Minutes for the Berry Forum Committee Meeting
Held at the Uniting Church on Monday 20th February 2017 at 10.15am.

Present: David Carter (Chair), Stuart Coughlan, Laurie Watson, John Underwood, James Robinson, Dorothy Hanbridge, Marilyn Kellett, Margot Claringbold
Apologies: Bill Rice, John Cullity, David Brawn, Mary Beare, Hania Norman

Minutes of the Committee Meeting held 30 January: Approved
Actions arising from the minutes: None

Review of Forum meeting on 9 February
The meeting was very successful and most of the presentations were handled well.
One or two were not however and we will need to ensure all presenters focus just on their key points in future.

Berry District Park
The DPRG will be meeting every two weeks initially. The focus will be on developing a project plan and identifying the best ways to communicate with the community. 

Strategic Plan Focus Areas

  • TCRG – The group has agreed to hold frequent meetings and to develop a workplan, identify stakeholder groups and establish timelines.
  • IFRG – The group has met twice and will provide a status report at the next Committee meeting.
  • SRG – No update as both David B and Mary could not get to the meeting.
  • It was agreed that for all groups, the coordinator must be advised before any contact is made external parties.
  • Coordinators will provide a brief status report to be sent out with advice of each Committee meeting.

Council News

  • Tim Fletcher, Director of Planning & Development is retiring. He will be going on long service leave for 12 mths from April.
  • Councillors will participate in a four hour workshop on 9 March, where they will consider strategy issues, including making the escarpment a scenic protection zone, and removing from the LEP the clause allowing sub-divisions for tourist cabins. 

Other Business

  • David C and James will meet with Derek Jorgensen and Anthony Houghton from the Chamber to discuss stakeholder management for the Berry Trails project.
  • It was agreed that we would invite developers with large projects to present to the Forum when they make a development application.
  • Dorothy advised that she had been successful in convincing Council to increase the size of the window in the SofA kitchen.

Next Committee meetings –13 March, 10 April.

Next Forum date 20 April at the SofA

Meeting closed 12:10 PM.