Saturday 12 June 2010

Meeting minutes from public consultation on need for an Oakhill & District Residents Association (OADRA)

Many thanks for attending our first Oakhill & District Residents Association meeting, it was a great success, information about the AGM will follow asap.

Here are the minutes from our first meeting, I will try to get hard copies out to those without email asap. It may take a week or two to arrange that, if you are talking to anyone who was at the meeting and didn't get this email.

Regards, Ciaran


Meeting: Public consultation on need for an Oakhill & District Residents Association (OADRA)
Date: 27.5.10, Location: Baptist Church, Langley Road

1. Introductions
- Robert Lewis introduced the interim committee, welcomed the new councillors Umesh Parekh, Malcolm Self and Neil Houston, and also the Surbiton Safer Neighbourhood team.

- Robert gave an overview of how the idea for an association came about. Approximately 48 people in attendance.

- The interim committee was introduced: Robert Lewis Chair, Ciaran Oates Secretary, Ian Wilson Treasurer, and Graham Goldspring PR & Publicity

- The Surbiton Safer Neighbourhood team introduced themselves (Sgt Eddie Armstrong and PCSO Khalil Saib). Sgt Eddie Armstrong gave an overview of their role in the area, and a summary of recent local crime statistics.

Their contact details are:
- Surbiton Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team, Surbiton YMCA, 49 Victoria
Road, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 4NG
- Telephone: 0208 721 2518
- Email: Surbitonhill.snt@met.police.uk
- Website: www.met.police.uk/teams/kingston/surbitonhill


2. Do we need an association?
- A show of hands showed a resounding YES!


3. AGM
- Robert advised that there will be an AGM soon, where a committee would be elected and if anyone would like to join the committee, to let us know at the end of the meeting. A date would be advised asap via email and the website http://oakhilldra.blogspot.com


4. Attendees were asked to give their name and where they live
- It was noted that we had a good representation of the whole Oakhill area, with most roads in the district represented


5. Copies of the draft constitution wascirculated
– No comments at this stage


6. Ellerton & Bond Road residents association was asked to give an overview of how they started and run
- Their representative gave an overview of how they started. The main points noted were:
- the association is good for getting Kingston council to do things
- that Oakhill will need local street reps because of size of Oakhill District
- Ellerton and Bond Road Association did not have a subscription system but relied on voluntary donations which meant they were very short of funds

- A point from the floor was made that we need OADRA to focus on big planning issues affecting quality of life in district

- The Southborough residents association representative provided some advice, the main points noted were:
- the association will need funds. £5 life membership is not enough to raise sufficient funds, and they advise £5 per year
- £5 per year works, 50% of residents in Southborough pay
- we should use email to communicate
- use bright coloured flyers that standout from junk mail
- 3-4 newsletters per year
- to purchase legal and planning advice when necessary
- 10 on their committee

Additional note: the interim committee would like to thank the EBRRA representatives (Mike Masey & John Tellick) for the time and support they have provided us


7. Robert thanked the Baptist Church for the use of venue and requested a donation to cover costs – flyers (£28) & hall


8. Funding
– A show of hands was asked for the idea of a having £5 per year membership, and this was again a resounding YES.


9. Robert asked the councillors to comment on the Evening Standard article to halt to Poly Clinics which have not signed contracts
- The councillors had no update and were asked to keep the association updated on any news
- Malcolm Self confirmed that a contract had not yet been signed for the Surbiton Polyclinic as it was still in the consultation stage.

The Public meeting dates re: Hospital site were provided by Graham:
• Mon 26th July, 2pm
• Mon 27th Sept, 2pm
• Mon 29th Nov, 2pm

Correction: The dates in Item 9 are not dates for public meetings for the Surbiton Hospital. They are the NHS Kingston public board meetings. The next public meeting/consultation/Open Day is planned for July, awaiting a date



10. Planning issues
- Graham Goldspring gave an overview of the plans for the hospital site development proposal
- It was noted that this was a big concern for those attending the meeting
- Ciaran Oates gave a brief overview of the plans for the Police Federation site
- The attendees were asked about the issues affecting area, the following issues were noted:
• Traffic was a big concern
• Poly Clinic/Hospital Site was the biggest concern
• New School planning application
• Bird Sanctuary on Oakhill
• Reinstate of air pollution monitoring


11. AOB:
• It was suggested to include crime stats in a newsletter
• Minutes to be sent by blind copy to protect people’s privacy
• It was agreed that minutes of the meeting would be circulated to attendees

The meeting ended at 9.45pm

Subsequent to meeting 11 attendees joined the Association and a number of others gave a donation. A donation was given to the Baptist Church

Contact details for Oakhill & District Residents Association (OADRA):
- email: oakhilldra@gmail.com or oakhilldra@googlemail.com
- website: http://oakhilldra.blogspot.com