Minutes of Steering Group Meeting
29th January 2026

Present: David Miles (Chair), Martin Calvert, Adam & Carol Bull, Steve Jones Blackett, Teresa Williams, David Lumb, Simon Conyers, Mike Walkden, Anna Windsor.

First meeting held in the new format with David Miles as Chair, new trustees and a change in venue.

Apologies for Absence Minutes of the Meeting Held 4th December 2025 Matters Arising Action Mornings Relationship Between FGVW and Gledhow Valley Green Fair (GVGF) Project to Refurbish Footpaths

Diocesan Field Trustees Meeting Water Quality Monitoring Hedge and Tree Planting AOB Dates of Next Meetings

1. Apologies for Absence

Adrian Coltman, Hazel Gregory.

2. Minutes of the Meeting Held 4th December 2025

Agreed as a true record.

3. Matters Arising

• The wetlands work has been completed with planting to take place in the spring in better weather. We've received a donation from Yorkshire Water for plants from a nursery in Driffield. Martin suggested seeding the area as well as planting. Invoices for the wetlands work will be sent to Steve. The River Stewardship was due to put a tree trunk across the path to prevent cars, but this has not been done due to potential problems with the path. Balsam has been marked out ready for beating and spraying or to be dug out while still small.

4. Action Mornings

• Sunday 14 December 2025
  It went well and included festive treats.
• Sunday 11 January 2026
  Cancelled due to the weather.

5. Relationship Between FGVW and Gledhow Valley Green Fair (GVGF)

The Trustees see the benefits from having a closer relationship between FGVW and GVGF in using the using the FGVW name and its registered charity status. Also, there may be new ideas coming out of the GVGF that FGVW would benefit from. It could also help to strengthen ties with other groups.

The Trustees have discussed the risks, and Simon is pulling together an independent report including suggestions for practical ways to mitigate those risks. He will check that the relationship does not cause any issues with the financial accounts or cause any tax risks due to trading at the Green Fair.

The FGVW insurance is due for renewal in February so this will need looking at and it may be more beneficial to merge the insurance for both groups together.

FGVW previously ran an annual FunDay. It became difficult to get the number of volunteers needed to help organise the event and run on the day and it was decided not to re-visit this event after the pandemic. David M confirmed that this had not been an issue for GVGF and they had secured over 80 volunteers for past events. It was felt that there could be some cross over between the groups and volunteer numbers could increase.

The FGVW GVGF would have a clear structure and constitution, sufficient controls and clear reporting lines. There was a discussion over the materiality threshold. It was agreed that the discussions for GVGF could be kept separate from the FGVW Steering Group as the Trustees had oversight of both.

GVGF funding is in a good place, but Martin raised lessons learnt from the FGVW FunDay in having a separate cancellation fund.

6. Project to Refurbish Footpaths

Three footpaths have been selected for refurbishment: the lakeside path opposite the Bath House, the upper path from the lake lodge to the garages, and the path parallel to Allerton Grange Way, including access to Brackenwoods.

The plan is for the work to be completed and partially funded by FCC, a landfill operator, and to obtain funding from the National Lottery. The cost is estimated to be £180K. The paths will be upgraded with boardwalks in places due to the camber and areas prone to flooding. The Project will be channelled through the local authority.

As part of the funding from FCC the Group will need to raise 10% of the funding. David M is currently looking into this.

The priority will be to apply for funding for the longest path first near Allerton Grange Way funded by FCC and to apply for National Lottery Funding for the remaining paths.

Design plans and costings will need to be submitted with the funding applications. FGVW already has the funding earmarked to produce the plans. David M to send the instructions of what is required to Steve. The FCC application opens on 21st Feb to 20th May 2026. The group need to look at woodland management and community activity to support the project.

7. Diocesan Field

A letter has been drafted to purchase the Diocesan field and circulated around the Steering Group for comments. Steve highlighted the importance of the community aspects of the request. There was a discussion about the sewage tank underneath the field. Adam challenged whether it was appropriate to say, essentially, that "this was what the pope would want" in the letter. David said that this was what the parishioners had requested for the letter and that he had also been asked to include St Francis of Assisi.

