AGM 2013 Minutes

Present

Steve Cornish [SC] (Chairman), John Wills [JW] (Secretary), Ben Dewhurst (Treasurer) [BD] Andrew Doyle [AD], John Taylor [JT], Kath Whittam[KW], Andrea Pita [AP], Roger Manser[RM], Claire Clark, Jerry Hewitt[JH], Alan Chadborn [AlC], Anne Chadborn [AnC]

An apology for absence was received from Andy Chatterton and it was noted that Tom Godfrey had left the area.

The meeting commenced at 19.10hrs.

The minutes of the 2012 AGM were read and approved.

Matters Arising

JW asked if the proposed 2m strip of meadow had been completed. Ben Dewhurst confirmed that it had.

Election of Officers

The committee stood down but were nominated and seconded for another term with the exception of the Treasurer, Ben Dewhurst, who stood down because of a conflict of interest. Tom Godfrey the incumbent Vice Chair has left the area and Ben offered to take over the role. Claire Clark offered herself for the position of Treasurer.

The new committee was elected unanimously.

Report from the Chair

• SC drew attention to the new website & JW confirmed that it had been updated today. Steve thanked Andrea Burns for the immense amount of hard work she had put into designing the site and overseeing its launch. The committee now had charge of it and would be responsible for future up-dating. AD mentioned Eleanor Stewart as another possible help with the website.
• SC said that the Woodlands had won a Green Flag award for the 4th year running. This was notable because the procedures for the award had changed and that anonymous checks were made.
• Pauline Adenwalla had entered RDW for the Octavia Hills Awards which are run by the National Trust. RDW made it to the last three which was great achievement & will be used as backing for future funding applications. Steve apologised for not holding the AGM in September as had been promised at the previous one but the Friends had held a meeting on the green which had been quite well attended.
• The Bee Centre has taken off big time & is almost too successful. He thanked those who had volunteered with the base, collecting the hut and thanked Sharon Bassey for setting it all up. It is proving to be very popular with children. The money had come from the £3k underspend on CGS (Cleaner, Greener, Safer) funds & Council Officers had really done the Friends proud.
• SC said that he had been approached by the Council over Globe Pond being a possible site for the Dolphins Water Feature that used to be in the Shopping Centre. Any location for them would need to have passive surveillance and placing them in water would be an added deterrent to theft. It had originally been proposed to relocate the Water Compass from the old Downtown Health Centre site (this is now in Storage). The Dolphins were designed by David Backhouse and SC said he thought they would make a good feature in globe Pond. The pond is gated off and has passive surveillance. Andy Chatterton is pushing for this to happen. AP said that the Woodlands had a strong chance of getting them. AlC said that she would like to see them in Canada Water. SC said that he could see the attraction of this but it would be a major undertaking involving piling because of the depth of the dock. AP confirmed that it had been considered as a possible relocation but had been turned down on precisely those grounds.BD said that Lavender Pond had also been proposed as porpoises had been seen in the nearby Thames. He said that installing them in Globe Pond would also help to keep the water clean. JT said that they could be put in Canada Water in front of the steps facing BHS but AP said that LBS had decided that there were only 3 possible options: Southwark Park, Lavender Pond or RDW. After further discussion on the pros & cons of all three sites a vote was taken which resulted in backing for it to be relocated to Globe Pond.

The waterways & Joe’s Pond

• SC reported on Joes’ Pond which is located at the end of the waterway system near the pedestrian underpass to the Nelson Hilton. We now have complete control of the waterway system both north & south. However at the north end, Joe’s Pond is difficult to feed through to. A bid has been put in for CGS money to open it up. The original system is still there but very choked and overgrown. The southern end of the system is only fed by rainwater but the new SUD system will eventually supply it in approximately 2 years’ time. London Quadrant are the builders of the new development on Quebec Way and they want to ensure that the drainaways go in first before the underground car park is built. LQ have been in touch with the Council & all is going well. AnC asked if there would ever be too much water. SC replied that it would be possible to divert. KW asked if Joe’s pond would be open water. BD said it would be wetland for most of the year but would be open water in a wet winter.

Lighting

• There had been an issue at late nights when the lights have been out. New lamps have been put in with infra-red sensors. The tall lights are still an issue and SC thought that they will eventually have to be replaced as their effectiveness is reduced by the increase in undergrowth.

