BROCKHILL RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting
held at the Batchley Community Centre on Monday October 15th2018
In Attendance:
Committee: Sylvia Collinson, David Dallaway, Lynn Dallaway, Cllr Gemma Monaco, Stephen Siddle, Julie Vincent.
Members:Matt Collinson, Les Cook, Robin Dennis, Cherry Gilks, Malcolm Gilks, Graham Haynes, Marion Haynes, Claire Ivins, Louise Moakes, Paul Moakes, Mike Vincent, Jean Vranic, Jean Wood,.
Councillors:RBC Anita Clayton, WCC Brandon Clayton, RBC Pattie Hill, WCC Robin Lunn.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE:
Apologies were received from John Dallaway, James Doble, Tisha Greenway and Peter Merricks.
The Councillors and Committee were introduced to those members present by David Dallaway. He extended a particularly warm welcome to Cllr Pattie Hill following her recent recovery from illness.
ADOPTION OF THE MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS AGM:
The minutes of last year’s AGM were available on the Brockhill Residents’ Association website for members to read and were adopted forthwith.
APPROVAL AND ADOPTION OF THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDING 28THFEBRUARY 2018:
David Dallaway provided members with a copy of the Income and Expenditure Account and Balance Sheet for the 12 months ended 28thFebruary 2018. The overall profit of £382 increased our funds to £977. The profit arose from two sources, viz.: Brandon Clayton’s donation of £250 from his Worcestershire Councillors’ Divisional Fund and Quiz Night profits of £219. Julie Vincent had sent a letter of thanks to all individuals and companies who had donated prizes to the Quiz Night’s raffle.
Web hosting costs had been reduced by more than 50% and thanks were given to Jules Collinson for negotiating this.
Since the 1stMarch 2018 we had received a further £440 from three sources. Committee member Stephen Siddle, a member of the Alvechurch Dramatic Society, had arranged and performed in a Murder Mystery Evening. Our share of profits from the two highly enjoyable evenings was £300. Thanks were given to Stephen and his fellow thespians.
£100 was raised for the Association from a Fashion Show at Beoley Village Hall, organised in the summer by one of our members, Julia Cuzner. The show also raised £200 for Birmingham Christmas Shelter. Thanks were given to Julia and those members who attended and supported the show, and to the local Tesco store for their donation of a couple of bottles of wine to the raffle.
Member Robin Dennis had again donated a child’s bicycle for auction, this being his third such generous offer. It was disappointing that the auction, held shortly before Christmas and advertised on the Association’s website, Facebook page and notice boards, received no bids. Robin subsequently sold the bicycle through his business and kindly donated £40 to Association funds.
Jules Collinson had managed to negotiate a further reduction down to £58 for this year’s web hosting costs and again he was thanked for his efforts.
At today’s date the Association’s funds stood at £1,360.
The Accounts were received, adopted and approved by members.
DISCUSSION OF THE FOLLOWING ONGOING ISSUES:-
- Holyoakes Field First School:-
The school in Bridge Street is still waiting to relocate to a new building on Pointers Way, Brockhill East. They are now hoping that this will happen in September 2020. The delay in commencement of building was due to land ownership issues. These have now been resolved and the remedial work, i.e. pinning down the land to prepare for the building to start, the laying of utilities etc. has begun. The school is not being built by Persimmon.
David Dallaway read out a recent newsletter message sent out by the school’s Headmistress:-
“Parents have been asking when we expect to move into the new build on Brockhill Estate. Unfortunately we have been waiting for access road to be built which we believe has recently been completed but are still awaiting for the land to be transferred to the local authority. Once this happens we will inform you but until then it is not possible to give any estimation or time limit for the project to be completed.”
Matt Collinson asked the Councillors about the road plans near to the school and if there would be enough turning space for cars dropping off children. Robin Lunn said that there was going to be a traffic island constructed. We were told that Burrington Road, which is the main road through Pointers Way, will eventually be a through road to Bordesley, which will ease the congestion of traffic.
- Adoption of the Nature Reserve:-
Peter Merricks, a member and former Chairman of the Association, had been asking persistently since 2016, when the piece of land known as the Nature Reserve was to be adopted. This is the area, popular with dog walkers, accessible from gates in Brockhill Lane and Plumstead Close. In August 2017 Pattie Hill had chased up Ruth Bamford, RBC’s Head of Planning and Regeneration, for an update on the matter. Ruth’s response was very disappointing from somebody in her position:-
“It is not adopted. I (sic) terms of whether or not Persimmon still own a particular parcel of land this would be a land registry matter.”
Brandon Clayton said the matter was in the hands of Persimmon’s lawyers and that at present, RBC are maintaining the land. Brandon added that some open spaces, previously thought to have been adopted, have not been fully adopted. Anita Clayton said that Persimmon Homes had got away with these adoption issues for too long and it was now time to involve our MP, Rachel Maclean, in an attempt to resolve matters. The Councillors all agreed that they would put their signatures to our letter to Ms Maclean.
[Post AGM note: The October 26thedition of The Redditch & Alcester Standard carried a front page headline, “Homes giant in dock over delay in payout.” Consequently no contact has yet been made with Rachel Maclean as the newspaper’s editor had brought the article’s contents to the attention of both Redditch Borough Council and Persimmon Homes.]
