Tiverton
Next local meeting in Tiverton
Senior Council for Devon
(Tiverton)
Meeting of the Senior Council for Devon (Tiverton)
Thursday, 21st August 2008 at 2.00 p.m.
at the Old Heathcoat School, King Street, Tiverton
Agenda
1. Welcome.
2. Apologies for absence.
3. Minutes of meeting of 3rd July 2008
4. Finance details: Establishment of bank account,
Payment due to Culm Valley SC for Mid Devon Show stand
.
5. Reports on Mid Devon Show shared stand with Culm Valley SC.
6. A.O.B.
7. Speaker: Barry Carpenter of Hospiscare.
8. Next meeting date.
Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 3rd July 2008 at the Old Heathcoat School Community Centre Tiverton at 2.00p.m.
Present David Fradgley (Chairman),Brian Willis (Vice Chairman), Iain Kitt (Peter Fletcher Associates)(Ikt), Desi Fradgley (Temp.Secretary) (DS), Ian Kimber(IK), Andrea Towers (AT),Wendy Heley(Chief Officer for Age Concern) (WH), Ian Harwood (Chairman, Carers Unite), Carol Dapp(CD) John Stedman(JS)
Apologies Dick Woodhead and one other
Minutes of the last meeting were taken as read.
The Chairman asked for nominations for Secretary and Treasurer. DF, who had been acting as a temporary secretary said that she was prepared to be Treasurer, nominated by JS, seconded by Vice Chairman. CD was prepared to act as Secretary, nominated by Vice Chairman and seconded by JS. who said that money was available for any training either may need.
It was decided that it would be necessary to set up a bank account fairly soon so that money could be accessed as soon as required. Four people were to act as signatures, Chairman, Vice Chairman, DF and CD There is a budget of £2,500 paid quarterly in advance, per year for three years.
Local post office closures were discussed. These were for financial reasons, but have a great impact on village life. The Senior Council should be advised prior to the closures, so that consideration could be taken of the particular circumstances of the village. IKt spoke of how the County Council in Essex were supporting some Post Offices which were being threatened with closure. JS mentioned how it might be possible to get funding from the E.U. in some cases and that he would bring this up at next Senior Council Executive meeting in Exeter.
The Vice Chairman stated that when some post offices were closed, the public would have to travel to Tiverton where the facilities were not particularly good and this of course would increase the carbon footprint.
Ian Harwood (Chairman Carers Unite),our guest speaker, spoke of how he was a teacher and virtually became a carer overnight when his wife had a stroke. He explained how he had to work caring for his wife twenty four hours a day, in addition to looking after his children.
He spoke of :
The financial hardship involved
Loss of social life
The isolation
The affect on the mental health of the carer.
The impossibility of returning to work after many years out of the job market.
The two main areas he thought needed looking into were :
Respite Care, so that carers could look forward to a break occasionally.
More money so that it was not necessary to “eat or heat” The Government save £87 billion pounds, per year by the work that carers undertake.
Since the reorganization of areas, everything is centralized, there is virtually no consultation and everything is rubber stamped. The system seemed to be working well as it was, so why change?
It is not known how much money there is to spend until half way through the year.
IKt asked in what ways the Senior Council could help.
Get in at planning stage to County Council.
Try to change their blinkered approach.
Encourage them to do what they say they are going to do. They listen but then there is no action.
Encourage more respite care.
Disabled parking at RD and E.
IKt stated that it would be a good idea to encourage private firms to provide respite care, which should specialize in that only.
The Chief Officer for Age Concern said that she felt that if her Society and our Senior Council could work together, this could be very advantageous. She will give out membership forms to her group and try and get them to attend our meetings. Some of our members could sit on her committee. She also suggested that we need to be seen to be doing something and getting results, to get more publicity and therefore more members. She suggested that Angela Browning could be a useful contact and that we could ask a reporter to attend a meeting.
C D gave her report on the Mid Devon Transport Meeting she attended at Sunningmead Community Centre on 20th May
Speaker- Development Worker Access and Information Department
Tiverton Mobility have purchased 2 new accessible community buses - one 7 seater and one 9 seater with wheelchair access .
Tiverton Parkway Research Project - majority of funding now secured for accessing station.
5x30 organisation which encourages people, particularly in outlying villages, to take part in
physical activities, therefore transport is needed.
Speaker- Accessibility and Community Buildings.
The Speaker’s job is to improve activities held in the village halls. Years ago the village hall was the social centre of the village. Nowadays with the closure of post offices, etc there is a chance to develop this again e.g. post office, Drs surgery, office centre (computers, photocopying, power point,) for public use, coffee shop and library. However there was opposition to this as people saw it as a step backwards. However with the price of petrol and risk to the environment it has advantages.
Speaker- Devon Primary Care Trust- future plans
Target children /adult obesity
Stop smoking campaign.
Support people in own home
Target mental illness before it is too late.
Questions
CD asked about bus passes, questions which had arisen at our meetings.
Apparently it is not true that a passenger would have to get off the bus at 09:30hrs when the fare is free for pensioners. They would pay until 09:30 hrs. Mid-Devon does the minimum set out by the Government, whereas some CC provide free travel from 09:00 hrs until 18:00hrs and some such as Cornwall 24hr free travel. CD also asked about the practicality of elderly people from villages 20 miles away having early hospital appointments. In future the hospital will have to pay for any expenses incurred and so it will be in their interest to give appropriate times.
The Chairman gave his report on the “Age of Opportunity “ held at Exmouth Pavilion on 19th May 2008.
“The Aim of The Link Age Plus is for central and local government to combine their efforts with voluntary and community sector organizations to design, develop and deliver services in partnership with older people” older people should be at the centre of policy making and service delivery.
The 360 Degree Framework for well being:
Getting the most out of life:
Getting out and about
Having your say.
Health and healthy living.
Housing and the home.
Learning and leisure.
Community.
Understanding information.
Finances.
Conclusions
Mentors can work more successfully with people than the statutory services. They can take time, and make it personal and individual
The Vice Chairman gave his report on “Forward to the Future” at Exeter on 28th May
Mid Devon Council will probably no longer exist in 2010. It will be a single unitary authority for Devon, excluding Plymouth and Torbay. Council tax would not be affected by this reorganization.
There were three workshops:
Health
Environment.
Age Discrimination.
The Vice Chairman attended the Age Discrimination where the role play was set at bus stop and the negative behaviour that could occur. This was then re-enacted with a more positive approach.
I Kt stated that we are to share a stand with Cullompton representing The Senior Council at the Mid -Devon Show on July 26th Cullompton will make contact.
He said that Peter Fletcher Associates had met their targets which were:
By June 2008 there were to be a minimum of 22 market towns each set up with a Senior Council
That there should be 800 members throughout Devon.
AT announced that she would soon be leaving the area and so requested that mail should not be sent.
The Chairman thanked I.Kt for his help and declared the meeting closed.
The next meeting will be at The Old Heathcoat School 21st August at 14:00 hrs