Shipley Parish Council

Transcription

1 Shipley Parish Council Chairman: Mr Jamie Coad, Vine Cottage, Thakeham Road, Coolham, West Sussex, RH13 8QD. Tel: Clerk: Mrs Fiona McNeile, 17 Barrow Close, Billingshurst, West Sussex, RH14 9SW Tel: The Minutes Of The Ordinary Council Meeting of Shipley Parish Council Held On Monday 29 th February 2016 at Coolham Village Hall, Coolham at 7:30pm 020/16 Attendance and Apologies For Absence Those Present: P Baxter, J Coad (Chair), G De Zoete, J Emrich, T Hayes, N King-Tours, L Lovett and S Roggendorff and P Sinton Also Present: Cllr N Jupp, Cllr K Rowbottom, 2 members of the Public and Parish Clerk F McNeile. Apologies: Cllr W Beckett (None Received), Cllr G Lindsay (None Received), Cllr A Jupp (Illness) and Cllr K Rowbottom (HDC Meeting) 021/16 To Receive Declarations of Interest, Notification of Changes to Members Interests and consider any requests for a dispensation. Cllr Emrich declared an interest in DC/16/0159 as it is part of Knepp Estate. Cllr Coad asked that Cllr Emrich answer any questions relating to the planning application but remain in the public section. 022/16 Approval Of The Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting held on Thursday 21 st January 2016 The minutes having previously been circulated were taken as read. Cllr Coad proposed that the minutes be accepted and signed as a correct record, this was unanimously AGREED. 023/16 Matters Arising from Item 022/16 (For information only) 004/16 The Clerk reported that the application for further funding for the Coolham Pavilion/Swings improvements from the Tesco/Groundworks scheme had been unsuccessful. Over 500 applications were received and the Shipley Parish Council project was not deemed as essential as other project applications. 009/16 The Clerk confirmed that a letter had been written to the resident in Church Close regarding the cat problem reported. The Clerk has begun investigations into memorial bench prices for residents to purchase. Having spoken to Billingshurst PC, the Clerk has established that they have a carpenter for their benches at Lower Station Gardens, Billingshurst. The Clerk will obtain a quotation and then compare with online prices. The Chairman has volunteered to cut back the problem shrubs in Church Close and remove the trimmings. The Chairman will contact Debra Cannons to ascertain the exact shrubs. 010/16 The Clerk confirmed that an application for funding for the war memorial restoration had been submitted. The Clerk confirmed that notices had been issued regarding the Clean For The Queen parish clean up on 5 th March. McDonalds are providing volunteers again on 4 th March. Darren Rolfe from WSCC will not be attending the event but will assist with the equipment provision and collection of rubbish. 011/16 The Clerk confirmed that the agreement from Conergy regarding the Community Benefit payment was in place with the amendment stating that Shipley Parish Council was exercising its power to accept the gift under Section 129 of the Local Government Act The Clerk has received a progress report from Chris Angell and he has confirmed that work is progressing quickly at Spear Hill and the cable route works in the public highway along Billingshurst Road have now been completed. The access track and compound

2 area are completed. Conergy have completed 75% of the piling (ramming the upright posts in) and have had 50% of panels delivered and the next task will be completing the mounting structures to fit the panels to. Overall the construction is 25% complete. Most of the major deliveries were completed by 26 th February. Residents have been quiet, although one of the resident at the very bottom of Spear Hill on the junction with Billingshurst road has been making cups of tea for our banksman stationed there, for which he is very grateful. The Clerk has ed Highways regarding permanent passing place installations along Hooklands Road, Jonathan Ulmer, Head Of Highways ed It seems a scheme of passing places was initially proposed as part of this proposal. The passing places were only intended to be temporary and put in place for construction traffic. We were not aware that the Parish were keen that the passing places were constructed permanently. At present the developer has not clarified this in writing or applied for a 278 agreement. Following discussions with our Strategic Planning team, Conergy, have put an alternate scheme of mitigation to prevent opposing HGVs relating to the development from meeting along Hooklands Lane (namely that banksmen will be placed at various points along the lane that will hold development related traffic in essence creating a shuttle working system). From this I understand that the developer would not be pursuing passing places. We are intending to place a section 59 on Hooklands which means we will take a bond from the developer to ensure they return the road back to the condition it was before any construction works take place at the Solar Farm. 012/16 The Clerk confirmed that a letter was sent to Dr Chris Lyons at HDC regarding the Parish Council views on caravan parks within Brooks Green. Whilst Dr Chris Lyons has responded, he specifically wrote about the caravan park applications considered at the January PC meeting and not about caravan parks in general within the Parish. The Clerk followed up the response with The letter I wrote on