| 61/05 To approve the minutes of the Council meeting held on 10th May 2005 The minutes of the meeting held on 10th May 2005 had been circulated, were taken as read, agreed by all, and signed by the Chairman Councillor Pearson. 62/05 Matters arising 48.05 Councillor Farmer who had not be able to attend the last meeting was concerned that Councillors were going to make decisions on some items without bringing them before the whole Council. He read a section from a Parish Councillors’ Handbook, which had been issued several years ago, in which it stated that the Councillors’ made the decisions at meetings and the Clerk carried out those decisions. Councillor Langan who had made the comments at the previous meeting explained that that was not intended at all. He went on to say that he had noted that over the last year or so that in the action column it always seemed to be the Clerk taking action. He felt the Council were not involved enough and that if certain topics came up on the agenda that a Councillor should take responsibility for, then go away and research this subject and then report back to the Council and then if a decision needed to be taken a joint decision would be made a Council and then minuted at the meeting. Cllr Mitchell informed the Councillors that in other parishes it is normal practice for individual councillors to take responsibility for ‘leading’ on the various responsibilities of the Council, to liaise with the Clerk and Chairman between meetings, represent the Council to appropriate outside bodies, and report on their activities at Council meetings. This didn’t detract from the decision making role of the Council but did enable matters to be progressed more effectively between meetings. 52/05 Councillor Castle since the last meeting had made enquires about the land along The Mount which had been included in the Local Plan Development. This land had been turned down to be included in the Local Plan but the owners had appealed. These appeals had been going on since the beginning of the year as part of the Local Plan Inquiry; we would receive notice of the outcome at some point. If the Inspector were to approve the land’s inclusion in the Local Plan, nothing could be done without the usual planning application and development control process. A discussion continued on the planning and the Council felt that the village views were not taken into consideration often enough. 56/05 The Parish Council had recently objected to a planning application and Councillor Langan had spoken at the Development Control Committee. Unfortunately because of time restraints he had not be able to email his notes to the Clerk and to the Borough Councillor. It had been decided at the last meeting that when a Councillor was speaking at the DCM he would let the other Councillors’ on the planning committee know what he would be saying. In this case Chairman, Councillor Pearson had emailed notes to Council members and Councillor Langan had taken them as a basis and altered them slightly. Because of holidays and time restraints he was not able to email his copy to other Councillors’ for comments. It was noted that occasionally this might happen but wherever possible the agreed procedure would be followed. 58/06 - Correspondence - Letter received from a parishioner re the proposed work on the village hall. Councillor Farmer who had not be able to attend the last Council meeting felt very strongly that this letter should have not been sent to the Parish Council but to the Highclere Village Hall Committee. Highclere Parish Council had no control over the Village Hall Committee on what it did or how it ran itself. In 1959 the Parish Council had handed control to a Village Hall Committee and since that time had been a custodial trustee. The Clerk had written a draft reply to the letter which had been sent to all Councillors for comments. . The Trust document gave the Parish Council the right to be represented on the Village Hall Committee but no Councillor had volunteered for this work. The Clerk would write to the Village Hall Committee asking if we could please have a copy of their minutes after each meeting so the Parish Council know what is happening to the hall. When these minutes arrive they will be included under correspondence so Councillors know what is happening. 