MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
HELD ON TUESDAY 26th SEPTEMBER 2023
PRESENT: Cllr. Hatcher (Chair), Cllrs. Gilbert, Newman, Pethurst and Selby
APOLOGIES: Cllr. Fletcher
Declaration of Interests, Dispensations, Predetermination or Lobbying:
Members are required to declare any interests, dispensations or predetermination on items on this agenda in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct. Members are reminded that changes to the Register of Interests should be notified to the Clerk.
13/23: Five-year plans project update
a) Develop a public consultation policy for the council – the committee reviewed and agreed changes to the Communication Strategy Policy that the Clerk had shared prior to the meeting. The amended document will be presented to the Policy and Resources committee for approval.
The committee discussed the five-year plan document. Cllr. Hatcher offered to be the lead Councillor for the consultation policy project. Discussions included exploring a more formal way of carrying out surveys, such as Survey Monkey. The Clerk agreed to update the five-year plan template as per discussions, and share the document ‘Community Engagement’ that is available from the website www.communityplanningtoolkit.org/
b) Create and develop Parish Voluntary Organisation liaison – Cllrs. Gilbert and Newman agreed to be the lead councillors for the project. Cllr. Hatcher suggested volunteer fairs might be one of the project outputs. He suggested contacting an ex-councillor for advice.
c) Develop effective liaison with outside bodies on car parking and traffic issues – Cllr. Selby agreed to be the lead councillor. The Clerk advised that we have contact details for the relevant people at KCC and TWBC. Also, Cllr. Page, who is leading the HIP project, has contact with the group who are looking at downgrading the A262 to a B road. The collation of the HIP feedback is in progress.
14/23: Social Media Presence and Website
Cllr. Hatcher commented on how effective the NDP engagement had been.
Cllr. Pethurst had successfully used NextDoor to share NDP information. NextDoor provides stats and analysis of the reach and engagement of the posts. Cllr. Hatcher agreed to investigate if NextDoor could be linked to Mailchimp as with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (now known as X).
The Clerk confirmed there are currently no website issues.
15/23: Events
The committee discussed Cranfest. Everyone agreed it had been successful, despite the closure of the White Horse impacting the scheduling of some of the bands.
Upcoming community events:
Apple Fayre – Saturday 7 October
Cranbrook Literature Festival – Friday 13 and Saturday 14th October 2023
16/23: Business Links:
Cllr. Hatcher continues to meet with Cranbrook Business Group.
A new bistro, Willow Sage, is due to open soon in Stone Street. They are holding a recruitment evening on 5 November.
Body Art, Waterloo Road – is now open.
17/23: Volunteers: Covered in item 13/23.b
18/23: Tourism:
The next meeting is due to be held in two weeks’ time. The group are investigating the opportunity to improve the look of the façade of the White Horse
19/23: Citizens Advice: No update
20/23: Community Kitchen:
Toasty Tuesday with soup for lunch started again at the beginning of September.
21/23: Community Engagement:
a) Monthly Surgeries
Hatcher reported that he and Cllr. Selbey had held the first Councillor Surgery that morning. They had three individuals attend. The next one is on 31 October form 9.15-11.15am Cllr Hatcher will be looking for volunteers. The Clerk offered to put a poster with the upcoming dates on the noticeboard.
b) Highways Improvement Plan
Hatcher has forwarded all the online response to Cllr. Page and Kevin Rampling. It is intended that there will be a further article in the next edition of the Cake to update residents on the progress of the project.
22/23: Defibrillator Proposal from First Responders: Update
As Cllr. Stone was not present; no update was available. The Clerk offered to liaise with the Community First Responder group regarding what is needed to move the project forward.
It was suggested that a map of the locally available defibrillators be added to the noticeboard. An article for the Cake was also suggested.
The clerk will add the project to the five-year plan document.
23/23: Items for Information:
Cllr. Hatcher reminded all of the litter pick planned for Saturday 30 September.
