Bishampton & Throckmorton Parish Council Minutes 2nd March 2004

BISHAMPTON AND THROCKMORTON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on Monday 2nd March 2004 at the Villages Hall, Bishampton

Members and Officers present: Mr E Carter (Chairman), Mr M Argyle (Vice Chairman), Mrs A Bufton, Mr E Chadwick, Ms T Gilligan, Mrs B Lammas, Mr R Segar, Mr C Tucker, Mrs A Boocock (Clerk). Mrs E Tucker, County Councillor was also present for part of the meeting.

04.03.1 Apologies for absence
Received from Mr Ed Beever who was working, and Ms T Gilligan who was also away working.

04.03.2 Declarations of interest
Rupert Segar declared a prejudicial interest in Item 11, planning application no. W/04/00215/PP. Annette Bufton also declared a prejudicial interest in the same item as she was childminder to Mr Segar’s children. Malcolm Argyle declared a non-prejudicial interest in the same item. Eric Carter declared a prejudicial interest in Appeal No. APP/H1840/
A/04/1141621. Eric Carter mentioned that we had reached our target for Broadband and as he had been the campaign organiser, BT had sent him £100 worth of vouchers, which he was distributing to various organisations.

04.03.3 Minutes of meetings held on Monday 2nd February 2004
These were approved and signed as a correct record. Minutes to be saved by the Clerk in ‘rtf’ format prior to sending via e-mail and councillors to advise if this method is more acceptable. Otherwise the minutes would continue to be delivered by hand.

Mrs Tucker’s report would be brought forward to before Item 7.

04.03.4 Throckmorton

04.03.04.1 Throckmorton Parish Room - Health and Safety
Beryl Lammas had carried out a Health and Safety Inspection on 9th January 2004 and a copy of the report was passed to all councillors.

An action list was produced of work required immediately to ensure safety until the new building was under way.

Actions

Immediate actions should be to keep the toilet clean and emptied regularly; mice should be disposed of by poison/bait; cups/cutlery should be kept in a sealed box.

No children’s parties should be held in the hall. Stickers should be put onto the electrical appliances - Eric able to test the appliances first.

A profile to be written up for the Health and Safety requirements for evacuation.

There must be an outside light although Councillor Liz Tucker advised that electrics should not be touched.

The Parish Council is responsible for the building and any liability attached to it. People know that the building has been inspected by Beryl and Eric. Replacement of the outside light to be dealt with. Toilet issue to be dealt with, kitchen to be cleaned, rat poison to be put down, soap dispenser and paper towels required.

Beryl will carry out an inspection just prior to the next Council meeting to check on any further issues. EC/BL/CT

04.03.04.2 Throckmorton Parish Room - Financial Issues
The Parish Council should audit the accounts at the end of the financial year, 31st March 2004. Issue to be raised by the Clerk at the next meeting for the foundation course. Betty Lane keeps the records at present and it was suggested that the council be given any information available up to 31st March 2004. After this date, a clean line should be drawn under previous details and from 1st April 2004 we need to have transparent accounts, with proper records and receipts kept. All council members were in agreement and Betty Lane is to be contacted in this connection. AB/AEB

04.03.04.3 Report from Charles Tucker
Things for the new Parish Room have rather stalled as Eric Charlewood has not been able to progress as project manager due to other commitments. Charles has spoken to the scouts as to the correct way forward in order to secure the ownership/rights to the property. We cannot change the charity position and in order to secure the building it has to go on the open market with best price sought and we may not be able to compete in an open market situation. As the Parish Council are sitting tenants with four years to go on the lease and we have the right to use the building free of charge once a year for the parish meeting, these may be in our favour. If we were unable to purchase the plot, there is no reason forplanning permission to be given for a private dwelling to be built. Rupert asked whether we had any other land in Throckmorton which we could buy. There is the playground area which we could use for which we pay a peppercorn rent but planning permission would be more difficult there than the existing site. Charles expressed his worries about the property going on the open market but also suggested that we went for a long lease. The scouts have asked what we want to do, and it is felt that we should take legal advice on this matter.

