Thursday 12^th July 2007 -- at PSJ, Beacon Hall, small Lounge Meeting Room

R.W.G.Butt, Chair (RWGB)

Kathy Thomas Vice-Chair+"Environment, OpenSpaces, Footpaths, Flora&Fauna" (KMT)

P.R.Provest, Secretary + "Transport" (PRP)

Ross Thompson Overall handling of Public Consultation Questionnaires and data (RRT)

Jacqui Ward Community Action, Parish Plans Officer (J_W)

Alan Shamp DUNKERTON Parish Plan project and Parish Clerk (AJS)

Josephine Stockley general advisor (J_S)

Bridie Marshall "Youth, etc" (BFM)

Michael Gregory "Sport", etc also "P.A.C.T." (formerly C.S.A.G) (MJG)

Ruth Grant advisor on health / social aspects (R_G)

Derek Kennedy advisor on available public meeting facilities (DJTK)

Dave Dixon B&NES Local Partnership Co-ordinator (D_D)

Nathan Hartley "Faith" and B&NES Councillor (NLRH)

J.C.L.Lyddieth a resident (JCLL)

Jo Whittock Secretary, CAMERTON Parish Plan Steering Group ( see Minute.7 )

Bob Butt again welcomed Jacqui Ward of ‘Community Action’

He said it was disappointing that attendance tonight was a mere six persons, of whom only four were directly involved PSJ residents, the other two were external to our village yet they kindly attended to help us.

He would have expected at least three more PSJ Parish Councillors to be present, as they clearly had specific major interests to be fulfilled in the outcome of a successful Parish Plan. Once again, where personal attendance on a particular night was not possible, it would aid progress if absentees submitted reports that could be tabled on their behalf on relevant Topics.

Minutes were signed by RWGB as a true record.

( Specific comments placed under relevant Minutes )

None on this occasion.

Jacqui Ward said following the last meeting ( Minute.6 of 14 June 2007 ) she had liaised with Ross Thompson regarding necessary details for the submission on behalf of PSJ’s Parish Plan.

This had now been input into Quartet Foundation and there was every indication that Approval would shortly be forthcoming.

 7. PUBLIC CONSULTATION EXERCISE

Ross Thompson reported on the e-mail he had sent everyone following his discussions with Kathy Thomas. Participation in the PSJ FunDay event had been thwarted by the few usual willing volunteers having been on Holiday this year on relevant date, and the generally shorter notice before the date of the event compared with its staging later in the year, in 2006.

Considerable discussion ensued on the staging of a separate ‘grand’ consultation Event for Parish Plan, with a subsidiary issue as to the best timing in future programme in relation to the distribution of the main Questionnaire, and the results from other aspects of Consultation.

The key point was how much should be "presented", or how much "consulted" at the event ?.

There was total agreement an ‘Event’ should be held, and to be generally modelled on the hugely successful features of the 2006 event staged by Camerton.

In this regard Secretary PRP had communicated with Jo Whittock, Secretary of Camerton Parish Plan, and although she was unable to attend tonight, had set out some helpful pointers in an e-mail which had been sent to all our Group with the Agenda. Her main points were :

---strong willing team and many hours pre-planning needed to make the event successful

---lots of "visual" items at the event

---lots of Parish Plan people present to answer queries

---huge ( table-based ) map for people to identify and place comments

---interactive liaison with visitors; don’t just lecture them or keep asking them questions

---Jacqui Ward to give PowerPoint presentations from her viewpoint ( we now have her here ! )

---add stands from EVERY organisation in the village, not just core Parish Plan representatives

---history, comparing past and present, is always interesting to visitors

---carefully pick venue for the event so that it is entirely relevant

---carefully pick date for event ( e.g. avoid August )

---arrange widespread publicity : Press, fliers into houses, signs around village

After much more discussion of the options for timing and sequence of the Consultation and Questionnaire elements in relation to the staging of the Event, the following broad compromise was agreed :

---fix the Event for Saturday 29^th September 2007. primarily to be at Beacon Hall.

