New Alresford Town Council

New Alresford Town Council

Minutes of the tourism committee meeting

Station buffet

Wednesday 4th April 2007. At 6:30pm

Present: Cllrs Phillips (Chair), Yeldham, Gentry, Cattle, B Jeffs. Louise McKay (Watercress Line) & Andrew Merry (Chamber of Commerce)

In attendance: Cllrs Atkins and City Councillor E. Jeffs

Apologies: Karen Brazier

Press: Chris Harris

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Declarations of interest - None

Matters Arising From The Minutes of 24^th January 2007

Amendment to the minutes: Councillor Yeldham was present at 24th January meeting.

Minutes AGREED with the above amendment (Proposer: Cllr Phillips, Seconder: Cllr Cattle)

Item 7.4 Carnival - nothing has been heard since the last meeting. A follow up to the contact was suggested.

Meeting Adjourned For Public Participation

Mr Terry Foreman: of the Alresford's twinning Association, explained that on 28th April ‘Marche de France’ are bringing a French market to Alresford. The service road will be closed from 6am to 5pm. 16-20 stalls are anticipated and they would take parking spaces from outside the Horse & Groom PH down to the Pizza Express. ‘Marche de France’ organise everything and clear up any rubbish generated. Meeting resumed.

Budget And Expenditure To Date

The Budget is on-course with no overspend foreseen.

Projects

Watercress Festival:

Report on Safety Advisory Group meeting. The updated Event Management Plan document was handed round for all present to consider. The Fire Brigade commented on the content and inclusions and thought we'd done a good job. Health and safety wanted more inclusions Cllr Gentry asked for a cut-off date which was set at the end of the following week. Howard Bone (WCC Solicitor) who chaired the meeting commented on the document as being satisfactory but asked for contact telephone numbers to be included in case emergency services needed to inform of pending access through festival site. The overall feedback was that this meeting was successful. All questions and queries were answered satisfactorily.

Marshals: to date we've had 17 volunteers from HCC database, 10 from the rugby club, and three possibly more from the tennis club.

Hanging Baskets: 80 have been ordered and agreed with the supplier, we can increase or decrease this number by a possible five. One basket is to be placed by the entrance to George Yard and negotiations are ongoing with the library. Eddolls can't have a hanging basket so have agreed to a floral trough. There is also one house to have a trough. Every lamp-post in Broad Street will have’Up the Pole’ floral planters, except one which is too close to a wall. Three floral planters will be placed on lamp-posts in West Street and one in East Street, these will be is a bigger than the Broad Street planters but half round. Sponsors have been found for all ‘Up the Pole’ planters. As some baskets are to be placed on listed buildings consent has been sought from WCC Planning for five. Cllr Gentry is to prepare the invoices. On receipt of payment copies together with the cheque will be passed to the RFO.

Bowser: Donated to NATC from the Chamber of Commerce. WCC Health and Safety Officer has checked it over and informed that it needs some remedial work and can be used with a K category on a driving license. It is now with George Cann for an overhaul/service. Although the pump is in working order and the main frame sturdy a new engine is needed, cost estimated £800 to £900. Clerk to raise in order for the works required.

The Clerk is to inform the RFO of this spend. Wild Bros Ltd has agreed that the Bowser can be housed in their yard and a nearby water source for filling the Bowser has been found.

Millennium Trail Maintenance: HCC have refused to pay the £600 cost incurred for the severe cut back of vegetation, but informed that it has been added to the ‘priority cutting’ programme, possibly April and September. This work can be in conjunction with Peter Bridges to ensure it remains tidy. £1,500 is allocated in the budget for this work in the 07/08 budget. It was suggested HCC be asked for the dates of schedule, and then someone observe exactly what they do.

Toilets in Station Road: internal lighting, triggered when someone enters, is to be the first part of the new installation.

Kruger Plaque: AGREED Text - “Secret information hidden in this toilet was collected periodically by Harry Houghton. In 1961 he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for his part in the Portland Spy Ring.” Clerk to seek approval of the text and placement of the plaque from WCC Planning.

Literature and technology:

Millennium/ Arle Valley Trail: leaflet still in sufficient numbers.

Eel house: to date seventy people have contributed £2,500 with gift Aid this would increase to £3000. NATC contributed £2,000 grant. It was suggested that railings replaced the closed board fence around the Eel house to make it more visible.

Spend a day: a draft copy of leaflet is being worked on in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce. Sponsorship is needed if more pages are required. Any comments please by E-mail to the Clerk who will forward to Cllr Phillips. The cost difference between a 12 page and 16 page leaflet is approximately £3,000. Outside advertising income is £1500. It was suggested that should the Chamber of Commerce contribute £750, and NATC also contributing £750 this would make up the shortfall.

Cllr Gentry requested a half box of the Spend a Day leaflets. Clerk to investigate NATC store. Clerk to ask Clare (Chamber of Commerce) for estimated stocks and how long before need to reorder, distributor list, the cost for distribution in March and the last time that they were distributed.

Reports

Winchester Tourism: No report.

Chamber of Commerce: Nothing new to add

Watercress Line: 2006 saw a 3.9% increase in visitors. Thomas day coming soon.

Any Other Business

Cllr B Jeffs requested surplus monies in the Tourism budget be vied across to the Community Centre. She was advised to apply for a Grant to the G & P Committee.

Date of next meeting: Wednesday 13^th June 6.30pm Station Buffet

The Chairman close the meeting at 7:50pm

Chair Signature__________________________Date__________________

Clerk