| 91/05 - To approve the minutes of the Council meeting held on 6th September 2005 The minutes of the meeting held on 6th September 2005 had been circulated, were taken as read, agreed by all, and signed by the Chairman Councillor Pearson. 92/05 - Matters arising 75/05 - Possible Film Club and Penwood Village Hall. The Chairman Cllr Pearson as stated in the September minutes had been in touch with Kingsclere again re their recently started film club. He was still waiting to receive notes from them on rules and regulations in relation to running a film club. He will continue to pursue this and then see if he can organise someone to set up a committee to run a club at Penwood Village Hall. 87/05 – Penwood Bus Shelter & Notice Board. It had been noted that the clean notice board had been sprayed yet again, this time with gold spray. The Clerk had again had a go at cleaning it but would need more time to get the paint off. The Clerk was still waiting for costings in respect of the Bus Shelter. 93/05 Borough Councillor’s Report Apologies had been received from the Borough Councillor who was attending a meeting at B&DBC. The Clerk gave a copy of his report to each Councillor. His main points were that he hoped that the Parish Council would be responding to the ‘Where Shall We live’ survey. On the 13th October B&DBC had a full Council when it will decide its response. On the matter of ongoing matters he is still awaiting the draft leaflet promised in connection with community development etc around Penwood. With regard to the Penwood Crossroads and related matters he suggests that the County Councillor be invited to meet with himself and a representative from the Parish Council to discuss how best to make progress. He also notes that some residents have expressed dissatisfaction with the way money had been spent on ‘safer routes to school’. The Borough Councillor’s report can be found at the end of the minutes. 94/05 Discussion re draft letter to HCC – ‘Safer Routes to School’ The ‘Safer Routes to School’ work that had been carried out in Woolton Hill between the two schools had been discussed at the last meeting, with the Council not being happy with the way the money had been spent on this project. A letter had drafted to be sent to HCC. A copy had been given to all Council members for their comments prior to the Clerk sending the final letter to HCC. Cllr Castle had visited the schools in the morning and the afternoon to talk to parents taking their children to school and also to talk to the Lollipop person. The Lollipop Person felt that the traffic had slowed down slightly with the new changes to the road. He noted that the new path (which only allowed walking part of the way between the two schools) seemed to have confused people and did not appear to make walking between the two schools any easier or safer as the road still had to be crossed at some point. The Council were happy with the letter with just a few minor alterations. The Clerk would amend the letter and send it to the appropriate person in charge of ‘Safer Routes to School’ at HCC. 95/05 Highclere Village Hall The rebuilding work at Highclere Village Hall was now completed. The work had been completed on time and to budget. There were just a few minor problems with the heating but these hopefully would be sorted out quite soon. Whilst the Clerk had been away the Chairman, Cllr Pearson had responded to a letter from the VAT people with regard to the hall. Since then, the Clerk had received a letter to say that both invoices already paid and sent to the VAT office for payment of reclaimed VAT would be passed. A third invoice would be paid this week and the Clerk would then reclaim the VAT. The Clerk had received the final invoice and the committee of the Village Hall were in the process of asking for the final tranches of money raised for the work to be paid to them, then the final invoice would be paid. The hall had already been in use for several functions and all users were very pleased with the changes. The chairman of the Village Hall Committee, Ron Snipp and the Treasurer, Ian Briggs, had been nominated for Basingstoke Volunteer Bureau awards, they were presented with them by the Mayor of Basingstoke at a ceremony on Thursday October 6th. There was going to be a grand opening of the Village Hall by Rt Hon Sir George Young Bt MP on Friday November 11th. Cllr Farmer asked about the Deeds to the Village Hall and where were they as they needed to be kept safe. The Clerk had not found them in her Highclere Village Hall file but would look through other papers to see if they were there. She would also check with the Chairman of the Village Hall to see if the Village Hall Committee had them. 96/05 Update on Village Plan It had been very quiet during the Summer as so many people had been away. The steering Group had met just a few days ago and from the list of interested parishioners had selected potential leaders for the focus groups. These people were being invited to a meeting on Monday 17th October. Most of the people concerned had already been contacted and were able to attend the meeting. The Clerk would send formal letters to them to confirm timings etc. Cllr Langan hoped that after the meeting on Monday things would start moving much quicker with a kick off meeting, then the focus groups being formed and meeting in their own time. 97/05 Report on BDAPTC meeting 29th September 2005 The Chairman had attended the recent BDAPTC meeting and had proposed two resolutions. They were: 1. There is a perception that officers may be coming to a conclusion early in the planning process and may thereafter fail to maintain a neutral stance, weighing new evidence and input on its merits, rather than from the perspective of the officers earlier conclusions. 