Minutes of CRAG AGM on Tuesday 19th September 2023 at St Peters at the Cross, Chester

In attendance:
1. Mike Hogg - Chair (MH) Bridgegate East Residents’ Association (BERA)
2. Vanessa Bond - Secretary (VB) White Friars Residents’ Association (WFRA)
3. Pauline Brown (PB) Westminster Park Residents’ Association (WPRA)
4. David Starbuck-Edwards (DS-E) Dee Hills Park Estate Association (DHP)
5. Don McRae (DM) Friends of Grosvenor Park & Groves (FOGG)
6. Helen Speke (HS) Queens Park Residents’ Association (QPRA)
7. John Walker Vice-Chair (JW) 1761 RTM Limited (1761)
8. Roger Wynne (RW) (FOGG)
9. Pat Wynne (PW) FOGG
10. Tony Swindells (TS) WFRA
11. Andrew Kendall (AK) Curzon Park Residents’ Association CPRA
12. David Colclough (DC) Commonhall Street Residents Association (CRRA)
13. Jennifer Crew (JC) (WPRA)
14. Susan Houghton (SH) King Street Residents Association (KSARA)
15. Clive Bond (CB) (WFRA)
16. Jim Parrish (JP) Bridgegate East Residents’ Association (BERA)
17. David Flood (DF) (BERA)
18. Fiona Rushforth (FR) (BERA)
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Apologies:
1. Chris Hughes (Chair FOGG)
2. Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn (SBG) Cestria Building Tenants’ Association (CBTA
3. Deborah Lindsay (DL) King Street Residents Association (KSARA)
4. Colin Potts (CP) Shipgate Management Association (SMA)
5. Tim Schofield (TS) Queens Park Residents’ Association (QPRA)
6. Trevor Farrell (TF) Hough Green Residents’ Association (HGRA)
7. Rob Hulme (RH) Commonhall Street Residents Association (CRRA)
8. Rev. Jonathan Phillips St Peters at the Cross
9. Ann Farrell (AF) George Street

MINUTES - AGM
19th September 2023
Item 1. MH opened the meeting and thanked all members for attending.

Item 2. Apologies were received as above.
Item 3. Minutes of the AGM held on 24th October 2022 were approved as a true record.
Proposed: DS-E, seconded JW, passed nem com.
Item 4. Matters Arising:
(a) E-Scooters: MH has written to CW&C and Cheshire police on this matter
and a meeting will be arranged to discuss as soon as the new Chief
Inspector is in place.
(b) Invitation to University of Chester to join CRAG. MH has done this via
Una Meehan who has offered to help move this forward.
(c) Pigeons – CW&C have confirmed that they do not cull, but that they do
caution and prosecute those feeding pigeons outside the designated area
at the Kaleyards dovecote.
(d) All candidates for the City & Garden Quarter ward at the 5th May Local
Elections were invited to attend the CRAG meeting on 27th April and five
attended. All three elected members for this ward have subsequently
actively engaged with CRAG – and Katrina Kerr has offered to chair one
of the speaker panels at the CRAG Conference on 5th October 2023.

Item 5.
Report on activities in 2022/2023: Mike Hogg.

MH gave a round-up of CRAG activities in this period. The key highlights
were as follows:
(a) We have been successful in continuing to improve engagement,
communication and dialogue with all key partners & stakeholders.
In particular, our engagement with the police & CW&C has seen an
increase in uniformed officers in the city centre, improved cooperation between CW&C and the police and a step-up in the
effectiveness and consistency of the approach to ASB including
begging. Through regular participation in joint CW&C / BID & CRAG
walks through the city (with Don McRae as the CRAG delegate) we are
seeing small but steady improvements in public realm management.
We were also instrumental in securing a revision and republishing of
the One City Plan (OCP) – and have been invited to play a key role in
its progressive implementation. By contrast, we have made least
progress in the sphere of transport, traffic management & parking –
and will seek to make further progress on key parts of this in
2023/2024.
(b) VB has continued to be a lead member of the Purple Flag group
(focusing on the effective management of the night-time economy),
AtFest (Chester’s first alternative transport festival in June) and singlehandedly launched the CRAG-linked Chester branch of Living Streets –
which seeks to advance the cause and interests of pedestrians.
(c) CRAG also attended meetings of the Racecourse Liaison Group,
University of Chester Community Liaison panel, Outside/In and has
individuals working closely with GAS – the newly formed business and
organisational group that has been formed to work alongside CW&C
(and residents) to deliver the OCP.
(d) Latterly, a CRAG delegation had a constructive and encouraging
meeting with the new CW&C CEO Delyth Hughes and her COO Simon
Riley, who has pledged to work closely with CRAG in the weeks and
months ahead.

