Minutes of the meeting of Sherington Parish Council held on Tuesday 4th October 2016 at Sherington Village Hall, commencing at 7.30pm
PRESENT: W Bush (Chair), Cllrs A Hughes, R Johnstone & E Caldwell
ALSO ATTENDING: Keith McLean (Cllr for Olney Ward & Mayor), Tracey Young (Clerk) and 10 members of the public.
| ACTION | |
| 1. RECEIVE AND ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE | |
| Cllr A Thatcher, Ward Cllr Geary & Ward Cllr Hoskings | |
| 2. RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST | |
| None | |
| 3. APPROVE MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING – 6th September 2016 | |
| Signed | |
| 4. ANY MATTERS ARISING FROM MINUTES | |
| Cllr Bush asked Cllr McLean whether there was an update on the 5 year housing supply and that site allocation was possibly 6 weeks away. Cllr McLean confirmed that the allocation was further away than that and would be more like the first half of next year. |
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| 5. RECEIVE WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT | |
| Cllr McLean reported the following:
· Cllr Johnstone & Cllr Thatcher attended the Olney Ward Forum last week where there was 2 key presentations, 1 of which was based on Public Realm and explained that there was a lot less money in the Council than there has been in over the last few years, another £20 million gap to close this year. Part of the thinking was that services provided by MKC will be reduced but this yet undecided. Services affected would be; landscaping, maintenance of certain assets and these would be pushed towards the responsibility of the Parishes. Serco will talk to individual Parishes and provide the services cheaper than they did for MKC. The next Forum will be held on the 5th December and certain individuals will be invited including someone from Finance to talk about the cost of services to Parishes and how could this be financed through a precept increase. Cllr McLean added that there is a maximum cap on your council tax of 1.99 to 2% over which would have to have a referendum but this is not confirmed yet.
Cllr Johnstone raised his concern that is was difficult to understand where the money was going to come from if the Parish got involved. If the precept was raised then that would be a separate package of money.
Cllr Bush added that a number of Parishes were increasing their precepts quite dramatically.
Cllr McLean commented that the Precept could not be doubled or tripled just to take on these services, it would depend on the size of the Parish within the Borough
· Cllr McLean followed by adding that there was a second presentation by the Head of Customer Services and she was showing the reporting system which was newly revamped and is available through the council website and available on a tablet. Using the Report It system was the quickest way of reporting a problem.
· Cllr McLean added that at the Development Control Committee meeting last week there was 2 proposals, 1 of which was to change the scheme of delegation into officers to reduce the number of applications that would be heard by a Development Control Panel or a Development Control Committee. Second item on the agenda was to change the speaking rights of the people at the Control Committees and reduce the number of speakers to 1 main objection perhaps to a Ward Cllr and that Parish Councils could automatically just call up automatically. There will be an 8 week consultation that is going to start hopefully within the next 10 days which will then be formally bought to your attention and will be able to debate at the next meeting in November. Cllr Bush asked whether there was a site visit at the High Street site which Cllr McLean confirmed there was but no officer from MKC was there, therefore the Parish were not represented and it was advised to contact Anna Rose and ask why the Parish were not informed that this meeting had taken place.
Cllr Bush added a concern regarding the NP that we were issued with a planning officer and they had subsequently left and did not proceed with the environmental screening which has delayed the plan. This would be added to the letter to Anna Rose. |
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| 6. RECEIVE CLERKS REPORT | |
| TY reported that the Ambulance Service had come back with some dates for CPR training. Also that a case need to be purchased for the defibrillator and whether a case with a key pad or key was the preferred choice. The Cllrs confirmed they would prefer a case with a key pad but to request more quotes as 1 price back was for over £500.
3 suppliers had been contacted to quote for the tarmacking of the car park and 1 had already been received and TY was still waiting for 2 others. Cllr Bush advised that we would recover half from MKC, TY to check with Cllr Thatcher and any past correspondence regarding the car park/MKC.
Cllr Caldwell added that the trench at the bottom of the car park needed to be cleared as the bungalows and garages are being flooded. Cllr McLean advised that a helpful officer is called Keith Miller. |
TY |
| 7. RECEIVE REPORT FROM NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN STEERING GROUP | |
| Cllr Bush confirmed the NPSG are looking at all the comments and Cllr Hughes, C Akrill and D Clarke would be attending a meeting to go through the document and that this would be published on the Parish website. In order to keep people aware an Open Day would be arranged on a Saturday morning showing plans of the Neighbourhood Plan, date TBC | WB |
| 8. RECEIVE WORKING PARTY REPORTS AND CONSIDER MATTERS ARISING | |
| SHOP – Cllr Johnstone advised that the village hall committee had been approached regarding a village hub and that this was no longer going ahead because the land that was bequeathed to the village hall was specific to village hall activities. Another meeting to be organised with the sub-committee within the next 2 or 3 weeks.
PAVILION – Cllr Caldwell reported that he and Cllr Thatcher attended a meeting with the landlords regarding the lease would need to be drafted within the next month and decided whether it was fit for purpose. Cllr Caldwell added that if the rent was not paid, regardless of whether it was demanded, that it lapses, therefore we are in a period of no agreement.
Cllr Bush asked whether we would be getting a legal review of the draft which Cllr Caldwell confirmed this would be arranged.
A member of public commented on the length of the hedges at the Pavilion, TY confirmed to arrange for this to be cut |
RJ
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| 9. FINANCE | |
| Bank Account Balance 4th October 2016 £45,352.52 | |
| 9.1. Approve Cheques for payment – Approved
Tracey Young – Clerks Salary £227.33 Tracey Young – Pavilion Bookings £50.00 Tracey Young – Clerks Expenses £16.60 Lee Brooker – Caretaker Salary £198.97 Jane Coles – Village Hall Hire £60.00 Sports Ground Services – Pavilion field Inv 04407 £165.60 MK Commercial Ground Care – Inv 18873 £414.37 Sherington Village Hall – Keys cut for archives £9.64 Rebecca Constantine – Keys cut for Pavilion £32.00
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TY |
| 10. PLANNING APPLICATIONS – CONSIDER RESPONSE TO MKC | |
| 10.1 REF 16/02614/OUT Smiths Yard – support officer in decision making
10.2 REF 16/02556/TCA 1 Park Road – support officer in decision making 10.3 REF 16/02623/OUT Land to the west of 11 Water Lane – cannot support as outside settlement boundary |
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| 11. EXTERNAL MEETINGS | |
| 11.1 Open Space Assessment – Cllr Thatcher attended the meeting | AT |
| 12. CONSIDER CORRESPONDANCE AND NEW CONSULTATIONS | |
| None | |
| 13. RECEIVE PUBLIC COMMENTS | |
| 1 member of public asked for confirmation of the appeals and whether anything further was known regarding Masons field.
1 other member of public asked whether there was an update on Bedford Road which Cllr Bush confirmed that there wasn’t. |
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| 14. COUNCILLORS ITEMS | |
| Cllr Hughes commented on the camper van parked across the pavement and Cllr Bush mentioned that Keith Carey advised of a project that was underway by Natural England on Bury Field in Newport Pagnell to turn part of the ground there into a flower meadow. Natural England are funding this and Stonepits Copse could be a candidate and other fields that landowners might be interested in. | WB |
| 15. DATE OF NEXT MEETING | |
| The next Parish Council meeting will be held at the Hall on Tuesday 1st November 2016 at 7.30pm. There being no further business the meeting ended at 2100hrs. |