Meeting - November 2013

Forum administration
Councillor Steve Gray was welcomed, in absentia, as the new Vice Chair. This provided a useful cross-over between the Forum and the Town Council.

Forum purpose 
The revised purpose was tweaked and agreed as being:

'The Town Forum is a non-political, non-aligned, open, results-orientated forum which exists to assist the successful vitality, viability and sustainable growth of Falmouth. It brings together representatives of groups and organisations in the town – from the commercial, charitable and statutory sectors, and from community groups – to talk about strategic and current issues, share knowledge, and to explore and help deliver projects to the benefit of the future of the town. Being non-aligned, it has the freedom to explore ideas in ways which other organisations cannot.

'It is also a bridging body - a sounding board - and a channel of communication.'

As this hardly rolls off the tongue, members were invited to contribute alternative snappier versions.

Forum constitution
The chairman would lead a team with the aim of creating a constitution on one side of paper.

Proposed and actual cuts to Cornwall Council Budgets and their effects on the town
It was unclear what specific cuts were being proposed by Cornwall Council but Falmouth Town Council was already taking steps to pick up priority services. For example, they were planning, or looking at taking on:

• A long lease of the Town Hall
• The management of the six public toilets from April
• The costs of the core operation of the CCTV monitoring 

They were also in discussion about other areas of activity.

This work had caused the Town Council to look at its priorities:

• They had recently appointed Christina Hayman, an FU Events Management graduate, as events management assistant
• They had also dropped the idea of funding a Neighbourhood Plan
• They had commissioned a review of the seafront furniture so that areas could be targeted for repair

All agreed that the wider Cornwall Council agenda looked very bleak and there was a real chance that everything discretionary would have to go. The Town Council could pick things up, funded from an enhanced precept.

Everyone was encouraged to tell councillors what they saw as priorities.

Marine Issues
The report on the dredging trial was still awaited.

Cruise Ship calls were reportedly down for 2014. The main reason given was that larger ships were avoiding the port because of the inability to dock alongside and the problems of trans-shipment.

There was no further news on the proposed Special Protection Area.

BID Renewal
The manifesto and voting slips have been sent out. Early indications were that there is a good response. We will know the full picture after the ballot closes on 28th November.

Tall Ships 2014
Progress is reportedly being made.

Radio Signals
Thing seem to have improved recently following conversations with Ofcom.

Source FM are close to securing their new Transmitter. With thirteen days to run they are still about £1.2k short of their £4k crowd-funding target. Although they have won a £10k award from Santander, this funding cannot be used for their new transmitter.

Any other business
The Forum bank account is now empty.

The Civic Society has published their latest newsletter. They will be posting some more information about sustainable development and town extension onto their website. This is very relevant for a town seeking to grow as fast as is planned.

The Bickland Water Road planning application is with FTC.

The Local Development Plan is now being delayed until 2015 which is leaving the way clear for some pretty undesirable developments. The Town Council is promoting its view that the target for new houses for Falmouth and Penryn should be 4,000 rather than 5,000.

Penryn Campus has received planning permission for two new projects:

• The Heart project which will create a new, public, open space and involve landscaping to make the whole site link together much better
• A new science and engineering research support facility for the University of Exeter. This will be located at the top of the site close to the Environment and Sustainability Institute and adjacent to the Tremough Innovation Centre 

Both are planned to be completed in 2015 subject to funding being confirmed.

The Town Council:

• Is still discussing an application for a new cemetery 
• Did very well in the Britain in Bloom competition (in Cleethorpes in the rain), winning a Silver Gilt award. They have been encouraged to go for gold

Attending the meeting were:
Andy Coote (chairman)- Falmouth Business Club
Candy Atherton - Cornwall Council
Chris Smith - Falmouth and Penryn Community Plan
David Yelland - Falmouth School
Dick Stiles - Civic Society
Jackie George - Falmouth Watersports Association
Jilly Easterby - Falmouth Exeter Plus
Jonathan Griffin - National Maritime Museum Cornwall
Mark Williams - Falmouth Town Council
Mike Jenks - Civic Society
Neil Tinson - Churches Together
Sally Stiles - Age Concern

Meeting - September 2013

The purpose and plans for the Forum
Andy Coote introduced his first meeting as chairman with a discussion about the role and responsibilities of the Forum focusing on the summary that had been previous circulated. This was then updated.

