EYE PARISH PLAN STEERING GROUP

MINUTES OF MEETING OF 15.05.07.


1. PRESENT

Lydia Smith Chairman                             Sue Hooton
Chris Chapman Secretary                        Geoffrey Lane
Sara Muldoon Treasurer                          Shirley Little
Penny McSheehy Publicity                       Thelma Rayment
Kathy Barr                                            Mike Simmons
Joyce Brown
Jenny Gilders

2. APOLOGIES None received

3. MINUTES FROM 26 April 2007

a. Item 8….Kathy Barr and Penny McSheehy’s names are to be added to the working group for Stakeholders. Chris to note.

b. No other matters arising.

4. FEEDBACK FROM SUFFOLK ACRE WORKSHOP

Lydia, Penny and Sara attended the Suffolk ACRE Parish Plan workshop on 28 April 2007, which was designed to help and support Steering Groups to engage with stakeholders when writing Parish Plans.

Examples were given of how to reach communities emphasising 3 principles-
- be honest
- accept there will be limitations
- stay open minded

Guidance was given on how to produce questionnaires: most importantly to keep the number of questions to a maximum of 75 with no more than 5 open for comments. It was recommended that an open meeting be held to which all stakeholders be invited. This would give them an opportunity to identify their most important issues and allow them to feel some ownership of the process and the (eventual) plan.

If time allows Steering Groups should consider using pilot questionnaires (about 20).

Methods of delivering the questionnaire: Steering Groups were advised not to use electronic methods. Free post and the use of collections points should be considered, but the recommended method is hand delivery and collection/door to door. The use of plain brown envelopes appears to give the highest return response.
This method is time consuming……….Long Melford had 100 volunteers to deliver to 1500 households.
Consideration also needs to be given to storage for the questionnaires.

Lydia has copies of the paperwork from this workshop. She will ensure that the working group looking at questionnaires has a copy for their use. Anyone else who would like a copy should contact Chris.

5. STAKEHOLDERS WORKING GROUP

Thelma…..Penny………Kathy………Shirley have been working on the list of stakeholders, in particular ensuring that the organisations on the list have a named person for contact when the time is right.

We agreed that the list may never be absolutely complete, but the SG must ensure that we can demonstrate that we have made every effort to make the list comprehensive.

We agreed that it would be appropriate to approach Alan Cooper and David Thorndyke (both Town Councillors) and Joanne Saunders Town Clerk, to ask them if they would read the list of Stakeholders and suggest any that we may have left off. Thelma and/or Chris to action.

ACTION………..continue to check/update stakeholders list (Thelma/Kathy/Shirley)
………..arrange a date for open sessions for all stakeholders (Sue/Sara)
………..plan the content of the open sessions (Sue/Sara/Lydia/Geoffrey)
………..although we have no date yet, the forthcoming open sessions can be
publicised in the usual way. (Penny)
…………in addition to usual publicity, use a flyer as an insert in the Eye magazine (Penny)


6. QUESTIONNAIRE WORKING GROUP

Geoffrey talked the SG through the tabled paper “HEADS OF QUESTIONS”. He emphasised that although it is a good starting point, it is a basic skeleton only, and will need to be refined for our specific purposes. The SG agreed with this observation.

Chris reminded the SG that the reading pack, which is circulating, has a copy of the full questionnaire, which was used by Occold, and makes useful background information.

Lydia will organise a meeting of the questionnaire working group before the next SG meeting. Group members are Lydia/Sara/Sue/Geoff.

7. FUNDING

Sara informed the SG that we have received (promises of) £5160. We are waiting for responses from Father Andrew and from the County Council.

Joyce will ask Father Andrew re the bid we put in for “Eye Magazine” money.

Lydia will chase the County Council bid.

We are still waiting for the SG bank account to be set up by the Town Clerk. Penny and Chris will see Town Clerk in the next few days to find out what the hold up is.

It was agreed that the 3 designated signatures for the account will be those of the Chairman, the Treasurer and the Secretary. (2 signatures to be used at any one time).

8. ANY OTHER BUSINESS.

Lydia……….Lydia informed the SG that she had given a presentation re Parish Plans at the recent annual town meeting. Whilst this had raised the profile of the work being done, it had not recruited any volunteers to help the SG.

Sue………pointed out that the flow chart produced by Suffolk Acre (in the reading pack) was useful for keeping us on track in the process we are following. The SG agreed that it would be useful if we each had a copy. Lydia will bring hard copies to our next SG meeting.

Penny……..reported that she is keeping the Town Council up to date with the work of the SG. She also suggested that the SG should have a stall at the fete at Lindsey House on 16 June. She will investigate how we should go about this.

Geoffrey……..reminded the SG that there are 3 issues in the town which will/may affect the Parish Plan; they are Hartismere Hospital redevelopment scheme, the recent loss of retail shops in the town, and lastly the Town Hall redevelopment.

Chris…….updated the SG on the Parish Plan pages on the TOWN WEBSITE. The pages now have…..role of the SG…..objectives of a Parish Plan……contact details for the Chairman and the Secretary….all past agendas……….all past minutes of SG meetings. Chris will ensure that advertising of future events (e.g. open day) is added to the website when appropriate.

9. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the SG will be on Thursday 14 June at 7pm. In the Council Chamber of the Town Hall.

Chris Chapman
Secretary to the Steering Group


REMINDER OF ACTION POINTS FROM THIS MEETING

Lydia………..Copy the Suffolk ACRE workshop papers to members of the questionnaire group.
Bring copies of the flow chart to the meeting on 14 June for the SG.
Organise a diary date for members of the questionnaire group.
Chase County Council for funding,

Chris,,,,,,,,,ask named members of the Town Council to check our stakeholders list
Chase the setting up of the bank account.
Update the Parish Plan pages of the town website.
Type and distribute minutes of this meeting

Joyce………….ask Father Andrew if our request for funding from Eye Magazine has been successful.

Penny…………investigate a stall for the fete on 16 June
Publicise open day (as soon as we give a date) in Eye magazine.
Organise a flyer (for open day) to go loose into the magazine.

Sue …………..liaise with Town Clerk for date for open day……inform Lydia and
Chris.

Questionnaire group…….have first meeting to discuss and draft the format of open day. Bring the draft to the next SG meeting on 14 June.

Stakeholder Group…..continue to update the list of stakeholders and put detail into the named contact for organisations and businesses. 

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