Old Colwyn (East) Residents’ Association
www.oldcolwyneast.co.uk
Minute of a talk by Shane Wetton of the Bay Life Initiative
at the Association Open Meeting Wednesday 14th October 2009
The Chair welcomed Shane to the meeting to speak about regeneration issues.
Shane began by saying that he was present to talk about Bay Life which initially in its first guise was about the regeneration of Colwyn Bay; at that stage the area in which work could be done was fairly tight.
Bay Life did not have its own specific amount of funding available to it so it was very much based on ideas that came out of the local residents and business community. It then had to put in bids for funding in the same way that other organisations do.
The advent of The North Wales Coast Strategic Regeneration Area funding (SRA) meant that funding was put in a pot available for the area from Rhyl to Colwyn Bay including the area in between. Shane said that he thought it fair to say that a lot of the funding will be concentrated on the towns of Rhyl and Colwyn Bay but the Bay Life area now takes in from Mochdre through to Llysfaen with Conwy East being Llandulas through to Kinmel Bay. Denbighshire look after Rhyl through to Prestatyn.
The money was made available by the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG), initially there was talk of funding over seven to ten years and that the first 3 years of the package have already been announced by WAG with detailed figures. ��Further funding details will be announced as the funding develops.
The funding covers an area from Mochdre to Prestatyn. It is not one sum available to
Colwyn Bay and another sum to Rhyl; it is a sum of money available to the area as a whole. There is quite a lot of money and the best way to make full use of the benefit is to use it to match fund monies from other departments of WAG and European funding. There is only so much that can be done with a certain pot of money but by using it to match other available funds it stretches the pot and maximises the benefits.
Shane said that he had been the Bay Life coordinator for about two and a half years
and Bay Life was the catch-
One theme will be the Waterfront and Town Centre Improvements; another theme will be Parc Eirias Developments; another will be Urban and Spatial Planning and finally Community and Service Development.
The first two he said are self explanatory; the Urban and Spatial program will look at
buildings and business development and the Community and Service Development program which Shane will lead on, looks at all of the communities in and around the area that we know as Bay life, from Mochdre to Llysfaen. Looking at how we can engage with those communities via charitable organisations and various groups and make sure that they are a part of everything that is delivered over the next few years.
The structure of Bay Life starts with the Bay Life Board and the four groups and programs mentioned previously.
Within that it is intended to do local assessments;
They can be sector-
They can be product-
Or it can be area-
We need to engage with those communities and find out what their aspirations are.
Shane added that his background is in Community Development more than project
management and he said that he is a firm believer that there is no way that projects can be delivered in areas without having spoken to residents in those areas first. That engagement is important. We need ownership. Shane said that they do not want to deliver a project in an area where nobody really cares for it and nobody wants it in the first place: if that were to happen, nobody would want to look after it in the future.
As his job has only just changed from being head of the catch all Bay Life Initiative to the lead officer on Community and Service Development he is now starting to engage with various communities and various groups within those communities taking forward various project ideas.
Bids will go forward for SRA funding. Initially groups are asked for initial proformas to be presented to give the first ideas and then a panel of people at the Welsh Assembly in St Asaph (soon to be Llandudno Junction), will look at those project ideas and they will advise and guide on what the next stage will be. If they are happy with the proposal then a Project Initiation Document is submitted and from there the project goes forward.
If they are not happy with the proposals they will guide community groups on what changes need to be done.
As far as the Local authority is concerned, they will look at leading with large strategic projects because they have that experience and the capacity. The Authority has released a document called “Delivering Bay Life” and that document is very much about the types of projects that the County will be looking at delivering and leading on.
Shane added that there is no reason why individual community groups cannot also add their opinions, documents and proposals into the SRA.
The “Delivering Bay Life” document is being released sometime, there have been a couple of amendments and the final version will be released in the next few weeks. People can view the document on the Bay Life website or visit the Bay Life Information Centre in the middle of Colwyn Bay, what was the Tourist Information Centre at the bottom of Station Road. This is where Shane works in an office with the Communities First Team.
The development plans for Parc Eirias and the proposals for Penrhyn Road and other ideas for the area can be seen on display in the office.
The Delivering Bay Life document states the projects that the Local Authority would like to take forward over the next few years but the Local Authority is not the only driver. Bay Life is very much a partnership and members of the Board include North Wales Police, Conwy
Voluntary Services Council, Llandrillo College, Elected members, Local Authority staff, The National Zoo of Wales. All the other members of the partnership can come forward with
proposals.
The Local authority may want to lead on certain projects but other organisations have
expertise in other areas and that expertise is required to take forward certain projects. One of the projects in Colwyn Bay is a Community Learning Hub and Llandrillo is very much the lead on that project as they have the expertise.
