The Best Guide for the Neston Area

ch64inc AGM takes place in Neston

The voluntary community organisation ch64inc held its AGM at Neston Town Hall this week.

Chairman Andy Mills opened proceedings by welcoming an audience of around 50 local residents, some of whom were existing members, others who had come along to join on the night.

In addition to running through various required formalities regarding apologies and previous minutes, the members voted to re-elect the existing Management Committee and elect new members.

Committee members (l-r) Mike Wellman, Robin Hughes, Peter
Cunnington, Don Howell, Carrie Spacey & Andy Mills

The Management Committee is now comprised of the following members:

Andy Mills
Robin Hughes
Eileen Miller
Don Howell
Peter Rossiter
Peter Cunnington
John Miles
Mike Wellman
Carrie Spacey

Andy went on to introduce two other key figures in the organisation - Angela Turner, Development Officer, whose position is currently funded by EPNAVCO through a Fair Share grant, and Elaine Dunn, Acting Chief Officer of EPNAVCO, an organisation that exists to support other voluntary community organisations through Lottery and other funding.

Citizen's Week Evaluation

Robin Hughes outlined the objectives and achievements of the Citizen's Week held in the CH64 area in March this year.

Robin Hughes speaking at the AGM

He explained that the week had primarily aimed to increase local people's sense of engagement with the area they live in, improve the "voice" the CH64 area has with various authorities, and promote a sense of optimism.

He was pleased to say that following post-Citizen's week consultation and evaluation, 71% of respondents felt these objectives had been achieved.

Robin spoke of how hugely supportive various organisations had been during the exercise, including Neston High School, local Primary Schools, Ness Gardens, Burton Manor, Neston Recreation Centre and many others.

He also pointed out that due to so much time being put in voluntarily, the actual cash cost of the Week was only around £3,500. This means that a surplus from the NWDA grant and other donations can be carried forward to support the future of the programme.

Robin also acknowledged that greater publicity would be needed in the future, and that the Events sub-committee of ch64inc would be charged with ensuring that this happens.

Any Other Business?

Before moving on to discuss the future direction of the organisation, Andy Mills invited members to put forward any further points.

Jerry Harris of neston.org addressed the meeting to point out that the website contains links to various documents relating to both ch64inc and the MTI, and that it was his hope that it would also be a vehicle for the future Town Council as it gets underway.

Wendy Morris asked the meeting to take note of the Sustainable Communities Act which came into being a year ago, pointing out that it was necessary for councils to opt in to it and that perhaps ch64inc could become involved in supporting the suggestion. Andy Mills agreed that the Management Committee will look into this.

Additional points made were that the message of ch64inc needs to be conveyed to more people and that at least one, if not more, 14-18 year olds should be included on the Management Committee to ensure that as wide a range of viewpoints as possible are included going forward.

Vision

Andy Mills then introduced a brief summary of ch64inc's Vision (you can download the full document here).

He explained that ch64inc exists to speak up for the area, improve social cohesion and encourage community action and that it aims to do so by promoting:

Responsible Citizenship

Make sure we know what his happening, share the information with the wider community and set up forums and other groups to give everyone the opportunity to know what is going on, to offer their ideas and feedback and form action groups to deliver specific aims.

Community & Social Development

Identify areas where communities may feel isolated, excluded, be unaware of or unable to take up opportunities. Concentrating on identifying gaps in the provision of social and leisure opportunities and encouraging local people to get involved in the organisation of social activities that will help bring communities together.

The meeting then moved on to discussing ways in which these aims might be achieved.

Strategy Group

Robin Hughes explained that a Strategy Group set up to respond to the Council's Local Development Framework originally, will become a permanent standing committee. Its brief will include looking at and evaluating the implications of planning strategies affecting the area, and other issues such as the so-called Sainsbury's "dowry."

Robin clarified that there is £750,000 of Section 106 money (agreed as part of the Sainsbury's development deal) that is ring-fenced for improvements to be made within Neston Town Centre. A meeting is to take place at Ellesmere Port Civic Hall on September 25th where the Council's Resources Committee will decide which proposed improvements will go ahead. Approximately 50 ideas form a list which the Committee will consider. Members of the public are not able to speak at the meeting, but if they wish to influence the outcome they are encouraged to speak to their local councillors beforehand to put forward their points of view.

It is felt that it is too short notice for ch64inc's Strategy Group to have any influence at this particular meeting, but that the Group should organise an event or conference to discuss similar issues in both the near and long-term. One such issue is that of the £2million in Capital Receipts that also forms part of the Sainsbury's development agreement. The new Shadow Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) has already ruled that this money will not be specifically dedicated for expenditure in Neston, but that does not preclude bids being made for initiatives in the CH64 area.

Events Committee

Chaired by Eileen Miller (Project Manager of CAN group), this committee seeks to build on and enhance existing events and to encourage the development of new ones. It is currently active in developing a Christmas Festival Week for the area, and has looked at ways of complementing the unique and famous Ladies Day celebrations, amongst other events.

