Minutes of a meeting of the Management Group of the Marden Community Plan held on 10th July 2006

 Present

John Verrall                 Chairman
John Banks
Mike Lutener               Parish Council representative
Graham Tippen          Coordinator

 Apologies
Chris Turner                Treasurer

 Open events feedback 

The open day events had been well attended and a significant number of questionnaires had been completed.  The results of these were now being analysed by the Workstream Leaders and the information circulated. 

The more non-specific ‘Grumble Board’ comments were also discussed and the co-ordinator will be analysing these in greater depth over the next few weeks. 

All the feedback will be discussed at the next Working Group meeting on 20^th July and it is important that as much information is available by then. Action: Project Co-ordinator to remind Workstream Leaders about completion deadline and check if there are any problems in meeting this.

 The graphs and other data already circulated by Richard Adam as Transport Workstream leader were of particular interest to members.  They revealed that speeding, parking and other traffic issues were of a major concern to Villagers. The Grumble Board also had a large number of comments on these issues.

 It was suggested that we look into whether funding of visual speed warning signs at a couple of locations in Marden (similar to those at Linton Hill and Harrietsham) would be an option under the Community Plan.  It was agreed to discuss further once the full analysis of questionnaires was complete.

 Kent Rural Towns Event 

The Chairman and Co-ordinator had attended a Kent Rural Towns event led by Sure Beer on 7^th July.  They had not learnt much that would benefit our work, though one item of interest was a talk by the leader of the Sandwich Town project who revealed that they had not only refurbished their village hall but also carried out various other projects in their community, contrary to the understanding that any funding would be for only a single project.  The way round this is to find a suitable generic title for the project that covers all the individual elements.  They must sit together as a cohesive project, however, so cannot be wildly different from each other. 

On the basis of this information, John Banks said that it could be possible to provide a number of additional facilities at the Memorial Hall, for example utilising roof space over the public lavatories by means of a small lift.

Next Steps 

The next steps in completing our plan were outlined as: 

i)           Complete analysis of questionnaires (WS teams) and undertake overall analysis of comments and issues, identify potential priorities and actions (co-ordinator) Hopefully by October 2006 

ii)         Draft initial report for Management and Working Groups, Parish Council (by end 2006) 

iii)        Mgt and WS groups discuss and agree actions with Parish Council 

iv)        Hold second Open Day to present proposals to community and gain comments (early 2007) 

v)          Publish Plan

Working Group meeting 

The Co-ordinator asked if the August Working Group meeting could be postponed as he would be on holiday.  The Management Group had no objections, but a final decision would be made at the next WG meeting on July 20^th. 

NEXT MEETING THURSDAY 3^rd August 8.00PM THE ALLENS