BELL TOWER COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING: MINUTES
TUESDAY 29th JULY 2014
Attendees: David Neale (Chair), Jonathan Dart (Vice-chair), Rod Plinston (Secretary),
Barbara Kendall, Steve Bale (Membership Secretary), Pat Short, Richard Chandler. Martin
Treasure and Hayden Cole (Cardiff Road residents).
Apologies: Rose Brannigan (minutes secretary), Justine McMinn, Sandie Gill.
Minutes: Minutes of the June meeting were agreed.
Matters arising:
Community First: Barbara was due to speak to Mrs Main (Addison/Denbeigh corner) about
a possible location for the bench or noticeboard. David would speak to the owners of
Monmouth Court in Northfield Road about the strip of land adjacent and confirm ownership
via a Land Registry check. But alternative sites for either item were still needed. Barbara
advised that the previously mentioned ‘September’ deadline for Community First concerned
new applications, while existing ones had up to Jan/Feb 2015 to report demands for funding
to the CF authority. David noted that the CF website provided examples of how CF funds
were being spent.
Karen Rowland (BSANA) Ideas: The Committee considered the key points from Karen’s
advice to our June meeting – to ‘compare and contrast’ and see how BTCA could benefit.
While BSANA placed emphasis on improving peoples’ lives and the street environment, this
was much less of a pressure for BTCA. While we were becoming effective and gaining
experience of providing community events with a fun element, we could still put more
consideration into “getting the community together” on issues of importance. To this end, we
could consider periodic ‘Public Meetings’ with councillors on matters of importance to the
Community. As a comparison, BSANA were good at putting more pressure on councillors, to
make them work more clearly for the benefit of the Community. The BTCA Committee would
plan a Public Meeting for the autumn. The example of train noise from the railway was a
good topic for many in the area.
RNN: we were in the quiet season for RNN events – Reading Pride and Amersham Road
Fun day follow, also South Reading Fun Day and a CADRA event. RNN’s AGM would be on
29 October.
Council Matters: Rose received e-mails on planning applications and decisions. Nothing
to report currently.
RVA: Rod advised that he had received no response from Rachel Miller of RVA to seek
advice on community engagement in BTCA activities. David undertook to remind her at his
next attendance at the RVA office.
Finance: There was no new finance report at this meeting.
Membership: Jonathan reported that there were 2 further new members, now 50 in total.
David reported that more could join via the Facebook group for BTCA.
Local business engagement: Richard was working on several new openings for
membership discounts – Reading Drive-In (garage in Cardiff Road), the sandwich shop by
the scooter shop on Caversham Road, the cycle shop and Drew’s ironmongers.
Neighbourhood News: David asked Committee members to supply any draft items for the
September edition by 15 August. There would also be flyers for the Big Skip Day, Crowne
Plaza Barbecue and the Autumn Quiz.
Recent Events: Barbara reported that the recent Health Walk (12 July) had a good
attendance. The next would was planned with a bus journey (details to be confirmed)
Future Events:
Treasure Hunt: David proposed that with several summer / autumn events in hand, we
could hold the material and planning for a Treasure Hunt until next summer.
Big Skip: the Big Skip Day would now be Saturday 16th August from 1 – 4pm. Crowne
Plaza would provide free hot and soft drinks and we would aim to attract new members
visiting the skip. There would be a bike repair workshop.
Crowne Plaza Barbecue: Barbara confirmed that the hotel would hold the barbecue on the
terrace or riverbank at 6:30pm on Saturday 13th September for £10 per head, catering for
about 25-40 people.
Autumn Quiz: the Autumn Quiz would now be held at the Crowne Plaza on Friday 17
October in the same format as the May event.
Cardiff Road Train Noise: Martin and Hayden from Cardiff Road were invited to describe
the current difficulties for residents alongside the railway embankment. Despite mitigations
put in place by Network Rail, noise levels from idling trains in the sidings and general air
pollution affecting back gardens were getting worse. The residents considered that noise
management plans for trains may not be being observed and the Council had been
ineffective in providing support for abatement of the problem. BTCA Committee welcomed
the insights provided by the Cardiff Road residents and proposed supportive action, with the
train’s situation as the theme for a Public Meeting.
AOB: there was none.
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