Meeting documents

As the LAF has only been running since September 2009, this is to confirm that the Chairman will remain in post until May 2011.

Noel Brown was confirmed as Chairman until May 2011.

As the LAF has only been running since September 2009, this is to confirm that the Vice-Chairman will remain in post until May 2011.

Elaine Bamford was confirmed as Vice-Chairman until May 2011.

Apologies for absence were received from Alan Bacon (Chiltern District Council), Chris Brown (Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards Parish Council), John Ford (The Lee Parish Council) and Graham Sussum (Chiltern District Council).

Kerry Stevens (Lead Area Officer, BCC) had also sent apologies for the meeting.

To confirm the notes of the meeting held on 3 March 2010

Response from Mark Averill re: insurance of farmers who assist in severe weather:

This will be covered within the winter review. There is no reason why farmers in the south of the County cannot undertake similar duties to those in the north. If farmers are with the NFU, insurance will not be an issue, provided that farmers are given the necessary consents to undertake the work. A letter will be sent to Parishes requesting info/ feedback.

The notes of the meeting held on 3 March 2010 were agreed as a correct record.

Matters arising

Pages 1-2 - Pot-holes / road maintenance – a member said that the roads in Chartridge were still in a bad condition. Another member thanked Transport for Buckinghamshire for work carried out on the roads in Asheridge.

Chris Schwier told members that work on the roads would continue throughout the year, and that different types of work would take place in different places (e.g. planning and patching, surface dressing).

Page 4 - Insurance for farmers – this was discussed and members were asked to take back the information in the agenda pack to their colleagues.

Page 8 - Dial-a-ride services – the Chairman reported that the cost from Hyde Heath to Chesham was £8 per person. The Chairman said that a local taxi firm had quoted return transport for four people for £16, which was a lot cheaper, although the pick-up point needed to be the same for all the passengers (a licensing issue). Alison Derrick referred to the possibility of a community car scheme which had been successful in other LAF areas.

There will be a 20 minute period for public questions.  Members of the public are encouraged to submit their questions in advance of the meeting to facilitate a full answer on the day of the meeting.  Questions sent in advance will be dealt with first and verbal questions after.  Please contact Helen Wailling on 01296 383614 or hwailling@buckscc.gov.uk to submit your question.

There were no questions.

There were no petitions.

This item had been carried over from previous meetings as no agreement had been reached.

The Chairman said that there had previously been a suggestion of following the ‘Amersham method,’ which was one vote per organisation (with a casting vote for the Chairman).

A representative of Ashley Green Parish Council said that they supported this suggestion.

Jane Bramwell (Chiltern District Council) said that Chesham Town Council did not agree with this voting arrangement.

The Chairman said that if the Forum agreed to the ‘Amersham method,’ he would undertake to take away and review any contentious items, and suggested that this method be trialled for the rest of the municipal year. It was noted that it was unlikely that a vote would ever be needed, but that a procedure for voting was needed.

As there was no agreement on whether to adopt the ‘Amersham method,’ the Chairman suggested that there be an informal show of hands to indicate members’ views to see if there was consensus among those in the room.

Michael Brand (Buckinghamshire County Council) said that a vote on this could not take place and would be unconstitutional, as no voting structure had been agreed. Alison Derrick said that an informal show of hands was allowed constitutionally.

Michael Brand moved that the Committee should move to the next agenda item and leave this item, and this was seconded by Jane Bramwell.

After further discussions the Chairman asked for a show of hands as previously discussed. John Axon (Ashley Green Parish Council) said that he would not express an opinion on this as there were two representatives in attendance from Ashley Green. However other members indicated that there were multiple members from other organisations, so it was agreed that all councillors could participate.

The result was as follows:

·         7 in favour of trialling the ‘Amersham method’ for the remainder of the municipal year / for the next three meetings

·         2 against

·         1 abstension

The Chairman therefore ended the item by saying that the ‘Amersham voting method’ would be trialled until May 2011, when this could be reviewed if a member so wished.  He also agreed to take away and review any contentious items.

