Friday, 28 June 2013
Friday, 21 June 2013
HS2 Convention 29th June
An HS2 Convention will take place at the Staffordshire Show Ground (25 mins
from the Stafford Exit on the M6) on 29th June, starting at 10.30am, at a cost of £10.
There
will be a series of workshops and speakers, including Bill Cash the
Conservative MP. The aim is to make contact with the new action groups
on the Y. Refreshments and a bar will be available.
Burton Green will be well represented at the convention. Paul, Deirdre, Jerry
(probably) and Archie will be involved in some of the activities while
Deirdre and Diane will run a stall in the display arena.
If anyone is able go along
please do. You can obtain tickets from Archie Taylor. Certainly new action groups
can perhaps learn from our experiences and your presence would be
greatly appreciated.
Most of us want to return in time for 'a Comedy of Errors'. That is
no problem as we can leave early. If you are interested phone Archie Taylor 02476
463844 and arrangements can be made.
Monday, 10 June 2013
Bugle - June 2013
The June 2013 edition of the Bugle has been published.
Just below are thumbnails of the page images. To enlarge any page image, click on the thumbnail below. Once you have the individual page, you may also need to click on the magnifying glass in your browser, where you can view the page at its original size...
The archive of back issues of the Bugle is here: Bugle Archive.
Just below are thumbnails of the page images. To enlarge any page image, click on the thumbnail below. Once you have the individual page, you may also need to click on the magnifying glass in your browser, where you can view the page at its original size...
 |  |  |  |
The archive of back issues of the Bugle is here: Bugle Archive.
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Minutes of Residents’ Association Committee Meeting May 21st 2013
Present:
Rona Taylor; Judi Hibberd; Janet Hickinbottom; Andrew Gibbs; John Nisbet; Bron Putnam; and Mary Webb.
In attendance: Kathryn Stewart.
Rona welcomed everyone.
1. Apologies
Apologies had been received from Faith Ward. Chris Langton had intended to attend but was unable to do so: he had sent a report.
Minutes of the last meeting and Matters Arising:
The minutes of the last meeting of March 5th 2013 were accepted.
Matters Arising
The “break the glass” case for the defibrillator keys was still to be purchased.
Mary reported that the Village Hall committee was reluctant to spend money on refurbishments until the future of the hall was moiré certain.
All other matters arising were covered by the agenda.
2. Update on and discussion of Residents’ Association initiatives and issues
Retired of Burton Green lunch April 16th
This had been a very successful event and people were very appreciative of the food and company. The next lunch would be held on September 27th (Harvest lunch.)
Special thanks were extended to Mary and many others who helped.
The treasurer offered a word of caution: the first lunch had provided a surplus of £89 but the second had made a loss of £94. This overspend was because of having to buy in more food and certain labour costs. It was agreed there was a need to be vigilant with regard to costs and that a price increase to £7 per head (from £6 currently) would be introduced in September. Wine consumption would also need to be moderated and additional glasses “purchased” by donation.
Action: Mary and Rona
Speed Watch
This had started well. Seven sessions had operated last month and two in Kenilworth. There had been one unpleasant incident dealt with swiftly by the police. Terry had recently been in hospital and this had resulted in a pause in the development of the scheme. Now it was hoped to finalise the scheduling and the rota system.
Action: Terry
Burton Green Residents' Association Website
A series of further questions had been posed at the last meeting and Janet had obtained answers as follows:
Q. Would a training session for those uploading information be included in the estimated price?
A. Yes, there would be no additional charge for one training session.
Q. What is the recommendation regarding advertising on the site?
A. Google ads could be used but it would be unlikely there would be much revenue because of the limited audience.
Q. Would there be a charge for design?
A. The graphic design of the template would be included in the fee.
Q. Would it be possible to design a logo and at what cost?
Logo design could be done at an additional cost of £200 but it might be a good idea to open it up to residents in the form of a competition, thereby creating greater awareness and ownership by the village.
Rona had spoken to John Webb about how the proposed site would be complementary to his site.
Cromwell Lane gate
The gate onto the Greenway by the bridge on Cromwell Lane had disappeared and caused some consternation. Apparently, the Greenway group had known in advance it was to be removed by the County Council. It was still not clear what the reason was for its removal. Concerns had been expressed about health and safety as a result of which it was to be reinstated temporarily. However, there were mixed feelings expressed about whether or not the gate was useful.
