Present: Stephen Langtree (Chairman), Peter Colley, Adrian Dunning, Terry Edgar, Kathy Fishwick, Roger Frankland, Iain Gerrard, Brian Gilbert, Cynthia Radford, Elaine Smith & Tom Webster.

Apologies for absence: : Gordon Sidery & Susan Spibey.

19.1    The Chairman wished the committee a Happy New Year. He expressed concern over the absence of both Paul Johnson, from whom he had been expecting a report on his attendance at the Annual General Meeting of the English Historic Towns Forum, and John Bedson, who had not been present since the Annual General Meeting.

19.2     Minutes of the previous meeting: Previously circulated, it was proposed by the Chairman and seconded by Adrian Dunning that these be accepted as a true record, with one minor error corrected: Minute 18.7: The North West Regional Assembly (not Authority).

19.3    Matters Arising:Minute 18.3 The Chairman said he had attended the Cumbrian Federation meeting in Carlisle and had asked the Carlisle representative about Tricia Brean and her position on the NWActs committee. The representative had promised to ask her to confirm her intentions one way or the other.
Peter Robinson had agreed to co-ordinate an email group for Transport once he had received a brief from Stephen.
Stephen asked if the proforma for the list of Speakers Used by NW Societies had gone out and Iain confessed he had omitted to do this. As the Civic Trust was in the process of setting up a similar list it was agreed that Iain should refrain from sending out the NWActs proforma until Stephen had ascertained from the Civic Trust were it was up to with its own. Stephen added that he had seen the Civic Trust proforma and felt it was overly complicated and would result in few replies.

Minute 18.4 The Chairman said he had been very disappointed with the failure of the Autumn Gathering. Just two weeks before the event only nine people had said they would attend although subsequently more had inferred they had intended to go. Late efforts to find more speakers had failed and the two confirmed speakers had pulled out without warning the day after the deadline for cancellation with the hotel. This had made the conference untenable and had cost £300 in cancellation fees. The lessons to be learnt from all this were that arrangements had to be made well in advance and that a deadline for bookings from societies had to be set. Brian Gilbert felt that the cost of overnight stays at £85 might have been a put-off for many, although 'par for the course' in Manchester hotels.
It was generally felt that a sub-committee was needed for each annual event.
Stephen said that Susan had been relying on Manchester Civic Society to provide her with local speakers but had received no information and only two weeks before the event date an enquiry by him of the chairman had given the impression they knew nothing of the event.

Minute 18.5. Stephen regretted he had not progressed the Conservation leaflet and that he realised that he had to finish the work or hand it to someone else to do it. He said that Paul Johnson had previously offered to take it over.

Minute 18.6. Confusion was expressed over the intentions and use of the Civic Trust network; Elaine said that she simply didn't understand it. Iain asked how it was to be accessed and the Chairman replied that he should have received a password following his sending of a list of ten people from the committee to the Civic Trust. Iain said he had received no notification and anyway knew of no address by which the site could be entered. Stephen attempted to explain that it was an interactive learning portal for all Civic Societies to use; he would attempt to find out more. It was suggested that someone from the Civic Trust be invited to come and address the committee and explain all about it and this was felt generally to be an excellent idea. Tom thought that the Civic Trust needed reminding that not all society members were comfortable with either emails or the Internet. Stephen agreed but felt that this was the direction down which the Civic Trust was heading. Elaine referred to her comment on the Civic Trust awards for 2006 and said that these would be held in Blackpool in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens on the 20th March.

Minute 18.7. Paul Johnson had attended the Annual General Meeting of the English Historic Towns Forum but his report, intended for this meeting, would be delayed because of his absence. The cost had been £464.50 for the two and a half-day event and while this had been expected Stephen felt the cost meant that very few of these events could be afforded.
Peter said that the selection of members for the North West Environmental Link was totally undemocratic, it being by invitation only and without any election. His attempts to make contact for clarification had not been replied to, although a telephone conversation had suggested that a form of Electoral College was being considered.

Minute 18.9. Both Terry and Elaine had attended a meeting on the Department of the Environment Farming and Rural Affairs initiative called 'Every Action Counts' and organised by the Liverpool office.

