MINUTES OF KINGTON LANGLEY PARISH COUNCIL
MEETING
HELD IN THE COMMITTEE ROOM OF THE VILLAGE
HALL ON
MONDAY 9 FEBRUARY 2009
PRESENT:
Cllr. Mrs. Betty Bird; Cllr. Dr. M. Dixson; Cllr. J Foster; Cllr. Mrs. V Giles;
Cllr. D Gill; Cllr. D Styles; Cllr. Mr. C Timbrell; Cllr. G Trickey and Mrs. S
Hart (Clerk) plus 3 members of the public.
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE: Cllr.
Mrs. Lindi Reynolds (Abroad attending a bereaved relative); District Councillor
Ms. Sherry Meadows (Away)
|
013.09 |
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None. |
ACTION
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
014.09 |
RESIDENTS’ FORUM Mr. Ramon Weston
referred to the item on the agenda regarding the establishment of an events
sub-committee and expressed his concern that if the existing scarecrow
committee became any larger it may lose its focus and go the way of the
village party. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
015.09 |
MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 12 JANUARY 2009
Minutes
of the meeting held on 12 January 2009 had been circulated to all
Councillors. Minute 006.09 Planning (a)
Planning Issues – Second paragraph: On a request from Cllr. Mrs. Val Giles, the
last sentence of the paragraph should be amended to read “The DCC Chairman
therefore ruled that both applications should be deferred.” On a proposal from Cllr. Don Styles, seconded by
Cllr. Dennis Gill, IT WAS RESOLVED that the Chairman, Cllr. Dr.
Maurice Dixson, sign the Minutes and amendments as a correct record. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
016.09 |
MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES
The Clerk handed out
summaries of the Actions from the 12 January 2009 Parish Council Meeting
Minutes. Actions with updates were as follows: 002.09 Residents’ Forum. With reference to Mr. David Sealy’s query
regarding excavations on A350. Cllr. Foster confirmed that The Moors
resident, Mr. Taylor, was satisfied with the existing situation. 005.09 Matters
Arising from the Minutes: 183.08 Highways and Byways – Update (1) Wessex
Water Church Bends – Proposed footpath. Councillors confirmed that there was still
a requirement for a gate at the playing field end of the footpath. Cllr.
Timbrell would follow this up and arrange for an invoice to be made out to
the Parish Council. Cllr. Mrs. Val Giles pointed out that the gate would need
to open to enable access for wheelchair users. Cllr. Timbrell agreed to
follow this up with Cllr. Giles.
008.09 Clerk’s Report. Annual Pancake
Race: The Clerk had written to the organisers to point out the issues
regarding the building work being carried out in the area. 009.09 Chippenham and Villages Community Plan. Mrs. Marion Rayner from
Community First will be attending the Annual Parish Meeting. Cllr. Mrs. Val Giles had attended the North
Wraxall Update Meeting and provided councillors with a summary handout. She
said that the Area Boards would become even more important in allocating
funds and close relationships with them would be important. Only one Parish
Plan had been completed out of 16 parishes and the general opinion was that
the large amount of effort was not worthwhile if the parish already had
systems in place to consult and to target evidence gathering. There were
unlikely to be major changes to the priorities drawn up in the 2005
Chippenham and Villages Community Plan and the new plan would go to the Area
Board in June. Cllr. Dixson said that the main issues raised at
the event were transport (the fact that rural speed limits needed review and
that the buses were too big for the villages), pot holes and making better
use of rural schools by making them more part of the community, for example
using them for adult education courses. Kington Langley had already provided
a submission to the last Community Plan. 012.09 Any Other
Business. (a) The Clerk had reported the
leaning fire hydrant outside New Linden to the Water Board. Cllr. Gill
commented that it had only been propped upright. (b) The Clerk had put a
reminder in the Village Magazine about Registered Commons parking. (c) The
pool of water in front of Lucerna, the concrete sticking out into the road
between Langley Chase and their stables plus the rut on the bend by Old
Chapel Field had all been reported to CLARENCE and have individual incident
numbers.