The Local Area Forum received the Report of Alison Derrick, Locality Services Co-ordinator. The Report detailed the top priority issues which had been identified at the workshop held on 17 March 2010. Attendees at the workshop had included Parish Councils, Revitalisation Groups, District Councils, Voluntary and Community Sector groups etc.

Alison Derrick told members that the priorities which were agreed by the Forum would form the basis of how the delegated budgets for the Chesham and Chiltern Villages Local Area Forum were spent.

Members made the following points:

·         The information in the report needed to be sifted and consolidated and a further report produced before the Forum could make a decision.

·         The information should be sifted thematically, rather than geographically.

·         The priorities seemed to contain a balance of rural and urban issues/areas.

Interim Place Survey Results

Members discussed the results. A member referred to page 31 and said that the improvement needed in road repairs for the Chesham area was much higher than the County average.

Chris Schwier said that funding on road repairs was very similar for the North and South of the County. The member noted that winter weather was more extreme in the Chesham area.

The Local Area Forum received the Report of Rebecca Carley, Locality Services Manager. The Report described the arrangements for the allocation of the funding devolved to Local Area Forums in 2010/11.

Alison Derrick took members through the Report and noted that further clarification on the Early Years Grant criteria was being sought.

Local Priorities Budget 2010/11

·         The Local Priorities budget for 2010/11 was £20 000 (it had been increased from £8000 in the previous year).

·         Bids for the Local Priorities budget 2010/11 which had been received so far had been attached (from The Lee Parish Council, Chesham Walkers, and the Whelpley Hill Village Hall Committee). Two other bids (from the Faith Café and Rafe’s Place - attached) were handed out, which had been received since the agenda papers were circulated. In addition, a very lengthy bid had been received the previous evening, which had not yet been circulated.

Members discussed these bids. It was noted that there was no scoring system for bids received, and that bids were received in various different ways. As a result, members decided that they would not make any decisions on the Local Priorities budget until a further report was received which addressed these issues. This would be circulated by e-mail to members for their agreement. If agreement on bids could not be reached by e-mail, an additional meeting would be held. It was noted that neither the Locality Services Co-ordinator nor the Democratic Services Officer would have the capacity to service an additional meeting.

Members made the following points:

·         Bids needed to be scored against the priorities (as discussed in Agenda item 8).

·         Members were not able to compare different bids as they had been submitted in an unclear way.

·         The meeting timetable inhibited the process.

·         Members were accountable to their residents and it would not be right to allocate any money on the basis of the bids and information received to date.

Members discussed the bid from Rafe’s Place, and made the following points:

·         This had been run before and had been well-organised and well-controlled.

·         Timing of the bid was not a reason to spend the LAF’s resources and possibly thereby to inhibit other bids.

·         The size of the bid was an issue, and members said that the case for the funding had not been well-enough made.

Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) Budget

Information on a bid to provide diversionary activities in anti-social behaviour hot-spots from CDC Community Team / Nexus Community (attached) was distributed to members. Alison Derrick noted that this bid was time-restricted since the events would start in the summer holidays and advertising needed to start very soon. Therefore a decision was needed from the Forum regarding funding.

Members discussed the bid from CDC Community Team / Nexus Community and made the following points:

·         The bid was slightly unfair to the villages, since it was targeting known anti-social behaviour hot-spots, which were in the Town, although young people from the villages would be welcome to access the activities in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The Forum received the Reports of the Head of Transport.

Chris Schwier, Transport Localities Team Leader, Amersham, referred members to the second report, which requested the Local Area Forum to consider whether it would like to spend some, all or none of the delegated highways budget 2010/11 on road repair work in its area, as an alternative to the schemes in the local programme.

A member said that this suggestion went wholly against the spirit of locality working.

Members then considered the schemes which had been submitted for the Highways Delegated Budget 2010/11 (pages 51-55 of the agenda papers).

The total budget available for 2010/11 was £35 292.25

Chris Schwier told members that some of the scheme costings were not exact, and that if there were any underspends, these would be brought back to the Forum.

A member said that the way in which the schemes had been presented was very helpful.

A member of Ashley Green Parish Council asked why £2000 had been recommended for tree planting in Chesham, when Ashley Green had two areas of road which were dangerous to traffic due to flooding.

