Easebourne Parish Council
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 11 May 2005 AT 7.30PM IN THE REFECTORY, EASEBOURNE
Present: Mrs E Hamilton, Mr D Warner, Mr J Stringer, Mr D Pack, Mr J Dabson, Mr B Gowar, Mr C Hill, Mrs J Deacon-Ford, Mrs A Marchand, Mr M Fay (CDC), Mr T Pemberton (WSCC) and the Clerk.
05/06
2 Election of Chairman: the Clerk asked for nominations for the Chair. Mr J Stringer proposed and Mrs J Deacon-Ford seconded the nomination of Mrs E Hamilton. No other nominations were offered. All were in favour.
3 Election of Vice-Chairman: Mrs Hamilton took the Chair and asked for nominations for vice-chairman. Mrs Hamilton proposed and Mr B Gowar seconded the nomination of Mr D Warner. No other nominations were offered. All were in favour.
4 Council members were appointed to serve on the following panels:
Planning: Mr J Stringer, Mr J Dabson, Mrs J Deacon-Ford, Mr B Gowar, Mrs E Hamilton
Burial Ground: Mr P Rhodes, Mr J Stringer, Mrs A Marchand
Playground: Mrs A Marchand, Mr D Pack, Mrs E Hamilton
Grants: Mr J Stringer, Mr D Warner, Mr C Hill
Finance: Mr B Gowar, Mrs E Hamilton, Mr P Rhodes, Mr J Stringer, Mr D Warner
Footpaths: Mr J Dabson, Mr B Gowar, Mr D Warner
5 Representatives to the Association of Local Councils: Mrs E Hamilton and Mr J Stringer were asked to continue as the Parish Council’s representatives.
6 The dates and times of meetings for the coming year are as follows: 13th July 2005 at 7.30pm, 14th September 2005 at 7.30pm, 9th November 2005 at 7.30pm, 11th January 2006 at 7.30pm, 8th March 2006 at 7.30pm, 12th April 2006 (Annual Village Meeting) at 7.0pm, 10th May 2006 (AGM) at 7.0pm, 12th July 2006 at 7.30pm, 11th September 2006 at 7.30pm and 8th November 2006 at 7.30pm. All meetings to be held in the Refectory, Easebourne.
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7 Apologies for absence: None
8 Following an amendment to Minute 04/05 71/9, concerning a web site address correction, the Minutes of the meeting held on 9th March 2005 were signed as a true record. The Minutes of the meeting held on 21st April 2005 were also signed as a true record. All in favour.
9 Matters arising: The VE Day Celebrations in Midhurst/Easebourne have received Lottery funding and therefore the contribution of £500.00 from the Parish Council, as approved in Minute 05/06 1, is no longer required.
10 Lt Col T Pemberton has been re-elected to the County Council for a further four years. He gave no report to the meeting but provided a copy of the Local Policing Plan for Sussex 2005 – 2006.
11 District Councillor Mr M Fay reported that the total expenditure of Chichester District Council for 2005/2006 will be 12 million pounds. This represents an increase of 2_% on the previous year, roughly in line with inflation.
He was asked why the refuse collectors do not remove rubbish, left adjacent to the wheelie bins, but still in black plastic sacks. Mr Fay replied that the lorries are now only able to collect from the wheelie bins. It was agreed to ask parishioners, via the Newsletter, to no longer use black plastic sacks and if their bins are too small for all their rubbish to apply to CDC for a larger size. Mr Fay also reported that since the introduction of the red bins the recycling rate for the district has risen from 10% to 20%. The aim is for a minimum of 28%.
12 Finance:
a) The following payments were noted (cheque numbers 800-) £
357 R Wallis, burial ground maintenance 01.01.05 to 31.03.05 551.45
358 C Allan, Clerk’s salary 01.01.05 to 31.03.05 875.00
358 C Allan, Clerk’s travelling/telephone expenses 50.31
359 E Hamilton, Chairman’s honorarium 01.10.04 to 31.03.05 50.00
360 Cowdray Estate, Playing field rent 25.03.05 to 28.09.05 75.00
361 Southern Electric, street lighting electricity 113.34
362 SALC, annual subscription 2005/2006 345.85
b) Receipt of the Parish Precept for 01.04.05 to 30.09.05 in the sum of £5750.00 was noted
c) The internal check of accounts for March and April 2005, by Mr Stringer, was noted.
