06/02/12

Present: Clover Williams (CW) (Vice Chair), Hippo Grigg (HG) (Treasurer),
Max Deckers Dowber (MDD) (Secretary), Noshir Patel (NP), Rosemarie Falaiye (RF),
Sarah Williams (SW), David Walker (DW) [from Item 4].

Also Present: Sarah Coyte (SC) Capacity Building Officer, LBL.
Samuel Adu-Poku (SAP) (Trinity Baptist Church) [for Item 1]

Minute Takers: Richard Penn (RP) and Helen Penn (HP).


1. Trinity Baptist Church Presentation:

1.1 SAP said the church, which owns Thomas Glover House behind Norwood bus garage, had submitted a change of use planning application to use part of the building for an employment training and business support centre with service providers such as Lambeth College and Jobcentre Plus operating there. The centre would aim to provide a “one stop shop” for those wishing to open new businesses, particularly young people. A public meeting to explain and publicize the proposal is to be held at the church on 13 February.

1.2 In answer to questions, SAP said:
• Trinity Baptist Church had been in the area for 25 years, had some 2,000 members, and would be providing initial financial support and management for the centre;
• A range of potential longer term funders had been approached;
• The centre could be running by September 2012 with some pilot services starting sooner;
• Services would be for all adults but with a particular focus on young people aged 16 or more;
• Services would not be restricted to church members or residents of a particular area or borough.

1.3 SAP asked that Norwood Forum support the proposal by writing to the council in favour of the planning application and perhaps attending the planning meeting scheduled for 23 March. Committee members expressed general support for the proposal. NP hoped that someone from the Forum would attend the 13 February meeting to learn more about it and that then a letter of support could be written. MDD asked SAP to e-mail him with particular points that the church would wish to see included in a letter of support. NP thanked SAP for coming.
Action: MDD to draft letter of support and, after 13 Feb, clear with colleagues before sending.


2. Apologies: NP chaired the meeting in accordance with the schedule for Rotating Chairs. Apologies had been received from Susan de Swarte (SdS), Blanche Pavia, Irene Kimm, Emily Georghiou (EG), Sinead Donoghue (SD) and Dave Maddix (DM). It was noted that Mohamed Khan Lodhi had not been to recent meetings or sent apologies and MDD agreed to contact him.
Action: MDD to contact Mr Khan Lodhi.


3. Minutes of Previous Meeting: The minutes of the 9 January meeting, as circulated on 17 January, were approved without amendment as a fair record.


4. Matters Arising:

4.1 Re Item 3.1: The evaluation had been done and MDD had posted it on the website.

4.2 Re Item 3.3: HG handed out business cards to those present.

4.3 Re Item 6: MDD had not yet sent this invitation. He agreed to invite Mr Abu Barkatoolah to attend the March committee meeting to talk about parking strategy.
Action: MDD to invite Mr Barkatoolah to March Committee meeting.

4.4 Re Item 7: HG said Ms Clarke was still consulting colleagues on what information about the shopfront improvement scheme could be placed on the Forum website.
Action: HG to remind Ms Clarke about this.

4.5 Re Item 9: HG said he had booked Christ Church hall for the March 2012 Open Meeting. The booking is from 7pm to 9pm on Thursday 22 March.

4.6 Re Item 12.3: MDD said he had not yet issued the invitation but would do so.
Action: MDD to invite Gipsy Hill ward councillors to March Committee meeting.

4.7 Re Item 12.5: RP said he had been given no details of persons not receiving Forum e-mails and suggested that any such people be advised to e-mail info@norwoodforum.org.

4.8 Re Item 12.6: HG said the bank had credited the Forum’s account with a further £50.


5. Community First Fund, Youth Forum and Lambeth Forum Network Awayday:

5.1 Regarding the Community First Fund, MDD said a Community Panel was being set up in Thurlow Park ward. There was no need for Forum involvement now although it should watch developments.

5.2 SC said she and DM had met EG and SD on 11 January to discuss progress with the Norwood Youth Forum (NYF). The main points from the meeting were:
• Some £2,000 was available for the NYF: £600 from Norwood Forum; £700 underspend from Grassroots funding and the rest from a CPCDT underspend.
• Some of these funds should be used for arts events or discussion sessions.
• Further efforts should be made to speak to previous NYF members, despite little success to date.

