Minutes from the first meeting of the Digbeth Residents Association (DRA) on Monday 7th February 2011 at 7pm

in the Paragon Hotel 1. Apologies No apologies were received 2. Constitution The proposed constitution was unanimously accepted by the group (with one minor amendment to clause 4.g.). - Val Woodward was voted in as Chairperson. - Pamela Pinski was voted in as Secretary. - Sandra Hall was voted in as Treasurer (although Sandra wanted to make it clear that she intends to only hold this position in the interim). These positions will be held for one year, until the first AGM, as stated in the constitution. The constitution appends these minutes. Anybody wanting to join the mailing list for the Digbeth Residents Association is invited to contact Pamela Pinski (pamelapinski@hotmail.com). 3. Fundraising The group discussed three projects for which it would now like to obtain funding as a constituted Residents Association: 1. Viaduct Park turning the disused railway arches into a public space 2. Green Spaces turning fallow land in the area into useable spaces for residents 3. Turning the Visioning Exercise (facilitated by Dr Julie Brown of Birmingham University) into reality The group wants to apply for Community Chest funding, which may become available in April 2011. Debbie Jones should be contacted to ask for more information (ACTION: PP). It was suggested that DRA be promoted in various newsletters (e.g Brap, Community Collective, UVSC, BME) to help with fundraising. In order to set up a bank account, DRA needs a starting balance of 50. It was discussed and decided that this may be achieved through residents contributing to the starting balance until the group is up and running on its own funds. DRA could also try selling the idea of a residents association to local businesses to attract sponsorship funding. The possibility of a partnership between DRA and Friction Arts was also discussed. Item on-going 4. Section 106 Andy Sheppard presented a BCC memo stating that work on Bradford Street using Section 106 money was meant to have been approved by 31st January 2011, in order for it to be completed by April 2011. Andy has already emailed Mark Gamble to check the status of this, but had not received a response as of the meeting. Andy also advised DRA to chase Gary Woodward for more information. (ACTION: PP to email Mark and Gary for a status update.) Item on-going 5. Police Report Neighbourhood Police Officer Maurice Arthur was present at the meeting, and gave the following report:

- The Police understand that vehicle crime is an issue in the area and therefore a dedicated vehicle team has been set up at the Digbeth Police Station, headed up by Sgt Bev Lane. This team will be spearheading Operation Velocity, where highly visible patrols will be undertaken during peak times in car crime. The Police have also investigated the use of Dome Hawk (temporary) cameras in problem areas with high concentrations of car crime; the cameras can then be removed and reused once the offenders have been caught. - Operation Day Safe has been designed to help discourage robberies in the area around Fazeley Street and New Canal Street. Officers will patrol the area during the day and evenings until 9pm, reminding the general public to not advertise their belongings (e.g mobile phones, satellite navigation systems) to potential opportunist thieves. - A question was asked about what the Police are doing about gun crime in Digbeth. PC Arthur responded that this isnt a problem, but is restricted to isolated incidents which only occur when Digbeth hosts night-time events that may attract the wrong crowd to the area. ACTION: PP to contact Sgt Bill Dagenham to ensure that the Police are able to be present at future DRA meetings. 6. Pubwatch and DRA Pauline Roche asked whether DRA had any links with Pubwatch (regular meetings of independent pub landlords in the area). As many of the same people sit on both committees, a strong link does exist. 7. Andy Sheppard DRA showed their appreciation for all the hard work and support received from Andy Sheppard during his time in post as Digbeth Neighbourhood Manager, who will be sorely missed. 8. Digbeth Summit A date has not yet been set for the Digbeth Summit; Andy Munroe is waiting on responses from key parties in order to ensure that the event achieves maximum impact. DRA is keen to ensure that residents are seen as jointly important (along with local businesses) at the summit, not relegated to the background. ACTION: PP to contact Andy Munroe and ask for a date/time for the Summit. 9. Visioning Exercise Pauline Roche questioned why the St Patricks Day festival had not been noted as one of the positives for residents of Digbeth? Residents commented that the festival is certainly one of the more positive aspects of living in Digbeth, and the atmosphere surrounding the festival is one that DRA would like to foster so that Digbeth is used to its full potential all year round. It was suggested that DRA form a group to walk in the parade; appropriate people from the St Patricks Parade committee will be invited to the March meeting of DRA. Item to be discussed further at next meeting. 10. Date and Time of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Digbeth Residents Association will be held at 7pm on Monday 7th March 2011, in the Paragon Hotel.