FG114/11/05

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received and noted from the following Council Members, Mr.Bull and Mr.Dye.

FG115/11/05

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

There were no declarations of interest.

FG116/11/05

MINUTES

It was proposed by Mr. Apted and seconded by  Mr.Senneck and agreed by all present that the Minutes of the Finance & General Purposes Committee Meeting held on Wednesday, 5^th October, 2005 be accepted as a true and proper record.  Mr.Apted indicated that he had been present.

FG117/11/05

CHAIRMANS ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Chairman had no announcements.

FG118/11/05

CORRESPONDENCE

Items to be tabled:-

·              ODPM & Home Office: Your Neighbourhood - getting involved and having a say

·              NALC Ideas Paper on Neighbourhood Governance Review "The Role and Contribution of Parish and Town Councils".  Feedback on this consultation paper should be sent to Email: feedback@nalc.gov.uk.

·              Civil Contingencies act 2005: a short guide (revised October 2005) This document and the implications for local authorities will be discussed at the next Parish Council Health & Safety Committee.

·              West Sussex Health & Social Care NHS - Spotlight October.

·              ENCAMS: Litter & The Law - a guide for the public.  This document has been issued to all litter wardens, however if individual members would like a copy, could they please advise the Clerks office.

·              The National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners Ltd:  Allotment & Leisure Gardener Magazine Issue 4 2005.

·              The Deputy Prime Minister's Award for Sustainable Communities 2005:  Entries are invited from projects and initiatives of all types and sizes that are contributing to making towns, cities and rural communities in England better place in which to live and work.  Anyone, including those directly connected with the project or initiative, may submit an entry.  The Clerk discussed this at the SWAT meeting held last night with a view to an application on behalf of SWAT towards the skateboard park.

The Clerk advised Members that SWAT had been successful in acquiring the services of a Volunteer Grant Finder to assist the Clerk and SWAT in achieving funding for community projects.  Council were advised that this volunteer had previously been a parish councillor, having resigned due to his previous business and family commitments.

·              Southwater News November 2005

·              Horsham District Council Meeting Agenda for 2^nd November and associated minutes:  within the documents is a report to the District Council on the South East Plan.

(a)Horsham District Council - State of the District Debate Thursday 10^th November 2005:  Council received an invitation to attend the District Debate being held in The Studio, The Capitol Theatre, North Street, Horsham.  Mr.Senneck said that he had a good mind to attend this as he was disgusted with the fact that it had taken 19 weeks to take forward the Skateboard Project, and that despite this the Planning Officer had now requested yet further information from Leisure Services.  Mr.Senneck felt that surely both departments should have made sure at the outset that all potential matters had been addressed.

(b)   Age Concern:  Notification received that a new Chair has been appointed to Age Concern for West Sussex, namely Miss Frances Russell, currently the Charity's Vice Chair for the past year. 

(c)Federation of Sussex Amenity Societies:  A meeting of this group was held on Monday, 7^th November 2005 at Horsham District Council in Committee Room 2 at 7.30pm.

(d)   Stammerham Amenity Society:  The secretary of this local amenity group is attempting to arrange a visit to the Portsmouth incinerator, and have asked whether anyone within the Parish Council would be interested in taking part.  If Members are interested they should contact:janet@michaelaidin.com.   Mr.Clarke indicated that he thought that this site visit was being organised because of the proposals contained in the County Waste Plan.

FG119/11/05

ACCOUNTS & FINANCIAL MATTERS

The Clerk referred to the Members Pack dated 9^th November 2005, containing summaries of the latest financial position of the Council. 

Annual Accounts 2004/5

The Clerk confirmed that the amended documents had been sent to the Auditors, Mazars of Southampton, having been authorised by Council.

Outstanding Arrears

The Clerk advised that there was currently a dispute between the Council and Chubb Fire in relation to an invoice last August (2005) for a call out charge.  The Council maintain that this charge was not required, another call having been made and paid for.  The Council had advised Chubb of this dispute at the time, requesting that they look into the matter.  