We need to take legal advice on how best to tackle this issue. Should we purchase the freehold or leasehold - we need to know the options available and the possible pitfalls. We have a valuation for insurance purposes

We have a budget of £1000 and we need authorisation to get legal advice. Charles will advise bullet points as to what we require. The Clerk will contact Ann Belcher or go to tender.

Councillor Liz Tucker is to speak to the County Property Offices with regard to their view in assessing the two approaches. It is also possible to contact CALC, who would refer us to Brian Haines at Community First who would be able to advise us.

We need to set up a separate bank account with £500 in order to have the money available when we need advice. Same signatures as the existing account.

04.03.05 Finance

04.03.05.1 Cash Reconciliation
The Clerk reported a balance of £23,779.50 in the bank as at 24th January 2004. There had been an error on the latest bank statement in that one item had been debited twice, and the Clerk advised that the bank were correcting this. EC/AEB

04.03.05.2 Approval of Payments
The following payments were approved.

Limebridge Rural Services £464.13

Worcestershire CALC Meeting posters, Clerks Gathering, Clerks Foundation Course £ 83.79

Bob Averis £ 38.41

Bishampton Stores (photocopying) £ 15.24

Mrs A Boocock (February expenses) £ 25.23

Mrs A Boocock (February salary) £265.59

Currys (purchase of cooker for Villages Hall) £739.92

04.04.05.3 Alternative Account Details
A Business Instant Account could be opened with the existing bankers, and the interest rate was 1.51%. The appropriate form would be completed and returned to the bank. EC/AEB

04.03.06 Parish Plan
Submission was made for the enquiry and although Toni was absent from the meeting, sincere congratulations were offered by all the council members for all the work she did on our behalf. Eric Charlwood was also to be congratulated for drawing all together. It was very successful in that each parish had made a submission. Toni’s report was a 30 page well-argued document supporting Wychavon on the ECON11 but also giving quite a bit of information on the hot topic questionnaire with a breakdown of what people would like to see happen on the airfield.

Consultations would be prepared for the Annual Parish meetings in April and details of the meetings would be put into the April issue of the Parish Magazine. EC/RS/TG

04.03.07 Wyre Gypsy Site
All the parishes were unanimous that a planning consultant should be employed and Malcolm Argyle was awaiting a response to confirm who would be acting on the parish councils’ behalf. John Prescott has ‘called in’ the decision and Wychavon have now been informed that there will be a public enquiry rather than a hearing.

04.03.08 Local Plan Review
Eric read out a letter received from Wychavon advising the dates of the review. There had been a change in the area for ECON11 - this had been reduced, due to the amount of industrial land already under development. We had been given dates for the informal hearing for CON11 and ECON11 which were the 6th, 7th and 8th April and Ed Beever was to be contacted as to whether he was able to attend. EC/EB/AEB

04.03.09 Planters for Gardening Club
A letter had been received from highways requesting dimensions and required positions of the planters, and this had been passed to the secretary of the Gardening Club for their response.

04.03.10 Replacement notice boards - Tilesford and Throckmorton
Mr Ockendon was in the process of replacing these. The invoice will be submitted in due course.

04.03.11 Planning

04.03.11.1 W/04/00215/PP - Flaxen Hill House, Hill Furze Road -
Alterations and Extensions to provide accommodation for retired relatives - Rupert Segar and Annette Bufton left the room whilst this was being discussed. No objections to this planning application.

04.03.11.2 - W/03/02363/PN - Land adjacent, Rose Bungalow, Main Street, Bishampton
Erection of house and garage and repositioning of vehicular access - refused.
This had been dealt with in the last minutes.

04.03.11.3 - W/03/01760/CU Appeal No. APP/H1840/A/041141621 (WA3032) - Land off Broad Lane, Bishampton
Change of use of land for the keeping of horses and erection of two double stable buildings.
Eric Carter and Malcolm Argyle left the room. This was retrospective planning permission which was approved but with a condition to take the buildings down in 2 years time and the appeal was to get the condition removed. There were several conditions which had been imposed. The council had nothing further to add to their original comments.