63/05 Borough Councillor’s Report The Borough Councillors report in full is at the end of the minutes, the main points from the report are: SEERA had published an ‘analysis’ of the SE Plan consultation responses, the responses to the questionnaire and results of a separate MORI survey. There was a high level of support for the line the Parish Council had taken, namely that the rate of house building should not be increased. The need for infrastructure improvements to preceed rather than follow development had also been widely emphasised. Responding to concerns about development control Cllr Mitchell had been elected to the Shadow Cabinet with responsibility for Forward Planning; in this capacity he was working with colleagues to get a policy adopted that places clear and strong emphasis on ‘the local context’ as a critical factor, at least equal in importance to the more readily quantifiable factors such as density, parking spaces, numbers of bedrooms etc. Councillors again raised the issue of whether B&DBC place sufficient emphasis on VDSs and the comments of Parish Councils. Councillor Mitchell explained that to turn down an application they had to have sound and documented ‘material grounds’, otherwise an appeal would be upheld, leading to additional costs for us as tax payers. The purpose of his current work is to strengthen the weight given to VDS and the local context. Cllr Mitchell has joined the Learning Skills and Cultural Committee and the Personnel Committee. On ongoing matters he suggested that the new County Councillor be invited to a future meeting, specifically to discuss how to get progress on the Penwood Crossroads. He noted that at the recent County and General Election that had been held turn out from rural areas was far higher than turnout from town areas; at the 2004 Borough Council elections Highclere and Bourne had one of the highest turnouts in the Borough. The Chairman thanked the Borough Councillor for his report. 64/05 Feedback from the Anti Social Behaviour Meeting held on the 3rd June 2005 at Penwood Village Hall Borough Councillor Mitchell who had been at the meeting on the 3rd June reported back. He had recently sent out notes from the meeting to all those who had attend: Jason Murphy, ASB Coordinator, PC M Kings, Lynne Grimshaw and Su Morgan from Sentinel Housing and County Councillor Maxwell as well as Parish Councillors who had attended the meeting. A report had also been received from Jason Murphy which the clerk circulated to the Councillors’. The following points came out of the meeting: There is clearly a need for vigilance on the matter of antisocial or criminal behaviour but PC King had been very visible in Penwood over the last few months. Councillor East had raised an issue in respect of calls to ‘non emergency’ police numbers being switched around and Borough Councillor Mitchell said he would look into that. It was agreed at the meeting that a leaflet/letter would be produced and distributed to all residents of Heathlands, Woodlands and Penwood Height that demonstrates a commitment to ‘joined up action’ on behalf of all relevant parties. We would see a draft before it is circulated. It was agreed that the area could do with a boost and that two key aspects of this should be: (a) A ‘fun’ day event held at and around Penwood Village Hall, supported by all parties; (b) Visible signs of commitment in the form of concerted action to ‘spruce up’ the neighbourhood. Something local should be on the agenda for young people but we need to ask them what they would like. It should be important that any event should be seen as local and at present Borough Councillor Mitchell is trying to find local people who will take up and run with ideas. It was suggested that a rolling list of improvements be made and kept by the Parish Council which anyone can contribute to. Some of the items will probably be minor and will be addressed fairly quickly others may take longer to sort. He felt that one potential major item was the improvement of the Village Hall which was in a very attractive location but seen as a ‘poor relation’ to Highclere Village Hall. Both Jason Murphy and Councillor Mitchell felt the Stores was a potential key focal point and Councillor Mitchell was going to speak to the owners to see if he could enlist their support. Councillor Mitchell felt that it was very important that when there were problems on the estates at Penwood they should be reported immediately otherwise if not reported it was perceived that there were few problems at Penwood. The bus shelter was mentioned and it was decided to put this as an agenda item for the next meeting. There had been talk of three lights being installed along Foxs Lane between Heathlands and Woodlands, the Clerk had applied for a grant for this twice but so far we do not seem to have been successful. The Clerk will look into this. 65/05 Update on the Village Plan Councillor Langan reported the plans were slowly moving forward. A letter had been sent to all participants of the April meeting thanking them for attending the meeting and filling out a form with their details. A leaflet had now been finished which the Clerk will give copies of to the leaders of the local play groups and brownies group so they can be distributed to their parents. A leaflet was now nearly completed that would go to all residents of Penwood Heights, Woodlands and Heathlands. This was hoped to be completed and distributed before the summer holiday started. Councillor Langan had mentioned before that the age range was unfortunately mainly with the over 50’s whilst we needed to try and attract younger members to join the focus groups. Hopefully with the distribution of the leaflets they hoped to bring in about another 20 people and this might