Parish Council minutes 15 April 2008

These minutes are published for information purposes only, and are not an official record of the meeting.

Status:

Draft

Present:

Cllr Gibson (Chair), Cllrs Coetzee (JC), Connor (FC), Drinkwater (SD), Eastman (BE), Goodall (NG), James (BJ), Lovell (JL) and Wregglesworth (WW), and Mrs A Wilson (Clerk).
Public attendance: Nil

Minutes of a meeting of Barton Stacey Parish Council held on Tuesday 15th April 2008 at Village Hall, Barton Stacey.

1. Apologies

Nil. All councillors were present.

2. Declarations of Interest

(a) Cllr James declared a personal interest as a Football Club Secretary

(b) Cllr Eastman declared a prejudicial interest in Affordable Housing

3. Minutes of previous meeting

We approved the following amendments to the previous minutes:

(a) Add ‘by the Parish Council’ in Item 7c

(b) Amend start of final sentence to read ‘Neither Cllrs Neal or Lovell must be seen to have predetermined this planning application prior to it coming before the Planning Committee’.

Action - The Clerk is to present the amended copy of the minutes to the Council for approval and signature at the next meeting

4. Rolling Action Plan

We reviewed the Action Plan. The updated Action Plan is attached.

5. Affordable Housing

MOD has expressed its desire to hasten the sale of the land and stated that they would instruct a firm of agricultural agents and solicitors to serve proper notice on the tenant. Hyde Housing has reported that work on the title and legal side was beginning to move and the MOD were willing to move to exchange, with completion subject to tenant farmer vacating portion of the field. We agreed to consider naming the development after the tenant farmer.

6. Village Recycling

TVBC has confirmed that they would install new modular banks during the w/c 12 May, that they had appointed a new contractor who would pay more attention to the cleanliness of the site, and that they would issue a new Site Agreement. We agreed to defer consideration of moving the site until we could judge the efficiency of new banks.

Action - The Clerk is to ask TVBC to avoid installation during the start and end of the school day.

7. Planning Applications

(a) Applications Received. None

(b) Planning Committee. We briefly discussed the establishment of a planning committee. We agreed not to establish a planning committee until after the publication of guidelines.

Action - The Clerk is to ask HALC (Steven Lugg) when they intend to publish the guidelines.

(c) Riverside Cottage. We discussed developments at Riverside Cottage noting that TVBC do not plan to take any further action until they reach a decision on the application for a Certificate of Lawfulness.

Action - The Clerk is to request assistance from our borough councillor (Cllr Neal).

(d) Review of Conservation Area. The Chairman confirmed that he was to meet TVBC representatives to discuss the review of the conservation areas. TVBC representatives will brief us on the proposed review at our next meeting.

8. Parish Matters

(a) Tree Planting on The Green. No progress made.

Action - Cllr Lovell is to approach Longstock or Holmes to progress.

(b) Temporary Car Parking. No progress made.

Action - The Chairman is to pursue permission for temporary parking with landowner.

(c) Footpaths. We noted that damaged finger posts had been reported and that ongoing damage might be part of a ‘campaign’ by motor- and quad-bike riders in protest at not being able to ride their vehicle at speed along footpaths.

9. Children’s Playground

Some items of equipment need minor repair and renovation. We have provided Chilbolton Parish with details about our play area.

Action - Cllr Goodall is to arrange for the repair of the equipment.

10. Finance

(a) The Clerk presented the Monthly Financial Report. The balance on 12 March was £16,527.38. We accepted the report.

(b) The Clerk presented the Statement of End of Year Accounts. The statement showed an excess of income of £4,458.00 and we will carry forward £16,368.05 in to 2008/09. We accepted the Statement of End of Year Accounts.

11. Business and Leisure Map

Cllr Wregglesworth provided a brief update.

Action - Cllr Wregglesworth is to submit a recommendation for the adoption of one of the 2 schemes.