Chris Schwier said that one of the areas of road referred to was a maintenance issue, and that delegated funding should not be used for maintenance issues.

The member referred to Hog Lane, and said that this was a very dangerous area where cars stalled and became stuck. The drains on the road needed to be cleared regularly.

Chris Schwier said that clearing of the drains was in the maintenance programme. The member said that clearance of the drains in Hog Lane had not been carried out.

The Chairman asked that the member’s concerns be minuted and said that this was an important issue, although it was also part of the maintenance programme.

The Forum received the Report of the Head of Transport.

Chris Schwier, Transport Localities Team Leader, Amersham, told members that bids for the delegated budget for 2011/12 were needed by the end of July 2010. This was so that the proposals could be evaluated and approved by the Forum during the calendar year. Due to the short deadline, the reports had been sent to members 4-6 weeks previously.

Schemes not agreed in 2010/11 could be carried forward.

The application form for bids was distributed, and a member asked that the form be altered to show the name of the scheme. Action: Chris Schwier to action and re-circulate the forms.

Angela Hart – Age Concern

Judith Vivis – Age Concern

This item was taken out of order due to timing at the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed Angela Hart and Judith Vivis from Age Concern Buckinghamshire to the meeting.

Angela Hart had been asked to attend the meeting to update members on the progress of the Good Neighbourhood Scheme, which had received £4000 in funding from the Forum in 2009/10.

Angela Hart and Judith Vivis updated members on the progress of the Good Neighbourhood Scheme (information attached).

Angela Hart told members that the £4000 had now been spent, and the scheme was currently being funded through a grant from Paradigm Housing. However this grant could only be used for activities in Chesham Town.

Angela Hart said that Age Concern had been very pleased to participate in the Local Priorities workshop on 17 March 2010, and that if Age Concern could help in the delivery of the agreed priorities, the Forum should contact her.

Angela Hart also asked that Age Concern be included in the ‘Building Community Capacity’ scheme.

A member asked if Age Concern volunteers would befriend older people under the Good Neighbourhood Scheme. Angela Hart said that Age Concern acted as a co-ordinator in the Scheme, with the aim being that one co-ordinator would be in place in each area. The Scheme would have to be community-run in the future. A good model scheme was the one being run in Suffolk.

The member said that volunteers would need to be CRB-checked. Angela Hart said that Age Concern could help with that, and would also find the volunteers in the first instance.

The Chairman said that the Chesham Older People’s Action Group (COPAG) would be a good base for the scheme in Chesham. The Chairman also referred to Chiltern Youth Action which aimed to involve young people in community work, and said that the contact for this was Maggie McKerron, Chiltern District Council.

Angela Hart and Judith Vivis asked how they could submit a grant for additional funding from the Forum. Alison Derrick noted that there were already several bids for Local Priorities funding, but suggested that Age Concern put together a bid, including how their scheme would meet the Forum’s agreed priorities.

The Forum received the report of Duncan Laird, Team Leader, Transport Policy, Transport for Buckinghamshire.

Chris Schwier, Local Area Co-Ordinator

The Forum received the Report of the Head of Transport.

Chris Schwier encouraged members to look at the new Service Information Centre on the BCC Website, which showed roadworks, programmes of work, grass-cutting etc.

http://www.transportforbucks.net/Transport-and-roads.aspx

Workshop event to be held on 7 July 2010, 7:45pm, Council Chamber, Chiltern District Council

The Chairman told members that a workshop event was being held on 7 July 2010, 7:45pm, in the Council Chamber, Chiltern District Council.

Jane Bramwell (Chiltern District Council) reported that an inaugural meeting had been held on 14 June 2010, and that an Executive had now been set up. An invitation for volunteers had also been sent out. The Forum would be kept updated on the progress of SnowGo and Chesham Action Volunteers.

The Forum noted the Report.

29 September 2010, 7:30pm, Lowndes Room, Chesham Town Hall, Chesham, HP5 1DS

29 September 2010, 7:30pm, Lowndes Room, Chesham Town Hall, Chesham, HP5 1DS