Garden Walk Residents meeting 22nd June 2015

Monday 22nd June 2015 

St Luke's Church Hall Ramsey Room (use side or front door)

7.45pm-8pm

We will cover:

• whether to form a Residents Association and what it would involve
• If we want to for an Association, we will vote in the  officers for Chair, Secretary and Treasurer and agree a constitution (there's one drafted)

We will also be discussing issues we experience on our street that we'd like to try to do something about and agree if/what we could do.

Please do come along! If you cannot make it to the meeting and want to raise an issue or make a comment, please talk to a neighbour who is going to the meeting, or send your message to:

GWRA15@gmail.com

Minutes of the Meeting

Garden Walk Residents Meeting

22 June 2015 at 7.45pm at St Luke’s Church Hall 

Minutes

Present:

Freddie Garces (64)

Stefan Butlin (39)

Boris Bouqueniaux (99)

Helene Doerflinger(99)

Robert-Frayling-Cork (46)

Liz Frayling-Cork (46)

Clare Belcher (Metropolitan employee) (38-44)

Matt (resident at 38-44)

Mark Wells (4)

Karina Wells (4)

Mike Gatford (36)

Audrey Gatford (36)

Natalie Shale (31)

Alison Blair-Underwood (71)

Christine Outhwaite (63)

Paola White (33)

Dan Woodford (24)

Sheila Holmes (49)

Deborah Latham (53)

Apologies:

Heather Richardson

Martin and Paola Bishop 

Githa St- John Ives

Yusuf Casbai

1.0      Introductions and background

1.1       The attendees at the meeting introduced themselves.  

1.2       Deborah summarised the background to the meeting.  Many residents had said they would be interested in having a Residents Association for the street.  The impetus for this had arisen out of discussions between residents that resulted from the planning application for an extension without on-site car-parking at number 23 Garden Walk.  Residents were interested in clubbing together to have a stronger voice when talking to the City Council and County Council about environmental matters.  Residents also thought it would be good to do some positive things that were fun and would bring the residents on the street together.  The annual Street Party was a success and maybe some other social events could be organised.  There was already a ‘Gardening Club’. 

1.3       Planning Application – 23 Garden Walk:  Deborah had spoken to Catherine Linford, Senior Planner Cambridge City Council, to find out the latest news.  Catherine said the planners had turned down the application as it was not acceptable.  They had asked the applicant for suitable amendments to be made to the plans, ready for a planning decision in early August.  She did not say what exactly was not acceptable, but mentioned all the objections from residents on the street.  (So it is reasonable to assume it is about car parking and maybe the bin!)  

Catherine Linford said that if the applicant reapplies with an amended request the Planners will write to individual residents and the ‘Garden Walk Residents’ group to re-consult.  Catherine said they would re-consult even if the planners still might not approve the amended planning application.  We will need to look out for the communication from the planners and respond.  The meeting agreed to respond as a Residents Association – so we will need to organise that response between us when the time comes.  

Action: All to watch out for any communication from the planners.  Paola/Deborah to organise a GWRA Committee discussion to decide how to respond and, if agreed by the Committee, produce a letter to be sent from GWRA.

2.0      Benefits of a Residents Association & Formation

2.1       Attendees discussed these benefits and considered the need for ‘officers and a minimum of three meetings per year, plus a constitution.  

2.2       Attendees voted in favour of forming a Garden Walk Residents Association.  It was agreed that not every resident of the street had to be invited to the inaugural meeting to set up a Residents Association, and that there was a sufficient number at this meeting to set one up there and then.

            

3.0      Election of ‘Officers’

3.1       The meeting went on to discuss who would be willing to be Chair, Secretary and Treasurer.  It was agreed that this would be on an interim basis, until we could hold another meeting to which all residents of the street had been invited to have the opportunity to vote for the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer – either ratifying the residents who have been interim post-holders or voting for any others nominated.  It was agreed a meeting would be held towards the end of September 2015, probably a Monday evening. Karina and Christine offered to deliver the invitation leaflets beforehand.  

3.2                   For the interim ‘officer’ posts, the following were nominated and then voted in by the attendees:

·       Chair:  Sheila Homes (nominated by Liz Frayling-Cork and Paola White)

·       Secretary: Paola White (nominated by Audrey Gatford and Christine Outhwaite)

·       Treasurer: Mike Gatford (nominated by Deborah Latham and Christine Outhwaite)

Action: arrange and hold an open meeting end of September, to which all Garden Walk residents will have been invited via leaflets through every front door on the street 

4.0      Formation of the Committee

4.1       It was agreed that the following residents would be on the Committee:

·       Sheila Holmes (Chair)

·       Paola White (Secretary)

·       Mike Gatford (Treasurer) 

·       Karina Wells

·       Natalie Shale

·       Stefan Butlin 

·       Audrey Gatford

·       Boris Bouqueniaux

·       Deborah Latham

4.2       General support - Deborah said she was happy to prove general support, e.g. producing leaflets, drafting any letters, arranging meetings, etc. 

5.0      Constitution

5.1       Attendees noted the draft constitution, produced by Deborah, which was based on a best practice model produced by Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council and has all the necessary contents.  It was noted that a Residents Association must have a constitution.  We would need to particularly look at the objectives and makes sure they covered the remit of our Residents Association. 

Action:  It was agreed that Deborah would email copies of the draft to all attendees for comment.  Comments to be ‘tracked in’ on Word, or print off and write comments on and return to Paola/Deborah by the end of August, for discussion and finalisation at the September meeting.  

6.0      List of email addresses, blog address

6.1       It was agreed that a list of email addresses would be held by the Committee members for communications. 

6.2       The list would not be made public or posted on the blog, in the interests of data protection.  http://gardenwalkparty.blogspot.co.uk

6.3       Emails would need to use the bcc facility, so that personal email addresses are not circulated to everyone on the street.

6.4       The Residents Association email address is already set up (thank you Karina!) and is: GWRA2015@gmail.com

6.5       Officers of the GWRA would have the email password to access and manage emails.

7.0      Membership of GWRA

7.1       It was agreed that we would not charge a membership fee.

7.2       We discussed hire of the meeting room at St Luke’s and Deborah would check how much it costs for 2 hours.  The Ramsey Room at St Luke’s had been made available free, as a one off, for this first meeting, thanks to the church and Heather Richardson being a member of the congregation. 

7.3       For the time being, it was agreed that we would all donate towards room hire in future.     

8.0      Any other business

8.1       No other business was recorded.

8.2      Deborah will type up the notes and circulate to all attendees.  Any amendments to be emailed to GWRA2015@gmail.com or brought to the next meeting at the end of September.

9.0      Date of next meeting

9.1       Agreed the end of September on a Monday evening, 7.45 for 8pm

9.2       Deborah to book the Ramsey Hall, subject to circulation of the costs to all before confirming the booking!

Contact: GWRA2015@gmail.com

Blogspot : GardenWalk