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008 Core Group Blubell Meeting 18/11/07
Notes from the Bluebell meeting 18th Nov 2007
Present: Jenni, Ian, Stuart, Sue, Malcolm, Jonathan, Jamie, Charlotte, Kes, Lesley, Barbara.
LCA, the Lottery and our principles
Ian, Stuart, Sue, Jonathan and Barbara had all been at the LCA meeting on 10th Nov and they reported back on this meeting. Essentially the structure is to remain the same with the same people in post which led to a discussion about our relationship with the LCA. In general people feel that FOL still has a strong campaigning role to fulfil and the fluid structure of FOL allows for creativity and speedy response to the council so it should remain as it is.
Ian suggested we could dip in and out of the LCA to keep an eye on what they were doing. This is fine as long as we are clear about where we are coming from as FOL. All of us at the meeting are strongly associated with FOL and we need to make sure we are consistent about our message when we operate in different arenas including the ward forum meetings. We do not have a constitution and we don’t want to be over prescriptive but the prospect of lottery money for a community centre that Kaufman had raised had caused some debate on email about what we are fighting for. It was generally agreed that there remained great support within FOL for publicly funded services and bidding for lottery money was premature. We haven’t lost the battle yet.
So it was agreed that our guiding principle when we are talking about public services is that they should be provided with public money and not charity or private sources.
This obviously does not apply to shopping but does apply to:
The swimming baths
The library
The community centre
Council day nursery
Parks and green spaces
Youth facilities inc the Arcadia
Until we agree otherwise we are campaigning for public funded council run services. Support for this principle needs to be raised from wider layers of FOL supporters.
NB At the next public FOL meeting I would be prepared to put in a motion about this principle that can be voted on if people thought that was a good way to get clarity for the campaign from a wider layer of people, given that we are not elected on any sort of platform.
Public FOL Meeting Sat 8th Dec, 2.30pm, Levy Library
It was agreed to go for a public meeting before the end of the year with the following agenda: Feedback from the Leese meeting
What do people want to campaign for?
Ideas for campaign activities
What do we need/want from a community centre?
Draw up an open letter to Leese/Kaufman that puts our demands clearly. This will be produced as a letter for people to sign and a poster.
Decision about when we should invite Leese back to Levy to update us on his progress!
Chair for the meeting – Charlotte to organise, also flip charts & pens
Sign-up sheets and general FOL info – Stuart has a bag full.
To build for this meeting Jamie will produce a flyer to be printed at Albany press. 1000 leaflets, 50 Posters(?)
press release for SM reporter (Stuart).
Stall on Sat 1st December.
Info about meeting and stall to go out on FOL email list (Stuart) Hard copies of FOL update to go in South Levy post office and we should ask the other two post offices to take them too.
Jenni will get up-to-date info about residents groups in Levy.
We need to organise a leafleting network with identified people who can organise a patch then leaflets just get dropped to these key individuals.
Despite discussions in LCA about the community centre site it was agreed that we still go ahead with the peace gardens because it will be some time before any building gets go ahead and the gardens could still be incorporated into the design. Kes had applied for money from the Guardian but not heard anything. We need to organise a delivery of soil improver that we can dig in to the site in preparation for planting in the early spring. End Feb was suggested as a time we can put together a planting party this time with more involvement from schools and community groups. Kes has trees from Highfield over wintering in her garden and Barbara Mellor has plenty of wild flowers. We also have seeds supplied by LANDLIFE. May bank holiday we should have a much bigger party than this year. We can build it with more confidence.
The city council is consulting about future city growth between now and Feb 2008. The launch event for this is Tuesday 4th Dec at the City Art Gallery. Charlotte to find out timings for the launch event and we should all go down with the banner!!!
We should go along to consultation event at the United Reform Church. The project might be used as a diversion away from our demands for a community centre but we need to be clear about exactly what it is offering and get them on board to support us. Kes is going to the event and will introduce herself as from FOL.
Ward co-ordination
Malcolm, Jamie, Jenni and Kes are going to ward co-ordination from their residents groups but they can chip in about other relevant stuff as well. Angelique is going to take on SureStart debate. Tracy is going to ask that community centre land is preserved for community use, although no reference is being made about where money is coming from at this stage.
