HIGHCLERE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the
Council Meeting held at Highclere Village Hall on Tuesday 9th
March 2004 at 7.30pm
Present:
Councillor Ray East
Councillor Don Langan
Councillor Amanda
Hosie
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24/04 To approve the minutes of the Council meeting held on 17th February 2004 The minutes of the meeting
held on 17th February 2004 had been circulated, were taken as
read, agreed by all, and signed by the Chairman Jim Pearson. 25/04
Matters arising from those minutes 144/03 Councillor Farmer asked for clarification on the present state of the recycling bins. The chairman explained that there were bins at Burghclere but on the Sports Ground, we in Penwood did not have any bins and it was not likely that they would be reinstated in the foreseeable future. Councillor East said the state of the car park at Penwood Village Hall was now in excellent order since the bins had been removed. 154/03 Proposed lighting for Foxs Lane, Penwood. The Clerk has applied to HCC for a grant for 50% of the cost of lighting. The deadline for applications was mid April so the Council wait to see what the outcome will be. 15/04 correspondence received 13. West Berkshire. The Chairman had received two invitations to attend events relating to the Park Way Planning Brief and hoped to attend at least one of them. 26/05
Borough Councillor’s Report
Unfortunately Councillor Tim Jardine was unable to attend the meeting and had nothing to report. 27/04 Correspondence received The following
correspondence had been received and relevant information copied to
Councillors: 1. HCC – A343 Traffic Issues As this was an agenda item also it was left till later in the meeting. 2. B&DBC – Parish Grant 2004/2005 - After a B&DBC Council meeting held on Thursday 19th February the Limited General Grant available to Parish Councils had been increased from £500 to £1000 with effect from 1 April. In order to claim the £1000 the Council had to re-submit the Limited General Grant Request form. The Chairman plus two other Councillors signatures were needed. The Clerk will send the form off to B&DBC. 3. B&DBC – Environment & Regeneration Grant 2004/05SLCC - B&DBC will again be running a Environment and Regeneration Grant for the coming financial year and are asking Councils to submit an application for funding. The Council would like to see footpaths all along the A343 through Highclere and up to the cross roads at Blind Mans Corner. This would be expensive but if it could be done in smaller sections we might be able to obtain some funding. With the funding the Council would have to meet 10% of the costs. No monies had been put into the precept for the coming year for projects of this size. The Council decided that they would look ahead and a sub committee would be formed, the sub committee would make a list of the existing footways and where we might put new ones. There are many grants over the year that the Council can apply for. It was decided to look into this in more detail. 4. SLCC - Next Branch Meeting – 8th March 2004. The date had already passed and the Clerk had been unable to attend. 5. HCC – Improve Your Neighbourhood with Community Service Help. HCC and the National Probation Service are linking up to remind Councils that if they have a project that would be of benefit to their community, it may be possible for the labour to be arranged via the community service programme. The Council discussed whether this could be of help in perhaps clearing the sides of the road in readiness for footpath at a later stage. Over all the council felt that the work might be to complex. The Clerk would call to find out exactly what kind of help they were able to give. 6. HCC – Map of Traffic Calming in Highclere - A new map only passed on the 24th February showing the extra traffic calming which HCC hope to start later this month. The Council decided this was a very useful map. The clerk was asked to get four more copies so that they could be passed round the council and help with various projects that they might be involved in. 7. The Standards Board for England – Local Investigation and Determination of Misconduct Allegations etc. No Comment. 8. Rail Passengers Committee - Opportunity to question the Train Operating Companies and Network Rail about rail services in your area. No comments to send as the nearest station is in Newbury. 9. Hampshire Museums Trust – Roadshow – The Hampshire Museums Trust have secured financial support to build a ‘Museums Roadshow’. Initially it will be taken to the reception area of ten major companies over a six month period. If this is a success they hope to apply for further lottery funding to take the roadshow out to rural areas. They were writing to ask if the Parish would like to host such a roadshow. The Council thought that it might work at Penwood Village Hall. The Clerk would let them know that we would be happy to host the roadshow if they are able to take it round the county. 10. South East England Regional Assembly – Proposed alterations to Regional Planning Guidance – Minerals Strategy - No comment. 11. South East England Regional Assembly – Proposed alterations to Regional Planning Guidance – Regional Waste Management Strategy - No comment. 12. HAPTC – Local Council Review Orders 2004/2005
- An increase in price for copies of
this. It was decided not to order any
copies at this point. 13. B&DBC – Code of Conduct – Register of Interests update - No comment The following
correspondence was available for the Councillors if they requested -
there were no comments arising. Newtown Parish Council – New Clerk Councils Voluntary Services – News update – February 2004 Hampshire Water Strategy – Bulletin March 2004 28/04 Penwood Village hall Lease A long discussion
took place on the new lease discussion of which has dragged on for many
years. The Chairman went through what
had happened over the years starting with the committee of the Village Hall
having to do quite a lot of repairs before a new lease would be granted. Initially B&DBC wanted £2,800 a year
for the new lease, fortunately the solicitor had managed to get it down to a
peppercorn rent It was decided that
the Clerk would ask Mrs Levy at B&DBC it they would accept the original
lease if all the bits relating to it could be found. If that was the case we would go down that
route. If B&DBC would not accept
that then we would need to get together with the Village Hall committee and
our solicitor to sort out the queries that he had brought up. The new lease was 28 pages and the
solicitor had two pages of queries and alterations relating to it. It was felt that this must be settled as
soon as possible for all concerned.
