Big Local Public Meeting

[Big Local 10]

At St John's Church, Weston Rhyn, Tuesday 4th December at 7.30pm. Update on progress, preview the new website, become a Community Champion or Community Journalist, help us start to write the Community Plan which will say how the £1m will be used.

Please come and get involved. Please bring a friend or neighbour.

[Maggie 65]

It seems to me that this is all about what we want to see done in our 'Big Local' area to improve our lot for the next how ever many years. We've done an awful lot of talking and saying what we think is wrong with the area, and this seems to be continuing in a sort of vacuum where there are no comprehensive ideas coming out of it all that would make a lasting good change to the area, and which a majority would believe would be a good way to spend the money. There is an ever increasing gap between the Big Local Committee and the people who live in Gobowen, St Martins and Weston Rhyn. and we seem to be operating in 2 parallel universes. There was an interesting tweet today from Debbie Ladds from Local Trust (the organisation that runs Big Local nationally) ' How far towards 100% residents on the Big Local partnership? Experience is between 51% and 100%. With workers & organisations in support. ' This is far from the experience here, there doesn't appear to be much buy in to the Big Local process amongst those I speak to, and no understanding of what makes that other parallel universe tick! To succeed there needs to be a lot more people involved in any decision making, at present the Big Local Committee doesn't represent anything I recognize from the area and certainly not 50-100% of residents.

The 'organisation' which comes closest to tapping into the concerns of the area is this Community Online Forum. Some of the campaigns and activities highlighted on this site have done a lot more to improve the area; and to get people talking and working together. I may be wrong but I thought that there was a thread about lift sharing very early on in Community Online, (this being one of the Big Local ideas to be discussed at the next meeting) Somehow the inclusiveness (is that the right word?) and creative spark shown by many contributors to Community Online needs to be adopted into the Big Local Committee so that the Big Local can become a bit more representative.

Would it be a good idea to start talking on Community Online about what vision we might have for the area in 10 years time? Some of the activities we are involved in developing from Community Online are about future sustainability (e.g. 'cycle' route from Gobowen to Oswestry, allotments, community orchards and gardens,(Incredible edible Shropshire) litter picking, sustrans, youth clubs, wildlife groups etc.) . and these are all good candidates for future use of £1million. I don't think these concerns are being taken on board by the Big Local Committee, and it looks like it is probably down to us to make our thoughts known to them. (If Mohammed won't come to the mountain...etc).

So...Who's going to the next meeting then?

Edited December 1, 2012 by Maggie

[Gardner 10]

Stirring words from that last person.

I would like to get involved, but I don't like going out in the dark at this time of year, and Holby City is on.

I will try and persuade my rep. to attend.

[Big Local 10]

Some very good points here, well made.

Use Community Online to discuss 'the vision' and come up with some concrete proposals ? YES PLEASE. That's one reason why there'll be a direct link between the website and Community Online, to help make this happen. But the Delivery Group is conscious that not everyone uses electronic media, so we have to make sure there are other ways for people to feed in their ideas as well (and there's a whole lot more work to do in that respect, certainly).

Developing the Partnership is certainly a priority - and one of the reasons for the 4th December meeting is to start to find more people willing to be a part of this, as well as the people currently on the 'Delivery Group' (the committee referred to in this post).

We ought to clear up one slight misunderstanding, though. You could put together a Partnership which just had representatives from County/District/Town/Parish Councils, Health Authority, the Police, Schools, and such like - which you could say represents 'the community'. But this isn't what Big Local is about - it's about a Partnership of the people living and working in the community who are not just representing one of the 'usual suspects'. In that respect, the current Delivery Group is pretty much 100% community representatives - though the group does need to have representatives from a wider range of interests than it does at the moment.

Lastly, don't forget this is all a work in progress. Although there's been a lot of good work done already, there's a lot more to do to develop the Partnership and the plan for how to make best use of the £1m, and that will continue to develop for a long time yet - even after the money starts to be drawn down. If you can come to the meeting on the 4th, please do - but if you can't there'll still be plenty of chance to be heard, and take part.

[Simple Simon 36]

...But the Delivery Group is conscious that not everyone uses electronic media, so we have to make sure there are other ways for people to feed in their ideas as well (and there's a whole lot more work to do in that respect, certainly).

... - it's about a Partnership of the people living and working in the community who are not just representing one of the 'usual suspects'.

Simple Simon smiles...evilly.

[Simple Simon 36]

A low turnout for the last meeting at Weston Rhyn and attended mostly by councillors and people associated with councils.

The new website looks fine, and the link to CO is very welcome. If the site is kept up to date then it should be a useful tool for informing us online. But maybe we should have used the expertise within the 3 parishes rather than go to a Wrexham company.

