Fittleworth Parish Council

Transcription

1 Fittleworth Parish Council Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 15 th June 2015 at 7.00pm in the Pavilion Building. Present: In Attendance: Chris Welfare (CW) Chairman, Frank Boait (FB), David Brittain (DB), Shelagh Morgan(SM) Janet Duncton (WSCC/CDC) Members of public: Sarah Barstow 1. Apologies for absence Action by Mike Allin (MA), Hannah Hails (). Hannah had suffered a family bereavement. 2. Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising The minutes of the previous meeting, held on 18 th May, were approved as a correct record and signed by CW. 3. Public Questions Sarah Barstow asked if the Council had any news on the Coal Yard site, where no work had yet started, despite planning approval being granted. CW said that the Council had heard nothing, and had not received any further planning application for the site. Sarah added that notice of this Parish Council meeting had not appeared on the noticeboard. 4. County and District Councillors Reports Cllr Duncton gave a brief report on activity at County level. She had been involved in the Beautiful Sussex initiative (details on the WSCC website), and in the constant search for more foster parents. She also had a role in guarding children against sexual exploitation. The leader of the council had been collaborating with the leaders of Surrey and East Sussex to seek a degree of devolution for this powerhouse. CDC had held its first political meeting. Tony Dignum, the new leader, had an entirely new cabinet, with Eileen Lintill as deputy leader. The Local Plan had been approved, and Council was now working to have the new CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) regime passed. The next CLC meeting was scheduled to take place on 23 rd June at Lurgashall. This would be preceded by a meeting on the availability of fast broadband. CW said that Fittleworth had benefitted from fibre to cabinet fairly early in the programme, and most parts of the village now had a reasonable service (typically 20 mbps). DB said that this did not apply to outlying areas such as Little Bognor, where he lived. He would write to JD with details. DB 5. Declaration by Council members of personal or prejudicial interest There were none. 6. Update on on-going matters not covered elsewhere Fittleworth Parish Council Minutes Page 1

2 Meetings 19 th May 2015 the attended a Transparency Briefing, and subsequently passed on a summary to the Council. The key point is that small councils (with an annual turnover of less than 25,000) would no longer need to have an external audit provided that they published on their websites (at the end of each financial year) a specified list of financial information. Fittleworth was an awkward size in relation to this although in the past year, thanks to the various grants we had been awarded, our turnover had exceeded 50,000, in the current year it was possible that turnover would fall below 25,000. SM asked whether the change left an option for a small council to elect to have an external audit she thought it was valuable to have an independent body examine the accounts occasionally. There was also discussion about the cost of an external audit; it was thought to be quite low. The Council would discuss this at the July meeting, and asked the to provide information about the cost of an external audit, and whether the Council had the option to continue to have one. Health and Safety Higher fencing around the playground FB had spoken to Tildenet, who had provided the original quote. They gave a high estimate for fitting, and were unwilling to provide us with any guidance to do the job ourselves. He was therefore getting a quote from Knight Fencing of Chichester. FB RoSPA inspection of playground The annual inspection had taken place, but it was not known if the report had been received yet. The inspector was of the view that the surface needed replacing, or at least some remedial work. Communications SSE / G&N Construction case It was not known if the promised cheque had been received. The should update us at the next meeting. Internal audit Peter Evans, our internal auditor for some years, was retiring, and we needed to find a replacement. The was speaking to other Parish s in the hope they could recommend someone; it was suggested that she also ask Peter himself. 7. Items for discussion a) Need to co-opt a further four councillors We discussed a number of potential candidates, two of which we hoped would attend (as members of the public) the July meeting. A former councillor had offered to rejoin if we were having difficulty in making up the numbers. All councillors were encouraged to keep up the search. CW reminded all councilors that they should return their expenses forms following the election, even if they were nil returns. All b) School bus shelter CW had not found the time to make any progress, but would do it was CW Fittleworth Parish Council Minutes Page 2