behalf of Shipley Parish Council was not directly concerning these applications but caravan parks in general in Brooks Green. As I said to Allie Preston earlier today, the Parish Council wished to convey that they feel 'enough is enough' regarding the number of caravans within Shipley Parish. They have grave concerns over the local infrastructure and waterways. It is the Parish Council's understanding that at present, all the permanent caravans on the parks in Brooks Green are occupied, hence the recent applications to install additional homes. As the Parish Council's opinion is that the area is at saturation point, I would like to go back to them with more specific information from HDC. If possible, please would you supply an upper limit of caravans that HDC feels is sustainable in Brooks Green and how this figure would need to be supported in terms of highways and drainage systems. Our next Council meeting is on 29th February and these details and any other information you feel relevant would be much appreciated. No further response from Dr Lyons has been received at this time. 015/16 Mr and Mrs Durkin of Patmans Farm reported the caravans that are blocking the public bridle path on their land to the Police. The Police have informed them that they belong to an elderly man who moves around Sussex. The Police have said that the gentleman will move on shortly. The Clerk has referred the blocked ditch problem along Trouts Lane to Itchingfield PC as the ditches belong to Madgelands Farm and not the Dragon Estate landowners. The Clerk confirmed that letters have been issued to Mr D Liverton and Mr J Covell regarding flooding problems along the A /16 Report from the Police The Clerk confirmed that a letter was sent to the Chairman of WSCC and the Police & Crime Commissioner regarding the Parish Council s concerns over speeding through Coolham crossroads. The Clerk reported that a response had been received from the office of the Chairman of WSCC and that the matter was being forwarded to the Cabinet Member for Transport and Highways, Cllr John O Brien. A response was also received from the Police & Crime Commissioner s office stating that they had contacted our local policing team, who have advised that the since the speed check in 2009, there is comprehensive and very prescriptive guidance available in both the use of speed indicator devices and Community Speedwatch. This includes risk assessing the roads to ensure that safety of those using the devices. PS Martin Drabble will be in contact to discuss options for future speed checks.

3 After chasing PS Drabble for a response, the following was received West Sussex is currently undergoing a massive restructuring process within the Police and the Neighbourhood Policing Teams are currently under the spotlight. This review will take some months to complete and as yet, we don t know what the overall policing picture will look like in months to come. Community Speedwatch is a long term scheme that would take a lot of time investment on our part in order to get the process up and running which in the current circumstances we cannot commit to as we simply don t have the resilience to do so. This doesn t mean to say that once the restructuring process is complete that we can t review a CSW scheme for Coolham, but for the time being it s not something we can take forward. I am mindful that there are several Parish councils across Horsham District who have requested similar support from the Horsham Neighbourhood Policing Team. It is our intention to hold days of action where we can deploy a small team of Officers / PCSOS with a speed indicator device in order to complete 100 vehicle speed checks. I will be contacting Sussex Police Roads Policing Unit to request their assistance. Cllr Coad commented that during the community speed watch in 2009, he clocked 1,500 vehicles over a four day period working two hours per day. Cllr Coad does not think that a check of 100 vehicles over various parishes will register enough results to take the speeding problem forward. Cllr Coad would like a letter to be sent to Sean Ruth, Community Safety Officer at County Council as he feels that whilst parishes are being asked to be more self-sufficient, there is not the support in place to allow parishes to achieve this, particularly in this instance. Members resolved that a letter be sent to Sean Ruth outlining the concerns. PCSO Green provided the following collision information for Coolham Crossroads In the last four years there has been only one slight injury RTC actually on the crossroads 0n 15/08/2013. There were three further slight injury RTC s two by Thornhill Court Industrial Estate on 28/01/2015 and 13/08/2015 and a further slight injury on Cowfold Road on 07/01/2012. PCSO Green also reported to the Clerk that on 22/2/2015 in Dragons Lane, Shipley three chain saws (1 x Husqvarna, 2 x Stihl) were stolen from a Land rover parked in Dragons Lane at approximately 9:30pm on Monday 22 February. The suspects forced open two locks on the rear of the vehicle. The Clerk reminded Council members that the Police team in charge of Project Griffin, which is aimed at promoting community resilience to terrorism, be providing Anti-Terrorism information and training on Wed 2 nd March 9:30 in Worthing. No members volunteered to attend the event. Recycling Scam - Horsham District Council have asked that Sussex