Grove Fields Residents Association

Committee Meeting

Date               24/05/17 at 7pm

Version          0.1

Attendees     Keiron Wybrow, Tony Johnson, Belinda Goss-Lambourne, Dimitri Patrikios, Bob Winter and Graham Bright

Apologies      None

Purpose:       To finalise the draft constitution and membership process for the Grove Fields Residents Association.

Agenda:

  • Approve minutes from previous meeting
  • Nominate a chair, secretary and treasurer
  • Agree amendments to finalise the draft constitution
  • Agree membership scope and process
  • Other key activities that need to be planned

Agreements:

  1. The minutes from the Grove Fields Residents Association meeting (initial AGM) on the 11th May, 2017 approved without changes
  2. Graham Bright nominated and approved as Chair, Keiron Wybrow nominated and approved as Treasurer and Dimitri Patrikios nominated and approved as Secretary. Roles will be reviewed at the next AGM.
  3. See Item 3 below for the detailed final agreements to be made to the constitution
  4. See Item 4 below for the detail on the agreed membership process

Actions:    

Action                                                                                                                                                                        Actioned by             Due date

1  Review & approval of minutes from the Grove Fields Residents Association meeting (initial AGM)

     on 11th May, 2017

Approved without any further amendments. Minutes can be posted to the wider membership via

the Facebook and Website page once these sites have been established.

 

ACTION: Load approved minutes on to FB page and Website.                                                                            Bea                       11th June

2  Committee Roles

  • The roles of Chair, Treasurer and Secretary need to be assigned in order to sign and approve the constitution for the Grove Fields Residents Association
  • Graham Bright put himself forward as Chair, Keiron Wybrow put himself forward as Treasurer and Dimitri Patrikios put himself forward as Secretary. All roles were approved by the Committee.
  • Other roles for the committee members will be identified as the work required of the committee is defined over the coming 1 to 2 months

 ACTION: Chair, Treasurer and Secretary to sign the constitution.                                                                     Graham,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Keiron                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Dimitri                 11th June

ACTION: Investigate how to set up a bank account for the residents association.                                         Keiron                   11th June

3  Final amendments to the draft constitution

  • Name: Grove Fields Residents Association was approved
  • The additional objective “To maintain the area known as Grove Field as green belt land” was approved
  • An additional clause in the Membership Section was added: 3 e) Membership shall not be open to any resident who is employed by RELX or supports their proposed development of the Grove Field
  • The Geographical area for the membership, basis for financially contributing to the residents association, minimum age to become a member and the number of members allowed per household is defined within the ‘Membership Process’ agenda item below

ACTION: Make the final changes to the constitution in preparation for signing.                                          Graham                    4th June

4  Membership scope and process

  • The minimum age of a member is 18, this was approved
  • It was agreed that a single residence could have multiple members as long as they are over the age of 18
  • The geographical area for the residents association will be based upon the list of roads agreed by the committee to be included as an Annex to the constitution. Prospective Members who wish to join, who do not live on one of the roads within the geographical area may still be able to join if the Committee approve it.
  • It will be free to become a member, however, a voluntary financial contribution will be encouraged to help pay for the payment of professional planning advice should it be required
  • It was agreed that the current residents list of 93 individuals would be emailed requesting that they confirm that they would like to become a member of the Grove Fields Residents Association
  • Once a prospective member emails Graham (Chair) or Dimitri (Secretary) to confirm they would like to become a member they will be sent an email confirming they are now a member and asking them to click on two links:
    • The first link will be to our crowd funding page requesting a voluntary contribution
    • The second link will be to our private Facebook page which they can now join

 ACTION: List the roads identified in the meeting for inclusion in the annex of the constitution                              Graham           4th June

 ACTION: Develop the email to be sent to the current list of residents                                                                           Dimitri and     4th June                                                                                                                                                                                                         Graham

ACTION: Develop the response email to be sent to people confirming they are now a member                              Dimitri and      4th June                                                                                                                                                                                                      Graham

 ACTION: Investigate and set up a crowd funding page for the residents association                                                  Bob                  4th June

 ACTION: Investigate and set up a Facebook page for the residents association                                                           Bea                 11th June

 ACTION: Identify the best way for keeping a register of members                                                                                  Dimitri            4th June

 ACTION: Develop a leaflet to be dropped to all residents within scope of the association                                         Tony                11th June

 ACTION: Deliver leaflets to all residents within scope of the association and follow up with a ‘door knock’          All

5  Other key activities that need to be planned

  • Strategy for engaging with politicians
    • We need a list of all the politicians (Town Councillors, Dacorum Councillors, County Councillors and MP) that as residents of Tring we vote for
    • We need a ‘statement’ to send outlining why the Grove Field should not be developed
  • Growing Membership - This will be through emailing the residents who have already shown an interest PLUS a leaflet drop and door knock of all houses identified as within the appropriate geographical area
  • Social Media – We will have a Facebook Group, Website and crowd funding page
  • Storing and sharing files – We will use Drop Box for storing key files initially just for the committee to access but in time this could be expanded
  • Fundraising
    • We will actively encourage all members to support fundraising activities for the residents association
    • Members have asked if they could have a stall at the Grove Road Fete and what should they say
      • Committee agreed a stall at the Grove Road fete would be an excellent idea
      • Committee agreed that the following simple messages could be shared:
        1. The residents association’s priority is to ensure the Grove Field remains to be Green Belt land
        2. If anyone would like to enquire about becoming a member of the residents association they should contact either Dimitri or myself
    • Funds are available to help run residents associations
  • Freedom of Information Request – The initial response to the FoI from Dacorum was discussed and it was agreed that we should appeal their decision to withhold the minutes from the meeting that RELX had with Dacorum

 ACTION: Identify the Dacorum Councillors                                                                                                                         Bea               18th June

 ACTION: Identify a full list of all politicians                                                                                                                          Dimitri and  18th June                                                                                                                                                                                                        Graham

 ACTION: Draft out a list of bullets as to why the Grove Field is not the best option for development and             Graham         11th June                                     then share this with the committee to be further developed

 ACTION: Set up a website for the residents association                                                                                                    Bea                 11th June

 ACTION: Set up a drop box facility for the residents association                                                                                     Bob                 11th June

 ACTION: Liaise with the members regarding the messages to be shared at the Grove Road School fete               Graham          4th June

 ACTION: Understand the process for raising and securing funds from the Town Council                                          Keiron and    11th June                                                                                                                                                                                                       Tony

 ACTION: Appeal the decision by Dacorum to withhold some information requested through the FoI                    Graham         11th June 

 Meeting closed at 8:30pm

 Date and time of next meeting will be confirmed by committee members once we are in a position to register members and in a position to contact the politicians

 

 

 

 

 

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