Public opening hours to be 10.00h to 16.00h, with span outside this for set-up and putting-away.

Secretary PRP was asked to book this with Derek Kennedy assuming Beacon Hall was available that day. PRP enquired what date(s) acceptable as fall-back, if B.H. not available ?.

RWGB ruled that to avoid yet further slippage on the overall timescale we should now hold firm to Saturday 29^th September as a fixed date. If Beacon Hall was not available we should use an alternative venue rather than change date. At worst it would be possible to obtain a marquee and operate within it.

It was agreed a pilot version of the Questionnaire should be trialled on a few people prior to the Event, with the results available for display and comment -at- the Event.

The trial Questionnaire could possibly be ‘angled’ so as to generate offers of help for the main part of the consultation exercise. If twenty people could be encouraged to assist it would go a long way to solving the problems of distribution and subsequent data collection around the village. Ross Thompson confirmed his previous agreement to remain responsible for all "Questionnaire" aspects, but to maintain an even and manageable personal workload he would not be able or expect to have a direct input into the Event organisation arrangements.

Kathy Thomas felt the most practical way of achieving the Questionnaire distribution and subsequent retrieval of Data would be to aim to recruit one representative in each street.

Jacqui Ward said all this thinking was on the right lines to fulfil the consultation requirements and meant that people at the Event should be encouraged to bring out Topic aspects that needed to be explored further, and then these should be incorporated into the main Questionnaire ---which should then go out -immediately- after the Event.

RWGB said although we had not been able to staff a stall at PSJ FunDay, during his presence there he had specifically used the opportunity to check with attendees their knowledge of our

PSJ Parish Plan. It had been surprising how many people reacted they had -never- heard of it.

This was an eye-opener in view of publicity around our earlier three low-key events, and there had been a feature on Parish Plan in every issue of Newsletter over the past year.

To assist detail planning Jacqui Ward tabled pro-forma sheets she had assembled from matters raised at our recent meetings. She herself was willing to be involved in Event preparations, and had ‘general’ materials to contribute, though PSJ-specific materials we need to do ourselves.

Jacqui Ward said there should be a dedicated Publicity Officer as a key post. She went through the sheets she had prepared and the following key tasks were discussed and allocated.

---Basic venue bookings, etc : PRP

---Publicity, posters, fliers, Press liaison, Newspaper Diaries, P.C. internet website, local magazines, specifically editorial coverage and photos in Somerset Guardian and Journal

in the absence of an appointed Publicity Officer : RWGB

---History, "PSJ Past & Present". etc Dick Graham, to be approached via RWGB

---Schoolchildren’s competition Head Teacher approached via RWGB as Colin Rich not here

---Flower Pots (grow Ideas), Happy Hedge. Weeping Wall, Suggestion Boxes Jacqui Ward

This left a number of other triggered items not yet covered by the initial allocation of duties, and work would need to be done beyond tonight’s meeting to ensure the following were catered for :

---Invitations to potential Stallholders (PRP to check with Chris Hartley re list for P.C. Annual)

Many examples had already been listed and contacted and needed to be kept followed up.

These included :

Beacon Hall Users such as Lunch Club, Aerobics, Tots, Health Promotion, Weight Watchers,
Pilates, Senior Exercisers, also :
Cubs, Scouts, Brownies, Guides, Rainbows, Summer Play Scheme, Zebedees,

W.I ( Radstock ? ), POP, Meet Neighbours, Post-Natal, FAST, Books ( Celia M.Jones ),

Housing and Residents Associations ( Redlands, Sunnyside, etc, etc )

Churches : Methodist (Bath Rd), Methodist (Carlingcott), Anglican, Catholic, Christadelphian

Carlingcott Friends, Carlingcott Social, Carlingcott Pilates, Carlingcott Gardening,

‘External’ bodies such as :

Community Action ( Jacqui !! ), Police, PCSOs, the new PACT, Crime-Safety-Drugs,

Age Concern, Children (Jim Davis), Groundwork(?), C.A.B., Sustainable Energy, Forest of Avon

SWAN, and no doubt other ‘general’ bodies with potential links to PSJ.