Town Partnership

Bring together the major players in the community to achieve collective aims. This anticipates the involvement of such organisations as the future Town Council, NCYC (the new Resource Centre in Neston) and ch64inc.

A meeting attendee asked how ch64inc can be differentiated from the Town Council - are they not duplicating their efforts? It was explained that the Council will actually be a Parish Council initially (until such time as a Town Clerk is officially appointed, at which point it becomes a Town Council), and that it will take care of Community Assets, whereas ch64inc seeks to promote civic awareness by promoting the issues, views and events taking place in the area.

It was also pointed out that ch64inc emerged as a response to local wishes when opinions were sought prior to the formation of the Market Town Initiative. It has no political agenda, being comprised of independent, voluntary members.

Celia Garvey of Neston Civic Society who have been prime movers in the evolution of the forthcoming Parish Council stressed that people should be aware that the intention is for the new council to be as apolitical as possible. As many politically independent candidates as possible are sought, and the council's meetings will be open to the public.

Andy Mills summarised the preceding discussions by stating that the social role of ch64inc is important, but that it should also be a strong voice to represent the needs and wishes of the community to both CWAC and the future Parish/Town Council.

Keynote Address

Andy then went on to introduce Councillor Brenda Dowding, current EPNBC representative for Parkgate, and elected member for Neston & Parkgate on the Shadow Council CWAC.

Cllr Dowding explained what the Shadow Council have already agreed to date:

• Top level structure, including appointment of Chief Executive Steve Robinson.
• 10 member Executive, including local Councillors Brenda Dowding & Myles Hogg.
• There will be six directors of services, appointments for these positions are currently taking place
• Committment made to reduce management layers
• Emphasis on improving the delivery of services - ensure the job is done right in the first place so that there is less need for avoidable customer contact (i.e. complaints and rectification of errors)
• Streamlining of "back-office" functions such as HR, Finance and IT to reduce duplication and increase effectiveness.

Going forward, the Shadow Council seeks to improve integration of services. It is acknowledged that the existing Cheshire County Council is good at delivery of services but that there needs to be improvements in bringing services together. For example, the new council will work more closely with the Primary Care Trusts to ensure there is no duplication of services.

CWAC is also committed to better consultation with and involvement of local communities, and will be looking at:

• How they commission services and ensure they are from the best providers
• Agreeing a consultation strategy
• Looking at ways to remove the "remoteness" of the new council from all its residents by speaking and listening at a local level - in CH64 the Neston Town/Parish Council will be a major asset to this process.

Cllr Dowding then took some questions from the floor.

Cllr Brenda Dowding speaks at ch64inc AGM

Clive Edwards of the local Historical Society wished to know what will happen to such essential and hitherto efficient services as Archives and the Library Service as a result of the split councils next year.

Brenda responded that there is a Joint Implementation Team whose brief is to look at areas that may benefit from remaining mutual to the two new unitary councils in Cheshire, but that it was also important that the Councils were distinct from one another. Issues such as Library Services and Archives are currently very much under review.

Another question raised was that of Planning issues - how will the Planning Department work?

The planning departments of EPNBC, Chester City Council and Vale Royal all have different ways of working. CWAC is seeking to ensure that best practice from all the current planning departments is emphasised and brought together. They will also benchmark performance in all departments, not just Planning, against other local authorities.

Another attendee asked if the Neston area could expect to be treated with the same perceived contempt as has been the case with the current EPNBC arrangement. Cllr Dowding assured the meeting that CWAC seeks to ensure equality - that every area will be given what it needs.

Finally, the question was raised as to where the new Council's headquarters will be. Currently, meetings are being held throughout the area, at Ellesmere Port, Chester and Winsford. It is anticipated that County Hall in Chester will be the HQ at least in the short-term, but no long-term decision has yet been reached.

Andy Mills closed the meeting by thanking all of ch64inc's members, the Management and sub-Committees, EPNAVCO,  Development Officer Angela Turner, and all the volunteers and organisations who have helped throughout the year.

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Comments

Tony

At 20:13 on 18th September 2008, Tony commented:

I was unable to go to the meeting last night but thank you for the report as it is always encouraging to see our community being put to the forefront. It has been sidelined so often in the past. Well done to all involved for your hard work this year.

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Baz

At 12:09 on 19th September 2008, Baz commented:

Do I understand from this that there will be another citizens week in 2009?

I feel the area could benefit greatly from more activities taht involve the whole community.

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Katie Robson

At 12:21 on 19th September 2008, Katie Robson responded:

Thank you for your interest, VL.

There are discussions taking place regarding a potential Citizen's Week in 2009 - possibly early Summer. ch64inc's Events committee are looking into this and any ideas from the wider community, as to what events might be included, are very welcome. You can either post your suggestions here, or contact me on carriespacey@aboutmyarea.co.uk.

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Clanger

At 00:02 on 24th September 2008, Clanger commented:

The notion of an ongoing (annual) "Citizen's Week" is excellent - something else to bind the community together with a sense of civic pride in addition to Ladies' Day and the Summer Fayre.

Thank you for the detailed report of the group's AGM and communicating their vision & commitment. A "big up" to everyone involved.

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