The meeting got off to a rather late start as at 7.30pm when the meeting was due to start there was a power cut!  Fortunately because we were in the Dunlop Room at Highclere Church we were able to find plenty of candles so were able to start and continue with the meeting, although it was an hour before the electricity was restored.

101/05  -  To approve the minutes of the Council meeting held on 11^th October 2005

The minutes of the meeting held on 11^th October 2005 had been circulated, were taken as read, agreed by all, and signed by the Chairman Councillor Pearson.

102/05  -  Matters arising

Councillor Langan asked if all the things in the action column had been sorted out.  Cllr Pearson said that the one action down for him to follow up was done.  The rest of the actions were for the Clerk.  She went through them and they had all been followed up but some were still awaiting responses or further actions.

95/05 – Highclere Village Hall.  Cllr Castle felt now that the village hall extension was completed and the official opening by Sir George Young Bt. MP was going to be on Friday the Council should send them a letter to thank the Village Hall Committee for all their hard work over the last two years raising the money and getting the work done on time and on budget.  It had been a very successful project and very well done.  The Clerk would do this.

98/06  -  Correspondence, item 10 re planning application BDB/61714 land at Limeridge and Whitewood, Pantings Lane. This had been the subject of a prolonged process, with earlier applications for ten and then five houses. The refused application for five houses had been appealed by the applicant, who had meanwhile submitted the present application for three houses, with an undertaking that there would then be no further development and that the appeal for five would be withdrawn.

The Parish Council had objected on grounds of overdevelopment and traffic. The planning officer had recommended refusal on housing mix grounds. Planning had recommended acceptance of the earlier application for five houses.

The Chairman had represented the Council at the Development Control meeting. The Committee granted approval subject to a satisfactory S106 agreement limiting the development to three houses.

Given the concerns about traffic in Pantings Lane Cllr Castle asked whether developments at Thorngrove school meant an increase in numbers there with resulting increases in traffic. The Council felt that the school was not being increased in size and the building work was for a larger hall.  The Clerk was asked to call the school to check on the number of pupils and whether they expected an increase.

103/05  County Councillor Report

The Chairman welcomed Councillor Maxwell as this was his first visit to the Parish Council since his election last May.

Cllr Maxwell apologized for not visiting Highclere Parish Council sooner but with his large area and several of the meetings on the same night it was difficult to get to every meeting.

His first comments were on the ‘Safer Routes to School’ as he had received a copy of the letter sent to HCC re the Parish Councils concerns that a lot of money had been spent on improvements in Woolton Hill between the two schools and it had not seemed to have improved the traffic. Cllr Maxwell explained that HCC would evaluate the results of the scheme, but not until it has been running for a year. The works actually undertaken had not been as East Woodhay Parish Council had expected (Cllr Maxwell is also chairman of EW Council). Asked about the supposedly ‘lit’ signs that were (councillors claimed) never actually lit, he believed that the problem was to do with battery life and he expected it to be addressed shortly.

On Penwood cross roads Cllr Maxwell promised to follow this up actively to ensure that the Council and local residents have a clear and definite explanation of the relevant policies and what might be done.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Maxwell for attending the meeting and Cllr Maxwell said that if he realised that we had such interesting (‘romantic’) meetings (ie no electricity, only candles), he would have visited us earlier!

104/05  Borough Councillor’s Report

With regard to the SE Plan the Borough Council had voted for the lowest option, 710 houses, but the outcome for Hampshire still has to be negotiated with the other councils in the area and the quota for Basingstoke & Deane might increase beyond this.

Cllr Mitchell urged all Parish Council members to express their views on the Boundary Review to B&D and direct to the Boundary Committee.  He explained he was supporting option A, on the grounds that:

-          it reduces the number of councillors and therefore the costs to the taxpayer;

-          although Highclere would be represented by two councillors there was no option allowing Highclere and Bourne to remain on a one-member, one-ward basis;

-          Option A does allow East Woodhay to remain on one-member, one-ward, which might not be helpful to us in Highclere but does mean that one local area remains on that basis.

In connection with the planning approval and subsequent issues at 13 Penwood Heights, Cllr Mitchell remains committed to ensuring full weight is given to the local context when reviewing applications.

[Clerk’s note: Subsequent to the meeting Cllr Mitchell has written to inform the Parish Council of the Local Plan Inquiry report, which recommends that there should not be a Settlement Policy Boundary at Highclere. If adopted by BDBC this would make it much more difficult for developers to gain approval for ‘infill’ developments in the future.]

There was concern over the new proposals for what had been the ‘Sainsburys’ site at New Greenham park.  There was an exhibition at the site at present by Prologis and it was likely that a large logistic depot would be based there.  At this point a discussion took place.  If the application went ahead it could mean that there would be up to 250 lorries a day arriving at the site (500 movements).  It was a great concern to all in NW Hampshire as it was likely that most of the lorry movements would go south to the A34 Tot Hill Junction or SW down the A339 to Basingstoke.  So even though the site is in Berkshire all the traffic would be coming and going through Hampshire roads.

The Clerk was asked to write W Berkshire to register our interest and concerns and ask to be kept informed, also to ask if W Berkshire had undertaken an environmental impact survey.  The Clerk was asked to find this out and ask for a copy when completed.

The Borough Councillor’s report can be found at the end of the minutes.

105/05 Update on Village Plan

Cllr Langan reported that a meeting had been held on 17^th October when 6 parishioners were invited who they hoped would be willing to lead one of the groups.  Out of the six invited 5 said they would be happy to lead a Focus group as follow:

         Environment    -                                                            Mari Withecombe

         Recreation, leisure & sports -                                     Jill Williams

         Business, commercial and agricultural -                  Doug Harris

(also expressed interest in joining the environment group)

        Travel and transport -                                        Mark Bartholomew

        Public services -                                                           Doreen Gibbon

There was now one more person needed to lead the Educational group. Cllr Castle said that he would contact several local residents who had expressed an interest in that group to see if he could find a leader.

