Minutes from the PC Meeting 2 July 2019

SHERINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the meeting of Sherington Parish Council held on Tuesday 2^nd July 2019, at the Pavilion, commencing at 7.30pm

 

PRESENT: Cllrs Watts, Hindler, Shires, M Crabb, S Crabb and Readman, Parish Clerk Will Pike.

ALSO ATTENDING: 12 members of the public and Ward Councillor Geary.

 

1. RECEIVE AND ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Ward Cllrs McLean and Hosking. All apologies accepted.

 

2. RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Cllr Shires declared and interest in the rent of the Pavilion should it come up.

 

3. APPROVE MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING

Minutes for the last meeting were approved and signed by Cllr Watts.

 

4. RECEIVE PUBLIC COMMENTS

Cllr Watts briefly explained the changes that had been made to the structure of the Parish Council meetings and gave a short explanation as to why these had been bought in.

 

Points were raised as follows:

1. The change in the meeting structure is not a good idea
2. Barwood Homes planning application – it was agreed to discuss this later in the meeting as a separate item.
3. It was asked whether the Sherington Hustings could be reintroduced and if the Parish Council would support it. It was agreed to revisit this as and when an election is called.
4. The issue of foul water discharge at the Barwood Homes site was bought up. It was agreed that this was a matter for Anglian Water and that they should be contacted in the first instance.
5. The issue of parking on Crofts Lane was raised – it will be discussed later in the meeting.
6. Issues around speeding were again raised. It was agreed that Cllr Shires will continue to monitor the options available to deal with this.

 

5. RECEIVE WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT

Again, the issue of the Expansion East of the M1 was prominent.

As per Plan MK, money needs to be found for infrastructure first (through HIF) and therefore there is no basis for this to go out to consultation as currently no funding is secured.

The issue of the Barwood Homes planning application was again raised. Should the Parish Council wish to object, Cllr Geary gave his advice suggesting that a letter to MKC Planning would be the first step, objecting to the expansion, with the letter containing the want to take it to DCC should it be likely to be recommended for approval. The Council, or a representative must then attend the meeting to put the points across which would likely be held in October.

 

6. RECEIVE REPORT ON ACTIONS FROM LAST MEETING
7. It was agreed to request that the Water Lane development be named Smith’s Place.
8. Full budget analysis will follow at the next meeting to identify over/under spends in both the current and previous years.
9. Several maintenance items at the Pavilion were mentioned and agreed including updating the alarm system, fixing the doors and servicing the fire extinguishers etc. Quotes had been provided and all work agreed.
10. New dog fouling signs have been ordered.
11. The process to update the bank mandate is ongoing but progressing – being held up as the account was pulled for a full money laundering review.
12. Cllr Watts and Parish Clerk Will Pike will be attending a meeting with Michael Cook and Richard Shires to discuss the Pavilion rent on Wednesday 3^rd
13. It was agreed to request a member of Highways at Milton Keynes Council be asked to attend an upcoming meeting and Cllr Shires is in the process of collating all outstanding issues.
14. We still do not have a complete definition of ‘Local Connection’ for the new affordable housing. This will be followed up.
15. Crofts End parking appears to have improved but still not perfect. The Council is looking in to options around road markings (white lines) to try to improve further.
16. The Mound at the top of Bedford Road is being looked into by MKC – no further information has been provided at this point.

 

7. CLERKS REPORT

WP mentioned the following:

 

A request had been received to allow the Amazing Grace walk to proceed through the village on the 15^th September which will result in some short term road closures. It was agreed to support this.

 

The upcoming closures of the A422 were bought to everyone’s attention.

 

The signs relating to the new Barwood Homes development that had appeared around the village were raised after a member of the public commented. It was agreed to write to Highways to ensure these were ok to be placed.

 

8. PROJECT GROUP UPDATES

PAVILION:

It was agreed to get some metal plate put on the main door as it appeared there was some damage on the bottom.

SHOP:

The issue of funding was mentioned, specifically the conditions surrounding the £100k funding from the sale of the Barwood Site.

It was also agreed to get some more quotes for the architectural work and bringing the designs to a planning stage.

It was agreed that everything will be raised at the meeting arranged for the following day.

BIODIVERSITY:

Cllr Shires reported quick paths had been cut down at Stonepits Copse. The focus now is on next steps and the possibility of Grant funding. Will Bush is advising and once an idea of funding levels has been obtained will we have a better idea of what can and can’t be achieved.

 

9. CARETAKERS REPORT

Cllr Hindler reported that some work at the bus shelter had been completed and it was agreed that any filler used should be painted to match.

A date had been agreed to prune some of the trees on The Knoll.

Jim had asked if we could look into some of the kerbstones which are being damaged by the Refuse lorries and dragged out of place.

 

10. FINANCE

Current Account Balance: £372.74

Savings Account Balance: £51,367.43

Cheques Due for Payment: £3,932.12

Total therefore being held is £47,808.05

 

All cheques were approved for payment.

 

It was agreed that Cllr Watts would review the Clerk’s timesheet, Cllr Hindler would review Jim’s timesheet and Cllr M Crabb would review Sandra’s timesheet.

 

11. PLANNING APPLICATIONS
    • BARWOOD HOMES

As raised earlier, Barwood Homes had submitted an application to increase the number of homes from 36 to 48.

It was noted that this far exceeds what was required in the Neighbourhood Plan and that also Milton Keynes now has its 5 year housing supply in place.

Links to all documentation can be found on the Parish Council website.

Cllr Watts proposed that we object to this latest request – all were in agreement.

It was agreed to ask Chris Akrill to draft a detailed objection letter and to then submit to Milton Keynes Council.

Ward Cllr Geary offered his advice to make the letter look at subjective arguments rather than mathematical calculations.

It was also agreed to run a mailshot of residents to make them aware of the latest development and ask them to object as well should they wish.

The Public have until the 16^th July to respond and the Council until the 23^rd July.

• CONSIDERATION OF OUTSTANDING OR RECENTLY SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS

None.

 

12. CONSIDER CORRESPONDENCE AND NEW CONSULTATIONS

None.

 

13. EXTERNAL MEETINGS

None.

 

14. COUNCILLORS ITEMS

Cllr Watts mentioned the monies available under various S106 agreements and that typically we have 5 years to apply or the money is returned to the Developers.

Several ideas were mentioned, and more will be requested.

Ward Cllr Geary advised to make sure rules were followed surrounding ‘pooling’ various funds together.

 

Cllr Hindler had some information surrounding possible grants available from the Petsoe End Wind Farm Project to do with energy efficiency etc. It was agreed to follow this up.

 

Ideas for a memorial for Phil Smith were discussed – it was agreed to continue contact with the family in order to come to a decision.

 

15. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

Tba, No meeting will be held in August.