Minutes of the Meeting of the
EAST GRINSTEAD COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP
held in the Meeting Room, Chequer Mead on 14th September 2004 at 7.30 pm

Present:
Don Cooper - Chairman
Virginia Waddingham - East Grinstead Town Council
Alan Lord as alternate for Lorraine Dell-Louth - Age Concern, East Grinstead
Dale Bulbrook - East Grinstead Chamber of Commerce
Kathy White - Churches Together
Lee Marmara - East Grinstead Town Council
Roger Martell - East Grinstead Chamber of Commerce
Beverly Heasman - East Grinstead Town Council
Edward Belsey - Co-opted

Also present Andrew Bass.

One member of the public, Andrew Brock was present.
No member of the press was present.

1. Apologies:

Apologies were received from: Alexandra Durrant, Carol Kelly, Joan Roberts, Ryan Sallows & Maggie Robson.
Karen Picksly sent apologies subsequently.

2. Minutes of the last Meeting:

The minutes of the meeting of the 13th July 2004 were approved, and signed

3. Matters arising from the minutes not on the agenda

Don Cooper advised that Geraldine Durrant had agreed to become the publicity officer on the same terms as she has with the Town Council. A monthly meeting would take place and her initial pieces in the press had already initiated responses.

4. Chair’s Report

Don Cooper welcomed everyone back and reminded those present about the workshops that were to take place shortly, conducted by staff from AiRS.

He spoke about the progress with Geraldine Durrant on publicity and that he hoped to have more “copy” for the website and for a “leaflet” for distribution in the town shortly.

The expansion of the membership was also mentioned and he commented that he had contacted Pat Strong of Crawley College’s local life-long learning team who was pleased to be asked for her input. DC will be meeting her shortly to discuss the partnership and the contribution she might make.

He had also written to Gary Martin at QVH and would be also writing in a similar vein to Chief Inspector Robin Smith, to seek representatives. Other sectors of the business community were also being approached.

The Chair’s report, having been duly circulated was accepted.

5. Reports from the Working Groups

5.1 Local Environment & Transport (Co-ordinator – Roger Martell)

Roger Martell presented the group’s report of the meeting on 10th August. Following the specific areas mentioned in the Action plan.

He said that there was now some possible interest in developing the Queen’s Road site and recent discussions with MSDC had been on a more positive basis than in the past.

He reported that another traffic survey was under way and he was pleased to report a good link with the County highways department.

Links were being established with other local groups who are interested in East Grinstead’s heritage, to see if there was a role for the Partnership , (such as helping in the search for funding for related projects).

Edward Belsey reported he had attended a transport forum as EGCP’s representative. It was being run by Alex Johns and included large and small bus companies as well as officers from WSCC & MSDC. The movement of population by public transport to hospitals, work and leisure, throughout the week as well as the weekend. It is at an early stage but EB felt that there was a real chance of some success. EB was asked to circulate a copy of his report.

It became clear that there are several local “meetings” all talking about the need for flexible public transport – it was agreed that contact should be made with each of the other groups to avoid duplication of effort. Members were asked to be aware and to obtain details for future contact.

RM then said that a transport forum meeting for 14/9/04 had been cancelled as the particular forum was to be replaced by a “Highways & Transport Forum” sponsored by WSCC. It seemed that it would only have elected members and perhaps would not address the local immediate problems. The forum’s brief was not clear.

The next meeting of the E & T Group is scheduled for 9.30am on 28th September at Roger Martell’s offices.

5.2 Social & Community (Co-ordinator - Carol Kelly)

In Carol Kelly’s absence Virginia Waddingham reported on the group’s recent meeting. She pointed out that they had reassured themselves that what they were proposing was in keeping with the priorities arising from the action plan.

The arrival of Bobby Hamilton, as prospective project manager, was good news and it was agreed that a brief for the “new” community centre would be a first step. VW said they needed a draughtsman to prepare drawings to enable detail discussion to begin. Lee Marmara advised that he might have an appropriate contact that could help.

AGB offered a visit to an existing community centre based around the voluntary sector in Bromley, this would be in addition to the planned visit to AGE concern in Eastbourne.

VW agreed to provide a summary report for the website.

Their next meeting is scheduled for 5th October 2004 at the CVS offices.

5.3 Local Economy (Co-ordinator - Dale Bulbrook)

In a tabled report Dale Bulbrook highlighted the high demand for debt counselling at the CAB. DB felt that members of Chamber of Commerce might well be able to offer their support and skills. They were more concerned that there was a need for education of the pitfalls of debt to be delivered among young people at school and on Connexions programmes. It could also include those involved with the Credit Union project.

The Partnership accepted the report and asked the Working Group to discuss the matter again and to bring the matter to the next meeting.

6. Training Workshops

The chair reported that dates for the two training seminars had been agreed, choosing the dates which most had indicated.

The first one takes place at the Meridian Hall on 21/9/04 from 7 to 9 p.m., the second at Chequer Mead on 11/10/04 at the same time. Di Morgan will present the first session.

7. Finance Report.

A finance report of income and expenditure to date was presented and noted.

RM suggested that the report should show the forecast expenditure up to the end of the financial year (as well as the actual expenditure).The revised format would help to explain the need for the Town Council grant and thus the need in due course to secure funding from other sources.

8. Any other business – Items previously notified to the Chair.

Fairtrade

Kathy White reported she had represented the partnership on the steering group for “Fairtrade” initiative in the town. They intend to hold a promotional event as well as promote some locally produced products. It was an idea that members generally supported although it was agreed that the “Fairtrade” product designation only applied to a relatively small range of products.

Kathy White was thanked for her efforts.

9. Dates of Next Meetings

Working groups:

Local Environment & Transport –28th September 2004

Social & Community – 5th October 2004

10. Date of Next Partnership Steering Committee Meetings

October 12th 2004 at 7.30 p.m.
All meetings at Chequer Mead Community Arts Centre

The meeting concluded at 6.15pm