HIGHCLERE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the
Council Meeting held at Highclere Village Hall on Tuesday 14th
October 2003 commencing at 7.37pm.
Present:
Councillor Jim
Pearson – Chairman
Councillor Russ
Castle
Councillor Ray East
Councillor Amanda Hosie
Councillor Don Langan
Apologies:
Councillor Tom Farmer
Also Present:
Jane Meredith (NWN)
Justin MacKey
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131/03 To approve the minutes of the Council meeting held on September 9th 2003 The minutes of the meeting held on September 9th 2003, having been circulated, were taken as read, agreed by all, and signed by the Chairman. 132/03 MATTERS
ARISING FROM THE MINUTES Councillor Farmer
had sent his apologies and had sent a note outlining a possible correction to
item 124/03. Councillor Farmer’s
personal notes suggest that “the Parish Council decided to ask the HCC[sic]
to remove the bins altogether.” 133/03 BOROUGH
COUNCILLOR'S REPORT Borough Councillor
Tim Jardine was not present at the meeting and had sent no report. 134/03 UPDATE ON
PROVISION OF OPEN SPACE AT PENWOOD It was thought
that the cables were now in place underground as there had been signs of work
going on but this would be checked. It was now about
two years since there had last been a meeting with the residents of Penwood
and so the next step is to call a meeting at Penwood Village Hall with the
locals from Penwood to see what they would like to see on the land. This was hoped to be at the end of
November. The one drawback at the
present time seems to be the shortage of money. Borough Councillor Jardine had spoken about this at the
previous Council meeting and said he would look into it. The Parish Clerk would contact him and see
if he had made any progress. The
Parish Clerk would also contact BDBC Recreation Dept to see what they have to
say. There should be 106 funds
available from the development at the old Highclere Garage but at this time
the Council had not heard how this money would be spent. The Parish Clerk had investigated concerns
that this money might go elsewhere, but was informed that all the money would
come to Highclere! WPC King said that
it was hoped that there might be money found to be able to fence and gate the
site. There was concern that these might
be damaged by some of the young in the vicinity, but hopefully it would deter
some of the them. It was felt by the
Council that on the whole the Parish was a well behaved parish compared to
other areas. 135/03 Under
Aged Motor Cyclists and Noise There have been problems for some time now with youngsters riding quad bikes, go-karts, scooters etc on the road and wearing no crash helmets. The youngsters race around Heathlands, go out onto the main road, race around Woodlands and then down the main road and along the Drove. It is illegal to use these vehicles on public metalled road as they are not taxed, have no MOT or insurance. The concern is that one day a nasty accident will happen as the youngsters are travelling at quite fast speeds on these bikes etc and the roads are quite busy with cars. In any case it is antisocial behaviour and a public nuisance. Down the Drove there are also a lot of walkers with young children and dogs and also horse riders, especially at the weekends. The youngsters also ride their bikes onto the Forestry land down the Drove where there are notices saying that it is illegal to do so. Photographs were produced s that had been taken of the youngsters on their bikes. WPC King then spoke about some of the plans afoot to stamp this behaviour out through the Police Reform act section 59. When it was known which youngster was misbehaving and also there was evidence a letter would be issued from WPC King pointing out that what they are doing is illegal. If the youngster offends again the Police can then start the procedure to prosecute. Even though the Council know who the youngsters are who are misbehaving there is not enough evidence yet to do anything. The Government is bringing out Initiative Enforcement Powers as they also wish to clamp down on the antisocial behaviour generally. WPC King asked the Council to take photographs if they could when they saw a youngster doing something they should not be doing and pass it on to her but asked the Councillors to be careful for their own safety. 136/03 CORRESPONDENCE The following correspondence has been received and relevant information copied to Councillors. 1. SE England Regional Assembly – Regional Minerals Strategy – Consultation draft 2. From the Major of BDBC – Remembrance Sunday 9th November - invite the Chairman had sent his apologies 3. BDBC – Street names for the new development at Highclere Garage – Kingsfield Road and Baytree Court. The Council were not happy with those names and it would be discussed at the next Council meeting. 4. HCC – Village Traffic Calming –holding letter. After the last Council meeting the Clerk had written to HCC concerning their previous letter. We await their answers. Councillor Farmer who was unable to attend the meeting had sent a note through the Chairman with his concerns that the work on the traffic calming on the A343 had not started although the Clerk had received an email on 2nd September saying the work should start in the next four weeks. The Parish Clerk will speak to David Pickett. He was also concerned about the recent accident at Seven Stones bridge and felt this all added to the need for a lower speed limit through the village. 5. Major of Basingtoke – invitation to reception Tuesday 25th November. This would be discussed at the next meeting. 6. Joint Parishes Meeting – Wednesday 22nd October at Burghclere. Ray East would attend and Don Langan if back in time from a planning meeting in Basingstoke. 