Present: Jenni, Ian, Stuart, Sue, Malcolm, Jonathan, Jamie, Charlotte, Kes, Lesley, Barbara.
LCA, the Lottery and our principles
Ian, Stuart, Sue, Jonathan and Barbara had all been at the LCA meeting on 10th Nov and they reported back on this meeting. Essentially the structure is to remain the same with the same people in post which led to a discussion about our relationship with the LCA. In general people feel that FOL still has a strong campaigning role to fulfil and the fluid structure of FOL allows for creativity and speedy response to the council so it should remain as it is.
Ian suggested we could dip in and out of the LCA to keep an eye on what they were doing. This is fine as long as we are clear about where we are coming from as FOL. All of us at the meeting are strongly associated with FOL and we need to make sure we are consistent about our message when we operate in different arenas including the ward forum meetings. We do not have a constitution and we don’t want to be over prescriptive but the prospect of lottery money for a community centre that Kaufman had raised had caused some debate on email about what we are fighting for. It was generally agreed that there remained great support within FOL for publicly funded services and bidding for lottery money was premature. We haven’t lost the battle yet.
So it was agreed that our guiding principle when we are talking about public services is that they should be provided with public money and not charity or private sources.
This obviously does not apply to shopping but does apply to:
The swimming baths
The library
The community centre
Council day nursery
Parks and green spaces
Youth facilities inc the Arcadia
Until we agree otherwise we are campaigning for public funded council run services. Support for this principle needs to be raised from wider layers of FOL supporters.
NB At the next public FOL meeting I would be prepared to put in a motion about this principle that can be voted on if people thought that was a good way to get clarity for the campaign from a wider layer of people, given that we are not elected on any sort of platform.
Public FOL Meeting Sat 8th Dec, 2.30pm, Levy Library
It was agreed to go for a public meeting before the end of the year with the following agenda: Feedback from the Leese meeting
What do people want to campaign for?
Ideas for campaign activities
What do we need/want from a community centre?
Draw up an open letter to Leese/Kaufman that puts our demands clearly. This will be produced as a letter for people to sign and a poster.
Decision about when we should invite Leese back to Levy to update us on his progress!
Chair for the meeting – Charlotte to organise, also flip charts & pens
Sign-up sheets and general FOL info – Stuart has a bag full.
To build for this meeting Jamie will produce a flyer to be printed at Albany press. 1000 leaflets, 50 Posters(?)
press release for SM reporter (Stuart).
Stall on Sat 1st December.
Info about meeting and stall to go out on FOL email list (Stuart) Hard copies of FOL update to go in South Levy post office and we should ask the other two post offices to take them too.
Jenni will get up-to-date info about residents groups in Levy.
We need to organise a leafleting network with identified people who can organise a patch then leaflets just get dropped to these key individuals.
Peace Gardens
Despite discussions in LCA about the community centre site it was agreed that we still go ahead with the peace gardens because it will be some time before any building gets go ahead and the gardens could still be incorporated into the design. Kes had applied for money from the Guardian but not heard anything. We need to organise a delivery of soil improver that we can dig in to the site in preparation for planting in the early spring. End Feb was suggested as a time we can put together a planting party this time with more involvement from schools and community groups. Kes has trees from Highfield over wintering in her garden and Barbara Mellor has plenty of wild flowers. We also have seeds supplied by LANDLIFE. May bank holiday we should have a much bigger party than this year. We can build it with more confidence.
Manchester City Council ‘consults’
The city council is consulting about future city growth between now and Feb 2008. The launch event for this is Tuesday 4th Dec at the City Art Gallery. Charlotte to find out timings for the launch event and we should all go down with the banner!!!
YASP
We should go along to consultation event at the United Reform Church. The project might be used as a diversion away from our demands for a community centre but we need to be clear about exactly what it is offering and get them on board to support us. Kes is going to the event and will introduce herself as from FOL. Ward co-ordination
Malcolm, Jamie, Jenni and Kes are going to ward co-ordination from their residents groups but they can chip in about other relevant stuff as well. Angelique is going to take on SureStart debate. Tracy is going to ask that community centre land is preserved for community use, although no reference is being made about where money is coming from at this stage.
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