Present: Paul Smith (Chair), Barbara Judge, David Meade, Julie Morton, John Prance, Eric Tomlinson, Richard Wiltshire.

1) Apologies for Absence: Alan Cremer, Phil Kessel and Graeme Laidlaw.

2) Steering Group Meeting: It was reported that at the last Steering Group meeting Julie Morton was appointed as the new Chair of QED.

3) Dartford Festival: The Group needs to start planning its exhibit at next year's Dartford Festival as soon as possible. Planning started too late for this year's Festival, due in part to changes in senior management at Dartford Borough Council, but with the recent appointment of Rob Hardy as the new Deputy Director of Environment and Leisure this problem should not recur. A number of comments were made at this year's Festival about the Waste Paper Collection Service, and the volume being collected has dropped, although this is due in part to the collapse of prices in the market for used cardboard, which necessitated the exclusion of cardboard from the service. There was also interest in home composting, but John Prance reported that in schemes elsewhere, where subsidised compost bins have been provided, there has been no significant drop in the volume of waste collected. As a follow-up to these comments, an article could be prepared on paper collection/disposal of plastic bags for the series in the Informer, but first the Steering Group needs to discuss how to reactivate this series. An article on light pollution could also be prepared, based on Julie Morton's interest in this issue.

4) Election of Chair: Paul Smith was unanimously re-elected.

5) DBC LA21 Review Document: The chair summarised the main features of the Review Document. Phil Kessel would like any comments that Group members may have to be passed on to Alan Cremer as soon as possible.

6) Community Composting - Primary Schools "Pumpkin Competition": Richard Wiltshire distributed an outline of this project, which is now at the stage of being advertised by Kent Property Services to local primary schools. The project builds on the QED Allotments Group's contacts with Uplands Allotments (Handsworth).

7) QED Trip to Brogdale October 24: Richard Wiltshire reported that the coach is already over-subscribed.

8) Future Projects: Julie Morton suggested that the Group could take advantage of the meteorite shower that peaks on November 17 to publicise the problem of light pollution, and agreed to contact a local group of astronomers about this. Richard Wiltshire reported a continuing need for pallets on local allotment sites. On the suggestion of David Meade, it was agreed that the Group needs to be more active in responding to consultative documents. Paul agreed to obtain multiple copies of the Kent Environment Agency Plan (the deadline for comments is December 31), and the Group agreed to discuss this Plan as the main item of business at its next meeting. We also need more leaflets on waste issues, of a higher quality, and distribution through local libraries. Julie Morton agreed to contact Glaxo Wellcome about leaflet display stands, on behalf of the QED Steering Group.

9) New Members: Eric Tomlinson and others expressed concern about the membership of the Group, and the need to find out why numbers had fallen. It would be helpful if the Group had a flagship project to attract interest. John Prance pointed to the success of the working parties organised by Richard Pullman on Dartford Heath and elsewhere.

10) Other Business: Eric Tomlinson introduced a number of videos on environmental issues available free of charge from the Environment Agency. Barbara Judge suggested that the group take a look at one of these videos at its next meeting.

11) Date of Next Meeting: Wednesday November 25 1998, from 7.30 pm at the Civic Centre.

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