MINUTES OF NORWOOD TOWN CENTRE FORUM

							                             NORWOOD FORUM

      MINUTES OF EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING

                Thursday, 26TH July 2008 at 7.00 pm

      Nettlefold Hall, 1 Norwood High Street, SE27 9JX


The following list is taken from the Attendance Sheet signed at the meeting. If
your name is incorrectly represented or has been omitted, please contact
Hanna Fesshazion (see final page), so that the list of attendees can be
altered, prior to approval of the minutes at the Forum’s next meeting



                             LIST OF ATTENDEES

                NAME                       ADDRESS/DESIGNATION/
                                                 ORGANISATION
1.    J McMillan                   Resident
2.    Phillip Godfrey              Resident
3.    Richard Moore                Forum Officer
4.    Susan Deswarte               Resident
5.    Graham Pycock                Cllr Gipsy Hill Ward
6.    Jeff Avis                    Resident
7.    Elizabeth Harrington         Emmaus South Lambeth
8.    Jean Monaghan                Forum Officer
9.    David Holliday               Resident
10.   Mr J Mullen                  Resident
11.   Robert Holden                Herne Hill Society
12.   C Williams                   Resident
13.   John Payne                   Resident
14.   Jean King                    Resident
15.   Bob King                     Resident
16.   Pat Fisher                   Resident
17.   Mario Fauvrelle              Resident
18.   Glen Falconer                Resident
19.   Jamal Rahman                 Norwood Community Group
20.   Rod Brown                    Resident
21.   W Pond                       Resident
22.   C Fagon                      Resident
23.   Steve Taber                  Resident
24.   Kathy Willard                Resident
25.   Anita Jarrett                Women in Norwood

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26.   Paula Branch                  Women in Norwood
27.   Norman Winbourne              Resident
28    D Heath                       Lambethans
29.   Khadiru Mahdi                 Norwood Town Centre Management
30.   Glennette Bowles-Dove         Norwood Town Centre Management
31.   Hanna Fesshazion              Norwood Town Centre Management
32.   John Kerridge                 Lambeth Regeneration & Enterprise


The Chair declared the meeting open at 7.15pm.

1.     APOLOGIES

       Apologies were received from David Bentliff (Norwood Society),
       Richard Dutton, Dick Tooze, Simon Berlyn, Jane Pickard.

2.     AGREEMENT OF MINUTES
       The minutes of the AGM on 8 March 2008 were approved by a motion
       moved by Philip Godfrey.


3.     FORUM OFFICERS ATTENDANCE MATRIX

       The Forum Officers attendance matrix was noted.

4.     Community Engagement – proposal on the new structures and
       ways of working with Lambeth Council – John Kerridge Assistant
       Director

4.1    John Kerridge briefed the Forum on the current reorganisation of the
       Council’s regeneration and Enterprise Division. He told the forum that
       the existing Town Centre structures will end at the end of July. He
       highlighted the two strands of the of the Council’s approach - area
       focus and neighbourhood working.

       (a) He outlined a proposal for six area forums in Norwood, Streatham,
           Brixton, Stockwell, Clapham and North Lambeth. He pointed out
           that the proposals in his discussion paper was not established
           Council policy as the Council was asking forums to decide their
           own local structures.

          The purpose of the new structure is to bring together partner
           agencies e.g. Tenants & Residents Associations (TRAs), Safer
           Neighbourhood Panels (SNPs), voluntary and community groups at
           an area level to support the development of localised structures that
           will be appropriate to each area, enabling local councillors and
           members of the community to work together.
          A budget of 50k has been allocated to assist development of area
           forums.



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         Khadiru Mahdi Norwood Town Centre Manager will be working with
          the Forum officers to develop stage one of the Forum’s capacity
          Building Plan.

      (b) The Council’s focus on Neighbourhood working was detailed and
          the following key points highlighted:
              There will be three pilot neighbourhood projects led by
                  Lambeth First, the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP). The
                  key officers on this project are Ian Jackson (Lambeth First)
                  and Jo Negrini both of whom could be invited to future Forum
                  meetings.

                John Kerridge‘s role within the new structure will be to look at
                 Commissioning and third Sector Involvement.

4.2   Jean Monaghan asked whether the £50,000 will support individuals.
      John replied that Council regulations did not allow individual benefit.
      Joseph Mullen suggested that the Council should deal with the
      neighbouring boroughs when addressing Upper Norwood issues.
      Forum members voiced concerns about the lack of local democratic
      structures. John Payne added that he was keen on forums but
      lamented that the issues of Upper Norwood and Crystal Palace were
      being ignored. He planned to work with John Kerridge to set up a forum
      for Upper Norwood. John Kerridge acknowledged the need for
      concerted efforts to address the complexities of the Upper Norwood
      area.

4.3   Susan DeSwarte asked about the community safety strategy and John
      promised to get her the relevant information. Action: John Kerridge.
      Norman Winbourne expressed concerns about the delivery of the
      proposed Master Plan in view of the current credit crunch and property
      crisis. Rod Brown stressed that the Forum should steer clear of party
      politics.

4.4   Cllr Graham Pycock said that it was a testament to every Forum
      attendee for being tenacious to continue the Forum where the Council
      and other agencies should be called to account. He advocated for the
      Council to support local people in Norwood who have shown
      leadership and confirmed that the councillors will continue to support
      the Forum. He stated that one of the roles of the Forum was to engage
      people who do not even vote, to get them to engage in the democratic
      process.

4.5   The Chair reported that the Forum Officers asked the LSP some
      questions about the Forum’s involvement in the work of the LSP and
      she read out the response. She asked John Kerridge about the status
      of the Town Centre Office. John replied that the five town centre
      offices will not exist after 31 July 2008. An Area Manager and team
      covering Norwood and Streatham will replace the existing teams.