In discussion, people highlighted a variety of issues and opportunities such as:

• A recent report which had suggested that Falmouth was the 11th most deprived seaside town in the country. This was disputed, especially given the changes over the last five years, but it was recognised that the town still had much work to do in some residential areas
• The importance of being a group which not only discussed ideas but did something about the conclusions, fitting in with the work of other bodies such as the Town Council and the BID
• The use of working groups to tackle particular issues. The Town Council had formerly asked the Forum to look at specific strategic issues but this seemed to have waned
• Whether the Forum should include a representative of the police, at a strategic level 

The summary was re-drafted along the following lines:
'The Town Forum is a non-political, non-aligned, open, results-orientated forum which exists to assist the successful vitality, viability and sustainable growth of Falmouth. It brings together representatives of groups and organisations in the town – from the commercial, charitable and statutory sectors – to talk about strategic and current issues, share knowledge, and to explore and deliver projects to the benefit of the future of the town. Being non-aligned, it has the freedom to explore ideas in ways which other organisations cannot.' This was open to more considered re-drafting.

It is also a bridging body - a sounding board - and a channel of communication.

Administrative matters
There was still a need for a Vice-Chair to support the Chairman in the many representative calls on his time. Volunteers were sought (but no one came forward).

The Constitution of the Forum would be updated in the light of the discussions.

Tall Ships 2014
This event is predicted to bring in 9,000 participants and over 100,000 visitors to the town.

The Tall Ships event is going to need about 150 volunteers. Anyone who wishes to apply should register with Volunteer Cornwall. There will also be an opportunity for young people to sail on board the Tall Ships. This is a contractual requirement on the Organising Committee and needs our support. See here for details.

There may also be a need for pastoral support in liaison with the Mission to Seamen. Neil Tinson is pursuing this with the Tall Ships Committee.

Radio signals in the centre of town 
The poor quality of reception in the town means that many people cannot receive digital radio. Chris Smith will bring together interested parties including Brod Ross, Matthew Rogers (SourceFM) and others with the intention of whatever taking action we can and producing a letter from the Forum to the relevant authorities.

BID Renewal 
The Business Improvement District is up for renewal in November and is finalising details of its manifesto. Some 471 businesses are involved and more than 50% have responded to the recent survey seeking new ideas. Richard Wilcox would share the draft with the Forum to seek its input. He was hopeful of success especially given the support for the surveys.

A recent report - the Grimsey report - highlighted a range of things that town centres should be doing to make themselves attractive. [Late entry: a further report by the Centre for Cities is also available here]. The BID had been pursuing many of these ideas itself, which was encouraging. The Forum offered Richard whatever help he needed in developing these ideas further.

A big issue remained the need to separate in constituents' minds the difference between the remits and work of the BID, the Town Council and the County Council, especially in the light of the cuts (see next item) and change sin responsibility through localism.

Cornwall Council cuts
A 'tsunami of cuts' is on its way and it is likely that Cornwall Council will end up operating at a level which one councillor had described as being 'at the margin of acceptability' and 'at the margin of statutory requirements'. These cuts have largely been imposed by central government. Falmouth Town Council is trying to take up the slack by managing things such as toilets and roundabouts but even their room for manoeuvre is restricted by the political acceptability of putting up the precept. There was also a real danger that government might limit the level of increase in the precept as it had done for Cornwall Council.

An event is due to take place at Mabe Town Hall on 3 October when the budget will be discussed in more detail.

Dredging
The trial dredge to check the dead maerl habitat has taken place but unexpected delays means that full report is unlikely to be complete until January. If this proves helpful then it is hoped that the MMO will issue a licence. That licence may contain a number of requirements which will need to be negotiated.

Special Protection Area
A new issue was emerging: the possible designation of a large area of the coast as a Special Protection Area because of its importance to four species of migratory birds. There was a real need for a full management specification before the consultation process starts so that one could understand the implications of protection. This had not happened in the past and designations had been enforced in ways that had never originally been interpreted.

Access to Finance event
The Federation of Small Businesses is running an Access to Finance event on 17 October at the Greenbank Hotel from 19:00. Tickets available here.

Dates for future meetings
The next meeting would be held on 13 November in the NMMC Haddon Board Room at the new time of 18:00. The provisional dates for 2014 are on the separate page.

Those attending
Andy Coote - Falmouth Business Club (Chairman)
Caroline Robinson - Federation of Small Businesses
Chris Smith - Community Plan
Cllr Candy Atherton - Cornwall Council
David Yelland - Falmouth School
Jonathan Griffin - National Maritime Museum Cornwall
Mark Williams - Falmouth Town Council
Mike Jenks - Civic Society
Mike Reynolds - A&P Docks
Neil Tinson - Churches Together
Richard Wilcox - Falmouth BID
Shaun Davie - FDHA

Meeting - May 2013

Roland Tiplady
Roland is chairman of international surveyors Ward Williams and a new and local member of the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). It is early days but what attracted him about the job (5 hours a month) is the emphasis on allowing business people to take decisions about business, avoiding the over-protective hand of the public sector. Cornwall is fortunate as Cornwall Council supports the LEP. The LEP is not just the RDA in disguise.

