66TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Held in St Johns Church Hall on Thursday 20th May 2004

Present :- Mrs Annette Brooke, MP, Bernie Topham, Policy Director Borough of Poole, Cllrs Mike Brooke, Graham Mason and David Newell. Also sixty members and Officers of the Association.

John Noyes took the Chair.

1. APOLOGIES :- Mayor of Poole, Cllr Les Burden, Margaret Roebuck, P A Talbot, Julia Wenham, Cherry Lorberg, Bernard Rye and Tony Mansell.

2. MINUTES OF THE 65th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

held on 15th May 2003. These minutes having been published in the Summer 2003 Magazine, were taken as read.

3. ACTIONS and MATTERS ARISING

None.

4. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

First of all the Chairman thanked the Officers and Wardens of this Association for their continued work and support. It is through their hard work that the membership of the Association has retained its 3000 plus households.

He also took the opportunity to thank John Sayers and his wife for the provision of the Wine and Snacks we would be enjoying later.

He expressed his thanks to Frank Wood, who was stepping down to Assistant Chief Warden this year, and he welcomed John Sayers who would become Chief Warden. Finally he thanked Margaret Roebuck for her efforts as Education Officer, and welcomed Don Rogers, who would be the new Officer in her stead.

He went on to highlight areas where he felt BRA had made real contributions this year, including the better flow of traffic at the Dunyeats end of the Broadway, where the pedestrian crossing was now the major bottleneck. He felt that our voice had helped in the formulation of Council Tax levels, and that our policy of co-operation with other organisations (Neighbourhood Watch and Chamber of Trade) together with our allocation of grants to Broadstone Groups had made the Community more aware of our work.

We had also, as a member of the newly formed Poole Partnership, placed an entry on their web portal, introducing Broadstone.net to a wider audience.

On the down side he reflected that yet another year had passed without any appreciable progress towards a complete route for Footpath 5.

Finally, he described a recent visit to White’s Tip and their advanced recycling! composting facility. This had been arranged for the Exec. Committee, and all were impressed by the potential for improving the amount of recycled material, and by the reduction in the volume of landfill required.

In general, our policy of supporting local groups had been appreciated. We had donated money to support the juniors section of the Broadstone Football Club, Broadstone in Bloom, the Community and Arts Centre, the War Memorial Hall and the Methodist and URC Churches.

In closing, the Chairman looked forward to both the refreshments and a very interesting talk about the Regeneration of much of the centre of Poole and Hamworthy.

5. TREASURER’S REPORT for the 15 months ending 31st March, 2004

A copy of the Receipts and Expenditure Account was presented to all persons present. The Treasurer explained that the final accounts, which showed a balance of £384 1.90, differed from previous years by including 15 month’s figures, and by showing the returns for the previous three years.

Income for the period included £4716 from subscriptions and £2140 from advertising in the Magazine.

Transferring the Reserve account to the Scottish Widows Tracker account had resulted in an increase in interest payments. Over a full year this should give us about £130.

Expenditure normally would include two charges for printing Magazines, but with the change in our financial year, this account included three sets of charges. There was also a sum of £700 that was given to local organisations. Because of the extra printing costs we had a deficit of £1098.08, but this should disappear next year when costs and publications matched.

Because our existing Constitution stated that our financial year matched the Calendar year, it was necessary to propose an amendment to the Constitution to match our financial year to the standard April - March year. This was proposed by Frank Meaton and seconded by John Sayers, and unanimously accepted on a show of hands.

6. REPORTS BY OFFICERS

6.1 Planning

Pat Talbot , summarising the applications he had reviewed in the year, noted that there had been 312 applications for Broadstone.

Many of the applications received, were in respect of the conversion of 2 bed bungalows into 2 storey dwellings. Most were refused.

The application to create a pre-school in the rear garden of 51 Higher Blandford Road, was refused after multiple objections by local residents.

Other refusals included the block of 6 flats at 3 Westheath Rd, and the demolish and replace by 5 bungalows at 58/64 Lower Blandford Road.

Applications for 11 flats at 2 Ridgeway and the erection of 5 flats on the site of 17 Grange Road were both still under consideration.

Redevelopment at 21 Tudor Road (4 flats), 33 Higher Blandford Road (4 flats plus penthouse) and Pickering Close (7 bungalows on backland) had all been approved. Regulations governing Planning Applications were under governmental review, and the role of the Regional Assembly was becoming more significant.

