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Camelford Association of Residents

 

Minutes of the meeting held on 20 April 2006

at St Thomas’s Church Hall

 

 

  1. Welcome – M Baber welcomed all those present and thanked B Oliver for use of the Church.
  2. Apologies – received from E McCormick, A McCormick, R Hart
  3. Minutes of the meeting 16 March 2006 – J Hough proposed adoption of the minutes, seconded by D Pengelly, none against.
  4. Matters arising – B Lush said that he had had a letter from Dan Rogerson and the possible deferment of local council elections did not apply to parish councils.  B Ellison said that the Minister of State did say that district and county elections may be postponed, but he now denies this.

B Ellison pointed out that there had been a discrepancy in the minutes in what he had said or conveyed about the sequence of events leading to the town council’s purchase of Churchfield Car Park.  To set the record straight he wished to underline that the sequence was as follows.

At an “in committee meeting” (Cllr. Ellison not present) on 21st Jan 2003, council voted to proceed with the purchase of the carpark, subject to an agreed price (then estimated at £120,000) and to fund the project through the precept, with no charges levied on carpark users.  At the next meeting on 3rd. Feb., by a special resolution signed by four councillors, the matter was discussed again (and again in committee). 

Cllr Ellison said at the meeting that he felt it should not be discussed “in committee” and that he felt that no decision should be made until the cost implications were known to Camelford ratepayers.   He also said that a business plan should be produced and the ratepayers consulted……  No other councillor supported this proposal so it failed to be voted on. At the meeting he said that he felt that no councillor had a mandate to make such a big decision on behalf of the ratepayer with out a referendum.  Again he failed to gain support for this view.

  1. Treasurer’s Report – no change - £96.63.
  2. Secretary’s Report – none.
  3. Report from Forum meeting 19 April 2006 –

Forum funds received - £1500 from NCDC, £500 from Town Council

Pre-school re-naming ceremony 29 May – ‘Little Acorns’

Forum magazine – distribution to be divided up

Highfield flats – internal painting to be carried out

Parish meeting 24 April at Souls Harbour.  Dr Ken Wood, Medical Director, Cornwall NHS Trust.  Other parishes invited.

Town Council AGM 18 May, Council Chambers, College Road

B Ellison asked if CAR would be interested in investigating the land behind the pet shop, Walkies, from the run off from Fore Street to the river.  The complication is that none of the public authorities own any of the land.  This area is a bad introduction to the town.  If the Town Council dealt with it on its own it would have problems.  As a Forum project there would also be problems.  If CAR could look into this it would be useful  Further advice from B Ellison to follow.  The meeting agreed that we should look into this.  B Ellison says he knows who owns the far bank.  This side is probably owned by individual owners.  Meeting to be arranged between M Baber, E McCormick and B Ellison.

M Price (NCDC) will be at the June meeting to discuss affordable housing.

Spring Fayre – possibility of doing another one in August, also next spring.

J Finch, when asked, said that she had no idea what money had been taken  - it was done for charities to fund raise.

  1. Car Park Review / Conciliation -  Car Park sub committee met on 20 March to discuss the option forms. 

Option 1 – 91 forms, 105 votes

Option 2 – 38 forms, 52 votes

Option 3 – 31 forms, 38 votes

Option 4 – 13 forms, 14 votes

Option 5 – 99 (+25 A1) = 128 forms, 128 (+31) = 159 votes

5 spoiled papers

Option 2 was put forward (pay and display plus permits, £75 pa, £20 per quarter for residents, £150 and £50 respectively for businesses)

J Pearce raised a number of issues that the information was misleading.

At the Town Council meeting on 21 March it was deferred to give councillors time to consider the recommendation, and put onto the agenda for 6 April.

On 6 April at the Town Council meeting option 2 accepted subject to the cost of the Parking Places Order being known before adoption. 

All requests to have a look at the returned forms were refused.  The forms given in at A1 Fruiterers were counted.

