CHACOMBE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Parish Council
Meeting held on Monday, 4th August 2003 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.
Present: Cllrs. Harper, Coates, White, Kennedy, Woolley,
Jenkins, Jones and Clerk.
Apologies:
Cllr. Reid and Wyatt.
Public Time.
Mrs Daphne Evans advised the Council that she had now collected 6 pages of signatures for her petition campaigning for traffic calming in Thorpe Road. Cllr. Jenkins had spoken to PC Martin Sargeant who had suggested that a plan could be drawn up with ideas for slowing traffic. PC Sargeant, who had completed a similar venture in a neighbouring village, would then consult with Northamptonshire County Council. Did the Parish Council want to pursue this? It was suggested that the Parish Council could contact County Councillor, Malcolm Mildren. Mrs Evans remained for the duration of the meeting.
Minutes
of previous meetings on 7th July: Cllr. Wyatt had not been present at this meeting and the minutes were
duly amended, adopted and signed.
Matters
arising
1.1 Betty
Cameron Playing Field. Custodial
Trusteeship was now with the National Playing Fields Association and not with
the Parish Council. However, the Management Committee was still in place and
would continue to be made up of local people. The Clerk would contact Cornhill
Insurance to remove those items on the policy, including play equipment, that
would now be covered by NPFA. Litter bins still to be installed.
1.2 Welcome Packs. Quotes for production of the Village Directory, part of the Welcome Pack, have been requested. These will be discussed at the next meeting.
1.3 Planning Applications: Permission has been granted for S/2003/0814/P for the erection of front porch at 14 Thornhill. S/2003/0756/P
for an extension to balcony and new
detached garage at 15 Thorpe Road has been withdrawn but a further application,
S/2003/1016/P at the same
address, for an attached single storey garage extension, was considered by the
Council, and the Council had no observations.
1.4 Neighbourhood Watch Scheme
The next meeting has
been arranged for Wednesday, 3rd September, again in the Village
Hall at 7.30pm. An article will be included in The Chimes and a flyer will be
distributed to all households prior to the meeting.
Internal control completed as of 31st May.
Accounts for year ending 31st March 2003 had
been forwarded to Internal Auditor.
Expenditure Income
101061 Jeffs
Coaches (June) £80.00
101062 Powergen
£115.90
101064 Chacombe
PCC £250.00
101065 Chacombe
School £100
101066 Clerk’s
expenses £53.06
Stop The Over-development Plans for Northamptonshire (STOP) campaign. Information for councillors
Harwoods: Property Services
Clerks & Councils Direct July
CCLA Investment Management re: J Walker Charity
ODPM Consultation paper on indemnities for relevant authority members and officers.
Responses by 6th October
NACRE AGM Wednesday 30th July at 7.30pm at Hunsbury Hill. Agenda, minutes of meeting
2002 and annual report 2002
– 2003
Caring Matters Summer
2003
CPRE Planning Update and Rural Matters July 2003
Consultation
on Draft Milton Keynes & South Midlands Sub-Regional Spatial Strategy. Responses by Monday, 13th October
Standards Board of England. Video and workbook: The Code in Practice
Meeting at Cherwell Edge Golf Course. Cllrs. Wyatt, Kennedy, Harper, Jenkins, White and Clerk were present to hear about proposed application for hotel accommodation adjoining club house
Police
Authority. Mainstreaming Community Safety
– Parish Briefing Session at Towcester on 3rd September
Banbury Town Council. Request for Mayor to wear her chains of office on 14th August and 4th
September at Cherwell Edge Golf
Course. Reply to letter
DEFRA Review of Rural services standard 2003. Questionnaire can be found on DEFRA Web-site
Cllr. Jones. Update of changes to web-site for village directory
Fire-fighters Memorial Charitable Trust. Application form for tickets to fund-raising event at The Albert Hall
Ted
Garrett. Grass left after strimming the
alley way between Thornhill and Thorpe Road was dangerous
HLB AV Audit Local Council Briefing 2003
NCC i) Community Directory on web-site. Maintenance of
own contact details
ii) Supplementary Planning
Guidance – Parking – Adopted on 21st March
iii) Notice of temporary road
closure. Wardington Road from 1st – 8th September
SNC i) Updating of Directory of South Northants
villages. Return by 8th August
ii) Heritage Open Days 12th –
15th September. Display posters
iii) Re: Standards Board Video.
