Kickoff Meeting to reconstitute the residents’ association

A planning kick-off meeting was held on the 1st May 2009.

The goal of the meeting was to plan and agree the (re)launch of the Residents Association for the area.

The minutes of the meeting are shown below:

Residents’ Association
Minutes of Planning Meeting held on 1st May 2009.

1. Name of Association

The group considered firstly if there was a need for a residents’ association as well as the existing Moor Lane Action Group (MLAG ). The decision was that an association was needed as this is the format recognised by the council and which will allow us to communicate effectively with the council.

The discussion then turned to an appropriate name for the new residents association. The decision was to use Westfield Common Residents’ Association as a working title and review this at the next meeting. Derek McCrum may be able to advise.

Having checked the Window on Woking website the following groups are registered:
Westfield (Hoe Valley ) Residents’ Association ( chaired by Paul Owen )
Westfield Pond Action Group!
Gloster Road and Priors Croft Residents’ Association

Willowbank Residents’ Association do not seem to appear on the website but we know they exist – chaired by Kerry Denholm – Price.

Thanks to Paul and Kerry for joining us at the first meeting and for their input.

2. Moor Lane Area Residents Association

This group was set up in 2006 and was chaired by Chris Heisig. Chris is no longer involved and the group has not met for some time. However it is still registered with Woking Council and a useful suggestion is to continue with this group, renaming and and relaunching it with a new constitution.

3. Moor Lane Action Group ( MLAG )

Nicola Cull and Martin Lovell attended from MLAG – others are expected to join the next meeting. MLAG have held a number of meetings and have already taken a number of actions forward, including organising a large meeting at Moorcroft which led to the suggestion of a residents association. MLAG will continue to meet and will work with the new association.

4. Establishing the New Association

Bill Corney has offered to stand as chair and to set up a further meeting and an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Residents Association in the near future. It was agreed that the new group would want to work closely with existing groups and will need to encourage interest and membership from as wise an area as possible.

Paul Owen said that the membership of his association paid £5 per annum and this seems to be an adequate amount.

The new association will also need a secretary and a treasurer. There was a suggestion to include the option to rotate the chair in the constitution and also to have a deputy chair.

5. Communication

The group suggested that the new association should communicate in a variety of different ways to ensure it reaches as many people as possible. Gary agreed to input the contact details collected at Moorcroft and to forward these to Bill.

Nicola indicated that she is able to help with producing and printing a newsletter. Karen also has skills in this area. Members of the group who act as representatives would be able to speak directly to people in their roads. This would overcome the problem of people who may not be on–line.

6. Local Councillors

It is clear that we will need to work closely with local councillors including Simon Bellord and Derek McCrum. We should consider inviting them to a future meeting but emphasise the importance of a non – political arena. We need to consider carefully how best to get our views represented to the council.

7. Update on the Moor Lane Development

· Local councillors will know when the planning application has been submitted – it hadn’t been at the time of this meeting.
· We can make an FOI request for a copy of the transport assessment.
· We could then employ a transport consultant to audit the assessment and make a response to it as an association.
· Access to the new housing estate is the main point of weakness in the plans and this is the point to focus on
· We need to be clear on the boundary of Moor Lane with Sutton Green.
· We need to have an understanding of the relevant building regulations.

Claire Castle
11/5/09