Mention was made of accessing isolated older people and getting their input as they don't tend to be online. I've sent David contact details of the Meadowbrook Court Residents Association (at least it's a starting point). And, seen as the car sharing scheme is dead I've pointed him in the direction of "Wheels 2 Work".

I did manage to get something useful out of attending (3 votes) by networking. A St. Martins councillor expressed an interest in possibly extending the potential Oswestry to Gobowen Traffic Free Route by adjusting the wide path linking Gobowen to St. Martins. There's also the possibility of linking Gobowen to both St. Martins and Weston Rhyn via Chirk Road in Gobowen, past Henlle and then improving the towpath connecting Weston Rhyn and St. Martins.

[leebarnfield 30]

Simon,

Yes the turnout was a little poor seeing as it had pretty good exposure across the internet and the press.

I like the website, its clean, modern looking and a positive move for the BL team, gives their work some visible subtance and its a platform to show off there work. The website was put out to tender and could have been bid for by any 'local' expertise. The bid was indeed won by a 'wrexham' company but its worth noting thats it's owned by and the site was made by someone who grew up and still has family in St.Martins and also went to Rhyn Park School.

The site was almost a joint bid with Community Online which is partly the reason why you will see the CO links on the pages and very shortly will see a dedicated Big Local section on this site, all managed and moderated by Community Online.

So with all that in mind, its pretty local :)

[Maggie 65]

That sounds very positive, I'm really glad something is being done. Still we are nowhere near a 50% ownership of the project by us locals (see above). What else came out of the meeting? I was very interested to see from the results of the questionnaire last year that loads of people wanted more flowers around their villages (I simplify!), and this ties in neatly with the newish surge in interest in community gardens... We've been starting this in Chirk Bank for example. There are lots of spare bits of scrubby land around here and community (or guerilla) planting would be an interesting project. There is a new project called Incredible Edible Shropshire, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Incredible Edible Todmorden (Where spare land was planted with community food, e.g. even traffic islands). One project is the community orchard planted by the old railway along the Gobowen Road out from Oswestry. Why not Kidney beans on the Gledrid Roundabout? (well no, too dangerous to get to).

http://www.facebook.com/IncredibleEdibleShropshire?fref=pb

[leebarnfield 30]

Guerilla Planting.......... :ph34r:

[Maggie 65]

Yeah you use seed bombs!

seedbomb.net

[leebarnfield 30]

Following the meeting I had a few ideas.....

Could Big Local approach all local groups and ask for a representative? In theory the groups should be the 'local' representation BL are after and the ones who could benefit from the money. I am not sure that I have seen anyone from the Institute in Weston Rhyn and they could possibly benefit from the money and are a venue for all local groups.

With regards to the LJC money for Job seeker/jobsearch, is this linked with the Institute in Weston Rhyn? They may be also eligible for UK Online money, up to £2000 although they need to be very quick! Maybe Big Local could speak to institutewatcher

I would be interested to see some stats on Car Sharing in Communities like ours, to me it sounds like a lot of effort and I am not sure if I see it working. Did the entire St.Martins attendees come in one vehicle to the Big Local Meeting?

I haven't seen any mention on here of the next Business Breakfast, lets have the details posted Big Local

What I think would also be very useful is if we had someone in the Big Local group that could assist in Fund Finding, someone to go to who could advice of where to go to look for money for setting up and maintaining community groups and assitance in the completion of forms etc.

The Community Champions and Community Journalists sounds a great idea, and to offer training to people who are interested would be a good incentive.

There seems to be a big push to make sure that the group get to the minorites in the communities, but minorities are just that, minorities and at the moment we don't seem to be getting to the majorities!

I think we need much better Big Local representation at some local events, take a look at the calendar events in December, there is a great opportunity to spread the word and draft in some support.

I am somewhat worried when I see some of the other Big Local groups and the things they have done, maybe its just the ones we see in the newsletter being used as examples but to me its seems like we are so far behind.

[Simple Simon 36]

I'm not sure setting up meetings and consultations is such a good idea.

To access some businesses look in the local newsletters and pay a visit or contact via email. Contact Gobowen Parish Clerk to access the Meals on Wheels service and go and speak to people using the service. Visit the schools and youth clubs to access kids. Visit the local independent shops and pubs.

In short, if people aren't coming to you, go to them (but have a thick skin).

[leebarnfield 30]

My other suggestion was to just do something.... anything organised by the Big Local and see if it creates public reaction. People are usually more likely to come out to complain.

I recall a public meeting about the positining of a gossip shelter on Gobowen playing field and IIRC over 100 people came to a public meeting.