BG Footpaths
Chris Langton was unable to attend but had submitted the following report:
Regarding the Footpaths agenda item I am doing an article for the upcoming Bugle that Mary knows about – the tenet of the article will be to encourage walkers to explore beyond the Greenway as we have such a wonderful network of well maintained and relatively easy walks.
The Kenilworth Footpath Preservation Group have agreed to the free reproduction of the Burton Green walk from their Kenilworth and Beyond publication subject to us putting details of their organisation into the article – the Burton Green walk will be a single A4 sheet insert to the Bugle and Mary is looking at getting sponsorship for the back of it.
I have returned to the ‘hot spots’ identified in my Dec/Jan report on the condition of the footpaths – in most cases they have improved and dried out.
* As you know the path between Red Lane and the Greenway past the Hales has been transformed by the KFPG and WCC with John Whitehouse’s help.
* Access to the Greenway from Hodgetts Lane by the Electricity substation – it is muddied and chewed up by horse traffic
* Access to the Greenway from further down Hodgetts Lane – there is a fallen tree across the footpath
These two need the intervention of Solihull Council and I will be in touch with their footpaths officer soon
The other is
* Access to the path from Cromwell Lane around the former Gas Board football field – the narrow access path is muddy in parts and overgrown though accessible and further round the back of the field (where a couple of horses are kept) there is a 7 metre section of path that is still muddy – it runs parallel to a stream – and obviously gets flooded in the winter.
I doubt if we will get volunteers to undertake the work on this last path and it probably needs hard core as well. I will include my e-mail contact details in the article and readers can forward any other concerns to me that can be collated into an action plan – unless you have another volunteer to take this on.
2014 Pancake Race
A suggestion was made about involving the school in a pancake race in 2014. There was some discussion about the reasons and logistics and it was agreed to look into the idea in greater detail.
Action: Mary
The suggestion of arranging a visit to HRH Prince Charles’s garden in July 2104 was met with approval. A maximum of 26 people could attend. Mary agreed to pursue this.
Action: Mary
BG calendar 2014
A discussion was held about the production of a calendar of event dates to be issued with the Bugle at the start of a year. It was generally agreed this was not cost effective and would be difficult to collate to cover much of the year in advance.
3. Parish Plan Update
Kathryn reported that the distribution and collection of the parish plan surveys seemed to have gone extremely well. Mary was now gathering the forms and there would be a “mop up” exercise to see if others could be added.
The next step would be to provide the completed questionnaires to Warwickshire Rural Communities Council who would collate them. Money had been provided for this exercise by Warwick District Council. Once results were collated, an action plan would be drawn up. It was hoped the housing survey simultaneously issued by Warwickshire District Council could also feed into future plans. Reporting back would take place at the AGM in October.
Action: Kathryn and team
Thanks were expressed to all who had delivered and collected forms: this had been a huge team effort.
4. Oddsocks performance of Comedy of Errors, June 29th
Insurance of £124 for the performance had already been paid. Lesley Tacon had suggested combining all insurance needs for all year (at an additional cost of £60 for BGRA). This was agreed.
Action: Terry
Everyone was urged to keep selling tickets. Mary was confident sales would reach the target. Through Hilary Cox, a company called CJs was willing to manage the car parking for £50 plus some signage. This was agreed.
Action: Hilary and Terry
Volunteers would still be required to assist on site. The police and the council were aware and fully in agreement with the event.
The event would be evaluated at the next meeting.
Thanks were extended to Terry for agreeing to host event.
5. Village Hall
Kathryn reported that the next event was on July 6th which would be a BBQ with jazz band.
Marlene has contacted the Village Hall committee to express some residents’ concerns about parking in Hodgett’s Lane which sometimes caused problems to residents. This issue about parking had also been raised at the police clinic.
Kathryn agreed that a reminder about considerate parking would be issued to hall users.
Action: Kathryn
Because of the increasing popularity of the Greenway, concerns were also expressed regarding parking near the bridge on Cromwell Lane and the added difficulties regarding the junction with Hodgett’s Lane and the give way section over the bridge. Rona agreed to write to Cllr. Whitehouse about this.
Action: Rona
6. HS2
Andy said a flyer would shortly be issued advertising the environmental statement June 10th Roadshow. Reference was also made to the National Audit Office report which had recently been issued which said that HS2 was not offering a good business case or value for money. Andy said HS2 was till not a “done deal” and there was still a lot to fight for. The Draft Environmental Statement Community Forum area report 18 plus maps were available at the meeting.