Mrs Levy from B&DBC and our Solicitor had been chasing for a
decision but this in the end must come from the Village Hall Committee. 29/04 Update
on Mobile Phone Masts and Because of the ever increasing
phone masts going up it was decided that the local parishes would let each
other know when they had information that there might be a mast being built
in there area. It was decided to
ask the phone companies to come along to the Annual Parish Assembly on the 28th
April and make a short presentation.
The Council felt that a lot of interest would be expressed in
this. The Clerk to arrange this. 30/04 Bus Shelter Repairs Counillor East had
looked into how we could paint over the graffiti on the bus shelter. He had managed to purchase a paint that
could be used on acrylic and act as a base for an ordinary paint finish. The shelter would be painted inside and
out in green. It seems that the
Council is responsible for the maintenance of the bus shelter for the first
five years after installation, the shelter has been there for three
years. It was decided not to repair
the broken side of the shelter for the time being. 31/04 Update on Village Plan Councillor Langan
had drafted out responses for the four page questionnaire and would be
reviewing it with Councillor Drew in the next few days. If they are not able to get a grant
through this means they would look at other grants that are available. 32/04 Recreational Area – Youth Shelter Both Councillor
East and the Clerk had received several brochures on youth shelters and they
looked very promising. There should
be enough money from the 106 fund for a shelter. A location in the same general area as the children’s play but
at the opposite end appears to be the best site. The new Community Wardens would be asked to the Parish Assembly
where they would be able to talk about this and ask people present what they
thought of the scheme. Councillor
East reported that where youth shelters had been installed there had been a
decrease in anti social behaviour. 33/04Penwood
Cross Roads & the A343 Update The Clerk had at
last received a response from HCC to her letter sent at the end of September
2003. Councillor Farmer had read the
letter in detail and had made many comments, (which all Councillors had
received). The Council were not happy
with the reply that they had received and don’t accept that there cannot be a
30mph speed limit through Highclere.
The Clerk would write to HCC with the comments that Councillor Farmer
had suggested. There was also
concern that the traffic calming was actually not slowing the traffic down
and because, especially at night, the bollards could not be seen this was
causing accidents also people overtaking, not seeing them, and passing on the
wrong side of them. It was decided in
the letter that the Clerk would also ask Mr Keith Pauw to visit us as he had
suggested he was willing to do. A
date would be made, not at a council meeting, for sometime in May. Hopefully by then the rest of the traffic
calming would be in place and the Council would be able to see how successful
it was. Councillor East
also mentioned that there was no lighting by the north entrance to the
by-pass and this could be very dangerous at night. The Clerk would inform HCC of the Council’s concerns over this. There are still
many concerns about the cross roads at Penwood and the amount of accidents
that occur there. Because of the
danger less and less people are walking their children to school. All the ideas that have been suggested so
far are very expensive and therefore will not be considered by HCC. A suggestion was made that perhaps an
island could be put into the middle of the road, this would certainly slow
the traffic coming along the main road.
This hopefully will be discussed when we receive our visit in May from
HCC. 34/04 Community Enhancment and Community Safety
Grant Schemes Councillor Drew
had looked through the information on these schemes. Whilst we may not be eligible for the
Safety Grant Scheme as this was for local organisations rather than the Parish
Council, he felt the Enhancement Grant Scheme could help us. He asked all the Councillors before the
next meeting to give some thought to what we could do in the village to
enhance and better it and bring their ideas the next Council meeting. 35/04 Accounts for Payment The following accounts were passed for payment. HAPTC (affiliation fee), £226.00, Photostatic (Annual Service Contract, copier) £352.50, D Mitchell (Parish Clerk salary) £478, W Bendle (litter warden) £137.29p, C Corrall (litter warden) £116.16p, D Mitchell (Parish Clerk expense) £50.03p, R East (paint for bus shelter), £15.00 36/04 Councillors’ matters arising to be included in
the next agenda Councillor Pearson asked if he could have an updated copy of the planning applications received. The Clerk would send all Councillors a copy. He also explained that he had been chasing the Post Office re changing the address of Penwood, Burghclere to Penwood, Highclere. He might have more on this at the next meeting. Councillor East explained that there were beginning to be serious problems in parking at Woodlands as so many people had cars now. This needs to be discussed as to what steps should be taken to alleviate the problems. |
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There being no other business, the meeting closed at 10.25pm.
The next full Council meeting will be on Tuesday 13th April 2004 in Highclere Village Hall, Jubilee Room at 7.30pm.
Planning committee meetings will be held as and when necessary.