Two major projects face the LEP. There will be a new round or EU European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) money for 2014 to 2020 with a strategy needed in September this year. Secondly, Michael Heseltine's proposals will be implemented. These will require the LEP to bid for money from government departments who will inevitably want to control what it is spent on. CC will write the cheques, supported by Cornwall Development Company which is funded by CC and European money to work on LEP activity.

Roland is involved on the 'Business is growing' sub group. Cornish businesses are generally very small and want to expand but often do not believe that it is possible or don't know how to do it. To be successful in Cornwall you actually have to be better than people in London - that is the nature of the 'small village' environment of Cornwall. We must stop thinking that people across the Tamar automatically know better. To survive in Cornwall often means you are fitter than those across the river.

Roland also has responsibility for CDC and their inward and outward investment agency. CDC is attracting investment into Cornwall. He believes it is necessary to have a London office for Cornwall to establish a presence and attract investment.

He remains mystified why there is no European support for tourism. European policies cannot possibly know what is best for Cornwall. If people have an idea then they should put it up. The LEP wants partners and is not hidebound by rules about supporting individual companies. Also, if companies are put-off by form filling and procedures then CDC has people who are paid to help with such things.

The chairman welcomed him to the Forum and thanked him for his contribution.

County and Town elections
The local elections had created something of a new landscape for the town with some new faces. Cornwall Council, meanwhile, was still sorting out its leadership.

It was unclear who would be nominated to attend the Forum from the two Councils but it was hoped that they would be regeneration-focused individuals and a co-operative and constructive atmosphere.

Cornwall Local Plan
Both the Forum and the Civic Society had submitted responses to the consultation. The status of the Plan was unclear. It was assumed that the new County administration would be submitting it for approval by Westminster but there was pessimism about its likely reception. There appeared to be a determination in Westminster on insisting on greater levels of development than were suggested in the Plan. Growth had been a key issue in the recent elections.  

Falmouth First CIC
This was now up and running and had held its first event: Pier Break. This had been organised by a group of University students, supported by the Town & BID Managers, and had provided an 'easy going' surf style event in aid of charity. It was extremely well run, sensitive to the pier environment - e.g. noise & alcohol control - and for its size, hugely successful. It had also provided a platform for a deeper, long term relationship between the CIC and the University(s). Other activities are in the pipeline for later in the month for the Fal River festival and later in the year. Planning is even under way for Tall Ships 2014.

Sam Groom and Paul Wickes have joined the board. The CIC is still seeking talented volunteers, willing and able to help manage events.

Forum Constitution
Work on this was delayed pending the development of the two Councils.

Dredging 
We understand that the results of the trial dredge will be made available around September. A decision may take longer.

Forum bank account
A small sum was still available in the Forum's account. In order to close this, a worthy cause was needed. Although a number of short-term projects could usefully benefit, there was a feeling that it should go to something sustained and it was agreed to pass the ca £500 across to the BID for spending on the public realm improvements.

The Chair would write a letter to Pub Watch encouraging them to contribute funding to help manage the impact of the night time economy.

Sainsburys
It appeared unlikely that the Sainsbury development would break ground in 2013. Everyone is blaming everyone else for the delay.

Shorts

• Cornwall Marine Network has secured money to help the police establish a marine crime unit
• The Park Live event in Kimberley Park, driven by Source FM with support from a variety of people and organisations - including the Town Council, Falmouth University and Townsends - had been hugely successful. The Town Council is trying to get the stage made permanent
• The Falmouth Week Carnival would mark the Marine Band's 25th birthday and there was an ambition to achieve 1,000 marchers on the evening. All were encouraged to participate
• The new BIDs signing around the town was being installed 

Annual General Meeting
The AGM followed. Nominations had been received for Andy Coote to take over the chair of the Forum. The out-going chair was thanked for his contribution.

The humble scribe was told he should carry on tapping away to prevent him being otherwise disruptive.

Those attending
Cornwall Marine Network - Paul Wickes
Falmouth Business Club - Andy Coote
Falmouth Exeter Plus - Jilly Easterby
Falmouth Town Council - Mark Williams
Federation of Small Business - Caroline Robertson
Local Enterprise Partnership - Roland Tiplady
National Maritime Museum Cornwall - Jonathan Griffin
RCPS - Mike Jenks

RIBA - Chris Smith (chair)