SHERINGTON PARISH COUNCIL
Approved (Cllr Bush) Minutes of the meeting of Sherington Parish Council held on Tuesday 12th February 2019, at the Pavilion, commencing at 7.30pm
PRESENT: Cllrs Bush (Chair), Watts, Shires, Selvey, Parish Clerk Will Pike.
ALSO ATTENDING: 9 members of the public and Ward Councillor Mclean.
- 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 Bush.
- RECEIVE WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT
Points were raised as follows:
Housing Infrastructure Fund – Meetings are occurring and are ongoing. Currently focusing on traffic flows.
Milton Keynes Council budget will go to the Council next week to be voted on.
One aspect of the budget is a possible loss of funding towards bus routes, especially when funding from local developers (through S106 agreements runs out). The budget is expected to be voted through.
Recycling bags – It was again mentioned that the general consensus is that the new way of ordering recycling sacks is not working. Most would like a return to the ‘old way’ of being able to get the sacks from local centres rather than ordering online.
Ward Cllr Mclean made himself available for any questions.
- RECEIVE REPORT ON ACTIONS FROM LAST MEETING
- UPDATE ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Cllr Bush gave an update on the issue after meeting with housing officers at Milton Keynes Council.
It was explained that anyone can apply for affordable housing by approaching the housing team at Milton Keynes Council. They are then assessed under a Housing Options Assessment and receive a banding based on the outcome.
Cllr Bush reiterated that the duty to provide affordable housing under the S106 agreement is a binding obligation.
The Council agreed to defer the decision on whether to allow the Developer to reduce the stipulation that the houses must be made solely available people with a local connection from 12 months to 3 to the next meeting.
It was agreed that the Council will continue to advertise the availability of these properties and to provide support to those who wish to apply.
Cllr Bush again stated that planning permission was only granted to the development on the basis of these conditions.
- UPDATE ON THE PATH TO NEWPORT PAGNELL
The Council had received correspondence regarding a near traffic accident involving pedestrians due to the state of the path. It was agreed to forward this to the Ward Councillors and to keep the pressure on Milton Keynes Council.
- UPDATE ON THE ISSUE OF SPEEDING IN AND AROUND THE VILLAGE
Cllr Shires gave an update on speeding. Milton Keynes Council are in the process of collating all the evidence obtained so far to put a proper case together. We should expect results from them in 6-8 weeks.
At this point in the meeting Cllr Selvey raised his councillor item regarding speeding along the Newport Pagnell bypass. He was advised that this would be a matter to take up with Thames Valley Police.
- UPDATE ON THE FLOODING OF THE FOOTPATH BETWEEN HIGH STREET AND CROFTS END
No update was available.
- REPORT ON DEVOLUTION OF LANDSCAPING SERVICES
Councillor Watts had attended a meeting at Milton Keynes Council on 21st January to obtain further information regarding the devolution of landscaping services to Parish Councils.
It is anticipated that Sherington will take control of this on April 2020 along with 19 other Parish Councils. All other Parish Councils will take control by April 2023.
Upon taking control of the services we would receive a grant of £2,673 per annum from Milton Keynes Council.
The Parish would have full control over what they wanted to do and the areas they wanted to tackle. An issue with this is that the Parish Council would have to have a system in place to deal with ‘ad-hoc’ requests as and when they occur in a timely manner.
Cllr Watts indicated that Milton Keynes Council can run the tendering process for the Parish at a cost of £480.
It was agreed that, once we had designed the specification we would require from a contractor, we would use the Milton Keynes Council E-Tender platform to appoint one.
IT was also mentioned that we would need a system in place to monitor the ongoing work once started.
Cllr Bush also mentioned that a ‘soft’ benefit of this course of action would be the ability to link the landscaping in with any present and future Bio-Diversity projects.
- CLERKS REPORT
WP mentioned the following:
May-Day fun run – Something Less Boring, who host various activities around the village, had expressed an interest in bringing back the Fun Run which used to be held in the village as part of the May Day celebrations. It was agreed to support any efforts in bringing this event back.