d) It was noted that the accounts for 2004/2005 are now with the Internal Auditor, Mr R Martin
e) The renewal of the insurance policy from Allianz Cornhill was discussed at length due to the addition to the Policy of a clause regarding the play equipment. The Insurance company and RoSPA are putting different interpretations upon the urgency of any remedial work required on equipment assessed as medium risk by RoSPA. The Council is seeking clarification of this from Allianz Cornhill. The Council wished to obtain an additional Insurance quote from Zurich Insurance who cannot, due to pressure of business, supply a quote before the policy renewal date of 1st June 2005. It was therefore agreed to renew the Policy with Allianz Cornhill for this year and to seek additional quotes for the following year.
13 Planning:
The following planning decisions were noted EPC CDC
05/00134/TPA: 16 Hurst Park, reduce size of two trees No obj Grant
05/00209/ADV: Room in the Garden, new fascia signs No obj Consent
05/00214/LBC: As above No obj Grant
05/00317/FUL: Moor Farm, extend Dutch Barn No obj Permit
05/00447/FUL: Lawns Polo Grounds, access track No obj Permit
05/00923/FUL: Cowdray Golf Club, shed to house buggies No obj Permit
14 Reports from panels:
a) Playground: the Clerk has received several quotes for the resurfacing work required for the 4 swing equipment. Several options were considered but Mr D Warner proposed and Mrs J Deacon-Ford seconded the motion that Playsafe Playgrounds be asked to carry out the extension and resurfacing of the safety surface to make it compliant with BS/EN1176 safety standards Playsafe Playgrounds will also be asked to apply the red rubberoid paint marking to the perimeter of the safety surfacing on both the 4 swing and the roundabout items of equipment. All in favour. The consideration of estimates received for cleaning and treating the benches, supplying a new picnic table, supplying a new litter bin and providing a new bench to replace the broken one were passed to the Playground Panel for discussion and action.
b) Burial Ground: this was reported as being satisfactorily maintained.
c) Footpaths: notification has been received from WSCC that the Public Footpath No 1109 diversion order has now been confirmed.
d) Grants: the Parish Council has no grant application requests at the present time.
15 Village Action Plan:
a) Communication: Rev’d D Welsman and Mrs C Sawyer provided an update on the combined Village/Church format of “United”. I has been decided to give a copy of the July issue to every home in the Parish, at no charge. This will need to be printed commercially as 1000 copies will be required. Mr Gowar proposed and Mrs Marchand seconded the motion that the Parish Council provide the sum of approx £600.00 to pay for this one-off printing cost. All in favour. Mrs Deacon-Ford expressed the Council’s appreciation of all the work done by Carole Sawyer and her team of volunteers, together with the editorial staff of “United”.
Estimates have been received for the construction of steps to enable better access to the Parish Council notice board at the Rotherfield Sports Ground/Dodsley Grove site. Mr J Dabson proposed and Mr C Hill seconded the acceptance of the estimate from Mr B Wegg. All in favour.
The village web site has encountered one or two technical difficulties but should be available by the end of May.
b) Affordable Housing: Budgenor Lodge has a new owner and a revised planning application has been submitted. This does not affect the 12 affordable homes due to be built on the site.
c) Traffic Management: County Councillor T Pemberton will present the latest position at the next Parish Council meeting.
16 Cowdray Heritage Trust: Mr S Collins, the project manager of the conservation programme is to be asked if he could provide a report, on a monthly basis, about progress of the conservation work, so that this may be published in the village magazine and on the web site.
17 A meeting took place between Councillors and Mr R Windle of the Cowdray Estate on 28th April 2005. The Councillors were taken to the Stable Block to see the various business activities there. These included a visit to the Walled Garden, a violin restorer and a beauty salon. The Clerk was asked to write to Mr Windle to express the Council’s thanks and to arrange a future meeting to discuss matters of mutual interest.
18 Correspondence and dates for diaries:
1 A letter from a parishioner regarding road safety on the A286 was read out. The Clerk has already responded and this reply was also read to the meeting.
Next Parish Council meeting : Wednesday 13th July 2005 at 7.30pm in the Refectory
The meeting closed at 9.05pm |