Cllr Taylor added that a convention was to be held in Staffordshire. A group called Class Action was also looking into human rights and how many people were suffering from blight etc caused by the proposed HS2 railway.
It was agreed a formal response to the environmental statement should be made by the committee.
Action: Rona?
7. Parish Councillor’s Report
Archie reported he was no longer Chair of the Parish Council (Cllr. Cox had taken on this responsibility) but he remained the link councillor with the BGRA committee.
The neighbourhood plan was in process. Burton Green was now designated to have a neighbourhood plan. Stephen Hay from the local authority would be helping with this. At the end of the process a referendum would need to be held and to be won in order for the plan to be implemented.
The Parish Council was also considering housing development as part of the plan. Many residents had offered sites for building and it was important the Parish Council and the community should shape the future of the village by deciding where any building would take place.
8. Treasurer’s Report and dates for collecting subscriptions
Thanks were given to Terry for his work on sorting out the accounts.
He presented the following:
Current account net balance (i.e. actual bank account balance, less outstanding sum of cheques issued but not yet cashed): £477.18 ***
Deposit account balance: £1500.64
Total cash in hand: £1977.82 (A)
Remaining balance of ring fenced funds:-
Parish plan survey fund £157.75
Defibrillator £299.56 ***
Speed Watch £375.01
Luncheon Equipment £ 32.75
Total: £ 865.07 (B)
Total of freely available/unallocated funds, (A) - (B): £1112.75
There was a lengthy discussion regarding a grant provided by Westwood Charity for the defibrillator. As additional funding had been obtained for this item, the Westwood Charity had requested a refund of some of the donation and a cheque for £171.30 had been issued to this effect on April 17th. John Nisbet, chairman of the Westwood Charity, said the committee was not happy with this amount.
It was explained that of the balance remaining, the refunded amount was the appropriate percentage alongside the amounts donated by other funders. John was asked t go back to the committee with this explanation to seek resolution of the matter.
Action: John Nisbet
It was agreed that in future there must be a clearer “paper trail” of all income and Terry would ensure this happened now he was treasurer.
Subscriptions would be collected alongside the distribution of the Bugle from June 7th onwards.
Action: All
Articles for the Bugle should be submitted to Mary by May 28th with a 300 word limit.
Action: All
9. Any Other Business
A successful police clinic had been held at the Village Hall on May 9th.
Rona had met the new owners of the Water Tower who had suggested holding an open day when the work was completed.
Marcus Bridger had resigned as Head of Burton Green School and he would be sadly missed. The school was embarking on a trial collaboration with Leek Wootton School whose head would take up a joint position with Burton Green School as from September. This was an exciting development for the school which would provide many new opportunities for staff and children.
The flower tubs by the mosaics needed replenishing and it was suggested approaching Roger Swain to see if he would sponsor this.
Action: Mary
10. Date, time and venue of Next Meeting
The next committee meeting would take place at the Village Hall on July 9th 2013 at 7.30p.m.
September 17th would be the subsequent meeting date.
Rona Taylor; Judi Hibberd; Janet Hickinbottom; Andrew Gibbs; John Nisbet; Bron Putnam; and Mary Webb.
In attendance: Kathryn Stewart.
Rona welcomed everyone.
1. Apologies
Apologies had been received from Faith Ward. Chris Langton had intended to attend but was unable to do so: he had sent a report.
Minutes of the last meeting and Matters Arising:
The minutes of the last meeting of March 5th 2013 were accepted.
Matters Arising
The “break the glass” case for the defibrillator keys was still to be purchased.
Mary reported that the Village Hall committee was reluctant to spend money on refurbishments until the future of the hall was moiré certain.
All other matters arising were covered by the agenda.
2. Update on and discussion of Residents’ Association initiatives and issues
Retired of Burton Green lunch April 16th
This had been a very successful event and people were very appreciative of the food and company. The next lunch would be held on September 27th (Harvest lunch.)
Special thanks were extended to Mary and many others who helped.
The treasurer offered a word of caution: the first lunch had provided a surplus of £89 but the second had made a loss of £94. This overspend was because of having to buy in more food and certain labour costs. It was agreed there was a need to be vigilant with regard to costs and that a price increase to £7 per head (from £6 currently) would be introduced in September. Wine consumption would also need to be moderated and additional glasses “purchased” by donation.
