MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE AND GROVE JOINT ECONOMIC FORUM HELD AT THE VALE AND DOWNLAND MUSEUM, CHURCH STREET, WANTAGE, ON THURSDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2014 AT 7.05 P.M. (The meeting had originally been convened for 7.00pm at The Beacon, but due to the unavailability of a room, the meeting had to be adjourned and reconvened at the Museum)

Grove Parish Council Councillor D Rolfe

Wantage Town Council Councillors C S Dickson, D Richardson (part) and S Trinder

Vale of White Horse DC Councillors J Amys, Mrs C Dickson, Mrs J Hannaby and Mrs F Roper

Wantage Chamber of Commerce Mr M Dale, Mrs J Hutchinson, Mr S Roper and Mr R Shepherd.

Vale and Downland Museum Mrs E Sadler

District Council Officers Mrs T Godfrey, Mrs O’Leary and Mrs A Robinson (for item 4)

Town Team Co-ordinators Mr I Nicholson and Ms M Norvell

Clerk Mr W P Falkenau

1. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Grove Parish Councillors Mrs J E Nunn- Price, F Parnell and Mrs J Stock, Wantage Town Councillors B Mabbett, District Councillor Mrs S Marchant and Chamber of Commerce members Mr B Connolly and Mr J Randhawa.

2. Declarations of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

None.

3. Minutes of Meeting held on 22 May 2014

The minutes were approved and signed.

4. Briefing by Representative of Local Enterprise Partnership by Anna Robinson

Mrs Robinson gave details of the members of the Partnership, and on the sourcing of funds for it. It was the responsibility of the Partnership to decide where these funds were spent. Projects currently in the pipeline were the improvements to Featherbed Lane and Steventon lights, a bus service to improve the links between University and Harwell, and upgrades to the A34 with additional slip roads. Mrs Robinson has the responsibility for bringing funds together to make projects happen within the and South Oxfordshire. There were tensions because others were also looking for funding to do projects elsewhere in Oxfordshire. Vale of white Horse projects she was working on were the western/eastern link road and the provision of a new leisure centre on Grove Airfield. Enterprise Partnerships were now the channel that local authorities had to go through to get funding for such projects.

Councillor Richardson arrived.

Mrs Robinson commented on the Stategic Housing Marketing Assessment. She advised that the housing figures that District Councils were obliged to work with were likely to MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE WANTAGE AND GROVE JOINT ECONOMIC FORUM HELD AT THE VALE AND DOWNLAND MUSEUM, CHURCH STREET, WANTAGE, ON THURSDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER, 2014 AT 7.05 P.M.

be significantly inflated because the government required the inclusion of figures for prospective new jobs in the area. Businesses were asked to speculate on how many jobs might be created and these figures were used for assessment purposes.

In promoting growth the Partnership was seeking to support developments that required higher skilled jobs, rather than warehousing type developments where only a few lower skilled jobs were created. The plan was to bring 8000 new jobs to Harwell. With regard to housing development the District Council was trying to stop the construction of uniform style houses and encourage housing in the style of the local vernacular. Mrs Robinson was thanked for her briefing and she left the meeting.

5. Matters arising

(a) Walking/Cycling Route Cards

Councillor Mrs Nunn-Price had advised that all the cards were now complete and were with the printer, awaiting proof reading before printing. The Clerk was to ask Councillor Mrs Nunn-Price to provide pdf copies of the route cards to display on local tourist websites. Action: Clerk

(b) Artisan Markets

The organiser of the Artisan market had been unable to bring together the resources required to proceed with this. The Town Council was looking at ways of improving the weekly markets and this might involve arranging a monthly Artisan style market.

(c) Vale4business

The monthly newsletters had been distributed to Forum members. A series of free briefing sessions for local employers had been commenced, as part of the SPARK Business Initiative (SPARK is a community of people that help each other to launch, run and expand successful businesses). These covered issues such as financing, marketing, HR and recruitment.

(d) Fairtrade Status

There had been no response from Sustainable Wantage concerning taking this forward. Mr Dale advised that the Chamber of Commerce would give consideration to this in the New Year. Action: Dale

(e) Update on Work of Town Team Coordinators

Mr Nicholson advised that there were now only three vacant properties in the town centre, two in Limborough Road and number 13 Wallingford Street. Attention was now being given to expanding retail capacity. The Flashop was not operating because the premises had been rented to one of the businesses that had previously occupied the Flashop. The public wifi now covered Mill Street. A meeting had been held with those interested in establishing an artisan hub.

Ms Norvell reported on actions being taken to revitalise the weekly markets. The Town Council had agreed to employ Jeanette Howse for three months to help support this. Public art and performances were being promoted as an attraction for town centre visitors. Musical performances on Saturdays and some Wednesdays had proved a success. The Forum recorded its thanks to Mr Howard Hill for arranging this.

