Bridport Area Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group Meeting

Tuesday 20 January 2015 at Bridport Town Council (Mountfield)

Present: John Budden (Bridport), Phyllida Culpin (Allington), Nick Devlin (Allington), Richard Freer (Allington), Phillip Grey (Bridport), Ian Harvey (Bradpole), Andrew Leppard (Bridport), Wendy Thorogood (Bothenhampton & Walditch).

In Attendance: Bob Gillis (Bridport Town Clerk), Sal Robinson (Minutes Taker), Mathew (Matt) Dalton-Aram (Project Manager), Sandy Goldsmith (Bradpole Parish Clerk) and Tricia Dendle (Bradpole Parish Council)

1. Welcome, purpose of meeting and introduction of Steering Group members.

• Mathew Dalton-Aram welcomed everyone and briefly explained the purpose of the meeting and his role as Project Manager. All those present introduced themselves.

2. Background to the Neighbourhood Plan.

• The Launch Event presentation was replayed as a reminder.
• All comments collected at the Launch Event have been collated and Matt will send them out to all Steering Group members.
• ACTION - Matt will ask WDDC to do a presentation on the emerging Local Plan for the Steering Group. All agreed that a thorough understanding of the need for housing, employment etc detailed in the Local Plan is required.
• It would appear that a local evidence based assessment of needs has not been done as part of the Local Plan and the Neighbourhood Pan is an ideal opportunity to do this.
• Matt suggested that other presentations could be requested e.g. from potential developers.

3. Update on progress to date.

• Budget - £2,000 is available from the 5 Parishes / Town Council and from WDDC. A further £2,000 is available in the next financial year.
• “Locality” is offering grants of up to £7,000.
• ACTION - Grant sources need to be investigated and grants applied for.
• Until it is known how much money is available it is not possible to scope what can be done to achieve it the Neighbourhood Plan.

4. Steering Group Terms of Reference and housekeeping.

• Code of Conduct – ACTION - Matt and Bob to provide a draft for the next meeting.
• Register of Interests – ACTION - as above.
• The following appointments were agreed:-

Chair – Wendy Thorogood

Vice-Chair - Phyllida Culpin

Finance - Phillip Grey

Minutes Secretary – Sal Robinson

• 3 / 4 more people are needed for the Steering Group. Currently there is no-one from Symondsbury Parish, the Chamber of Commerce, no young person, no person with disability and no-one who has lived in the area for a significant number of years.
• ACTION - Bob to approach the Bridport Area Youth Council and Ian to talk to Colfox School
• ACTION - all members to think about the type of person who will benefit the Steering Group.

5. Communication and IT requirements.

• Agreed that a website is essential for people to access all documents etc generated as the Plan progresses and that some form of “social media” is also essential.
• ACTION - everyone to look at websites and social media used for other Neighbourhood Plans.
• ACTION – Nick to speak to people he knows for possible assistance
• Agreed that Steering Group members need specific e-mail addresses.
• ACTION - Phil to investigate how this can be achieved.
• ACTION - Matt to e-mail contact details for Steering Group members to all.

6. Housekeeping & working arrangements.

• Agreed that the next meeting will be in 2 weeks time, on 3 February, at 7:00 pm at Mountfield.
• Agreed that from then on meetings will be monthly on the 1^st Tuesday of the month, at a venue in each Parish / Town in turn.
• ACTION - The Minutes Secretary will produce a report for the quarterly Joint Council Committee meeting giving key points, progress etc., taken from the Steering Group meeting minutes.
• Agreed that the minutes of the Steering Group should be sent to the five Parish / Town Councils involved in the Neighbourhood Plan i.e. Allington, Bothenhampton & Walditch, Bradpole, Bridport and Symondsbury.

7. Key outcomes and timeframes for delivery

• ACTION – Matt to send the initial project plan to all for discussion at the next meeting.

8. Next steps to take the Plan forwards

• Vision Statement - Agreed that everyone will look at websites and social media used by other Neighbourhood Plans for ideas for the next meeting.
• Agreed that the project title is “Vision 2030”.
• ACTION – Matt to circulate the issues raised at the Launch Event to all.
• ACTION – Initially Matt will be “communications officer” and will issue press releases on progress etc to the media – to be considered at the next Steering Group meeting.