12. Content of Minutes and Agenda

(a) Content of Minutes. We discussed the format and content of our minutes. We agreed to condense our minutes, to highlight actions in bold, and to include a column to record the councillor responsible for the action.

Action - The Clerk is to produce minutes in the new format forthwith.

(b) Standing Agenda Items. We discussed which agenda items should be standing items. We agreed that standing items should include the receipt of a verbal or written report from our borough councillor and a report from the clerk on decisions taken between meetings. We also agreed to change Councillor’s Issues to Councillor’s Reports.

Action - The Clerk is to make changes to the agenda for the next meeting.

13. Pipe Storage Facility

Cllr Connor reported that National Grid had expressed an interest in re-surfacing either the path to the recreation ground or the path to the school.

Action - Cllr Connor is to discuss the proposed community projects and the transit of HGVs through the village with National Grid.

Action - The Clerk is to ask HCC whether they accept responsibility to repair the tarmac surface of the path leading to the school.

14. Wastewater Treatment Works

See Rolling Action Plan.

15. Councillors Issues

(a) Cllr Goodall requested use of the recreation ground for the Village Ball on 12 September and received confirmation that TVBC would provide bags and grabbers for the Village Tidy Day (date tbc).

Action - Councillor Goodall is to confirm the date for the Village Tidy Day.

(b) Cllr Eastman reported a fallen tree was blocking the bottom gateway in the churchyard, that the Postman’s Walk footpath was non-existent, and that the Tuesday Club might ask the Council for a grant to help raise money to buy bibles for the school.

Action - The Clerk is to notify the PCC about the fallen tree and ask them to take action.

Action - The Clerk is to ask the landowner to re-instate the Postman’s Walk footpath.

(c) Cllr Wregglesworth expressed his thanks for the support on the HCC survey of young people’s needs. We agreed that it would be useful to have a copy of the final document.

(d) Cllr Lovell reported she had received a complaint about haunching along Bullington Lane (near the MoD tennis courts) and that she had attended a highways meeting of the Hampshire Action Team (HAT) noting it was possible for parish councils to lobby for road works to be included in the Highways Maintenance Programme.

Action - The Clerk is to report the haunching to HCC.

(e) Cllr Drinkwater complained about the surfaces of local roads. Cllr Drinkwater agreed to note specific problems when she encountered them.

(f) Cllr James noted that the pavilion was in need of more than redecoration and reported that the football club were willing to contribute towards the cost of works.

Action - Cllr James is to submit a works specification at the next meeting.

(g) Cllr Coetzee reported she had received 2 complaints following the recent wedding reception in a marquee on the recreation ground. There was some doubt as to whether all residents close to the recreation ground had been informed of the event. We agreed that for future events on the recreation ground that all residents close by should be informed.

16. Correspondence

(a) BS Football Club has sought permission to use the recreation ground for their Presentation Day (31 May 08) and the Annual Fun Day (13 Jul 08). They have also sought continued permission to use the recreation ground for their fixtures next season. We agreed to all requests.

(b) Mr and Mrs Warren have sought permission to hold a wedding reception on the recreation ground on 16 Aug 08. We noted that there might be difficulties with parking. We agreed the request in principle.

(c) We acknowledged an invitation to attend the annual County Service on 8 Jun 08 at Winchester Cathedral. Cllr Lovell agreed to represent the Council.

(d) The Clerk reported the receipt of an anonymous letter accusing 3 councillors of unproven criminal acts and reported that TVBC and the police had investigated. Under advice from HALC and TVBC’s Monitoring Officer, we agreed there was no case to answer.

Action - The Clerk is to post a notice on the website reminding the public of the proper way to contact the Council.

(e) Cllr Lovell drew our attention to the forthcoming Richard Lovell Community Service Award for Young People.

The meeting closed at 9.45 pm.

The Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Tuesday 29 Apr 2008

The Parish Council AGM and Monthly Meeting will take place on 20 May 2008.