Beeston Community Forum Meeting- Thursday 5Th February 2004

Chair: Chairman:Mrs ChristineMr JackThornton, Sharpe 40,136 Cross Barkly Flatts Road,Beeston,LS11 Avenue, Beeston, Leeds,7LD.Tel:(0113) LS11 7BG. 270 Tel 4232 0113 270 0875 Secretary:MrSecretary: Mr Robert Robert Winfield,7 Winfield,7 Allenby Allenby Gardens,Beeston,Leeds,LS11 Gardens,Beeston,Leeds,LS11 5RW.Tel:(0113) 5RW.Tel 0113 271271 69856985 Fax 0113 226 4510 E mail [email protected] Forum Website- www.beestonforum.leedslearning.org

BEESTON COMMUNITY FORUM FORUM

Beeston Community Forum meeting- 3rd November 2005 Agenda 1. Chairman’s Opening Remarks 2. Apologies for absence 3. Guest Speaker- Police 4. Minutes of the meeting of the Beeston Community Forum held on 1st September 2005 5. Correspondence 6. Report of Committee meetings on i) 15th September 2005 ii) 20th October 2005 7. Proposed Leeds 11 Community Meeting 8. Serving on the Forum Committee 9. To consider whether a Forum meeting in 2006 should be held on a Friday 10. Any Other Business

Minutes of the meeting of the Beeston Community Forum held on Thursday 6th October 2005

1. Chairman’s Opening Remarks- Christine Thornton welcomed those present to the meeting

2. Guest Speakers- Friends of Holbeck Cemetery- Christine Thornton introduced the representatives of Friends of Holbeck Cemetery; Eve Tidswell, Kenneth Tidswell and John Leckenby, who then made a contribution about Holbeck Cemetery.

3. Minutes of the meeting of the Beeston Community Forum held on 1st September 2005.

3.1 Robert Winfield read an e mail from Rev Neil Bishop referring to a passage in the minutes stating that ‘ A member of the meeting stated that: 'All the staff in the Hamara Centre are Asian, whereas all the staff in the Building Blocks Centre are white.' Rev Bishop stated; - This is simply not true. We choose not to talk in these terms normally, because we are totally committed to faith and race cohesion. However, for the record, half of the staff in the Building Blocks Centre - and most of the people delivering courses - come from the local South Asian community. 70 per cent of our day-time users are also from the local South Asian communities. To find out more, I would suggest that Forum members visit our website: www.faithtogether.org.uk. He added: - ‘As for the Hamara Centre, I think we need to distinguish between the staff in the Centre and the staff who work for Hamara itself, which is a separate organisation based in the centre. Vera Media is also based in Hamara, and at least some of its staff are White. I should be most grateful if you could set the record straight.’ Christine Thornton pointed out that she saw Neil Bishop’s e-mail before the minutes, and noted that Rev Bishop’s e-mail had been circulated to all recipients of the minutes and to several other individuals.

It was argued that minutes should not be circulated until they have been agreed by the subsequent meeting of the Forum. Disappointment was expressed that Rev Bishop had pursued the matter in the way in which he did; it was suggested that anyone with a query about the accuracy of the minutes should raise the matter with the Secretary alone.

3.2 Councillor David Congreve referred to paragraph 8 of the minutes, dealing with a planning application for advertising signs for lampposts, pointing out that the minutes stated that ‘The Councillors had agreed to run pilot studies with the developer’. Councillor Congreve pointed out that if the phrase, ‘the Councillors’ is interpreted as the councillors for Beeston and Holbeck, this is incorrect. He added that Councillor Gabriel had stated that she had objected to the application but that this was not recorded in the minutes. The Secretary apologised to Councillor Congreve for this matter; Councillor Congreve accepted the apology.

3.3 John Hodgson felt that the minutes were excessively lengthy, and added that although they appear like verbatim reports, they are not. He pointed out that the Forum’s resolution that we would keep up the pressure on the bus companies over recent changes to routes had not been minuted. He added that there was no reference in the minutes to his exchanges with Councillor Gabriel over supposed secret meetings in the area. He said that Councillor Gabriel had launched a personal attack on him when he was in the chair. He did not actually use the phrase ‘secret meetings’

3.4 It was agreed to accept the minutes subject to the above points

4. Matters Arising

4.1 Councillor David Congreve pointed out that at the meeting of the planning panel to discuss the planning application for advertising signs for lampposts, he moved that the application be rejected. Although Labour Councillors supported the rejection of the application, they were outvoted by the Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Independent members of the Panel. He pointed out that none of the councillors voting to support the application had an interest in the area.

4.2 It was proposed to invite Hanif Malik, the Manager of the Hamara Centre to the January meeting of the Forum. Robert Winfield pointed out that there was already a speaker pencilled in for the January meeting. He proposed that the Forum should issue an invitation to Mr Malik to attend a Forum meeting in 2006. This was agreed

5. Correspondence- There was none, other than the correspondence relating to the accuracy of the minutes, which had already been dealt with.

6. It was agreed that as it was already after 9p.m, the meeting should be closed without dealing with the remaining items on the agenda.