We've had a few more meetings since the last blog - some little meetings to plan bigger meetings, and then a public meeting at Kingston Environment Centre on 31st October, where we updated on what we'd found out so far and what other community groups had done, agreed some terms of reference, and got ourselves a little bit more organised. We have gathered a lot of ideas to accommodate and work with, now it's time to get down to some of the work.
So we now have the beginnings of a steering group with a simple constitution (see http://e-voice.org.uk/topo/files/view/TOPO_SG_CONSTITUTION.doc) to keep us on track, and some working groups. Some tasks (business planning, spatial planning, researching possible sources of funding and other help) need doing now, and sub-groups are starting work on them; others, such as actively campaigning and publicising what we want will follow. The steering group will meet monthly to try to co-ordinate the work of the sub-groups and summarise it for public consumption during this first phase of activity - but we know we will need to evolve into something more formal if/when the community hub looks like happening and needing a properly constituted entity to manage the project and then the venue.
We will be consulting potential users at all stages of the project, always with the understanding that in the early stages at least "potential" is the right word, and that much can change in the working out and planning of a new development. So it's ideas now, and firm commitments will come later.