Dave outlined the arrangements proposed for the conduct of Working Party meetings. They will generally be held every other Thursday at Bogan House, except where diary conflicts make this too difficult. Although the meetings will not normally be held in public, the minutes will be published. It was agreed to allow Victoria Trow to film meetings as part of her plan to document the DOS project (subject to approval from SHDC when members are present).

Dave described the current status of the project office at 17 High Street. It has a telephone (866 788), chairs and desks and will be able to use the computers belonging to the Strategy Group. It is expected that it will be manned for several hours each day (with the probable exception of Sundays).

Shirley gave an update of DOS activities since the public meeting on March 12^th. Although the office is up and running, there is an urgent need for office supplies, a printer and heaters. Letters requesting support have gone out to local traders, but she specifically asked if SHDC could help. Bill Brown offered the loan of an A2 printer for several weeks. It was agreed that the project would also need a photocopier and a scanner.

A simple volunteer data base (with over 60 entries) has been set up, with plans to contact all of them this week either by phone, email or letter. Regular Saturday morning meetings will be arranged for the 5 groups (Housing, Parking/Traffic, Heritage, Open Space and Funding).

Shirley described the proposal for a Volunteer Day on March 27^th. The idea would be to hold a meeting at Bogan House (already booked for the purpose) in the morning and spend the (early) afternoon walking the site as part of the process of preparing for the Urban Form study. The assistance of working party members was requested to help prepare and present as well as support the volunteers.

There was extensive discussion of whether the Volunteer Day should focus exclusively on the Urban Form study. Bill advocated a wider brief. The importance of tapping the initial enthusiasm of the volunteers, building teams and bonds was stressed. It was agreed to spend the next few days planning the day in more detail.

Dave then outlined some immediate needs. As well as office equipment (see above) we will need large-scale maps of the area, traffic and parking surveys, records (plans, consultation documents, etc) from the 1996 and 2002 schemes as well as any existing topographical and archaeological surveys. Alan agreed that much of this material existed already at Follaton and agreed to make it available to the project. Donald suggested that he might visit Follaton to collect documents.

Donald reported that a license together with detailed maps (in electronic form, on a 1:1250 scale, with spot heights every 7 metres) was available from the Ordinance Survey for a fee of around 70 pounds. It was agreed that this was preferable to commissioning a topographical survey and would probably be sufficient for our needs.

Funding was then discussed. Alan stated that as far as SHDC was concerned the 15000 pounds 'earmarked' for the project by SHDC would be recovered (along with the 1 million that SHDC needs if the project is to be self-financing) when the site was eventually developed. He stressed that SHDC's other prime objective was the provision of affordable housing. The Funding working group (led by Pete Taylor) will be holding its first proper meeting later that evening. The group contained several skilled, professional fundraisers and Bill was intending to attend.

It was agreed that to provide proper management, control and auditing of accounts it would be necessary to set up a formal, registered organisation (probably a Friendly Society since they are simple and straightforward to set up) with chairman, secretary and treasurer. Pruw Boswell suggested that her husband Lionel might be prepared to act in the latter capacity. [later Pruw informed David that Lionel had indeed agreed to this]. Some small part of the 15000 pounds from SHDC might be made available to this organisation early on to help pay the cost of the office and public meetings.

Bill described how the early "community action planning" training would be provided. Six sessions, each involving up to 10 people, and lasting perhaps 1.5 hours, would be run in the evenings (or weekends) over the next few weeks. This would allow all the current volunteers to be trained. People would be able to sign up for a training session on Volunteer's Day. The trainer would be Di, Bill's partner.

The meeting closed at 11.15am. The next meeting will be held at Bogan House on 1^st April.