SHERINGTON PARISH COUNCIL
These are Approved Minutes of the meeting of Sherington Parish Council held on Tuesday 8th January 2019, at the Pavilion, commencing at 7.30pm.
PRESENT: Cllrs Bush (Chair), Watts, Selvey, Shires, Parish Clerk Will Pike.
ALSO ATTENDING: 8 members of the public and Ward Councillors Geary and Hosking.
- RECEIVE AND ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
None
- RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Cllr Shires declared and interest in the rent of the Pavilion should it come up.
- APPROVE MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING
Approved and signed by Cllr Watts.
- RECEIVE WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT
Points were raised as follows:
Milton Keynes Council’s budget is out for consultation. It was commented that it is straightforward this year but details are still being looked into. More a case of what is not in the budget due to cuts in funding. A meeting will be held on 9th January to discuss further. Any comments on the budget must be submitted by the end of the month.
Update on the Housing Infrastructure Funding: There will be a meeting at the end of this month to discuss traffic modelling and a further meeting in February to discuss the bid going to the Government and further comments. The results are expected around June time. It is noted that the crucial part of the development will be the transport links. It was mentioned that there is still scope to build to the South of Milton Keynes. Should the infrastructure funding not be forthcoming it is expected that a maximum of 800 houses could be built – 5000 with the funding.
It was mentioned that Milton Keynes now has 5 years of allocated housing again (5.25 years), this protects ‘Open Countryside’ from development for at least 15 months going forward.
The state of the footpath from Sherington to Newport Pagnell has been shown to Milton Keynes Council representatives by the Ward Councillors on a tour. They are looking to get this cleared (removing soil etc from the existing path) and will keep pressurising Milton Keynes Council to sort this.
Recycling sacks and their supply was mentioned. The system is ‘not great’ and the Ward Councillors do have a small supply of them if other avenues are not working. Reports of sacks being stolen due to difficulty in ordering new ones. Milton Keynes Council is to review the system shortly due to the complaints.
- RECEIVE REPORT ON ACTIONS FROM LAST MEETING
None – all points to be discussed elsewhere on the agenda.
- CLERKS REPORT
WP mentioned the following:
Website – now in the hands of Cllr Watts; to be bought up to date in due course.
Landscaping – A meeting is to be held on 21st January to discuss the next steps for Parishes who wish to take over their own landscaping from 2020. Cllr Watts agreed to attend.
An invite had been received to enter the Buckinghamshire Best Kept Village competition. It was agreed to enter and WP will sort the entry when they open in March.
- PROJECT GROUP UPDATES
SHOP:
The next shop meeting will take place on Wednesday 30th January at a time to be decided.
WP – showed a quote for the survey work which needs to be completed prior to any final designs being produced. All Cllrs agreed to proceed with this work.
WP informed everyone that an architect had been found to produce some designs and would work pro-bono on the project.
Cllr Shires agreed to join the shop committee.
PAVILION:
Cllr Bush agreed to push the advisers of Sherington Parish Council into finally sorting out the rent review issues.
BIODIVERSITY:
Cllr Shires mentioned that a meeting of the Biodiversity group was happening the following day.
It was agreed to start to look into what could be done at Stonepits Copse.
- CARETAKERS REPORT
WP is to meet shortly with the caretaker to discuss light maintenance work that could be done around the village.
- FINANCE
Current Account Balance: £1,737.93
Savings Account Balance: £43,249.72
Cheques Due for Payment: £2,619.09
Total therefore being held is £42,368.56
All cheques were approved for payment.
WP mentioned that the budget for 19/20 needed to be sorted soon and asked if anyone had any requests for items to place into the budget.
It was agreed to set aside some budget for speed calming measures, village entrances and ANPR cameras. Budget was also set aside to review the alarm system at the Pavilion and for the website going forward.
- PLANNING APPLICATIONS
CONSIDERATION OF OTHER OUTSTANDING OR RECENTLY SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS
None
Cllr Bush mentioned that Barwood Homes had contacted him regarding the ‘affordable housing’ element of the development (11 Houses).
They would like to reduce the time the houses were available only to Sherington residents from 12 months to 3.
Much discussion ensued about what affordable housing actually meant / who qualifies / how do you apply etc and eventually it was agreed that no one on the room had sufficient knowledge on the subject to make a decision.
It was therefore agreed to arrange a meeting with Milton Keynes Council Housing Department to obtain this knowledge prior to making any decision.
It was also agreed that the Parish Council will push to help anyone local who wishes to be included in the scheme to apply as and when necessary along with searching out people who may not be aware that these houses are to be built in the village.
With regards to the development the issue of biodiversity and the farm access it was agreed to mention this alongside the above points to ensure everything was being looked at together.
- CONSIDER CORRESPONDENCE AND NEW CONSULTATIONS
Ward Cllr Geary again mentioned Milton Keynes Budget was out for consultation and that all information was available for review on the Council’s website.
- EXTERNAL MEETINGS
Next Olney Ward Forum meeting to be held on 27th March, Cllr Watts to attend.
- RECEIVE PUBLIC COMMENTS
A comment was raised as to how to go about getting a road closed for a ‘Brexit Street Party.’ Ward Cllr Geary confirmed that Milton Keynes Council will facilitate road closures and to apply through the normal routes.
A comment was raised asking what is happening with Smiths Yard. No one was certain but it was believed that work had stopped due to ongoing environmental issues on the site.
A comment was made referring to a previous proposal of or an industrial estate on top of Chichely Hill. It was confirmed that this had been ruled out under Plan MK but that there is always the possibility of development to the village boundaries.
A comment was made about some street lights not working. Everyone was reminded that they need to be reported to Milton Keynes Council using the reference number on the lamp post and they will be fixed, normally within a couple of days.
A comment was made regarding the website and updates – with reference to the comments above the public were reminded that the website has current minutes and agendas and is in the process of being bought up to date.
A comment was made regarding the state of the mound at the top of Chichely Hill and the state of the wooden steps etc. It was agreed that WP will go and investigate and report back.
- COUNCILLORS ITEMS
Cllr Watts raised an issue of flooding on a path between the High Street and Crofts End. He had investigated ownership of the path but no-one seems to know who is responsible. It links in to the main sewer but Anglian Water said it is not their responsibility and it has not been made adopted highway by Milton Keynes Council.
Cllr Watts agreed to share correspondence with the Ward Councillors who believed it should be Milton Keynes Council’s responsibility and will investigate further.
Cllr Watts also mentioned that a couple of mirrors had been erected on Crofts End which were causing issues for motorists with glare coming from them. Ward Cllr Geary confirmed that a friendly request to remove would be the first course of action and then taking it to Highways if needs be.
At this point Cllr Bush made an appeal for anyone else to join the Council as there are still vacancies and an election coming up in May.
Cllr Watts also agreed to take over the SIDS devices from Ex Cllr Johnstone.
The meeting concluded at 8.55pm.
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 12th February at 7.30pm at the Pavilion.