Minutes
of the Risborough Area Business Group AGM
Held
at
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Attendees |
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President L.Adlam
:L.Adlam Architects |
M.Thomas :Coppins
B&B |
J.Cumming :Jinca Ltd |
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Chairman G.Wiles :IFC |
J.Thomas :Coppins
B&B |
N.Cook
:Jinca Ltd |
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Hon Sec P.Pitcher
:P.A.M. |
J.Hughes :Corporate
Comms |
S.Marriott : PR School |
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H.Brown :Pickles
Delicatessen |
M.Adlam :Adlam
Reprographics |
A.Smith :J Smith &
Sons |
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M.Pitcher: P.A.M. Ltd |
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Item |
Topic |
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1 |
Chairman’s Welcome The
Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming everyone to the AGM. |
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2 |
Apologies for Absence
received from:
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3 |
Annual Statement: Chairman
Your
town, your future Your
community your voice Business
voice is RABG Originally
a Bill and Lance initiative Chairman’s role: “A job where all you have to do is sit and
chair a meeting!!” Been
here 20 years and this year learned more about Risborough politics in 1st
2 months than had gathered over 20 years So 12 months and what
have we talked about and possibly achieved? Came
across obscure things such as surveys for: Car
parking fees Areas
of premises Shops
list Rates
prices Car
Parking Presentation: Robin WDC and his boss Planning Presentation: Richard Grant Need for planning
flexibility/Congestion Relief 2035
Study Presentation:
David Lock, Meetings at Legion got
most points across A4010 Public
Meeting and transport committee representations Town
Festival Presentation:
Reg Orsler Rep (Mary Shuttle) now on
committee Business Presentations Various Chinnor
Railway Presentation:
Richard Floyd (died
recently) Meetings since with
railways Business
Link Presentation:
Christine Williams Employment
Law Presentation: Peninsular Members scheme reduced
price Waste Presentation: WDC Fly tipping fines and
recycling Neighbourhd
Policing/NAG Presentation: Nigel Faux 4 Members on NAG Governor, Paul –
Mentors – Milk Round Grants Presentation:
John Vessey RRO
Fire Safety Presentation: IFC Risborough
Rewards Presentations: Mike and his sub group Ready for launch
subject to legal issues RACA Steering
and group sub committees reps RABG/RACA working
together as groups CCTV Lots of
lobbying Now being implemented we are
told Press
coverage Herald
and Bucks Free Press & RADIO!! Railway/Hypnos
site Representation of
business views at several committee meetings.
Provision for business
space and not dormitory Transport Speed
limits/ Culverton Crossroads Grants
for Broadband Presentation: Pam’s energetic delivery Quilt
show Simon
success Town
Council
Presentation to come Football and potential
legal cases from our Mayor “allegedly”. Removal WDC rep Carl
Etholen B2B Started
first annual event Tourism
& Funding Presentation
to come Frances Gomme Signs donation Newsletter Started
compiling Socials Christmas/Bills
BBQ/ Hearing Dogs Work items for next 12
months Small
Business Federation connections Coverage
in CrossTalk Special
Parking Area (SPA) To monitor and
lobby Rates To
monitor and lobby PRTC To come,
working together Ring
Round To
come Membership/PR To increase profile MP David
Lidington (Aylesbury), building conduits and confidence. John Bercow (Buckingham
- met at weekend and scheduled meeting) Market
meetings/Town Forum Dennis Green and
Alan Turner meetings monthly High
Street Study Special
meeting for businesses to be arranged Thanks
to all of the helpers this year.
Especially: Pam
for secretarial Heather
for food at meetings and clearing up Mike
for chairing the Rewards task group John/Carl/Bill
for info and feedback Paul
for Governors at School Lance
for guidance A job where all you
have to do is sit and chair a meeting!! |
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4 |
Annual Statement:
Secretary Minutes of seven meetings have been distributed together with additional
information from speakers: November: Marylene Mansfield-Williams CEAC
presentation Grundon waste management services February: Survey of Risborough
shops June: Analysis of WDC car parking costs &
charges eBucks Broadband Initiative information packs July: Wycombe Development Framework
presentation Rural Business Diversification (WDC) pack September: Peninsular Business Services’ Changes
in Employment Law pack IFC’s summary of the new fire regulations Risborough 2035 Study summary Membership: currently 94 businesses are on our email listing with a
further 12 who are contacted via post.
Average attendance at meetings is 20 - 26 people RABG website currently features 15 businesses |
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5 |
Annual Statement:
Treasurer In the absence of the Treasurer, the
Chairman presented the following: “Due to the indecision over when to
charge members of the RABG for their subscriptions and subsequent change over
of officers, there have only been a small number of members who have paid
their 2005/6 dues. I am awaiting bills from Pickles for
their catering support for our monthly events and so our final balance is an
overstatement of our current financial position. We require a decision from the AGM on
subscription rates for 2006/7. I will
then issue bills during October/November. I have made contact with Business Link
to refresh our business database and will be pursuing this during November” RABG Balance Sheet
2005/6
Payments
agreed and currently outstanding include: ·
£200 to RACA for notice boards ·
£700 to Risborough Rewards to help launch
loyalty scheme and contribute towards the costs of printing and development
of the Risborough Rewards website. It
was agreed that those members who have paid to date will have their
membership carried forward to 05/2007. The
proposal to increase the membership fee to £20 from May 2007 was carried
unanimously. Following
a query why RABG was making a £200 donation to RACA, John Hughes (RACA)
explained that although £40K has been promised from SEEDA for the Tourism
project, this amount must be match funded.
