Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from County Councillor Guppy.

None received.

There were no members of the public present.

We confirmed and signed the minutes of the Severnside Area Committee meeting held on 5^th August 2015.

Town Councillor Alan Davies brought the Whole Place Community Place to Committee.

‘Severnside’, the area comprising of the settlements at Caldicot, Magor, Undy,

Rogiet, Caerwent, Sudbrook and Portskewett, has been at the forefront of changes to community led planning over the past 3 years.

In 2012, Monmouthshire County Council embraced the new ‘whole place’ approach to community planning with the development and formal adoption of the ‘Severnside Total Place Plan’ in 2013.

The delivery of the ‘Plan’, to date, has been overseen by the Severnside Programme

Board which is comprised of representatives of the county, town and community councils, Churches, Caldicot Town Team, Caldicot Comprehensive

School, Monmouthshire Housing Association, Gwent Police and the Health

Board.

We were advised that after a Subcommittee meeting in autumn 2015 and 352 public survey responses, seven clear themes emerged, which are:

· COMMUNITY HEALTH AND WELLBEING

· TOURISM & ENTERPRISE

· CALDICOT TOWN CENTRE REGENERATION

· COMMUNITY SPIRIT

· COMMUNITY SERVICES

· TRANSPORT ACCESSIBILITY

· 21st CENTURY EDUCATION & COMMUNITY CAMPUS

7 teams will be appointed to look at each theme in detail, with all teams hopefully established by June 2016. The teams will look for support and advice from various internal and external agencies to ensure the themes are comprehensively covered and feedback is gained from people of various backgrounds and experience.

Members were keen to ensure that Severnside as a whole was looked at, as it was felt that in previous plans particular areas were concentrated on, leaving out others. We were advised that the Programme Board will be proactive and intend to look at this process as a long term plan.

The Chair stressed the importance of momentum, with previous plans not coming to fruition and expressed that the public will lose interest if they see nothing getting done. Town Councillor Davies advised that he was optimistic that once awareness of the plan was raised people would be keen to be involved and drive the plan forward. It is imperative that there is ‘less talk, more doing’.

The Chair thanked Town Councillor Alan Davies for bringing the plan to the Committee and is extremely keen for the plan to develop and succeed. The Committee has asked to be informed & updated and have invited Town Councillor to the next meeting to discuss developments.

We received an update on current issues from the Whole Place team. Highlights included:

Visioning Project - The Visioning project that forms part of the work to look at regenerating Caldicot town Centre is now well underway. Consultants are looking at what opportunities there are for Caldicot Town Centre. Public consultations were held on 9th & 12th January in Caldicot Town Centre to share ideas with the public and gained their views.

Christmas Lights - Caldicot Events Committee and the Town Team held a very successful event for switching on the Christmas lights despite the poor weather

Markets - The Town Team throughout the year has been working with Monmouthshire Markets and held 4 markets throughout 2015 which has attracted additional stalls and therefore more footfall to the town centre

Health Event - The programme board supported a health event being held in the Community Hub in

November. At the programme board meeting on health several different partners and agencies pulled together to help support the event. 16 Organisations took part and the door counter registered 286 entries.

Linkage Scheme - Plans for the linkage scheme that is looking at enhancing the route from ASDA store to the town centre is still under discussion. There has been some delays with this project due to unforeseen circumstances but it is hoped work will commence as soon as possible.

A Member raised the need for a café sited outside Caldicot Castle, as the small café inside the castle grounds were not capable of catering for large numbers and it was felt that we were missing an opportunity with casual trade and the Mitel staff who come into town daily. The Whole Place Officer offered to speak to Ian Saunders as to the feasibility of a café outside the grounds of the castle.

The Chair thanked the Whole Place Manager for the report and looked forward to receiving regular updates.

We received an overview of the grant and were informed that the Whole Place Team had produced a criteria and application forms which could be given out. It was advised that all applications need to be received by 22^nd February 2016. The Whole Place team were waiting for confirmation of a generic email address applications could be sent back to.

Members expressed concerns regarding the lack of time this gave small groups to apply and given that many groups rely on grant money to survive, this was very disappointing. Members also voiced concerns that last year there was much debate about the grant, i.e., forms, administrating the grant – this should not affect the small groups applying for the money, as it is not their fault we have not been more organised. A Member asked that the issue was raised via letter with the Chief Officer and the Chair of Severnside Committee confirmed that he would raise the matter at the Co-ordinating Board meeting the next day.

A Member requested confirmation that any slippage would be carried forward into the next year. (ACTION D.C)

The Chair summed up by advising members of the committee that they should drive this grant and be proactive raising awareness and encouraging applications. Members took copies of the application forms away from the meeting.

Tuesday 15^th March 2016 at 10am

Room 8 – Innovation House, Magor.