Posts Tagged ‘Meetings’

Around 87 people attended a public meeting on the 5th June for a presentation by WCRA covering ratification of the association and an update on the Moor Lane Housing development.

Presentation by Acting Chair - Bill Corney

A copy of meeting presentation slides can be downloaded here:  WCRA Public Meeting Presentation – 5th June 09

The association was formally ratified and the constitution was unanimously voted for adoption.

The following officers were duly and unanimously elected to serve an initial one year term of office:

• Chair – Bill Corney
• Secretary – Nicola Cull
• Treasurer – Stuart Goldup.

A total of £475 was donated by attendees comprising membership fees and voluntary donations.

A big thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the night a big success!

The minutes of the meeting are shown below:

Minutes of Residents’ Meeting

Held on 5th June 2009 at Moorcroft Centre.

Chaired by Bill Corney

1. Introduction

Bill opened the meeting, welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending. He explained that everyone at the meeting was an honorary member for the night and had the right to vote.

He explained the reasons for setting up the association and explained that the constitution was available for people to read on the website. He asked for the name, the association and the constitution to be ratified by those present and this was agreed unanimously. Bill stressed that the association would be non – political and would exist to represent the views of members on a range of issues.

2. Election of Officers

Bill asked for nominations for the three vacant roles of Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. Bill offered to stand as Chair, was nominated and unanimously elected. Stuart offered to stand as Treasurer, was nominated and unanimously elected and Nicola Cull offered to stand as Secretary, was nominated and unanimously elected. Thanks to the three of them for standing and their names will be published on the website.

3. Street Representatives

A number of people have already volunteered to act as street representatives and their names will appear on the website along with the names of roads where reps are still needed. These people will be a local point of contact for distributing newsletters and providing verbal updates to residents. Anyone wishing to become a street rep should contact Bill or Nicola.

4. Membership Fees

Bill asked residents whether they would be prepared to pay a fee of £10 per household and £5 for a single person household /concession. The majority of people indicated that they thought this was reasonable. People were asked to complete application forms if they had not done so on line and wished to join. A large number of people opted to join and paid fees to the Treasurer at the end of the meeting. The fees will not be used to cover officers’ expenses ( ! ) but will be used to cover printing costs, use of consultants and room hire ( £55 for tonight ). The Treasurer will publish records of income and expenditure.

5. Moor Lane Development

Bill outlined the known facts regarding the proposed housing development north of Moor Lane (the structure of which is shown on the attached presentation). The PFI grant to Woking Council is £43M.

The meeting moved on to discuss the proposed Moor Lane development. Bill asked for a show of hands to indicate who was opposed to the development. The response indicated an opposition of about 80%.

The meeting considered whether there had been proper consultation in 2006 and whether it was worth challenging the approval, perhaps by holding a meeting with the planning officers.

A lively Q&A session then ensued, with both questions and answers from the floor.

6. Membership Enrollment

The final part of the meeting was the formal enrolment of members and payment of membership fees to the Treasurer.

A total of £475 was raised on the evening comprising £385 in subs (from 41 households) and a further £90 in voluntary donations.

7. AGM

The AGM will take place on or around 5th June 2010.

8.  AOB

All matters having been considered the meeting was adjourned.  Thanks to all who attended and contributed.

Just a reminder that we are having a public meeting on Friday 5th June @ Moorcroft from 7.30 p.m. - 9 p.m

Please come along if you can

If you are coming then please bring / remind your neighbours and any contacts who dont have email or web access.

We look forward to a record turnout.

A planning kick-off meeting was held on the 1st May 2009.

The goal of the meeting was to plan and agree the (re)launch of the Residents Association for the area.

The minutes of the meeting are shown below:

Residents’ Association
Minutes of Planning Meeting held on 1st May 2009.

1. Name of Association

The group considered firstly if there was a need for a residents’ association as well as the existing Moor Lane Action Group (MLAG ). The decision was that an association was needed as this is the format recognised by the council and which will allow us to communicate effectively with the council.

The discussion then turned to an appropriate name for the new residents association. The decision was to use Westfield Common Residents’ Association as a working title and review this at the next meeting. Derek McCrum may be able to advise.

Having checked the Window on Woking website the following groups are registered:
Westfield (Hoe Valley ) Residents’ Association ( chaired by Paul Owen )
Westfield Pond Action Group!
Gloster Road and Priors Croft Residents’ Association

Willowbank Residents’ Association do not seem to appear on the website but we know they exist – chaired by Kerry Denholm – Price.

Thanks to Paul and Kerry for joining us at the first meeting and for their input.

2. Moor Lane Area Residents Association

This group was set up in 2006 and was chaired by Chris Heisig. Chris is no longer involved and the group has not met for some time. However it is still registered with Woking Council and a useful suggestion is to continue with this group, renaming and and relaunching it with a new constitution.

3. Moor Lane Action Group ( MLAG )

Nicola Cull and Martin Lovell attended from MLAG – others are expected to join the next meeting. MLAG have held a number of meetings and have already taken a number of actions forward, including organising a large meeting at Moorcroft which led to the suggestion of a residents association. MLAG will continue to meet and will work with the new association.

4. Establishing the New Association

Bill Corney has offered to stand as chair and to set up a further meeting and an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Residents Association in the near future. It was agreed that the new group would want to work closely with existing groups and will need to encourage interest and membership from as wise an area as possible.

Paul Owen said that the membership of his association paid £5 per annum and this seems to be an adequate amount.

The new association will also need a secretary and a treasurer. There was a suggestion to include the option to rotate the chair in the constitution and also to have a deputy chair.

5. Communication

The group suggested that the new association should communicate in a variety of different ways to ensure it reaches as many people as possible. Gary agreed to input the contact details collected at Moorcroft and to forward these to Bill.

Nicola indicated that she is able to help with producing and printing a newsletter. Karen also has skills in this area. Members of the group who act as representatives would be able to speak directly to people in their roads. This would overcome the problem of people who may not be on–line.

6. Local Councillors

It is clear that we will need to work closely with local councillors including Simon Bellord and Derek McCrum. We should consider inviting them to a future meeting but emphasise the importance of a non – political arena. We need to consider carefully how best to get our views represented to the council.

7. Update on the Moor Lane Development

· Local councillors will know when the planning application has been submitted – it hadn’t been at the time of this meeting.
· We can make an FOI request for a copy of the transport assessment.
· We could then employ a transport consultant to audit the assessment and make a response to it as an association.
· Access to the new housing estate is the main point of weakness in the plans and this is the point to focus on
· We need to be clear on the boundary of Moor Lane with Sutton Green.
· We need to have an understanding of the relevant building regulations.

Claire Castle
11/5/09

Friday 27th March 2009: A Residents Meeting was held at the Moorcroft Centre, 8pm to 9pm to get organised, and hear residents views.

The collective group gave a mandate to set-up a residents association.