Police make residents aware that scammers are contacting residents about fines for contaminated recycling pretending to be from HDC - HDC do not do this. Residents are asked that if approached or contacted they should contact Sussex Police on /16 Report from the County Councillor None 026/16 Report from the District Councillors Cllr N Jupp reported that at the next HDC Planning Meeting on 15 th March the Oaklands Park in Emms Lane is on the agenda as the District Councillors are aware that the Parish Council is unhappy about the rising numbers of caravans in the Parish. A new plan has been put in place by HDC called the Horsham Place Plan. This contains information regarding numbers of houses in parishes and employment levels and will be a useful tool for Neighbourhood Planning. Cllr Coad asked if there was an update regarding Shipley Windmill. Cllr Jupp reported that the Conservation Officer from HDC carried out an inspection on the Windmill last month and the outcome of the meeting is that at the moment the owners are not breaching their statutory duties regarding the maintenance of the building. The Clerk read an extract from a recent report provided to Gordon Lindsay from Kathryn Sawyer, Conservation Officer Madeleine Hartley and I visited the above site on Monday 25th January 2016 to inspect the mill both internally and externally following concerns being raised regarding the condition of the building.

4 Whilst the building is in need of regular and on-going maintenance including repair/replacement of rotten timbers for example, we are satisfied that there isn t an urgent risk to the building s future. The structure of the principal mill building appears to be in a sound and watertight condition. We were also able to confirm at the site meeting that many of the shutters have been removed from the sweeps/sails and are being stored inside the mill to protect the shutters and sweeps from wind damage which the stationery sweeps are particularly vulnerable to. A member of the public reported that two weeks previously she had seen part of the fantail fall off the Windmill at approximately 8:15am. Cllr Baxter also confirmed his knowledge of sections of the fantail falling off the Windmill. The Clerk to update HDC. Cllr N Jupp was informed recently that HDC have a duty to litter pick the A272 every three weeks. Cllr Jupp is to investigate if there is a report to confirm the frequency and sections of the A /16 Report from Representatives on Outside Organisations Richard Cowley and Jonathan Andrews, co-owners of the land in Sincox Lane formally known as Arun Feeds reported to Council about their problems with the land ownership. The key points raised were: They have owned the land since September 2007 and bought it with light industrial permission It was felt to be a good investment but there was no future for the continuation of light industry on the land. Richard and Jonathan approached the PC at that time for suggestions of use and were advised that social housing would be good use of the land. They took this information and approached Social housing companies such as Saxon Weald, but this idea did not progress. Subsequently, a local school was interested in the land but this stopped as the school found more suitable land. The reason for speaking with the current PC is that they understand that a NHP is being put into action and wondered how this could assist with the development/sale of their land. Cllr Coad explained that the NHP committee would instigate a Call For Sites as part of the process however, this is six months away. Richard Cowley will forward information to the Clerk and then the Clerk will update the NHP committee about the land so that they include Richard and Jonathan in discussions. It was also suggested that they enquired about adding the land to the SHELA list at HDC and spoke with the owners of the former Falconers Feeds site. 028/16 Public Session (Members of the Public may speak for up to 3 minutes at the discretion of the Chairman). None 029/16 Chairman s Announcements The Parish Council have been asked if Coolham Playing Fields may be used for a Bouncy Castle at a private party in June. The Clerk has contacted the Council Insurance provider and the policy excludes Bouncy Castles. The advice given is that proof of cover is given to the Parish Council. Members resolved to permit the Bouncy Castle on the field subject to proof of cover being received. The Parish Council have been approached again by the English Civil War Society if they may use Coolham Playing Field on the 1st October for camping in return for a small donation. Members resolved to permit the use of the fields. The Clerk to investigate if the English Civil War Society will be re-enacting battles. If so this is the case, a copy of their Public Liability insurance will be obtained. Members resolved to permit the camping on this basis. Cllr Coad asked members for feedback to the survey regarding the WSCC Community support groups. Members discussed devolution and the impact of the removal of the non-statutory functions on the Parish. Members felt the Parish had limited resources for some of the operations that County Council would like Parishes to take over. Any voluntary work we undertake has to take place under the supervision of WSCC trained team leaders in order for the Parish Council to work under the WSCC insurance umbrella.

