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Mr Raymond Fagan

Professor David Bellamy OBE   

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THE RHUDDLAN ENVIRONMENT GROUP
COMMITTEE MEETING WEDNESDAY 3RD FEBRUARY 7PM 2010 RHUDDLAN COMMUNITY CENTRE.
Welcome to the meeting and a very happy new year.
Apologies received from Mike, Jean and Bill.
Present 12.

Minutes of the November 2009 open meeting were passed as a true record and are on view in the library, and our web site which has recently changed to www.rhuddlan.org.uk  
Matters arising from our November open meeting.

In November 49 of our members voted to object to the proposed holding depot.
The question was asked if any committee member in attendance had since changed their minds regarding our objection and support for the Dawson family, everyone was strongly in favour of the need to carry on and step up the campaign. 

Some of our members have reported to me that it is being spread about the village that if we object to the holding depot the work on the nature reserve will stop. 

Brenda assured everyone that this is not the case, the reserve will continue just as we need to continue our campaign to stop DCC making a monumental mistake. It is a very negative action from DCC they are using tax payer’s money to destroying a family’s life and degrading an area which they are supposed to be enhancing.

We are waiting for a response from the ombudsman regarding the treatment of our members Mr & Mrs Dawson and family, our volunteers and our group. We have informed him that the county have changed their minds that many times since the original accepted Nature Reserve plans without apology or negotiation.  If DCC do not revert to the original plan we can call a referendum and let the people of the town decide. We would not have to pay for a referendum as the town council should have funds set aside for such matters. In the meantime we could hold an open meeting to draw our resident’s attention to what DCC actually want to construct on the south end of the reserve. We also need the town to be aware that the Dawson family have suffered since 2007. The majority was in favour. 
DCC have already spent more than the present grant of £141K and with nothing to show for it, they did not have planning permission when they imported the mounds of clay and rubbish.  Now DCC are claiming permitted development rights which for the record they have been read by several planning officers, and it is the one who tells the best storey the rules are open to interpretation. We need to let the DCC planning officer, the leader of our county council and the head of highways know that we do not agree with their proposal and our objections will have to be answered.

At long last we have had a response from Stuart Davies head of Conwy and Denbighshire Highways Dept, he has actually apologised for the delay in responding which is more than we have ever had before, he claims he is looking into the facts. The other matter is the DCC reply letter from Iwan P. Jones sent to Arwel a member of our group in response to his letter. There was no mention of the Dawson 's or the impact it is having on them, no apology just reporting that DCC have used this land to store road materials for years and will continue to do so claiming Arwel is being misled.

Andy Smith reported that when the Itinerants moved on to the site in the 80's the council felt they had no other option but to pile up stone materials behind the gate to the flower meadow field and build a mound to stop the caravans entrance to fields in their ownership, but we always had our right of way the road was never blocked.  After they evicted the itinerants Clwyd council put up the large gate at the exit and entrance to this land, but we always had a way through. At no time have highway materials ever been stored for incidental, maintenance or improvements of the highway.

Andy Dawson also claims the same, if they had stored anything for incidental maintenance or changes to the road he would have known about it since he lives next door. When the council changed the road system at the junction to Bodelwyddan they never stored anything on the site, they used the lay-by which is there for that purpose.  The councils Flintshire, Clwyd and Denbighshire have never used the area to store materials for road repairs.
Brenda also confirmed that the residents have always used this road for many years, and we know that no storing of any materials for highway maintenance by Flintshire, Clwyd or DCC has ever taken place.

It was in December 2007 when the county imported large mounds of clay for the proposed recycling centre without any planning permission, DCC have admitted it was improper use of the highway and a vast amount was contaminated, including the clay mounds. The cost to the tax payer so far just to tidy the site up is £52K to remove the mounds a further cost of £7.5K to sort out the contaminated materials and nothing to show for it except the mess they have left behind. It also cost us the tax payer £87K prior to the withdrawal of the planning for the recycling centre. All in all a load of money wasted by DCC. 

DCC held R.E.G’s work up in 2009 on the reserve due to the delay in them gaining planning permission for the removal of the mounds of clay and rubbish to a site in Rhyl.. In July 2009 DCC also blocked the site off to prevent access and R.E.G was unable to start and complete the work in the Glen area.

Brenda has sent emails to every party asking for help and assistance to support the Dawson family, to her surprise she had a telephone call to let us know that Dafydd Wigley, Caryl Wyne Jones the Plaid candidate would support us. The two  County Councillors for Rhuddlan did not respond, but Ann Jones the A.M sent an email to say maybe she could help with a referendum, but she reported she had no previous experience. I wrote back and thanked her, informing her that we had an offer from a clerk who has had experience in organising such matters and has called on us to advise us and we are very grateful for his help. We all know where our own county councillor’s stand they should be reminded that they had been voted in by the people and our wishes should be observed.
We know that Selwyn Thomas is the chair of DCC planning committee and only time will tell us which stand he takes.

After the last County Council meeting held in Ruthin the planning officer reported to Brenda that we could only object about the nature reserve plans and we would not be able to touch on the holding depot because it was not part the planning application. Only 25 of the 43 county councillors attend the meeting and voted so it was not a true response from all our county councillors.
The area DCC reneged on was proposed for a play and learn area, we offered to pay and install either on the T junction or this area of land, Garry Davies DCC rejected our quote and plan out of hand, he said it was to dangerous. What we have now according the plans is a picnic area directly opposite the KFC and for the records they don't want litter bins installed, but they may change their minds. A picnic area would always include children and we could not see what the complaint of danger was, both locations and the proposal were rejected. We had a wonderful quote, which came in at £21K and we could have added on loads for a further £3K. It would have been great for the children.  

