Present: Phyllida Culpin-Chair (Allington), Andrew Leppard (Bridport), Richard Freer (Allington), Bob Gillis (Bridport Town Council), Caroline Parkins (Chamber of Commerce), Joe Hewetson, Phillip Grey (Bridport).

Additional Working Group members:

Transport:- Mike Farmer, John Collingwood, Bob Driscoll, Ignacio Gómez Aguilera.

Community Facilities: - Dominic Knorpel, Anna Lovell.

Also In Attendance: Sal Robinson (Minute Taker), Jo Witherden (Consultant) and Margaret Toft, Susan Fryer, Gavin Fryer, Raja Jarrah.

Joe Hewetson said that he was standing down from the Steering Committee as he needs to concentrate on school work. He will continue to be involved with his youth group and will help with BANP consultations. He will try to find someone from the youth group to take his place on the Steering Committee.

Phyllida said that the summary Register of Interests for Steering Group members is available for anyone to look at in case of a query.

1. Apologies. Glenn Crawford (Bridport), Tricia Dendle (Bradpole PC).

2      Minutes of Last Meeting.

The minutes were AGREED and signed.

3      Matters Arising From the Minutes.

• Bob Gillis said that efforts are being made to get replacement representatives for Bradpole, Symondsbury and Walditch & Bothenhampton Parishes. Phillip Grey could be the B & W representative as he has moved to the parish from Bridport but this needs to be agreed with the Parish Council. It was agreed that it was important that all parishes were represented on the Steering Group and that, if they were unable to send a representative to meetings of the Steering Group or working groups, they were able to feed information and comments in at all stages.

• It has been found that obtaining private house rental data from Home.co.uk is more expensive than originally quoted so attempts will be made to get the information by other means.

• Bob Gillis reported that the template for notes from Working Group meetings has been sent out to the Working Group leads. The notes ideally should be sent to Bob within 3 days of a Working Group meeting and will then be on the website within a further 2 days.

• Project Manager role (to be shared between BANP, BLAP and Coastal Communities) – the last date for applications is 29 February, the applicants will be shortlisted and interviews are on 4 March. Phyllida will be part of the recruitment process on behalf of the Steering Group.

• Budget details - Report made to recent Joint Committee of councils including budget update. There is over £12,000 available for the next stages of the project.
• Phil said that he is still improving the website.

• Savills, on behalf of Hallam Land, has said that they are writing to everyone who attended the Workshop outlining the next steps - consultation on the Master Plan – and it is proposed that a working group including representatives of local councils, BANP and BLAP is established. The Steering Group will be asked to appoint its representatives.

4      Working Group Workshops.

The following Working Groups each gave a presentation on their work so far, initial findings and areas requiring further work.

• Community Facilities –presentation on the mapping exercise on facilities and working with the Bridport Local Area Partnership to draw up the evidence base of local needs and existing provision. Drop in session for local stakeholders to be held on 3 March.

• Transport – separate presentations on evidence received on proposals for local rail link, traffic options and local bus service options.

• Economy – presentation on initial findings of the state of the local economy, including retail and tourism needs and areas to be looked at further.

The Steering Group welcomed the work undertaken so far and agreed that it was important that the amount of work being undertaken by the Working Groups was publicised so that people could see the issues being looked at.

Jo W will provide a summary.

5. Next Consultation Event.

AGREED that this could be May or June but that a decision will not be made until after the Working Group Workshop sessions are complete.

6. Any Other Business / Public Participation. Nothing was raised.

7. Next meetings.

The next 2 Steering Group meetings will be at 7 pm on

• Tuesday 15 March (was Wednesday 9 March)   Environment and Climate Change
• Wednesday 23 March                                          Housing and Land Use.