FRIENDS OF CHORLEYWOOD COMMON
23rd ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
28 FEBRUARY 2014 at 8pm in Chorleywood Library
Minutes
Welcome by Chairman, Greg Hill
1. Apologies for absence 33 in attendance, including guests Raj Khiroya, Andrew
Goddard and Michelle Putman. Apologies for absence from Olive Entwistle, Gareth
Hunt, Stuart Marshall.
2. Minutes of AGM held on February 28th 2013 These had been circulated with the
Notice of Meeting and were taken as read and signed as a correct record. Proposal to
accept the minutes as a true record proposed by Janet Anders, seconded by Michael
Hyde and carried unanimously.
3. The Chairman’s Report. Greg Hill reported on a mixed year. He noted the high level
of activity including the proposed play area, nature trail and community plan.
The various talks and summer events were mentioned, including Bats without
Belfries, British Reptiles and Amphibians, Dawn Chorus, Beating the Bounds, Pond
Dipping, Herb Walk, Flower Walk, Fungus Foray, an open discussion on the
proposed Play Area and Butterflies of Hertfordshire.
A butterfly survey had been undertaken by Michael Hyde. Simon Varnals had
undertaken fixed point photography, covering 22 sites on the common over a period
of more than a year. Village day was a success and Michael Warburg was thanked
for his work in this regard.
Innovations included the new signs on the car parks by the Memorial Hall and
Shepherd’s Bridge. Progress was being made in relation to grazing, which was now
expected to be for a short period in the Spring and a longer period in the Autumn.
The play area had been rejected by the Council on health and safety grounds; FoCC’s
preference is for a nature trail. A committee consisting of representatives of
Chorleywood Mums, Resident’s Association and FoCC (Michael Hyde and Alison
Rubens) were looking for common ground on this issue. It was noted that the The
community plan would likely address this. Bob Sutherland and Gareth Hunt
represent FoCC on the Steering group for the community plan.
There is a
vacancy on the Committee. The Chairman thanked the Committee, the Secretary
and the Treasurer.
4. The Treasurer’s Report. Nick Simons informed the meeting that after more than 15
years in the role, he will be retiring with immediate effect. He gave thanks to Paul
Anders, who had audited/independently verified his accounts for many years and
who will also retire from his role.
Nick reported that Income/Subs is/are stable. There was an excess of income over
expenditure (£680) and there is a healthy balance (£4251). Due to the pattern of
payment of subscriptions the balance at bank was £5,022 (following a donation from
Waitrose this increased to £5,263). Accordingly there was no proposal for any subs
increase.
Proposal to accept the Treasurer’s Report proposed by Les Dacre, seconded by Owen
Edis and carried unanimously.
5. Resolution. Greg briefly outlined the resolution to amend the Constitution to
authorise independent examination or independent verification of the accounts.
Carried by more than a 2/3rds majority
6. Arrangement for informal verification of accounts. There were no volunteers for this
task. The meeting agreed that the Committee can make the appropriate arrangements
regarding the informal verification of the accounts.
7. Election of Officers.
a) Chairman willing to continue in post with no others proposed. Proposal for the
Chairman to be elected proposed by Lyn Sutherland, seconded by Simon Varnals
and carried unanimously. The Chairman was re-elected unopposed.
b) Vice Chairman Alison Rubens willing to continue in that position proposed by
Jackie Worrall, seconded by Michael Hyde.
c) Secretary Petrea Conway to be re-elected proposed by Janet Anders, seconded by
Nikki Varnals.
d) Treasurer Nick Simons is standing down. Michael Hyde to act in this capacity on
a temporary basis, proposed by Marilyn Hampton and seconded by Anthony
Boswell.
e) Membership Secretary Stuart Marshall to be re-elected proposed by Simon
Varnals, seconded by Nikki Varnals.
f) The Chairman asked the meeting to agree to the appointment of Officers being taken as a
single resolution, which was agreed. On the resolution being put, the re-election of the
Vice-Chairman and Secretary, the election of the acting Treasurer and re-election of the
Membership Secretary were carried unanimously.
8. Election of Committee. Michael Warburg, Anthony Boswell and Jackie Worrall were
to retire by rotation. Jeremy Graham had retired from the committee in July 2013.
Bob Sutherland and Gareth Hunt had been co-opted onto the Committee during the
year. A resolution to re-elect Michael Warburg was proposed by Petrea Conway,
seconded by Jackie Worrall. A resolution to re-elect Jackie Worrall was proposed by
Simon Varnals and seconded by Janet Anders. A resolution to re-elect Anthony
Boswell was proposed by Nikki Varnals, seconded by Michael Hyde. A resolution to
elect Bob Sutherland was proposed by Alison Rubens, seconded by Jackie Worrall.
A resolution to elect Gareth Hunt was proposed by Michael Hyde, seconded by
Simon Varnals. The Chairman asked the meeting to agree to the election of
Committee members being taken as a single resolution, which was agreed. On the
resolution being put, the re-election of Michael Warburg, Anthony Boswell and
Jackie Worrall and the election of Bob Sutherland and Gareth Hunt were carried
unanimously. The Chairman therefore confirmed that from the conclusion of the
meeting the Committee would consist of the officers, together with Olive Entwistle
(President), Mike Warburg (Vice-president), Anthony Boswell, Gareth Hunt, Bob
Sutherland, Simon Varnals and Jackie Worrall.
