THE DEFEND THE DUNES TRUST
Minutes of the 1st Annual General Meeting, Monday 11th April, 2002
Held at Y.M.C.A. St, Annes.
PRESENT: Don & Sheila Moore, Janet Turner, Dave Smith, Jean Wilding-Walsh, Marion Coupe, Darren Jones and Mike Bloomfield. Also 20 members of the Public.
APOLOGIES: Margaret Spillane, Howard Henshaw, Tony Battersby, Laura Sivell, Tim Benyon (BDS), Joan Barton, Alan Cantor and Roland Young.
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
See attached Appendix 1. Accepted - unanimously.
Matters arising:- Regarding Blackburn Childrens Home:- FBC received the flood
risk assessment produced by developers on 11/4/02. Don agreed to obtain a copy,
if necessary paying for it, and distribute it so DtD Committee can assess it.
Jean suggested lobbying Councillors for refusal on the grounds of flooding and risk to birds.
TREASURER’S REPORT
See Appendix 2. As we now have a draft Constitution Janet had been able to open
a Bank account with the Co-operative Bank. The following donations were noted:-
CPRE £15,
Lytham St. Annes Civic Soc. £15 and two other donations of £10. Proposed for acceptance by Mr. G. M Jackson, seconded by Mike Bloomfield and carried unanimously.
Matters arising:- Dr. Ron Broughton, Ribble Valley Rivers Trust, said he
had details which would help us with funding and would let us have these.
WEBMASTER’S
REPORT
Darren Jones reported a steadily increasing rate of “unique” (new) hits with a
current rate of about 80/week. He outlined ways we can increase visitor numbers.
An important part of this was increasing the number of links (with partners web
sites and to sites with similar objectives) and he will investigate how we can
improve the various search engine placements. Also we should seek to embed the
web site address in press releases to get it published more often. He also suggested
we need to examine and modify the site to try to change visitors into members.
No additional costs are foreseen until we have to renew the package in October 2003.
Ralph Carter congratulated Darren on his report.
Matters arising:- If traffic on the web site increases do we take on-line
donations /subscriptions? Darren said this may be possible but safety could
be dodgey and we may need to pay a large amount of money to arrange this.
Jean asked if the high tides or press articles caused the high point on the web-site activity but Darren didn’t know.
CONSTITUTION
The Steering Committee had had this explained to them by Mr. David Coupe. The
incoming Executive Committee is to view the final Constitution and adopt it
and it will then be included on the web site so all may study it. It was proposed
that this process be endorsed by Norma Byrne, seconded by Jean Wilding-Walsh and
it was accepted - unanimously.
ELECTION OF COMMITTEE
The following people were identified as willing to stand for the Executive Committee
Don Moore, Janet Turner, Dave Smith, Jean Wilding-Walsh, Howard Henshaw, Margaret
Spillane, Ralph Carter, Norma Byrne. In addition Darren Jones was willing to
continue as Webmaster and David Coupe as Hon. Solicitor. It was proposed they
all be accepted en block by Marion Coupe, seconded by Irene Steele and accepted
unanimously.
Betty Higham and Mr. Bland agreed to act as Account Scrutineers for the forthcoming year.
(Post meeting note:- Howard Henshaw has since declined to join the Committee and his election is therefore void)
DONATIONS
The Chairman asked for donations to cover short term expenditure, which had to
date been borne by the Steering Committee and the various donations. There is
a need for the Executive Committee to deal with and obtain further financial support.
(Post meeting note:- the donations amounted to £105.70.)
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
It was proposed by Jean Wilding-Walsh that the Secretary write to David Coupe,
Solicitor, with formal thanks for his help. This was seconded by Dr. Ron Broughton
and agreed.
There was a wide ranging discussion about the history of planning applications and objections to the current Blackburn Home development application. The Groups policy and the progress made on sand winning, dune management, beach cleansing were also covered.
It was suggested we contact all the houses in St. Annes which might be involved re. flooding and sand problems for financial help and support.
Minutes to be sent to Darren to be put on web site, to Dr. Ron Broughton and Mr Jackson, by letter and by e-mail to Betty Higham, Geoff Blain, Peter Metcalf, Issabella Bovolo.
Sheila Moore
(Acting secretary)
30th April 2002
APPENDIX
1. Chairmans Report
Why
form Defend the Dunes?
In early part of last year a group of us became involved with proposals to redevelop
the Blackburn Childrens’ Home. As a result we became aware of the problems that
existed along the Fylde coast, particularly where there are no hard sea defences
and only sand dunes protect the coastal areas.
Problems:-
* Dangers of dune erosion and serious coastal flooding.
* Loss of nationally and internationally recognised priority habitat areas.