Suggestion that the Council watch the video at a future meeting
iv) Planning applications week ending: 9/7/03, 16/7/03, 23/7/03 and 30/7/03
Brochure: Wybone –
litter bins, etc. TurfTrax – ground management
The Chairman had received correspondence from Mrs Thomas, 10 Banbury Road. Copy of letter sent to Mandy Lumb at SNC. Why had there been no further action regarding the proposed extension to the Conservation Area? The Clerk was asked to acknowledge the letter.
Cllr. Harper had been re-appointed as Governor to Chacombe School for a further term of four years.
Agenda
3.1 SNC
Planning applications:
S/2003/0942/P Erection of front porch and rear conservatory at Rickyard Barn
S/2003/0956/P
Erection of stable building in paddock at Rickyard Barn
The Council had no observations.
3.2 New Audit Guidance
publication and NALC “Explaining Financial Procedures” course.
Cllr. Kennedy proposed that
the Council should purchase the updated information (£11.99) for Audit
procedure and that the Council would pay the fee (£15) for the Clerk to
attend the course at Hunsbury Hill, Northampton on 18th September.
This was seconded by Cllr. White and agreed by the Council.
3.3 Accounts ’02 – ’03
The Annual Return had been
completed and the Internal Auditor had submitted her report. The accounts were
approved by the Council and duly signed by the Chairman. The Return would be
forwarded for Audit by 7th August.
3.4 How could communication between SNC and Parish
Councils be improved?
SNC had asked for views and what would be the best way to
meet or liaise and discuss key issues.
District Councillor Rosemary Herring was interested to hear the views of the Parish Council.
Frequent staff changes resulted in a lack of continuity and, to some extent, an apparent lack of commitment on the part of SNC. Although local village issues may not be key issues for SNC, they do need to be dealt with and although some are dealt with very efficiently it does depend very much on the staff within the department at the time.
The Parish Council is always consulted on what SNC is doing but it would appear that so much time is spent on consulting, meeting targets or working within budget restraints that less and less is actually being done at local level. Correspondence to SNC is sometimes not even acknowledged and the Council does not believe that more local meetings would go any way to improve this situation. The Parish Council would appreciate a response even if the answer is No!
3.4 NCC/Atkins
Highways Engineering Partnership Contract
After a brief discussion of each question, the Council
agreed that the Clerk should complete the Performance Appraisal (a tick-box
questionnaire) and forward to NCC.
AOB
2. Cllr. Jenkins advised that vehicles were still speeding in the village and in Thorpe Road in particular, where in recent weeks, a second cat had been hit and a bench had been damaged. He was not prepared to stand by and do nothing. Something needed to be done either individually, as Mrs Evans was trying to do, or collectively. Cllr. Jenkins was prepared to come up with a plan for traffic calming as an individual or as a member of the Parish Council. Cllr. Jenkins will pursue.
3. District Cllr. Rosemary Herring explained that SNC was proposing to extend the “green wheelie bin” system by 50% throughout S. Northants. It was unknown whether Chacombe would be included.
Cllr. Herring offered to help with any issues relating to the Skateboard Ramp. Repairs had been carried out to the ramp and there had been no specific complaints about noise, but this may be because the ramp was not being used as much as when it was first installed.
Meeting closed at 8.50 pm.
The
next meeting will be held on 1st September 2003 at 7.15pm.
pcmn072/ss 24/8/03