MINUTES OF KINGTON
HELD IN THE COMMITTEE ROOM OF THE VILLAGE
HALL ON
PRESENT:
Cllr. Mrs. Betty Bird; Cllr. Dr. M. Dixson; Cllr. J Foster; Cllr. Mrs. V Giles;
Cllr. D Gill; Cllr. P Hart ; Cllr.
D Styles; Cllr. Mr. C Timbrell; Cllr. G Trickey and Mrs. S Hart (Clerk) plus 7
members of the public.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE:
District Councillor Ms. Sherry Meadows; County
Councillor Mrs. Jane Scott
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159.08 |
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None. |
ACTION
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160.08 |
RESIDENTS’ FORUM Ramon Weston asked
whether minutes from last month’s Parish Council meeting would be put on the
website. The Clerk confirmed that this would be done after they were approved
at this meeting. Steve Duffill said that
the all-weather footpath down to the A350 traffic lights was very important
to villagers living at that end of the village and asked whether
consideration could be made to completing the footpath with the same hard
finish as the surface in the centre of the village. David Sealy questioned
the situation regarding drainage by The Moors on the A350 and discussion took
place on the issues around drainage at The Plough Inn and whether it had been
resolved. Mr. Sealy said he would investigate further. Ramon Weston said the
drainage people had been clearing the gullies but they have not been doing
the pipes in between which they said was the responsibility of a different
works team. |
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161.08 |
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON
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162.08 |
MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES
As a step towards
speeding up the time taken for this agenda item on Parish Council Meetings, the Clerk handed out summaries of
the Actions from last month’s PC Meeting with results where known. Further
points were made as follows: Minute 150.08: Cllr.
Dennis Gill called for an Extraordinary Meeting to discuss the Clerk’s
resignation and Cllr. Trickey seconded the motion which was unanimously
resolved. Cllr. Dixson – Meeting held Minute 151.08: Planning (a) 08/02167/FUL
Glenhaven, Minute 152.08: Proposal for Fast Tracking the Review of
Planning Applications. Cllr. Bird said that she had investigated this with
other parishes. One does what Kington Langley used to do – circulate the
application and councillors added their comments; the other held a
sub-committee. The possibility of doing something similar without delegated
powers but to prepare a brief to take to the Parish Council was considered.
Dist. Cllr. Meadows’ reply was still awaited. Minute 154.08: Days Lane 30 mph Speed Limit Extension.
Cllr. Timbrell had submitted an outline of the case to the clerk who has now
written a letter to the Manager of the Highways Department asking for an
on-site meeting to discuss further. Minute 156.08: Finance (a) 1. Replacement 4’ Gate for School to
Playing Fields Footpath. Cllr. Timbrell
said he was waiting for the decision on the Wessex Water footpath before
putting the gates on order. 3. Extra Bollards on Middle Common. Cllr. Hart
said he had managed to negotiate a more realistic price from the bollard
suppliers and that he was donating £97 to the Commons Erosion project to
cover the cost of the extra bollard. Minute 158.08: AOB. 3. Weeds on Moors Close. Cllr. Val Giles
said the weeds had now been cleared but the moss had been the result of
dampness under a hedge. The Parish Steward had spent the 2 days allocated to
the village cleaning the moss by hand but there is a machine that could have
done this more speedily. 4. Horse Manure on Footpaths. Cllr. Foster had
spoken to the horse’s owner and had been assured it would not happen again.
5. Emergency Planning Parish Exercise. Cllr. Gill pointed out that the
exercise had been cancelled. |
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163.08 |
PLANNING
(a) Planning Issues: Cllr. Dixson said he would speak at the next
Development Control Committee meeting on 26 November regarding the most
recent planning application at Glenhaven (08/02167/FUL) and said that Mrs.
