Parklands Residents Association Play Area Committee.

Summary of Minutes of Meeting held 04.03.09 68 Parklands, Maresfield.

Those Present. :

Carol Reynolds, (CR)

Gwen Fairfax, (GF)

Grace Brady, (GB)

Sharon Scott, (SS)

Sheila Scott, (ShS)

Andrew Savage, (AS)

PCSO Simon French (PCSOSF) – Sussex Police.

Craig Black (CB) – Acting Chair.

Ellie Boultbee (EB) – Secretary.

Charlotte Savage (CS) – Community Fundraiser.

Bill Miller (BM) - WRAG Liaison.

David Gibson (DG) – Tenant Involvement Officer, Wealden District Council.

Abbreviations.

NPRA – New Parklands Residents Association.

MPC – Maresfield Parish Council.

WDC – Wealden District Council.

ESCC- East Sussex County Council.

WRAG – Wealden Residents Action Group.

Raised By	Item / Issue	Action.
	Meeting started at 7.35pm
CB	Welcome and introductions
	Play Area Development Plan and Neighbours Consultation.
EB	Asked for the committees’ feedback on the Play Area Development plan and consultation. She explained that MPC required that a full and detailed consultation was carried out and plans drawn up before permission to develop the Play Area could be given.
DG	Recommended that the consultation should include a return by date, and also a door to door collection to maximise return.
	Committee agreed one week was an acceptable time allowance for surveys to be returned. GF and CR kindly offered to go door to door to collect any outstanding surveys.
	General feedback from the committee was very positive. There followed a vote to approve the development plan and neighbours consultation. Unanimous vote of approval in favour of Play Area Development Plan and neighbours consultation.	EB / CB to print. EB to distribute to neighbouring properties. EB to provide list of outstanding to GF and CR to collect door to door.
PCSOSF	Informed committee that he is now a newly qualified police driver and hoped to have more of a presence in the village as a result. Thanked the committee for action following the recent serious incident in the Play Area.
EB	Spoke about trying to work with police and MPC to draw up a plan to deal with any future incidents. Had been in contact with home office to ask if possible to have an ASBO on play area banning use after a certain time of night. This is not possible as ASBO’s can only apply to individuals. However local authorities and the police do have certain other powers e.g. fines etc that they can use.
GB	Asked if police do come out when called. Spoke of recent incident in the village hall when users were intimidated by youths.
PCSOSF	Said police will try to attend an incident if possible but cannot always attend all. Said police are keen to work with communities to tackle issues.
EB	Will try to arrange meeting between police and MPC to come up with plan, want to discourage people using play area at night. It affects quality of life for neighbours, particularly those with young children.	Liaise with MPC and Police on suitable date for a meeting.
GF	Need to make it known that Parklands has a zero tolerance attitude to antisocial behaviour.
DG	Asked PCSO French if he could recommend NPRA to receive funding from the Police Properties Fund.
PCSOSF	Said he would look into this and report back Funding of up to £1000 is usually available.	PCSOSF to investigate and report back
EB	Informed the committee that the Chequers Inn in Maresfield was now letting the meeting room free of charge to local voluntary groups. She asked the committee if they would be able to commit to regular meetings on the first Wednesday of each month. That way it would be possible to book the room in advance and also make organising future meetings with other organisations such as MPC, WDC and police easier. Could also be published well in advance on website and news letters, flyers etc.
	There followed a unanimous vote in favour of holding meetings in the Chequers meetings room on the first Wednesday of each month until further notice	EB to confirm booking with Chequers Inn. CB to update website.
	PCSOSF left to fulfil other commitments; the committee thanked him for his valuable input and time.
GB	Had an announcement to make. She has successfully become a councillor of MPC.
	The committee congratulated GB on her election.
GB	Spoke about possible conflict of interest.
DG	Said committee could decide, however more important was to form a close working link with regular attendance.
GB	Said she had that morning received confirmation from Tony Allen, clerk to MPC that the night time street lighting would be reinstated so that the streetlights where on all night again.
CB	Confirmed he had also received an email from Tony Allan.
SS	Had also been told this was the case.
EB	Asked GB how long this would take
GB	Had not been informed of a time scale of reinstate of full night lighting.	CB to follow up with MPC in one week.
GB	Told the committee she was happy to be contacted by residents if they have any concerns or issues. GB left the meeting to avoid any possible conflict of interest.
	Committee thanked GB for her time.
	Email received by Chairman and Secretary.
CB	Informed those present that an email had been sent by a resident of Parklands who was very unhappy about the way the situation with the streetlights had been dealt with. The email called for the resignation of both the chairman and the secretary and then the dissolving of the NPRA. CB went on to say that both he and the secretary had gone to considerable time and trouble to try to deal with the comments and opinions of the resident in previous emails. In this case EB had sought the advice of DG to ensure that the correct and appropriate course of action be followed. DG had advised that under the constitution of NPRA the resident in question be invited to attend the meeting to make his representation to the rest of the committee, or he could collect signatures from residents calling for a special meeting where the issue could be discussed.
EB	Confirmed that the resident had been invited to the meeting and offered the option of collecting the signatures. The resident had declined. She also stressed how concerned she had been following receipt of this email, especially as the email appeared to show an excerpt of another email apparently from MPC questioning the conduct of EB in this issue.
GF and CR	Said they had received similar emails from the resident concerned. They been told that EB had given out their email addresses
EB	Would not give out any personal contact details.
