|
Annual Parish Meeting - 2010 |
|
Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday 27th April 2010 at 7.30pm in the Pavilion |
|
1. Present:
Mr Sims (Chairman); Mr. Clench; Mr. Gould; Mrs Hartless ; Mrs.
Lyons; Mr. Parry; 11 members of the public 2. Apologies: Mrs. Rousell; Mr. Sheppard; Mr. Tonge 3. Minutes: The Minutes of the Meeting held on 29th April 2009 were circulated and signed as being a true record. 4. Report by the Parish Council Chairman Mr Sims read the report in Mr. Sheppard’s absence. Following the retirement of Mr. Peter Appleby and Mr. Richard Crowder from the Council, four applications had been received and Mr. David Murray and Dr. Philip Rayner had been co-opted onto the Council. The past year had been quieter than the two previous years which saw the realisation of the building of the Pavilion and the sale of Hillside, Chapel Lane which resulted in £70,000 remaining in the Parish Council’s fund for future capital projects. At the end of March 2009 Mr. Hancock had retired as Groundsman and Mr. Delahunty had been appointed in his place. This past year had seen the formation of the new Unitary Authority, Wiltshire Council. There had been the usual problems associated with parish life. The Parish Council was a forum for all this but sadly in many instances the Council is unable to take action and the problem or complaint is passed to Wiltshire Council or the local police etc. to take action. One area of responsibility which affected everyone was the setting of the precept which in turned reflected on the Council Tax paid by everyone. Over the past two years the precept for 2009/10 was reduced by 0.60% on the previous year and for this year it was increased by 1.00% on last year. In order to keep running costs as low as possible, members of the Council use their experience and ability to carry out minor works in the management and repair and thanks were given to all those councillors for their help. The justification for the precept was reflected in the amount of real estate owned by the Council – the Parish Council office building; the cemetery for the Lodge, Chapel and grounds; Recreation Ground with the football and cricket pitches, tennis courts, bowling green, baskball court, Lovar Garden, play area etc; Box Hill Common; the Millennium Wood; road side verges and miles of footpaths etc. To maintain all of this the Parish Council employs a Groundsman; Cemetery Caretaker, two handymen, road cleaner, cleaner and the Parish Council and thanks were given to these. Some of the capital projects for 2010/11 include the proposed purchase of a triple ride-on gangmowers for the recreation field which would eventually cover the Common and roadside verges; the resurfacing of the tennis courts and fencing which was helped with a grant of £5000 from the Area Board and the resufacing of the car park. External repairs for the Lodge and the reproofing of the Chapel were planned for the future. Thanks were given to the Clerk, the entire staff of the Parish Council and fellow Councillors. 5. Box Hill Common Management Committee Mrs. Seager read out the report in the absence of the Committee Chairman. The area was divided into three area: a recreational area; a rough wild life and a chalk downland grass area containing many species of flower including orchids. Every effort was made to maintain the wooded areas as a beech wood and younger self seeded ash, sycamore, elder etc were removed. Thanks were given to members of the Council, parishioners and Mr. Arundel for this work. The Millennium Wood, Lacy Wood, continued to thrive and develop into a peaceful walk and haven. Thanks were given to the Committee, Cotswold Wardens and Council employees, particularly Mr. Vinyard for maintaining the wood, Paul and Tom Ledbury for the conscientious way they approach the maintenance of the Common , Cotswold Wardens and Mr. Bullock who helped with the management of this facility. 6. Burial Committee Mr. Thomas, Chairman, reported that the Cemetery continued to be an outstanding asset to the village thanks to the hard work by Mr. Kissling the Cemetery Caretaker. As reported last year the Committee continued to monitor the condition of the lodge and the chapel, in particular the roof and stained glass window. Work to the electrics in the Lodge and to the windows of the Chapel had been carried out. More work was scheduled to start shortly to repair the windows, gutterings and downpipes in the Lodge. The Committee continued to monitor the condition of the Chapel roof and funds were being built up towards this. Sources of funding to help with the cost were also being pursued. Thanks were given to the staff as well as to Mr. Campbell and Mr. Turner for their help in drawing up a plan for the new area of interments. 7. Highways Committee: Mrs. Hartless, Chairman, reported that the Parish Council continued to report defects to the Highways Authority, particularly the many potholes and blocked drains. Wiltshire Council through the Area Boards set up speed watch on the local roads and metro speed counts were carried out at Ashley; Quarry hill, Chapel Plaister and the A4 Box Hill. The report received back informed the Council they it did not meet the criteria for camera or speed watch but it should be remembered that this survey was carried out between 19th January and 26th January 2010 when there had been a heavy fall of snow. The Parish Steward, funding by the Highways Authority, visited Box regularly and undertook any small highway task. Part of the B3109 had been resurfaced and the Parish Council had been informed that the traffic lights at the top of Westwells Road would not be installed until the Spring Park development was completed. However the traffics lights planned for the A4 had now been scrapped. Thanks were given to the Committee, the Clerk and to Mr. Cleverley who had celebrated his 80th birthday earlier this year but still continued to keep the streets clean. 