Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest made by Members.

                                i)            29^th April 2015

                               ii)            9^th September 2015

The minutes of the following meetings were agreed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair:

·         29^th April 2015

·         9^th September 2015

The Chair advised of an update regarding Chepstow Bridge.  An email had been received from John Burrows outlining the following progress:

·         Main works were complete

·         Some painting issues outstanding

·         Bridge open to traffic

·         Overall pleased with the appearance

·         The future would be as a light road bridge

A meeting for residents would be held on 10^th February 2016 at 6pm in the Drill Hall, to be attended by Highways officers, to address concerns and provide technical advice.

We received a paper which provided an update for Whole Place.

The Whole Place Manager highlighted how the consultation process had been interesting and was to be followed up with a questionnaire to obtain further information.  It was hoped to that at least a third of questionnaires would be returned, in order to provide a valid response.  It was noted that the high response in Usk could have been contributed to the risk of the closure of the library, therefore encouraging residents to become more motivated and receptive to questionnaires.  We noted that the point of the questionnaire exercise would be to understand perceptions and to obtain evidence to go for further funding.

Members stressed that thought should be given to cross-border contributions.  The Whole Place team would be addressing new intake at the Army barracks to establish service requirements.

The Whole Place Manager agreed to report back to Lower Wye Area Committee following the completion of the questionnaire.

The Vice-Chair provided the Committee with a update regarding the Oldbury Power Station.  We heard that at the turn of the year the last of the nuclear fuel had been removed from Oldbury.  This would lead to the decommissioning of the building.  At the end of decommissioning it would be left with a flat area, which would could be used for low level storage.

The owning company still had monies and for some time would be in a position to help within communities.  Groups could submit applications and there would likely be a positive response.  The Horizon Project details have been emailed to all Councillors.

The Vice Chair agreed to continue to provide updates at future meetings.

The Chair invited County Councillor Farley to update the Committee on the Marketing Group.  We heard that as it was the bicentenary year of Chepstow Bridge a number of events would be taking place to mark the historic event. 

The Marketing Group aimed to find a way to ensure that County Council services would be on board to provide support, such as complimentary publicity, communications, funding contribution.  It would be especially important to ensure services such as lighting were in order when film crews were present. 

Further engagement outside the Area Committee would be welcomed, as would further funding. 

The Cabinet Member advised the Committee that following the closure of the area services offices, the mechanism for dealing with grants had disappeared.  The funds in place for each Area Committee had not been distributed and the funds were passed to Whole Place for distribution.  We heard that the Head of Community Led Delivery was currently working on correcting the processes.  Members were concerned that the decision to make the money available had been made in February 2014 and officers had still not found the mechanism to implement the decision.  It was noted that several applications for grants had been received.

The Whole Place Manager advised Members that all Area Committees had £3830 available to spend which was disputed by the Committee.  As no funds had been spent to date it was expressed that Lower Wye Area Committee should receive the full £5000.

We heard that the money has to be spent by the end of March 2016 and officers would update as soon as the criteria was set.

It was noted that a meeting may be held prior to the end of March for further discussion.

We confirmed the date and time of next meeting as Wednesday 16^th March 2016 at 10.00 am.  Members suggested the venue for the next meeting should be in Shirenewton.