CHACOMBE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Parish Council
Meeting held on Monday, 7th April 2003 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.
Public Time. Mr & Mrs Syers. The noise coming from the recently installed Skateboard Ramp was spoiling the enjoyment of their house and garden. Children were coming from Banbury, Brackley and other villages to use the facility and this was cause for concern. Cllr. Harper informed Mr & Mrs Syers that their complaint would be taken up by the Playing Field Committee, who were responsible for the day to day management of the field. Cllr. Jones advised that, as Chairman of the said committee, he would call a meeting as soon as possible.
Present: Cllrs.
Harper, Jones, Coates, Woolley, Reid, Wyatt and Clerk.
Apologies: Cllrs.
Kennedy and White
Absent:
Minutes
of previous meeting on 3rd March: adopted and signed.
Matters
arising
1.1 Water leak opposite George & Dragon. No water at the site for five days!
1.2 Welcome Packs. Cllrs. Kennedy and White offered to review and
update these packs. In the meantime, new residents would be given the Chacombe
Directory, which also needed to be up dated. This would be completed after the
forthcoming elections.
1.3 Clerk’s Course. The trainer arrived late and therefore topics not covered will be dealt with at another session in October. This extra session will bear a small cost for the hire of the room.
1.4 Litter bins. The Council had already agreed that it would be appropriate to put bins by the Skateboard Ramp in the Playing Field, at the top of Poplars Road and by the new Bus Stop in The Ring. This had not been included as an agenda item for this meeting but would be discussed at the next meeting.
1.5 Custodial Trusteeship of the Betty Cameron Playing Field. The NPFA had commissioned an environmental assessment but, to date, no report had been submitted. It is anticipated that something will appear soon. This would then be signed by the NPFA and forwarded to the Charity Commissioners, who aim to reply within fifteen days. The Trust Management Committee had paid the whole year’s insurance premium of £765, but the indemnity limit had been reduced to £2,000,000. The Trust would receive a refund for the remaining months when and if the transfer of Custodial Trusteeship is completed, and once the field is effectively insured by NPFA.
1.6 Bus Shelters. These had been erected on 2nd April.
101043 Web-site
maintenance (G Jones) £61.25
Correspondence
Yorkshire Bank – statement re: John Walker Charity
NACRE Direct payment of benefits and pensions
Wildlife
Training Workshops 2003
Clerks & Councils Direct March 2003
Cllr. Kennedy Photocopy of Village Hall conveyance
NALC & NACRE Village Viewpoint
S Northamptonshire Area Committee Minutes from 15th January re: Minor Works
Programme and agenda for meeting on13th March
Cherwell Vale NHS Health Focus Newsletter
Winged
Fellowship Trust –Thank you note
Caring
Matters Spring 2003
CPRE a) Summer Party at Falcutt House (Nr. Helmdon) on Friday, 16th May 6.30 –
8.30pm £5
b) “Communities not Concrete Campaign”
c) Membership renewal to be paid by direct debit 21st April
d) TCG Newsletter
SLCC Society of Local Council Clerks: questionnaire
DEFRA The ‘QUALITY’ Town and Parish Council Initiative
COIF Charity Funds
Annual Report 31st December 2002
EMDA (East Midlands Development Agency) email
publication
NALC a) Small scale composting (£295 + VAT)
b) Internal Audit Service 2003 – 2004
c) “Update”
Feb/March ’03
d) Legal Topic Note 28. Local Council Elections in England and Wales: Revised March 2003
e) Why I should vote in my parish or town council election?
f) Making an Impact - The promotion of participation in local community democracy
g) Booking forms for courses: Playground Safety and Risk Assessment 7th May 7 – 9.00pm and Good Chairmanship 4th June 7 – 9.00pm
SNVB Newsletter. Volunteers in Villages Project. Eight villages involved to date,
room to accommodate a few more villages this year
EMDA Destination 2010 - The new Regional Economic
Strategy
NCC Highways a) Rights of Way Office. “Signpost” quarterly publication
b) Public Transport Information Strategy
c) Local Transport Plan 2001 – 2006.
NCC Northamptonshire Waste Local Plan Deposit Draft. Representations by 5th
June.
SNC a) Sounding exercise on directly elected Regional Assemblies.
b) Electoral Services Officer – information and application form for poll cards -only if election is likely to be contested.
c) Non essential mapping requests to be put on hold
d) Elections time-table
e) Nomination papers – distribute before 24th March. Return to Returning Officer after 24th March but before Noon on 1st April.
f) SNC’s comments on S/2003/02333/NA at Coton Farm as a neighbouring authority
g) Notice of elections
h) Heritage Open Days from 12th
– 15th September 2003
i) Need to encourage more of
the electorate to vote!
j) “The Annual Review” - annual report
from SNC
k) Return of
Names of Persons Elected Councillor.