The next meeting with the Focus group leaders was due to be held on 28^th November.  At that meeting the leaders would report back on how they had got on with recruiting people for their groups and, hopefully, the outcome of initial meetings.

The Clerk would update the address list with as many telephone numbers and email addresses to make it easier for contacting people.

106/05 Mayor’s reception 23^rd November

The Chairman had been invited to the Mayor’s reception on 23^rd November and the invitation was for was up to two other Councillors as well.  Cllr Langan said that he would be able to attend.  At this reception it was hoped that the two items put forward by the Chairman Cllr Pearson at the last BDAPTC would be on the agenda.

107/05  Update on the Bus Shelter at Penwood

The Clerk had received quotes from B&DBC for the damage to the bus shelter.  She would now complete the insurance claims forms to see if the Council were able to get the repair work done through their insurance.  If this was not possible, the Council would leave the bus shelter as it was.  With regard to the notice board, the Clerk was asked to visit the owners of the Spa shop and see if they would be happy for us to put our notices in their window. She was also asked to let them know that the Council would be willing to pay a small fee for this service.  It was decided that with all the problems with the notice board that if the Spar shop were willing to have our notices in their window the Council would abandon the use of the notice board.  The Council felt that more people would read the notices if they were at the Spar shop.

108/05  Annual Meeting

Even though the Annual Meeting is not held till April it was decided that the Parish Council should start thinking about what subject might be of interest to the Parishioners. Cllr Langan thought that as the Village Plan is about to take off by April there hopefully would be quite a lot to report back from the Focus Groups.  Also if specific ideas had come up the Parish Council could find a speaker on that particular subject.  It was decided to wait to January/February before decided what would be the main subject of the evening.

109/05  Recruitment of New Clerk

The Clerk had had a lot of interest in the position since the advertisement had gone in the Newbury Weekly News.  The cut off date had been extended as there had been very little response earlier on.  A sub committee was formed and they would meet on November 17^th at 3.00 in the Jubilee Room, Highclere Village Hall, to review the applications that had been received and decide who to invite for an interview.  The Clerk would write to applicants letting them know if they have been short listed for an interview or not.  She would also book the Jubilee room for the interviews on the 3^rd December

110/05  -  Correspondence Received

1.  B&DBC  -  Parish Grants and Precepts – 2006/07  - The general grant has risen from £1,000 to £1025, this is a sum that is received each year by Parishes to help keep increase in the precepts low.

2.  HCC  -  Public Rights of Way in NW Hampshire  -  A new Area Rights of Way Officer Matthew Beal has taken over the role from Michael John who has retired.

3.  West Berkshire  -  Local Development Framework – This was the feedback from the meeting held in October.

4.  B&DBC  -  Have Your Say – How many Councillors should be on B&DBC – What area should they represent?  A copy of this letter and the information that went with it had been given to all Councillors’.  There was a response form which they were encouraged to fill in by Borough Cllr Mitchell who explained the various options to the Council.

5.   HCC  -  Annual Meeting of Parish Transport Representatives – 19^th November A copy had been given to Cllr East but unfortunately he was not free on the 19^th.

6.   HAPTC  -  two training courses for: “Chairing a Meeting” and “Professional Conduct”.  HAPTC were running a couple of separate courses on the above.  There were no takers from the Parish Council

7.   B&DBC  -  Bringing the Vision into Focus – Council Plan 2006 – 2009  A draft Council Plan for consultation had been given to all Council members.

8.   B&DBC  -  Coombe Cottage, Tubbs Lane  -  A letter had been received from B&D with two suggested names, Coombe Corner or Woodfield Close for new close that is being formed where Coombe Cottage had previously been.  A discussion took place about what the names meant.  At the end the Chairman asked for a show of hands for each suggestion.  The Clerk will write to B&D and let them know that the Parish Council would prefer Coombe Corner.

9.   HCC  -  Minerals & Waste Development Framework – Statement of Community Involvement  -  no comments.

10. Local Resident – Concern about work that has been carried out on the paddock at the rear of Crowshott House.  The Council had not received any planning application for this but felt that where it was it was not going to effect the Parish.

11. Local Resident – Concern about the Red House opening as an Indian restaurant.  The Council’s understanding is that so long as a bar is available the owners can trade as a pub-cum-restaurant-cum-takeaway with no change in their license, so that there is little chance of preventing this. 

12.  A Hosie  -  Cllr Hosie had sent a letter to the Clerk tendering her resignation which would take effect at the next elections in May.  The Clerk would send a letting thanking her for her time on the Council.

B&DBC  -  Property name change  - The Council had received notice of a change of name for 10 Penwood Road, Wash Water to Lane End, Penwood Road.

Other Correspondence (available for Councillors to review)

 Hampshire Playing Fields Ass – AGM  -  22^nd November

111/05  -  Accounts for Payment

The following accounts were passed for payment.  NWN (Advertisement for new clerk) £92.00, BT (telephone) £20.82, Viking Direct (stationery) £380.90,  Inland Revenue (PAYE/NI), £33.21, C Corrall (litter warden) £128.26, B Bendle (litter Warden) 156.66, L McClelland (litter warden) £67.38, D Mitchell (salary) £318.35.

112/05 Councillors’ matters arising to be included in the next agenda

Precept to 2006/07, Feed back from the Village Plan Steering Group committee being held on 28^th November