Minutes of Directors Meetings
NLCLT MEETING 26.09.2013 MINUTES
Present: Gina, Mike, Frank, John
Note: Action points for individuals are highlighted in bold throughout the text
Matters Arising. Gina has still to edit the Conflict of Interest Policy Document. John is negotiating with Lancashire Care NHS re the land on Ashton Road. Mike is working on how to map all the sites which come into consideration with colour coding of status (from possible through to acquired or no longer in consideration). Frank noted that we had previously agreed that a spreadsheet of sites would useful to progress chase all our negotiations on individual sites. It was not decided who would be responsible for this.
Website name. Mike reported that we have now acquired the name ‘communityland.org’ as our website. It is remarkable that nobody else has claimed it before now.
NHS Ashton Road. John has a teleconference on 19.08 with LancashireCare and had written a concept note beforehand, as circulated. (Gina had suggested that the concept note should include a notional timescale for any lease.) It had been agreed with LancashireCare that one site would be possible. John will send the map to Mike. John was waiting for a reply to his minute of the meeting. After two emails without response he would now telephone LancashireCare. Gina noted that she had good contacts with the owner of the adjoining land at The Cedars which could lead to fruitful cooperation if the land was leased to NLCLT.
Development proposal from Mike. Mike noted that Caroline and Joy had bought 6 acres of land up near Lancaster Moor Hospital. He had suggested to these owners that NLCLT might solicit cloud funding for individuals to buy some of the land for communal use and so free up the capital for other projects. It was agreed that this would fit very well with the purposes and capabilities of NLCLT. Mike would try to arrange a site meeting of NLCLT with Caroline and Joy to pursue the matter.
What about the bees?
Frank was fired up about the threat to bee colonies, having seen a recent TED talk on the topic. He asked if NLCLT might take up the matter locally as an example of small project on the use of land to be pursued alongside the longer term projects around acquiring land and helping community groups to develop it. The consensus was that this was not a core purpose of NLCLT, but that we could include the issue of fostering habitats for bees as an aim in our projects. It was pointed out that there was a Sustainable Food initiative active locally, sponsored by The Soil Association who wee actively interested in the issue. Gina mentioned the County Council policy and practice in the schedule of grass cutting of verges. She would write to the county council to ask about possible bee awareness in the schedule. Frank would pursue the matter by contacting local beekeeper associations, talking to those with access to bee friendly plants and those with ecological expertise and would seek to network with those already interested and active to find out what NLCLT might usefully contribute to this process.
Next Meeting
It appeared that any Thursday afternoon in November would be possible. Mike will liaise with Caroline and Joy to try to combine a site meeting with the next meeting of NLCLT.
Frank Ledwith
Present: Gina, Mike, Frank, John
Note: Action points for individuals are highlighted in bold throughout the text
Matters Arising. Gina has still to edit the Conflict of Interest Policy Document. John is negotiating with Lancashire Care NHS re the land on Ashton Road. Mike is working on how to map all the sites which come into consideration with colour coding of status (from possible through to acquired or no longer in consideration). Frank noted that we had previously agreed that a spreadsheet of sites would useful to progress chase all our negotiations on individual sites. It was not decided who would be responsible for this.
Website name. Mike reported that we have now acquired the name ‘communityland.org’ as our website. It is remarkable that nobody else has claimed it before now.
NHS Ashton Road. John has a teleconference on 19.08 with LancashireCare and had written a concept note beforehand, as circulated. (Gina had suggested that the concept note should include a notional timescale for any lease.) It had been agreed with LancashireCare that one site would be possible. John will send the map to Mike. John was waiting for a reply to his minute of the meeting. After two emails without response he would now telephone LancashireCare. Gina noted that she had good contacts with the owner of the adjoining land at The Cedars which could lead to fruitful cooperation if the land was leased to NLCLT.
Development proposal from Mike. Mike noted that Caroline and Joy had bought 6 acres of land up near Lancaster Moor Hospital. He had suggested to these owners that NLCLT might solicit cloud funding for individuals to buy some of the land for communal use and so free up the capital for other projects. It was agreed that this would fit very well with the purposes and capabilities of NLCLT. Mike would try to arrange a site meeting of NLCLT with Caroline and Joy to pursue the matter.
What about the bees?
Frank was fired up about the threat to bee colonies, having seen a recent TED talk on the topic. He asked if NLCLT might take up the matter locally as an example of small project on the use of land to be pursued alongside the longer term projects around acquiring land and helping community groups to develop it. The consensus was that this was not a core purpose of NLCLT, but that we could include the issue of fostering habitats for bees as an aim in our projects. It was pointed out that there was a Sustainable Food initiative active locally, sponsored by The Soil Association who wee actively interested in the issue. Gina mentioned the County Council policy and practice in the schedule of grass cutting of verges. She would write to the county council to ask about possible bee awareness in the schedule. Frank would pursue the matter by contacting local beekeeper associations, talking to those with access to bee friendly plants and those with ecological expertise and would seek to network with those already interested and active to find out what NLCLT might usefully contribute to this process.
Next Meeting
It appeared that any Thursday afternoon in November would be possible. Mike will liaise with Caroline and Joy to try to combine a site meeting with the next meeting of NLCLT.
Frank Ledwith
