HIGHCLERE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes
of the Council Meeting held at Highclere Village Hall on
Tuesday 9 September 2003 commencing at 7.35pm.
Present:
Councillor
Jim Pearson – Chairman
Councillor
Russ Castle
Councillor
Robert Drew
Councillor
Ray East
Councillor
Tom Farmer
Councillor Amanda Hosie
Councillor
Fitzroy Somerset
Apologies:
Councillor
Don Langan
Also
Present:
Bob Brooks - Environmental Services
Manager
Lucy Keal - Waste Management
Officer
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119/03 To approve the minutes of the Council meeting held on July 15th 2003 The minutes of the meeting held on July 15th 2003, having been circulated, were taken as read, agreed by all, and signed by the Chairman. 120/03 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 99.03
There had been
correspondence with Drewatt Neate who were the agents for Rivar, who have put
in planning permission at the old Highclere Garage site re the overgrown
hedges along the main road. Drewatt’s
had written to them asking them to cut the hedges. There
had been yet another accident at the Penwood A343 Crossroads with the police
involved. 118/03
Following the
talk by Mr Ron Snipp from the Highclere Parish Society the Clerk had found
out prices for the maps that he had shown us. The Council decided to go ahead and buy the A3 size at a cost
of £90 for 23 drawings and the A1 size Landlords and general map for
£19. All drawings would be filed
within an A4 binder for safe keeping. 121/03 BOROUGH COUNCILLOR'S REPORT Borough
Councillor Tim Jardine explained that August had been very quiet as it was the holiday period.
There had only been two meetings and unfortunately he had been unable to
attend either of them. He had
been talking to people who were responsible for leisure at Basingstoke and
they felt that there could be funds available to support development of the
Penwood open space for appropriate children’s leisure activities. They were looking at putting up gates or a
barrier when the new area behind the Spar shop was sorted out, so the
youngsters could have a place to ride their bikes of the road. He had
been unable to attend the launch of Cango.
Councillors Pearson and East had attended and felt that it had been
very successful. Also the Cango bus
had been brought to Penwood village hall the week before the launch so the
‘customer’ could have a look at it. A discussion then talk place
between the Council members re the information given out at the launch. Some of the older people had found
difficulty in understanding the timetable.
Councillor Jardine explained that
Cango had been concerned about treading on Stagecoaches toes and did
not what to run a bus where they were running buses. There had been a number of requests from
Highclere, which at present the Cango bus did not pass through. This was because there was a bus going
along the main road. Councillor
Jardine explained that Cango was seen as a project at present. There would be a review after three months
and if successful he was hopeful that in time their route would be
extended. The Council felt that it
would have been more helpful if they had known about Cango earlier on so they
could have had some input into the route.
Any more feedback would be passed onto Councillor Jardine. 122/03 STREET NAMES Because
of a new housing development just over the border of Hampshire in Berkshire
along the Andover Drove, there had been some confusion regarding deliveries
and visitors to The Drove in Penwood. The Clerk had
spoken to B&DBC and they were willing to put up street signs if the
Council were in agreement. The
Council thought this would be a very good idea as it would also help
emergency vehicles. The clerk would
speak to B&DBC and ask for signs for The Drove and also for the C5 road which B&DBC
believe is called Foxes Lane. 123/03 UPDATE ON THE PROVISION OF OPEN SPACE AT PENWOOD We
believe the cables are in as there has been some activity at the site. The Council hope to have a meeting in
early November at Penwood Hall with the local Parishioners to find out what
they would like on the site. There
had been some talk of more houses being built behind the Spar shop, the
Council were looking into this. The prime concern of the Council is the
youngsters on their quad and motor bikes travelling all over the place with
no thought to other drivers or pedestrians.
At this
point a discussion talk place and Bob Brooks who was attending the meeting
also joined in. He had found
information under the 2002 Police Reform Action Section 59 sub-section 3 with
regard to antisocial behaviour and had spoken to the local Police about
it. It seems a uniformed officer can
arrest a person for antisocial behaviour.
There was some discussion as to whether a notice should be put on the
notice boards to see if this would have any effect. No conclusion was reached. 124/03 UPDATE ON RECYCLING BINS – INPUT FROM BOB BROOKS The
Chairman, Councillor Pearson, recounted the process that had preceded the
removal of the bins from Penwood Car Park and the resiting of them by the
Spar shop and how the decision was made.
The new bin was removed from the Spar shop in July to be emptied and
repaired. Notices had gone up to
inform the Parishioners of this. Bob
Brooks from Basingstoke explained what had led up to the removal and non
return of the bin. The
prime concern from Basingstoke was the broken glass and also the noise
element. As they had received a
petition from one of the Parishioners this had to be investigated. Councillor Potter (B&DBC) had visited
the site and whilst there had had an altercation with a gentleman. He then left the site and arranged for the
skip hire to remove the bin. In
between those two times the large bars had been broken on the bin, which
resulted in a large amount of glass falling out of the bin on removal. Councillor
Potter had then decided to invite comments from Highclere Parish Council. Following
discussion the Council came up with three suggestions for siting the bins:
Bob
Brooks and Lucy Keal are to look into these alternative proposals. They would also talk to the two local
pubs in Highclere and Woolton Hill.
