MINUTES
COASTAL PATHFINDER PROGRAMME
REFERENCE GROUP
29 July 2011
2pm - Room 1, NNDC Offices
Present
Reference Group Members
Malcolm Kerby
Dan Corbett
Rob Wise
Sue Willis
Marti Tipper
Peter Battrick
Peter Frew
NNDC Officers
Rob Goodliffe
Item
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Action
Apologies
Tony Nash
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Agree minutes of the last meeting and matters arising.
Minutes of the last meeting were agreed.
Actions
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The letter to Defra regarding them not attending the conference was not sent
as it was down to illness. The Reference Group supported this action.
Peter Frew attended the Defra Conference.
The Reference Group accepted that the Coastal Team had done everything
they could regards the previously demolished property at Happisburgh. The
Defra demolition payment is also not retrospective.
3
A quick update on project progress was given.
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Description of the proposed evaluation process
The project will be evaluated in three phases:
1. Provision and completion of evaluation questions set by Defra, for completion
by mid August. These questions and draft responses were provided for
comment. Peter Frew as part of his consultancy contract will be working with
the team to finalise the response based on the overall programme.
2. Defra Officers and their consultant evaluators will visit North Norfolk District
Council on 2 September. The details of this visit are not available, although it
will start at 9am. Defra will use the phase 1 evaluation to form a basis for this
stage and it may be that they wish to direct this evaluation at specific projects;
it is likely they will be very interested in the property projects.
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29 July 2011
PF/Coas
tal Team
3. It is intended that Stage 3 of the evaluation will be completed after the visit
from Defra. It will comprise the preparation of final reports for each project and
an overall evaluation of the programme as a whole, this is beyond what is
required by Defra. This stage may also incorporate activities with members of
our communities who have been involved, benefitted or impacted by the
programme.
Rob Wise and Malcolm Kerby reported back to the group following their direct
discussions with Defra regarding the evaluation of the Pathfinder Programme.
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Defra evaluation questions – consideration for response
The draft responses to the Defra evaluation questions were circulated and discussed.
The overall response was agreed with a few further comments to be considered:
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The response could refer to other funding streams such as the 2 Seas Intereg
£20million communities fund annually not enough nationally for all adaptation.
The Pathfinder has had the effect of pump priming communities to begin to
enable them to begin to overcome and come to terms with coastal change.
The Defra evaluation seemed to be one stop short of what is required.
It can not be stressed further that information to communities is critical.
The buy to lease scheme was not feasible, but Defra must be made aware of
the other options.
The activities over the past year would not have happened without Pathfinder
Any future direction from Pathfinder should build on ongoing policies, not be
one off schemes.
The evaluation needs to be holistic, not one aspect
The whole settlement approach was of benefit and gave the community new
life
It is essential that the momentum form Pathfinder is not lost
The Pathfinder was a small amount of funding, but a lot has been achieved –
but pump priming is important
Blight is linked to community and business confidence
There is a distinction between the Pathfinder and projects – applied research
and pure research
Communications with the public must be positive
Any coastal change project must not raise expectations beyond what it can
deliver.
Little continual funding will keep motivation and progress
Defence and adaption should be tackled as one thing not two
£1.5million a year could potentially meet north Norfolk’s adaptation needs
Blight still needs to be addressed e.g. lines on an SMP
Any further thoughts the Reference group members may have should be fed back to
RG and PF asap.
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Communications and Press Coverage
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Media coverage remains extremely positive
Media cover as whole has been supportive
Some hiccups – buy to lease
Keep information flowing to the media until the end of project to keep interest
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29 July 2011
Group
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Discussion regarding Reference Group and Programme wrap up
The group will continue until the whole project and finances are wrapped up in March
2012
Many of the works will be completed end Sept/Oct
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Any other business
Happisburgh celebration – this should be once the properties are demolished and all
work on the ground is complete
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Next Meeting
The date of the next meeting will be at 2.30pm Tuesday 13th September (as
amended)
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29 July 2011