8. Planning and Conservation Committee: Mrs Lyons, Chairman, reported that the Parish Council received all planning applications for the Parish including amended plans and tree works. The Committee met twice a month to consider these and the recommendation, based on local and national planning policy guidelines and local knowledge of the site, was made to Wiltshire Council. The Chairman visited the sites with the plans, viewing from a public point and reports this to the Committee. All members of the Committee have their say. There is usually a consensus of opinion, if not a vote was taken. The Agenda was displayed on the website and Parish Notice Board outside the office and members of the public were welcome to attend. The recommendation sent through was included in the documents listed under the application number on the Wiltshire planning website. All letters and plans and eventual decisions were listed and could be easily searched. The Council would then receive notices of the final decision and notices of appeals by anyone not happy with the refusal decision. Enforcement issues were also reported to the Parish Council where development was alleged to have taken place without permission or not in accordance with approved plans. The Committee, through Wiltshire Council, could also comment on general planning policy changes. Box was a special village in planning terms in that it was surrounded by Green Belt land, the most robust of planning policies. The village framework, which allowed some development, was tightly drawn to stop sprawl into the countryside which meant restrictions but also protected the landscape. Thanks were given to the Committee and Clerk. 9. Playing Fields Committee: Mr Gould read out the report in the Committee Chairman’s absence. The new groundsman, Mr. Mark Delahunty, had been working hard and the high standards had been maintained. The Committee continued to monitor the play equipment regularly and hopefully some more imaginative piece of equipment could be provided soon. The allotments were fully booked with a long waiting list. The Committee was tidying this up by reinstating the pathways between each allotment. The Lovar Garden continued to be a lovely tranquil place. The tennis courts had been resurfaced and the lower court marked out for multi-sport use. There were two benches which needed replacing and the Council would love to hear from any parishioner who wished to donate one. The Council would also like someone to come forward to form a basketball club. Thanks were given to the staff and the Clerk 10. Rights of Way Committee: Mrs Parker, Chairman, reported that James Long had restored the lettering on the Speke Memorial and Mr. Vinyard had cut the area to make it more accessible. Regular footpath walks continued to held. Thanks to the Committee, John Vinyard and his grandson for keeping the paths clear, the help provided by the Cotswold Wardens and the Clerk 11. Questions arising from the reports:
Thanked the Council for the work on the allotments but was concerned about the lack of consultation with the allotment holders. A. The Council did try to form a group, but the area needed to be improved from the parishioners point of view. The Clerk invited allotment holders to join in the walk round at the next Playing Fields Committee meeting.
Was concerned about the state of the pavement down Box Hill but was pleased that this had now been cleared. However she was still concerned about the lorries parking and driving over the grass verge at the bottom of Beech Road by the cul-de-sac A.: The Highways Committee would raise this with WC
A: Yes this will be carried out on the lower part of the A4 into Box.
A: The Parish Council tried to encourage people to attend but generally there was only a full house if parishioners had complaints.
A: the Clerk had raised this with the Police and advised Mr. Smith to contact Wiltshire Highways. It will be put on the Agenda for the Area Board and also speak to police again.
A.: Yes, there was a dog walk and could also go on the Rec providing they were kept on leads and any mess cleared up.
A: Yes, when the manpower to do this could be found.
A: The PC was pursuing all avenues. Area Board was looking at buying a community speed camera.
A: Mr. Turner, Box Revels replied that the Revels had closed at 5 p.m. The Committee could not be held responsible for what happened afterwards. They had applied for a music licence – a condition of which would be no alcohol allowed on the Rec.
12. Report by County Councillor: Mrs. Parker gave her as a County Councillor. The first year of transition had run smoothly. Because of the elections Wiltshire Council had put a hold on the restructuring of waste collections. The Government would be making a blanket ruling on this. The County Courts had allocated £1.7m to the Highways budget to carry out repairs to the roads. About 400 potholes were being repaired each week. The Area Boards were being were attended and this was the forum to bring up any local issues. They also made grants to local organisations. Mrs. Parker stated that she had enjoyed her first year as a County Councillor. 13. Any Other Business and general questions:
Chairman |