Lindi Reynolds would also speak as a local resident. Cllr. Dixson said he would be willing to speak
regarding the Field View House (08/02175/FUL) and Holly Bank House (08/02278/S73A)
retrospective planning applications at Development Control Committee which
will either be on Wednesday 26 November or Wednesday 17 December but asked
that a local resident who was more affected by the application could also
speak. Cllr. Val Giles said that Dr. Peter Giles would be willing to do so as
a local resident. The Clerk was asked to put all names forward. (b)
Planning Applications decided by North
Wiltshire District Council:
Planning Application Recommendations decided
under powers delegated to the Parish Clerk:
Planning Application Resubmissions –
Information Only
(c) Planning
Applications for consideration:
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Clerk |
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164.08 |
CHAIRMAN’S BUSINESS (Cllr. M Dixson) The Chairman said that he had represented the
Parish Council in laying a wreath at a very moving service at St. Peter’s
Church on Remembrance Sunday. Cllr. Dixson said that he had submitted the
letter to the NWDC Enforcement Department regarding the New Builds at |
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165.08 |
CLERK’S REPORT The Clerk said that during her absence on
holiday, Cllr. Trickey would be reviewing mail received from North Wiltshire
District Council and would be ensuring that Planning Applications would be
circulated to councillors. The Clerk handed out to all councillors copies of
the second edition of “The Good Councillor’s Guide”. She also handed out copies
of a page from the Minutes of the Chippenham Area (3) Committee which
explains to councillors exactly how Declarations of Interest should be tabled
and minuted. She pointed out that Declarations of Interest must be associated
with a specific agenda item. She said that she had attended a workshop run by
the Wiltshire Association of Local Councils providing a briefing on the Certificate
in Local Council Administration - the qualification Clerks need to enable the
Parish Council to achieve Quality Council status. As the Clerk would not be back in time to provide
3 working days posting of the agenda on notice boards, councillors agreed
that 3 calendar days would be sufficient this month. Cllrs. Dixson and
Trickey would draft the next month’s agenda in preparation. |
Cllr. Trickey Cllr. Trickey / Cllr Dixson |
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166.08 |
REVIEW OF PARISH COUNCIL MEETING PROCEDURE (Cllr. G Trickey) Councillors were sent copies of a recommendation
by Wiltshire Association of Local Councils (September 2008) on 10 Key Points
for Effective Parish Council Meetings. Cllr. Trickey said that Cllr. Dixson, the Clerk
and himself had met to agree this month’s agenda with a view to streamlining
the content of the meeting and suggested that this was an effective way forward
in future months. He also suggested that this meeting could be attended by a
different council representative each month as well as the Chairman and
Clerk. The plan would also be to send out as much
information in advance of the meeting as possible in order to avoid taking
the time covering it at the meeting. He also asked that if councillors put items on
the agenda that they should also submit to the Clerk a draft of the
Resolution they were considering in order to focus discussion at the meeting. Lists of open actions can be quite lengthy each
month and if that were the case it may be necessary to prioritise these
actions, or assist the Clerk if there were time-consuming activities that
needed to be carried out. The aim should be to look at the action list on an
exception basis only. Finally, he thought it would be useful at the end
of each Parish Council meeting to ask for items that should be covered on the
next month’s agenda. |
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167.08 |
CHANGE TO STANDING ORDERS Councillors were sent a recommendation of draft
wording for an amendment to the Parish Council’s Standing Orders as follows.
Insert after Paragraph 18 a new paragraph entitled: CONSIDERATION OF ADVICE
PROVIDED AND GIVING REASONS: Councillors should have regard to advice from
the Proper Officer of the Council where it is given under the officer’s
statutory duties. Councillors should give reasons for all decisions in
accordance with statutory requirements. Where councillors disagree with
officer recommendations in making a decision, particular care should be taken
in giving clear reasons for the decision.