5 Members agreed that volunteers could not work on main roads such as A24 and A272. It was felt that hedge trimming and ditch clearance was the responsibility of landowners with the exception of Parish Council owned land such as Coolham Playing Fields. Parish Council members agreed the Council is happy to undertake the litter picking campaigns which are in place. However, the geographical size of the Parish versus the small population means that there are limited resources to be able to undertake many more tasks. Members discussed the maintenance of Finger Posts within the Parish which the Parish Council previously agreed to maintain. The Clerk to contact Darren Rolfe regarding the procedure put in place for Finger Post maintenance. Cllr Coad asked members whether members would like the new Picnic Bench placed on slabs and bolted down. Members resolved that one bench should be slabbed and bolted in the play area and one on the outside of the play area. Cllr Coad asked if any members would be attending the Mill Straight Public Exhibition which will be held on Wednesday 2nd March from 1:30pm to 7:30pm in at Beeson House, Southwater. Cllr Emrich and Cllr King-Tours will definitely attend and report back to Council. Under this point, Cllr Emrich explained that there may be a substantial donation made to the Parish which will take away some of sting from the lack of S106 funds awarded to the Parish from the Mill Straight development. The donation is likely to be around 50,000, needs to be tax efficient for the donor and Council will need to consider carefully how it is invested and place it in an investment fund marked for a specific use within the Parish. Council has received an invitation to a free event regarding Neighbourhood Planning from AIRS on 9th March at the Meridian Hall in East Grinstead from 10am to 3pm. Cllr De Zoete will try and attend some of the event. Cllr Coad asked Council whether it would like to purchase Commemorative Coins for Queens 90 th Birthday for the children at school and nursery in the Parish. Council have previously purchased celebratory mugs for the Queens Golden Jubilee for the children at schools. Council resolved that this would be a discretionary use of the precept allocated to donations. This was unanimously AGREED. The Clerk to obtain numbers of Commemorative Coins to purchase per school/nursery. Cllr Coad explained that the Clerk s Appraisal will take place on Monday 14 th March. Members may forward feedback to Cllr Coad by 7 th March. 030/16 Planning Applications DC/16/0123 Land West Of Mill Straight, Worthing Road, Southwater Erection of 2 x non-illuminated single sided pole signs After Consideration Council Approved The Application Votes 4 Approval 2 Objections 3 Abstentions Majority vote decision. DC/16/0159 Floodgates, Castle Lane, Knepp Estate, West Grinstead Variation of condition A of previously approved application DC/14/2630 (Erection of buildings for B1 and B8 uses and scout storage facility together with parking and turning area) Relating to revised design. Cllr Emrich moved to the public section. After Consideration Council Approved The Application Votes 8 Approved DC/16/0356 Nightingale Cottage, Sincox Lane, Shipley Variation of condition 3 to previously approved application DC/10/1880 to allow the cottage to remain standing for use as holiday let. After Consideration Council Votes 9 Objections The voted reasons for objection are that this application goes against the Parish Council s original reasons and decision to give consent on the primary application (DC/10/1880) which included the removal of the existing property. The Council also considers that the addition of holiday let accommodation would increase the traffic use on a very small carriage way which is not fit for this purpose.