2. HPC (and all parishes and BAPTC) should have the right to ask for a Planning Application to be referred to the Development Control Committee for a decision and not decided under delegated powers. We assume that the officer will give an unbiased, professional decision based on the planning requirements etc plus the views of the local parishes since they are not individual comments. The reason the Chairman put forward these resolutions were because of a recent application at 11 and 15 Penwood Heights, where a new house was being built and a further application had been submitted with some changes to the original application. The Council had hoped that it would go to the DCC but it did not. There had been a lot of objections when the application had first gone in and when there were amendments, locals felt that as the house was already half built it would be difficult to change anything. The Clerk was asked to write to the CEO at B&DBC re the above application and how none of our objections were listened to and how the VDS had also been ignored by the planning department. 98/05 - Correspondence Received 1. HCC – ‘Where shall we live? – Public Consultation on District-Level Housebuilding Targets - Also with this was a questionnaire to be completed. There had been an email from the Borough Councillor and Julian Pilcher from Campaign to Protect Rural England. North Hampshire urging the Parish council to complete the questionnaire. All the copies of the questionnaire that the Clerk had were taken by the Councillors to complete 2. HAPTC - Evening Training Seminar the Councillors – ‘Planning Matters’ -Wednesday 7th December at Alton - Unfortunately none of the Councillors were able to attend this meeting. Sentinel – Terms & Conditions – The Parish Council had requested these from Sentinel, unfortunately they only were for the new tenants, not the old tenants. The Clerk will write to see if there are any other terms and conditions for the tenants who have been in the houses for a long time. 3. HCC – Departmental changes in HCC – A copy of this letter was given to all Parish Councillors. 4. HCC – South East Plan – Public consultation on options for house building. This letter was a follow up to a meeting that HCC had had earlier in September. A copy had been given to all Councillors Nick Harcourt – Chairs for Penwood Village Hall – A thank you note from the treasurer of the village hall for the help the Council had given HCC – Mineral Waste – Questionnaire to be completed. The Clerk would complete the questionnaire. B&DBC – S106 Planning obligations & Community Infrastructure. A copy of this had been given to all Councillors B&DBC – Statement of Community Involvement – questionnaire. The Clerk had several copies of the questionnaire which were passed around the Councillors for them to complete. D Mitchell – Clerks Resignation - A letter had been received from the Clerk with her resignation. Cllr Castle said how disappointed that he was that the Clerk had decided to resign and Cllr Langan asked her if there was any chance that she might change her mind. The Clerk thanked him for his kind words but said that her resignation stood. The Clerk had typed up a job description which was handed round to all Councillors for their comments. The Clerk would put the job description on the Parish web sight and let HAPTC and the Clerks Liaison Office and B&D know so they could send a note round to all Clerks in the area. A copy of the job description would be put on the notice boards in the Parish and an advertisement would be placed in the Newbury Weekly News. Cllr H Mitchell – A note re the planning application BDB/61714. This application was due to come before the DCC on Wednesday 19th October. This application was for three houses, there was also an appeal in for an earlier application for 5 houses. B&DBC officers had recommended refusal on housing mix grounds. Mr Roberts and Mr Shingles who live adjacent to this proposed development gave their views to the Council, as did Mr Hedgeland on behalf of the Highclere Society. There was some concern that if B&D were to reject this application it might increase the risk that the appeal could be allowed, since the appealed application did include a wider mix of house sizes. The Council decided Chairman Cllr Pearson would speak at the DC meeting, opposing the application. He would draft a statement for circulation to Planning Committee members for comments and concurrence. The Clerk would let B&DBC know that we will be being represented. Other Correspondence (available for Councillor to review) Community Care News – Hampshire VOL dot COMM – Basingstoke Voluntary Services HCC – Hampshire Now – county Council Magazine Neighbourhood Watch Leaflet B&DBC – Problem Solving Core Group HAPTC – Bulletin HCC – Where Shall we Live 99/05 - Accounts for Payment The following accounts were passed for payment. BT (telephone) £20.29, Highclere PCC (Cemetery maintenance) £140.00, Highclere Village Hall Management Committee (hire of hall) £10.00, Inland Revenue (PAYE/NI), £37.80, C Corrall (litter warden) £128.26, B Bendle (litter Warden) 156.66, L McClelland (litter warden) £45.06p, D Mitchell (mileage and internet expenses) £50.20p, D Mitchell (salary) £667.49. 100/05 Councillors’ matters arising to be included in the next agenda None |