* Cllrs. Reid, Jones and Wyatt apologised for not submitting their nomination papers but all three were willing to stand for co-option and this would be done as soon as possible. Update: Co-option can take place at the Council’s next meeting on 12th May.
l) Planning applications wk. ending: 5/03/03, 12/03/03,
19/03/03 and 26/03/03
Brochures: Husson
– Children’s Play equipment
and Tribe – Mobile Skate Park.
Agenda
The Chairman proposed that, as a matter of some
urgency, the complaint raised by Mr & Mrs Syers at Public Time would be
taken as the first agenda item.
3.1 Skateboard Ramp
Some of the residents in Poplars Road had made an official
complaint to the Environmental Officer regarding the noise nuisance from the
ramp. A petition, signed by five households, had been sent to SNC and the
Council had received letters from Mr & Mrs Cross and Mrs E Wentink. The
Clerk had also received telephone calls from Mrs Y Philippou expressing her concern about children
using the ramp until 11.00pm. Noise, could there be a time restriction? Young
people were arriving in cars, blocking garages and leaving litter. On Monday,
24th March at 7.30pm (getting dark) there were five lads on three
bikes coming out of Banbury with skateboards! These youngsters were obviously
at risk. Could some of the young people be invited to next Playing Fields
Meeting?
Mrs Philippou had walked up to the Playing Field on the evening of Saturday, 5th April and was horrified at the amount of litter and broken glass. There were two lads, 23 year olds from Bodicote, who came to skate-board 2 or 3 times a week as they considered it the best one for miles around.
Mrs Philippou came back in her car one evening and felt intimidated by the group by the garages so parked her car at home! She believes that the children for whom it was originally intended may be scared off. Although pleased to see something for young people, she is concerned about the general abuse of the area and that it is attracting undesirables!
Cllr. Jones confirmed that a Playing Field Trust Management Committee meeting would be arranged as soon as possible. The Chairman, Cllr Harper, advised that he would reply initially to the two letters from residents, explaining that their concerns had been noted.
The Playing Field Committee had no power to control parking outside of the Playing Field but the Parish Council would make enquiries with SNC as to whether they could do anything to help. Update: PFTM Meeting held on Tuesday, 22nd April. Cllr. Jones also met with residents and the Environmental Officer on 25th April.
3.2 Annual Parish Meeting
This will take place on 29th April at 7.30pm and the Clerk will confirm the booking for the Village Hall. County Councillor Malcolm Mildren, District Councillors Mary-Anne Sergison-Brooke and Lewis Garfield and Community Beat Officer Martin Sargeant will be invited to attend along with representatives from various organisations. The meeting will be publicised on notice boards and on chacombeparish.co.uk.
3.3 SNC Planning
Applications:
S/2003/0258/P New classroom with glazed link to existing
buildings. Alterations to car-parking and entrance at Chacombe School.
The Council had no
observations.
S/2003/0322/P Extension to workshop and additional car-parking at
Chacombe Grange.
The proposed extension is
very large and will double the size of the existing workshop. Existing parking
spaces will be lost with more needing to be created, adding to the continued
development of an industrial unit in a rural location. An increase in
operations would mean an increase in traffic flow to and from the site on the
B4525, an already busy and potentially dangerous road. The ROW could be
obstructed by turning vehicles or inconsiderate parking, and users of the ROW
have already reported feeling discouraged because of the existing number of
vehicles on site. This proposal will cause further discouragement.
S/2003/0350/P Demolition
of existing porch/conservatory and replace with single storey kitchen extension
at 62 Thornhill
The Council had no
observations.
S/2003/0151/P Amended plans at 2 Wesley Place
The Council had no observations.
3.4 Membership of NACRE
and NALC
NALC Membership
£112. Five extra annual
subscriptions for “Update” @ £5 = £25 Total:
£137.00
Cllr. Reid proposed joining both organisations. This was seconded by Cllr. Wyatt and the Council asked the Clerk to pay both membership fees.
3.5 Sophie’s Silver
Lining Fund – request for
funding
The Council had made a
small donation for the last two years and Cllr. Woolley proposed increasing the
donation to £50 and this was seconded by Cllr. Jones. The Clerk would
forward the cheque.
3.6 Audit 2002
This was concluded on 2nd
April 2003 and the accounts and notice needed to be displayed for fifteen days
and were currently on the notice-board in The Ring. The Council had received an
invoice for £141.00 and authorisation was given for this to be paid. This
represents a reduction of more than 50% in the Audit fee when compared to the
previous year. The Council can expect a similar fee for 2003.
3.7 Village of the
Year Competition
The Council still has reservations about the emphasis that
judges appear to place on small amounts of litter. If, after Ted has done his
litter-pick and somebody then drops litter just before the judges arrive, it
hardly seems fair that it should be considered worthy of comment, over and
above all the other positive aspects of village life.
The closing date for entries is 1st May and
with only three weeks to go, the deadline was thought to be too close to
compile a comprehensive entry so the Council agreed that no entry would be
submitted this year.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.45
pm.
The next meeting is the AGM of the Parish Council and will be held on Monday, 12th May 2003 at 7.15pm.