AGM 2014 Minutes

Present

Noshir Adenwalla, Pauline Adenwalla, Kate Bramson, Carolina Cardozo Burriello, Alan Chadborn, Andy Chatterton (AC), Claire Clark, Rebekah Clark(RC), Steve Cornish(SC), Galina Derebiana, Ben Dewhurst, Andrew Doyle, Georgina Hicks, Lee Howard, Pat Mosco, Shelley Mosco, Andrea Pita, Denisa Spavova, Charles Stewart, Kath Whittam (Cllr), John Wills

Apologies

Simon Hughes MP, Andrea Burns, Pat Kingwell, Val Shawcross, Stephanie Cryer (Cllr) & Bill Williams (Cllr)

The meeting commenced at 19.05hrs.

The minutes of the 2013 AGM were read and approved.

Matters Arising

Andy Chatterton said that new Interpretation Boards had been applied for rather than installed.

Election of Officers

The current committee stood down but were offering themselves for re-election. They were nominated and seconded. They were elected unopposed.

Report from the chair

SC asked for other Friends to come on board to form an extended committee. He was asked what this would entail. SC said that many members were dog walkers and as such were the “police” of the woodland. He said that a dog walkers’ rep would be a good start but other ideas were needed to help the woodland. Rebekah Clark said that help would be needed with future community events ~ collecting furniture etc.

SC said that the FRDW was now 10 years old. It had originally started as a steering group. Photos, past & present were passed round for the benefit of new Friends and he outlined some of the past misfortunes that the woodland had experienced. It had now been turned around and was now a fantastic local space. He said though that we must always keep on top of things and mentioned the recent fire on the green during Bonfire Night.

We have won awards during the past year: Green Flag (for the 5th consecutive year), Safer Parks Award & the Octavia Hill award in which we were runner up. He stressed that none of this could have been achieved without SHEP (Stave Hill Ecological Park) and paid tribute to Rebekah & Ben. He noted that Corporate Volunteers were slightly down this year. He also thanked Payback in the Community for all their hard work.

Rebekah Clark then reported on what had been achieved in the woodland during the year. She paid tribute to those Corporate Volunteers who had used the woodland for their team-building exercises + all the work done by Gary & those from Payback in the Community. Joe’s Pond had been cleared of detritus & surrounding branches cut back. A chalk bank had been installed and stag beetle loggeries put in. There had also been wild flower planting. The area by the Albion Bridge had been cleared of nettles and it is hoped that this will enable the crocuses to return. The banks round Mahogany Pond had also been cleared of elder & sycamore. The Cotoneaster had also been pruned. By Globe Pond the hazel had been coppiced and the log piles by the Stave Hill boundary had been converted into stag beetle loggeries. The channels by Globe pond had also been cleared of nettles & brambles. The natural play area had more features added and where the matting had become exposed by the stream more gravel had been laid. The stream had been dredged and a chalk bank installed ~ all this had been achieved with money from the Queen Elizabeth Award. In the seasonal wetland channel brambles had been cleared and stag beetle loggeries installed. 1,000 bluebell bulbs had been planted using corporate volunteer money from Price Waterhouse Cooper and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The seating area at the north end of the green tends to be forgotten but better sightlines through cutback ensured that this wasn’t the case anymore. She said that a good partnership existed between SHEP and Quadrant. A number of bat walks had taken place, funded by St Saviour’s and numerous school visits made.

SC emphasised the woodland IS a woodland & not a park so that it had been decided that any installation should be natural in appearance. Shelley Mosco asked for clarification about chalk & duckweed. Rebekah explained that chalk neutralises acidity in the water and life is restored.

A Friend asked about the International Dawn Chorus. RC said that it was hoped to repeat the event next year on a slightly larger scale.

SC said that the aqua pump was working well pushing water through as far as Joe’s Pond. He mentioned the buffer zone against the new Quebec Way development. He said that the Bee Centre had been a huge success. £3,900 had been secured from St Saviour’s for 3 mini-events. FRDW had applied for the Dolphins (ex Surrey Quays Shopping Centre) for installation in Globe Pond but these had gone to Southwark Park.