(g)
Cllr. Timbrell / Cllr. Reynolds had investigated the state of the lower part
of the All-Weather footpath. Cllr. Timbrell reported that boulders were
working up to the surface which made it difficult to walk on. The edges were
also starting to break down. Councillors questioned whether there was a
specific length of time for the resin surface to last. Cllr. Timbrell said
that this should be on the list of projects. An estimate of the works should
be obtained and the Clerk was asked to contact MJ Church, the original
contractor. She was also asked to put the item on the next agenda. Cllr.
Timbrell asked for sight of the Public Works Loan Board file and the original
project file.
|
Cllr. Timbrell Cllr. Timbrell / Cllr.
Val Giles Clerk Clerk Clerk |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
017.09 |
REVIEW OF PROGRESS TO DATE AND AGREEMENT OF PROCESS FOR APPOINTMENT OF
NEW CLERK Three applications had been received and
distributed to councillors as well as the current Clerk’s Job Description. Following discussion on the best approach to
interviewing the candidates, on a proposal from Cllr. Graham Trickey,
seconded by Cllr. Dennis Gill, IT WAS RESOLVED that an Extraordinary
Meeting should be held, in camera, on Friday 13 February. An agenda was
agreed. Councillors were asked to bring questions for the candidates which
would be reviewed prior to the 3 interviews. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
018.09 |
PLANNING
(a) Planning Issues:
Highways Department have already been contacted. Councillors therefore
decided that the matter should now be formally raised via a letter from the
Chairman to the Head of the Highways Department, copying County Cllr. Mrs.
Jane Scott.
(Cllr. Don Styles left the meeting at 9:00 pm) (b)
Planning Applications decided by North
Wiltshire District Council:
Planning Application Recommendations decided
under powers delegated to the Parish Clerk:
(c) Planning
Applications for consideration:
|
Clerk |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
019.09 |
CHAIRMAN’S BUSINESS (Cllr. Dr. M Dixson) Cllr. Dixson said that the points he wished to
raise were covered by items already on the agenda. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
020.09 |
CLERK’S REPORT (Mrs. Sue Hart) The Clerk said that Cllr. Trickey had done a very
comprehensive job putting information regarding the Freedom of Information
Act onto the website. Following her request to the Community Safety
Officer, interactive speed signs were currently in place at 2 points in the
village and she was trying to establish how long they were there for,
particularly as during the snowy weather vehicles were driving more slowly
than usual. |
Clerk |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
021.09 |
SCARECROW COMMITTEE AS PARISH COUNCIL SUB-COMMITTEE Mrs. Liz Howe attended the meeting as a
representative of the current Scarecrow Committee with the request that their
Committee could become a Committee of the Parish Council. This would enable
the event to be covered by Parish Council Insurance and also make grant
applications much easier. Funding could then be sought for additional
signage, bunting, etc. and held for future use by other village events. Cllr. Dixson said that he believed that such a
Committee should have a broader objective to include other village events in
the future, for example, an Open Gardens event. He believed the Scarecrow
Weekend was very well organised and the skills and expertise could be developed
further. The Parish Council could also consider the establishment of a
Projects fund to be topped up with the proceeds of such events. On a proposal from Cllr. Chris Timbrell, seconded
by Cllr. John Foster, IT WAS RESOLVED that an Events Sub-Committee
should be established and that the next step should be to draw up and agree
the Terms of Reference. Cllr. Lindi Reynolds should be invited to be the
Parish Council’s representative on the Committee. |
Clerk Chairman |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
022.09 |
WESSEX WATER FOOTPATH BY CHURCH BENDS Following an update by Cllr. Trickey confirming
solicitors’ estimated costs on behalf of Mr. Wheeler of £150 and Wessex Water
of £250, on a proposal from Cllr. Graham Trickey, seconded by Cllr. Maurice
Dixson, IT WAS RESOLVED that the next steps should be to secure
funding and to conclude the agreements that would secure the wayleaves. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
023.09 |
ANNUAL PARISH MEETING – AGENDA Councillors
considered the draft Agenda that had been circulated. Following a minor
modification, on a proposal from Cllr. Dennis
Gill, seconded by Cllr. Mrs. Betty Bird, IT WAS RESOLVED that the
agenda should be finalised and put in the Village Magazine and published on
notice boards. |
Clerk |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
024.09 |
WILTSHIRE COUNCIL’S DEVELOPMENT CONTROL SERVICE Councillors expressed concern about a note that
