Agenda and minutes

Members are reminded that at the start of the meeting they should declare any known interests in any matter to be considered, and also during the meeting if it becomes apparent that they have an interest in the matters being discussed.

The Chair reminded Members of the need to declare any known interests in any matters to be considered at the meeting.  Councillor Peter Mallinson and Roger Gower made non prejudicial declarations of interest in respect of Agenda Item No. 8 in their capacity as members of the Swindon Salzgitter Adult Twinning Association.

See explanatory note below.  Please phone the Committee Officer whose name and number appears at the top of this agenda if you need further guidance.

            No public questions were received during the meeting.

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 1^st December 2010.

Resolved – That, subject to the following amendments, the minutes of the meeting held on 1^st December 2010, be confirmed as a correct record:

·        Minute 2 (Appointment of Vice-Chair) – should read that Andy Lane be Vice-Chair of the Town Twinning Network until December 2011, not 2010.

·        Minute 6 (Highworth Twinning Association) – Derrick Gustafson reported that the new committee had been elected by the management committee and not at the AGM.

Certain items are expected to include the consideration of exempt information and the Town Twinning Network is, therefore, recommended to resolve "That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the discussion of the matters referred to in the items listed below, on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in the respective paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information".

            Resolved - That, in accordance with Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded during the discussion of the matters referred in Agenda Item 8 on the grounds that it would involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information concerned (Minute14 refers.)

Margaret Tester (Road Safety Manager) informed members of the Network about the UN’s campaign ‘Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011 – 2020’ which was a global road safety campaign.  She explained that schools were very much involved in road safety and that she hoped that some of the Network members might be interested in sharing this information with their counterparts in their twin towns and that this might be a good way of getting young people involved in their organisations.  Margaret confirmed that there were sources of funding available from the UN to enable groups to participate in this campaign and added that Arval (Fleet Managers) were also very keen to become involved.

If anyone is interested in further information, please contact Margaret Tester on Swindon 466399.  Margaret also agreed to inform the Network of any progress in the meantime.

The Network considered (a) a report of the Director of Law and Democratic Services listing the Town Twinning Associations and Links in and around Swindon and (b) the following verbal reports from the Town Twinning Associations and Links:

Swindon Salzgitter Twinning Association

The Chair welcomed Roger Gower to the Network and advised that he was now the new Chair of the Salzgitter Twinning Association.  Roger advised that he had also taken on the role of secretary and the group were currently making arrangements for a visit to Swindon by a group from Salzgitter from 15^th – 22^nd June 2011.  Two visits had been proposed, one to Wadworths Brewery and another one to the Houses of Parliament which was to be sponsored by the Swindon MP’s.  The Sub-Committee would be meeting again soon to finalise the proposals and alternative activities were also being arranged.  Councillor Kevin Small advised that he would be able to offer some advice on places to visit in London and added that whilst he had made enquiries about participating in a visit to Salzgitter in the past he had been advised that this had not been possible.  Roger responded that this may be due to insurance issues but asked that Councillor Small contact him with regards to any future visits and he would try to ensure that any requests to participate in visits to Salzgitter could be met.

Councillor Small reported that he had made some progress regarding the possible exchange between football referees in Salzgitter and Swindon.

SwindonOcotal Link (SOL)

Bruce Clarke reported on the following activities of SOL:

• A young person was currently working as a volunteer in Ocotal.
• King William Street School had contacted SOL with regards to developing a link with Ocotal and this would be pursued.
• 50 Venture Scouts from Wimbledon had asked to go to Ocotal in July 2012.  SOL would facilitate this trip and would identify a project for them to work on.
• The link between the Rotary Clubs had produced a very successful disabled people’s assessment centre.  Unfortunately, the Ocotal Rotary Club had since closed down and they were currently looking for another club to continue this link.
• A successful Bollywood evening had raised approximately £950 and Bruce advised that quite a few younger people had participated in this event.
• Target of £5K raised had been met and was sent over in January to support: the following four objectives:

Ø      Bursaries

Ø      Old people’s home

Ø      Health project

Ø      Civic links

Bruce added that a busy year ahead was expected but that no visits had yet been organised due to the current cost of flights.  SOL was being re-designed in order to meet the four objectives listed above and work was ongoing to develop Duke of Edinburgh links with Ocotal.

Swindon Torun Link

Councillor Stan Pajak reported that the link had been invited to participate in the Torun half marathon in May but that, as it was too early in the year,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

Members of the Town Twinning Network were asked to consider an application for a grant of £1000 from the Salzgitter Twinning Association to assist with the costs of a cultural visit to Swindon by a group from Deutsch-Englische Gesellschaft (DEG) from 15^th – 22^nd June 2011.  In response to a query regarding the email from the grants team, the clerk confirmed that the £500 grant referred to came out of a different budget and was to be used specifically for administration and running costs.

            Resolved – That the Town Twinning Network recommends to the Director of Law and Democratic Services that a grant of £1000 be approved for the Swindon Salzgitter Twinning Association.