MINUTES OF THE SOCIETY A.G.M.

HELD ON 2ND OCTOBER 2020 BY ZOOM

PRESENT; The Committee;- Caroline Evans (Chairman), Donald Lamont (Treasurer), Penny Hall, Nick Lean, Philippa Lord, David Lawrence. Peter & Jude Wilcox, Annelise Nordaas, Chris Payne, Eve Sorrell and Joy Alcock

Apologies : J. Walsby-Tickle, M. Kalil

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that due to the pandemic we had not been able to hold our usual A.G.M. so a Zoom Meeting had been arranged.

The Minutes of the last A.G.M . held on 23rd March 2019 were taken as read as they had been published on the website and circulated by email. They were accepted unanimously

Matters Arising: None

Chairman's Report : Dr Caroline Evans;

The Caldy Society exists to serve the community. We have a band of dedicated volunteers who spend many hours each year planting bulbs and bushes, tidying and improving the green areas of the village, to make it a green and pleasant place for us all. In normal times, we have another group who organise events to bring the community together and provide some fun. Sadly, because of the coronavirus pandemic, we have had to cancel all our plans for this year and we have no idea when we will be able to safely resume these activities. The main committee coordinates all this and also looks at planning issues affecting residents, often at their request. Our aim here is to maintain the unique character of our village and it’s wider surroundings, which often involves liaising with other similar groups across Wirral and with the Council itself. Antisocial Behaviour: This summer saw a huge increase in antisocial behaviour (ASB) both in our village and in surrounding communities across Wirral, as a result of the lockdown and the closing of school and places of entertainment. Beach, Cubbins Green, Caldy Beach, Caldy Hill and the Common were all badly affected by ASB over several weeks. I received a large number of complaints about this from our members, members of the public and from neighbours in West Kirby. I have been liaising with a group in Melloncroft Drive, West Kirby, who have been particularly badly affected by ASB. Together we compiled a large dossier of evidence which was submitted to the WBC. They used their legal powers to apply for a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) for West Kirby Beach, Cubbins Green and Caldy Beach to try to control this. As yet, I do not know whether this has come into force. Caldy Hill and the Common were not included in this and I wrote to WBC asking about this. In addition, several events on the Common over the summer resulted in fires, drug dealing and general ASB, which were dealt with by the police, with whom I have also been in contact. All this seems to have calmed down in recent weeks. This is a good example of what we can do to help ourselves and each other in these difficult times. Planning Issues At the request of our members, the Society involves itself in examining and commenting on, applications for new builds or changes to existing properties and Nick Lean has produced a separate Report on this. With regard to the continued serious threat to the Green Belt across the whole of Wirral, the Caldy Society urged our Members to contact the WBC about the proposal to include Green Belt land in the Local Plan for house building. We were particularly concerned about Green Belt Land, in the Conservation Area, which appeared to be included in the plans for development. This land is so important, on many fronts, to the preservation of the Conservation Area that we raised sufficient money from our Members and through crowdfunding to employ a team of professional planners to write a detailed and comprehensive Report opposing this development, which they duly submitted to the WBC. We supported the hard work and dedication of WGSA, CAW and other groups on the Wirral in opposing proposals to build on Green Belt Land. In addition, we have been involved with the Council’s much-delayed Local Plan. As the Chair of the Society, I opposed an unpopular development (of Roselands, an important Caldy property) at a meeting of the Council’s Planning Committee. I also submitted comments about the Local Plan, opposing the high number of houses which the Council claimed needed to be built across Wirral. I also wrote to individual Councillors and our MP, Margaret Greenwood in this regard. On a positive note, as part of our campaign to maintain the green areas of Caldy, we supported part of the Local Plan. This is a new designation, to be known as " Central Wirral Sandstone Hills ", which includes Caldy Hill and Stapledon Wood, and suggested an extension to the East to include the bird sanctuary fields , to link Caldy Wood to . Changes to the Caldy Society Committee: Sadly, Jacqui Walsby-Tickle has resigned from the Committee. The Committee would like to express our thanks to Jacqui for all the time and effort she has put in over many years, helping and advising the Committee. Her contributions have been invaluable. She has always been a stalwart at all of the events we have put on in the past. My most personal memory is of arriving at the Church Hall after the Carols on the Green, to be greeted by Jacqui with a jug of hot mulled wine! We shall miss her knowledge of the village and of the residents, which has been of enormous help to us. I hope that you will continue to support us in the coming year, which hopefully will see an end to these difficult times, so that we can in future come together as a community again.

Annelise Nordaas reported that there had been an anti-social behaviour order implemented from 14/09/2020 for two years. It encompasses most of the beach at West Kirby, along the coast to the Caldy Steps. There are two ladies responsible for patrolling but this has obvious difficulties as there is not enough man-power. We are informed that signage is to be going up.

