SURREY HILLS BOARD

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 29th JANUARY 2014

WARREN FARM BARNS

CORE MEMBERS

*Cllr Michael Sydney Tandridge District Council

*County Councillor, Mike Goodman Surrey County Council

*Cllr David Wright Guildford Borough Council

Cll David Pay Reigate & Banstead BC

*Cllr David Mir Mole Valley District Council

*Cllr Mike Band Waverley Borough Council

David Kennington National Trust

Adam Wallace Natural England

ADVISORY MEMBERS

Ian McCubbine National Farmers Union

*Tim Harrold CPRE

*Nigel Davenport Surrey Wildlife Trust

*Tim Broomhead CLA

*Liz Cutter SALC

*Chris Howard Surrey Hills Society

Neil Maltby Mountain Bike WG Chairman

*Simon Whalley Surrey Hills Enterprises CIC

*Members present

OFFICERS IN ATTENDANCE

Rob Fairbanks Surrey Hills AONB Office

Denise Furlonger (Minutes) Surrey Hills AONB Office

Lisa Creaye-Griffin Surrey County Council

Rod Shaw Mole Valley District Council

Clive Smith Surrey Hills AONB Office

ACTIONS
1 / INTRODUCTIONS
Michael Sydney welcomed all to the meeting of the Surrey Hills Board and invited round the table introductions.
2 / APOLOGIES
John Furey, David Pay, Adam Wallace, Neil Maltby
3 /

MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING

3.1 / The minutes of the last meeting held on 16th October were agreed.
4 /

MATTERS ARISING

4.1 / 4.4 – Cycling in the Surrey Hills – Rob Fairbanks reported that a letter had been sent to Surrey County Council and a response had been received. The Ride London Surrey event on 10th August 2014 will use a changed route from last year. Communities in Surrey are able to apply to the London Marathon Fund. The message needs to be transmitted to the parishes. Rob Fairbanks and Liz Cutter to liaise.
Rob added that the Surrey Hills family has been offered some places for the event which will be used as fund raising opportunities. / RF/LC
4.3 / 5.7 – Development Pressures and NPPF – A letter was sent to the Prime Minister and a response was received from David Cameron with a further fuller response from Nick Boles. The Chairman has responded to Nick Boles to highlight that the Planning Inspectorate must receive a clear understanding that housing numbers are to be locally determined. No response has yet been received for this letter.
4.4 / Cycling in the Surrey Hills – Work has started on the new mountain bike trail. The National Trust is very pleased with the work that has gone ahead on their land but the British Horse Society has objected raising safety concerns and that nothing is done for the horse riding community. The Board will be asked to consider the creation of a horse riding working group. David Wright responded that horse riders & carriage drivers are represented on the Off Road Vehicles Working Group.
4.5 / Notes of Members Advisory Group – The Members noted the notes of the meeting.
5 / DRAFT BUSINESS PLAN
5.1 / Rob Fairbanks provided the background information and explained that this was a rolling work in progress draft document based on priorities in the Management Plan. It will be reviewed annually and rolled forward for 5 years.
5.2 / The Members discussed the Plan. Mike Band suggested that there should be a clear agreement that if the Woodland Adviser post is transferred to Surrey Hills Enterprises CIC, he should still be available at no cost to the Surrey Hills Unit for continued woodland advice.
5.3 / The Members noted the Draft Business Plan
6 / SURREY HILLS AONB UNIT REPORT
6.1 / Rob Fairbanks provided an update on the activities of the Surrey Hills AONB Unit and invited the Members to ask any questions. In particular Rob drew attention to the following:
-  Maximising Revenue Study –Rob Fairbanks will be attending a national meeting on Friday to look at maximising revenue for protected landscapes.
-  Surrey Hills AONB Management Plan 2014 -19 – The consultation closed on 31st January but some local authorities and parishes have asked for an extension. Chis Howard asked for a reminder to be sent to parishes and to extend the deadline for another 2 weeks. Mike Band also suggested that it should be clear that comments will still be welcomed even after the deadline. Rob is aiming to bring a paper to the next Board meeting in April with recommendations.
-  Boundary Review – Natural England will be considering the request for the modification order on 27th February.
-  Off Road Working Group – David Wright reported that they are trying to get the Police in Guildford interested in copying the successes of Mole Valley. Mike Band suggested approaching Waverley too. Tim Broomhead said that Surrey Police should speak to Hampshire Police who are running rural issues training courses. It was agreed that the Chairman of the Board should write to the Chief Constable of Surrey to express concern about the lack of rural policing.
-  Mountain Bike Working Group – a meeting will be held with horse riders to discuss concerns over the new trail. Rob Fairbanks suggested that the new trail could be a potential site visit for the Partnership Tour in June. The Members were in favour of the visit. / RF
RF
MS
RF
6.2 / The Board noted the activities of the AONB team and Working Groups
7 / SURREY HILLS ENTERPRISES CIC
7.1 / Simon Whalley provided an update on progress to date and added that some activities will affect the Business Plan so he will provide a further report at the next Board meeting. He also reported that Carrie White is currently off sick so this is affecting the progress of some work. The Board expressed their best wishes to Carrie for a speedy recovery.
7.2 / Branding is being explored for the Surrey Hills family as a whole because a consistent message needs to be sent out.
7.3 / An Interreg grant has been received with £40k for Enterprises. This is a complex project and it has to be demonstrated that staff, particularly Carrie White and Sean Harrison are not employed by Surrey County Council as the grant is not available to local authorities.
7.4 / The Wood Fuel Conference and Fair plans are moving forward. There has been engagement with Grown in Britain which is keen to be involved in the conference next year and to make it an event of national significance. The Woodland Trust is also interested in getting involved in the Wood Fair.
7.5 / The CIC is looking to involvement in outdoor education and food. It has been approached by a gin distillery that wishes to develop a “taste of the Surrey Hills”. Also a theatre director is starting a Surrey Hills internet based radio station and has been in touch to develop joint branding. Simon expressed a slight concern that there will be no control over the radio station but feels it should be explored more as it could be a very good way of spreading positive publicity.
7.6 / The Members noted the progress with the Surrey Hills Enterprises CIC and thanked Simon.
8 / SURREY HILLS SOCIETY
8.1 / Chris Howard reported that the Society is currently developing a new Business Plan.
8.2 / She reported that the events have become so popular that they are now getting booked up within 24 hours of them being advertised on the website. Two new groups are being launched to attract younger members. They are aimed at families with young children and younger like-minded people who want to get out in the countryside.
8.3 / David Wright enquired as to what the distribution for the newsletter was. Chris responded that the print run was 3000 and they were sent out to Society members and parish councils. It was also available electronically on the website. Michael Sydney felt that the libraries should be added to the distribution. Mike Band also suggested that local authorities should provide a link via their websites. Michael Sydney and Mike Goodman will liaise with the Surrey Library Service. / MS/MG
8.4 / The Members noted the work of the Surrey Hills Society.
9 / SURREY HILLS TRUST FUND
9.1 / Michael Sydney provided the background and expressed his concern that the Trust Fund is drifting away from being an endowment fund which was originally intended to build up a capital base to replace government funding. He would like to draft a letter to send out to a targeted audience of wealthy people, some of whom have built large houses in the area.
10 / ANY OTHER BUSINESS
10.1 / Tim Harrold highlighted the London Airspace Consultation and added that a second runway at Gatwick would affect the Surrey Hills greatly and enquired if the Board would want to make a comment on this. Mike Band felt that the local authorities would be unlikely to support this. David Wright added that the only issue relevant to the Board would be tranquillity in the countryside.
10.2 / Michael Sydney expressed his disappointment that at no point in “Surrey Matters” is there any mention of the Surrey Hills AONB.
11 / DATES FOR 2013 MEETINGS
The Board noted the following dates for 2014 meetings:
Wednesday 16th April - Board Meeting
Wednesday 9th July - Board Meeting
Wednesday 15th October - Board Meeting
Wednesday 25th June - Partnership Tour
Wednesday 19th November - Partnership Annual Meeting
The above minutes are a true record of the Surrey Hills Board meeting held on Wednesday 29th January 2014.
Signature of Chairman
Date

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