  1. Fireworks and Fundraising – The date is now set for 2 December 2006 and the deposit paid to the Fireworks company.  The next meeting of the Fireworks Committee will be on 26 April at 7.30 in the Darlington.  Please come along.  It was agreed that we write to the Town Council to ask  if there is anything happening similar to the Spring Fayre we be informed so that we can raise funds for the Fireworks.  Sec
  2. Correspondence – Letter to Town Council from M Baber about downturn in trade in Camelford.  At the Town Council meeting on 18 April J Finch read out  this letter and had replied that she had thought a lot about it.  This council had worked hard and done the park entrance work with CDCDT and the Forum, and there was a proposed Farmers Market.  Terms such as ghost town and impending doom do nothing to encourage people.

Email correspondence between M Baber and the clerk, in which he said that he had seen the minutes of 16 March on the website and thanked her for changing them.  B Ireland said they had never been altered.  B Ellison suggested that a way forward would be that as J Finch was here she was capable of discussing the issue with the clerk privately and ask him what is it about.  J Finch said she was here as a resident, not as Mayor.   B Ireland said that you are always a councillor or a mayor.  It was agreed that we would write to J Finch and ask for a reply as to the result of her investigation. 

B Ellison said that whilst he found CAR minutes interesting, he had experience of minutes as a town councillor, district councillor and county councillor and the two higher authorities minute very little of what was said.  It sometimes confuses the issue when you minute all of what is said and there is a danger of inhibiting people from speaking.  J Hough said that bullet points are open to interpretation.  The way it is done currently, at least there is a record of what is said and what is intended.   M Baber said that we are having a lot of people coming on to the website looking at minutes.  Without the detail things could be taken out of context.  If someone wants to say something delicate we should be able to cope with that.  B Lush said that in a meeting like this it gives the feel of the meeting if you do what you are doing.  M Baber said that we do not make a lot of decisions, but sit and discuss things which need minuting and we will always happily amend minutes if something is wrong.  B Ellison said that he seemed to be in a minority of one.  H Huntley said that the town council is not giving us draft minutes and it means that our information is always behind.

  1. Website – there have been 317 hits in the last three weeks, but a month or so ago it was lost.  Updating needs to be done.  M Baber will let B Ireland know what is to be changed.
  2. Any other business –

Spring Fayre – a good time was had by all – thanks to the town council.

At the last town council meeting there was a discussion on the pond being cleaned in August and we should offer our help.  We will write to the town council.

Chamber of Commerce met Dan Rogerson on the 5 April about the downturn in trade and its possible link with the Churchfield Car Park.  He will get back to the Chamber of Commerce.

Camelford water – is in the news again.  B Oliver said this always happens as the tourist season starts.  There followed much discussion on the water pollution and the report which is due to come out.  People are working to find out the truth.  All people want is to be monitored.

D Pengelly said that the telephone box in Clease Road has been smashed.  The bits of stone used to repair the wall have been left around and will be used for vandalism.  B Lush said that Cormac was allowed to use the area and they repaired the wall as a favour.  Sec to write to L Mabson.  (I believe this is now resolved and Brian has cleared up the debris and disposed of it.)

H Huntley said that the new bus timetable – the bus from Camelford to Exeter has been cancelled.  Apparently the timetable is a mess.  One local lady has been told she should write to Camborne.  Corlink do not go to Debabole.  J Comber has been given the correspondence.  B Ellison said that the county council is only answerable to the public in negotiating with the bus companies on those routes which are specifically receiving a subsidy.  The bus company can drop any services which are not being subsidised.   The county council is the monitoring organisation for the bus passes for the over 60s.  Central government has not given specific money for this and it is being paid for out of our district rates.  It is not possible to identify the separate grant the government says it has given.  B Lush to report back.

H Huntley said that the Parish Meeting on Monday has been given no publicity.  He has never seen an advertisement for a Parish Meeting in all his time in Camelford.  Start time is 7.30 pm at Souls Harbour.  (Sec to phone Ron Hart and talk about CAR putting up posters)

  1. Date of next meeting – 18 May 2006

 

 

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