Mapledurwell & Up Nately Parish Council Meeting

Date:  14^th June 2010 Venue:  Mapledurwell Village Hall Commencing: 8pm

Present:  Chairman Donald Komrower Vice- Chairman Sam Preece

Councillors:  Alan Hutton, Hilary Hossack, Di Coate-Bond Clerk: Susan Lefley.

Anne Lywood.

1              APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE.  Apologies received from Cllr. Elaine Still and Cllr. Sven Godeson.

2              MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING. Minutes of the meetings on 19^th April and the AGM on 20^th May 2010 were approved by all the councillors as a true record and signed by Donald Komrower.

3              ACTIONS FROM LAST MEETING

                5.1.4 Donald discovered that the strimmer has been stolen.

                6.1.1 The clerk contacted Mr Peacey with regard to Broadband and checked that Up Nately would be included in the scheme. Mr Peacey then submitted an ‘Expression of Interest’ on our behalf. If we are successful, the matter will be looked into more deeply and matters such as liability will be discussed in full before proceeding to the next stage.

                7.1.1 Hilary has liaised with tennis members regarding the schedule of work. Two dry days are required before painting starts and is therefore weather dependent.

                7.1.2 Hilary has found a company willing to address the items in the playground that need attention. See Recreation.

                7.2.1   The clerk wrote to the unsuccessful tenders of Phase 1, thanking them for their time in preparing a quote.

                8.2.1 Di Coate-Bond has met up with the allotment group to discuss the need for a co-ordinator.

                9.1.3 The clerk is to enquire again about the traffic calming measures along Greywell Road.

                Clerk to enquire again.

                10.1.2 The clerk is to continue dialogue with Maria Miller MP regarding the resurfacing of the M3.

                Clerk emailed Maria on 18^th June 2010

                13.2 See Matters Arising (13)

                13.3 The clerk wrote to Georgio Framalicco at B&DBC, expressing the concerns of the Parish Council. We since have had an application for a Certificate of Lawfulness for the field in Blackstocks Lane and this will be dealt with in a formal manner.

4              PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT.

Recent Applications;

BDB/72107 (6^th May) Priory Farmhouse, Priory Lane, Andwell. Conversion and alteration of outbuildings to form living accommodation.  

BDB/72582 (3^rd June) Jasmine Cottage, Tunworth Road, Mapledurwell. Removal of a chimney to side elevation.  No Objection.

Withdrawn applications; 

BDB/71561 Priory Farmhouse, Andwell. Change of use from residential to business. Withdrawn by applicant.

Granted Applications;

BDB/72067 Rye Cottage, Tunworth Road, Mapledurwell. Erection of a single storey rear extension.

BDB/72232 Pemberton, Tunworth Road, Mapledurwell. Demolition of existing porch and erection of a single storey front, side and rear extension and rear conservatory.

Refused Applications;

BDB/71827 Priory Farm, Andwell. Display of scaffold mounted, freestanding non-illuminated signs. Too distracting for road users.

BDB/71956 The Yews, Kembers Lane, Mapledurwell. Too large a development, design fails to respect host dwelling. Garage an overly large outbuilding which could be used as a separate unit of accommodation.

5.            FINANCE.  

5.1.1      Payments were approved.

Chq. No 000493                 Pump International                         £59.24                                   Allotment Group Funds

Chq. No 000494                 The Villager                                        £246.00                 S137 funds         

                Chq. No000495                  Came & Co. Insurance                   £403.44                 Annual Payment

                Chq. No 000496                 M Gosling                                            £348.98                 Grass Cutting

                Chq. No 000497                 Sue Lefley                                           £18.30                                   Ink & Paper

                Chq. No 000498                 S Mills                                                   £12,035.11                           Part payment Phase 1 S106

                5.2 A copy of the Annual Return was handed out to all the councillors and the Chairman diligently went through the return. The Annual Governance Statement was then read out and decisions made upon each of the points. The Annual Return was then signed by both the Chairman and the RFO/Clerk. The Notice of Appointment of Date for the Exercise of Electors’ Rights was posted on the two notice boards on 28^th May 2010 and the accounts are available to view from 14^th June to 9^th July 2010. Robin Best was thanked for completing the internal audit and for doing such a thorough job.  The Annual Return is now ready to be sent to the External Auditor and needs to arrive by 12^th July 2010.

                The Clerk to make sure paperwork is sent off in good time.

6.            PARISH INITIATIVES.

6.1.1      Broadband. See Actions from Last Meeting 6.1.1.

7.            RECREATION.

7.1.1. The work for the resurfacing of the tennis courts commenced on Monday 21^st June and they will be out of action for however long the weather holds up, as the painting needs two dry days to complete. The tennis folk have been informed. Membership is down on last year, although keys are still being held. Once the court has been revamped, a publicity drive with a photo in the Villager will be undertaken to try to boost numbers.

Hilary to organise something with The Villager once work has been completed.

7.1.2      Hilary presented a quotation received from EJ Services Ltd from Alton. Noel Preece has recommended this company to look at the repairs needed to the playground items. The cost appears to be around £3,000. The budget for this is nearer £1,000. It was decided to place this work within Phase 2 and to try to find the extra funds needed to complete this. Hilary was asked to contact EJS and ask if they can reduce some of the costs. The Parish Council is keen to bring the playground up to scratch.