9. Fixed Point photography. Simon Varnals had undertaken a series of photographs
from 22 locations on the Common over a period of 13 months. A short rolling
presentation of photographs from 5 locations over the period February 2013 to
January 2014 was shown. The locations were: Dog Kennel Lane, Larks Meadow,
Dew Pond, the first Fire Ride and Church Pond. The presentation was very well
received. Simon explained that each set of photos takes around 50 minutes to take, he
then downloads the photos for the Parish Council. Simon asked for any volunteers
who wished to help to contact him. It was noted a similar exercise was planned for
Philipshill Wood.
10. Any other business Michael Hyde drew the meeting’s attention to the walking tour
planned at Maple Lodge Nature Reserve on Wednesday March 26th.
Thanks were given to Marilyn Hampton for her work with Waitrose to obtain a
donation.
There being no other formal items for discussion the AGM closed at 9pm.
Immediately following the meeting, there was a short refreshment break.
This was followed by a presentation describing the proposed Chorleywood Community Plan
followed by an Open Forum discussion on three topics, what should be in the Community
Plan, the proposals for a Nature Trail on the Common and the proposed children’s Play
Area.
Community Plan
Jackie Worrall from the Parish Council, Bob Sutherland from FoCC and Andrew Goddard,
the Common Ranger led the discussion on the Community Plan. Petrea Conway took notes
and Greg Hill moderated.
Jackie Worrall explained the background to the Parish Council’s preference for a
Community Plan. This can help give local people more say in what happens in their own
area. A Neighbourhood Plan is a legal entity covering planning for both houses and
businesses, but not wider issues. A Parish plan is not legally binding but wider ranging.
The Parish Council had asked a number of local organisations, including WRVS,
Neighbourhood Watch, FoCC, Chorleywood Mums, the business community and the
Residents’ Association to participate in a steering group on the Plan. TRDC had been asked
to recognise the parish boundary as the boundary for the purposes of the Plan (which could
be a Neighbourhood Plan, Community Plan or Parish Plan). Strap line ‘Planning our future
together’.
The Parish Council wants to obtain residents’ views, possibly through the use of Survey
Monkey. There would be different costs associated with the different types of plans; the
deadline for application is 31 December 2014.
A stand will be taken at the May French market to try to educate people about the Plan.
Jackie Worrall noted the Plan could help in planning, but could not overrule significant
decisions.
The discussion widened to the survey in relation to the Play Area, noting that the analysis of
the survey results was flawed, however, there would be no funding for a professional survey
company to oversee any survey.
Sarratt had been able to involve volunteers in the analysis of their survey. The Croxley
Green survey had 84 questions covering a wide range of topics including parking, play area
traffic and a community centre.
Likely topics for Chorleywood may include parking, the mix of businesses in the village,
light pollution and public transport.
Nature Trail/Play Area
Greg Hill noted that the Play Area could be addressed in the Plan. He commented that the
general view of the FOCC Committee was that the Nature trail was a good idea but the Play
Area as proposed was not appropriate for the common. However, the Committee wanted to
understand the membership’s view. For this reason the resolutions had been drawn up.
Andrew Goddard’s work on the tree trunk toadstools and the holly tunnel were noted. Also
work with local children helping educate them about the wildlife on the Common.
There is a Parish Council proposal to encourage people to use the Common and learn about
habitats with information on boards at 2 or 3 entry points to the Common.
Owen Edis asked regarding the location of the Nature Trail and it was noted that
consideration would need to be given to proximity to the cricket pitch, horse track and golf
course.
It was queried whether the Play Area had been thrown out, whether the funds originally
available were still available, or whether they were now to be spent on the Nature Trail.
Jackie Worall was able to confirm that the money is still in reserve/in the budget but there
may be new councillors after May elections with a different view on the matter. The matter
of maintenance of any Play Area was raised.
It was noted that one suggestion was to locate the Play Area in Chorleywood House Estate
(CHE).
This was felt to be a good location since the football pitches and tennis courts are already
located there and a Play Area would provide entertainment for younger siblings. Crossing
the A404 was not felt to be a major issue as most users would be driven to the Play Area.
However, (part of ) CHE is also a Local Nature Reserve.
It was also noted that there were no plans to extend the Nature Trail to CHE and that the
Parish Council has no remit in CHE.
The meeting considered the resolutions.
Resolution A ‘The Friends of Chorleywood Common support the Parish Council’s proposal
for a ‘Nature Trail’ on the Common.
Unanimous vote for the resolution.
Resolution B ‘The Friends of Chorleywood Common oppose the proposal for a ‘Play Area’
with climbing and other play equipment at a single location on the Common’.
6 abstentions
No votes against the resolution
23 votes in favour of the resolution.
There being no other business the meeting closed at 10.15pm