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4.6   The Chair thanked John for his presentation and responses to many
      questions.

4.7   Richard Moore proposed a motion, seconded by Phillip Godfrey:

       “The forum is dissatisfied with the progress of local democracy in the
      Norwood area, which continues to be a matter of further planning and
      discussions, leaving the local community disengaged.”

      In a vote by show of hands, the statement was support by 21 in
      favour, 0 against and 5 abstentions.

4.8   The Chair referred John Kerridge to the Forum’s paper of March 2007.
      Marcia Simpson-James requested a copy of the paper. Action: The
      Town Centre Team to send the March 2007 paper to Marcia.


5. FUTURE OF THE FORUM


5.1   The Chair tabled her proposals which were circulated with the notice of
      meeting, drawing attention to the proposed option of a Social
      Enterprise and the need for a robust business plan and a suitably well
      thought out constitution. She recommended that “instead of electing
      Forum Officers at the EGM, a steering and/or consultation group of
      volunteers is formed to help shape and scrutinise the business
      planning and implementation process.”

5.2   Marcia Simpson-James said that the Forum should have a formal
      structure. The Chair suggested that the incoming officer group would
      consider such issues. Mario Fauvrelle said the Forum should give
      Kohn Kerridge’s paper a chance for the benefit of the community. John
      emphasised that the aim is to move the Forum from Council control to
      independence.

5.3   Richard Moore queried the Chair’s powers to propose that the elections
      be deferred and called for elections. A show of hands was called to
      decide whether or not to proceed with the election of officers. The
      decision to proceed with the elections was a clear majority.

6.    ELECTIONS

6.1    At this point, the Chair and other outgoing Forum Officers stood down.
      Khadiru Mahdi (Town Centre Manager) assumed the role of Returning
      Officer and confirmed that five nominations were received by the
      deadline and that the candidates’ statements were displayed in the
      hall. He read out the names of the candidates as follows, pointing out
      that Dick Tooze and Marcia Simpson-James lived outside the Norwood
      area - Roderick (Rod) Brown, Susan DeSwarte, Mario Fauvrelle,
      Marcia Simpson-James and Dick Tooze. Khadiru also reminded the


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      Forum that although there were only five candidates for seven officer
      positions, the constitution required a formal vote of acceptance by the
      Forum whereby a candidate should achieve 10% of those voting. At the
      time of the elections, there were 26 people eligible to vote.

6.2   Each candidate was given 3 minutes to address the Forum, with the
      exception of Dick Tooze, who sent his apologies. After the hustings,
      votes were cast by show of hands and the results were as follows:
      Rod Brown - 17
      Susan DeSwarte -16
      Mario Fauvrelle 16
      Marcia Simpson-James - 15
      Dick Tooze - 13

      All candidates were declared elected as Forum Officers.

6.3   Election of Forum Chair.
       Dick Tooze was nominated by Joseph Mullen, seconded by John
         Payne.
       Susan DeSwarte was nominated by Rod Brown, seconded by
         Richard Moore.

          Susan DeSwarte was elected by a clear majority.

6.4   Election of Vice Chair

         Dick Tooze was nominated by Joseph Mullen, seconded by
          Norman Winbourne
         Marcia Simpson-James was nominated by Jamal Rahman,
          seconded by Susan DeSwarte.

          Marcia Simpson-James was elected Vice Chair by a clear majority.

6.5   RESOLVED: That the following were declared Forum Officers for
      2008-09:
       Rod Brown
       Susan Deswarte (Chair)
       Mario Fauvrelle
       Marcia Simpson-James (Vice Chair)
       Dick Tooze.

      The elected officers took their positions and Susan DeSwarte chaired
      the rest of the meeting.

6.6   Cllr Pycock welcomed the new Forum Officers but raised concerns as
      to the loss of continuity for the incoming officers and proposed that ‘the
      Forum instructs the new officers to use the discussion paper
      written by Gerry Evans in 2007 as the basis of their work for the
      way forward and to act as the Steering group.’ The motion was
      seconded by Bob King and voted on.

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       Vote
       18 In favour
       1 Against
       0 Abstentions
       The vote was carried.

6.7    Vice Chair Marcia Simpson-James expressed a view that the newly
       elected forum officers would like to review issues. The new chair Susan
       Deswarte gave votes of thanks to the former chair Gerry Evans and the
       outgoing Forum Officers, and to Khadiru Mahdi, Glennette Bowels-
       Dove and the Town Centre team for services to the forum. She also
       recognised Clover Williams for her services to the pensioners of
       Norwood. These were unanimously endorsed by the Forum. Mario and
       Marcia thanked the Forum for electing them.

6.8    Jamal Rahman commented that there should be more young people
       and ‘different faces’ represented within the forum. Rod Brown asked
       Jamal to encourage young people to be involved. The chair expressed
       her wish for young people’s representatives and stressed that the
       Forum will fight for services for young people as well as for older
       people.

7.     Matters Arising
       None.

8.     Any other Business/Speakers Corner
       None.

9.     Date of next meeting
       To be confirmed.

CLOSE OF MEETING
The meeting closed at 2100hrs.

CHAIR Norwood Town Centre Forum: _____________________________

Dispatch Date:
Contact for enquiries:
Khadiru Mahdi
Tel: 020 7926 8096
E-mail: Kmahdi@lambeth.gov.uk
or
Hanna Fesshazion
Tel: 020 79267996
E-mail: Hfesshazion@lambeth.gov.uk
Fax: 020 7926 7984




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