6.2 Magazine and Advertising

John Milhofer began by thanking all past and potential contributors. He then told the meeting that the Summer Magazine was underway, but contributors needed to submit articles by the end of June, at the very latest.

With regard to advertising. Due to one or two businesses closing down, he no longer had a waiting list of would-be advertisers. After some discussions with the Treasurer and Chairman, it had been decided that we should increase advertising rates. These charges had not been raised for 5 years, and would apply to the Summer 2005 Magazine. This would raise advertising revenue to around £2500.

6.3 Chief Warden

This was the last report from Frank Wood as Chief Warden. After many years he was standing down, and would be replaced by John Sayers, who has been his deputy this year. Frank will however continue as an area warden for 2004/5. He expressed his good wishes to John, and also his thanks to the team of Area and Street Wardens upon whom delivery of the Magazine and collection of subscriptions, depends.

The decision to raise the subscription to £1.50 did not appear to have affected membership numbers, and we were still delivering well over 3000 copies.

As members will know, we have seven ‘Areas’ each with a number of wardens who cover one or more roads in their area. In total we have over 80 wardens, and as one would expect there is always a turnover of wardens resulting in vacancies. Some areas are more difficult to staff than others, and the Area Wardens often undertake more than one ‘round’, delivering to more than 200 homes.

Area 7, Pinesprings seems particularly difficult to staff and currently has 4 wardens and 4 vacancies. These gaps are covered by Ted Loader the Area Warden, and by myself and the Chairman.

Doreen Canby (Area 2) should also be given special thanks for her service, as healthwise she has had a difficult year with both operations and chemotherapy, but continues with her duties.

Ken Slydel (Area 4) has 12 wardens plus a vacancy in Lytchett Drive, and will be retiring at the end of the year.

Mrs Browning who started the group in Corfe Lodge Road now has some 30 members, mostly in Corfe Mullen.

If anyone feels they can help with magazine distribution, which happens only three times a yeas, could they please ring John Sayers on 602235.

6.4 Education

Margaret Roebuck reported some major changes for Broadstone Schools, and some Significant developments in Government and LEA policy.

The LEA had appointed a new Director of Education, John Nash, who started in June 2003. Currently there was a serious consultation exercise on unifying the transfer ages of children across the borough. This should be completed by September.

Consideration had also been given to exchanging subsidised bus fares, for improved resources in the classroom. This had been suggested in a recent OFSTED inspection. Officers had also held discussions with ministers and shadow ministers about the poor level of funding that Poole LEA receives.

For Broadstone schools it had been a successful year.

Broadstone First, now had the three new classrooms, and the appointment of Mrs Rhonda Moore as Head. They had attained Beacon Status for creative writing, but this award was to be discontinued in July 2004.

Broadstone Middle had achieved the best keystage 2 SAT results in the borough, and is partaking in some experimental ICT courses. Sporting achievements are still considerable. The school is also involved in a number of community projects and has applied for grants to improve the football and tennis facilities to an extent where they can be available for hire to the general public.

At Corfe Hills, Mr Hinchcliffe has assumed the post of head teacher, and was welcomed by some outstanding exam results. The pass rate at ‘A’ level was 97%, with nearly half these passes at A or B grade. Similarly at ‘AS’ level, a 90% pass rate was achieved.

Several year 10 students took papers one year in advance, and one achieved the highest mark (for statistics) in the country, earning a medal for himself and a diploma for the school.

Congratulations to all teachers, pupils and supportive parents on their achievements.

6.5 Dorset Federation

The Federation meets quarterly to discuss a wide range of subjects which affect Dorset and the Unitary Authorities. These can be local, regional or national matters. Over the last year the following topics have been discussed.

Affordable Housing

CPRE had emphasised the importance of affordable housing in their campaign to protect rural England. The subject also cropped up regularly in planning applications across the area. Social Housing requirements were for 70% of homes to have 1 or 2 bedrooms, but a survey over the last 3 years showed that only 33% had 1 or 2 bedrooms, 33% had 3 bedrooms and 34% had 4 or more bedrooms??

Waste DCC and local authorities have accepted that Mechanical Biological treatments, (MBT) is the way to go, and are planning for three such plants, the first to be near Dorchester, and completed in the 2008 - 2010 period.

Poole Harbour

The Harbour Commissioners are drafting new byelaws to cover recent safety legislation, and to improve passage around the chain ferry.

