HORSTED KEYNES COMMUNITY GARDENS

Many parishioners have expressed an interest in more places being available for them to grow their own fruit, vegetables and flowers.  As a first step, the Parish Council is approaching Mid Sussex District Council about the availability of a suitable piece of land.

A Community Garden could include: -

1.         An orchard with native English fruit trees individually owned

2.         A wildlife area

3.         A children’s play area

4.         A wildlife pond

5.         A community composting area

6.         Individual garden plots

7.         A school plot / gardening plot

If any of the above interests you, please, let me know on 790693 or jon.martin393@btinternet.com .

HORSTED KEYNES VILLAGE PLAN STEERING GROUP

Minutes of the meeting held on 8 September, 2008 in the Small Village Hall

Present:  W Dye (WD), M Elston (ME), A Jones (AJ), J Kench (JK), J Martin (JM), L Mulcare (LM), S Stewart (SS), J Thomas (JT)

1. Apologies:   M Davy

2. Minutes and Matters Arising:  Minutes of the meeting on 11 August were approved.  LM to send to the village website.   
   
   It was agreed to ask Reg Stewart to arrange prize giving for the pictures submitted by St Giles pupils.  3 were received from different classes.  Under the terms of the competition each will receive a £5 book token and a £25 token will be given to the school.  The pictures will be included in the Commentary. 
   
   ME will report on the financial position of the Village Plan at the Parish Council meeting on 9 September.
   
    
3. Co-ordinator’s Notes:  JM asked for suggestions for photographs to be included in the Plan.  David Wilson will provide the photographs.  Action: All
   
    
4. Progress on the “Commentary”
   JM advised that the final number of responses was 573.  ME talked through the draft document which has taken 20 hours of work to-date.  All comments have been included except for the sections on Emergency Services, Information and Communication, and the children’s responses.  MD, LM and SS to send relevant sections to ME.

It was agreed that all comments should be included in the Commentary.  Each working group will decide how to present similar comments in its section.  A sensible approach was agreed to be more important than total uniformity between sections.  It was agreed not to include working group commentaries in the document as it was felt these were more appropriate for the Plan itself.

It was agreed that the acknowledgements should be included in the Commentary and the Plan.  The front page of the final document will include the HK logo and a photo of Church Lane (JM to arrange with David Wilson).

The Group were in favour of making a charge of £5 for additional copies of the Commentary if villagers want their own copy.  There will be free copies held in public places in the Village for people to look at but charging for extra copies will recover some of the printing costs.  JM will check whether the Post Office, Shop, British Legion, Green Man, Church, Village Hall and Martindale would be willing to hold copies.

ME will put together a draft of the commentary once all inputs have been received.  SS will proof read and a copy of the final draft will be circulated to Steering Group members for comments.  Once agreed, 20 copies will be printed initially.  LM to investigate printing options.  The commentary will only be available outside the SG once the Plan has been published.

 

5. Production of the Plan

After some discussion on how to represent minority comments, it was agreed that each section would need to be discussed by the whole Steering Group to arrive at a consensus.  It was recognised that using a numerical cut-off to determine whether a point should be included was too simplistic and the SG’s judgement would be necessary.

It was agreed that each Working Group would produce a draft list of bullet points and an action table (based on the Middleton-on-Sea model) for their section to be discussed at the next meeting.

 

6. Publicity

JM’s proposed article for the P&P was discussed and amended.  JM will submit revised article for October’s edition.

JM outlined ideas for a launch party.  The SG felt that a launch event would be a good idea but that it was still too early to make plans.

7. Any Other Business

LM suggested drawing on AiRS experience with other villages in developing action plans and it was agreed to invite them to a meeting when a draft plan has been put together.

 

JM noted that a further £500 to £1,000 was likely to be needed to complete and distribute the Plan.

8. Date of Next Meeting (in the Village Hall)

6^th October, 7.30pm  

HORSTED KEYNES VILLAGE PLAN STEERING GROUP

Minutes of the meeting held on 9 June, 2008 in the Small Village Hall

Present:  M Davy (MD), M Elston (ME, J Kench (JK), J Martin (JM), L Mulcare (LM), S Stewart (SS)

1. Apologies:   A Jones

2. Minutes:  Minutes of the meeting on 14 April were approved.  LM to send to the village website.
    
3. Matters Arising/Action Items:  No matters arising. 
   
    
4. School and Youth club initiatives progress
   MD reported that she had had difficulty getting replies from the school.  SS agreed to follow up.   No report available from Jill Thomas.
   
    
5. Business Questionnaire

      Questionnaire has been printed and is ready to send out at the same time as the main questionnaire.

