Minutes of the Meeting of Alderholt Parish Council held on Monday 11^th January 2010 at 7.30pm, in the Committee Room, Alderholt Village Hall

PRESENT;              Councillors - Cllr K Mason (Chairman)

Cllr S Butler, Cllr A Hibberd, Cllr W Ham ,Cllr J Routley, Cllr T Sulman and Cllr   J Walker

Clerk - Mrs M. Humby

01/10 APOLOGIES

Cllr N Jones-holiday

East Dorset District Councillor Ian Monks and Dorset County Councillor Tim Palmer-attending full Council meeting at EDDC

02/10 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllrs Sulman, Butler and Hibberd declared a personal interest in agenda item 6 (Funding request Alderholt Sports Club) and Cllr Hibberd declared a prejudicial interest in agenda item 9 planning applications 3/09/1063/HOU and 3/09/1128/FUL.

03/10 MINUTES

Resolved; the minutes of the previous Parish Council meeting were confirmed and signed as a correct record of that meeting.

04/10 MATTERS ARISING

Closure of Station Road to Pressy's Corner (B3078/492). DCC have advised that the re surfacing scheme in Station Road, Alderholt has had to be put back. A revised start date of the 22nd March 2010 has now been given, although this may be subject to change. Noted

05/10 ALDERHOLT POND NEXT WHEELERS COTTAGE

The owners of Wheelers Cottage discussed with members their plans to reinstate the pond adjacent to     Wheelers Cottage. They have already cleared the footpath that runs along the boundary edge and have sought advice from Anna Muckle (EDDC Bio Diversity) regards the pond. The pond was overgrown, unkempt and full of rubbish. They are hoping to obtain a £1000 grant from the bio diversity group to assist with the work which includes clearing the trees, cleaning the bottom of the pond and banking the edge. A large part of this will be tree surgeon costs although the logs will be used to bank up one side of the pond and also by the footpath to help with flooding problems.

The Chairman thanked them both for their hard work so far.

Ownership of this piece of land is still not clear. It was agreed that a public notice would be displayed requesting any information regarding ownership. In the meantime, the Parish Council will look into the best way to ensure this pond is best protected; whether this is by the parish council applying for ownership or whether it is simply registered as common land. The Parish Council will also obtain quotations for a public notice board to display information about the pond to be sited in this area.  Liaison between the parish council and the owners will continue throughout the project.

06/10 CHAIRMAN'S/CLERKS NOTICES

1.        EDDC copy of Emergency Response Plan received and held by clerk. Noted

2.        EDDC Budget Meeting- new date Thursday 21/1/10 @ 6pm in the Council Chamber. Noted     

3.        DAPTC-High Speed Broadband meeting Fri 22/1/10 Ferndown 10am. KM to attend

4.        PACT Meeting- 13/1/10-Edmondsham 2pm. Noted

07/10FINANCE

1.       Resolved;

The following payments to be sanctioned;

2.       Cheque no 501903 for a joint grant to F/B Day Centre & Rae Stratton Lunch club for £100.00 has been destroyed and reissued as 2 separate cheques for £50.00 each

3.       Cheque no 501909-P Stent for £26.70 not received -stopped with bank and reissued as cheque no 501922

4.       Total cash book funds of the Council are currently £68491.98cr

5.       Requests for funding;

There are no funds left in this financial year's grant budget.

Resolved; New Forest CAB and Victim Support to be advised to reapply for the next financial year (to be considered at the finance meeting in May).

Resolved; Members of the Sports Club Committee be invited to the Recreation and Leisure Committee meeting on 28^th January to discuss the finance issue in more detail. Members of the Recreation Association will also be invited to discuss the recreation ground (as per min 188/09).

08/10 COUNTY COUNCILLORS REPORT AND DISTRICT COUNCILLORS REPORT

There are no reports from District and County Councillors as they are both attending a full EDDC Council meeting at Furzehill, Wimborne.

09/10 PUBLIC OPEN FORUM

The following items were raised in the open forum but required no action;

1.      Support for improved broadband in the village

2.      Phone box at Cripplestyle

3.      Recreation ground maintenance

4.      Meeting with DCC to discuss Charing Cross issues and Hillbury Road speed limits-this is now likely to be around March due to the problems highways are currently experiencing with weather problems and the backlog from this.

East Dorset District Councillor Ian Monks arrived at the meeting 8.30pm.

10/10 REPORTS FROM COMMITTEES AND REPRESENTATIVES

1.         Crime report circulated and noted.

2.         Planning Minutes circulated. Due to a prejudicial interest by Cllr Hibberd, there were not enough members to be quorate in making a decision on the following 2 applications at the Planning Meeting. Resolved to agree the following recommendations made by planning committee;

11/10 RECREATION GROUND INSPECTION

1.         Report on any actions relating to the SAS Playgrounds and PC monthly recreation ground inspections;

v  The repairs at the children's play area, including the jet washing of the roundabout are still outstanding because the contractors are waiting for the weather to be drier for access. A new lamp has been ordered which is unlikely to be available before March. It will be repaired as soon as the replacement lamp is received. Noted

2.         Cllr Hibberd agreed to complete the January Recreation Ground inspections.

12/10 BESPOKE PHARMACY APPLICATION APPEAL

A decision has been received regarding the above appeal advising that the appeal has been dismissed. The six month approval period will start with effect from 17/12/09.Noted

13/10 HIGHWAYS AND TRANSPORT

Emails, telephone calls and many verbal complaints have been received from residents regarding gritting problems in the village, including a request from St James' First School that Park Lane be gritted as the school had to close during the icy weather. Only Station Road, Hillbury Road and Ringwood Road are gritted during icy periods with Earlswood Drive/Birchwood Drive (priority 3 as it is a school bus route) being gritted only in prolonged icy periods. Requests have been made for the provision of grit bins which can be purchased by either the Parish Council or residents and will be topped up by County Council. Although in some cases, this may help to resolve the problems, there are also disadvantages, for example, will the council be able to keep them topped up and who is to be responsible for spreading the grit/salt?

It was agreed that it is unlikely that this issue will be sorted in time for this cold weather spell. Therefore, this issue to be added to the February meeting so that further consideration can be given as to whether grit bins should be used in Alderholt and at what locations. The Parish Council will also lobby DCC to include Park Lane (including pavements) and Birchwood/Earlswood Drive as a priority 1/2 road in its gritting schedule.

14/10 fUNDING pROJECT cONSIDERATION

Agreed that consideration of the funding priority of the following projects to be dealt with by Finance Committee. Any member who has a particular project that they wish to have funding allocated for should provide a written report for the meeting. They are also welcome to attend and report directly at the meeting.

v  Allocation of funding from the Village Amenity fund to Village Projects

v  Village Projects to possibly be sourced from Mineral Extraction funding

15/10 Correspondence

An email has been received from a resident regarding anti social problems in the village possibly in connection with users of the Alderholt Sports Club.

Agreed that the resident to be advised to contact the police if any future incidences arise and that the Parish Council will raise this complaint with the Sports Club.

16/10 Consultation Papers

None received

Meeting finished at 9.20pm