04.03.12 Noise Problem - Moat Farm Lane
A response had been received by Mr Carter from Charlotte Landig of Environmental Health which was read out at the meeting. Wychavon have the matter in hand and there is nothing more that the council can do.

04.03.13 Code of Conduct - Register of Interest Form
A copy of this letter would be circulated to all councillors for their information.

04.03.14 Mowing Contract - Limebridge Rural Services
A revised mowing contract had been received stating an increase of 3%, although the actual increase of £21.00 per month, before VAT was nearer 6.25%. The breakdown between footpath clearance is £54.00 (£47.00) and mowing £288.00 (£274.00) and the figures in brackets are the 2003 prices. Area 5 (The Scout Hut) could be reduced from a fortnightly to a monthly cut and this would reduce the monthly charge to £335.00 before VAT. We need to check our letter of requirements to them which was sent out last year and we need to clarify the increase with Limebridge Rural Services. There is also a query as to whether certain areas are indeed cut fortnightly and if they are, is this necessary.

It was agreed that we would tell Limebridge what we require rather than just ask for a revised quotation. The issue is the increase not just a revision of the cuts. EC/AEB

04.03.15 Footpaths
Edward Chadwick has visited Wychavon to clarify footpath issues which he had noticed in the Evesham Journal. Footpath 2 has not been deleted, but they have deleted the part of the footpath which runs through the garden of the bungalows and replaced it with the footpath around the fence. There has been a diversion rather than a deletion. Bridleway 22 around Stella McCartney’s property has been diverted - the footpath on her side of the fence has been deleted and replaced with a footpath on the other side.

A request will be made to Wychavon that notifications of changes should be advised to either Edward Chadwick or the Clerk to the Council.

Eric reported a new fence has also appeared around the back of the Dolphin with a stile. EC/AEB/EC

04.03.16 Councillors Report

04.03.16.1 Mrs Liz Tucker advised that there were no specific issues relating to Bishampton. However, the Council Tax had been agreed at 5.1% and District had decided to charge on second homes and on empty buildings. Roads had gone up by £750,000 and the money for libraries was £100,000. Worcestershire has been chosen by the Government to be the Regional Centre on Procurement.

With regard to the boundaries Pinvin was to be brought under Pershore, with a new office near to County Hall. The offices elsewhere would be sold. Mr Cox of the Highways Department is retiring at the end of this month and his post is being taken by Sally Everest. Also more money has come in from the Liberbility Fund (money from Government).

04.03.16.2 Annette Bufton advised that the Play Area Committee would be meeting in the next couple of weeks. A request had been made that British Telecom be contacted to paint the telephone box in Main Street in readiness for the Open Gardens in June. AB/AEB

04.03.17 Items for Future Agenda
The request to Wychavon County Council for the provision of a grit bin near to Bishampton Stores would be considered at the next meeting. Agenda wording to be considered at the next meeting.

04.03.18 Date of next meeting
The date of the next meeting will be 5th April 2004, and as Mr Carter will be away on business, Mr Malcolm Argyle will chair the meeting..

The meeting ended at 9.45pm.

.............................................................. ...........................
Chairman Date

Note of matters raised during the Open Session, Parish Council meeting 2 June 2003

The session was attended by 2 members of the public.

The meeting was attended by Mr Green and Angela Gregg who advised that the level of noise on the airfield in connection with the driving instruction/skid pan had increased. A representative from Environmental Health had been out a couple of weeks ago and since then the noise had decreased. It was felt that the area in use was designed for being used as a skid pan and although the noise was reduced as present, it was felt that this would increase if the public concern was not maintained. Planning permission had been put in for a specialised driving school, with training on 5 days a week, with the facility to increase this to 7 days a week.. These concerns were noted and would be taken into account in response to planning applications.

It was suggested that letters from people it affected were sent to Wychavon Council, enclosing photographs showing when and where the activities were happening.

AEB/15.03.2004