6. Youth Questionnaire and Analysis
   Questionnaire has been printed.  Two young people from the youth club will handle the data analysis for the Youth Questionnaire.  It was agreed to pay them in line with the appropriate minimum wage using some of the grant from AiRS.  LM will work with them to complete the work.   
   
    
7. Amenity Groups/Voluntary Organisations Questionnaire Distribution/Analysis

·        LM will make 30 copies of the questionnaire. 

·        JK will arrange informal distribution of questionnaire to groups largely based on list in P&P.

 

8. Adult Questionnaire Distribution and Analysis

·        Questionnaires are being printed.  As soon as they have been received JM will divide up and deliver to distributors.  Any spare copies will be kept by JM or SS to meet further requests.

·        JM, SS and LM to collect completed questionnaires from the Post Office. 

·        Once a batch of around 100 questionnaires has been collected these will be delivered to MACE.  Thereafter questionnaires will be delivered in batches for analysis.

·        MD will draft a proforma for recording comments made on completed questionnaires.  Once received back from MACE, the questionnaires will be shared out among SG members for the comments to be recorded on the form (which will be emailed to everyone).  Each member is to record all comments on the questionnaires they receive.

·        Most of the questionnaires are expected back by mid July with stragglers going to MACE by end July.  Analysis by MACE should be completed by early August.  Once this is received the relevant sections will be distributed to the Working Groups to start writing up the results.  JM had circulated a suggested format based on Middleton-on-Sea’s Plan.  Once individual sections are complete, MD will put the whole document into a coherent form.

9. Publicity

·        SS will put up laminated signs advertising the questionnaire in advance.  Once distribution has started SS will replace the signs with an up-to-date version.

10. Who does What?
    JM had circulated suggested groupings for writing up the sections of the Plan based on the data analysis and comments.  These were agreed.

11. Any Other Business

There was some discussion on how the Plan should be published.  It was agreed that a good design was critical to ensuring the document was read.  JM is collating photos of the village from various sources.

 

12. Date of Next Meetings (in the Small Village Hall)

·        14^th July, 7.30pm – JK kindly agreed to chair the meeting which will focus on distribution and any problems which have arisen.  JM and LM to check status with distributors before the meeting - if there are no issues there will be no meeting. 

·        11^th August, 7.30pm  - main item is likely to be the data analysis received from MACE and initial write ups by the Working Groups.

HORSTED KEYNES VILLAGE PLAN STEERING GROUP

Minutes of the meeting held on 11 February, 2008 in the Small Village Hall

Present:  B Dye (BD) K Dye (KD), M Elston (ME), J Kench (JK)

J Martin (JM), L Mulcare (LM), S Stewart (SS), J Thomas (JT)

1. Apologies:   M Davy, A Jones

2. Minutes:  Minutes of the meeting on 14 January were approved.  LM to send to the village website.
    
3. Matters Arising/Action Items:  It was noted that the timetable was slipping slightly but not enough to cause concern at this point.
   
    
4. Mid-Sussex Core Strategy

SS had spoken to MSDC who advised that they were happy to make a presentation to the Parish Council (PC) on the Core Strategy.  The PC did not feel that this would be of value at this time.  LM will arrange for SS to receive the PC copy of the Core Strategy.  SS to alert the HKVPSG if she considers a response to MSDC is appropriate.

 

5. Child Protection Policy

Everyone except SS had received and read the policy.  LM confirmed that there were no queries and the policy was approved.  LM to send a copy to SS.

6. Housing Needs Survey  (Faustina Bayo (FB) (AirS) arrived)

·        LM advised that 680 surveys had been distributed to the village at the end of January.  Feedback from Action in Rural Sussex was that 137 responses had been received in the first week.  This is considered a good response but the rate is likely to slow down in the second week.  The affordable housing exhibition had been poorly attended on 9 February.  The closing date for the survey responses is 18 February and AirS will collate the data and provide a report in due course.

·        Tom Warder at AirS had advised JM that the results of the survey (those which were not confidential) could be incorporated in the Village Plan.

·        SS mentioned that she had received feedback that the survey was too long.

7. Introduction to the Questionnaire

      JM’s draft introduction was discussed.

8. Questionnaire Software

·        ME described the software and made the following points:

o       Designed to be distributed one per household with up to six members of the household responding

o       Software permits user to add options for responses but changes can only be made to questions when they are output to Word

o       68 questions included so far.  Most could be matched to a question in the software question bank

o       At first glance the questions from the working groups cover transport and local government well but there is only one question on education and none on health and social services or religion

o       No separate youth, business or voluntary sectors questions included

o       No comment boxes included yet

·        ME distributed draft copies of the questionnaire.

