MINUTES OF KINGTON LANGLEY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

HELD IN THE COMMITTEE ROOM OF THE VILLAGE HALL ON

MONDAY 1 SEPTEMEBER 2008

PRESENT: Cllr. Dr. Maurice Dixson (Chairman), Cllr. Mrs. Betty Bird, Cllr. Mrs. Val Giles, Cllr. Dennis Gill, Cllr. P Hart, Cllr. D Styles, Cllr. C Timbrell, Cllr. G. Trickey. District Cllr. Ms. Sherry Meadows. Mrs. Sue Hart (Clerk) plus 4 members of the public.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Cllr. J Foster (Sick). County Cllr Mrs. Jane Scott

131.08

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllr. Peter Hart and the Clerk, Mrs. Sue Hart declared a Personal Interest in the planning application at New Build, Church Lane. Cllr. Mrs. Betty Bird declared a Personal Interest in the agenda item on Kington St. Michael Almshouses.

ACTION

132.08

RESIDENTS’ FORUM

Mr. David Sealy said that rubbish has been fly-tipped in Fowlswick Lane.

Mr. Ramon Weston said that the Days Lane damaged signs have been replaced but the Byway 34 sign has not been put back up because it is apparently the responsibility of a different department. The Clerk was asked to follow this up with Wiltshire County Council Rights of Way Department.

Clerk

Clerk

133.08

MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 11 AUGUST 2008

Minutes of the meeting held on 11 August 2008 had been circulated to all Councillors. On a proposal from Cllr. Peter Hart, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Val Giles, IT WAS RESOLVED that the Chairman, Cllr. Dr. Maurice Dixson, sign the Minutes as a correct record.

134.08

MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES

The Chairman asked for the actions from the previous meeting to be reviewed as follows:

Minute 118.08 Residents’ Forum:	The Clerk has written to WCC regarding the Ragwort on the A350 but has not yet received a reply. It was suggested that County Cllr. Jane Scott and even the County Legal Department should be alerted to the potential issue if this is not attended to as it is a notifiable weed. The Clerk has contacted CLARENCE regarding the damaged Days Lane signposts (Incident 323437). The Clerk has followed up the annual cut of Byway 34 which has now been done.
Minute 120.08 Matters arising from 14 July 08 Minutes:	Minute 103.08 Field View House Breach of Planning Conditions: Feedback from NWDC is still outstanding. The Clerk said that NWDC’s senior planning officer had sent out an e-mail saying that he had no record of this but there was clearly some miscommunication within NWDC as the issue had been allocated to an officer and had an enforcement number. Land at Church Lane: District Cllr. S Meadows had followed up the out-of-hours working with NWDC but had been told they weren’t doing anything wrong. The Clerk had been asked to submit a log of breaches but there had only been one during the period it was monitored. Letter to Planning Inspectorate: The Clerk has drafted a letter for the Chairman to review. Minute 109.08 Greens Registration: The Clerk has contacted a long-standing member of the village community who would put together a list of villagers for her to contact directly.
Minute 125.08 Village Pond	A contract to carry out removal of the Crassula helmsii pondweed has now been placed with Dr. Newman.
Minute 126.08 Wiltshire Unitary Authority – Delegation to Parish Councils	The Clerk had e-mailed other Chairs in the area for their planned approach to delegation and they will provide feedback when they have held meetings with their own councils.
Minute 127.08 Morrell Lane Fencing and Barbarans Lane Clearing	This was still outstanding.
Minute 128.08 (c) 2 Replacement 4’ Gate for School to Field footpath	Vastern Fencing at both Calne and Wootton Bassett had told the Clerk they do not provide gates. Cllr. Timbrell agreed to contact a villager who works there to follow this up directly.
Minute 130.08 (d)	The Clerk put a notice in the Village Magazine regarding the misuse of the Parkers Lane dog bin.

District Cllr. S Meadows

Cllr. C Timbrell

135.08

PLANNING

(a) Planning Issues:

08/01437/FUL Glenhaven, Plough Lane: Demolition of existing dwelling and erection of 2 detached dwellings, access, parking, turning and garaging. This application, having received 5 letters of objection, will be on the agenda for the Development Control Committee on 3 Sept 2008. Cllr. Dr. Maurice Dixson is registered to speak. He will be meeting neighbours Mrs. Lindi Reynolds and Mr. Martin Ellett at the site prior to the meeting.

The Clerk said that she has raised with NWDC an issue with the NWDC Planning Applications web page where the count of the number of people objecting to any application does not include the Parish Council it if has objected within its status as a consultee. She was informed that this is a problem with the system which may be difficult to resolve.

08/01652/TCA New Build, Church Lane – Fell one horse chestnut tree. Cllr. Dr. Maurice Dixson said that he had visited the site with the Planning Officer. He then circulated a set of photographs that the Officer had taken. They showed that the tree was damaged and also showed the dark round blemishes on the bark that denoted ‘bleeding canker’. The Officer had explained that this type of canker is endemic throughout North Wiltshire and is incurable. As the disease is transmitted through the air the tree was potentially contagious and should come down. He had explained that in these circumstances he could not place a Tree Preservation Order on it. Cllr. Dixson added that he would have argued for the tree to be pollarded but had to accept the Officer’s professional conclusion.

Cllr. Peter Hart contested the fact that felling the tree was an inevitable conclusion. He had circulated to councillors an e-mail link to a Cornell University Report stating that trees with canker can be treated and need not be felled. He also pointed out that canker can be caused by mechanical damage.