6 031/16 Planning Decisions The Clerk issued an update of the latest planning application decisions from HDC for the Parish. The decision list has now been revised to include HDC s reasons for application refusal. 032/16 Neighbourhood Plan The Clerk explained that Cllr Coad and Cllr Emrich have Disclosable Pecuniary Interests as both members have land registered in the Parish on the HDC SHELAA list and to this end cannot be involved in any decision making within the NHP process. Therefore members considered which Parish Councillors would sit on the steering group committee. It was agreed that Cllr King-Tours, Cllr De Zoete, Cllr Lovett and Cllr Roggendorff will be part of the main steering group and Cllr Hayes will sit on a focus group. The Parish Council considered revised dates for the steering group meeting. It was decided that the meeting take place on 21 st March. If for any reason the Hall was booked on the 21 st March then the Clerk to try and book 11 th April. The Parish Council considered the terms of reference for the formation of the steering group and decided to proceed with the terms. The terms will be altered to reduce the number of Parish Councillors on the steering group from five to four. The Parish Council accept that the terms of reference may be tweaked by the steering group members. The Clerk has investigated Consultants that are being used by local parishes for Neighbourhood Planning. Following several responses from Clerks the only two names that were offered were AIRs and Dowsett Mayhews. The Parish Council Financial Regulations state that three quotes have to be obtained for contracts less than 60,000. The Clerk has researched on-line and has found one other supplier for quotation purposes. The Council resolved that the Clerk gain preliminary costs from three suppliers for the Neighbourhood Plan. The Clerk explained the funding process from Government. Parish Councils can only apply up to 9,000 from 1 st April. Key points to note with regards to a Neighbourhood Planning Grant: You can only apply for funds that you can spend within 6 months or before the end of the current financial year, whichever is the earliest. You can only apply for between 1000 and If your application is not within this range it will be automatically rejected. You cannot apply retrospectively for work that has already taken place. You cannot apply for the cost of staff or volunteer s time, except for specialist consultants. With this in mind, the Clerk will not apply for funding from Central Government until it is known what costs will be incurred within a 6 month period and it is likely that two applications will need to be placed for the total 9,000. The Clerk will check what the definition for specialist consultants means from the government funding perspective. 033/16 Coolham Pavilion 9:35pm Cllr N Jupp left the room Cllr Coad has forwarded to members a specification of the works involved for the Pavilion repair project which is 150mm of subbase and 150mm of reinforced concrete on top. Cllr Coad asked members to decide whether they agreed with the specification of work. With the specification presented, there would not be any guarantee for failure of works. If the Council decides to go to an architect to put together a work specification, then there will be a guarantee for any failures of works but an architect will cost anything from 500 upwards to put together a work specification. Debbie Cannons confirmed that supplier donations are likely for the ready mix concrete which is the majority of the material cost. Cllr Emrich suggested that his structural engineer looks at the work and gives a second specialist opinion. Cllr Baxter expressed a more cautious approach to the works with regards to insurance provision and gaining a professional opinion. After consideration, Council decided that Cllr Emrich will approach his

