DT11 Forum Community Partnership

Date : 4th December 2007
Venue: Pimperne Village hall

Present:

Apologies:

Welcome
Simon Evans introduced Insp. John Ledden, the new section commandant at Blandford Police		 Action by
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Minutes of the Last Meeting

The minutes of the meeting held on 18th July were approved.  
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Matters Arising

Terms of Reference:
(i)Rachelle explained there had been various omissions from the original list of
organisations represented on the DT11 Forum. Nordcat, BLAG, RDTA, PPI (the Patient and Public Involvement Forum) Blandford Youth Centre. It was agreed these should be added		 RS
(ii) It was agreed that the terms of reference were unclear as to the number of representatives each organisation was entitled to. It was agreed that each organisation/ parish council was entitled to one representative and one vote with the exception of Blandford Forum Town Council, which would have two representatives and two votes.
(iii) There was widespread discussion on a variety of other aspects of the terms of reference, including other organisations that should be invited to send representatives, the merits or otherwise of open meetings, whether the partnership needed to have a more formal constitution and so on. It was agreed that Rachelle would ask for specific ideas from members when she disseminated the minutes & that these ideas would be correlated for feedback at the next meeting when this would be an agenda item RS
(iv)It was agreed that in future the press would be invited to attend all Forum meetings RS
(v) The chair would be out of the country for 6 weeks but there was no mechanism in place for a vice-chair. It was agreed that there should be a post of vice-chair to run concurrently with that of chair (i.e. elections would come up at the same time). Brian Anderson was agreed unanimously as vice-chair BA
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Blandford Camp

Rod Williams & Steve Adamson had both attended a meeting to discuss the implications of the possible transfer of the Royal Signals training away from Blandford Camp. The various possible scenarios were outlined in brief and Jane Stockdale answered questions briefly. It was agreed the situation would be kept under review  & would be a standing item at future DT11 meetings. In the meantime it was agreed the Forum supported the petition for training to be retained at the Camp & members were urged to take copies of the petition back to their parishes & organisations to gather support & signatures RS
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Draft Action Plan

Rachelle gave a brief outline of the alterations she had made to the Action Plan as a result of the prioritisation exercise. There was some concern that the views of Blandford Forum residents were insufficiently represented & also that the background information confused statistics for the town of Blandford Forum with those for the wider area. There were also fears that the public might not understand that having an action in the plan did not mean that the Forum itself would be in a position to directly implement this action. Carrie Lewis raised the point that many people in her parish felt that insufficient account of local people’s views was taken into account when planning decisions were made & this had not been reflected in the Plan.
It was agreed that Rachelle would amend the Plan to strengthen the explanation of the Forum’s role on influencing decisions by others by lobbying and pressurising as opposed to those they could directly do. Gerry Chapman would email Rachelle alterations to the wording around the distinction between Blandford Forum & the Blandford area more generally. The Plan would then be circulated for formal consultation to the clerk of every parish , NDDC, DCC, the police and NDPCT.
It was suggested it should be put on village and parish websites & be available in the library. After some discussion it was agreed it would be a good idea if it went on NDDC website providing it was clear it was not in any way a Council initiative. A press release would go out advising of its availability &  the timetable for the consultation.

RS, GC, SA

Francis Shaxson was meeting an official from Dept. of Communities & Local Govt and undertook to raise that many of the priority issues would not be possible without government action.

 FS
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MCTI ( Market & Coastal Towns Initiative)
Hilary Ritchie gave a brief explanation of this initiative and the benefits it might bring, if a bid for Blandford were successful. It was proposed by Rod Williams , seconded by Gerry Chapman and agreed unanimously that we would put in an Expression of Interest. If we got through this stage a full proposal would have to be submitted by 24th November , results would be known by Christmas and if successful the programme would begin in January. Hilary offered to assist with drafting the Expression of Interest with the chair & Gerry Chapman to sign. HR, SA,
GC.
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Report from the CDWs
This had already been circulated but since that date, due to pressure of work elsewhere, Rachelle would only be working one day a week for the DT11 area & Lynne would be working for 2 days.  
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Chairman’s Report
The chair reported he had been attending meetings of the RSS working group, the funding priorities programme at the District Council & the NDCPSG group looking at future funding for the Community Development Workers. Copies of replies sent to the RSS had previously been circulated & various questions were answered.  
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PACT presentation
In view of the time Simon Evans gave a much abbreviated account of PACT, "Partners and Communities Together". He had already recruited some members for the Panel from Blandford Town Council, Blandford School, the Licensed Victuallers Association etc. but he would like a member from the DT11 Forum. Gavin Alderson from Spetisbury PC  was proposed & agreed GA
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Transport issues
  1. Bus working party _ GC outlined progress to date on 3 ideas – a Blandford Town map and timetable, parish timetables, and a "Use it or Lose It" publicity campaign for the X8
  2. Youth Transport Project – Lynne reported that , despite our best efforts, to date this had not been very successful.
  3. Other issues – Andrew Pemberton reported on moves to try to  re-instate the service toLondon
 
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Trailway Project

Lesley Gasson reported that the Fiddleford Bridge should be completed by the end of September but the next bridge was proving rather more difficult to negotiate with the landowner. Gavin Alderson said using the Trailway at Spetisbury and Charlton Marshall was difficult for mothers with buggies & also motorbikes were using it.  
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Date of next meeting

It was agreed that the date would be altered to fit in with the return of the Chair & the consultation timetable for the Action Plan to Thursday December 7th, venue to be confirmed

 
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AOB
Rod Williams reported that Stocks,(replacing Stokes, the greengrocers) had only taken a temporary lease so if the Forum wanted an independent greengrocers’ to remain in town they needed to use it!  

Rachelle Smith
September 06

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