Petersfield Area
Community Trust

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Good evening, everyone.

Thank you for coming here tonight for PACT's AGM and Public meeting.

The Chair's report is a reflection on the last year's activities and also maps out our path for the future. It has been a very full year, but I'll do my best to mention every aspect.

I start with the Over 50's group. Their story is an inspirational one which I have great pleasure in sharing with you. They have had an excellent year. Events such as meetings with Brunswick Nursery School, where young and old have got together to work on a history project, to hear singing by the youngsters and for young people to hear vivid recollections of life during WWII from those that experienced such things at first hand. There have been trips out, they enjoy regular exercise classes and their gatherings are attended by 25-30 people every week.

During October, the 'Cambridgeshire Celebrates Age 2006' event saw many events around Cambridge and a successful all-age tea party was held at Brunswick School, which was followed by an exhibition of pictures of the event at the Guildhall, Cambridge. This particular event was kindly grant assisted by the City Council.

The over 50s were also out in force at PACT's Summer event at the Millennium Garden, off Norfolk Street, in June this year, which was very successful. This event could not have happened without the hard work and skills of Anna Lindsay, who is sadly unable to join us this evening. Our thanks to her.

Huge quantities of food and drink were laid on by local businesses on Norkolk Street and Sturton Street, with over 140 tombola prizes donated by others on East Road, Mill Road and Gwydir Street. Music was provided by local people and even the local Police van turned out to give youngsters a tour of the community. The weather exceeded all hopes and was warm and sunny. The evening was enjoyed by over 200 people and the tombola raised nearly £ 300 towards the Community Centre.

Work has gone into updating the PACT website to bring more information and work is being done to improve our database on PACT members so that we can contact more people online.

The community noticeboards on Norfolk St and St Matthew's Piece are maintained by PACT and reflect topical subject matter and events.

This year's ImPACT magazine was the 8th issue and increased from 16 to 20 pages, our largest production ever. Its informative content of news and articles, balanced with advertising from local businesses, was delivered to about 3000 homes by a hardworking team of volunteers. My thanks to them for their efforts for this and other mailings they've undertaken.

Last year, we announced that PACT was set to become a registered Charity, to enable us to move towards being an 'Incorporated Body', giving us legal status allowing us to take on the lease to a proposed community centre. We are not quite there yet, as our focus has been on other issues, but the matter is still in progress and the required paperwork for the application is nearly ready for submission.

The proposed development on Harvest Way is moving closer. Chartfront have gained approval for the office development and a further planning application for the residential development and the community centre is expected soon. PACT is very optimistic that this project will succeed and provide local people with an excellent community facility that PACT will manage. We will embark on an extensive fund-raising campaign to pay for a part-time centre manager and also a cleaner, once work is under way to provide the building. I can tell you that £ 90,000 of Section 106 funds has already been earmarked by Community Development for the purchase of capital equipment for the promised Community Centre.

Other issues of planning and the environment need attention. The Young Street site continues to be an eyesore and there are no indications yet as to what the developers intend to do with the site.

There are a large number of development issues that remain outstanding and PACT intends to follow these up in 2007. As a group and as residents we all need to make more use of the East Area Committee meetings to raise matters of concern to us.

Section 106 funds have been difficult to keep track of over the last two years. But works to resurface the footpaths of St Matthew's Piece have started - the final stage of S106 improvements to this park.

PACT's 2005 Questionnaire gave us a valuable insight into how we are perceived and where our energy is most needed. A summary of the results was published in the 2006 ImPACT magazine. The overall responses to PACT were positive, but we acknowledge that our weaknesses were primarily in our communication with members and residents, which we plan to remedy. If you are not already a member of PACT and would like to join, you can do so easily and it is free. Forms are at the desk by the door and if any current members need to update their details or email address, could they please speak to the person at the desk.

My report this evening finishes with the issue of the former Howard Mallett centre.

This issue has been ongoing for some time and the story has had twists and turns worthy of a thriller novel !! If you haven't heard already, PACT, together with residents, approached senior members of the City Council several months ago to try and suggest alternative sites for Citylife's development. Citylife were given planning approval in October to build their proposed 'Community Innovation Centre' at the northern end of St Matthew's Piece.

At the planning meeting, residents spoke out against the development, favouring the notion that the land should be restored to much needed open space. The vote went 4 / 3 in favour of Citylife. Many of those attending the meeting felt appalled by the behaviour of some of the City Councillors on the planning committee. PACT's petition of 600 signatures against the proposal was dismissed as 'Sentiment' by one Councillor. There was a feeling that the committee were being bullied into accepting the plans, with the suggestion that legal action could follow if the scheme was rejected. The acting Chair, Philippa Slatter, who spoke at the meeting initially with sympathetic and kindly tones towards our park, seemed to fall victim to the bullying and voted in favour of the development.

Since the planning meeting, PACT has been looking at many aspects of the proposal. We have sought advice from the Cambridge Preservation Society, the Open Space Society and others who specialise in the sale of land.

At one point, we were led to believe that Citylife's plans encroached on the protected open space to the east of the site, only for the City Council to admit that the measurements it had given for the protected open space were 'notional' and that the building was within its given area.

A Labour Councillor has recently questioned the sale of the lease to Citylife, saying that it was sold off in an unethical way, without reference to the local community as should have happened. PACT has also looked at this very issue. Rules governing the disposal of land are different from the disposal of assets, or so we thought. At one point, PACT believed that it could get little mileage from questioning the nature of the sale, but now we have found more information from the City Council that puts this issue back on the table, so we will investigate it further.

To conclude, PACT has been working with local residents to try and win back this valuable piece of your park. The struggle is far from over. Both the City Council and the County have failed to take heed of public opinion. They have failed to grasp an opportunity to enhance the small bit of open space that we have left.

Well... PACT has a different vision of the future, as do the 600 people who put their names to saving open space. I won't let it rest... and I pledge to you all that PACT will continue to fight to save this green space for future generations.

Thank you.