Elections being held in May – The Parish has an election due in May. Anyone interested in becoming a Councillor and who wishes to stand for election was asked to contact the Clerk or any of the current Councillors.
Road Closures – The closure of the High Street between the 25th Feb and 1st March was mentioned with the diversion in place using Gun Lane. The closure of Carters Close and Park Road on the 15th Feb for pothole repairs was also mentioned.
- PROJECT GROUP UPDATES
PAVILION:
It was agreed to get the alarm system looked at properly to ensure it is working correctly. Cllr Selvey provided details of the company certified to deal with the make of alarm currently fitted.
It was agreed to purchase a new fridge for the Pavilion at a cost of approximately £90 as the old one was no longer working correctly.
Cllr Selvey had noted that the details on the Sherington Village website were out of date and Cllr Watts had confirmed that the owner had been asked to update the details held.
Cllr Bush confirmed he had asked the advisers of Sherington Parish Council to finally sort out the rent review issues by meeting directly with advisers from the Landlord.
SHOP:
Cllr Bush thanked Helen Sachdev for the work she had put in in driving the project forward.
Approval was given to deliver flyers advertising an open day on 23rd February at 9.30 in the village hall.
Cllr Bush also showed the draft design concepts that had been produced and are available to view on the Parish Council website. He also mentioned that residents can vote for their favourite of the three design concepts produced.
BIODIVERSITY:
Cllrs Bush and Shires mentioned that a meeting had been set up on the 6th March at the Pavilion with Sam at Ecology By Design to showcase the work done so far and future plans.
A question was asked by a member of the public asking why the report was done. It was explained that it was mainly commissioned to help with the Neighbourhood Plan in order to find out the village had and then to be used as a positive tool to try and protect and enhance what was there.
It was explained that Ecology By Design won the tender for the contract and had produced some very good and in depth work so far.
- CARETAKERS REPORT
None
- FINANCE
Current Account Balance: £557.84
Savings Account Balance: £44,159.72
Cheques Due for Payment: £7,414.06
Uncleared Deposits: £345.00
Total therefore being held is £37,648.50
All cheques were approved for payment.
- PLANNING APPLICATIONS
- UPDATE ON WATER LANE SITE
Correspondence had been received from the developer regarding the protocol for ‘local people’ applying to purchase the houses being built.
Again it was agreed to publicise the development through the Parish Councils outlets and to work with the developers to develop this protocol.
All were in agreement to respond positively to the developer.
- UPDATE ON HIGH STREET SITE
No update was given
- UPDATE ON THE APPEAL LODGED FOR THE LAND EAST OF THE HIGH STREET
Cllr Bush confirmed an appeal had been put in by the developers with a deadline of 22nd February to respond. Due to the complexities of the plans and appeal it was agreed to request that Chris Akrill draft a response to then be agreed by the Councillors.
- CONSIDERATION OF OUTSTANDING OR RECENTLY SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS
None.
- CONSIDER CORRESPONDENCE AND NEW CONSULTATIONS
None
- EXTERNAL MEETINGS
None
- RECEIVE PUBLIC COMMENTS
A question was asked to the Council asking if anyone knew who the head of the Friend’s of St Lauds was. No one in the room knew the answer.
A question was asked of Cllr Shires as to whether a point of contact within Milton Keynes Council had been established regarding speeding. Cllr Shires advised he had been speaking with Ryan Fordham. It was agreed to email and push Milton Keynes Council regarding various speed control measures including Gateways into the village.
- COUNCILLORS ITEMS
Cllr Bush again noted the need for further people to stand for election in May.
He also responded to some correspondence as to why the meetings are held at the Pavilion and are not always on the first Tuesday of the month. He explained that the village hall is very hard to book due to it being in use most evenings and that the reason the meetings are sometimes moved is due to there having to be at least 3 (of 4) Councillors present at a meeting for decisions to be taken.
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting is to be confirmed.