MINUTES OF THE 7th AUGUST 2003
HELD AT THE HAILEY DAY CENTRE SAWBRIDGEWORTH

 PRESENT: Ted Barrows (Chairman)
Warren Richards (Secretary)
Alastair Bates Sarah Marshall
Diana Richards Ellen Knighton
Bert Puncher (Sbw A/S) Chris Rees
John Ansell Joan Willitt
Monya Billings Jacqueline Dore
Hazel Mead Brian Rochester
Tony Vidler Bob Jones
Mary Whitehead Tom Potts

APOLOGIES: David Thorogood (EHDC) Michael Vincent (Treasurer)
Joyce Vincent (Sbw Town C) Mary Huxtable
John Rider David Mead
Kate Yarnold
WELCOME: The Chairman opened the meeting by welcoming Alastair Bates who is a landowner on the flood plain.

MINUTES: The minutes of the meeting of July 7th were accepted as a true record.

AGENDA ITEMS.
Community Plan-Action Plan for Environment. Diana R as Environmental Coordinator tabled the third draft of the Plan for members' consideration. Starting at page 18 of the Plan the six main priorities were reviewed. All the bullet points were accepted except the last bullet point "Develop Lee Valley Regional Park to the North" people could not relate this to local issues- not mentioned in action table. The action table was reviewed with no changes; the follow gives local progress on each item.
Action Table:
? Ensure continuity of Rivers Nursery. Continue the work of Friends of Rivers Orchard in keeping a community orchard thus demonstrating its value when lease expires in 2005.
? Encourage improved way-marking of footpaths. Sawbridgeworth Hon. Footpath Officer has arranged new signs on most of our footpaths and is clearing old inaccessible paths.
? Design a series of guided route leaflets. SVP have designed a set of draft leaflets which will be posted on our web site.
? Protection of all open spaces. Members were asked to list open spaces and determine ownership. Alistair B said he had found the Water Boards very helpful in knowing landowners. Regarding the towpath the adjacent landowner is the owner but British Waterways are responsible for maintaining the access.
? Doorstep Village Greens. Consider sites such as The Elms and Fair Green for this initiative.
? Prepare a database of important trees. We did start a list which was passed to EHDC-Liz Greenwood, this needs reviewing in the future.
? Biological Survey of local wildlife. Some members have attended a one day course with HCC BRO and Elizabeth W has produced a check list* of the more common flora and fauna for members to use. She asked the question how do we recognise rare species? It was suggested we put our check list on the web and build hyperlinks to pictures of each specie. Alistair Bates said he would be happy for biological surveys to be made on his land.
? Encourage more recycling. Members wanted to see more facilities introduced in Sawbridgeworth. The question was asked are greetings cards suitable for white paper collection.
? Encourage homes to be more sustainable. While standards are becoming ever more sustainable for new build this only represents a small fraction of the total housing stock and more needs to done with grants and education to improve the older homes. This year has been ideal for promoting Solar, Warren R said he has adequate hot water from his system since March.
 ? A group to highlight issues of air, noise and light pollution. Ted Burrows after reporting many aircraft flying over populated areas of Sawbridgeworth had a positive response that an aircraft was off track and the airline would be fined £500.
? Monitor development in the Stort Flood Plain. Alistair Bates was invited to speak on the work he is doing on the land at the back of Elmwood and going down to the river. He is enclosing the land with chain link fencing to grow specimen trees for his landscape business. He proposes to improve the old drainage ditches on the site which have not been worked for the last 15years. He is planning to grow semi-mature trees to grow on for public planting which are less susceptible to vandalism. In the future he wants to build a small tool shed and may be forced by regulations to have a toilet. Ted B suggested he did a write up in Church and Town to let people know what he is doing.
? Conservation of flood plain. Alistair Bates said his late father had sold half the flood plain bordering Sheering Mill Lane closest to the existing houses.

Alternative Night for Our Meetings. The only night available at the Hailey Day Centre for the foreseeable future is Thursday or Friday. Joan W proposed we change to the 3rd Thursday in the month. Please let the Sec know if this is more convenient. Report on Community Woodland Conference. Not presented due to lack of time.

DNM. The 4th September 03 at 8.00pm in the Hailey Day Centre-Bell St Car Park.

MATTERS ARISING.
Correspondence. We received a letter from the local Stort Valley Friends of the Earth asking us to write to HCC to make Hertfordshire a 'GM free zone'. The Sec said that he had read that the EU had made it illegal for local communities to declare themselves GM free. At a previous meeting concern had been raised about the similarity of the FoE logo to our own. This letter had a free hand broad green circle, which would not be confused with our logo.
Members wishing to make a personal response to GM can find a form to complete on the DEFRA web site defra.gov.uk .
Kecksy's Farm. We received correspondence from Cllr N Burdett regarding the history of this site from EHDC Environmental Health Department. The responsibility for Health and Safety enforcement on the site was transferred to the Health and Safety Executive in 1998 when it was no longer an open farm. EHDC have been in touch with the Environmental Agency as recently as April this year and the EA inspector has expressed concern about the management of this site. Regarding caravans the site is certified by the Camping and Caravanning Club of GB who have been notified by EHDC of their concerns and they will be reporting next month.
T-Shirts with Logos. Members were asked if they would be interested in buying T- shirt or hats with a SVP logo. There was not a lot of interest and Mary W suggested having a communal set of various sizes. It was agreed to ask David T for a price for 6off T-shirts.
Footpath Working Party. Warren R has been solving the problem of assembling the parts of the notice boards. Enquires are being made planning permission regarding erection of notice boards.
Joan W described a problem with a footpath behind Honey Mead, which has been closed off with a locked gate after some new houses were built. She understands that there is a request to build a footpath on the A1184 between Honey Mead and Chaseways. She will tell Cllr N Burdett that access could be achieved if this gate was opened.
Grants. Sawbridgeworth Town Council awarded us £500 towards the production of our walks leaflets.
Fair Green. Ted B has received a reply from Highways, to his letter on lack of progress. A detailed response awaits the return from holiday of Mr Kyan. Ted B went through the history of the problems with this pedestrian access and said that there was no official road sign "Give Way to Pedestrians". Warren R said now that we have a proposal from the Town Council it is hoped progress can be made at Highways. Biological Records. See Action Plan for Environment above.

Post Meeting Note: Members are invited to the Unveiling Celebration of Ceramic Artwork 'Timeline' by Linda Craig at 2pm on 6th September Pishiobury Park picnic area next to car park on A1184.

* Items held in SVP file in Reference section of Sbw Library. SVPmin 070803