This would not perhaps be much help to the parishioners of Penwood who
do not have a car. The
Council now await comments from Basingstoke. 125/03 CORRESPONDENCE The following correspondence has been received and relevant information copied to Councillors. 1. HAPTC Annual Report and AGM 2. HAPTC comments on Quality Parish Status and the Smaller Parish 3. HCC A343 traffic calming reply The Councillors’ were not happy with the reply from HCC. Several of the comments made in the letter had already been agreed some time ago. It was mentioned in the letter that there was an investigation into alternatives for Penwood Cross Road junction – what are they – we do not know about them! It seems that we cannot have a 30mph speed limit through Highclere as we do not have street lights. Why is it that Hurstbourne Tarrant (on the same road) has a 30mph when they do not have street lights? The road surface has not been resurfaced for many years. The last time it was done it was just gritted and tarred. A reply would be sent to HCC with our concerns and comments. 4. B&DBC Scrutiny Panel, Parish Funding: Double Taxation. 5. Temporary Road Closure, Tubbs Lane 6. HAPTC Members’ (Councillors’) Allowances – this would be an agenda item for the next meeting. 7. BDBC Rural Gateway Features. Councillor Castle will look at this information, complete the form and return it to the Clerk. 8. HAPTC Countryside agency – Vital Villages update. 9. HAPTC Quality Parish Status Bulletin 6 10.Joint Parishes Meeting Burghclere
Wednesday 22nd October 11.North Wessex Downs Management Plan – Councillor Drew will look at this and comment if needed 12.BDBC/Planning, Environment & Transport Quarterly Bulletin 13.Watervoice Southern Annual Report and Meeting – Friday 19th September 14.Defra - Rural services standard 2003-09-02 15.The Standards Board & Guidance form monitoring officers & Standards Committees 16.BDBC/Admission of Public to Meetings – Dates & Times 17.BDBC/LSP 2003 – 2013 – Community Strategy 18.HCC/Local bus Services: - Cango – Timetable – A complaint had been received from a Parishioner in Highclere as the Stagecoach bus had not stopped between Woolton Hill and the Red House, a distance of well over a mile. This was looked into by the Clerk and a complaint was made through the Stagecoach office as the bus should have stopped. 19.HAPTC/Code of Practice for Local Councils – Handling complaints 20.BDBC/Seed Gathering Sunday – on or around 12/10/03 and National Tree week 26th November – 7th December 21.Hampshire Now (Your County council magazine) 22.ODPM/Consultation paper – Providing Indemnities to Relevant Authority Officers and Members 23.HCC/Directory of Services for the Environment Grouping 24.HCC/One day Conference on Transport & Social Exclusion – 30-09-03 Councillor East will check and see if he is free 25.Upper Test Community Catchment Liaison Meeting 26.HHIOW/Bulletin 5 27.The Yew Tree Inn, Andover Road – Notice of Application for Transfer of The Justices Licence 28.North Wessex Downs Annual Meeting – 25th September 03 29.Standards Committee – Monday 15th September - 5.30pm 126/03 2002-03 ACCOUNTS TO BE APPROVED An
independent auditor, Mr John Murray, had audited the accounts and a copy had
been supplied to each Councillor. The Chairman, Councillor Pearson, went
through the accounts with the Council.
He explained that the lease at Penwood Village hall had run out and a
new lease should have been drawn up and there would not be a charge. In the past a charge of £1 annually for
the hall had been made and £10 for the car park. Clerk will check on this. As a
previous Parish Clerk had done all the work on the accounts it was agreed
that flowers would be sent to her as a thank you. The
Chairman then proposed that the accounts be adopted and this was unanimously
agreed. The
Clerk will complete the accounts procedure. 127/03 Cango Launch This
had been dealt with earlier and commented on under the Borough Councillor’s
report. 128/03 Under aged Motor Cyclists and Noise Some
ideas had been mentioned earlier in the meeting by Bob Brooks the
representative from Basingstoke. It
appears that many of the bikes are unlicensed and being ridden by under-aged
youths. A
discussion then took place about motorcyclists who race down the Andover
Road. A brief
traffic survey will be undertaken by one of the councillor’s later this month
or early in October. A breakdown will
then be made for the Council and the Police. The
Clerk would investigate getting a copy of the official vehicle traffic count
and ask for the summer months. 129/03 ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT The following accounts were passed for payment. (Cheques signed in August) HAPTC £20, Highclere PCC £100, J Pearson £28.94 W Bendle £112.20, C Corrall £112.20, D Mitchell £478.00, J Murray £137.50, (Cheques signed at this meeting) W Bendle £132.50, C Corrall £117.20, SLCC £30.00, HAPTC £10.00, HAPTC £35.00, D Mitchell £478.00, D Mitchell £43.41, Viking Direct £106.24. 130/03 COUNCILLORS’ MATTERS ARISING TO BE INCLUDED FOR THE NEXT
AGENDA Councillor Drew spoke a little about the Village Plan. He and Councillor Langan had had a meeting. Unfortunately the Parish Plan was proving very popular with other Villages and there were no funds available again. Therefore they cannot proceed much further unless there are funds in place. Councillor Drew felt that it might help if the Parish had Quality Status and this would be raised as an agenda item at the next meeting. There were several village mugs purchased for the jubilee celebrations, not used. It was agreed that they would be donated to the Brownies. |
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There being no other business, the meeting was closed at 10.30pm.
The next full Council meeting will be on Tuesday 14th October 2003 in Highclere Village Hall, Jubilee Room at 7.30pm.
Planning committee meetings will be held as and when necessary.