Action: Mary and Rona
Speed Watch
This had started well. Seven sessions had operated last month and two in Kenilworth. There had been one unpleasant incident dealt with swiftly by the police. Terry had recently been in hospital and this had resulted in a pause in the development of the scheme. Now it was hoped to finalise the scheduling and the rota system.
Action: Terry
Burton Green Residents' Association Website
A series of further questions had been posed at the last meeting and Janet had obtained answers as follows:
Q. Would a training session for those uploading information be included in the estimated price?
A. Yes, there would be no additional charge for one training session.
Q. What is the recommendation regarding advertising on the site?
A. Google ads could be used but it would be unlikely there would be much revenue because of the limited audience.
Q. Would there be a charge for design?
A. The graphic design of the template would be included in the fee.
Q. Would it be possible to design a logo and at what cost?
Logo design could be done at an additional cost of £200 but it might be a good idea to open it up to residents in the form of a competition, thereby creating greater awareness and ownership by the village.
Rona had spoken to John Webb about how the proposed site would be complementary to his site.
Cromwell Lane gate
The gate onto the Greenway by the bridge on Cromwell Lane had disappeared and caused some consternation. Apparently, the Greenway group had known in advance it was to be removed by the County Council. It was still not clear what the reason was for its removal. Concerns had been expressed about health and safety as a result of which it was to be reinstated temporarily. However, there were mixed feelings expressed about whether or not the gate was useful.
BG Footpaths
Chris Langton was unable to attend but had submitted the following report:
Regarding the Footpaths agenda item I am doing an article for the upcoming Bugle that Mary knows about – the tenet of the article will be to encourage walkers to explore beyond the Greenway as we have such a wonderful network of well maintained and relatively easy walks.
The Kenilworth Footpath Preservation Group have agreed to the free reproduction of the Burton Green walk from their Kenilworth and Beyond publication subject to us putting details of their organisation into the article – the Burton Green walk will be a single A4 sheet insert to the Bugle and Mary is looking at getting sponsorship for the back of it.
I have returned to the ‘hot spots’ identified in my Dec/Jan report on the condition of the footpaths – in most cases they have improved and dried out.
* As you know the path between Red Lane and the Greenway past the Hales has been transformed by the KFPG and WCC with John Whitehouse’s help.
* Access to the Greenway from Hodgetts Lane by the Electricity substation – it is muddied and chewed up by horse traffic
* Access to the Greenway from further down Hodgetts Lane – there is a fallen tree across the footpath
These two need the intervention of Solihull Council and I will be in touch with their footpaths officer soon
The other is
* Access to the path from Cromwell Lane around the former Gas Board football field – the narrow access path is muddy in parts and overgrown though accessible and further round the back of the field (where a couple of horses are kept) there is a 7 metre section of path that is still muddy – it runs parallel to a stream – and obviously gets flooded in the winter.
I doubt if we will get volunteers to undertake the work on this last path and it probably needs hard core as well. I will include my e-mail contact details in the article and readers can forward any other concerns to me that can be collated into an action plan – unless you have another volunteer to take this on.
2014 Pancake Race
A suggestion was made about involving the school in a pancake race in 2014. There was some discussion about the reasons and logistics and it was agreed to look into the idea in greater detail.
Action: Mary
The suggestion of arranging a visit to HRH Prince Charles’s garden in July 2104 was met with approval. A maximum of 26 people could attend. Mary agreed to pursue this.
Action: Mary
BG calendar 2014
A discussion was held about the production of a calendar of event dates to be issued with the Bugle at the start of a year. It was generally agreed this was not cost effective and would be difficult to collate to cover much of the year in advance.
3. Parish Plan Update
Kathryn reported that the distribution and collection of the parish plan surveys seemed to have gone extremely well. Mary was now gathering the forms and there would be a “mop up” exercise to see if others could be added.
The next step would be to provide the completed questionnaires to Warwickshire Rural Communities Council who would collate them. Money had been provided for this exercise by Warwick District Council. Once results were collated, an action plan would be drawn up. It was hoped the housing survey simultaneously issued by Warwickshire District Council could also feed into future plans. Reporting back would take place at the AGM in October.
Action: Kathryn and team
Thanks were expressed to all who had delivered and collected forms: this had been a huge team effort.
4. Oddsocks performance of Comedy of Errors, June 29th
Insurance of £124 for the performance had already been paid. Lesley Tacon had suggested combining all insurance needs for all year (at an additional cost of £60 for BGRA). This was agreed.