19.4    Peter mentioned a Christmas card that he had received from the North of England Civic Trust in which it had explained that it was to do a survey of all the churches in Cumbria. There followed a discussion around that organisation's attempt to take over the Heritage Open Days in Cumbria. Stephen to ask the Civic Trust what arrangements, if any, had been agreed on this matter.
A further discussion followed on the frequent lack of any reference to the Civic Trust or the display of its logo in advertisements for Heritage Open Days.
Roger suggested that, as there was a form from the Civic Trust which had to be filled in by any society wishing to have a building included in the published list, it should include the question: "Which is your local Civic Trust and the name of your contact in that society?" This was felt to be a good idea.

19.5    Report on Progress of Regional Spatial Strategy: Peter said the range of matters of matters discussed was very wide but that, unfortunately NWActs was not included in these. He said he tried to work through the North West Environment Link which was. He had attended many sessions in which the Highways Agency had expressed concern over the pressure on roads from the proposed number of new houses, global warming was mentioned often, and it was thought that the new houses were even likely to lead to water shortages!
There was an estimate of an increase in the population the area of 1.7% but an another of an increase in retail outlet floor area of 140%+, figures which to him did not seem to relate to each other.

19.6     Chairman: Stephen announced that it was his intention to stand down as Chairman at the 2007 Annual General Meeting. He cited three reasons: the first being his difficulty reading all the material coming to him because of his continuing problems with his eyesight, also his disappointment at the recent failure to hold the 2006 Autumn Gathering, and that he had held the post for five years and felt it was time for a change. Peter said that although he was not altogether surprised he regretted that Stephen felt the need to take this course and that the committee was indebted to him for what he had done for those five years. There was general agreement at his comments.

19.7    News from the Civic Trust: National Committee Meeting. The Chairman said that while he had missed the October meeting due to him being on holiday he would be attending the next one at the end of the month. He had tried to contact Alberta Stevens prior to the last meeting and had recorded a message on her telephone to the effect that to subject all societies to a 'quality assurance' scheme would be counterproductive and that the few 'rogue' societies ought to be spoken to individually and warned about their transgressions. Kathy agreed and said that if the Civic Trust became too dominating the problems experienced in the 1990s would return. Stephen said that while the proposal was being discussed many Regional Association chairmen were against them and he didn't think there would be a problem.
There followed a brief discussion on whether the Regional Associations were 'members' of the Civic Trust or not - it was felt the question wasn't relevant - and a further discussion on the relationship between the Civic Trust and individual societies.

19.8    Lottery Bid:Referred to above in minute 18.3, Stephen said there needed to be a discussion on how to implement the idea. Iain asked if he should research the best method but required clarification on the details of the idea. Stephen suggested he telephone him in about 10 days.

19.9     NWActs Plans for 2007: Information Sheets: Stephen said he hoped to create information sheets on subjects such as Local Awards Schemes and Heritage Trails. The recent publication by the Yorkshire & Humber Association of Civic Societies was shown to the committee. Brian felt that it would be a good idea to have our own version of just the basic colour folder which could be used to house a variety of publications over the years and would be a permanently available advert. He offered to get costings for this and it was agreed he should proceed.
Email Groups. He also wished to create a list of email addresses of people with expertise in a variety of skills and who would be willing to answer queries from societies. He said he would draw up a list of subjects.
Spring Meeting. Stephen suggested a one-day meeting be arranged in March to discuss Heritage Open Days and the new Civic Trust Network idea. It was agreed that, subject to availability of venue, it be held on the 17 March (preferably) or the 31st of March at County Hall, Preston starting at 11 am. It was agreed that catering would be included.
Autumn Gathering in Birkenhead. Cynthia reported that Birkenhead Town Hall - now the Wirral Museum - was available and had a conference room capable of holding 80 people. The cost was usually £15.75 per hour which included catering facilities, although outside caterers would be needed. Most of the usual equipment was on hand, public transport was good and although car parking fees would be charged on the Saturday it was free on Sundays. It was agreed she should book the hall provisionally. Cynthia added that she also felt that a sub-committee would be needed to co-ordinate the event.

19.10    External Liaison:Heritage Link. Stephen suggested all should sign up for the free email from this group: items such as Local Development Frameworks were being discussed in detail.

19.11    Any Other Business: At Iain's request Stephen asked that all dates for the coming year be decided in advance.
These are as follows:

• NWActs committee meeting - 28 April
• Ditto and AGM - 7 July
• NWActs committee meeting - 15 September
• Autumn Gathering - 13/14 October
• NWActs committee meeting - 8 December

Mention was made of a new white paper on Planning now available and which could be read and downloaded from the website of the Department of Communities and Local Government.

19.12    Next Meeting:: 11.00 am for 11.15 am on Saturday the 28th April 2007 at the same venue.