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Minutes April 2007 APM
BRIDGWATER TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES of the ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING OF THE TOWN COUNCIL
HELD ON THURSDAY 12 APRIL 2007 AT 7.30PM IN
THE CHARTER HALL, TOWN HALL, BRIDGWATER
PRESENT: Councillor PGH Parker (Mayor - in the Chair), 8 members of the Town Council, and some 5 members of the public.
1. Apologies for Absence
None received.
2. Minutes of the Annual Town Meeting 2006
The Minutes of the third Annual Public Meeting of the Town Council held on Tuesday 25 April 2006 had been circulated to Members of the Council and were available at the meeting.
RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Annual Public Meeting of the Town Council held on 25 April 2006 be confirmed and signed by the Mayor as a correct record.
3. "Building Schools for the Future"
The public meeting received a presentation from representatives of Somerset County Council the Education Authority, produced by Linda Barnett Head of Service Children's Social Care, Julie Walker Project Director Sedgemoor Learning Alliance, and Emma Brown.
They gave a full presentation on the Building Schools for the Future project for Bridgwater including the background to the bid, the scope of the bid, the timetable and current actions. Reference was also made to the establishment of a Stakeholder Board, on which the Town Council was currently represented by the Mayor, Cllr Pat Parker, and a Strategic Project Board who would manage the project. Copies of the slides were made available and would be circulated to all members not present, together with a Briefing Note No. 1 dated January 2007, and a "Schools for the Future Consultation Card".
The project envisaged 100% re-build of the secondary and special schools estate in Bridgwater. Full consultation was promised, with all the stakeholders and sectors of the community, including the Town Council.
The presenters responded to a number of questions, covering the following specific issues:
1. Site security against the need for inclusiveness, as referenced to design of buildings and designing out crime and the work of locality teams.
2. Bullying - a long-age problem and the effects on the wider campus with re-building on existing sites - confirmation sought in relation to Haygrove possibly dependent upon the options appraisal and shared facilities for sporting provision - reference to the need to be explicit on what "shared" sporting facilities meant.
3. Total amounts of finance estimated at £450M across Somerset, with the first tranche to be devoted to Bridgwater estate.
4. Too little emphasis on capacity change, ie: impact of South Bridgwater residential development. Consultation with stakeholders at every stage critical, reference to Sedgemoor Manor Junior and Infants and the issue of combining coming back onto the Agenda
The meeting concluded overall support for the bid, subject to the many details that would emerge during the process and essentially needed to be the subject of consultation throughout, but recognised as giving an exciting opportunity for Bridgwater.
The Mayor thanked the officers for the breadth of the presentation and for the frank way in which they had handled the questions.
4 Bridgwater Town Council - Resume of the year 2006/2007
The Mayor presented a list of items that had been dealt with by the Town Council during the past year, which was circulated. This would be made widely available.
He concluded by thanking all members for their forbearance and contributions during the year.
5. Issues from the Public
No specific issues were raised, other than those that had been dealt with in the "Building Schools for the Future" presentation.
6. Public Meeting
The Mayor thanked all those who had participated for their attendance and contributions and recognising the difficulty of timing in relation to the forthcoming election and undertook to ensure that greater publicity would be given in future years.
The meeting finished at 8.30pm
Signed:
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