Whiteleaf & Cadsden Residents Association

Minutes of the 2011 Annual General Meeting held at Whiteleaf Golf Club.

Present: Mrs K. Symons (Chairman), Mr. R. Shaw (Hon. Secretary), Mr. S. Clark (Hon. Treasurer), Mr. J. Clegg, Mr. P. Miles, Mrs S. Robinson, and 30 members.

1. Apologies were received from the Fowke, Lewis, Sale, Sareen, Hitchcock and Kemp households and from Mrs. R. Millard, Mr. P. Masterton-Smith, Mr. J. Minter, Mr. A. Hitchcock, Mrs. C. Frodsham Mrs. J. Muras and Mrs. S. Shaw.
2. Minutes. There being no comments, the minutes of the 2010 AGM were agreed.
3. Matters arising. The Secretary commented that all matters arising from last year’s AGM had been covered in newsletters or were commented on in the Chairman’s report.
4. Chairman’s report. The Chairman commented on the very good attendance at the meeting and welcomed new residents. The Chairman then picked up on the key points in her report, highlighting the setting up of our web site, which is still in its early days, the idea of developing a list of trades people used by residents, which could be useful to old and new residents alike, and the successful residents golf day. There were no questions from the floor about the Chairman’s report.The Secretary said that the list of trades people would shortly be published and if anyone present wanted to recommend someone, could they supply details to the Secretary in the next week.
5. Annual accounts. The Treasurer commented on the accounts which revealed expenditure of £122 versus income of £260. Income was boosted this year by a payment of £100 from Barclays, as a result of their delays in updating the signatories on the Association’s account. There were no questions from the floor about the Treasurer’s report and this was approved.
6. Elections. The Treasurer Mr. S. Clark was due to retire from the Committee and offered himself for re-election. There were no other candidates forthcoming. Mr. Clark was duly re-elected unanimously, having been proposed by Mr. P. Miles and seconded by Mrs. J. Biggs.
7. House Numbering
   The Chairman explained that a resident had suggested that we put numbers alongside our house names to make it easier for delivery drivers to find our properties. The Committee felt that this should be debated at the AGM as there would be planning issues as well as a cost of c. £50 per household. The meeting felt that it would be difficult to number houses on the Icknield Way and that normally drivers have the phone number of the recipient and should be able to get directions. The proposal was rejected by all, with one abstention. However it was noted that some properties could make their house names more visible and that the Secretary would circulate the list of the location of properties, which is currently on the web site.
8. Cadsden Glen Walk
   Mr. J. Clegg informed the meeting that a guided walk through the woods at Cadsden has been arranged for the evening of Tuesday 7^th June, starting at 7pm in the Plough and finishing there after approximately one hour. Further details will be circulated in due course.
9. Any other business.
   Ms.S. Mitchell enquired as to the status of the proposed salt bin for the Holloway. The Secretary said that this would be addressed by Mr. Turner shortly.A number of residents said that, when exiting the Upper Icknield Way, it was very difficult to see traffic coming down Peters Lane as a result of the erection of a new fence. It was agreed that Whiteleaf House would be contacted and that a sign indicating the dangerous junction would be useful.

   Mr. I Grant enquired as to why “the bus shelter” on Peters Lane had been recently re-built. See comment below from Mr. Turner.

   Mr. J. Clegg commented on the continuing deterioration of the Holloway. The Secretary agreed to write to BCC to ask that they review the state of the road again, with a view to re-surfacing it.

The formal meeting closed at 8.25pm 

Councillor Alan Turner, Mayor of PRTC, highlighted a number of issues:-

a)      Salt bin. PRTC have received funding for 10 bins and now need to decide how to allocate them within the town. He said that, as we had applied some time ago, we would be at the top of the list. There was some discussion from the floor as to exactly where the bin should be placed as a result of which the Secretary agreed to write to PRTC for a second bin.

b)      Bus shelter. This is in fact a King George memorial shelter, which was donated by a resident as a shelter for walkers going up Peters Lane. It had fallen into disrepair and PRTC decided that it should be replaced a few years ago. Recently it had been accidently damaged by a utility company and has been repaired by the Town Council.

c)      One-way System . This is under consultation at present and BCC will make a decision as to whether to retain, amend or scrap the system in the light of the response.

d)     The Molins Sports Field. Compulsory purchase of the site is not now an option, however the PRTC has re-opened direct negotiations with Molins and hope that a realistic offer can be agreed.

e)      British Legion. A developer has put in an offer for the site, but it is thought that they will not get planning permission for their proposals. The local Legion branch committee will resubmit an offer if the developer pulls out.

f)       Town Centre Regeneration. As a result of funding from WDC, consultants have provided plans for how to regenerate the town. One action is the formation of a new Risborough Area Partnership which will drive a number of initiatives in co-operation with all the current organisations in the town. Other ideas are to extend the current market and to increase the number of specialist markets. A “shop local” project will be launched soon with a business directory and cotton bags printed with a shop local logo.

Shop occupancy has risen since 2009 when there were 13 empty shops to a level where in a few month’s time there may be only 3 or 4 empty shops.

Mr. J Clegg asked if there had been any discussion about creating extra parking, as free parking in Thame and Wendover encourages people to shop there rather than in Princes Risborough. Mr. Turner said that this was a big issue for WDC as they are reluctant to lose the revenue from parking and they claim that the car parks are only 70% full. However new housing in Mill Lane and by the station will add 200 homes, which will put pressure on parking. One idea is to see whether funds can be raised locally to effectively pay WDC for one hours free parking.
After the meeting, Mr. Mel Foster, Chair of the Speen Action Group against HS2 gave a very information account of the main reasons why HS2 should be opposed. This was not for NIMBY reasons but because the Governments proposal is not based on sound numbers for passenger growth, does not take account of either possible developments in technology (which will reduce travel) or alternatives and uses spurious logic to define savings, most of which derive from the cost of time saved by faster journeys. He also outlined ways to address the issues in the Government’s consultation and will provide outline answers for us to use if we wish. A copy of the presentation will be available shortly on the web site.