Mr.Senneck asked the Clerk whether the Leisure Centre had lost some fire extinguishers in the past.  The Clerk replied that they had; Mr.Senneck indicated that these had been found in Pond Farm Ghyll and that he would retrieve them as soon as possible.  The Clerk indicated that they had been replaced at some expense some two years previously.

Tree News

The Clerk enquired whether or not Council wished to continue its subscription to "Tree News" the costs being 4 issues (£11) 3 issues (£9) and 2 issues (£6).

Resolved that the Council would renew the subscription of this periodical, however that the Clerk should ascertain from the Parish Tree Warden whether he found these informative; if so, then she should place an order to renew the subscription of £11 for a one year period.

Sussex Playing Fields Association

The Clerk indicated that the Annual Report for 2004/5 had been received; however a donation of £15 per annum was being requested in order to assist the association provide both information and advice.  The Clerk indicated that in the past the Council had received information from the group, which was in turn passed to the Leisure Centre management team although Mr.Brew had not at any time used their services. 

Resolved by all present that the Clerk should not renew the subscription to the Sussex Playing Fields Association based on the fact that their services had not been used in the past two years.

Cleansing Grant

The Clerk confirmed that the second quarter's cleansing grant claim in the sum of £1906.59 had been received.  The Clerk is still actively engaged in discussions with HDC regarding additional grants in respect of extra litter duties requested by senior officers of the District Council and relating to the existing shopping precinct.

FG120/11/05

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

Mr.Senneck informed Members that he, the Clerk and Trevor Beadle had held a meeting with an officer of DEFRA (Department for Rural Affairs).  DEFRA continue to work with the rural town and parish council sector, and are in the process of consulting widely on behalf of the ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minster) regarding the various consultation papers recently issued, and read by Members, on local governance and how Government can encourage local communities.  Having read many of the articles, Members felt that whilst DEFRA were generally aware of the parish council sector, the ODPM did not seem to be fully aware of the work undertaken by Town and Parish Councils, despite working more closely in recent months with NALC (National Association of Local Councils) and SLCC (Society of Local Council Clerks).

Mr.Senneck felt that perhaps the ODPM should be made aware, if they hadn't by now, that Parish Councils were, in Mr Senneck's mind, the locally elected and most democratic of all authorities working at the grass roots level of communities.  One of the subjects discussed was the plethora of Government papers being circulated, many of which were written in Government speak rather than in plain and simple English.  Mr.Clarke suggested that perhaps the Council should invite the Deputy Prime Minster, or at least a senior Minister, to visit the Parish and attend a Parish Council meeting to see what goes on in a local democracy.

On the question of Quality Status, the time is right to have a major input into the criteria being proposed for after the next elections, for it appeared that these guidelines were not in place.  Mr.Senneck felt that it was important that the necessary criteria were in place for the next elections in 2007.  Various other subjects and matters of concern were raised with the officer; the meeting had been very successful in getting over the Council's point of view on a variety of topics.

Resolved that the Clerk should write to the Deputy Prime Minister asking whether he would not only like to visit the Parish but also attend a Parish Council meeting in order to make himself aware of how local democracy was at work in local communities.  The visit to be arranged once the Parish Council were in situ within the new community building sometime after July 2005.

FG121/11/05

DRAFT BUDGETS FOR YEAR 2006/7

The Clerk confirmed that she had received notification from Horsham District Council that the new Band D tax base calculation is assessed to be 3,982.6.  This will allow the calculation of the precept figure once Members have finalised their budget calculations for 2006/7.

Mr.Senneck proposed one or two alterations; however, Mr.Buckley said that these had been taken care of at the time of budgeting.  These discussions concerned the expenditure for a skateboard park and refit of new community building.  It was agreed to leave the figures as discussed at the meeting on the 2^nd November, with the exception of the new Band D figure being applied of 3982.6.