7 structural engineer for professional advice and to rubber stamp Cllr Coad s work specification. If the structural engineer has other recommendations then Council resolve to accept such advice and costs up to 500 for such advice. Cllr Coad stated that the project will take eighteen days for five men per day. At present, Debbie Cannons will be able to provide eight volunteers per weekend. The work will need to be supervised by either Cllr Coad or Cllr King-Tours. The Clerk is in contact with WSCC regarding volunteers and will investigate other voluntary sources. 9:45pm Cllr Coad left the room. 034/16 Public Access Defibrillator 9:50pm Cllr Coad returned to the room. Cllr Coad explained that the Conservation Officer at HDC is unhappy to allow the defibrillator on the north facing wall of Andrew Hall. The telephone kiosk is not owned by the Parish Council and as this is a rural community BT and Parishioners are reluctant to let the phone box be decommissioned to be replaced by the defibrillator. BT will not allow the Parish Council to tap into the power to the phone box for a defibrillator placed outside the phone box. Members considered the options of installing the unit within the Andrew Hall (with permission), adopting the BT Kiosk and converting to a defibrillator or placing the unit outside at Coolham Village Hall. Council resolved to ask Coolham Village Hall management committee to for permission to install the unit on the outside of the hall. The Clerk to confirm this information to the Countryman Gun Club. The Clerk will also gain approval from the British Heart Foundation for the new location. 10:15pm Cllr Baxter made his apologies and left the room. 10:15pm Cllr Sinton left the room. 035/16 Parish Assets Members postponed this item to the next meeting. 036/16 Roads, Footpaths, Bridleways & General Maintenance of the Parish Pavements update from Councillors. Cllr Emrich requested that the Clerk Cllr A Jupp regarding the he sent about the flooding problems on the A272. He has not had a response to his initial . 10:20pm Cllr Emrich and Cllr Roggendorf left the room. Cllr Coad reported tarmac breaking away on both sides of the road near the bridge area (reducing the carriage way to a single lane) on Smithers Hill Lane. A report response from WSCC was received and stated that the condition of the road is acceptable. Cllr King-Tours reported that there is a large pothole on the A272 near Pondtail Farm, 50 yards heading from Bucks Barn Crossroads driving towards Coolham. The Clerk to report to WSCC. A member of the public reported that the Coolham sign on the A272 has corroded at the bottom and is hanging at a dangerous angle. The Clerk to report to WSCC. 037/16 Payments Payments February 2016 Received since last meeting Interest Instant Access 0.19 VAT Reclaim Interest NSI Account Chq Nos Paid since last meeting Invoiced Services

8 Three Parish Mobile DD Chairmans Allowance Precepted Allowance (Inc 10 owed from 2014) Fine Print Neighbourhood Plan Leaflets Coolham Village Hall Village Hall Hire Coolham Village Hall Village Hall Hire BN5 & Thirteen Magazine Neighbourhood Plan Event Advert Horsham District Council Election Charges West Sussex Financial Services Payroll Administration Fee West Sussex Financial Services Staff Salaries - December Coolham Village Hall Village Hall Hire Clerks Expenses - January Mileage, Postage, Broadband etc Funds Transferred since last meeting D/Acc. To C/Acc. 1, Balances on Accounts. Current Acc Deposit Acc. 5, Investment Acc. (NSI) 5, Includes Neighbourhood Plan Grant 2, Includes Operation Watershed Includes NHC Pavilion Restoration Grant 4, To Pay after this Meeting. Invoiced Services Three Parish Mobile DD West Sussex Financial Services Staff Salaries - January Three Parish Mobile DD Clerks Expenses - February Mileage, Postage, Broadband etc SALC Staff Training Immediate Transfer D/Acc to C/Acc Transfer of money was proposed by Cllr Coad and seconded by Cllr King-Tours. 038/16 Date of next meeting: Annual Parish Meeting, Thursday 17 th March at The Andrew Hall, Shipley at 7:30pm Ordinary Meeting, Thursday 21 st April at The Andrew Hall, Shipley at 7:30pm Subject to planning applications and a requirement for an extraordinary meeting. There being no further business the Chairman closed the meeting at 10.25pm. Acronym Information AIRS Action In Rural Sussex CIL Community Infrastructure Levy FB Facebook FOSP Friends Of Shipley Parish (Charity) HALC Horsham Association of Local Councils HDC Horsham District Council HDPF Horsham District Planning Framework HAMSVA Horsham And Mid Sussex Voluntary Association NALC National Association of Local Councils NHP Neighbourhood Plan PROW Public Rights Of Way SHELAA Strategic Housing Economic Land Availability Assessment SLCC Society of Local Council Clerks SSALC Surrey & Sussex Association Of Local Councils TPO Tree Preservation Order TRO Traffic Regulation Order WSCC West Sussex County Council