On
a proposal from Cllr. Dennis Gill, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Betty Bird, IT
WAS RESOLVED unanimously by a
show of hands that the change to the Standing Orders be adopted. |
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168.08 |
DAUNTSEY TRANSPORT GROUP (Cllr. Don Styles) Cllr. Styles provided an update on the Dauntsey Travel Group which he
had been unable to attend. The main issue affecting Kington Langley was the Number
91 bus being able to turn into Days Lane if cars were blocking ·
Yellow lines on the
corner of ·
The bus travelling
down ·
The bus not driving
down to the Hit or Miss bus stop As this issue seemed to centre largely on the one
day a month that the NADFAS lecture was held at the village hall, concern was
expressed at having to take major action in the village to resolve it. Cllr. Foster said he would investigate with the
Highways Department what has to be done in order that yellow lines can be
drawn though suggested that bollards along the area in question would be a
simpler solution. He would also investigate how these could be obtained. The
police appeared unwilling to get involved at the right times. Cllr. Timbrell
said that he was not at all in favour of yellow lines in the village and
believed that many villagers would feel the same. In spite of the fact that NADFAS had been asked
on many occasions to sort out their parking issues this continued to be a
problem. Cllr. Dixson agreed to talk to the NADFAS Chairman to see whether a
permanent solution could be agreed. |
Cllr. Foster Cllr. Dixson |
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169.08 |
HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS –PRIORITISATION OF EXPENDITURE FOR PRECEPT
PURPOSES PLUS UPDATES TO CURRENT ISSUES The Clerk handed out a table of the projects involving
expenditure in the village that related to Highways and Byways. Each was
discussed in term in preparation for next month’s precept setting agenda
item. The Chairman expressed his view that in preparing the Precept for next
year, and having regard for what is going on in the Economy, we should seek
to hold it at the present level. The budget available for projects was then
considered from this standpoint. It appeared that around £5,000 would be
available on this basis and the Clerk was asked to conduct an analysis and
advise on the potential budget figure when the Precept is considered (a)
Hit or Miss Verges and Car Parking. A meeting had been held with residents living in the vicinity and it
was felt that a major improvement to the area could be made by edging and
putting small bollards around the green in front of the Hit or Miss pub to
prevent drivers from parking on it. An estimated cost of £2,700 had been
given but a pre-requisite was registering the area as a Village Green. Car parking could be arranged on the opposite side of the lane by the
bus stop at a cost of approximately £4,000. a pre-requisite for this would be
having a license from the Highways Department to take over its maintenance. Concern
was expressed about whether the tractor would continue to park there if all
the renovation was carried out. (b)
Cllr. Val Giles asked whether a new footpath would
be pushchair and wheelchair friendly. Cllr. Trickey confirmed that all
efforts would be made to make it so. He pointed out that Wessex Water were
asking for legal costs to be paid to make the change of £1,000 and that the
owner of ‘Apollo’s Field’ would need to waive the current restrictions on the
users of the existing part of the path. Negotiations would continue to reduce
the costs involved. Cllr. Trickey also agreed to obtain estimates of
potential costs from a local contractor and report back to the Parish
Council. (c) (d)
Old Draycot Lane Bridleway to Byway 34. Following a previous Annual Parish Meeting discussion, this had been
added to the list as it is a Right of Way that should remain open to all and
was a safer, short-cut connection between Days Lane and Byway 34. Villager Colin Coles accompanied by Ms. Avis Gough said that the bridleway had not
been used for many years and was completely impassable. The Clerk said she
had walked the lane with a contractor who had estimated approximately £6,000
to drain and clear. The view was also expressed however that the fact that a
bridleway was not used because it was impassable was not a reason to keep it
that way. (e) Fairleigh Rise
pathway through to Byway 34. Cllr. Styles
had asked for this item to be added to the agenda but it was felt that this
pathway was cleared by the owner and would probably not require expenditure
in the future. (f)
Byway 34 – Maintenance. Large holes
were now appearing on parts of the byway near (g)
Byway 34 – Downgrading. The Clerk