One of the things that have been recognised over the last couple of years is while Shane has expertise in coordination of various projects; he was not the expert on any individual project, such as Coastal defence or Town Centre improvement. Originally it required people to give of their time as part of their day job; this caused difficulty as there are a number of projects in the County that they need to deliver on. This meant that Shane always had to organise and chase people. That has all changed and with the SRA funding and the drive to spend the money as soon and effectively as possible, the Local Authority has identified project leads on all of the projects and they will dedicate their time to delivery of the projects.
Shane said that he will lead on Communities and Service Development and if there is
anything that people want to bring forward, he asked that they contact him to take forward any project ideas.
He suggested that with a community such as Old Colwyn a paper should be put forward where all the project ideas are explained. Some things will fit within Small Groups and some into Large Groups. There may also be some projects which will not be applicable for SRA funding but they should be presented to be tested.
The area between Kinmel Bay and Llandulas will be delivered via a Local Authority focus within the Community Services Department.
In Colwyn Bay area, SRA will be the driving force under a specific team set up to deliver.
Old Colwyn sits very much within that Bay Life area.
Questions
Councillor Cossey ~ I think it is true to say Shane, that the Minister is very anxious to spend money now.
Shane ~ yes as I said earlier there is money to be spent immediately and that money has to be spent and cleared by the end of March 2010. The funding available for the first year is £8 million, for the subsequent two years it is £6 million each, So it is a £20million pot over three years: £8 million to be spent by 31st March 2010. There is a surge on at present to get projects in, approved and spent.
Councillor Cossey ~ the Minister invited the Leader and the Chief Executive to a meeting and slapped their wrists.
Shane ~ The urgency is so much so that certain people have been told in no uncertain terms to get their projects in and get money spent.
Monty Slocombe suggested that there is not much time available to get bids in.
Shane replied that it is not a situation that they are used to being in, to be told to spend as much money as possible within the next few months. They will do their level best to achieve. It is a spend it or lose it scenario, it cannot be moved over to next year.
The secretary said that five months is a very short time to instruct contractors, get bids, do the work and get invoices. It is an impossible job really.
Shane replied Also there are no shortcuts; we still have to do things the way they should be done. We will still require a Project Initiation Document, if that is approved there will be an Agreement in principle, then wait for an Authority to Commit, before we can spend the money. We have to have tender documents submitted. We have to have Planning permission. So everything has to be done by the book whilst being told that it must be done in five months. He added that the team are determined that it will succeed.
Monty Slocombe asked if the pot included the promenade work.
Shane replied that the promenade is split into two elements, Coastal defence and Regeneration which is the land side of the sea wall. That is European funded money. The regeneration side is coming from Priority five, Theme one of Convergence in basic terms, regeneration of seaside towns. The Coastal defence side is coming from a pot which is
specifically for Coastal defences. That project is European and Welsh Assembly funded and not part of the £20million.
The secretary asked for clarification of what he had heard someone say that as long as the projects are decided and committed to, is it true that the money does not have to be spent before March 31st.
A Resident also asked what examples there were of projects to be done
Shane replied that it would be wrong to start identifying individual projects without having identified a master plan for Colwyn Bay for example, appraisals within communities and so on.
There are certain areas where improvements needed are identified. Various studies will take place to identify what can be spent in years 2 and 3. We need to identify what needs to be spent in the last five months of the first year.
Councillor Cossey There are some properties in Colwyn Bay that have been identified as needing to come into public ownership.
Shane replied when such a property is identified, we can get that as immediate spend but when we have to identify something that the whole area needs then there is a process that we need to go through. That may be a master plan, a study or an appraisal. That is for projects in year 2 and 3. We are looking for quick win immediate projects that we can look at within the next five months.
A resident said that Min y Don Bowling Club have been after funding for a new club house for two or three years. We cannot get funding for it, would this come within the scope of this regeneration pot?
Shane asked what type of funding was being sought.
The resident replied for a new clubhouse, as the councillors know, they want to demolish it but we cannot get the funding to build a new one.
Shane asked if the Sports Council had been approached because what the SRA would ask is what other funding has been identified. The more match funding involved the better. There is no reason why that cannot be considered. It should to be submitted on an initial proforma and he offered to speak to the resident in more detail at a later stage.
Councillor Carlisle ~ Moving on from what Shane said, I think that we are well placed in Old Colwyn because for the last twelve months there have been public meetings. You are all here now, really interested in it, we have got draft documents which can be circulated tonight and we are hoping to be able to get our projects in and say look these are pretty detailed, people are pretty much in broad agreement, it has been well discussed in residents, community everything, let’s go and that’s a really important thing for Old Colwyn I think.