Action: Terry
Everyone was urged to keep selling tickets. Mary was confident sales would reach the target. Through Hilary Cox, a company called CJs was willing to manage the car parking for £50 plus some signage. This was agreed.
Action: Hilary and Terry
Volunteers would still be required to assist on site. The police and the council were aware and fully in agreement with the event.
The event would be evaluated at the next meeting.
Thanks were extended to Terry for agreeing to host event.
5. Village Hall
Kathryn reported that the next event was on July 6th which would be a BBQ with jazz band.
Marlene has contacted the Village Hall committee to express some residents’ concerns about parking in Hodgett’s Lane which sometimes caused problems to residents. This issue about parking had also been raised at the police clinic.
Kathryn agreed that a reminder about considerate parking would be issued to hall users.
Action: Kathryn
Because of the increasing popularity of the Greenway, concerns were also expressed regarding parking near the bridge on Cromwell Lane and the added difficulties regarding the junction with Hodgett’s Lane and the give way section over the bridge. Rona agreed to write to Cllr. Whitehouse about this.
Action: Rona
6. HS2
Andy said a flyer would shortly be issued advertising the environmental statement June 10th Roadshow. Reference was also made to the National Audit Office report which had recently been issued which said that HS2 was not offering a good business case or value for money. Andy said HS2 was till not a “done deal” and there was still a lot to fight for. The Draft Environmental Statement Community Forum area report 18 plus maps were available at the meeting.
Cllr Taylor added that a convention was to be held in Staffordshire. A group called Class Action was also looking into human rights and how many people were suffering from blight etc caused by the proposed HS2 railway.
It was agreed a formal response to the environmental statement should be made by the committee.
Action: Rona?
7. Parish Councillor’s Report
Archie reported he was no longer Chair of the Parish Council (Cllr. Cox had taken on this responsibility) but he remained the link councillor with the BGRA committee.
The neighbourhood plan was in process. Burton Green was now designated to have a neighbourhood plan. Stephen Hay from the local authority would be helping with this. At the end of the process a referendum would need to be held and to be won in order for the plan to be implemented.
The Parish Council was also considering housing development as part of the plan. Many residents had offered sites for building and it was important the Parish Council and the community should shape the future of the village by deciding where any building would take place.
8. Treasurer’s Report and dates for collecting subscriptions
Thanks were given to Terry for his work on sorting out the accounts.
He presented the following:
Current account net balance (i.e. actual bank account balance, less outstanding sum of cheques issued but not yet cashed): £477.18 ***
Deposit account balance: £1500.64
Total cash in hand: £1977.82 (A)
Remaining balance of ring fenced funds:-
Parish plan survey fund £157.75
Defibrillator £299.56 ***
Speed Watch £375.01
Luncheon Equipment £ 32.75
Total: £ 865.07 (B)
Total of freely available/unallocated funds, (A) - (B): £1112.75
There was a lengthy discussion regarding a grant provided by Westwood Charity for the defibrillator. As additional funding had been obtained for this item, the Westwood Charity had requested a refund of some of the donation and a cheque for £171.30 had been issued to this effect on April 17th. John Nisbet, chairman of the Westwood Charity, said the committee was not happy with this amount.
It was explained that of the balance remaining, the refunded amount was the appropriate percentage alongside the amounts donated by other funders. John was asked t go back to the committee with this explanation to seek resolution of the matter.
Action: John Nisbet
It was agreed that in future there must be a clearer “paper trail” of all income and Terry would ensure this happened now he was treasurer.
Subscriptions would be collected alongside the distribution of the Bugle from June 7th onwards.
Action: All
Articles for the Bugle should be submitted to Mary by May 28th with a 300 word limit.
Action: All
9. Any Other Business
A successful police clinic had been held at the Village Hall on May 9th.
Rona had met the new owners of the Water Tower who had suggested holding an open day when the work was completed.
Marcus Bridger had resigned as Head of Burton Green School and he would be sadly missed. The school was embarking on a trial collaboration with Leek Wootton School whose head would take up a joint position with Burton Green School as from September. This was an exciting development for the school which would provide many new opportunities for staff and children.
The flower tubs by the mosaics needed replenishing and it was suggested approaching Roger Swain to see if he would sponsor this.
Action: Mary
10. Date, time and venue of Next Meeting
The next committee meeting would take place at the Village Hall on July 9th 2013 at 7.30p.m.
September 17th would be the subsequent meeting date.
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