said that there had been no issues raised to her during the 4 months of the
log. Cllr. Hart said that there were letters from concerned villagers already
on file. However, Cllr. Dixson concluded that in the light of no current
problems, the status quo should be maintained but asked the Clerk to continue
to keep a record of any incidents. (h)
Resurfacing (i)
Upper Common Erosion. Cllr. Gill
provided councillors with a handout and photograph of erosion on Upper Common
on the turning into (j)
The Clerk said that she had received a letter
from a villager reinforcing the point made earlier in the Residents’ Forum,
asking that the All Weather Footpath surfacing should be completed down to
the traffic lights. This had been received too late to be added to the agenda
but for completeness had been added to the potential project list. Cllr. Gill pointed out that when the All-weather
Footpath had been established some £20,000 would have been required to
complete the surfacing and hence costs would be likely to be considerably
more now to complete the work. The existing footpath loan had not yet even been
paid off. The item concluded with agreement that the
potential projects now needed to be discussed in consultation with villagers,
and that in order to establish funding in the precept for whichever
project(s) villagers concluded was most important, a sum of money should be
set aside without specifying at this stage which project it would be spent
on. The Clerk pointed out that in previous years any
Precept under spend had been allocated to paying off more from the Footpath
Loan in order to reduce the outstanding debt on the village. Cllr. Foster said that villages who had prepared
Village Plans would be favoured in obtaining funding in the future once the
Unitary Authority was established, and work should be done now on positioning
the village to take advantage of future grants. Cllr. Foster and Cllr. Dixson would arrange a
separate meeting with Marion Rayner of Community First to understand the best
approach to preparing a Plan. |
Cllr. Trickey Cllr. Foster / Cllr. Dixson |
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170.08 |
CONFIRMATION OF 2009 PARISH COUNCIL MEETING DATES On
a proposal from Cllr. Chris Timbrell, seconded by Cllr. Monthly Parish Council Meetings (in the Village
Hall Committee Room starting at The
Annual Meeting of the Parish Council will be held on The Annual Parish Meeting will be held on |
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171.08 |
FINANCE
Councillors
were provided with handouts for Finance summaries (a) and (b) given below: (a)
Cheques
issued, payments received and transfers made since 13 October 2008 meeting:
Payments Received:
Transfers Made: None. / Direct Debits Paid: None. The invoices for the above cheques had been
inspected and approved by the signatories. On a proposal from Cllr. John
Foster, seconded by Cllr. Chris Timbrell, IT WAS RESOLVED that
cheques numbered 1077-1081 and 1083 be approved by the meeting. (b)
Bank
Accounts: The last reconciliation had been successfully carried out on Bank Accounts as at
(c)
Precept –
Year to date position as input to 2009/10 Precept Preparation: Resolving on the
2009/10 Kington Langley Precept for 2009/2010 will be on the agenda for the 8
December Parish Council meeting. Copies of the precept status so far were
handed out. In the next month, councillors are asked to review the current
status and consider their suggestions for next year. (d)
Grants, Donations
and Other Financial Actions: 1.
Extra Bollards on
Middle Common. On a proposal from Cllr. |
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172.08 |
CORRESPONDENCE
None
received. |
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173.08 |
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
(a)
The contractor who
cuts the Commons has asked whether the Parish Council had any comments to
make about his work this year that he could add to his new website. Cllr.
Dixson said that following one or two hiccups the contractor now does an
excellent job and the areas look good. (b)
The Clerk handed out
copies of a letter about a Consultation Document on a new Code of Conduct for
which views are invited by 24 December. This was too big to photocopy so
councillors were asked to access the website referred to in the letter in
preparation for next month’s meeting. (c)
Cllr. Betty Bird
raised a safety issue concerning a pothole by a manhole cover by Vicory House
on the church bend (previously known as the Old Vicarage). Cllr. Trickey
agreed to provide more information to Cllr. Giles in order that she could
follow it up with Highways. The meeting closed at The next Parish Council
Meeting is at |
All Cllrs. Cllr. Trickey/ Cllr. Giles |