Following debate about the Parish Council’s response to the Planning Department’s conclusion, the Chairman, Cllr. Dr. Maurice Dixson, PROPOSED that the Parish Council should accept the Planning Officer’s conclusion that he is unable to put a Tree Preservation Order on the tree. Cllrs. Don Styles, Dennis Gill, Chris Timbrell, Graham Trickey and Dr. Maurice Dixson supported this proposal.

Cllr. Peter Hart PROPOSED that NWDC should be asked to investigate treating the tree and should place a Tree Preservation Order on it until an independent tree surgeon had assessed the problem. Cllrs. Mrs. Betty Bird, Mrs. Val Giles and Peter Hart supported this proposal.

The Chairman’s proposal was therefore carried.

(b) Planning Applications decided by North Wiltshire District Council:

08/01628/FUL Bowldown, Days Lane – Extension

Permission Granted – 15 Aug 08

(c) Planning Application Recommendations decided under powers delegated to the Parish Clerk:

08/01833/TCA 3 Sutton Lane - Felling of 3 Leylandii trees and reduction in height of Leylandii hedge

Supported

(d) Planning Applications for consideration:

08/01967/FUL Highfield House, Parkers Lane – Conservatory to Rear	Supported
08/02022/FUL North Site, Kington St. Michael Road - Change of use of land & existing buildings to equestrian teaching & trainer's yard. Alterations to form stables, extension to form store & canteen facilities, provision of 20 x 40 m training arena & alterations to existing vehicular access (Rev. to 08/01383/FUL).	Supported
08/02028/FUL Chippenham Pallet Company, Lower Swinley Farm – Demolition of existing mono pitch pallet store and replace with new pitched roof building for pallet storage	Supported

136.08

CHAIRMAN’S BUSINESS

Cllr. Dr. Maurice Dixson said all points would be covered by agenda items.

137.08

CLERK’S REPORT

The Clerk said that all her activities were covered under Matters Arising or by items on the agenda. She pointed out that in the time available she was not always able to cover all the actions placed upon her from the Minutes within the current month.

138.08

COMMONS EROSION PROJECT

Cllr. Peter Hart said that the work was now finished and that the final result was looking good. The project had been completed on time despite the weather. He said that the contractor chosen had been very hands-on and done a very good job. The Parish Council has now received the Area 3 Grant payment from North Wiltshire District Council so the contractors can now be paid.

A Vote of Thanks was proposed by Cllr. Timbrell, seconded by Cllr. Dennis Gill, for all the work that Cllr. Hart had done on the project.

139.08

DAYS LANE 30 MPH SPEED LIMIT – EXTENSION DOWN TOWARDS BYWAY 34

Following a villager’s suggestion that the Days Lane 30 mph speed limit be extended from its current point near the Newlands Green junction down to just past the Byway 34 entrance, councillors discussed whether this was a proposal that should be investigated further.

Cllr. Hart said that it had taken some years to implement a 40 mph speed limit by the Greathouse and input had included a village consultation plus proof of previous accidents. The over-riding argument in favour of the Days Lane change was the safety issue caused by the fact that many walkers walk down Days Lane to and from Byway 34, as do horse-riders and parents with pushchairs.

On a proposal from Cllr. Dr. Maurice Dixson, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Betty Bird, IT WAS RESOLVED that extending the 30 mph speed limit be investigated further.

Cllr. Dr. Maurice Dixson supported by Cllr. Chris Timbrell agreed to take responsibility for this project.

Cllr. Dr. M Dixson / Cllr. C Timbrell

140.08

WILTSHIRE UNITARY AUTHORITY- DELEGATION TO TOWN & PARISH COUNCILS

Cllr. Mrs. Val Giles was thanked for the comprehensive report on Road Maintenance Matters that she had prepared, assisted by Dr. Peter Giles, and circulated to councillors before the meeting.

It was agreed that it would be worthwhile to support the extension of the Parish Steward scheme, with the budget to go with it.

Councillors then reviewed the Consultation document issued by Richard Munro on 25 June 2008 and considered the areas he had suggested might be appropriate for delegation to the Parish. The Clerk was asked to produce a summary list for submission to Mr. Munro, to which 6 additional functions were also added.

Clerk

141.08

SPRING BULBS (Cllr. Val Giles)

Cllr. Mrs. Val Giles had prepared and circulated to councillors before the meeting a suggested approach to the spring bulb planting programme.

Cllr. Giles proposed that the Parish Council should:

(a) authorise expenditure of up to £100 for the purchase of bulbs,

(b) agree that planting should concentrate on Lower Common in front of Great House and the areas close to The Plough crossroads,

(c) agree that bulbs should be allocated to volunteers on a ‘one for one’ basis where one bag would be planted in the location chosen by the Parish Council and the other on a public area location of their own choice (as long as it was not within their own property).

On a proposal from Cllr. Dennis Gill, seconded by Cllr. Don Styles, IT WAS RESOLVED that Cllr. Giles be given a budget of £100 for bulb planting and that her approach should be implemented.

An article should also be placed in the Village Magazine informing villagers of the planting programme. Cllr. Giles also asked for more volunteers.

Clerk / Cllr. Mrs. V Giles

Cllr. Mrs. V Giles

142.08

FINANCE

(a) Cheques issued, payments received and transfers made since 11 August 2008 meeting:

1 Sept 08