Chiltern Conservation, WDC & BCC will be contributing, and it was
hoped that RABG and local businesses will also give donations. The Tourism project aims to raise footfall
in Risborough by 10% in the first year.
A footfall study has already been done and the results should be ready
soon. The
Treasurer’s report, proposed Graham Wiles, seconded Lance Adlam, was
accepted. The
issue of there being no independent review of the accounts was raised. It was agreed that an independent accountant
or auditor to review the accounts should be appointed and this should be
written into the constitution, which when drafted and available will be
presented to the members for ratification at an EGM to be appended to a
monthly meeting. Similarly the
signatories on cheques and the time lapse for paying cheques should be
reviewed and included in the constitution. Lance
Adlam explained that the money to start RABG was donated by the old Chamber
of Trade. There may be some more funds
when the Chamber of Trade is finally wrapped up. |
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6 |
As
no nominations had been received for Press officer, Heather Brown offered to
take on this role as well as Membership secretary. All
officers and representatives were elected unanimously. Stuart
Marriott is very keen for someone to replace Paul Jeffries as RABG
representative on the school’s board of governors. He outlined the commitment required and
explained that training would be given if needed. If anyone is interested, please contact him
directly. Information on the
involvement of being a school governor is included under Appendix A of these minutes |
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7 |
AGM
closed at |
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Minutes of the Risborough Area Business Group Monthly Meeting
Held at
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Item |
Topic |
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1 |
Chairman’s Welcome The
Chairman reopened the meeting following the AGM. |
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2 |
Presentation Apologies
from The
students will be asked to present at the November meeting instead. |
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3 |
Minutes of the meeting
held on The
Minutes were agreed as a true record. |
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4 |
Matters arising from
Minutes not already covered by the Agenda Progress
on current issues of interest to RABG: ·
Culverton
Crossroads: project going ahead and funding has been allocated. Work on the realignment of the roads should
start in the autumn. ·
CCTV: subject
to final agreement by WDC at the end of October, eight, possibly ten cameras
will be installed in Risborough early 2007.
The camera locations have already been agreed with the police. ·
Notice
boards:
the notice boards funded by RACA with help from RABG will be installed by the
end of October. The additional funds
needed were provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Countryside
Commission. WDC did not make any
further contribution. ·
High Street
study:
PRTC asked Jacobs Babtie to consult with RABG before completing the study,
which should be within the month. ·
Rider-on-call: currently
running at a loss. A figure-of-eight
bus service linking the station, town centre and surrounding housing would be
an asset to Risborough. It would cost
around £40K per year, perhaps BCC would fund it? |
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5 |
RACA Action Group
Reports: Community
& Housing. ·
Strategy is drafted but struggling for
membership to deal with elderly. RAYM
(Risborough Area Youth Matters) was well attended. Economic. ·
Tony Maisey chaired the meeting which
discussed the Chinnor Railway and RACA Visitor projects Transport. ·
Cycling report and strategy is being prepared
with maps ·
At the recent A4010 public meeting, various
suggestions were made to reduce traffic flow in |
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6 |
Any Other Business 1.
Hypnos site: Hypnos is
in favour of solely housing in order to fund its relocation. PRTC appeared to be in favour of ‘social
housing’, higher-rise units and some retail units by the station. Concern was raised that this could lead to
a dormitory town. Risborough 2035 study
and WDC Local Development Framework both recommend mixed use with affordable
housing and business units. A meeting
is scheduled for 17th October for all businesses on the ‘Hypnos’
site to raise their concerns. It was felt important
that this site should be made an attractive entry point to Risborough. Anyone wishing for a
more detailed summary should contact Graham Wiles. 2.
Hotel study: the
report has now been delivered. Members
commented that it was very disappointing.
Only the top ten businesses in Risborough were consulted. No consideration was given to possible
other usage or resulting traffic issues etc. 3.
Local
organisations: Market Town Forum, RABG, RACA etc are all
voluntary and are struggling to resource all the excellent initiatives currently
underway. They would benefit from a paid
part time assistant based in Risborough to help with administration. We are exploring if there is any chance of
finding funds for such a position. |
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5 |
Date of Next Meeting The next meeting is Wednesday
15th November, The
meeting closed at |
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Hon.Sec Pam Pitcher |
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Appendix
A
Princes
Risborough School Governor
What
do governors do?
·
Get
involved in the life of the school
·
Support
the school
·
Challenge
the school to do its best by every child
·
Set
achievement targets for the school
·
Link
with departments and visit to see how subjects are taught
·
Keep
an eye on the school’s improvement plan
·
Set
the school’s annual budget
·
Get
involved in recruiting key members of staff
·
Look
at school policies
·
Keep
an eye on pupil exclusions
·
Work
closely with senior management team and the head teacher
How?
Governors make decisions collectively as a
team and most of the work is done through meetings. Some tasks are given to committees. Governors typically join two committees which
meet as follows:
|
Full governing body |
4pm (Thursday) |
Termly |
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Informal governors’ meeting |
7pm |
Termly |
|
Curriculum committee |
4pm |
5 times a year |
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Personnel committee |
4pm |
4 times a year |
|
Premises committee |
4pm |
Termly |
|
Pupil welfare committee |
4pm |
Termly |
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Finance committee |
4pm |
4 times a year |
|
Management & strategy committee |
2pm |
Termly |
To find out more, please contact the head
teacher Mr Rowe, or the Chair of Governors Mrs Angela Kent via the school
office 01844 345496 or email office@princesrisborough.bucks.sch.uk