The following were present in an advisory capacity:

Apologies for Absence:

Under the general heading of Matters Arising, the following items were discussed:

1. Pruw showed the current state of the first DOS Newsletter, which should be published in the next week or so. Dave provided an aerial photo of the Southern Area for possible inclusion (Peter Sutton had brought several copies of a 1937 aerial photo of Totnes to the meeting).
2. Pruw mentioned that she had received an official acknowledgement from Time Team
3. Susie circulated the letter from the Duchy of Cornwall Benevolent Fund which expressed regret that they could not offer any financial support.
4. Dave said that he had been in touch with Paul Fassam about the 3-D data, but that they had just moved offices and were somewhat disorganised. Nick responded that Oaul Taper at SHDC had also been in touch with Paul Fassam and expected to receive the data in the next few days.
5. Dave explained that the DOS Constitution had been formally adopted at the Volunteers' Meeting on Saturday 24^th April. DOS now had over 40 'signed up', voting members who had also elected Susie as Chair, Dave as Secretary and Lionel as Treasurer. Lionel confirmed that a DOS Bank Account had been set up at HSBC and that as soon as he received a paying-in book he would be paying in the cash donation of 300 pounds and the cheque for 250 pounds from Harrison Sutton.
6. Dave noted that as yet he had not been able to get an insurance quote for Public Liability Insurance from Pavey's in the High Street although he had been to their office several times. It was suggested that he should try alternative firms to get another quote. It was also possible that Totnes Town Council might be able to extend their insurance to cover things.

Finance was then discussed at some length. Dave raised the question of matching funding. Now that DOS does have funds he asked if SHDC would be prepared to advance an equivalent amount. Nick Hodgson said that while he would need to confirm this, he thought that each time DOS raised another 1000 pounds then SHDC would be prepared to advance a matching 1000. He confirmed that the 250 pound fee charged by Paul Fassam for the 3D data would not be coming out of the 15000 earmarked for the project - nor would the printing costs associated producing copies of the Newsletter (SHDC were prepared to use their own in-house printing service to produce these).

Donald raised a query about the proposed DOS Budget produced by Bill Brown. He was surprised at the high professional fees (some 19,000 pounds) budgeted for the latter stages of the project. These would only make sense if the project were to produce more detailed plans that those necessary for an outline planning application. Since Bill was not present it was not possible to deal with some of the detailed questions raised at this point.

It had been suggested that where fund givers restricted themselves to requests from charitable organisations then such donations could be funnelled via TotSoc. Donald said that TotSoc could not act as a 'front organisation' - the Charity Commissioners had indicated that DOS would have to apply to TotSoc for grants like any other body. However donations to TotSoc that were given with the express intention of supporting DOS objects could then be followed by such applications and TotSoc would then be able to give 'matching' grants to DOS. Dave mentioned that several people at the Volunteers Meeting had said they would prefer their donations to attract Gift Aid and Donald indicated that again TotSoc could be achieve this.

As well as seeking funds from well-known bodies (largely being handled by Bill), Susie mentioned that together with Pat Sykes she was looking at local fund-raising. While individual donations might be small, it was likely to raise money much sooner. The question of soliciting unsecured loans was raised. Lionel had tried to get hold of suitable forms but had so far been unsuccessful. Peter Sutton was worried about such loans - it was not clear that they would be needed and the fact that they had to be repaid could cause great problems later.

Pruw raised again the issue of incorporating (by becoming a Company Limited By Guarantee). If after all the money had been spent, the project failed to deliver what SHDC was expecting then SHDC might demand their 15000 back and she was not happy to be landed with such a burden. It was felt that the incorporation process need not be either lengthy or expensive. Dave agreed to discuss the matter with Michael Kendal, who had expertise in this area. Nick was unclear about the circumstances under which SHDC might insist on a return of the 15,000, but thought it unlikely that matters would get that far. Dave reminded the meeting that Alan Robinson had said at the first Working Party meeting that SHDC would be watching the project closely and that if things appeared to be going badly wrong would seek to 'pull the plug' before the six months was up.

Finally Lionel raised the question of a Petty Cash Float to handle day-to-day office expenses. After some discussion it was agreed that an initial float of 50 pounds should be provided.

