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Minutes of Thakeham Parish Council Meeting - Monday, 18th December 2006
Meeting opened: 7.30 p.m.
Present: Mr D Berry Mr J Bearman Mr A Harwood Mr D MacEachern Mrs P Maggs Rev P Messenger Mr N Prince Mr R Walker In attendance Cllr Pat Arculus County Council Cllr David Jenkins District Council Mr J Denman Clerk to the Council Members of the press and public
232. Apologies for absence Apologies for absence were received and accepted from Cllr Dawes, who was on holiday, and Cllr Hardisty who had a commitment elsewhere. Cllr Goring was also absent.
233. Interests of Members No interests were declared.
234. Minutes of the last meetingMinutes of the last meeting of the Parish Council held on 20th November 2006 were approved and signed.
235. Report on Action Items 235.1 (214.3) Highway Safety: First school has supported our request for action. WSCC have advised that the school travel plan is being updated and will respond in more detail this week.
235.2 (215) Local Works: 1st MP drawn is adopting the Sustainable Communities Bill. Clerk to urge our MP to be present to vote at the 2nd reading on 19th January and write to local press to encourage all local MP's to do the same.
235.3 (217) Directory of Local Organisations: Cllr Bearman has updated the list of contacts.
235.4 (225.1) Good Practice Indicators: List of questions circulated to Cllrs.
235.5 (228.2) Christmas Dinner: Cllr Bearman advised this had proved very successful with approximately 70 attendees. The Council recorded its thanks to Gillian Bird and all others who helped.
236. Correspondence HDC: Summons to Council meeting 13th December. Summons to Development Control (South) Committee meeting 19th December. Health seminar 29th January to inform response to NHS "Fit for the Future" consultation. WSCC: Consultation on denominational school transport 2008/9, proposal to reduce level of support, response by 9th February - passed to Cllr MacEachern to bring back to Council if necessary. HALC: Update by email, including notice of a seminar on the White Paper: Strong and Prosperous Communities on 23rd January. Impetus Consulting: Invitation to return questionnaire by 22nd December to be 1 of 3 villages to get free facilitation and consultation service to help devise action plan to reduce carbon emissions in community.
237. Finance 237.1 External Audit The unqualified certificate of the external auditor for the year ended 31 March 2006 was received.
237.2 Financial Performance A report on the current financial year to 30 November 2006 was received.
237.3 Payments A report on the current bank balances was tabled and the following were approved for payment: Roger Smith: November Outdoor Maintenance 180.00 M Summers: Weed & rotovate play area 100.00 HDC: December dog bin emptying 6.93 Thakeham PCC: shared cost of wreaths for remembrance day service 14.50 Thakeham PCC: contribution for maintenance of churchyard in 2006 1100.00 West Sussex Rural Mobile Youth Trust: Donation 150.00 Mazars: Annual audit fee 293.75 Staples UK Ltd: Office supplies 32.25 Gross salaries including PAYE / NI and Clerk's OP expenses and mileage and agreed reimbursement for additional hours 3164.63 £5042.06
237.4 Outdoor Maintenance Contract The paper from the clerk dated 13th December was reviewed and it was agreed that the quotation from Roger's Gardening Services of £2470 for the 2007 outdoor maintenance contract be accepted.
238. Dates and times for 2007 Meetings It was agreed to adopt the draft schedule that was presented to the meeting; clerk to forward to Gillian Bird for village hall bookings.
239. APM Speaker It was agreed that Cllr MacEachern will invite the Head of Rydon School to speak at the APM.
240. Speed limit extension on B2139 Cllr Walker requested discussion of this item following the recent serious accident at Snapes Corner. It was agreed that the clerk would write to WSCC requesting an urgent review to extend the limit to cover all of the corner; at the request of County Cllr Arculus David Sax is also to be copied in order for it to be covered in the next CLC meeting. Cllr Walker advised that he has also asked Highways to inspect the dip in the road.