Treasurer's Report, Dr Donald Lamont:

Overall financial position as at 31/12/2019 - the Society ended 2019 in a relatively strong financial position having had a surplus of income over expenditure of around £840. This was in part thanks to the monies raised from subscription and social events. There were no extraordinary expenditure items such as planning consultant fees in 2019. Total funds in the current and deposit accounts with Barclays Bank were just over £4100. Income – made up from subscriptions, donations, hire of crockery and social events totalled £1960. There was no transfer of funds from reserves necessary in 2019. Expenditure – made up of admin costs, landscaping/gardening costs, the annual donation to Caldy Church towards floodlighting costs, printing costs and covering the cost of the Christmas and the “Carols on the Green” event. Current financial position at September 2020. Income from subscriptions is just over £1000 and from donations is around £250 so far this year. No Village wide social events have taken place or are planned thanks to Covid. A transfer of funds from reserves of £1000 has been necessary. Expenditure has been high with around £1500 spent on planning and green belt protection matters. Landscaping/gardening costs have been ~£300 to date, and Society admin has cost around £100 to date. Overall financial position – the Society reserves have fallen to around £1600. Crowd funding – a crowd funding appeal was held which has raised to date a total of around £2300. This will be added to the Society reserves in due course. Thanks to Philippa Lord for organising it. Donald said he felt that the use of planning consultants is good value for money.

Chris Payne mentioned that when he paid his subs he was unable to make a voluntary donation on line and Phil said he was unable to make a donation for bulbs. Joy Alcock said she uses bank transfer. Donald said Pay Pal is difficult as it is hard to track who gave money. Penny suggested using bank transfer so that people could give donations as an extra to their subscription. The Ch proposed that we should sort it out at the next meeting. PLANNING SUB-COMMITTEE: NICK LEAN:

The past 18 months have been reasonably busy from a planning point of view, particularly over the ‘lockdown’ period, and as reported at the 2019 AGM there remains a substantial amount of smaller scale development work in progress which accounts for the large number of builders’ vans on our roads. Some of the new-build schemes approved over recent months have also been started, adding to the activity on Caldy Road (the ‘Orovales’ site) and Croft Drive (the ‘Sawrey Knotts’ site) in particular. Planning applications over the 18 months are divided fairly equally between the Conservation Area and the outlying roads. There is a continuing trend towards adding value to plots by extending and substantial re- modelling. The construction of replacement multi-car garages with accommodation above is also becoming popular, although the Society has been asked to intervene on a couple of schemes where grandiose designs seemed to overstep the mark between acceptable and un-neighbourly. The Society’s role in scrutinising planning applications is sometimes misunderstood. The Society was set up to perform a number of functions across the village. The formation of the Conservation Area led to the setting up of a Conservation Area Advisory Committee to assist and liaise with the Council on planning matters. This official committee has over the years become absorbed into the Caldy Society, and the planning role is now less concerned with assisting the planners and more involved in assisting homeowners with planning and architectural advice and (unfortunately perhaps) interceding on behalf of neighbours who wish to comment or object to controversial development schemes. On this note, the Society has, unusually, been asked to make written comment to the planners on 4 schemes over the last 3 months or so where we felt that our expertise might be of use. These schemes are all still at the application stage. To summarise, the planning sub-committee sees its role as assisting the Society’s membership and Caldy residents in general, and we are always happy to offer advice on development matters.

Website Report: David Lawrence .

Until February there had been 1,559 visits to the website with an average duration of 2 minutes. The main visits had been about Green Spaces and the Blue Plaques.

Caldy Society Tree & Planting Group: Rachel Summers:

A pool of approximately 15 Caldy residents help improve the green areas around Caldy that do not belong to home owners. Within the last year, the group has:- Considered every application for tree works within the Caldy Conservation Area sent to us by WBC, and provided feedback where appropriate, planted and deadheaded daffodils, planted bulbs funded from donations, around the village. They have pruned & maintained a number of mixed hedges comprising saplings donated by the Woodland Trust, also weeded & maintained a few tiny, unadopted strips of land in the village They have started working in partnership with Dave Weaver, Local Team Leader, WBC Parks & Countryside Services, to improve the appearance of Caldy roundabout. An open evening in Caldy church hall was organised comprising an illustrated talk given by Carol Seery, RHS Master of Horticulture, followed by our own Gardeners’ Question Time

Re-election of Officers and Committee -

The following Caldy Society Committee members have agreed to continue in post for a further year:

Caroline Evans (Chairman) Penny Hall (Minutes secretary) Donald Lamont (Treasurer) Nick Lean (Planning Sub Committee) David Lawrence (Website and liaison with WGSA) Phillippa Lord (Social Media)

(Tree and Planting Sub Committee) Richard Williams Rachel Summers Marg Kalil Judy Wilcox John Casson Jean Taylor, Jean Monks

Jacqui Walsby-Tickle has resigned from the Committee and Eve Sorrell had resigned in January.

A.O.B. Chris Payne mentioned broadband: He said that 3.-4 weeks ago Open Reach went live with BT and Talktalk providing fibre to premises.

The Meeting closed at 8.30pm

Chairman's Signature ...... Date: ......