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Minutes of Thakeham Parish Council Meeting - Monday, 19th March 2007 Meeting opened: 7.30 p.m. Present: Mr D Berry Mr J Bearman Ms K Dawes Mrs C Goring Mr D Hardisty Mr A Harwood Mr D MacEachern Mr N Prince Mr R Walker Mr J Weight In attendance Cllr Pat Arculus County Council Cllr David Jenkins District Council Mr J Denman Clerk to the Council Members of the public 54. Apologies for absence Apologies for absence were received and accepted from Cllr Maggs, due to illness. Apologies were also received from Cllr Goring, who would be late arriving and joined the meeting as shown below. 55. Interests of Members No interests were declared. 56. Minutes of the last meeting Minutes of the last ordinary meeting of the Parish Council held on 19th February 2007 were approved and signed. Minutes of the special meeting of the Parish Council held on 6th March 2007 were also approved and signed.
57. Report on Action Items 57.1 (21.1) TPC gift to Paul Messenger: Thank you letter received by Cllr Berry.
57.2 (33) B2139 Speed Limit Proposals: Clerk wrote to WSCC on agreed basis, response received to request for extensions stating that they are not possible under the current criteria - copy of response previously passed to Cllr Walker.
57.3 (34) Village Clean-Up Day: Arranged for 14th April, equipment ordered, notices will be displayed.
57.4 (35) Crays Lane: Highways advised potholes will be repaired but verges will be left until dried out.
57.5 (38) Furze Common Road: Issue to be followed up with WSCC.
57.6 (42) Laybrook Research: Council has power to contribute under S137 but level of any contribution needs to be commensurate with value to the community, to be included on next agenda.
57.7 (44.2) Merrywood Lane: Highways advise dip in middle of B2139 at junction with Merrywood Lane will be monitored with a view to future maintenance.
57.8 (44.2) Branches on High Bar Lane footpath: Clerk written to EDF, no response.
57.9 (46.1) Jackets Hill: Highways to back fill with stone the rutting on the southbound road edge.
58. Correspondence HDC: Summons to Council meeting 28th February. Summons to Development Control (South) Committee meeting 20th March. Summons to Standards Committee meetings 26th February and 21st March. Invitation to Local Development and Transport Advisory Group meeting 13th March. Draft update of Economic Development Strategy 2006-2008. Public Examination of the Site Specific Allocations of Land DPD - briefing note from the Inspectors. NHS South East Coast: Public consultation on Fit for the Future programme will not start before May elections. Three Counties Training: New councillor training courses. Department for Constitutional Affairs: Memorial safety. Rural Deanery of Storrington: Invitation to reception to meet Bishop of Horsham 28th April, copies passed to Cllrs Berry and Goring.
59. Finance 59.1 Financial Performance A report on the current financial year to 28 February 2007 was received. Cash basis to be maintained for full year report.
59.2 Payments A report on the current bank balances was tabled and the following were approved for payment: Roger Smith: February Outdoor Maintenance 90.00 HDC: March dog bin emptying 6.93 British Telecommunications plc: Calls and service charge 157.63 Staples UK Ltd: Office supplies 54.08 The Society of Local Council Clerks: Annual subscription 120.00 Gross salaries including PAYE / NI and Clerk's OP expenses and mileage 1219.10 £1647.74
59.3 Replacement fence at Linfield Copse It was agreed that the quotation from Faros of £380 be accepted.
59.4 Litter Wardens It was agreed that the litter wardens pay rate be increased to £6.25 per hour effective 1st April 2007. 60. Nominations for Election to next Council Cllr Berry reported on the Open Evening held on 13th March. DVD to be taken to APM and clerk to pass laminated notices of meeting to Cllrs Bearman and Harwood to encourage attendance.
61. Local Works The campaign letter was considered and it was agreed the clerk would write to our MP on the basis requested.
62. Doorstep Crime Defer to new Council.
63. Village of the Year 2007 Papers passed to Cllr Bearman to review and report back. 64. Parish Action Plan Nothing further to report. 65. Open Spaces Committee Cllr Prince reported on the meeting held on 13th March. Planting of Trees for Shade scheduled for 24th March, Cllrs Berry and MacEachern volunteered to assist. Full cost not yet quantified but will be within estimate and it was agreed to go ahead on this basis.