Pump Maintenance

• The latest is that 4-5 months ago at the top of the borehole one of the fittings had split. It has been temporarily repaired but DWP are going to come in and maintain the top end of the borehole. New polypipe has been found from Rebekah & the pump will be brought up and, if in good condition, cleaned up. Hopefully it will not be clogged up by dried ochre.

Natural Play Area

• £10k had been received from the Queen Elizabeth Fields Trust. SC said that the majority of woodland users want it to remain woodland and not be a park. The Natural Play area provides play items made from natural materials. Celtic Boulders will allow children to climb
• over them & balance on the balancing beams. A natural wigwam made from willow has been put in. The area had been totally choked with brambles before. BD said that it had been quite expensive to do and a lot of hard work had gone into it to make it look natural. Although volunteers had worked on it CTV had made a charge for their supervision. This + materials had amounted to £10k. SC said that Payback in the community had also done a great job and he thanked them. We have another £5k from CGS funding for more boulders but it needed to be decided where they go. The FRDW had also been allocated another £3,900 from United St Saviours for an event in 2014.
• The biggest possible source of future funding is coming from Sellars who now own Sites C & E (Decathlon). They are using RDW to promote their flat. Their consultant, Chris Horne, met with Rebekah Clark & SC and it was suggested RDW would be an asset towards sales. We asked for £275k and got £165k. The money will be used in SHEP (Stave ill Ecology Park) to bring the paths up to acceptable standards. There are between 1½ to 2 miles of them and they will be remade with hoggin. The £165k is guaranteed & the 1st payment will probably be made in the middle of 2014.
• BD said that SHEP was without a new lease; this was being negotiated but it was complicated and SHEP does not want to take on a full repairing lease. AlC suggested a Letter of Comfort might help. How it would affect potential Section 106 money he wasn’t sure. 106 money would also be used to refurbish the wind turbine, solar panels on the Eco hut and any money left over would go towards the weirs. JH said that the £9-10 million on offer could eventually be more with the potential to tap into it.
• British Land now own the 14½ acre site at Harmsworth Quays, the old printing plant. Part of that is the land opposite St John’s RC church. FRDW have approached BL to ask for that piece to be used as community land for local schools to grow things on. AnC asked if a building was necessary and couldn’t it just be allotments. RM suggested some of it be kept as meadow.

Looking forward to 2014

• SC said that he wanted to see RDW designated as a Local Nature Reserve (LNR). This would open up all sorts of funding possibilities and give protection. It was a complicated procedure and was done through the council via English Nature. AP said the council is in the process of drawing up a management plan and tree strategy and this would all have to be done by the end of January 2014. AnC asked about the poplar trees. SC said that 6 have been removed after the recent gale-force winds. AlC said 2 trees with bat boxes needed topping.

Russia Dock Woodland Area Residents Group (RDWARG).

• SC apologised for not having progressed this. JW said that there was a link to RDWARG from the RDW website but a standalone website needed to be constructed. AD suggested that until that was the case any concerns could be addressed via FRDW.

Treasurer’s Report

• BD handed out copies of expenditure & balance sheets from 2004 to date. The current bank balance is £1,237 ~ this would drop down to £487 after money for the Bee Observation Centre is spent. He presented the accounts for signature by SC and then handed over to new Treasurer Claire Clark. AP suggested new signatories for cheques and maybe a change of bank, Claire C suggested HSBC

Any other business

• JT asked about ash die-back. JW said a survey had been carried out by a work placement student in 2012/13.
• AP said that new Interpretation Boards had been put in for at a cost of approx: £5k. The new white signs needed cleaning and some signs now had nothing on them.
• AlC asked about litter prevention at weekends. AD said this would only get worse as local population grew. AlC suggested posting photos to encourage people to take litter home with them JT said there were not enough bins. KW suggested different bins but AP said they had to be uniform. She would be happy to install new and more solid bins.
• SC suggested more benches be installed at Joe’s Pond end.
• BD said he was working on the Urban Wildlife Code and maybe this could deal with the rubbish issue AP said that RDW could have Tidy Campaign Equipment provided. The tree management plan is still in draft form

There being no other business the meeting closed at 20.40