had been received regarding the way in which planning applications would be
dealt with once the Unitary Authority was established. In particular, the
intention that plans would be forwarded electronically to Parish Councils. It
was noted that planning officers may have more delegated powers to agree to
applications without recourse to the Development Control Committee. On a proposal from Cllr. Chris Timbrell, seconded
by Cllr. Graham Trickey, IT WAS RESOLVED that the Clerk should send a
letter on behalf of the Parish Council to the Chief Executive of Wiltshire
County Council, following the format of the one circulated to councillors
that had been submitted by the Clerk of Wilcot and Huish Parish Council. |
Clerk |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
025.09 |
PLOUGH LANE BY A350 TRAFFIC LIGHTS – ADDITIONAL GRASS CUTTING Cllr. Timbrell circulated photographs of the
overgrown grass area by the A350 traffic lights and asked that councillors
consider adding it to the list of grass areas being cut by the Parish
Council’s regular contractor. Councillors agreed in principle that the area
needed attention, although on a proposal from Cllr. Chris Timbrell, seconded
by Cllr. Maurice Dixson, IT WAS RESOLVED that the Clerk should first
send a letter to the Highways Department on behalf of the Parish Council to
establish who is currently responsible for maintaining the area. |
Clerk |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
026.09 |
FINANCE
Councillors
were provided with handouts for Finance summaries (a) and (b) given below: (a)
Cheques
issued, payments received and transfers made since 12 January 2009 meeting:
Payments Received: None. 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. Mrs.
Betty Bird, seconded by Cllr. Chris Timbrell, IT WAS RESOLVED that
cheques numbered 1092 - 1094 be approved by the meeting. Bank
accounts: The last reconciliation had been successfully
carried out on 4
February 2009. Bank Accounts as at 31
January 2009:
* Note contains money transferred for footpath repayment in early
February. (b)
Grants,
Donations and other Financial Actions: None. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
027.09 |
CORRESPONDENCE
Sent:
None. Received: 1.
Letter from Wiltshire Police finally closing
the incident following the Village Party 2 years ago and apologising for the
lack of police response at the time. 2.
An e-mail from PC Heather Barham thanking the
Parish Council for the bouquet of flowers sent to her following her
operation. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
028.09 |
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
(a)
The Clerk advised
councillors of a New Councillors Training Course on 4th April at
Sutton Benger Village Hall and recommended it for all councillors who had not
yet attended any training. Cllr. Dixson pointed out that the event was from
9:30 until 3:30 on a Saturday. (b)
Cllr. Gill asked
whether the Parish Council should have an emergency contract for snow
clearance, however it was generally agreed that this was the County Council’s
responsibility. (c)
Cllr. Foster asked
whether the Parish Steward could be requested to put hardcore in the potholes
next to the Hit or Miss pub. Cllr. Giles expressed some concern about this as
the Parish Steward had already been approached about this in the past.
However, the pothole sizes were so large they had not been prepared to use
all of their filling allocation on them. At Cllr. Foster’s insistence, she
agreed to raise this with them again. (d)
Cllr. Val Giles
asked whether any event was being organised to thank the previous Chairman
and ex-councillor, Peter Hart, for his contribution to the Parish Council.
Cllr. Dixson said that something would certainly be organised. (e)
Cllr. Chris Timbrell
said that the contractor was still planning to spray the village pond but
that he had to wait until the weather improved. (f)
Cllr. Maurice Dixson
confirmed with the Clerk that there had been no further reports of
fly-tipping or other problems on Byway 34. However, councillors said that
there were major issues regarding drainage and large holes on the byway at
the Sutton Road end making it virtually impassable to walkers and that
consideration needed to be given to sorting this out. (g)
Cllr. Dennis Gill
said that most of the tiles on the Greathouse bus shelter had been removed.
No-one was very sure when this had been done so Cllr. Gill and Bird agreed to
check so that the incident could be reported and the insurance company
notified. (h)
Cllr. Dixson said
that this was the last meeting that the current Clerk would be attending and
thanked her for contribution over the past years. The meeting closed at 21:50. The next Parish Council
Meeting is at 7:45 pm on Monday 9 March 2009. |
Cllrs. Reynolds, Styles, Foster,
Timbrell, Dixson Cllr. Val Giles Chairman Clerk Cllr. Gill / Bird / Clerk |