MINUTES OF THE TWENTY NINTH ANNUAL TOWN MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY 23RD APRIL 2002 AT 8.00 P.M. IN THE TOWN HALL, BISHOP'S CASTLE.

PRESENT Councillor G.N. St J. Penney, Mayor, in the Chair.
Councillors: J.M. Carroll, E.A. Lawrence, W.J. Morris, K.E.C. Pinches and R.D. Wright.
County and District Councillor P. Phillips, D. Whitefoot, Chairman of the Public Hall Committee, Mr T. Hunt, Headmaster of The Community College, Mr N. Hurd, Mr C. Pugh and Mr T. Evans.

Apologies were received from Councillors Bedell, Blundell, Jones, Magill and Whittall.

1. MATTERS ARISING FROM THE 28TH ANNUAL TOWN MEETING ON 24th APRIL 2001:

There were no matters arising.

2. REPORT FROM COUNTY AND DISTRICT COUNCILLOR P. PHILLIPS:

As this is the first Annual meeting since the elections last year Cllr Phillips thanked people for their support and their co-operations since the elections, which has been very productive. He reported that there is a cabinet of 10 and he is 'Culture' and Deputy Leader. Just before Christmas last year grants were secured for Enterprise South West Shropshire for the next three years of £29,500 p.a. of which £12,000 will go to the Community College. Traffic measures have been installed on a trial basis in the High Street, the link road from The Wintles to Oak Meadow has been put 'on hold' and Kerry Lane now has eight passing places. He reported that one of the major problems facing both County and District Councils is waste. Shropshire has one of the lowest recycling levels and currently the cost of the landfill tax is over £1 million. There needs to be a huge effort to resolve the waste problems.

Mr Hurd of the Wasteless Society asked why it is planned to spend £1.5 million building a new digester when there are already four in South Shropshire, one of which is locally at Bank Farm and Cllr Phillips agreed to look into this. Mr Hurd reported that the new plastics collecting centre on the Industrial Estate has been very successful and over 50 bags of plastic containers have been collected, which is less going into the ground and provides disabled people with employment. The 'green' skip has also been very successful and exceeded all expectations for its first year. Cllr Carroll felt that the Councils will need to provide some sort of incentive to encourage people to increase their recycling and reduce their waste and an enthusiastic educational programme will be required.

Cllr Phillips reported that the S.C.C. and S.S.D.C. consulted widely when preparing their budgets and in order to provide the services they have had to increase the Council tax. The West Mercia Police increased their portion of the Council taxt by over 30% in order to put extra police on the beat. It is planned to hold a review of local government structure, with the possiblity of having just one authority for Shropshire. Cllr Phillips was very pleased to report that £765,000 has been committed so far for the Arts and Sports Project and the field behind the swimming pool is in the process of being purchased. There is a new structure for Health Care in the County and we see extensive building work taking place at the Community College. This time last year we were in the throws of Foot and Mouth and it is clear that this had a great impact on not just farmers, but a large number of other businesses in the County and it is hoped that this year sees businesses recovering.

3. REPORT FROM PUBLIC HALL COMMITTEE:

The Mayor welcomed to the meeting Mr Derek Whitefoot, Chairman of the Public Hall Committee to give the annual update on behalf of the Public Hall Committee. Accounts for y/e 31st March 2002 are not yet completed but will be forwarded to the Council as soon as they are available.

Mr Whitefoot reported that unfortunately a further bid for Lottery funding in order to upgrade and improve facilities at the Public Hall has not been successful. Before reapplying they were advised to carry out a public consultation exercise, which has now been completed with a 21.35% response rate. The results of this exercise will be submitted with the next application for funding. In the Mean time plans are being progressed for the first phase of improvements which involve the kitchen and toilet facilities.

Bookings for the Hall have increased from last year, a number of bookings were lost last year owing to Foot and Mouth. The Committee has £23,500 in hand, compared to £19,800 last year.

One important factor that came out of the consultation were requests to increase the use of the Hall for the youth, which is being carefully considered.

4. SPEAKER: MR T. HUNT, HEADMASTER, THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE:

Mr Hunt spoke about the need to improve facilities in the Town for the young people. Often people think only about the negative actions of a few which are the minority, the majority of young people in town are responsible. There are a number of sports clubs, drama and dance events and cadets, but outside this there is little to interest this age group. As a result of concern about young people hanging about the streets a survey was recently carried out, which raised the need for somewhere to meet socially outside the confines of the College. It is hoped that something can be done to address this. The South Shropshire Youth Forum is based in Ludlow and is able to access funding and it is suggested that the S.S.D.C., S.C.C., Town Council, Countryside Agency and representatives of the young people, maybe via the College Council can work together to progress such a scheme. The skate board area which is to be on the College grounds seems to be progressing satisfactorily and this will very much be welcomed by the youngsters. There are plans underway for a Youth Tourism project which will maximise the use of the Community College.

5. ANY OTHER BUSINESS:

There being no further matters raised under Any Other Business, The Mayor thanked everyone for attending and declared the meeting closed at 9.15 p.m.