Mr.Nagy indicated that one item not yet discussed at length was the issue of the car park and whether there should be a tarmac surface or loose gravel.  Mr.Senneck and Mr.Clarke confirmed that the District Council had estimated that the cost of a tarmac car park was in the region of £120,000.  Mr.Buckley felt that perhaps the Council should consider this, perhaps with the funds being taken from the ring-fenced public open space fund and then repaid over a three to five year period. 

Resolved that the Clerk, Mr.Senneck and Mr.Forrest should meet with Parish Council contractors in order to assess possible prices for both a loose surface and tarmac car park.

The Clerk reminded Members of the Committee that Mr.Bull had questioned whether or not the Parish Council should consider purchasing the Community Building, if they were not to receive the Community Building as planning gain.  There was also the question of whether or not the Parish Council would take the lease for the youth club area pending further discussions with other partners.  Mr.Senneck indicated that the Committee had budgeted for this expense; however, he agreed that in the longer term there would be the question of the commercial rent in Year 6 & 7 relating to the Youth Club area and amounting to approximately £24k.  Mr.Buckley said that in terms of the maintenance and management of the community building, the Parish Council could not anticipate making anything from the project as he felt that whatever income/management fees were achieved would also be spent on the expenditure side.

Resolved that the Clerk would send out to Members of Council the revised Summary Sheet and Projected Precept figures based on discussions to date.  The next budget discussion being schedule for 7^th December, at which stage the budget should be then recommended to Full Council on Wednesday, 21^st December, 2005.

FG122/11/05

VILLAGE CENTRE REDEVELOPMENT

Internal Plans for New Community Building

The Clerk indicated that following a recent management meeting held on site, the Parish Council management committee had requested a copy of the specification in relation to the new community building.  Although the Clerk had not received this document, she had obtained the necessary building plans specifying cabling, electricity, etc. 

Mr.Nagy, said, that he had just managed to look at the plans prior to the meeting that evening, said that he had at least four questions which he felt that the Council should raise in relation to the building, but that generally the plans looked okay with all items requested having been allowed for.

Landscaping

Mr.Senneck indicated that the Council had also received at that meeting a detailed landscaping plan for the development, most of the trees being semi mature and with a variety of native species.  It was apparent that the Fletcher Trust would be involved in some of the landscaping of the old platform area.

Old Worthing Bridge

Discussions with the Princes' Trust were taking place with regard to their carrying out a landscaping project on the bridge area when the new road system is in place.  Mr.Senneck indicated that it may be possible that additional funding would be sought from other sources, including the Parish Council, towards the cost of plants/shrubs etc.

Memorial Garden Area

The suggestion was made that perhaps the area coming down from the new section of Downslink could be turned into a memorial garden of sorts.  This would allow for memorial benches etc. to be put in place but not for cremated remains and the like.  Discussions are still to continue in relation to this matter.

CCTV

The Clerk reported that CCTV was to be in place throughout the site and that this would be linked to Sussex Police.  However, the camera which had been proposed for the Medical Centre was not to be put in place at the current time but  provision had been made for trunking/wiring to enable this to be done at a future date.

New Fencing to Residents of The Forge

It is proposed that the residents of The Forge whose properties back onto the site will be offered the opportunity of renewing their rear fence line in order to ensure that these are secure.

Street Furniture

Whilst the majority of the street furniture will be of a modern appearance and the lighting similar to that in place within the Forum in Horsham, the District are to use the old Southwater Brick Yard gates as a feature within the new development.

Dinosaur

The provision of a piece of art in the form of a Dinosaur within the Lintot Square development had been approved.  However, the footprints proposed for across the Square leading towards the Community Building and Library were proving problematic.

FG123/11/05

ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS

Easteds Barn

The Clerk confirmed that she had written to the District Council Chief Executive in relation to Easteds Barn Recycling area and has received a reply to her letter, stating that the matter is being ful