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Bungay Community Partnership

BUNGAY COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP INAUGURAL MEETING

Tuesday 19th February 2008, 6.30pm, Fisher Theatre

Below are the minutes from our very successful first meeting.

Present The Revd Bruce Waldron Chair
Cllr Didy Ward Event Organiser and Speaker
Cllr Martin Evans Town Reeve and Speaker
Chris Reeve Waveney Rural Community Partnership; Curator; Bungay Museum
+ Audience of some 100 invited local representatives

1. The meeting was opened by Reverend Bruce Waldron who thanked the large audience for attending and for showing their interest in the sustainable future of Bungay. He explained that rural communities now compete for govt funding with funding favouring communities that proved they could organise their own affairs and wanted to be in control of them – not to devolve local decisions to third parties in Ipswich, Norwich and London. Successful, funded communities must show purpose; strategy; and the ability both to capitalise on past vision and organise current resources with the aim of ensuring a sustainable future for coming generations.

For these reasons, Bungay and its immediate area needs a Town Plan – to celebrate and encourage what is already good, and improve upon; identify and add elements which the town and its environs lack.

He stressed that this would NOT be a Council led project – of the 15 Steering Panel members only 4 will be Councillors - and that the initiative would be directed by the community. Mr Waldron then drew attention to the distributed questionnaires on which individual interest could be recorded, and explained that while a Steering Group would organise the initiative, its prime function is to work with Partners in facilitating community consultations, to collate the data and to draft the Town Plan and Action Plan.

2. Councillor Martin Evans made a presentation on Bungay as it was and is, with its strengths and weaknesses. He identified the main areas of Bungay enterprise as domestic; industrial; agricultural; tourist attractions (ancient buildings; countryside; river etc); and a vibrant social; market and retail town life. Each of these areas has action needs which the Community Plan must identify and aim to consolidate and/or improve.

3. Councillor Didy Ward made a presentation on what often happens to Communities without development plans (haphazard growth; overall decay; population migration; environmental/retail depreciation; community disassociation etc) - and to those that did (inward investment; organised expansion; sustainable environmental improvement; advancement through both funding and general prosperity, and improved community cohesion). She stressed the importance of consultation at all stages and sustained community involvement.

4. The Rev’d Waldron then invited the other current members of the Steering Group onto the stage.

* The Rev. Bruce Waldron – Chair
* Cllr Didy Ward - Project Co-ordinator
* Cllr Angela Brook – Secretary & Chair; Bungay Quality Council Project
* Mr Mark Casto - Bungay Cherry Tree Angling Club
* Mrs Maureen Davies – Previous Town Reeve
* Cllr Martin Evans - Past Mayor and Current Town Reeve
* Ms Jenny Hyams – Bungay Medical Practice Participation Group
* Ms Kate Jackson – Sustainable Bungay
* Mr Chris Reeve - Waveney Rural Community Partnership & Fundraiser
* Cllr John Warnes - Treasurer & Chair; Bungay Common Owners
* Mrs Susanne Warren - Chair; Bungay Chamber of Trade and Commerce

The Steering Group is still looking for representatives from other sections of the community representing, for example, Youth and our neighbouring villages. But all Partners will have a large part to play in the consultations and focus groups.

5. There was then a Question and Answer Session with members of the Steering Group. These ranged over (with answers provided by Steering Group members):

* Is there a budget? Not yet - Bungay Town Council has paid for costs to date, and the steering group will actively seek funding for the consultations.

* What is the time scale? On going process; faster the better. Cllr Ward explained that the proposed date for the formal Town Plan was early 2009. Once preliminary plan published, detailed consultation on what must be achieved.

* How is ideal cross section of community to be achieved? No-one person is more important than group. The Steering Group is there to facilitate wide reaching consultations with all sections of the community.

* Will there be involvement with local rural parishes? Yes, through Waveney Rural Community Partnership and consultations with representatives from our neighbouring parishes and villages. Hinterland is very important.

* Is there a constitution? Not yet but soon will be.

* Will local schools be represented? Yes – local schools are very keen and will most certainly be involved.

6. The formal meeting closed at 19.45 with informal discussion continuing for some 90 minutes afterwards.

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