DG	Said it appeared that this individual was trying to play one person off against another, what was now important was to put the issue behind and work together. The committee had taken appropriate action by organising the meeting at Bonners School, putting up posters and delivering flyers. The issue had now been resolved with MPC agreeing to reinstate the night time lighting. The committee had also taken the right action by inviting the resident to the meeting, which had been declined, therefore the committee had done all possible to deal with the complaint of the resident.
CB	Reconfirmed that the single email sent by MPC to EB did not in any way count as a consultation with the residents of Parklands, and the NPRA had offered no support for decision of MPC to reduce the street lighting.
	There then followed a unanimous vote of confidence in favour of the chair and the secretary and the continuation of NPRA.
CB	Stated that he would set up a new email address for all NPRA communications to try to ensure that future communications where not missed. EB also stated that she asked all NPRA contacts to only use the NPRA email address to avoid any confusion.	CB to set up committee email for correspondence.
DG	Suggested a newsletter be sent out to all residents once the night time lighting had been reinstated.
	The committee also thanked Sharon and Sheila Scott for their hard work and time taken in organising the petition calling for the lights to be put back on. The committee also noted the time taken by MPC Chairman Ken Ogden in attending the meeting, and wanted to take this opportunity to improve communication and work together with MPC on future projects. The committee also wished to thank MPC for listening to the views of the Parklands Residents in reinstating the full night time lighting.
	Wealden Environment Committee / parking improvements.
CS	Reported to the committee that she had attended the Wealden Community Environment Panel meeting in Buxted on the 24^th of February. She stated that the meeting had been very positive. The purpose of meeting had been to discuss how the new Community Environmental budget would be run. The budget was funded by WDC tenants, and thus any awards made would have to directly benefit tenants. In this way it was thought that the proposed parking improvements to the top end of Parklands would be a good scheme to apply for funding.
DG	Also added that estate clean up days, notice boards etc might also be funded from this budget. He also added that the first funding meeting for the panel was 19^th of May and an application would have to be made by then to be considered by the panel. There is approximately £149,000 in the budget.
CS	Added that she was able to commit to attending the meetings every three months.
DG	Would need to be full consolation with the residents, especially the tenants. Private home owners would also need to be consulted, as may be necessary to contribute towards costs if full costs not met by budget.
AS	Will need to get full plans of where services lie under the road and pavement.
GF	Said she could provide plans of electricity.	This has been provided to CB
	It was agreed that this project would require a lot of work and time. A working party or sub committee would need to be formed.	CB, CS, AS and CR to work together on this project.
	DG left the meeting, the committee thanked him for his valuable support and time.
	Play Area.
EB	Reported that the basket swing required some repairs, the matter had been reported to MPC and awaiting response.	EB to liaise with MPC to ensure repairs carried out.
EB	Children had been seen climbing over the six foot fence between play area and Forest Park at the far end (bike track area). Obviously very dangerous but also means play area not secure.	EB to find out contact name for Forest Park s residents association. CB to contact and ask if trees can be cut to prevent climbing.
EB	Showed committee various types of multi use goals available. Type chosen will depend on successful fund raising, however the general feeling was that the wooden clad units would be more in keeping and look better.
	Fund raising applications submitted so far are as follows: Police Safer Neighbourhood Fund - £2500 Awards for All – £9591 (£5185 Play Area rest for community based activities) Grass Roots - £5000 Changing Spaces - £34,000 Playpathfinder – £35,000
	Formation of Youth Club.
CR	Had received positive feedback on the possible formation of a youth club, would have to be mixed. She kindly offered to run and take responsibility for club.
CB	Spoke of trying to work with Rev Hobbs about a youth group in interests of working with other community groups.	CB to invite Rev. Hobbs to next meeting.
CB	Church run group Pulse only takes children up to the age of 12. Felt that some could be put of if emphasis is religion.
CS	However if working together could use or share equipment.
CR	Felt that a disco once a month would be a good start.
SS	Offered to help out
	General discussion about other social activities followed, Bingo used to be very popular with local residents of all ages.
	Website
EB	Website needs to be regularly updated; more local community links could be added.	EB to try to update links etc
CS	Added she would like to see Parklands based Free-cycle type service.	CB to look into this.
	AOB
	Estate litter picking – 15^th March 10.30 Play Area.	Bring own gloves and bags
	Easter Egg Hunt – 12^th April 10.30 Play Area	EB and CS to arrange this.
	Village Fate – the committee agreed to have a stall at this years village fate. Children and Adult tombolla, and bric-a-brac stall.	EB to contact GB to arrange getting a stall.
	Sponsored fun run – TBA Play Area Maintenance day – TBA. Estate Clean Up Day - TBA	Be put on agenda for next meeting.
	Meeting closed at 9.40pm Thanks to Charlotte and Andrew.

Diary Dates.

Sunday 15^th March 10.30 am – Parklands Estate litter picking morning.

Meet at play area entrance bring bags and gloves.

Wednesday 1^st April 7.30pm – New Parklands Residents Association Meeting.

Meeting Room, Chequers Inn, Maresfield.

Sunday 12^th April 10.30am - Children’s Easter Egg Hunt.

Meet at Play Area Entrance.

Monday 4^th May. (TBC) Maresfield Village Fate.

Wednesday 6^th May 7.30pm - New Parklands Residents Association Meeting.

Meeting Room, Chequers Inn, Maresfield.

Tuesday 19^th May Wealden Community Environmental Panel.

Buxted Court,

Please email admin@parklands-ra.org to confirm if you will be attending the next meeting.