B&NES: various departments possibly interested, also Councillors Sarah Bevan Nathan Hartley.

---Invitations to interested ( influential ? ) parties.

---Badges for Parish Plan team

---Practical Event administration ( tables, chairs, logistics, clearing up )

---Recording attendances, listing and contact with volunteers, Event activity co-ordination

---Catering

Discussion ensued on this. Alternatives were to provide tea/coffee/biscuits on a gratuitous basis as a ‘thank you’ to persons for attending, ( this was Camerton’s approach ) OR make a per item charge for refreshments, AND/OR "sub-contract" refreshments to other bodies such as Church Groups who could operate a rota and levy charges. If the latter they could be encouraged to move the refreshments from "biscuits" to "cakes" standards.

---Sport

Again there was a lot of discussion on this. It was disappointing that so far none of the sporting bodies within the village had come forward to engage in the Parish Plan. Potentially there could be a lot in it for them. Surely the Football Clubs must have aspirations for better infrastructure on the Recreation Field and one would have thought they would have been lobbying hard to ensure such facilities were prominent in any eventual Action Plan.

In terms of the Event being discussed invitations could be given to some of the ‘indoor’

( Beacon Hall, etc ) activities to stage demonstrations as long as there remained enough spare floor space not to interfere with the table displays around the perimeter. Possible examples included the TaeKwonDo groups and AllGirlzCheerleaders.

---Youth.

Bob Butt felt strongly a key action should be for a video to be made of PSJ and shown at the Event. Other members ‘talked him out’ of this idea in terms of showing at the Event as the timescale was woefully inadequate to properly script and prepare for such a video, actually shoot the scenes and carry out subsequent editing. Nonetheless Jacqui Ward confirmed that so far as she was aware no other Parish Plan group had considered this, and a view of the village from the Youth viewpoint was potentially very interesting.

This lead to consideration that although they had not communicated directly for some time, "nesa" were still linked to our Group and regularly received all Minutes and communications.

"nesa" had strong links with the PSJ Youth Centre, and it might be a good idea for them to consider doing this with the Youth, for public exhibition at a later date than the current Event.

"nesa" might also be best way to action the Youth to produce the large scale ‘map’ suggested.

It was also known a play was being considered by Annie to involve PSJ old folks, and enquiry could be made as to whether this would be ready or suitable for such a public performance.

Jacqui Ward offered to put RWGB in contact with "Winchester Printers" who could do a good job on the various items of required publicity materials.

Discussion ensued on the dramatic effect of having --cross-- street banners in the Bath Road.

These would presumably need some form of B&NES Highways permission and would need to be high enough to deter vandalism and allow passage of double-deck buses, removal vans and Co-Op delivery vehicles, etc.

Members had not reviewed any more already-published Plans since last meeting.

Jacqui Ward said she was able to offer places on a Parish Plan Training Seminar due to be held at Long Ashton on Friday 20^th July.

This would cover directly relevant topics such as Consultation Methods, including the specific aspect of Consulting Young People, the Questionnaire, Internet Website involvment, and the specific experiences of Congresbury Parish.

Bob Butt and Peter Provest were able to go, of those present, and would attend and report back

Chairman Bob Butt said we already had future Steering Group meetings diarised for

These three were clearly insufficient to cater for the arrangements for the now proposed Event,

and he directed there should be intermediate ones on :

9^th August 2007 and 27^th September 2007.

----these two dates could not be immediately confirmed as Derek Kennedy was currently away on Holiday. Members were asked to provisionally note the extra dates and they would be confirmed by PRP after he was able to contact Derek Kennedy on Monday.