Item 6.

Finance: Don McRae
(a) DM had submitted a full written report dated 19th September that
showed a closing funds balance of £356.54. The receipt of one further
2022/2023 subscription (from CHASE) along-with Conference related
income and expenditure to date were flagged as key elements.
(b) 2023/2024 Subscriptions. DM proposed to retain the subscriptions for
2023/2024 at current levels (i.e. £25 per member association and £10
per affiliate). This was seconded by JW and approved nem com.
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Item 7.
Appointment/Election of Executive Offices for 2023/2024:

The current Executive Members – with the exception of Tony Swindells & Vanessa
Bond were all willing to stand for a further term i.e. for 2023/2024.
MH thanked Tony for his input, work & support in the past year since joining the
CRAG Exec. He also proposed a special vote of thanks for Vanessa who had been a
founder member of CRAG and an Exec member throughout. He said that CRAG and
indeed all those who value Chester owe her a debt of gratitude for the significant
amount of time she has spent using her skills, knowledge and network striving to
make Chester a better place for all. Everyone present supported Mike’s thanks to
both Tony & Vanessa.
MH also advised that Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn and Roger Wynne had offered to
stand for the Executive, but there were no other candidates proposed. It was
therefore proposed by VB, seconded by TS and approved nem com by the
attendees that the following be appointed:

Mike Hogg, John Walker, Don McRae, Pauline Brown, Simon Burtonshaw-Gunn and
Roger Wynne.
The AGM was content for the above to agree the allocation of Exec roles between
themselves at the first meeting of this new Executive team.

Item 8. Review & Confirmation of 5 Key Topics:

Following the discussions of the 5 Key Topics it was agreed that they would remain
as the main priorities for CRAG for 2023/2024 given that they remained relevant
and were still very much “work in progress”, some more than others.
Item 9. CRAG Conference 5th October 2023.
The conference programme and some suggested questions for panel chairs to us to
supplement those from the floor had been circulated with the AGM
agenda. JW & PB advised that all speakers and panelists were now
confirmed and that at this point just over a hundred attendees had
registered. CRAG members were urged to:
(i) Encourage others to attend
(ii) Forward any additional questions
(iii) Contact them if they were willing to fill volunteer roles on the day
(iv) Remind attendees that lunch must be pre-booked and cannot be
purchased on the day.

Item 10 A.O.B.
(a) Updates on key items from minutes of CRAG 18th July 20223 meeting: all
key points had already been covered in the preceding AGM items.
(b) DF reported that refuse collections (including the noisy tipping of glass
items) were being made from the restaurants in Pepper Street as early as
0430 - well before the 0800 time-line included in many of their licensing
conditions. He explained the actions he has been taking including
contacting the restaurant owners and operators and also relevant council
staff. He asked if other Chester residents were experiencing the same issue
– which was confirmed. VB pointed out that such early activities were
outside WHO noise guidelines as well as being in contravention of licence
conditions prohibiting such activities between the 2100 & 0800 hrs for
most Pepper Street premises. It was suggested and agreed that DF should
advise progress at the next CRAG meeting in December

Item 11

Date of Next Meeting – 6th December 2023 at 7pm – location to be confirmed.

MH Closed the meeting at 2000 hrs and thanked all attending and St Peters at the
Cross for hosting the meeting.

Minutes of CRAG AGM on Tuesday 19th September 2023 at St Peters at the Cross, Chester

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