·        FB advised that experience from other villages indicates comments boxes should be limited as comments are difficult to analyse.  One survey per household seems to have been successful in other villages though asking several people to fill in the same questionnaire does seem to result in “copy cat” responses.  Questionnaires for every person can result in a heavy workload when it comes to analysis.

·        LM reported on the experience of Cuckfield Rural and Balcombe in preparing questionnaires and capturing data.  (Details on attached table).

·        The options were discussed and it was agreed to stick with the idea of one questionnaire for each person.  As a result the UofG software will not be suitable for the data capture and analysis.  However, it was felt that the only real loss would be in cross-sectional analysis which was less important than getting the best response by sending every person their own questionnaire.

·        The UofG software can still be used to produce a consistent list of questions which will be exported into Word for printing. 

·        Data would be returned by the data processing company on Excel spreadsheets.
It was agreed that the analysis of comments in the responses would be done by the working groups.

·        It was agreed that each working group would make sure that its questions were included in the draft questionnaire in the appropriate form.  All comments to be with ME by 21 February so that ME can produce a Word version of the questionnaire in time for the next meeting.

·        In view of comments on the length of the Housing Needs Survey (and the Cuckfield Rural questionnaire) it was decided to limit the number of questions to 50.  This number will include questions requiring comments but exclude the general household questions.

·        Responding to FB’s remarks about the need to address health and social services issues, ME agreed to add an appropriate question from the UoG bank.

9. Business Questionnaire

• As the number of recipients is expected to be fairly small, data capture (and analysis) for the business questionnaire will be done by LM on an Excel spreadsheet. 
• LM will send draft list of recipients to SG members for additions. 
• JM will include a reference to the questionnaire in the introduction to the main questionnaire to catch anybody who does not receive a business questionnaire and should have done.

10. Amenity Groups/Voluntary Organisations Questionnaire

• The Sports, Leisure and Employment working group had prepared a questionnaire for clubs and voluntary groups and circulated a copy for comments.
• The SL&E working group will handle data capture and analysis.
• The list of recipients will be drawn mainly from the P&P and JM will include a reference to it in the introduction to the main questionnaire to identify any groups missed.

11. Working Group Reports – nothing at this point

12. Youth Questionnaire

• KD reported that two questions on the village website had been added following the last meeting.
• KD read out a draft introduction which was approved.
• ME will input the youth questionnaire in the UoG software.

13. AOB

JM reported that as there was no specific news he was not intending to put anything in the P&P this month. 

14. Next Meeting
    10^th March, 7.30pm in the Small Village Hall

HORSTED KEYNES VILLAGE PLAN 2009

The main bullet points included in the Plan which were highlighted on Tuesday,    31^st March, when the Plan was handed to the Chairman of the Horsted Keynes Parish Council, are as follows.

Education, Health & Housing

There is support for:-

a)      After school clubs and holiday play schemes.

b)      Adult education evening classes.

c)      A small development of affordable housing for local people.

d)      More registered child minders.

Social & Entertainment

a)      There is an interest in cinema screening.

b)      The Martindale Centre is in need of updating.

c)      Upgrading existing meeting places is preferred to a new Village Hall.

Information & Communications

a)      The P&P is widely read and appreciated.

b)      There is a strong demand for improved mobile telephone reception.

c)      Communications from the Parish Council could be improved.

Emergency & Other Services

a)      People wish to see more of the community police officer.

b)      Most people do not want street lighting.

c)      The shop emerged as the most important facility in the village.

Societies, Clubs & Organisations

a)      More allotments are needed.

b)      Poor mobile telephone reception causes problems.

c)      Clubs could do more to promote their activities.

Transport & Highways

a)      The voluntary transport service could be expanded.

b)      Car parking issues need to be addressed.

c)      Speeding traffic is a problem.

d)      There is a need for a safe footpath to Westall House.

Employment

a)      More local employment to be promoted.

b)      Additional facilities for local employers to be encouraged.

Environment

a)      Road maintenance is inadequate.

b)      Electricity supply to 40% of the village is rated poor.

c)      Some hedges could be better trimmed for access and visibility.

d)      Some footpaths need attention.

e)      There is interest in additional trees to be planted.

Young people

a)      There is a need for more sporting facilities and activities.

b)      A better bus service is needed.

c)      Most feel safe in the village.

d)      Would like to see a youth section in the P&P.

Businesses

a)      There is a need for better mobile reception.

b)      Broadband speeds are too slow.

c)      There is interested in a directory of local services.

Your webmaster adds his personal comments on a couple of the issues raised - please reply if you wish.