Budgets

DFRA had been involved in consultations with several councils regarding formulation of the 2004/5 budgets. They had also tried to talk to the Police Authority about their budget but had received no satisfactory answers.

Other topics include legislation for bells on new bicycles, Travellers, the New Forest National Park boundaries, poor funding in general from government and urging Councils to charge the 90% level of tax on empty second homes.

7. Election of Officers

The President, Dr Fleming, now took the chair.

He thanked the Chairman for his leadership during the past year, and was pleased to see such a good turnout of Members.

He then accepted the Committee’s nomination of John Noyes as Chairman, and this was approved by a show of hands. John then resumed the Chairman’s seat.

In compliance with the rules of the Association, a notice had appeared in the Spring Newsletter, inviting members to nominate persons for office. A nomination had been received for the post of Education Officer, where Mr Don Rogers wished to take up the post. This luckily matched Margaret Roebuck’s wish to stand down, so she could concentrate on her political activities and on the Broadstone History. She would also take part in Committee as one of the Warden’s representatives.

There was also the move whereby John Sayers would become Chief Warden, with Frank Wood stepping down to become an area warden.

These changes to the Committee were proposed by Frank Meaton, seconded by John Milhofer, and passed unanimously by the Meeting.

The officers listed below were prepared to stand for the coming year, and were returned unopposed.

Frank Meaton (Dorset Federation) and Bob Williams (Chamber of Trade) will continue to serve on the committee, as will the existing area wardens, and the warden’s representatives.

8. Appointment of Auditor

T. Bridle had offered his services, and the offer was accepted on a show of hands.

9. Subscription Rate for the Coming Year

The Chairman felt that the subscription for 2004 was just about right, and asked if anyone felt there should be a change. No member advocated any change so it will remain at £1.50 for 2005.

10. AOB

There was a question asked about the progress of a new Broadstone History. Currently, the draft should be completed in July/August, with a view to publishing in about year’s time.

We would need to obtain funding to cover publishing costs, and all profits made from the sale would go to charity.

Another resident asked about a bungalow to chalet conversion at 13 Sutherland Avenue. This development had received permission some three years ago, but Cllr Brooke said he would investigate the situation.

**********************************

After the Refreshment Break we had a illustrated presentation from Bernie Topham, Policy Director for Regeneration, Borough of Poole

Ms Topham began by stating what an enormous project the regeneration was, and the great impact it would have on the future of Poole. She briefly reviewed the Consultation process that been carried out, and this had given rise to five clear priorities that the project was attempting to satisfy.

Part of the overall project was the new bridge, which would open up over 100 acres of development land on the old power station site.

Developing the bridge would also give potential for one mile of new waterfront, scope for 3000 new homes (1200 affordable), good quality office and light industry space, and more central hotel accommodation. These developments would need to be matched by schools, public open spaces and decent community facilities.

The bridge itself was on course, with a major government grant and potential developer contributions. An application for a Transport and Works Act permission had been made, and should be granted in about seventeen months time. The engineers involved were Giffords, who had designed the recent bridge across the Tyne at Newcastle.

This gave timescales for completion, stretching to 2008 and beyond.

A major difficulty for the Council was the fact that they owned very little of the land under consideration, and had to persuade the owners that they would benefit from the development of their land. This list included Sunseeker, part of the docklands, the old Railway goods yard and the power station site.

Currently the first steps in the overall plan were underway, with the ASDA site being the first. This site included the retail centre plus a hotel, flats and offices. The building was to be to the standards laid out in the Streetscape initiative, which was to be a Supplementary Planning Guidance outlining the look and style of buildings and spaces in the regeneration zone.

Development was also starting on the Seldown site and the Pitwines site. These sites were primarily for housing and included forward looking ideas for sustainable dwellings.

A further development to come were the improvements to the Dolphin Centre, following the change of owners earlier this year.

Finally Ms Topham showed one or two illustrations of the expected results of the Streetscape policy, and then answered a host of questions from a most interested audience. These covered the possibilities of a high bridge, affordable housing, sustainability, and any initiatives to reduce traffic chaos.

Finally the Chairman called a halt to the questions, otherwise we would have been there for the night.

The Chairman then expressed our thanks to the speaker and this was duly signified in time-honoured fashion.

Archive Summer 2004

Say you saw it on "Broadstone NET"