Inside Monday's Meeting

Thanks to Plan B for Hay and Transition Towns for this information.

Here's the list of the people attending the meeting on Monday:
Cabinet
Councillor Gareth Ratcliffe
Jeremy Patterson, Chief Executive
Paul Griffiths, Strategic Director Communities Skills and Learning
Clarence Meredith, Strategic Director Law and Governance
Geoff Petty, Strategic Director Finance and Infrastructure
Parry Davies Strategic Director Care & Well being
Douglas Wilson, Head of Schools
Nygaire Bevan, Head of Adult Services & Commissioning

Andrew Cottom, Chief Executive Powys teaching Health Board

Hay & District Sports and Community Association – Robert Goldsworthy
Paul Elkington

Chamber of Commerce – John Evans (Chairman)
Ruth Hovmand (Director)

Town Council – Councillor David Gittins
Councillor Johnny Kramer

Hay-on-Wye Primary School - Mrs Fiona Gray, Chair of Governors
Mr Stuart Fiddes, Headteacher from January.

Plan B for Hay – Andy Fryers
Jenny Valentine

Developer

Also invited: Roger Williams MP
Kirsty Williams AM
William Powell AM


And here's what they discussed:


The meeting was minuted, this was as a result of the Flashmob, PCC had originally said that it was not going to be. We will circulate the full minutes when they have been received and checked for accuracy.

There follows a series of bullet points, which outline the key points of interest.

* PCC and Gaufron both confirmed that there is no deadline when an option agreement needs to be signed by although they do not want it to be delayed if there are no alternative plans.
* PCC stated that they would welcome alternative plans, but had not received any yet.
* PCC confirmed that they had received legal challenges to the Option Agreement process and that they were still investigating the issue. They did state that they had already taken independent legal advice on the process from lawyers based in Leeds.
* PCC stated that the whole deal was like a pack of cards, if one element failed then everything else failed.
* Gaufron confirmed that it is a supermarket that they are looking to build on the school site.
* PCC stated that there was no money in the new Welsh Government schools funding allocated for Hay. Moreover they had included the developers’ contribution (£5 - 6million) in their original bid to WG as part of their match funding requirements. This was done around April 2011.
* PCC and Gaufron claimed that they have scoped out the needs of a new school for Hay, according to Gaufron " even down to the number of whiteboards needed". Neither of them has talked to the school at all about what the teachers or pupils want.
* PCC stated that Gaufron have not offered a cash amount but have said that they would build a new 240 pupil school if they are successful with their planning application on the existing school site.
* Both PCC and Gaufron state that the new school development is entirely dependant on planning being granted for the whole project.
* There seemed to be a little confusion in the Cabinet about the potential cost of a new school with a new figure of up to £8million being quoted by one member alongside the £5-6million by another.
* The care home seems to be a fairly stand alone development although it has been bundled up into this proposal to help fund the sports centre. It would be built Gaufron with input from PCC and the Health Authority at the developers’ invitation.
* In summing up, the leader of the council said that it seemed like a reasonable request to ask for a little more time however the cabinet would discuss the outcomes from this meeting and decide on the way forward. They were asked to hold a public meeting before any option agreement was signed and they agreed to consider this request. So no promises or commitments on anything.

There was another letter in the B&R today, too, from a gentleman in Swansea who is horrified at the thought of a supermarket in Hay, and talks about the destruction of his local high street in Morriston by a national supermarket opening nearby.