SHERINGTON PARISH COUNCIL
Approved Minutes of the meeting of Sherington Parish Council held on Tuesday 23rd April 2019, at the Pavilion, commencing at 7.30pm
PRESENT: Cllrs Bush (Chair), Watts, Shires and Hindler, Parish Clerk Will Pike.
ALSO ATTENDING: 14 members of the public and Ward Councillors Mclean and Hosking.
- RECEIVE AND ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Cllr Selvey and Ward Cllr Geary. All apologies accepted.
- RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Cllr Shires declared and interest in the rent of the Pavilion playing field should it come up.
- APPROVE MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING
Approved and signed by Cllr Bush.
- ACCEPT THE RESIGNATION OF CLLR SELVEY
Agreed to accept and make official on the last day of the current Council (2nd May 2019).
- RECEIVE WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT
Points were raised as follows:
Housing Infrastructure Bid for Milton Keynes has been sent in at a value of £95million. More news should be available in the summer. Ward Cllrs are all opposed to the bid.
Work had been done on the footpath between Newport Pagnell and Sherington to reinstate the path. This has however revealed more issues with the path breaking up in places as noted by a member of the public. This will be followed up.
A note to say that the temporary lights that caused issues with both being red simultaneously were deployed by BT earlier than expected. All work is now complete.
The Ward Cllrs thanked Cllr Bush for his work as Chairman and Cllr.
Cllr Mclean offered remembrance to Alec Denman and sympathies to the family and relatives. The Parish Council also offered remembrances and sympathy.
- RECEIVE REPORT ON ACTIONS FROM LAST MEETING
All issues from the last meeting are dealt with at appropriate points in the agenda.
- UPDATE ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPTIONS ARINSING IN THE VILLAGE
The Council have placed a summary of details on the website. All applicants need to first register with Milton Keynes Housing Team.
Some clarification is still needed regarding how MKC’s banding options fit together with the Local Connection criteria. WP will write to Dawn at MKC to clarify.
The request to shorten the Local Connection requirement to 3 months from the developers was talked about and it was agreed to meet with a representative of the developers to discuss further. In general, the Council were in agreement that this was the correct thing to do but it was agreed to meet first before voting on the issue.
- CLERKS REPORT
WP mentioned the following:
There will be no election for the next Parish Council as only 6 people had come forward for 7 potential seats.
The issue of overhanging / overgrown trees in the paly area was raised by a couple of residents – it was agreed that WP will contact Bob Widd at MKC in order to see what could be done.
The insurance renewal for the year was agreed subject to confirmation as to the Pre-School play area being covered.
Due to minimum wage increases 2 employees of the Council had had their wages raised to bring into line.
Various issues due to clearing ditches / drains were being looked at by MKC along with the School Lane footpaths – all are due to be sorted by MKC, but no time frame has been given.
Confirmation was given that sound-deadening measures had been put in place on the ‘drop bins’ outside the village shop in order to minimise noise from deliveries.
- PROJECT GROUP UPDATES
PAVILION:
The proposal to settle the ongoing dispute on the rental value of the field had been turned down by the land owner so it was agreed that the Council would seek to appoint a new advisor with the likely outcome being to take the matter to arbitration.
SHOP:
No update – meeting to be called of the shop committee shortly. It was again pointed out that the options displayed were put to a consultation not a vote and that all feedback will be collated and reviewed by the committee and then fed back to the Parish Council.
BIODIVERSITY:
An open day is to be held on May 18th to show off the work that has been done so far and the proposals to go forward especially at Stone Pit Copse.
- CARETAKERS REPORT
Nothing to Report.
- FINANCE
Current Account Balance: £929.70
Savings Account Balance: £36,243.22
Cheques Due for Payment: £2,402.69
Total therefore being held is £34,770.23
All cheques were approved for payment.
- PLANNING APPLICATIONS
- UPDATE ON WATER LANE SITE
There were still suspicions of asbestos on site being handled / removed incorrectly. MKC have provided no further information.
- UPDATE ON HIGH STREET SITE
Some issues surrounding the S106 agreement and the timing of funds being released were raised. WP will look into further.
- UPDATE ON THE APPEAL LODGED FOR THE LAND EAST OF THE HIGH STREET
No update on the appeal that has been submitted. It was agreed to introduce Cllr Watts to Chris Akrill, advisor to the Council, given Cllr Bush’s imminent departure.
- CONSIDERATION OF OUTSTANDING OR RECENTLY SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS
None but some issues were raised about how MKC notifies us about applications. WP and Cllr Watts to look into.
- CONSIDER CORRESPONDENCE AND NEW CONSULTATIONS
None.
- EXTERNAL MEETINGS
None.
- RECEIVE PUBLIC COMMENTS
A question was raised about the planning application ‘debacle’ at the Barn on Gun Lane. It was confirmed that once a decision has been made (even if incorrectly done) then reversing it is an incredibly hard and laborious process potentially involving High Court judgments.
A question was raised about a house that had planning for 3 bedrooms but was being advertised as 4-bedroom rental. It was agreed to clarify this with MKC.
The Parish Council was asked if it could do anything about the development of the property at Gun Lane being left in an incomplete state along with associated building materials and general untidiness. It was agreed that speaking to the residents concerned would be the first step and Cllr Hindler agreed to do this.
- COUNCILLORS ITEMS
The issue of cars parking on the pavement and at the junction of Crofts End and the High Street was raised by Cllr Watts. He confirmed he had contacted the firms that were believed to be involved who both had been receptive to finding a solution. He will continue to monitor the situation and correspond with the relevant parties.
At this point members of the public and remaining members of the Council gave thanks to Cllr Bush for all his work as Chairman with particular emphasis on his work done leading to the Neighbourhood Plan being put together and adopted.
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 7th May 2019.
The meeting closed at 8.40pm.