EVENTS
REPORT OF MEETING "BEST LAID PLANS" MARCH 1ST 2006
One of the ways in which we have managed to secure community facilities in this borough is
by something called "Planning Gain". Under Section 106 of Planning Legislation, Local Authorities
can ask big developers to put back something into the community in return for getting planning permission. The Government is currently looking at making changes to this legislation
Mike Kiely, Head of Planning came and explained the proposals to a very appreciative gathering.
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REPORT OF SECOND ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
We held our second AGM on Saturday 25th June 2005 at the Lloyd Park Centre.
Clyde
Loakes, Waltham Forest Council Leader, came along to answer questions about
all the issues facing us in the borough in terms of accommodation. There were a lot
of people in attendance, many of whom had some very pressing points to put to the Leader.
Unfortunately Clyde was not able to offer us much comfort, saying the Council needed to
sell of its buildings as we were such a cash-strapped borough. There was no offer
to capacity build to set up community trusts that could take over some of these
buildings and keep them for our use in perpetuity which was disappointing. However the Leader
was left in no doubt about the strength of feeling in the voluntary sector about this issue
REPORT OF NOVEMBER MEMBERS' MEETING
We
had a very interesting and successful members meeting on November 3rd
2004. This was held at the Anatolian Centre and AVCO would like to thank
our hosts for the great welcome they gave us. We heard a presentation
from Shirley Haynes about the role of Community Councils, and how these
are a good forum for AVCO and our members to raise issues about premises
in the borough. We also had a presentation from Anita Carter who told
us how they managed to save Unity Hall and how it is now thriving again
as a community centre - so it can be done!
HOT DESKING MEETING
We had an excellent meeting on the 12th July about the possibilities of hot-desking helping many groups who do not need full time office accommodation. We are hoping to produce some guidelines for groups and premises owners in the near future
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
We held our first AGM on Saturday 24th April
at the Jubilee Centre,Cathall Road, Leytonstone, E11 4LA
It was a very successful meeting. We now have a great group of people forming our new committee. The committee will be having its first meeting on May 6th.
We had an excellent talk from Sharon Matthew from Community Matters talking about the problems of premises for voluntary groups and offering to support AVCO in its work. This provoked a spirited response from the audience.
Then we had an inspirational talk from John Frogley from Nuneaton and Bedfordshire CVS. John used to be a local authority planner and has helped the group get land at a "peppercorn" rent and funding for the design of a wonderful "green" building. Now they only need to raise the money to build it!