66. Footpaths The clerk updated the meeting on recent developments regarding the Furze Common Road footpath. Inquiry now scheduled for 6th November, clerk to advise the Planning Inspectorate that the Council will be represented and include the issue on the agenda of an early meeting of the new Council. 67. Laybrook Landfill Cllr MacEachern reported that a meeting is being arranged with County Councillors and more work needs to be done on the consultant's report. Cllr Berry advised that HDC have objected to the inclusion of Laybrook in the DPD and also that he attended the Washington Extraordinary Meeting and Nick Herbert MP, who was also there, strongly opposes landfill and would therefore support TPC.
68. Planning Committee Minutes The minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 6th February were received.
69. Open Spaces Committee Minutes The minutes of the Open Spaces Committee meetings held on 14th November and 16th January were received. 70. Reports from Councillors 70.1 Cllr Bearman reported on the spring lunch and also briefed Cllrs on the outcome of the HALC meeting.
70.2 Cllr Prince advised that work had been done on footpaths and he will follow up the Town House Corner stile issue with WSCC. The overgrown footpath at the rear of the toddlers play area will be covered by Open Spaces.
70.3 Cllr MacEachern advised he had attended a purple bus management meeting. The bus has been off the road due to generator problems, hopefully this will be resolved enabling the bus to return to Thakeham this term but in any event it will probably return in the autumn.
70.4 Cllr Walker referred to the speed limit criteria minuted above under 57.2 which suggests that the currently proposed B2139 limits are as good as can be expected at present although this may change in the future as it is being monitored. Clerk to send correspondence to Cllr Arculus for CLC to consider.
70.5 Cllr Harwood reported on a complaint received from a resident regarding 11 cars left on land at the back of Woodlands Cottages by the playing field. This matter to be taken to the Planning Committee.
71. Liaison with TVA The meeting was updated on current TVA issues.
72. Adjournment The meeting was then adjourned to allow comments or questions from the public and the following were noted. 72.1 It was queried whether WSCC were working to the new government guidance regarding speed limits, clerk to follow up.
72.2 B2133 accident details have now been passed through.
72.3 Regarding the Furze Common Road footpath, it was queried whether a written report on the fire could be obtained from the Fire Service and also whether pressure could be put on HDC as to why the footpath was moved. Cllr Berry advised the likelihood that the new Council will form a working party to consider all these issues.
72.4 The stile over the back towards the Binningtons field is excessively high; Cllrs Prince and Harwood will inspect.
72.5 The dog bin has been overflowing.
73. Chairman's Announcements Cllr Berry advised that the Annual Parish Meeting will be held on 26th March with Martin Quaife as the guest speaker.
74. Any other business for noting or inclusion on a future agenda 74.1 Cllr Prince requested that the new Council consider undertaking a full review of bus shelters, both in terms of need and, if appropriate, maintenance programme. •74.2 Cllr MacEachern referred to the area between the current and old B2139 by Greendene Farm in front of Kingdom Hall which is overgrown with brambles; Cllr Arculus will check on the ownership.
75. It was resolved that in view of the confidential nature of the business the members of the public be excluded from the following items, it was further agreed that Cllrs Arculus and Jenkins be invited to stay in the meeting.
76. Mushroom sites Cllr Goring joined the meeting during discussion of this item.
The current situation was reviewed and possible future approaches were discussed and considered. It was agreed that Cllrs Goring and Dawes will draw up a summary paper of headline points as to the history of the issue to date, which will be circulated to Cllrs on a restricted basis within the next week or two and then considered in the next closed session.
77. Parish Office Carry forward.
78. Glebe Field New information noted, no further action at this stage. TPC will be notified by HDC if there is any enquiry and WSCC were also requested to make further enquiries on behalf of the Parish Council.
79. Playing Fields and Village Hall To be included in the summary paper referred to above under minute 76. There could potentially be an issue with future maintenance, Cllr Prince will enquire.
Date of next meeting: Monday, 16th April 2007 at 7.30 p.m. Meeting closed: 9.40 p.m.
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