constitution. It was proposed by Colin Roberts and seconded by Dixon Gunn that the motion we accepted. A vote was taken and the motion was carried. 7. Election of Management Committee: It was confirmed that, having amended the Constitution, nine more members were eligible to join the Committee. 3
Correctly completed nomination papers had been received from: Billy Calton Pat Harvey Linda Heggie Anna Sebald Barry Daniels Derek Middleditch Paul Wills Jemma Hoyle David Swindells It was agreed that these members would join the Committee. 8. Financial Report: A Statement of Receipts and Payments together with the report of the Independent Examiner were circulated to all attendees. The Treasurer reported as follows: There has been very little activity for the Forum these last 12 months. We took a back seat while the Steering Group did all the work involving and completing the Parish Plan. Excellent work by all, especially to Colin Roberts, and the launch event. The accounts actually run from 31 st March 2011 to 31 st May 2012 14 months instead of 12 months. We were lucky enough to have the accounts examined by Peter Penneycard BA FCA this time round but in future, as the Regeneration Forum is a voluntary organisation, it is not necessary to have a qualified accountant check the books. A person of note in the community i.e. Philip Tremain or Greg Whitehead at the Post Office will suffice. The Town Map: Originally Christine Perry and I went round all the outlets in St Columb and vicinity to sell adverts to go around the map at 10 per year. As the adverts were compiled and designed by Dick Twinney he had the money last year to cover his time and talent. This year Colin and I have been round to see if the shopkeepers wanted to renew for a further 12 months. Very few have declined and we have, to date, received 360 with one new outlet for fishing tackle and bait and with 6 existing adverts remaining to be renewed, hopefully in the next couple of days. We will have to take the map out and remove 3 adverts and, if in the event of no more than one new outlet we will have to put blanks in place. I need a volunteer please to assist with this task (Billy Calton offered to help). At 10 per advert per year this gives the Regeneration Forum the annual sum of 420 to be paid into the account. This money will go to offset the re-doing of the town map and replacement glass. Despite having a toughened light filtered glass, the position of the map is south facing and there was considerable fading. Dick has redone the map in much stronger colours and the new glass is shaded and resistant to sun rays. Max Beason provided us with a lovely copper plaque to finish the school children s hand prints on the corner of West Street. It looks great. Youth Club. In the past we offered to help with some money for decorating materials. Before any funding is made available we waited for proof that all governance was in place, as yet we have not had a reply. 4
Colin has said that there is some money remaining from the Parish Plan, which we helped to fund so that will go into the Regeneration Account. (At this point the meeting was advised that this would be in the region of 1000). The adoption of the financial report was proposed by Jenny Warner, seconded by Dixon Gunn and agreed by those present. 9. Future of the Regeneration Forum: The Chairman voiced the opinion that there is now a very strong evidence base in the Parish Plan reflecting the aspirations and desires of the people of St Columb Major. It is proposed that the Regeneration Forum formally adopt the Plan and work through to see which items can be delivered on. This is now to be the business plan for the Regeneration Forum. Dixon Gunn questioned a possible conflict of interests between the Constitution of the Regeneration Forum and the Parish Plan. The Chairman agreed to look at this with the Management Committee. Chris Egan suggested that, as the Committee move forward they must consider coopting people with particular expertise. The Chairman voiced the opinion that one level of people with expertise has not put themselves forward and it was hoped that these people could be used to form sub groups not necessarily everyone being brought onto the Committee. It was hoped that authorities such as Cornwall Council, N.H.S., and the Police could be approached for consultation. Pat Harvey, Chairman of Cornwall Council, congratulated the out-going Chairman on her term of office and thanked Colin Roberts for his work with the Steering Group in producing a great Parish Plan. She also proffered her congratulations to the new Management Committee. She used this opportunity to address the meeting about a plan that has been prepared for new parking proposals. She had only just been handed the paperwork but made one or two copies available to members. These plans would now go to consultation. In brief, some of time restrictions are to be extended i.e. the present 30 minute restriction with no return for 2 hours are to be extended to 2 hours waiting with no return within 4 hours. In addition, there are now 6 free places outside the surgery to allow a period of 2 hours parking. The yellow lines are to be removed from opposite the Red Lion giving 2 more parking places together with the removal of some of the yellow lines from outside the Police Station. It was noted that people living and working in the town are parking 24 hours per day. The speed of the traffic along Newquay Road is to be addressed with new priority build-outs giving way to people coming into St Columb. It was acknowledged that this was a can of worms which needed opening. It is apparent that the most pressing issues are parking and traffic and consultation on these proposals remain open until the third week of August. Barry Daniels question how presentations are to be made and was advised that it can be done via email or letter and was assured that everyone s opinions will be taken into account. Valerie Gunn thanked Pat Harvey for this information saying that it was very helpful. She did, however, make the suggestion that rumble strips could prove more effective than build-outs. 5
Billy Calton drew the meeting s attention to the fact that it appeared that these new restrictions are already implemented in Market Square. He also pointed out that, during a period when he was working on the town map, he noted that a total of 33 cars using the Wesley car park failed to pay. Cllr Harvey advised that these will be strictly enforced as we must get people shopping in St Columb and the Parish Plan is the blue-print for the future. A question was asked about the planned Food store. The meeting was advised that there is no information available at this time. Cllr Harvey advised that she could not comment as this proposed development is in her Ward. Christine Perry advised the meeting that, on the instruction of the Committee, she had written a letter of objection regarding the Kingsley Village Development as we have been advised that this is having a detrimental effect on the progress of our proposed development. The Town Council and the Food store developers had also written to object but we have had no response as yet. 9. A.O.B. No notice of matters to be discussed under any other business had been received by the due date last week. 10. Closure of Annual General Meeting There being no further business, the formal meeting closed at 7.50 PM. Signed.. Date. Colin Roberts Chairman 6