THROCKMORTON ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 2004

Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Parish held at the Scout Hut, Throckmorton, on Wednesday 28th April 2004.

Members of the Parish Council present were: Mr Eric Carter (Chairman), Mr Malcolm Argyle (District Councillor), Mr Ed Beever and Ms Toni Gilligan .

Also present were Mrs Liz Tucker , County Councillor and Mrs Anne Boocock (Parish Clerk) who took the minutes. Mr Steve Booth, General Manager from Qinetiq and twenty-two parishioners also attended the meeting.

2. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 11 th June 2001
Mrs Betty Lane proposed and Mrs Liz Tucker seconded a motion that the minutes be approved and signed as a correct record. The motion was carried unanimously.

3. Matters arising
There were no matters arising from the minutes of 11 th June 2001.

4. Report from the County Councillor, Mrs E Tucker
Mrs Tucker advised that if there were any issues arising from her report, she would answer questions at the end.

The increase in the council tax was 5.1%, although the budget spend increase was higher than the increase in the council tax. Wychavon had charged second houses at a higher amount. There was more money being put into social services, roads and education. Cllr Tucker will keep pressing for action on the roads – also the lack of special schools will be dealt with. The Education report from Ofsted was good with Worcestershire schools at or above average.

There were alterations to the county council divisions being put in place with the consultation date on 26 th April. Support was required to keep Bishampton with Pershore and Throckmorton rather than to move Bishampton into the Upton Snodsbury area.

5. Report from the District Councillor, Mr Malcolm Argyle
Cllr Argyle had attended a visit at the burial site the previous week and there was to be another visit in June to which parishioners were invited. Further information could be obtained from Mr Argyle.

Cllr Argyle then passed the chair to Steve Booth who is the General Manager from Qinetiq. Maps were handed out giving an overview of the site in Throckmorton. He advised that Qinetiq is a private company operating on sites owned by the MOD. He explained the map areas marked out and who used which areas. Qinetiq uses some of the buildings and others are leased for commercial use.

Area 2 (burial site) is leased for 23 years with an option to extend for a further 25 years. 7 of the 9 cells are used and run along No. 2 runway. He explained that the area where the burial pits was had been filled and capped with a drainage system which was regularly monitored. The pits had been dug into clay with an 11-metre wall surrounding it.

Future uses of the land were considered and the use of the area for a science and technology park was discussed. A road connection, possibly over the landfill site was a possibility. The value of the land could be as much as £250,000 an acre with planning permission.

Thanks were given to Mr Booth for attending the meeting.

6. Report from the Chairman, Mr Eric Carter
Mr Carter gave his report, details of which were available on the web pages. Finance was discussed, together with confirmation that there would be support for Hill and Moor regarding the traveller encampment near Wyre Piddle and an amount of £800 had been committed to the forthcoming public enquiry.

The Parish Plan is a statement of what we would like to see happen and the aim was to complete this by September 2004. Thanks were given to Eric Charlwood and Bob Averis. There were also plans in place to improve the play areas at Bishampton and Throckmorton.

Roads
Cllr Tucker advised that there was a lack of funding for repairs. As there was no weight restriction on HGVs, their use of the roads obviously had a detrimental effect. The County Council were responsible for Long Lane – Marshalls travelled through Hill and Moor rather than through Pinvin. It was not possible to control the vehicles travelling to the tip. The grass verges had also been damaged by the HGVs and any footpath/pavement that was put in place may well be used by the HGVs.

Speeding traffic was also an issue.

Budget
The Parish Plan has a larger spend allocation for next year; the play area was to be developed and following the sale of the skateboard ramp £2000 had been received.

Parish Room – The committee for the new room would be separate from the parish council and this would need support to carry it forward and to obtain grants.

7. Parish Plan
The results of the surveys used to inform the submission to the Wychavon District plan were advised (full details on the web page). More information is available from Mr Carter, together with graphs. With regard to the remaining hot topics, the airfield answers had been received. The consultation was to happen in the future. Additional comments would be appreciated with housing and transport being the more concerning issues. The Parish Plan was an action plan and vision of the parish. A vision of the present was also required with special things to be noted about the parish as it is now, with photographs to give inspiration

The collated information should be put to good use, rather than just put to one side and not acted upon.

A further questionnaire would be issued to all households during the coming months following which the Parish Plan would then be drafted.

8. Open Session
The Canadian Airmen’s memorial was still being considered – positioning and actual type of memorial to be confirmed. At County Hall there were commemorative seats – this was an idea for this area, together with a woodland area to accommodate the seat(s). The memorial was important and careful consideration should be given to the issue.

There being no further business, thanks were given to all who attended and the meeting ended at 10.00pm.

…………………….. ……………………….

Chairman Date