3 important that the work was done over the summer. c) Neighbourhood Planning update The Fittleworth Housing Survey forms were produced by CDC, and the survey was now in progress, with the aim that completed replies would be collected by the end of June. SM would check with Holly Nicol of CDC how long she would need to process the replies. It was likely that the public exhibition and meeting would be held in early September. South Downs needed some input by October. SM d) Website Update Dawn Nicholson had volunteered to help with the design of the site, and would contact Margaret Welfare in the week beginning 22 nd June. e) Stones missing from bridge Several topping stones had disappeared from the south eastern end of the river bridge. This had first been noticed on Thursday 28 th May. WSCC had been very helpful and would deal with the incident, including liaison with Historic England (the bridge is an Ancient Monument). It was hoped that the bridge would be repaired within a few months. The should ensure that the incident has been reported to the police, and a crime number obtained. 8. Planning Status of recent applications It was thought that there all current applications had been dealt with, and in the absence of MA and the there was little further we could discuss. 9. Correspondence The had previously circulated a list of correspondence, there were a few issues arising from this: Rural Crime Survey. This related to a national survey which the Rural Services Network had been helping with. There had been cases recently of residents being offered garden furniture and similar which had clearly been stolen Complaint about hedge at top of steps between Alley Dick and Greatpin Croft. CW to examine and mention to resident if thought necessary. Residents of Sandy Lane had complained about the hedge outside Brookview Cottage, which was making it difficult for them to see traffic from the right as they left Sandy Lane. Informal complaints had produced no response. The to enquire of WSCC perhaps they have a standard letter which could be sent Call from Rob Barter about allotments in Greatpin Croft. We need information from Hyde Martlett about the ownership of the land. MA may know more. Mr Barter should be sent a holding reply saying that we were investigating. CW Fittleworth Parish Council Minutes Page 3

4 10 Finance The following invoices/expenses were approved for payment in May: St Mary s PCC COIF Interest Hannah Hails s Expenses Paul Duffell Litter Picking Peter Evans Internal Audit Fittleworth Village Hall Admin Costs TOTAL INVOICES Update on Income and expenditure Account Balances 8 th June 2015 Current 13, Reserve 14, Birchwalks Wood 5, Hesworth Common 6, Youth 1, Any other financial issues Natwest on-line banking update the still did not have access. 11 Health and Safety At the next meeting we should review whether regular reports were being produced. 12 Working Group Reports Communications/Community/Youth (CCY) The had assembled some photographs of different types of outdoor gym equipment and SM had contacted several groups (including Scouts, Boot camp and Stoolball) to see if they would welcome the installation of such equipment. All these groups were enthusiastic about the proposal and would respond to SM in early July specifying which types of equipment they would prefer. CW had visited Westbourne to look at the devices which had been installed there funded by money from the New Homes Bonus scheme, and showed photographs. It was agreed that CW and the would obtain prices from a few suppliers, and start a dialogue with CDC. The application needed to be submitted by the end of July. CW / Fittleworth Parish Council Minutes Page 4

5 Community Resilience Planning SM had met Rowena Tyler of AiRS, who had told her about a Good Neighbour scheme which was operating in some places. Rowena had spoken to Hyde about young mothers living in Greatpin Croft who felt isolated through not knowing people in the village. The plan was that a meeting would be held, perhaps in the Sports Pavilion, including young and old residents (plus the tenants representative). There were safeguarding issues, but these could be dealt with. SM to pursue the idea. SM Crime Prevention DB had tried to contact Paul Isaac but with no response. Hesworth Common/Birchwalks Wood CW reported that there seemed to have been no further significant activity at the site in Birchwalks Wood at which fires had been lit. The next Management Meeting will be on 12 th October 2015 and the next Working Day will be on 18 th October MA/CW Maintenance FB produced the invoice from Tony Johnson Electrical for replacing the extractor fan in the Sports Pavilion shower. CW would pass it to the for payment. CW / Highways & Footpaths CW reported that the drainage work on the ditch by High Trees had stood up well to the downpour on 12 th June. The raised sandbag walls had prevented water overflowing towards High Trees, and the coarser grid meant that (despite the accumulation of a great deal of debris, which needed removing) water kept flowing well into the culvert. Fittleworth Traffic Action Group DB had participated in a SID exercise in the previous week. They could not operate in Lower Street because BT were digging it up. PCSO Richard Boston had been very helpful. 13 Items for inclusion on the March agenda Co-option of four councillors Neighbourhood planning update Website Outdoor gym equipment Stones missing from river bridge Inspection of trees on A283 Fittleworth Parish Council Minutes Page 5

6 14 Date of next meeting Monday 20 th July 2015 at 7.00pm in the Pavilion Building. The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and the meeting was closed at 9.35pm. Fittleworth Parish Council Minutes Page 6