(Special
protection for plants and insects, etc.)
* Loss of a valuable tourist attraction.
* Probability of enormous capital expense to build concrete sea defenses.
What
were the problems?
* High level of usage.
* Inappropriate usage, vehicles, free roaming dogs, pedestrians spreading out
all over the dunes.
* Development of the Blackburn Childrens home which would increase usage locally,
would directly affect sand dune development locally and have an adverse, indirect
effect on the surrounding dunes.
* Extraction of sand from the foreshore which reduces the rate of accretion, affects
the dunes locally and accounts for one major breach in the line of the dunes.
* Fragmented dune management by both FBC and BBC.
* Inappropriate beach cleaning procedures exposing the front of the dunes.
How
have we tackled them?
We have:-
* sought to involve as many conservation groups as possible to add weight to
our case, and our partners now include:-
Lytham St. Annes Civic Society,
The Council for the Protection of Rural England,
The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Merseyside & Greater Manchester,
The National Trust NW Region,
Plantlife,
Friends of the Earth,
The Open Spaces Society,
The Butterfly Conservation Society,
The British Dragonfly Society,
The British Pteridological Society,
The Lancashire Moth Group,
The West Lancashire Branch of the Botanical Society of the British Isles,
The Fylde Bird Club,
Fylde Naturalists,
The Fylde Group of the Ramblers Association,
The Fylde Real World Group.
* vigourously opposed the latest development proposals for the Blackburn Home
site, challenging it on:-
Local
Planning policy grounds,
National
Planning Policy related to development in the Green Belt.
Impact
on the SSSI, both physical damage and pollution.
We have successfuly ensured that FBC can’t authorise it! The application would
have to go to a public inquiry.
Made FBC Planning Committee well aware of our views.
We are still campaigning to make our arguments count.
* discussed coastal management with experts:-
National
Trust warden for Sandscale Haws coastal reserve near Barrow, Peter Burton.
Dr
Anne Worsley Geography Dept. Edge Hill College Ormskirk (Affiliated to
Lancaster Univ.) She is also a Board Member of the Sefton Coast Partnership.
Dr
Phil Smith Biologist heavily involved with Sefton coast dunes and author of a
book on them “The Sands of Time”
* become involved in discussions with FBC and BBC on dune management and beach
cleansing.
* been invited to join FBC, BBC, English Nature and others in developing a strategy
to harmonise coastal management.
* become involved in the Ribble Estuary Partnership, a group involving all interested
parties in the area.
* sought to identify all endangered species which are found in the dunes.
* set up this inaugural AGM to put Defend the Dunes on a democratic footing.
* had a constitution drawn up and this will go forward to the Charity Commissioners
to have the Trust registered.
* set up banking facilities.
* conducted a vigourous media campaign. (See boards on display at meeting.)
* set up a web site to broadcast our work.
What
do we plan to do now?
* Continue to campaign as detailed already.
* Build up a large body of supporters and members.
So fill in your details on the back of the agenda slip and hand it in, and if your spouses, other family members or partners also support us please let us know about them.
* Find suitable ways members and all supporters can help us.
We must set a subscription rate, probably quite low, and backed by other fundraising.
We are asking for donations tonight.
* Seek grant funding for activities, we have identified 2 Government schemes for
voluntary bodies.
* Create a trust fund to buy the Blackburn Home Site, (This will be much easier
when planning permission has been refused.) demolish it and integrate the site
into the SSSI.
* Starting tonight we are asking for more committee members and other helpers
to carry our campaign forward.
Don Moore
11th April 2002
APPENDIX
2. Treasurer’s report. period ending 31st March 2002
This being our first General Meeting we do not have a full year’s accounts to report.
In November 2001 we applied for a special terms account with the Coop Bank. The account has only just been set up because the Coop needed a copy of our Constitution.
The
Defend the Dunes Trust Balance Sheet, 11th April 2002
|
INCOME |
2001/02 |
|
EXPENDITURE |
2001/02 |
|
LSA Civic Society |
£15 |
|
Web site |
£30 |
|
CPRE |
£15 |
|
AGM Advertising |
£25 |
|
Steering Committee, say |
£75 |
|
Legal |
No charge |
|
Public Donations |
£20 |
|
Printing, Stationery & Postage, say |
£50 |
|
|
|
|
AGM room hire |
£15 |
|
Total |
£125 |
|
Total |
£120 |
Surplus
£5.
SUMMARY
Balance
B/F £0
Surplus
£5
REPRESENTED
BY
Bank
Balance £20
Liability
(unpaid room hire) £15
DISTRIBUTION.
All Committee Members,
All partners on e-mail,
All supporters on e-mail,
All attendees who had requested copies.