Minutes, Friends of Elvaston AGM, Elvaston Village Hall, Friday, September 14, 2007

The Chairman gave apologies for absence on behalf of Mrs Bee Wickens who was unable to attend due to prior commitments.

There then followed the election of officers, which were;

Mr Alexander Devlin, Chairman/Community Relations Officer.

Mr Graham Mansey, Secretary.

Mr James Hull, Treasurer.

Mrs Sandra Hull, Chief Fund Raising Officer/Nature Communications Officer.

Mrs Bee Wickens, Senior Historical Advisor.

Mr Garnett Wyatt, Vice Chairman.

Mr Stuart Madeley, Estate Co-Ordinator.

Mr James Read, Operations Executive.

Mrs Margaret Stone, Nature Conservation Officer.

Mr Ian Stone, Auditor.

Mrs Susan Giles, Auditor.

The appointments were ratified by those present.

There then followed the first of a series of reports by Committee members.

The Chairman’s Report;

The Chairman informed the membership of recent developments regarding the FOE campaign, especially the situation with the Commission For Racial Equality, (CRE),where the DCC has admitted to the CRE that it failed to adhere to its statutory duties under the Race Relations Act and carry out a  Racial Equality Impact Assessment (REIA). This had followed the situation whereby the Friends had begun by following the advice of the Local Government Ombudsman and pursued the complaint through the County Council’s own internal complaints procedure, which lasted a year, culminating in the rejection of the complaint by Derbyshire County Council, at which point the complaint was submitted to the CRE. This is ongoing.

He went on to explain that last October we had submitted a 17 page dossier to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) objecting to the granting of any monies at the time due to our belief that the £10 million, made up of £7.25 million plus matched funding, would lead to the building of a road down the South Drive and Bedford Drive together with all of the ancillary works that would help to destroy the Park as we know it. The Friends believe that together with its own reservations, the HLF took the community view into account when it turned down the bid.

The Secretary’s report was next, during which he outlined the fact that the FOE had joined various organizations in order to gain itself further professional help where necessary to enable it to continue to prosecute the campaign on behalf of the community. These are Derby CVS, South Derbyshire CVS, Planning Sanity, Greenspace, The Open Spaces Society, The Countryside Restoration Trust, and the Garden History Society. Also, the Friends of Elvaston is now officially affiliated to the Friends of the Earth, a situation brought about by the good offices of Mrs Dorothy Skrytek and with which the Friends is very happy about and honoured to accept.

The Friends of Elvaston has kept up the publicity both through its website and through leafleting runs but has been disappointed by the lack of response in some sections of the media during the periods when nothing seems to be happening on the ground, when, as we are only too aware, much is going on behind the scenes which goes unreported.

The Friends have applied pressure to the City Council on saving Elvaston castle Country Park, yet the Council have claimed that they have no mandate or  Responsibility for the Estate, which is disputed by the Friends and a complaint against both the City and County Councils has been lodged with the National Council for Voluntary Organizations (NCVO) in London. These are ongoing.

The Treasurer then followed with his report. The Treasurer has had a difficult time with the books due to the inefficient methods employed by one of his predecessors. However, all matters are now in hand, and up-to-date. The current balance is healthy and the only deductions are two current membership fees which have not yet been taken into account. This was ratified by the membership. The Friends raised the finance needed for its judicial review through public subscription. Although the judicial review was expensive - £2000, it was considered successful because the County Council had to carry out a further public consultation on its disposal proposals. Even though this was done we maintain that it was neither open or transparent and that even despite these facts, although the community once again rejected the disposal, the County Council took no heed.

Finally, the Chief Fund Raising Officer, Mrs Sandra Hull, gave her report.  Mrs Hull outlined the heavy work load necessary to keep the FOE campaign going and expressed a desire that both the Committee and the membership remain aware that a more practical approach to logistics might be employed, ensuring that, in effect, resources could be more ergonomically employed in order to maximise productivity. She then gave details of forthcoming events that she has organized for the rest of the year, and thanked those responsible for the fund raising successes, especially Mrs Margaret Stone, for all her support. Coffee mornings bought in over £350, future fundraisers include;

Antiques evaluation night 7-10pm Chellaston Community Centre Monday 22 October, done by James Lewis - Bamfords not charging for his time. Saturday 10 November - Coffee Morning with a Christmas theme - Elvaston Village Hall - free admission. Saturday 8 December - Musical Evening - Chellaston Community Centre, Barley Croft, Chellaston, - RR male voice choir.

The Chairman then called for the membership’s support in the use of the funds available, requesting approval for the administrative costs to be met out of funds, including stationery, telephone bills, postage and miscellaneous expenses, incurred by various Committee members in the pursuit of Friends’ business. This had the unanimous approval of the membership.

Finally, the Chairman invited questions from the floor. Various topics and opinions were both raised and answered, including the degeneration of the Estate as witnessed by former workers who were present. It was agreed that photographs which highlighted the situation were to be provided and subsequently would be put up on the Friends website so that the community could see for themselves exactly what has been allowed to occur on the Estate. Nature Conservation Officer Margaret Stone stated that a golf course across the nature reserve is not wanted - the reserve is neglected as of late, the hides dismantled and the sites overgrown.

Stewart Madeley brought up the subject of the Mineral Extractions Plan – The City and County Councils put it out together. Shardlow Village Hall was shut when he went to view the plan. The information had been dropped off there, but no-one could get in to see it unless the hall was being used for some other activity. There were 2 pieces of information and a magnifying glass had to be used for the map apparently.What caused Stewart some concern was that a piece of land between Elvaston and Ambaston - the field adjoining the road outside the Park - was now planned for gravel extraction, yet at the previous minerals inquiry (held in Dethick, as far away as possible it seemed to him.) the Inspector had ruled that this land should be withdrawn as it impinged upon the country park. He suggested other land be used near Shardlow and upstream. Yet this has not been done and the plans are altered to include the extra land.  Graham Mansey added that according to Derby City Council, Elvaston Castle Country Park was outside the City boundary and therefore their jurisdiction for helping to save the Park and yet the Joint Minerals and Waste Plan has both City and County Council logos on any relevant literature being distributed.

Voices from the floor said they thought that the UK Government now had a policy of getting rid of country parks which were seen as a burden for local authorities. Dereliction of the park had been photographed by another member and photos are to be provided to the committee with evidence of this.

Were it not for the Friends public access would have been curtailed some years ago. The Friends of Elvaston have enabled the continued use by the public of a vitally important park for the people of Derby, especially as it is acknowledged in the City of Derby Local Plan, that the City itself is lacking in  public open space standards. Derby City Council is claiming that it can’t become involved, even though it has raised council tax to take in a further £100 million over the next 5 years for public open space within the City.

A.O.B. – Everything was covered during the rest of the meeting.

The Chairman thanked everyone involved for the work that they have done, especially Mrs Sandra Hull and Mrs Dorothy Skrytek and brought the meeting to a close.

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