2 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE WANTAGE AND GROVE JOINT ECONOMIC FORUM HELD AT THE VALE AND DOWNLAND MUSEUM, CHURCH STREET, WANTAGE, ON THURSDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER, 2014 AT 7.05 P.M.

Mr Nicholson said that improvements to shop and building fronts had been encouraging, including Regent Arcade, Scrivens/Sports Bar, M&A Electricals/Oxfam and Coral. The red phone boxes had been painted. There were other improvements in prospect.

The Bybox at The Beacon had been out of service for some weeks but was now fully working. Parking in the town centre continued to be an issue for businesses. The possibility of providing a park and ride service needed to be explored. There may be a need for a survey. There was a lack of provision of cycle racks in the town centre. Ms Norvell distributed a picture of a flower planter that also acted as a rack for two cycles. These would normally cost £120 each, but two were available at £90 each.

ON THE PROPOSITION of Councillor Mrs Roper, SECONDED by Councillor Mrs Dickson, IT WAS RESOLVED that the two planter/bike racks be purchased at a total cost of £180.

If these were found suitable, consideration would be given to buying more at full price, in a uniform colour.

Arrangements were proceeding with regard to hosing the ‘café scientifique’. The Loyalty Card scheme was being successfully developed and promoted.

Ms Norvell reported that The Mix lease had been secured until end October. It was piloting hot-desking to see if the project could be made self-funding. There was a need to get 10 hot-desking subscribers per month to make it self-financing. It currently had six subscribers at a discounted rate. It was unknown how many would continue at the full rate. In order to extend the licence for a further year, there was a need to cover a potential shortfall of £1,500.

ON THE PROPOSITION of Councillor Mrs Roper, SECONDED by Councillor Dickson, IT WAS MOVED that the Forum agree to underwrite any income shortfall of The Mix to cover its rent cost up to a maximum of £1,500.

In the vote, this was approved 11 in favour, none against.

Mrs Godfrey reported that the District Council will shortly be commissioning researchers to do a shoppers survey in Wantage, Faringdon and Abingdon to identify shopping habits. She said there was a need to consider the focus of the future work of the Town Team Coordinators.

Mr Dale said that a number of shops were considering late night opening on a number of evenings in the run up to Christmas. There was to be a meeting to discuss which evenings these should be.

Ms Norvell and Mr Nicholson were thanked for the work they had done and what had been achieved.

(f) Update on Wantage Neighbourhood Plan preparation and car parking provision

Four working groups had been established to take forward public engagement relating to the Neighbourhood Plan. These covered

• Town centre businesses, economy and technology

3 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE WANTAGE AND GROVE JOINT ECONOMIC FORUM HELD AT THE VALE AND DOWNLAND MUSEUM, CHURCH STREET, WANTAGE, ON THURSDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER, 2014 AT 7.05 P.M.

• Heritage, environment, conservation and design • Transport, infrastructure, education and health • Youth, leisure, sport and art

Public car parking was emerging as a planning issue. The former Police Station and Magistrates Court properties were no longer subject to a contractual sale agreement. Heads of terms had been agreed with another purchaser. There was a short period of time in which, if funding could be found, the properties could be acquired for a car parking development.

6. Financial Statement to August 2014

The attached statement was noted.

7. General correspondence and other business

a) Wantage Guide

It was noted that Local Authority Publishing was going to produce the Town Guide for 2015.

b) Tour of Britain

The cycling race was to go through the town on Friday 12 September. The Chamber of Commerce had made arrangements for the public to observe the race from a paddock at the top of Chain Hill.

c) J Sainsbury’s

The local Sainsbury’s store was offering to make available the café area free of charge to local groups for meetings in the evening, after 7pm.

8. Dates of Future Meetings

20 November, 2014 and 26 February, 2015

The meeting closed at 9.25pm

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WPF/ME

4 MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE WANTAGE AND GROVE JOINT ECONOMIC FORUM HELD AT THE VALE AND DOWNLAND MUSEUM, CHURCH STREET, WANTAGE, ON THURSDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER, 2014 AT 7.05 P.M.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT 2014/15 AS AT SEPTEMBER 2014

2013/14 2014/15

INCOME

Wantage Town Council 1,000 1,000

Grove Parish Council 1,000 1,000

Vale of White Horse District Council 7,000 1,000

Total income 9,000 3,000

EXPENDITURE

What's On - Wantage.com advert 100 50 Betjeman Festival - - Promote Wantage event - - Loyalty Card - -

Town Team Coordinator projects 10,500 - AMT Event 500 - Other - -

Total expenditure 11,100 50

NET INCOME/EXPENDITURE (2,100) 2,950

Reserves balance bfwd 11,589 9,489

Reserves balance cfwd 9,489 12,439

Commitment to Betjeman Statue Project 5,000 5,000

General reserves 4,489 7,439

wpf 10/09/14

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