RUSHMERE COMMONERS COMMITTEE
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on June 30 2010 at the Rushmere Village Hall, Rushmere St Andrew commencing at 7.30 pm
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Chairman R.Aldous
Clerk T Gooding
Managing Trustees J Warburton D Flett R Whymark A Castle
M. Jepson J. Adams D. Ayre
In Attendance 30 commoners and some members of the public.
The Chairman welcomed everybody to the meeting and stated that because of the numbers present and the time it would take to hold a ballot, he proposed to hold the Election of Managing Trustees first, and then proceed with the business in the order on the Agenda. By this means we could have the result of the ballot at the Election of Trustees item on the agenda.
This was agreed and he then invited each candidate, if they wished, to stand up and say a few words in order that they could be recognised and say why they wanted to be voted on to the Committee. There are 3 vacancies on the Committee and the Clerk had received 4 nominations. The nominations were Mr Ayre, Mr Hibbert, Mr Smith and Mr Warburton.
The ballot papers were handed out and were to be counted by an independent scrutineer,
Mr R Tawell who is not a commoner.
The Chairman said that he would accept that all people voting had the integrity to decide themselves that they did have the right to vote, but that if anybody had any doubt of their right, they should come forward and consult with the Clerk ,who had the map of the area of interest, and could therefore verify their right or not, to vote.
1 Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on July 2 2009
These had been circulated and were agreed.
2 Chairman’s Report
He stated that he would outline the main issues the trustees committee had dealt with over the last 12 months and some of the known issues for the future. Following abandonment of the Heritage Lottery Funded Project last year, a good deal of time had been spent on considering how best to take forward the management of the Common in the future. Mike Jepson had taken the lead in producing a Management Plan based on the principles set out in the Suffolk Wildlife Trust management proposals produced in 1999.
This document should be agreed by the Trustees for discussion with the Golf Club in the coming months. This should act as a framework for decisions over the coming 10 years.
The plan should benefit all users and will take account of conservation objectives, golf course management and routine maintenance. The Common has been divided into management parcels, based on their existing nature, and each parcel will have attention at least every 10 years, depending on how much external funding or free manpower we are able to attract.
We have had several fire on the Common, and this has required priority being given to the clearance of burnt areas, and this will continue. Volunteers from Warren Hill have done valuable work and we must thank Bob Gosden for arranging this work.
The pond area was identified as a priority and has received expert attention. Firebreaks have been cleared and new wider paths have been cut, and thanks must go to the golf club for the help that they have given especially after the heavy snowfalls in January and February. The fencing and goalposts have been removed. At last year’s AGM we were asked to work with Rushmere Golf Club in furthering the management of the Common.
We have had several meetings with them and once we are satisfied that the Draft Management Plan meets our objectives we shall discuss with them its contents and implementation. We will then hold meetings with the Greenways Project as suggested at last years AGM. Another matter raised at last years AGM was having signage giving contact information. This has been agreed in principle but not yet implemented.
Contact with Schools. This has not come to anything tangible and we have therefore terminated our use of an education facilitator
Website. We have tried to improve the website and will continue with our efforts. I thank Tom and John Adams for the work they have put in.
Anti social behaviour and vandalism continues to be a problem and we maintain close liaison with the police to combat these issues.
Suffolk County Council proposed a cycle path across the Common but the trustees felt that the disadvantages outweighed any benefit and informed the County Council accordingly. There have been several instances of inconsiderate cycle riding across the Common, creating a hazard which we are trying to address.
New, larger dog boxes have been installed which we have paid for and dog bags are now being provided more cheaply by SCDC which gives substantial savings. We have also asked SCDC to consider making a Control Order on dog fouling. We are grateful to the Golf Club staff who as a matter of goodwill remove used bags from their litter bins.
We should thank the residents of Playford Rd who again organised a litter pick on the Little Heath.
Thanks must go to Tom and Bob, the wardens who at times have a thankless task , also Don Ayre for the long time that he has been Chairman, and the Clerk, Terry Gooding.
3 Matters Arising from the Minutes and Chairman’s Report
One Commoner stated his support for the cycle path. Mr Porter, explained how he was nearly run over by a speeding cyclist. Mr Adams, Vice-Chairman stated that speeding cyclists were a menace and the Trustees were very aware of this problem. Mr Porter also claimed that grass along the fairways was being cut, but Mr Tawell from the golf club said this was not the case, and that the grass was simply not growing because of the lack of rain.
4 To consider Financial Statement
The report had been circulated. The Financial Statement was agreed.
5 Election of Independent Examiner
The Chairman said that the service we receive from Ensors is good and they discount the normal rate in recognition of our charitable status
It was proposed and agreed that Ensors should continue as Independent Examiner
6 Election of Trustees
The three commoners elected to serve as Trustees for the next three years are as follows:
Mr Smith
Mr Hibbert
Mr Warburton
7 Any Other Business
Mr Jepson gave an explanation of his Management Plan and a request was made for the plan to be put on the Website once it had been agreed.
Mr Adams suggested that a friends of Rushmere Common to take part in litter picks and to engender community spirit. This could be looked into further.
There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9 pm.