7. HAPTC – Biffawards, Investing in the Environment. The Clerk was asked to send a copy to Councillor Potter. 8. HCC – On the Edge Urban Fringe Conference 5th November 9. Standards Committee – 20th October 2003. B&D Borough Rural Strategy – Review of action Plan. The letter was to provide us with advanced warning of the imminent consultation on the draft revised action plan of the Borough’s Rural Strategy. The consultation period is due to run for six weeks from 27th October 2003. They look forward to our participation in the consultation when we receive the paper work. 10. Basingstoke & N Hants Community Health Council – Permission to share details. The Council were happy for the Clerk to pass on the Councils details. 11. Thank you note from Pat Clark. Flowers had been sent to Pat Clark the previous Parish Clerk as a thank you for all the help she had given the present clerk in the accounts for last year. 12. HAPTC – Bulletin 208. Several Councillors took a copy 13. Local Councils News Sheet 14. VOL-Comm - Basingstoke Voluntary Services 15. County Supplies 16. Base Leisure 17. Basingstoke & N Hants Community Health Council. A poster for us to put up on our notice board 18. Mayor’s Fund Raising Events 19. W Berks Museum/ Forest. A poster for us to put up on the notice boards. 20. Passenger Transport Report. 137/03 Quality
Status The Parish Council
have decided to investigate whether we conform to a Quality Status
Parish. The Council were issued with
a copy of the Quality Status Criteria and the Chairman went through the
application form. It seems the Parish
does conform on most counts. One of
the questions is ‘is the Parish Clerk qualified’. The Parish Clerk, having discussed it with other Parish Clerks
feels she does not wish to take the exam at this time as she is still very
new to the job. Till the year 2007
Quality Status does not require a Clerk who holds the qualification. It was decided that this would be looked
into a little more and would be an agenda item at the next meeting. 138/03 Members’ (Councillors’) Allowances This was to do
with a mailing that had been received for last month’s Council Meeting re
payment to Councillors. A discussion
took place regarding whether it was better to be paid or not and how much was
the payment. However much it was if
it went ahead it would have to come out of the local Council taxes. Most of the Councillors stood as Councillors
because they wished to help the community that they lived in. The rules state that in order to be paid
Councillors must attend at least two meetings a year. It was agreed to have this as an agenda
item at the next meeting when hopefully, all the Councillors would be
present. Councillors who are not able
to attend should please make their views knows to the Chairman before the
meeting. 139/03 Parish Council Computer The Parish Council
Computer had not been used by the Council for some time. Both previous Clerks had their own and
better computers and the present Clerk has her own computer. The computer had been out on loan for some
time but was no longer needed.
Although it is in good clean order it is not capable of running
current basic applications. The Council agreed
to write it off as an asset. The
Chairman mentioned that a computer training course is held at Penwood Hall
each week and will see if they can find a home for it. 140/03 The
Parish Plan Councillor Langan
had been in discussions with Kingsclere who had been stalled for a time with
their Parish Plan as there was no money to progress. They have now received a grant and are
moving ahead. Because of lack of
funds Councillors Langan and Drew had put a hold on what they had been doing but
were now progressing again. It seems
a lot of money has been put aside for Parish Plans but so far only 10-15% of
villages had taken it up. As the
money had run out it must have been because the take up had not been high and
the money spent on other activities.
To receive funding there were many hoops to go through. When the idea of a
Parish Plan was first started, one could start and then seek the funding; now
the funding needs to be in place before work begins. Councillor Langan had already spoken to
the Countryside Agency in London and registered our interests which will be
kept on record. It seems you can get
bonus points by working together with other local villages and that also
helps towards the grant. Councillor
Langan felt that we should be working with BDBC to see what grants we might
be able to get through them. Also if
the Council had Quality Status that helped in the process of obtaining a
grant. It was felt that
if the proposed meeting in Penwood Village Hall went ahead, this would be a
good start to getting the views of local people. If that was successful a meeting at Highclere Village Hall
could then be set up. There is a three
page questionnaire which needs to be completed. It was suggested that the Chairman with Councillors Langan and
Drew could get together quite soon to start filling in the form and sourcing
funds. 141/03 Accounts
for Payment The following accounts were passed for payment. Highclere Village Hall (Hire of hall for meetings) £35.00, Highclere PCC (grass cutting) £100, D Roberts (Tree& Hedgerow survey drawings) £109.00, D Mitchell (Postage) £16.32, W Bendle (litter warden) £127.40, C Corrall (litter warden) £117.20, D Mitchell (Parish Clerk salary) £478, D Mitchell (Clerks expenses) £109.34. 142/03 COUNCILLORS’
MATTERS ARISING TO BE INCLUDED FOR THE NEXT AGENDA No fresh items were raised at this time. |
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There being no other business, the meeting closed at 9.45pm.
The next full Council meeting will be on Tuesday 11th November
2003 in Highclere Village Hall, Jubilee Room at 7.30pm.
Planning committee meetings will be held as and when necessary.