Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Burton Green Residents’ Association held on September 27th 2021 at the Village Hall
Rona welcomed everyone, especially the councillors from Warwick District and Parish Councils.
1 Apologies
Apologies had been received from Margaret Cole, Helen Hehir, Lesley Tacon, Deirdre Vernon and Faith Ward.
2 Minutes of the last meeting
The minutes of the last Annual General Meeting of September 28th 2020 were accepted.
Proposed: Chris Langton
Seconded: Judi Hibberd
3 Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.
4 Chair’s Report
A report had been circulated in advance as follows
The Residents’ Association has been proactive throughout the pandemic, responding to residents’ concerns, publishing the Bugle quarterly and liaising with the Parish Council, the Warwickshire County and District Councils, the police and HS2 contractors concerning relevant issues. Our committee meetings have been conducted by Zoom, along with last year’s AGM and we now look forward to meeting in person at the Village Hall. Any new members would receive a very warm welcome, so please do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to join the committee or if you feel you would like to contribute in any other way.
We hope our activities over the past eighteen months have contributed a little to lifting residents’ spirits at a challenging time. The flower tubs have been a delight and the Christmas tree on the Jubilee Verge was a particular success last year. We hope to replicate that this year and look forward to liaising with Balsall Common Lions about the return of Santa and his Sleigh in December.
The lunches for the retired and friends of Burton Green begin again this week with an autumn lunch on October 1st. I know a lot of people will be looking forward to a delicious meal and a chance to catch up with friends. We have had a number of litter picks and you can join us for the next one on Sunday October 10th, meeting at the Village Hall at 11.0am. A number of residents litter pick on a regular, sometimes daily, basis and this community spirit is greatly appreciated.
Reports of fly tipping are always passed on to Warwick County or Solihull Metropolitan Borough Councils promptly. We do our best to maintain our environment and this year that included holding HS2 contractors to account for a number of issues, including the shameful state in which they left the Jubilee Verge.
Supporting charities has always been a feature of our work. The Children in Need event raised £80 and we hope to organise a Christmas food bank collection which meets the high bar of success set last year. We really enjoy liaising with Burton Green Church of England Academy and are grateful to a number of local businesses for sponsoring our annual Christmas card competition.
It has been reassuring to see our local police officers patrolling the area on foot and their efforts in dealing with speeding and pavement parking, two perennial issues of concern to residents, have been much appreciated.
The Bugle continues to be a hugely important vehicle of communication; it is delivered to every Burton Green household and goes out online to all families at Burton Green Academy. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact Mary Webb.
Our Speed Watch team has now, sadly, been formally disbanded because, despite on-going efforts over a number of years we have been unable to recruit enough residents to join it; there was no one available to complete the latest training provided by the police. We owe Pat Hehir Terry Heyes and all who have helped with Speed Watch a huge thank you for their sterling work over almost a decade.
Next year we look forward to celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and we have already signed up for being part of the national beacon event.
Thank you to everyone in Burton Green who has contributed over the past year to making the village such a special place to live. Despite enormous setbacks, our community continues to flourish. We welcome new residents in the Burrow Hill estate and elsewhere in Burton Green and look forward to meeting now that the end of covid restrictions makes this possible.
Rona highlighted the key events during 2020/2021 and thanked residents for such tasks as frequent litter picking. A subgroup comprising of representatives of various village organisations was looking into the HS2 Community Fund. She said Burton Green remained a very special community.
5 Treasurer’s Report
Dianne had submitted a report which was available.
There were no questions.
Rona thanked Marlene Hills for arranging examination of the accounts.
6 Election of Independent Examiner
Marlene Hills had agreed to act as Independent Examiner.
Proposed: Andy Jones
Seconded: Jill Line
Unanimously agreed.
7 Election of Committee members
Janet Hickinbottom, as Joint Secretary, conducted this agenda item.
The constitution required that the officers and three committee members should stand down. All the officers, Rona Taylor, Mary Webb, Janet Hickinbottom and Judi Hibberd were re-elected.
Proposed: Andy Gibbs
Seconded: Liz Saxton
Unanimously agreed.
Three committee members also stood down and agreed to be re-elected:
Bron Putnam, Paddy Deeley, Hilary Cox
Proposed: Barbara Noronha
Seconded: Alan Marshall
Unanimously agreed.
It was reiterated that new committee members would be most welcome and should approach a current committee member to discuss this.
8 Report from Village Hall Trustees
Cheryl Hall, chair of the Village Hall trustees, explained that the building of the new village hall was still dragging on. The contractors had agreed to start digging the foundations to comply with planning permission which would otherwise expire on October 15th. The formal contract had not been signed because of ongoing discussions about drainage. Negotiations were taking place with HS2 to link to the main sewer rather than installing a sewage treatment plant. It was argued that maintenance costs for the latter would work out more expensive than connecting to the main sewer.
Once the contract was signed, the land would be signed over to the trustees and Cheryl was hopeful that progress would be made over the next month.
Plans for the new hall were on display in the hall and Cheryl pointed out the landscaping with many native trees.
Cheryl said that the trustees were attempting to resume “normal” service. The Produce Show in September had been successful. An open morning had been held the previous day for families and had attracted some new residents. A number of village hall activities had been represented such as the choir; the dance group had provided an interactive demonstration; and the Tai-kwon-do club had given a demonstration. Suggestions had been sought for activities in the new hall. Thanks were given to Adrian Hickinbottom for arranging this. A Christmas meal was being planned for residents.
9 Any Other Business
- A discussion was held about reinstating the Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator role and Paddy would pursue this with a resident who had raised the issue. Action: Paddy
- Chris Langton explained that the local police force was now carrying out speed watch checks and they were also proactive in stopping pavement parking.
- Cllr Taylor asked when the building of the new Village Hall was likely to be completed and Cheryl estimated November 2022.
- Another question concerned what would happen to the existing Village Hall. Cheryl said HS2 had assured the trustees that the hall would remain in place until the new one was built but these assurances were verbal and not written.
- There remained questions about poor communication from HS2 and contractors. Rona said that Peter Stanworth had just started liaising on behalf of the Residents’ Association and was reporting back monthly.
Alan Marshall reported that he had been holding talks and that the existing Village Hall site was supposedly being retained as a car park for visitors to the Greenway. There were even discussions about creating a Heritage Centre on top of the new Greenway cut and cover tunnel. The top of the tunnel would create a significant public amenity for residents from 2025 onwards.
There was still disquiet about the length of time houses purchased by HS2 were left empty.
In addition, it remained a problem that residents could not access community funding because the land remained in the ownership of HS2.
- Rona reminded attendees of the new 24 bus service operated by National Express and running four times a day. Rona had asked for timetables to be located at the bus stops. She had also raised the issue of the poor state of the bus stops themselves. WDC had offered to update their timetables but said they were not responsible for the actual bus stops.
- Adrian told residents that many of the activities at the Hall were now resuming including coffee, cakes and computers; the choir; and the WI.
- Slow down stickers were available to attach to dustbins.
- Rona thanked everyone for attending and praised Hilary and Mary for arranging the refreshments. Committee members were thanked including Janet for taking the minutes of the AGM and all committee meetings.
10. Date of Next Annual General Meeting
The next Annual General Meeting would be held in September 2022 at the Village Hall.
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