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Minutes of Steering Group Meeting
Present: Martin Calvert, Steve Jones-Blackett, Teresa Williams, David Miles, Claire Johnson, Simon Conyers, Mark Clayton, Mick Churley.
Adrian Coltman, Adam & Carol Bull, Emily Wilde. 2. Minutes of the Meeting Held 4th September 2025 Agreed as a true record.
Minutes and the Financial Report from the last meeting were sent to members, as well as a trustees statement. Martin Calvert and Steve Jones-Blackett outlined reasons for the current trustees stepping down. The timing is good as the current main projects are at an end and there is a chance to take stock. Simon Conyers offered himself for a trustee role. David Miles also offered to be trustee and suggested at least one other person happy to be a trustee together with possibly 3 others. The Steering Group expressed thanks for these offers. Existing trustees will co-opt the new trustees who will then stand for election at the next FGVW AGM in June 2026. 6. Proposal to Buy Catholic Diocese Field Adjoining Beck Pasture David Miles, Mark Clayton and Mick Churley have produced a proposal to be worked on to submit to the Diocese regarding the purchase of their field. The Group discussed ways of approaching the Diocese. The existing combined sewer overflow (CSO) and possible future improvements to it could play a vital part. We are not sure how much the Diocese are aware of the CSO. The Group felt it was important to bring in support from churches, schools and congregations. Simon Conyers offered to contact a former company to add the details of the field to their platform, possibly to get a valuation to be taken into consideration with the valuation from Adair Paxton. David Miles noted that someone at the Green Fair had offered to buy the field for the benefit of FGVW. David will follow this up if the Diocese are agreeable. It was agreed for Mick Churley, Mark Clayton and David Miles to produce the proposal and ideas for convincing the Diocese of the benefits of selling the field. 7. Project to Refurbish Footpaths The site meeting on 6th October 2025 was encouraging. Lucy Clarke (LCC Forestry Officer) and Tom from Leeds Coppicers have agreed to finalise the woodland management work element of the funding application by end of December. The area of woodland next to the "Lord Mayor's Path" is due to be managed by LCC, hopefully on a no cost basis as the trees taken out should fund the work, so this area won't now be in the grant application. Lucy offered to send the LCC's woodland management plan for Gledhow Valley Woods. The funding application would be for the three paths and woodland management of the areas adjoining the paths. Management ideas include removal of laurel, snowberry and some holly as well as the planting of trees and some stream-side plants. Lucy will be on maternity leave after Christmas. The FGVW send congratulations to Lucy. Value for money would be ensured by the competitive tendering process. David Miles asked for thoughts on what people wish to be included in the woodland management work. One possibly might be the provision of QR codes linking to a website. Another idea would be to open up the view from above the sledging slope (the top path between the carriageway and the lodge) by removing relatively new growth of trees that have blocked the Turner vista. Regarding dredging the area around the boon, David Miles has received a reply taking note of our concerns for the depth of the lake and that a new contractor will be doing the work. The boon is quite rotten now. There is an event on 8th November 2025 at St Matthew's Church, 10am-12pm where Gledhow water quality monitoring volunteers can inform people of what is happening as a whole. Around 20 volunteers will be attending. There is a kick sampling sub-group of volunteers. These volunteers will be able to take advantage of LNER providing a grant from its charitable arm to the Aire River Trust to train people in riverfly monitoring to a fully accredited standard. FGVW volunteers will then be able to enter data into a national database for invertebrates. LNER will be commissioning a video about Gledhow Beck and pollution to highlight the benefits of their funding of the training. We still need more signatures for the campaign to eradicate cross-connections from entering Gledhow Beck. David Miles proposed a leaflet to be delivered to houses locally, highlighting the situation. Steve Jones-Blackett kindly agreed to print the leaflet. The steering group agreed for FGVW to fund the purchase of ampules for dissolved oxygen tests.
10. Dates of Next Meetings (Provisional)
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