Minutes
3 November 2009
Heights Hotel, Portland
1 Apologies: Neil Lemon, Angie Mustill, Jean Charnock,, Peter Pitman, Angie Mustill, Russ Levett and Linda Roduner
2 Minutes from last meeting approved.
3 Inspector Pete Meteau gave an update with news that arrests had been made on Saturday 31st October following Quarry break in. Possible gang fight at Portland Fair was not forthcoming and ended well. The ketamine drug problem is still ongoing and Pete asked any information to be passed by way of the pre-paid envelopes available to report/provide any information or concerns to the police and this can be done anonymously.
He then went on to discuss and explain the difficulties faced by the police and emergency services with the traffic chaos in Fortuneswell – diesel spill. He is looking into the situation and possible alternatives and will revert back to us in due course. Mark Jackson mentioned that the Incline Road being put back on the 2011 roads agenda.
4 Alison Hatcher from SWRDA updated us on the Officers Field programme now that work had been started on the site by Zero C. Jim Blake then updated us on the Skate Park position now that the funds are to be forthcoming from SWRDA as part of the Officer Field programme. The group formed to deal with the upgrading have now visited equipment contractors and trade exhibitions for design concepts. They are aiming to have identified the needs and hope to start breaking ground before Christmas. They have also secured some other “bits and bobs” to enhance the site taking into consideration both environmental and local authority requirements. The idea being to utilise the main funds on the equipment itself and not waste any funding on peripheries.
5 W4BRE Limited. Richard Gudgeon – CEO – gave a very informative presentation about the proposed power station using palm oil (steering) and Jatropha to generate energy for feeding into the national grid.
He explained why Portland was a chosen site ( deep water port, connection to the local power grid at hand, minimal impact on the landscape0 and that the revised and amended planning application was going back before Weymouth and Portland Borough Council on the 9th December 2009. The full application can be viewed online. There is also another public exhibition between 10am and 6pm at the Passenger Terminal at the Port on the 20th November. Full details to follow and will be e-mailed out to you all. Richard urges everyone to go along and see for themselves what the project involves. There will be employment for 24 people on the site with a three shift
system of working and it is intended to employ one apprentice on each shift. Richard took questions from the floor at the end of his presentation and was thanked for a very informative presentation. We are hopeful that Richard will keep us updated
and he did confirm the company are committed to helping with local projects financially.
6 Portland Rowing Club. Dave Ferris from the Club gave a short presentation outlining the aims and objectives of the new club. Although Gig rowing is a sport that can be participated in at more or less any age, they are specifically aiming at young people with the prime intention of improving physical fitness, team building and inter social skills. Another prime objective is to be able to offer the rowing free to under eighteens. They currently have a Gig that was donated to them requiring a lot of repair work and this has cost them £1500 so far. It will now go to the YOI for stripping and refinishing ready for use. They need to raise £8,000.00 to cover the cost of purchasing a plastic Gig. (Wooden cost £22,000.00.) They have been fund raising in their own right and are looking to sponsorship and donations from elsewhere. If they can raise £5,000 to put in the bank they can then become a registered charity and save on VAT. They are also keen to work with the Royal Manor Academy.
7 Secretary’s Report. Included letter from Rod Wild about Sponsorship for dog poo bins. W&PBC Parks Dept no longer take responsibility for them and David Bowyer of the waste management team has stated that the bins can only be in place if sponsored for the emptying of. Any businesses out there who are willing to sponsor please contact the Secretary to the Partnership (that’s me!) to discuss.
Margaret Leicester said a few words about the Wheels in Motion workshop for mobility scooter owners/users awareness day on Friday 6th November Easton Methodist Church Hall.
Alliance Pharmacy, Boots Limited.
An application has been made to relocate the chemist in Fortuneswell to Osprey Quay. This of course means that anyone who does not have a car or has difficulty walking medium to long distances then access to the chemist for a prescription or other will become a fairly major problem. On the other hand it will be closer to the Underhill surgery. If you have any objections then please let us have your letter a s a p for onward transmission. In the meantime we shall be writing to comment on the difficulties we envisage particularly for the elderly and infirm.
Update letter from Melody Wilding advising us of the new members to the ever growing Second Edition Majorettes and thanking us for our original help and support.
We have now heard from The Rotary Club of The Island and Royal Manor of Portland that they are not able to let us have any funding for the Governors Garden Project.
It was a pleasure to read out a letter from Niall Laming who has through diligence and hard training now become World Champion at Biathle in his age group. He travelled to Monaco in September to take part in the World Championships and came home on top of the world. Well done Niall.
Christopher Perham also took part in the same championships and he too came home with a medal in his younger age group. Well done Chris.
Lastly, we send our best wishes to Peter Bower who is now back at home following his horrific accident. Glad to have you back Peter.
Phil gave an update on the Fairfiield Centre which is finally coming to fruition.
8 Treasurers Report.
9 Next meeting 5th January Heights Hotel 7pm