make a difference in the age range. Cllr Mitchell had done an analysis of the electoral roll to identify households with younger voters and young people approaching voting age and letters would be sent to them. It was felt that by the end of the summer they would have received feedback from these leaflet drops and would then be able to start sorting out the focus groups. One of the most important tasks would be to find group leaders for these groups. Once these groups were up and running there would probably be a quiet spell whilst they were working away on their various topics, before they would be able to report back with any information. The Parish Council had received a letter from HCC re Village initiatives which Councillor Langan said might be a source for funding. The Clerk was asked to reply to the letter and ask how long this initiative was open for. The Clerk would explain to them that we would be needing money for various village initiatives but we were not quite at that stage yet with our village plan. The chairman suggested that we might be able to put a bid in for a survey for walkways through the village. Gateways were then mentioned as it had been noted that chicanes had been introduced at Burghclere and they were not allowed in Highclere. The Clerk explained that this was probably due to the fact that the road through Highclere was an A road whilst the road through Burghclere was not. She would check with Burghclere though and let the Parish Council know. 66/05 - Correspondence received 1. HCC - Hampshire County Council: Planning on-Line - Informing the Council that they are introducing a new on-line planning facility through: www.hants.gov.uk/mineralsandwaste web site. Councillors’ had been given a copy of the letter. 2. A Clear Vision - Update on the South East Plan – Councillors’ had been given a copy of this update which was number 7, this was informing the Council of the revised timetable for sub-regional details. 3. Land Management Information Service - Parish of Highclere: CD ROM. LAMIS were able to supply us with a CD-ROM containing aerial photography and Ordnance Survey mapping of Highclere Parish, together with environmental date held by the government and Hampshire County Council. This was at a cost of £50 per year for a basic subscription. Whilst the Council felt this would be a good idea to have, it seemed too expensive at this moment in time. 4. HCC - Local Bus Service Re-tendering for Andover & North West Hampshire - HCC had completed its four yearly re-tendering of supported local bus services in the Andover and North West Hampshire. As there were so few buses through Highclere and Penwood it would not effect our area. 4. B&D - Design & Conservation Awards 2005 - B&D were inviting nominations for the 2005 Design and Conservations Awards. The aim of the awards is to promote an awareness of the need for high standards of design and conservation in our built and natural environment. The Council felt they had no designs to put forward. 5. S & W Internal Audit - The Parish Council were being asked if they would like to use their services for the Internal Audit. The Parish Council had been using the services of John Murray in Winchester for the last four years, were very happy with the way he worked and would remain with him for the time being. 6. Hampshire Constabulary – new publication to inform key stakeholders of some of the latest developments as they affect Hampshire Constabulary. Each Councillor had been given a copy and the Clerk would post copies on the three notice boards in the Parish. 7. Highclere Welfare Charities - Summary of accounts year ending 31st March 2005. These were sent for information only and at the Annual meeting are presented to the public. 8. HCC - Hampshire Villages Initiative - This had been discussed under the Village Plan. Copies had been given to all Councillors’. HCC - Minerals & Waste Development Framework – Draft – This was as a result of a questionnaire that had been sent out earlier in the year. There were no comments from the Councillors’. Other Correspondence (available for Councillors to review) HCC - Minerals & Waste Planning in Hampshire – Annual Report 2003/04 – no comments Southern Crimestopper – Councillor East took a copy and the Clerk has more copies if anyone wishes to have one. N Wessex Downs - UP magazine – The Clerk had two copies which were distributed at the meeting. Milestones Museum - literature – The Clerk had given each Councillor a copy of the leaflet that had been sent from the Museum. She would also put copies up in the notice boards. 67/05 - Accounts for Payment The following accounts were passed for payment. BT (telephone costs) £24.72, Highclere PCC (grass cutting costs) £100.00, Inland Revenue PAYE/NI) £188.76, C Corrall (litter warden) £128.76, L McClelland (litter warden) £64.59, W Bendle (litter warden) £145.50, D Mitchell (salary) £565.27. 68/05 Councillors’ matters arising to be included in the next agenda Highclere Village development, Bus Shelter at Penwood, Annual Accounts |