The meeting then discussed the 2^nd Volunteers' Day, which was felt to be a big success. More that 40 volunteers attended and it was clear that the various working groups were doing a great deal of useful work. Dave explained the rationale for looking for volunteers for specific project-related jobs, such as a Press/Publicity Officer, a Librarian etc. So far there had been few offers but Susie said that it might be more fruitful to approach likely candidates rather than wait for volunteers.

Susie outlined the initial Outreach activities. The plan is to run market stalls throughout May at least and to use open questionnaires to get feedback from the community. Later steps will try to reach other groups (such as mothers with young children, the elderly etc). Dave described the parking surveys proposed for the first week in May - a census of the car parks to obtain occupancy figures (by the hour throughout the week) and a questionnaire of parkers to find out how long they were planning to stay, where they had come from and why they were visiting Totnes.

The 2^nd Public Meeting was discussed at some length. This is planned for the evening of Thursday May 20^th in the Civic Hall. About 6 weeks later the Intensive Planning Sessions will be held there too from Wednesday June 30^th until Saturday 3rd July. There would be a brief mention of the Public Meeting in the first Newsletter and a bigger piece in the second.

Peter Sutton raised the question of a whether a proper exhibition to display the results of the first phase. While the Public Meeting would give those who attended a chance to see what had been going on, he felt that an exhibition which people could spend time going round (and which lasted longer than an evening) would be really worthwhile. He mentioned the Alec Clifton-Taylor TV program on Totnes and suggested that showing a video of this at such an exhibition could be useful. Susie expressed worries that such an exhibition would generate even more feedback that would need to be incorporated and that it might pre-empt the intensive sessions. After some discussion it was agreed that an exhibition was a good idea and it should ideally be held a couple of weeks after the Public Meeting. Various venues for were discussed - Pruw mentioned the function room above the Seven Stars Hotel, the Free Church Hall and the Methodist Hall.

The idea of a Bungalow Garden Open Day was then discussed. Nick was worried that such a day might lead to people pre-judging the question of what should be done with the space. It was agreed that such an open day should probably be held after the Public Meeting, as part of the build up to the planning sessions, and that it should be carefully stage-managed to prevent people prejudging the outcome of the project.

Press and Publicity was briefly covered. It was agreed that Claire Madran at SHDC and Katy Dowell at Totnes Times should be closely involved in any planned press releases.

Under the heading Any Other Business the following items were discussed:

1. The visit to Shumacher College by BedZed architect Bill Dunster in May was mentioned. Shirley had proposed that DOS should try to take advantage of this visit (eg. by inviting Bill Dunster to talk). It was left unclear how this should be progressed.
2. Donald suggested that we should try to get a developer or two to look at the Southern Area and give us figures for what might be possible (in terms of building costs and selling prices for example). Peter Sutton noted that he had asked a developer, Millward, to look at the Savilles plan. He said that Millward had felt it was financially completely unworkable. The question of the figures behind Savilles plan (budgets, costings, etc) was raised and Nick agreed that SHDC should be able to provide some of this data to the Working Party. He was unhappy with involving Millward in a more detailed look at the site or in an interrogation of Savilles - he felt that this might mkae it appear that were being given favoured status and also that it might lead to pre-judgements about what should be done with the site. Donald explained that what he though was necessary were figures about how costs might be allocated, not detailed plans of what might be built. It was eventually agreed that Peter would talk to Millward, with a clear understanding of what was expected
3. Nick Hodgson mentioned the work that was currently underway repairing the wall of the Leechwell Footpath that bounds the Heath's Nursery Car Park. This was necessary because the wall had bulged and was unsafe. The work, which results in the loss of 8 or so spaces, was expected to last a couple of months, but had been proceeding faster than expected.
4. There was some discussion of the need for an office manager. Donald suggested that perhaps rather than looking for a volunteer, DOS should actually employ somewhat part-time. He suggested that 10-15 hours a week might be appropriate. There was some discussion of whether such a job would need to be properly advertised and how matters such as NI contributions could be avoided. It was agreed that the DOS Committee would look at this and discuss it with the Funding group.

The meeting closed at 11.45. The next meeting will be held on 12^th May.