Susan asked if the £141K funding from WAG will be solely for the nature reserve and now the funds have been allocated are they safe?

Brenda reported the funding is safe and the works starts on Thursday, K&M  have been given the contract. Regarding our own funds, I was asked by Mr Fagan for the information on our funds however all this information was given to him prior to applying for each bid and when awarded. At no time will we transfer our funds, but we will be using them on what we applied for or return them.
 When or if our offers to DCC have been accepted we will provide all the items on offer which have already been voted for by the R.E.G. We already work with Moria the County Ecologist , we have put all of the groups ideas and offers to her and she has made a management plan which includes our input.

When we asked if we could start work on the railway steps and refurbish them with the funds from the big lottery, our question was totally ignored at the MAG meeting, however Mr Fagan said we could make them safe which is not what our request was.
The children from the local school, brownies, rainbows, cubs beavers, scouts and Wenna from the history group are very interested in the railway, so maybe in the future it may well come to pass that a grant will reinstate the old bridge.

R.E.G have had a qualified master bricklayer on the site to assess the full extent of the work required to make the railway steps safe. The funds are due to go back in March if we have not used them for this area.  I can confirm that we asked permission to put in for this bid prior to applying. We also supplied a letter from Mr Fagan confirming we have paid the rent for 5 years included in our bid were the receipts to show we had paid the site public liability insurance and volunteer accident policy.
I have already sent an email to DCC/CS/RF to inform them that the accident policy for volunteers has expired and we will not be renewing it because it is now under their management, I advised the LNR/DCC/CS that in the interest of the public who still use the site that I had personally extended the public liability up until May. 

The unstable alarmists who are claiming the county will pull out of the reserve project if we continue to sign the petition or complain about the holding depot are ridicules. The funds have already been handed over from WAG to DCC on the 8th December 2009 and the land that they did not renege on is in the portfolio of CS.

The six oak litter bins we offered DCC/CS with the offer to pay to empty them for the first 12 months we still have not had a response. Brenda was informed by Wenna who attended the last MAG meeting that it was discussed and maybe they could use 3 bins but nothing was sorted out. We do not have the minutes from the last MAG meeting and without them we can't confirm if they want 3 bins or not.  Brenda has written to the DVSC to ask if we can transfer the funds we will be sending back to cover some of the costs for  benches for the playing fields. I await a response.

We have offered our funding to pay for, trees, plants, bulbs and the restoration and signage for the old railway steps. We have also offered 60 whips with the covers/wooded stakes etc, some fencing and gates, litter bins and 12 months collection, we have paid for two years site insurance, public liability and volunteer insurance. Barbara reported we had an onsite meeting with Moira in December and it was pointed out that the fields are not fit for the planting of seeds and bulbs. In fact the fields had been cut after the thistle and doc had seeded, we feel the cutting was done far too late in the season. We had offered to pay for a contractor to cut the fields twice last year and twice this year but DCC only allowed one cut last year We have already put our quotes in for seeds and plants and when the fields are ready we will supply the seeds and plants to the school, brownies, rainbows, cubs and scouts for them to be involved with the planting as investing in these youngsters is what is needed for the future, they will also take more interest in the reserve and enjoy watching their planting maturing over the coming years.

 Assistance is needed ext Saturday 13th February with the Haiti ’s appeal; Barbara, Brenda, Margaret, Susan, Gill and Linda have already offered to help.
Our next meeting will be the 3rd March and the open meeting for the town residents will be the 24th February at 7pm.  The flyers will be printed off next week and delivered after the 13th.

 The committee was asked if they should take this campaign through the group or do it as residents and should we put the referendum as an option to the group at the next open meeting, everyone was in favour of doing as through the group and putting the referendum on the agenda for our next meeting

The Community Challenge application is going well, we had been in for £500k which was quite exciting, and although we did not win we have been put into the next round for the £300K challenge. Brenda has sent for our results to find out why our bid was not successful. Out of these funds should we win we will pay for a new boiler for the Scout hut, the Methodist church and if the Community Centre needs a new boiler we will assist with that also. The balance of the funds will go towards, A rated equipment for 500 homes with new kettles, doubled glazed windows and loft insulation. Maybe even an electric car or even one of the low emissions cars which would then go into a community pool, the scheme will be run as a car hire business. The balance of the funds will be used towards going into partnership with a local land owner for a mini wind turbine and the income it produces will be split between the land owner and the community.  Brenda has now set up a limited company and will organise the change of constitution for this sub committee to allow for others in the future. We can also use part of these funds 10% for on going work and two part time jobs.

Let us hope we win in the next round.  I also think if we can perhaps do something for the bowling club, a ride on electric mower, or smaller items in the club kitchen. We shall wait and see what happens. We submitted our low traffic calming measures as part of the challenge.
Freddie and Brenda have been working with the DVSC since last February, trying to bring in funding with about 4 other groups for care leavers, we have had success but we are not allowed to confirm it until after the cheque and contract has been signed, Brenda will let us all know as soon as that has taken place.

If any one has any other business or questions that need attending too please ask me now? 

Meeting ended 8.30pm.