CHACOMBE PARISH COUNCIL

 

Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday, 5th January 2004 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

 

Present: Cllrs. Harper, Woolley, Wyatt, Jenkins, Jones, White, Reid, Coates and Clerk.

 

Apologies: Cllr. Kennedy

 

Public Time.

 

Minutes of previous meeting on 1st December: adopted and signed.

 

Matters arising

1.1 Neighbourhood Watch Scheme The next meeting has been arranged for Wednesday, 21st January 2004 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm. Posters have been displayed.

1.2 Playing Field Fence No reply from Doug Grace, Property Services Manager at SNC.

1.3 Street Light Survey  The lights obscured by over-hanging treesare lamp 1, O/S Village Hall, lamp 9 in Thorpe Rd at junction with Beanfurlong and lamp 17, O/S 16 Silver St. 

The responsibility of cutting back the over-hanging trees rests with the owner. Ownership of the tree in Silver St needs to be established but the Parish Council will obtain a quote for cutting back the other two trees.

1.4 Traffic Calming in Chacombe The next stage is to arrange a meeting between

representatives from the Police, Highways (NCC) and the Parish Council.

1.5 SNC Planning Applications

S/2003/1468/LB Refurbishment of barn to rear for store and study at Chinner House

The Council had received amended plans for this application. Update: granted.                                  

S/2003/1417/P Front Porch and single storey extension at rear of Rickyard Barn and S/2003/1416/P Erection of stable building also at Rickyard Barn have both been granted. S/2003/1510/P Erection of greenhouse at Chacombe Park has been granted.

1.6 Local Heritage Initiative The Clerk still had to write to Mr Hatherell, the owner of the Lion’s Head Spring.

 

Finance

Internal control as of end of November has been completed.

 

Expenditure                                                                                                                                                    Income

101091                       Jeffs Coaches (Nov) £80

 

Authorise: BT £54.63, ABB £117.49, Powergen £115.90, Jeffs Coaches (Dec) £80, Clerk’s expenses £73.69 and Chairman’s expenses £36.31

 

Correspondence

Labour MEP’s in the East Midlands and European News

CAB Newsletter Dec 2003

E-mail: Charity Commission News available on web site

DEFRA Minister for the Horse.

Invitation to a week end of activities to say farewell to Andy Village

Alzheimer’s Newsletter Dec                           

Cherwell Vale NHS PCT Board Bulletin

NALC “Update” December – distributed at meeting

                        Countryside Agency Parish Transport Grants

                        Legal Topic Note 46 Chairman of Local Council as candidate for the Chair                       

                        Calendar of Clerk’s year.

Village Viewpoint Winter 2003

Wildlife Training Workshops 2004

Cherwell Vale NHS PCT “Health Focus” Issue 3

CPRE requesting support by writing to Minister for Housing & Planning urging him to give

county councils a statutory responsibility to engage in the preparation and review of the new

Regional Spatial Strategies and to address the urgent need for better enforcement of planning

Controls. Cllr. Jones would reply on behalf of the Council.

Northamptonshire Police Authority Public Consultation Budget 2004 – 2005

East Midlands Development Agency “e-mail” publication

Mr T Garrett. Thank you letter

NCC       i) Community Scrutiny Committee. Agenda and papers for meeting on 18th December

ii) Abandonment of the Northamptonshire Structure Plan Review to 2021

NCC/Atkins Parish Highway Representative Scheme – Future development

SNC        i) Register of Electors

ii) Concessionary Travel Tokens - send nil return by 13th February

iii) Christmas card

iv) Draft Supplementary Planning Guidance – Backland Development. Consultation period until 30th January

v) Notification of Parish Precept Requirement - return by end of January

vi) Numbering of the flats at Chacombe House

vii) Art News South Northants Issue 16

viii) Planning applications week ending: e-mailed 10/12/03, 17/12/03 and (31/12/03)

                       

Agenda

3.1 Chacombe Brook This has now been designated a critical ordinary watercourse and as from March 2004 the responsibility for the waterway will be transferred in stages from SNC and NCC to the Environment Agency. There are several issues with the brook that need to be addressed, including the improvement of the outflow at Mantine House and the culvert under Thorpe Road which should be self cleaning but is heavily silted and Highways has no budget to clean it out. Is the culvert leaking into the adjacent sewer? If all the issues are dealt with, it will not prevent flooding but would help to reduce the impact. A representative from the Environment Agency has now walked the stream and confirmed that these are issues that need to be dealt with, however it may prove to be more complicated than first thought.

 

3.2 SNC Planning Applications

S/2003/1597/P Bay window at front and conservatory at rear of 48 Thornhill.

The Council had no observations.

S/2003/1577/P Demolition of existing farmhouse and agricultural buildings and the construction of new dwelling and garage with new access at Chacombe Hill Farm.

Amendment received – re- location of access in a westerly direction to avoid the footpath. Although this was for information only, it was agreed that SNC should be reminded of the Parish Council’s original objections.

 

3.3 Transfer of Bus Shelter ownership to the Parish Council

The Clerk informed the Council that all glass panels had been removed from both shelters. NCC had also been informed. The Council had received a letter from NCC asking for the Parish Council to take over ownership to include cleaning and maintenance  Since the Parish Council had objected initially to the installation of the bus shelters it had no intention of adopting them now and the Clerk was asked to reply to the letter to this effect.

 

3.4 Parish Action Plans

SNC wanted to know why Chacombe had not wished to be considered for priority support from

ACRE for the development of a Parish Action Plan. Cllr. Jones had suggested several months

ago that this is something the Parish Council should look at. After some discussion it was agreed that, yes, Chacombe would like to be considered. Update: Villages had already been chosen for the current year (final year) but it was hoped that the initiative would continue and Chacombe’s application would then be considered. The Clerk replied to Doreen Storey (SNC), who sent the original letter in October 2003 asking whether Chacombe wanted to be entered for the selection process and sent a copy to Ashley Davey (SNC), who wanted to know why the Council had not wished to be entered.

 

AOB

1. Cllr. Wyatt advised that parking in Thorpe Road and Poplars Road at the end of the school day was now cause for much concern. The number of vehicles in the area made it very difficult for other motorists to use the roads because of inconsiderate parking. There was also concern for children passing between vehicles to get to their vehicle. Cllr. Harper agreed to raise the issue at the next Governor’s Meeting.

2. The Council was informed that Post Office and Shop had closed. There had been an armed attack before Christmas and this was the reason for the closure.

 

Meeting closed at 9.05 pm.

 

The next meeting will be held on 2nd February 2004 at 7.15pm.