Shane replied that he has worked in various communities across Conwy. The first thing that people will be asked when they put a bid in is “Where is your evidence of need”. As Cheryl says if these things have been looked at and addressed over a period of time then there is your evidence of need. So it really is a case of stealing a march on other communities because the SRA area only expanded fairly recently and it does give you an opportunity of being ahead of the game because some communities do not have roots such as yourselves. It is up to me to encourage the creation of groups like yours; whereas you are already here, already creating, already discussed things that you would like to spend on in the area. It would be wrong said Shane for me to say that we can fund everything that you would like to look at because we possibly can’t. We will certainly look at everything as it is fair that we do.
The Chair thanked Shane Wetton of the Bay Life Initiative for attending and speaking to the association. There was a round of applause.
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Shane remained in the meeting hall as the councillors were about to speak about the subject.
The Councillors handed out copies of 14 ideas for improvement and regeneration of Old Colwyn and said that a committee of business people and residents had been working on it for twelve months.
Councillor Cossey asked that people take the letter away. It will be circulated to all sorts of other people and wondered if the next residents’ meeting could be used as a meeting to
discuss what is wanted for Old Colwyn, agree all the schemes and all the projects and that could be passed on to Shane at the Bay Life Initiative.
Mark Chatham asked who has the final decision on proposals.
Councillor Cossey replied that it is the Minister who is the Chair of the SRA committee.
Shane Wetton added that when bids come in they go to the Assembly with the Local Authority. There is a panel of people known as the SRA panel who make the decisions of bids to go forward.
There is a Partnership Board above that where people like the Chief Executives of Conwy, Cartrefi Conwy and other leaders sit; that is chaired by the Deputy Minister for Regeneration Leighton Andrews they have the end say on bids.
Councillor Cossey continued that he felt that they were ahead of the game at this point but they do want to get their projects in for consideration of funding this year. People should add to the list or delete as they see fit, and at the next meeting we can invite everybody and thrash the details out of a final version to go forward as a plan. Copies will be taken around the Business community.
He added, do not think small. Anything that Old Colwyn needs put it down. In making a judgement that we should buy the Old Church House in Cliff Road and even though it is a listed building, a survey has been done, nobody in Old Colwyn wants it, demolish it even though that will be a fight, The ground is a valuable asset as a 21st Century Community Centre. We have been really bold and are of the view that other community centres such as Church Walks and the Red Cross Centre should close and be sold off, concentrating on the one centre.
Below ~ The list of possible projects that the councillors circulated for our members to contemplate before the next meeting.
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Conwy
COUNTY BOROUGH COUNCIL CYNGOR BWRDEISTREF SIROL.
Cllr. Brian Cossey, Cllr Cheryl Carlisle, Cllr Glyn Jones.
FfonlTel: (01492) 518908
(01492)514755
(01492)516488
Residents of Old Colwyn
E-
cllr.cheryl.carlisle @conwy.gov.uk
cllr.glyn jones@conwy.gov.uk
Dyddiad/Date: 14'h October 2009
Dear Resident,
As you will know Colwyn Bay, of which Old Colwyn is a part, has been designated a Special Regeneration Area by the Welsh Assembly. We have met together and with members of the community both residents and business to come up with some ideas as to how Old Colwyn could benefit. The list, so far, is attached, please feel free to contact any of us to add, delete or amend any of these suggestions as soon as possible.
Regeneration ideas for Old Colwyn Village -
1. Community Hub -
2. CCTV upgrade for Old Colwyn, with additional cameras, especially at Marine
roundabout, Cefn Road and Penmaenhead.
3. Distinctive gateways to village, with wrought iron signs and signposts at Marine and Penmaenhead.
4. 100% grants for all shops to upgrade and restore shop windows to Victorian theme, and option to replace or renovate canopies.
5. Uniform street furniture throughout Abergele Road and Conservation area (Beach
Road/Llawr Pentre etc) -
Victorian period ironwork.
6. Berthes Road Car Park, upgrade all railings, barriers, bus shelter, and provide concrete base for recycling pods.
7. Resurface Cefn Road, and provide seating areas and planters.
8. Linking Promenade path with Tan y Coed Gardens, Llawr Pentre, and Fairy Glen. Illuminated Heritage maps and history boards. Restore any features to original design if
possible.
9. Relocate Taxi Ranks and Offices, maybe to old M&K building? Or make the site a
public car park.
10. Support Mark Earp's (Parks and Gardens) project to improve the Old Colwyn to
Colwyn Bay paths and walkways along the promenade and through Eirias Park.
11. Approach Colwyn Bay Football Club to put their expansion programme forward for consideration.
12. Signage off the A55 and beach, directing people to the village.
13. Heritage railings around Marine roundabout, and cobble the centre island, and
signage boards to direct visitors.
14. Golden hellos to attract small new businesses.
These ideas have come from the public meetings of the business community; and local
residents of Old Colwyn. These ideas are to be considered by all sections of the community for approval, and do not preclude any other ideas being put forward in the future. Any agreed proposals will then go forward for funding consideration as soon as possible.
Brian Cossey Cheryl Carlisle Glyn Jones