8. Trustees Meeting

Detailed minutes have been circulated to the Steering Group. One of the key points was on the use of social media. It was decided to leave X, keep Facebook, add Instagram and arrange multiple logins so they could be managed by more than one person in case of emergency.

It was noted that a particular skillset was needed for social media and to write the newsletters. We have 2.7k followers on Facebook and it is very localised. Adam agreed to transfer the newsletter over to Simon.

Another key point was on the development of a new website. The website was originally built in 2020, so it has become outdated. Quotes are invited to build a new website. Adam agreed to help with the transfer of the domain and help with the transition. Mike offered to take stewardship of it and look at developing a new one. Anna agreed to help with social media and the newsletter. Simon agreed to co-ordinate the changes.

The Trustees also discussed some data concerns and Adam said that we didn't need to register with ICO, and that he had found no evidence to support the claim that registration was needed because of the number of members.

9. Water Quality Monitoring

There have been several meetings between FGVW, Leeds City Council and Yorkshire Water about cross-connections and pollution. There was a road run-off meeting with Jonath Moxon from Flood Water Management. Work is on-going to monitor what is coming out of the gullies and the level of pollution.

Yorkshire Water and the Council have agreed to send the Group quarterly reports on what is happening with the misconnections and where pollution is going into the beck rather than the sewage system. There are discrepancies in reporting with one showing 3-5 misconnections and another showing over 40. The Local Councillors are also onboard. The CSOs asset management program is not until 2035 so the Group is looking at any mitigations that can be put in place until this happens. This remains a work in progress and the Group will meet with this the parties in 4 months' time.

10. Hedge and Tree Planting

The Group has had donations of hedge and various varieties of trees. Suggestions are needed for where these can be planted.

11. AOB

• The Group has received complaints about litter near the Bath House, and this has been cleared. The Group to encourage the use of purple bags so the rubbish can be collected in the normal way.
  There are people who are homeless living in the woods. In the past, members of the Group have engaged local support groups to speak to them so it was decided to pull together what resources are available and contacts that could be shared with people who wish to help. Often it needs a multi-agency response so we can start to facilitate this and get help for those that want it. Also, it would help if we could get a named person who we can contact.
  The discussion expanded into other areas and contacts that it would be helpful to pull together and share on the website. The Group get a lot of queries about fly tipping so it would be helpful for others in the community to know who to contact so it could be dealt with directly.
• David L attended the Leeds Parks and Green Spaces Forum along with representatives from other Friends groups. They offer training in anti-harassment bystander training that would be useful to FGVW members and volunteers. Also, it was noted that the Parks Department no longer exists, and it has been replaced with the Climate, Energy and Green Spaces Department (CEGS).
• Teresa has received feedback from members of the community that they are concerned the woods are becoming a bit "clinical" with all the work being done. They want the woods to remain as woods and not to be turned into a country park. It was explained that without the work being done to the lake it would have silted up and been lost. Also to reassure people that FGVW was there as custodians of the woods. The Group encourage people to attend future meetings to discuss their concerns. The Group try to explain what is happening by putting notices on trees and on social media but acknowledged more could be done through the newsletter.
• A bench has been left in a dead hedge and needs to be put back into position. There is also a tree that needs removing from the lake. This work has been categorised to be completed later by a third party, but no date given.
• Yorkshire Water has some rangers and one of them, Nick, is keen to meet up with the mid-week working group. Adrian to make contact and arrange.
• The Group held their meeting in The Woods Bar. They have an incentive scheme to encourage staff to help with green initiatives and so we hope they will become FGVW volunteers and take part in our action mornings.

12. Dates of Next Meetings (Provisional)

• Steering Group Meeting - Thu 12 Mar 2026
• Action Morning - Sun 22 Mar 2026
• Action Morning - Sun 19 Apr 2026
• Action Morning - Sun 10 May 2026
• Action Morning - Sun 14 Jun 2026