He turned to funding:

We had applied to CGS (Cleaner, Greener, Safer) for Joe’s Pond work but had been unsuccessful. We have secured £165k From Sellars and this is now in the Project Bank & this will be mainly spent on pathways and solar panels.

£85k had been secured from the new Quebec Way development for a SUDS scheme to feed the 5 small ponds going down towards the Moby Dick. Unofficially we have been told that we have a further £49k from the Barratts Downtown Development. £50k has already been released from King’s College for equipment at the Docklands Settlement. All this is a substantial amount but where the Friends have moved on is by joining with other groups ~ SHEP, Surrey Docks Farm, Lavender pond Nature Reserve ~ to form Green Connections. The new group made a deputation to the LBS Assembly which had been very well received & accepted unanimously. It had been decided that as a group we would step back from CGS to give other groups (there are 10 more this year) a better chance of securing funds. SC then gave an example of how the new group would work. The Sea Scouts hut near SDF will soon be developed and Section 106 money will go to the Farm. He concluded that overall the year had been very successful moneywise.

Andy Chatterton (LBS) Report:

Ecological Management Plan

• An ecological consultant was invited to survey the site in September 2013 and various amendments have been made to the draft. The final document is awaiting approval from Parks and a copy will be provided in due course, for reference purposes. The plan has been divided into sections with maps, which will be very beneficial when undertaking surveys and issuing tree works. The plan will also help towards achieving LNR (Local Nature Reserve) Status.

Green Flag Award

• The award was retained again this year and the process is due to change from next year. Judging will be undertaken internally for the first year by Southwark Parks Contracts & Service Managers rather than by external judges, due to the high volume of Green Flag Award sites in the London Boroughs. The CSM’s will receive additional training and will be required to sign a declaration of interest form in order to ensure the process is followed correctly.

Dewatering Services Limited

• DSL are brought in to undertake repairs to the pump as and when necessary, following advice given by the Chair. Quadron Services Limited
• One of the static staff is currently undertaking Conservation Training and this is particularly relevant to operations identified in the ecological management plan. Relaxed mowing regimes have been implemented in parts of the site, following recommendations made by the consultant.

Foamstream

• Foamstream kills weeds using a precise application of the non chemical mix which its makers say has been developed in consultation with leading botanists and technical experts and it does not drift as some chemicals do. It has been trialled throughout the summer months on the hard surfaces especially along Waterman’s Walk and has proved to be fairly successful, allowing resources to focus on a wider range of operations. It is hoped that QSL will sign up to it as a permanent solution.

Trees

• Southwark’s Trees contract was brought back in-house in April as it was felt it would be more economical to do so and it would allow for more control.

Matters arising from the report:

Alan Chadborn asked about certain trees that he had asked to be removed. Rebekah Clark said that she had pointed them out to the Tree Officer but Andrea Pita said that trees wouldn’t be removed or cut back just for light purposes. Alan said these were self-sown and causing problems with drains and were an expense to house-owners. Andy reported that 3 gardens had encroached into the woodland and their owners would be contacted and asked to remove the encroachments. SC said that there were still some dead trees that needed to be removed. Alan Chadborn asked if mature trees were removed were they being replaced. SC said that in many cases the LDDC had overplanted anyway. SC asked the meeting’s opinion on replacement trees for Waterman’s Walk. He suggested flowering fruit trees. He said that residents would need to be consulted. A friend asked about willow tree maintenance. Andy C said a full survey had been done and the woodland had now been newly divided. He would bring the willow to the attention of the tree officer. Georgina Hicks asked if a tree plan could be put on the website. Another Friend said she had been told that some trees were not on the plan at all. Rebekah told the meeting that the woodland had been divided into 10 compartments & that some of these had been subdivided. The Tree Ecologist had made recommendations and these were being reviewed. Once approved the FRDW could have a copy. Rebekah said that the woodland had never had a management plan as an ecological specific site.

