Minutes of the Eighth Meeting of Woodhouse Parish Plan Group
Monday 14th June 2004

Present [16]
(Names removed from this copy for data protection reasons).

Previous Minutes
Please note a correction: the July meeting will be in the Village Hall Annexe.

Matters arising
Funds
A lower cost printer was found to produce the questionnaires, and keep the Group within the budget estimate.  The only unforeseen cost was for envelopes, but these were obtained at a very low price.

The views of the under 13s
The Chair has met with the acting head of St Paul's School.  The school council will seek the views of this age group.  School councils comprise children from each form, and after a briefing from a teacher, they will take the survey back to their forms and report back.  This will happen before the end of the school year, to tie in with the main village appraisal.
Action: Chair to maintain contact with this process

Open meeting – 22 May [report already circulated]
This was fairly successful although attendance could have been better.  The views recorded in the report circulated with the Agenda need to be kept in mind when producing the results of the questionnaire.

The questionnaire
Consultation with service providers [report already circulated*]
A table charting the comments and suggestions for change was discussed.  Consultees comments were favourable and the changes suggested were generally thought to be appropriate by the editorial team, advised by the RCC.  Comments were received from various offices of the County and Borough Councils, the Police, and individual parish councillors.  Their responses appear to be a sign that they will be taking notice of the results, and hopefully supporting any actions proposed.

Distribution [Information sheet and householder's letter already circulated]
Small changes were made to the letter, which is to be 'posted' with the questionnaire if the householders have been absent when we attempt to deliver it a second or third time. Copies of the revised letter will be given to everyone taking part in the delivery phase.

It was agreed that it would be helpful to distribute slips bearing WPPG telephone contacts to all residents, not only those who are absent when we are delivering.
Action: (name removed) to produce & (name removed) to copy 

Publicity was discussed.  In addition to the Open Meeting, there have been regular updates in Roundabout, the Parish Magazine, and the Loughborough Echo.  Members felt that more could be done, including large posters in some shop windows, and a very large sign and/or banner at the end of Main Street.
Action: (Name removed) to organise the large notice/banner 
Action: (Name removed) to produce and display large window poster
Delivery rounds
In theory, most members of the WPPG would only need to deliver to about 30 households, depending on their personal circumstances, time, etc.   A list of addresses will be sent to each member, based on where they live, expressed preferences etc. Members present took away 30 copies and envelopes - others will be distributed with the Minutes.  Please contact Axxx with any difficulties or changes needed to the addresses allocated. 
Action:  Axxx to distribute 'delivery runs' and questionnaires to appropriate WPPG members

Spare copies: 
(Name removed) has agreed hold these at the Pharmacy in case anyone delivering finds that they need more.  Copies will also be mounted on the two websites.  Additional copies of the Youth questionnaire will also be available from the Pharmacy.

Making contact with households
Members agreed to make at least two visits to try to personally introduce the questionnaire to householders.  If there has been no contact, then a copy of the questionnaire, an envelope for its return, and a 'Letter to Household' should be put through the letterbox.  If householders are in, those delivering should be able to negotiate an appropriate date/time for collecting it when completed.  The Information sheet [already circulated] gives contact telephone numbers for WPPG members who are willing to respond to any queries [the only contact number within the questionnaire is the Chair's].  They should also be given a slip bearing these contact numbers.

This is an important part of the work, and if the overall response rate is high, any resulting suggestions for action will carry more weight with the agencies and services who would be asked to take such action.

Collecting completed questionnaires
RCC experience suggests that personal collection is the best method for securing a high response rate.  However, people will sometimes be out.  Therefore the envelope supplied has a label which asks them to drop their questionnaire off at either the Woodhouse Eaves Post Office or Oakwood Pharmacy if they and the collector have been unable to coincide by 12th July [to allow a weekend after our proposed deadline of Friday 9th July]. All of those personally collected should be left at either location for the data entry processing.

Data entry
(Name removed)  has found an experienced data entry person willing to do the work, up to the level of our budget.  If this person is unable to finish by the time the funds are exhausted, then volunteers may be needed to complete it. The process for handling the returns is as follows:

1.	Green covers are removed and given to a third party to collect the 'volunteering' and 'questions' back page information which bear names and addresses of respondents
2.	All the tick box responses from questions 1-112 are entered onto the software provided by the RCC for this purpose by the data entry person
3.	The automatic record number from the software is written onto the questionnaire so that accuracy checks can be made
4.	Others enter the free text comments and responses into suitable software

Action:  (Name removed) to commission a 'dummy run' to test things out

Back up strategy
This will be explored in case the data become corrupted or the machine breaks down.
Action: (Name removed) to pursue arrangements with the RCC IT expert.

Thanks
The Chair warmly thanked all WPPG members for their hard work in bringing the Woodhouse Parish Plan to this stage, particularly the secretary. This was endorsed by other members present.   It has been very challenging at times, but the work is on target and already generating interest and enthusiasm from residents.
 
Village Design Statement
The Group agreed to await the results of  Question 71 [asking for expressions of interest] before setting up a VDS group to take this work forward.  It will need a chair and suitable members, and could be started via a launch event later in the year.  It is possible that a grant could be ob tained from the Borough Council as there is no provision within the existing Parish Plan budget for a VDS.

Charnwood Local Development Framework Seminar - 11th June
(Names removed) attended the all-day seminar on behalf of the WPPG.  The participants were organised into workshop groups, and these explored what the various representatives would like to see in the LDF when it replaces the current Structure Plan in 2006.  What's new this time is that the LDF has to fit within regional plans when it previously related to County plans.  

In the discussion by WPPG members there were some concerns about a comment that had been made during the seminar on Charnwood Forest and its 'need' for protection from development.  Cllr (name removed) gave his view that it is considered to be very important to the area and unlikely to be targeted.  There is an issue over restrictions on access to parts of the Forest area, notably by horse riders. It may be helpful to encourage greater access to the more restricted parts of, for example, Beacon Hill and the Outwoods, so that those who live outside the area can enjoy more of what is visible to parish residents.  Charnwood Forest is also within the new National Forest boundary.

Any other business
(Name removed - RCC rep) has published a Press Release on parish plan activities [circulated with these Minutes].
A TV producer is looking for rural residents who are considering moving back into urban areas. (Name removed) will publicise this.

Date and Time of Next Meetings 
Tuesday 20th July in the Village Hall ANNEXE  
Monday 20th September Village Hall 
(Name removed), Secretary to the Parish Plan Group
Parish Councils' Website: www.leicestershireparishcouncils.org  
Woodhouse Eaves website: www.woodhouse-eaves.co.uk