- Community Building:-
We informed members of a visit, by several of the Committee, to view the bungalow recently built by Persimmon as part of its Meadow View development. This building had been offered by Persimmon as a community building to serve as a temporary solution to the lack of community facilities. We had been informed by Kate Tait, Persimmon Homes’ Strategic Planning Director, that the bungalow would be a shell with no interior walls, so that we could have the building designed for our needs. When we visited the bungalow we were amazed to find that the interior walls had been constructed. The rooms were too small for us to use for meetings and there was nowhere to park. The building also had a “For Sale” sign attached to its front wall, although the sales representative said this was a mistake. We have emailed Kate Tait to ask her why the bungalow was not built to meet our needs, but as yet we are still awaiting a reply. It was noted that Persimmon’s failure to respond on a number of matters was becoming the norm.
Several of the Committee had met with the Chairman and Treasurer of the Webheath Village Hall Management Team, to ask their advice on the running of a community building. They were very helpful, but there was just no comparison to our position as they had inherited a well-run hall whose set up costs had already been financed before their takeover of responsibilities. We learnt from them how expensive the running costs were, in their case financed by an annual lettings income of around £25,000. It emerged that the need for two large rooms, available for hiring out, is paramount in order to generate sufficient income to cover the building’s running costs.
Brandon Clayton confirmed that it is proposed to build a Community Hall close to the new Holyoakes Field First School and the nearby new shops. However, this will not be undertaken for several years. Robin Lunn pointed out that there will be a room available for meetings when the new school is built. A discussion then ensued as to whether this was likely to be jeopardised by the school becoming an Academy. If this were to happen, then almost certainly there would be a charge for use of its rooms. Financially the Association would be in no better a position than currently, with the need to pay room hire charges for the Batchley Community Centre.
Matt Collinson expressed his indignation that section 106monies, arising from Persimmon’s various housing developments in Brockhill, had been spent by the Council in other areas of Redditch. He bemoaned the total lack of community facilities in Brockhill and felt that the considerable amount of Council Tax paid by Brockhill residents should be used for the benefit of their own area and not others in Redditch.
MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS SINCE LAST AGM:
David Dallaway highlighted the following:-
- A litter pick took place in July last year. All those who participated were thanked but the overall number was disappointing considering there are 370 members in the Association.
- Following concerted efforts and hounding of Persimmon by Gemma Monaco, a tidy up of the land surrounding Pointers Way has been carried out.
- Introduction of increased traffic calming measures by the chicane next to the postbox in Carthorse Lane.
- Installation of a litter bin on the pathway adjacent to Greenford Close and the replacement of the one in the underpass leading to Brockhill Park.
- Help given towards the advertising promotion of the Brockhill Football team being set up by Greg Fletcher.
- Liaison with Police Community Support Officers regarding issues such as weed smoking in Brockhill Park and scrambler/quad bikes being ridden dangerously around the Nature Reserve and Pointers Way’s derelict barns. On an ongoing basis any problems should be reported to PCSO Ed Wood.
- Traffic calming bollards and signage have been installed at our request in Salters Lane near the junction of Oaktree Lane. Unfortunately this has not had the desired effect and we have asked Robin Lunn and Brandon Clayton to see what else can be done to slow down traffic. They will be monitoring the speed of cars coming around the bend to see what further measures are needed.
- The big dip in the tarmac pathway near to Rhymes Nursery in Low Field Lane has now been filled in.
- The crossing at the Appletree Lane Traffic Island was completed in the summer.
ELECTION OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
David Dallaway informed the meeting that since the last AGM, Margaret Mole, James Doble, Gemma Moore and Emma Fletcher had resigned from the Committee. He asked if there was anybody interested in volunteering to join the Committee. There was no response but two members present came forward the next day to offer their services. Claire Ivins, who has offered to monitor our Facebook Page, and Malcolm Gilks will be welcomed at our next Committee Meeting.
David Dallaway suggested that we ask for more volunteers when sending out notification to all members that the AGM minutes have been posted on the website. The Association has continued to run without a chairperson since the resignation of the former incumbent in April 2014. It was hoped then that a suitable volunteer would soon emerge but regretfully nobody has put themselves forward despite a large increase in membership in that four and a half years period.
A.O.B./ MEMBERS’ OPEN FORUM:
Mike Vincent asked why the grass bank had not been replaced after the new pathway in Appletree Lane had been created, near to the new crossing. He said that itinerant travellers would now be able to get their vehicles onto the public open space. The grass bank needs to be put back. Brandon Clayton said that he will attend to this.
Pattie Hill told us that there is now a bigger team of PCSO’s in the Batchley/Brockhill area to tackle the anti-social behaviour we have been experiencing in Brockhill Park.
Graham Haynes asked if anyone knew what the tall masts were that had been installed recently on Brockhill Drive by the junction of Salters Lane. None of the five Councillors in attendance was aware but said they would find out.
David Dallaway asked if anybody had heard from Greg Fletcher regarding the Brockhill Football Team he wanted to set up. As mentioned above, Greg had contacted us earlier this year to ask for support in promoting his wish. We have displayed his poster on our notice boards but have had no feedback from him since then. Pattie Hill said that he has probably set something up at Redditch Borough Football Club.
Malcom Gilks told us that there is a hedge obscuring the traffic on the corner of Lily Green Lane and Shireland Lane and wondered who owned it. Robin Lunn said that he would find out and let us know.
The meeting ended at 10 p.m.