Held at 6.30pm on 2nd February 2005 At Oakdale Community Centre

Chairman’s Opening Remarks

Chairman Roger Evans welcomed all those present including two guest speakers Maria Martin and Mark Price.

Apologies:
Dean Tucker, Don Touhig MP, Peter Gomer CCBC, Jan Bennet, Claire Higgins, Irene James (AM), Richard Jones, Cllr Tudor Davies, Cllr. John Evans, Paul Taylor.

Minutes of Last Meeting
Were passed as a true record with the exception that Paul Taylor had been omitted from the Apologies.

Correspondence Received
Letter off groundwork re: Fair trade
CCBC Voluntary Sector Award – 2 residents were nominated. GAVO has nominated our Partnership.
GAVO survey has been completed.
CCBC- Local People, Local Jobs have been invited to attend March meeting.
Schools fair- 21st February 1.00pm-6.00pm at Blackwood Institute.
Heather Vernon- Wimpy housing will sponsor 10 troughs @ £75 each. Awaiting a confirmation letter.

Treasurers Report
It has been reported that the balance is £664.46

Maria Martin Community Safety
Maria Martin gave an excellent presentation on Community Safety. Information packs were also handed out. Basically the presentation was about everyone working together for a safer Borough. Local Authority, Police, Fire Service and Local Health Board work together with communities to sustain reduction in crime. By working together it means that they can share expertise. Working with the communities means they have correct statistics on what exactly is happening in our area. We can then all work together to prevent crime before it happens.

There was then a questions and answers session. Maria recommended that we set up a Sub Group in order to bring all the groups together. Wayne Roberts our local Crime reduction Officer can be contacted to advice on setting up Neighbour Hood Watch Schemes.

Mark Price (Welsh Assembly Government)

Mark gave an excellent insight into the workings of the Welsh Assembly. Why it exists, how it exists, and how they will move forward. ‘Decisions for Wales are made by the People of Wales’. Full information pack were handed out. Many interesting facts including: There are even split of male and female Assembly members- first time in history!!, The building cost £41 million to make compared with £500 million for the Scottish Assembly building. We were the first Assembly to have a Children’s Commissioner- England followed suit 12 months later. We are represented by regional committees so that any issues we have are fed back by our representatives to the Assembly. The building is very high tech and they have managed to reduce a vote and count to 30 seconds as opposed to House Of Parliaments’- 30 minutes!

Local People Local jobs
Will attend our meeting in March

Legion Standard
Just a reminder of the laying of the Legion Standard on the 12th February, 2005.

Partnership Action Plan
2 meetings have been held. Another meeting will be held with Liz King of the Council Research Dept., to put together a questionnaire to get a full picture of what residents would like.

Constitution/Charity Status
Granville and Karen are working to finalise the Constitution. This should be completed by next meeting.

Project Update
Oakdale Square – A meeting has been arranged for next week to discuss plans for Spring/Summer. Rob believes we may be able to get sponsorship from local business.

Penmaen Churchyard: Still need to establish who owns the land.

Greengro – The bulbs have now started to grow. We still need to determine what is to be done with the other pieces of land. Investigations are still continuing as to who owns Penmaen woods. There is a need to work on planters now, otherwise we will miss growing season.

Recreational Ground: No further information at this point.

Tsunami Appeal
This was an excellent success- 23 people worked extremely hard. The whole project was organised in 10 days. Special thanks were given to Pat- the Printer for all the leaflets and envelopes that were printed free of charge and of course the time it took to print them. £2063 was raised. Well done!!

Fund Raising
Maria suggested that we could have a stall or sell raffles etc., at the community care event day.

Newsletter
News letter is ready for distribution. Please distribute.

Partnership and Local Business
Re: The Tsunami Appeal. Over 21 Businesses were contacted.To date no one has applied.

Fairtrade
People in the Third World should get a fair price for product they produce. Please support them by buying Fairtrade products.

A coffee morning will be held on March 12th and Oakdale library will hold a Fairtrade coffee morning once a month.

Other Business
There were several car break-ins again. Two people have been arrested and further names given.
GAVO run a scheme to help with shed alarms, etc.. Contact GAVO for more details.
Allan and Richard are to discuss the proposal for the new mast as there seems to be some confusion amongst residents.

Date Of Next Meeting
Wednesday, 2nd March, 2005 at 6.30pm- Oakdale Community Centre. This will be the Annual General Meeting.