The Treasurer’s Report

Ben Dewhurst said that it was taking a long time for the handover to the new treasurer, Claire Clark. He reported that finances were buoyant and we have £2k in the bank. He suggested making a clean break with the Co-operative Bank and moving to a more local bank. HSBC had been suggested. He said that the committee would therefore like to close the account and move to HSBC. He said that the St Saviour’s money was still to come in. Alan Chadborn said that it would take time and cheques would still need to be signed. He suggested CAF as an alternative bank. Ben said it would be good to have internet banking. Andrew Doyle asked if the FRDW had charitable status. Ben said we were an Unincorporated Association (UA) & that funders were happy to deal with this sort of body. Our accounts go back 10 years & were open for auditing. Charities are more able to fun raise but it involves a huge amount of paperwork. Charles Stewart said he knew that UAs could work with the Charities Commissioners. He said that if people were happy with being an UA then it was better to stay with the status quo. Ben said that if we had a turnover of £25k+ then it might be advantageous to consider changing. He said it would be useful to take a mandate for changing bank away from the meeting. Charles Stewart proposed this, it was seconded and passed.

Planning applications

SC said that the woodland is surrounded by applications. The new Quebec Way development had been a plus & the Downtown development has a 12m buffer zone between it and the woodland but the original 2010 planning application had called for all 232 cut-down trees to be replaced. A new application had recently been discovered in August 2014 which allowed for a 100 less trees. He presented before and after plans. RDWARG (Russia Dock Woodland Area Residents’ Group) had protested via the monthly residents/builders construction group. The developer (Barratts) was in a dilemma. We have now been told that a line of trees along the road approaching the health centre but we are still doubtful if trees will be planted in front of the new houses built along the Downtown Road.

Traffic and parking in the area had been horrendous during construction. The Kingfishers and Reed warblers are no longer nesting in the Downtown Pond. To the north of the woodland work had begun on the development on the old Fisher Athletic site. It had been discovered that the old pitch is Metropolitan Open Land & cannot be built upon. Steve suggested that it would be ripe for a SUDS scheme and that where it adjoins the woodland we would like to incorporate it into the woodland and take responsibility for it.

He said that British Land was the major developer in the area and that there were plans for the shopping centre. FRDW have asked for a certain site near Alfred Salter & St John’s School to be turned over for allotment space for the schools and maybe some OAPs. This had been put to the Government Inspector reviewing the entire Surry Docks area plan. LBS do not think it should be allotments but we should keep on pressing for this.

Looking forward to 2015

SC said our No1 goal should be to achieve Local Nature Reserve (LNR) status.

Any other business

Charles Stewart said that he thought foxes were appropriate for the woodland but was concerned that some looked in need of help. He said it would be good to have a designated contact. He pointed out there were still issues with motor bikes. There had been some suspicious behaviour at the north entrance by Acorn Walk and there was a need for vigilance. He said that fly tipping of green waste was annoying. He mentioned that the Ship York had been sold and was disappointed that this was the case. SC pointed out that “The Aardvark” was also to be demolished.

SC replied that foxes were always contentious but the contact could be Rebekah. Rebekah said that numbers to help foxes were always on her gate. She said that there had been a drop in the fox population but this was periodic. There had been a subsequent rise in the number of rats. She suggested noticed discouraging people form feeding birds. SC pointed out that rats had been driven out from the large void under the old health centre as it had been demolished. He said that it was impossible to stop motor bikes. He said that fly tipping was quickly cleared up by Barratts.

Lee Howard asked about the pathway from the new Quebec Way to the woodland. He said a huge amount of earth would need to be excavated. SC said that all flats in the development had underground parking. LH asked about an apparent stream flowing in parallel to the new pathway and that no one had assumed responsibility for it. SC said that it needed closer examination and asked him to forward all communications he had received on the development to him.

The meeting closed at 20.55.