Minutes of Meeting - Monday, 6th April 2009

[ypfadmin]

Title: York Property Forum (YPF”)

Date/Time: Monday, 6 April 2009 at 4pm

Held at: The Park Inn, York

Attendees

Any Gardner – Chairman
Kirsty Barsby – Denison Till
Chris Chittock – Dragonfly Acoustics
Simon Carrington – DSP Architects
Ian Atkinson – DSP Architects
Stephen Dobson– Shepherd Homes
Dale Rhodes – Yorkshire Building Control
Lee Vincent – MSMR Architects
Caroline Arkwright – york-england.com
Denise Stuart - york-england.com
Christine Hogan – york-england.com
Alistair Gill – Northminster Properties Limited
Eamonn Keogh – Turley Associates
Michael Hammill – Yorbuild Limited
Mark Goldstone – Leeds, York and North Yorks Chamber
Graham Tew – Manor House Developments
Ian McAndrew – The Helmsley Group
John Reeves – The Helmsley Group
Lindsay Ross – Severfield-Rowen PLC
Kathryn Dean – Denison Till
David McIntyre – Yorkshire Bank
Brian De Vere – Yorkshire Bank

1.0 MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
Agreed

2.0 INTRODUCTION
Andrew Gardner (AG) welcomed everybody to the meeting and introduced the debate.

3.0 DEBATE 1 – HOW LOUD IS OUR VOICE
The general consensus of the attendees was that the voice of YPF is not loud enough. The attendees discussed the following ways to improve the position:

1. More press coverage and links with York Press.
2. Consider linking up with the Chamber of Commerce.
3. More engagement with the local authority.

In connection with the above points the format of the Leeds and Selby Property Forums were discussed where there is much more involvement from the council. Leeds Property Forum is part of the Chamber of Commerce. At the Leeds and Selby property forum meetings there are discussions about enquiries, planning applications etc and there is more interaction between the private and public sectors. YPF needs to consider how it can get York City Council more involved.

Ian McAndrew (IMCA) commented that the problem with the press has been that they do not seem to recognise YPF as a body.

The YPF has lost it’s collective approach and it appeared to be a general consensus of members that it was a great idea to get the Chamber of Commerce involved

4.0 DEBATE 2 – WHAT DO WE WANT TO SHOUT AND WHO ARE WE SHOUTING AT
The following issues were raised:

1. Empty rate relief
2. The local development framework
3. Delays in planning

John Reeves (JR) commented that York City Council has no budgetary allowance at all to assist those who are suffering hardship due to empty rates rules. All other local authorities in the region would appear to have a such an allowance.

Members agreed that YPF needs to be a recognised consultee who is consulted in the same way as for example, York Conservation Trust. Again it was felt that the way to achieve this was better engagement with the council.

It was confirmed that at present no members of the council are members of the YPF. Bill Woolley had said he would try and get attendees but this has not materialised.

Discussion resulted in the conclusion that this needs to be a two way process. We need to ask the council what they would like to see from the York Property Forum.

Denise Stuart (DS) suggested that YPF puts together a group to meet with Bill Woolley to establish what the council wants to achieve and what the YPF wants to achieve.

The attendees then discussed how this can be achieved. We need to be clear in our definition of what the YPF is. Various members expressed their opinion on this - IMCA commented that the forum gives the opinions of those who work, build and develop within the city.

JR stated that the forum is to tackle property problems in York and make York a better place to do business in.

The general consensus of the members is that YPF needs to rebrand and widen its membership.

5.0 DEBATE 3 – LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
It was agreed that we need to redefine the definition of YPF and then decide who to target and invite as members.

The YPF needs to be seen as a the mouthpiece and the port of call for people coming into the city to set up their businesses.

There also needs to be a wider variety of members and a better website is needed.

We should also assess how many other groups there are in York with an interest in property. JR will assess this.

AG will circulate a members list.

We then need to set up working groups. All members need to take responsibility and get involved.

Further to DS’s suggestion above a working party is to be formed to meet with Bill Woolley. AG will arrange this. Alistair Gill agreed to be part of the working party as did Simon Carrington (SC).

In addition it was agreed that a working group would be set up to meet with the Press.

Chris Chittock (CC) then gave his views as a prospective member as this was the first YPF meeting he had attended.

CC confirmed the view that he was initially perplexed when he searched for YPF and it came up under Denison Till. He said in comparing the YPF with other organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce the other organisations certainly seemed to have a better definitive identification. He agreed that YPF does need an identifiable mouthpiece for the press to get in touch with and for example someone to contact for a quick quote like they do with the Chamber of Commerce.

A suggestion was made by SC that we obtain a 10 point list from members as to what they would like to see from the YPF. AG will review the current mission statement and the current list of members.

Finally in relation to the empty rates relief position JR confirmed he had already put in a response from the YPF regarding the empty rates relief position.

Alistair Gill suggested that we perhaps hold a launch event once the new website etc has been created.

Finally it was agreed by members that we do not want to be too focused on planning. YPF needs to have a multi level approach.

Finally it was suggested that we link up with business desk as that has a wide circulation list.

6.0 SUBS
Subs are now due and Andy Gardner will be requesting these in due course.

7.0 ANY OTHER BUSINESS
The date of the next meeting is to be confirmed.