241. Joint Planning Advisory Working Group Cllr Berry advised that no further meeting had yet been held; District Cllr Jenkins advised one may be able to be arranged for the 2nd week in January. A TVA representative was critical of the decision recorded under minute 230 and Cllr Berry therefore read out the letter sent to HDC a copy of which he would make available to the representative. Cllr Harwood requested his concern be noted that a member who will be leaving the Council was on this group and for the sake of continuity it would be preferable if all group members were standing for re-election; the Chairman observed that the change in group members had been agreed by Council without objection at the 16th October meeting (minute 199).
242. Parish Action Plan Cllr Walker advised that Mark Keenan has agreed to head the Steering Group Committee and at the request of the Council Mr Keenan gave an update on the current status and planned timetable for completion. Copies of the draft plan were circulated to Cllrs; any comments to be fed back through Cllr Walker.
243. Open Spaces Committee Cllr Prince advised that the application made under the "Trees for Shade" scheme had been successful and WSCC had agreed to meet the full cost of £475 for 5 trees. A quote from a possible alternative maintenance contractor is expected this week.
244. Parish Office/Playing Fields Advisory Committee Cllr Harwood advised that the presentation, together with recommendations, had been finalised and would therefore be ready for the January meeting. Estimated time for the presentation plus discussion was 30 minutes and it was agreed this would take place in open session at the beginning of the meeting.
245. Footpaths Cllr Prince advised he was waiting to hear from Darren Rolfe/WSCC regarding the footpath inspection when he will ensure that the stiles and Strawberry Lane issues are also covered. As regards the Furze Common Road footpath, the clerk reported that copies of the inquiry procedure had been distributed to Cllrs and had also been made available for the public and the situation had been mentioned in the newsletter. He had spoken today with the Planning Inspectorate for an update and they advised nothing has yet been arranged; WSCC have 4 inquiries outstanding, this is 2nd in the queue and the 1st is currently expected to be held in April.
246. Laybrook Landfill Cllr Berry advised that Laybrook is 1 of 3 potential sites that are going forward despite strong PC opposition. The public meeting was well attended and received good press coverage. The Working Party met on 5th December and the critical issues were identified, a further meeting is scheduled for 3rd January. The subject is also on the agenda of the 23rd January CLC meeting and the public consultation runs from 19th January to 2nd March.
247. Reports from Councillors 247.1 Cllrs Arculus and Jenkins briefed the meeting on current County and District issues.
247.2 Cllr Walker advised that another SID operation had been undertaken which showed a slight increase in excessive speeding to just over 50%. The southern end of the B2139 has also been covered and further operations are planned. A resident has written to Highways regarding the speed limit following the recent accident at Snapes Corner. Cllr Berry referred to accidents on the B2133, Cllr MacEachern will seek to obtain details and pass to the clerk.
247.3 Cllr Bearman reported the death of Bill Deakin of HDC who has supported the parish on a number of issues over the years. It was agreed the clerk will send a letter of condolence.
248. Liaison with TVA Concern over the PC actions regarding the mushroom sites was reiterated. Discussions regarding Laybrook are continuing. AGM being re-arranged to avoid clash with CLC.
249. Adjournment The meeting was then adjourned to allow comments or questions from the public. In response to a request for an update regarding Furze Common Road (minute 228.1) Cllr Berry confirmed this would be covered in the JPAWG.
250. Any other business for noting or inclusion on a future agenda 250.1 The clerk advised that the purple bus will be returning to Thakeham on Mondays for the next school term, commencing 8th January.
250.2 The clerk advised that the 2007 input dates for newsletter items would be 19th March, 21st May, 20th August and 26th November.
250.3 The Chairman received Cllr Messenger's notice of resignation. The Council recorded their thanks to Cllr Messenger for his valued contribution over many years.
Date of next meeting: Monday, 15th January 2007 at 7.30 p.m. Meeting closed: 9.00 p.m.
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