5.3 HG said he was very disappointed with the progress of the NYF, although similar problems with youth schemes had been encountered by other members of the Lambeth Forum Network. He said NYF needed more effective management. SC agreed that a key lesson from experience to date was that the NYF needed a full time worker if possible. HG also said there was no problem carrying forward the £600 from Norwood Forum into 2012/13.

5.4 Various suggestions were made for events, including bicycle and fashion workshops. DW said NYF could be a “banner” linking in with other local youth organisations and NP suggested an estate by estate approach. RF said NYF should pay more attention to the Gipsy Hill and Central Hill estates. It was agreed that SC would try to develop plans for an event on the Central Hill estate, involving EG, SD and DM as much as possible.
Action: SC, with EG, SD and DM, to develop plans for NYF event on Central Hill estate.

5.5 It was agreed that NP would attend the Lambeth Forum Network Awayday on 19 February to represent Norwood Forum along with SdS.


6. London Election Hustings: NP said that, after discussion with HG and SdS, he had asked David Stephenson, vicar of All Saints Church Rosendale Road, to chair the event and he had provisionally agreed. It was agreed that the best dates would be 10 – 12 April, during the week after Easter. It was agreed that NP ask whether the hustings could be held in All Saints church hall. Otherwise, the Old Library seemed the best venue. It was agreed that invitations would be issued to all local candidates for the Greater London Authority, that questions would be pre-submitted, and that an independent question sifter should assist the chair.
Actions: NP to find out if hustings could be held in All Saints hall and if not;
MDD to book Old Library.


7. Norwood Local Library Campaign:

7.1 MDD said the Forum was not involved as it should be in the West Norwood Save the Library Campaign being organised by various local groups. The Campaign had organised a protest of about 50 people outside the library on 4 February. The committee agreed to MDD’s proposal that he contact the groups behind the Campaign and ask how the Forum could help.
Action: MDD to offer Forum’s help to groups organising the Campaign.

7.2 SC said another way the Forum might be involved was to organise engagement events to discuss the provision of community hubs and alternative forms of library service delivery. NP said he wanted both the Nettlefold Hall building to be repaired and for library services to operate from it.


8. Graham Pycock Motion:

8.1 NP said the previous meeting had decided that Forum members must be given the chance to debate the issues raised by this motion. DW and HG said the matter should be resolved if possible before the AGM. After some discussion of options, including that of making the March Open Meeting an EGM, it was decided that the motion would be an agenda item at the March Open Meeting. If that meeting supported the principle of the motion, it could then decide whether that principle would be best implemented using Item 6d of the existing Constitution, or whether an amendment to the Constitution would be required. If the latter, it would not be impossible to call an EGM ahead of the AGM.

8.2 NP, MDD, HG and DW expressed their disagreement with the principle of the motion (that candidates for the Forum Committee be required to disclose membership of political parties/groups) and NP said the committee should try to reach a common view on the proposal which could be communicated to the Open Meeting. It was decided to defer this discussion to the next committee meeting given the number of absentees.
Action: MDD to put Views on Pycock Motion on agenda for next Committee meeting.


9. Agenda for March Open Meeting: HG, RF, DW and MDD suggested various items for the agenda. After discussion, and in view of the venue in Gipsy Hill, the following agenda was agreed:

1. Crime Prevention: with involvement of local police.
2. Norwood Youth Forum: to be led by EG and SD.
3. Upper Norwood Library: lead speaker to be identified.
4. Pycock Motion:

Suggested items that were rejected for lack of agenda space included Update on Friends of Norwood Park, Partnership Working with TRAs and Road Safety.
Action: MDD to identify, inform and invite speakers as appropriate.


10. Any Other Business:

10.1 SC drew attention to a South Lambeth - North Lambeth united initiative on adult learning from the Community Learning Coordinator at Morley College.
Action: MDD to find out more about this initiative.

10.2 MDD said the Forum might wish to have a presence at the Slow Food Festival at the end of March.
Action: MDD to e-mail further information and suggestions to Committee members.

10.3 HG asked about hits on the website and e-mails coming to the Forum. RP and MDD said they had received very few e-mails from Forum members or members of the public. MDD did not know about the number of website hits.
Action: MDD to investigate hits on Forum website.

10.4 HG suggested, and others agreed, chair rotation for future Committee meetings as follows:
March: SdS April: EG May: MDD.


11. Date of Next Meeting:

Monday 5 March 2012 at 7 pm at The Elmina Wine Bar, 463 Norwood Road, SE27 9DJ.
Action: MDD to book Elmina for this date.

The meeting closed at 9.15 pm END