Hilary to contact EJS

7.2.1      Chineham Tigers have asked if it is possible to keep their annual fee the same this year for the use of the football pitch. In view of the work that is going on, the fact the football posts need repositioning with their help, the pitch re-lined and the extra work which may be required on their part due to the new pitch, it was decided to offer the rent at £500 (£540 last year) with the £40 being knocked off if they will creosote the Pavilion, which looks bad now that it has been exposed.  (NB the insurance on the Pavilion has been increased from £9,000 to £18,000)

Donald to liaise with Chineham Tigers.

7.3.1 Sam gave an outline of what is happening on site.  The Pavilion was discussed and the hope that it can be refurbed through a grant obtained by the football team and at best given a lick of paint this year (see above)  The drainage issues are hopefully being addressed by Steve Mills within Phase 1. Notice boards will also be looked into at some time.

From the three quotations received for the village hall refurbishment, one has been accepted and approved by the Village Hall Committee/Parish Council but is subject to S106 clarification and if the funds are in place.  Work is hoped to commence in August.  Sam outlined the further costs required to complete the planning side of this project; Building Reg. Charges £272.00, Inspection charge of £970 and further copies of the drawings £80.00.   The total pot of S106 funds was still unclear at this point and needed clarification. Also the VAT situation needs to be settled, as the reclaiming of the VAT is essential.  Once the funds/time and date is known, then the process of informing the users of the hall will commence.

Donald/Clerk to approach June Balcombe and obtain a total figure of S106 funds pertaining to the village hall. Clerk to contact DCK Beaver about the VAT situation.

7.3.2 Concern has been raised by Steve Mills and PC Andy Reid about the security of the playing fields with regard to travellers.  Sam said that it was part of the conditions not to have a gate across the car park. With help of PC Reid, permission could be sought in writing from B&DBC. It was not sure how a gate would work for this area, problems with keys etc.

8. OPEN SPACES.  

8.1 The deeds for the newly purchased land, known as Yaxley’s were shown to the councillors.

8.2 The boundary between the allotments and the Munday’s land was discussed. The new landowners want to clarify the boundary and a variety of maps had been produced to try to settle on a line. Alan Hutton was concerned that as the ownership of the allotment land was unknown/unproven, that the Parish Council should not give their opinion on where the boundary lies. It was decided to inform the new owners that the Parish Council are not in the position to comment at this time but that DI Coate-Bond and Alan Hutton would look into the ownership situation and report back at the next meeting in August. Donald Komrower was asked to send an email to the purchasers regarding the position of the Parish Council (email sent 15.6.10)

Di and Alan to look into ownership.

8.3 The Chairman had asked for an allotment report to see if they could be independent from the Parish Council. Di Coate-Bond met with the group and created a document for their constitution. Before this can be accepted, a further look into the ownership of the land, the charitable status, how the charity works, the status of the allotments and how long they are available to us. The constitution could not be sanctioned until all these issues have been addressed.  It was suggested that other parish councils’ methods of working with allotment groups should be looked into.

Di to address the above.

The clerk, as part of the internal audit, also checked on the public liability insurance for the allotment land with Came & Co. Although all the land managed or owned by the Parish Council is covered, the area of the allotments is not. They advise allotment groups to obtain their own insurance for around £50 per annum and this is what happens elsewhere.

9.            ROADS AND FOOTPATHS.

9.1 Cllr Elaine Still informed the Parish Council that they are provisionally looking to carry out the coning exercise trial to reduce the dual sections of the A30 from Water End Lane through Blackstocks Lane junction on Wednesday 16 & Thursday 17 June.

Details of the trial are as follows:

Westbound - reduce dual to single carriageway through Blackstocks Lane junction connecting with existing single carriageway arrangement at Andwell Lane junction approach.

Eastbound - Maintain single carriageway arrangement from Water End Lane junction through Blackstocks Lane junction to a suitable point before the start of hill then re-open to dual carriageway.

Traffic speed data will be recorded before/after and during trial to give us indication of likely speed reduction, with traffic flow and journey times assessed to ascertain likely impact of lane reduction.

All of the above is subject to the Area Street Work Co-ordinators approval. 

10.          MOTORWAY BUND/NOISE

10.1.2    Maria Miller to be approached again regarding the new surface on the M3 and when it might happen.

Clerk to follow up last email from Maria Miller MP

11.          CORRESPONDENCE/CONSULTATIONS/PARISH COUNCIL ADMINISTRATION.

12.          DATE FOR THE FUTURE MEETINGS.

12.1 The date for the next Parish Council meeting is Monday 16^th August 8pm.                                                  

13.          MATTERS ARISING

13.1 Ann Lywood presented to the Parish Council her findings in the newly acquired piece of land adjacent to the recreation ground.  She pointed out that the fence was not in good repair and that Highways should be notified at some point. She also enquired if the insurance company had been informed about this new acquisition.  She suggested that a management plan be drawn up in how to tackle this land which is very overgrown and unkempt. The Parish Council thanked her for her interest and said that once the two phases had been carried out and funds permitting, the land would be looked into more detail then.

13.2 The web site was discussed and will be kept on the agenda until a decision is made about who maintains it. Trish Banks has offered to update the site and hopefully this will make it more user friendly. It remains important to the Parish Council though as a vessel to place important notices upon and to fulfil our legal requirements.

13.3. The clerk informed the councillors that the grass cutting grant has not yet been paid into our account. She has contacted Noel Preece to ask what the problem is and has been told it should be paid over the next few weeks but they are still under discussion.

Clerk to follow up.

13.4 Some of the risk assessment forms were received at this meeting. There are three outstanding and these if possible need to be returned at the next meeting in August.

Alan, Hilary and Di to complete the risk assessment forms.

14.          MEETING CLOSED at 10.00pm