EASEBOURNE PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2006

Present: Mr I Heustice, Mr J Stringer, Mr D Pack, Mr F Martin, Mrs J Deacon-Ford, Mr J Dabson, Mr P Rhodes, Mr B Gowar, Mr M Fay (CDC), Lt Col T Pemberton (WSCC), the Clerk and one member of the public.

06/07

34....Apologies for Absence were received from Mrs E Hamilton, Mr D Warner and Mrs A Marchand

35....Declaration of Interest: none

36....The Minutes of the meeting held on 12th July 2006: Minute  06/07 24 was amended to read - Instead he hoped that the money needed - The Minutes were then signed as a true record.  All in favour.

37....Matters Arising: reference to Minute 06/07 32, following our letter to the Strategic Health Authority an acknowledgement of our concerns over the proposals for St Richard’s Hospital, Chichester has been received.

38....The County Councillor, Lt Col Pemberton, reported that the request for painting of railings in the Parish was in hand.  Also the matter of a footpath and improved access at Budgenor Lodge was under discussion at the moment, but the siting of a bus stop and shelter needed to be addressed in order for there to be enough room to provide a footpath.  He will notify the Clerk if there is any progress before the next Parish Council meeting in November.

39....The District Councillor, Mr M Fay, confirmed that the new planning applications for development of the King Edward VII Hospital site had been submitted to the District Council.  It was agreed that these would be discussed by the Parish Council, at a public meeting, provisionally arranged for 26th September 2006 at 7.30pm in the Refectory. Clerk to publicise and arrange for representation from the applicant, Lincoln Holdings, at the meeting. Mr Fay was not wholly satisfied with the reason given by the District Council for its refusal of planning application EB/06/02242/FUL relating to the erection of 2 semi-detached houses at Budgenor Lodge.  He will investigate further.

40....Finance:
a) The following payments were noted (cheque numbers 800-)
.......417  Playsafety Ltd, RoSPA annual playground report.......£77.55
b) The internal check of accounts for July and August 2006, by Mr Stringer, was noted
c) The return of the accounts for year ended 31st March 2006, from the external auditor Mazars, and the display of these on the notice boards, as legally required, was noted.

41....Planning:
a) The following planning decisions were noted              

06/01776/PLD: The Hawthorns, Vanzell Road, join main building to out-building and alter and add doors and window	EPC	CDC
06/01969/DOM: 19 Canada Grove, single storey rear extension	No-obj	Permit
06/02029/DOM: 4 Hurst Park, first floor extension	No-obj	Permit
06/02060/DOM: Netherfield, Hollist Lane, single storey extension and new roof with accommodation	No-obj	Permit
06/02158/DOM: Cowdray House, erection of indoor swimming pool	No-obj	Permit
06/02242/FUL:  Budgenor Lodge, construct 2 new semi-detached houses	No-obj	Refuse
06/01919/DOM: 2 The Old Store, Easebourne Lane, single storey extension	No-obj	Permit

 

42....Reports from the Panels
a) Playground: An offer by Pro-Tec Security Management Ltd to patrol the playground at regular intervals, at no charge to the Council, has been received.   Mr Pack proposed and Mr Stringer seconded the acceptance of their offer.  All in favour.  Clerk to write and confirm the arrangement and agree to their board being erected if requested
b) Burial Ground : no problems to report
c) Footpaths: with the recent dry weather there have been no reports of overgrown paths.
d) Grants:  Applications have been received from WRVS, 1st Easebourne Scout Group and the Midhurst Community Bus Association.  It was felt that the WRVS was not sufficiently Easebourne based but the 1st Easebourne Scout Group was awarded £100 towards the cost of a shed to store their marquee.  This was proposed by Mr Dabson and seconded by Mr Stringer.  All in favour.  The Midhurst Community Bus Association provides a good service for Easebourne and Mr Stringer proposed and Mrs Deacon-Ford seconded a grant of £250.  All in favour.

43....Village Action Plan
a) Communications: the notice board at the junction of Dodsley Lane and Dodsley Grove has been re-sited, adjacent to High Path, and is now much more accessible by members of the public.
b) Affordable Housing: An article on the recently occupied affordable homes at Budgenor Lodge was featured in the Autumn issue of the CDC "Initiatives" magazine.

44....A meeting with the Cowdray Estate was held on 13th September 2006, when many topics of mutual interest were discussed including:
The Ruins project - which is due to open to the public at Easter 2007.  A manager has been appointed to undertake the day-to-day running of the site and an opening function, possibly a concert, is under consideration. 
Helicopters, arriving for the polo at the Lawns ground, have been causing a noise nuisance to residents and the Clerk was asked to write to the Estate to this effect.
Land between the Golf Club and the Lawns may have a future recreational use.
A meeting is to be arranged between the Estate and the Council on the site of the clay pigeon shooting at St James’s quarry as there have been complaints that the number of permitted shooting days has been exceeded.  Clerk to arrange the meeting.
A total re-organisation of the Estate works yard is under consideration.  This would provide some housing for Estate workers, together with the necessary parking, possibly a farm shop and installation of a new wood-chip boiler system that would provide inexpensive heating to a number of Cowdray owned properties in the area. The works yard will cover about a third of the area that it presently occupies.
The Council feels that these meetings are very beneficial to both Estate and Parish and another is to arranged for the Spring.

45....Midhurst Parking Study.  Mr Martin reported on the latest Chichester Parking Forum meeting held on 5th September 2006. The parking situation in Midhurst was discussed and the most immediate actions are to enforce the on street parking regulations, which is happening  now, following a survey which showed that there were 30 illegal parking incidents an hour in the town. Also to re-configure the parking spaces at the Grange car park to increase capacity by 30 vehicles. Longer term suggestions include making the North Street car park short stay only and the Grange car park both long and short stay.  In order to police these changes charging would probably be necessary, although long stay users would be able to purchase season tickets. An additional 30 spaces may become available at the Grange, but this is dependent on the re-development plans for the leisure centre. The majority of the Councillors were not in favour of charging being imposed. 

46....Correspondence & Dates for Diaries: Next Parish Council meeting will be held on 8th November 2006 at 7.30pm in the Refectory.

The meeting closed at 8.45pm

 

 

Mrs Carole Allan, Clerk to Easebourne Parish Council
Ashfield Cottage, 1 Ashfield Close, Midhurst, West Sussex, GU29 9RP
Telephone: 01730 813374
Email: parishcouncil@easebourne.fsnet.co.uk