SHERINGTON PARISH COUNCIL
Draft Minutes of the meeting of Sherington Parish Council held on Tuesday 12th November 2019, at the Pavilion, commencing at 7.30pm
PRESENT: Cllrs Watts, Hindler, Shires, M Crabb and Readman, Parish Clerk Will Pike.
ALSO ATTENDING: 8 members of the public and Ward Councillor McLean, PCSO’s Arlene Ormston (part), Pat Flynn (part)
- RECEIVE AND ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Cllr S Crabb, Ward Cllrs Hosking and Geary. All apologies accepted.
- RECEIVE ANY DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
Cllr Shires should the pavilion come up.
- APPROVE MINUTES FROM LAST MEETING
Minutes were approved and signed for the previous two meetings.
- RECEIVE PUBLIC COMMENTS
Points were raised as follows:
- It was mentioned that the closure of the Post Office was ‘a shame’ for the village. Cllr Watts confirmed that the closure was instigated by the Post Office and was not permanent. The Parish Council are now working with the Post Office to sort out the next steps.
- RECEIVE PCSO REPORT
(This occurred after point 7 but has been placed here to link with the original agenda).
Crime figures for the period from January 2019 were given and will be made available via the website. Keen to point out there had been no reported burglary during the period.
The Police are embarking on a couple of big campaigns over the festive period including ‘Lock It, Light It’ details of which were made available.
After a member of the public asked about ID fraud, it was confirmed that any fraud should be reported to Action Fraud in the first instance.
A question was asked as to whether the closure of the Youth Club had led to any increase in crime – as a result it was agreed to look to see if there was any way of supporting a re-opening of the club.
- RECEIVE WARD COUNCILLORS REPORT
Ward Cllr McLean mentioned the following:
- No decision has been made over the H.I.F. bid – unlikely to be looked at now until after the General Election.
- Developments in Hanslope are being looked at regarding housing supply and links to Neighbourhood plans.
- Cllr McLean made himself available for public comments but none were forthcoming.
- RECEIVE REPORT ON ACTIONS FROM LAST MEETING
- Landscaping – the process of appointing a contractor to take over the landscaping contract in the village is progressing well and we have several interested parties.
- The memorial bench for Phil Smith is to be cleaned prior to siting on Water Lane. The location is to be confirmed shortly and wording for a plaque has been agreed by the family.
- Cllr Shires agreed to contact Malcom McNaughton about the signs produced for Stonepits Copse and God’s Acre in order to get them in place.
- Cllr Watts and Parish Clerk Will Pike were meeting with Michael Cook and Richard Shires the following day to discuss options for a possible sports court at the Pavilion funded by the High Street development S106 agreement.
- Further discussions are ongoing regarding some of the other monies allocated to various funds as per the S106 agreements currently in place. As noted before, the Paris Council is open to all ideas.
- CLERKS REPORT
WP confirmed that the code to access the defibrillator is held by the Emergency Services and should only ever be used under request from them.
The closure of the Post Office had bought many comments forward – Cllr Watts expanded further on previous points and next steps that the Parish Council are looking to take to ensure that the Post Office and shop are not lost because of this. It was then agreed that legal advice will be sought in order to clarify the current position of the lease agreement. A meeting with the current tenants will then be arranged.
The Parish Council had been invited to comment on the proposed expansion of Luton Airport. It was not deemed necessary to take this further.
There had been comments about fireworks being set off on the Pavilion Field. This provoked a long debate as to whether this was allowed / should be allowed / within the law. It was agreed that further discussion will take place at a later date in order to decide the best way forward.
- NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN REVIEW
A brief discussion was held about the merits of updating the current Neighbourhood Plan due to the possible issues in Hanslope and debate about the current 5 year housing supply in Milton Keynes.
The options were to do nothing or to start a review of the current plan. It was agreed to start a review and Cllrs Watts, Readman and M Crabb will do so with the help of Will Bush who was instrumental in producing the first plan.
- PROJECT GROUP UPDATES
PAVILION:
It was agreed to introduce a sinking fund within the budget for next year as several areas of maintenance will be coming up over future years.
SHOP:
A meeting is being held on 16th November at The White Hart to show the current progress on the new shop and answer any questions the public may have. On the operational side, the viability plan is continuing to be put together.
BIODIVERSITY:
A proposed meeting will be held to sort ongoing plans at Stonepits Copse.
Various volunteer groups will be contacted to help with ongoing maintenance in order to get the project off the ground.
The idea of grants to fund the project will be discussed further.
- CARETAKERS REPORT
Cllr Hindler reported that the caretaker was currently away and that there was no new news.
- FINANCE
Current Account Balance: £6,300.44
Savings Account Balance: £57,019.10
Cheques Due for Payment: £4,900.04
Total therefore being held is £58,419.50
All cheques were approved for payment.
- PLANNING APPLICATIONS
- BARWOOD HOMES
No further update but Cllr Watts gave a brief update on the properties available for rent and shared ownership.
- CONSIDERATION OF OUTSTANDING OR RECENTLY SUBMITTED APPLICATIONS
There had been notice of contamination at the Smith’s Yard site which is being dealt with and a plan put in place for remedial action.
- CONSIDER CORRESPONDENCE AND NEW CONSULTATIONS
An update on several ongoing highway issues was given including the following:
ANPR cameras will not be installed by Thames Valley Police – it was also reminded that there usually has to be bad incidents before they will even consider siting the cameras.
Data will be collected about speeding from Chichely Hill towards Sherington Bridge.
There can be no 20mph speed limit implemented without road furniture in place (humps / chicanes etc).
Coloured Tarmac can be good at reducing speeding but comes with additional maintenance costs.
Decorative gates upon entrance to the village can work well.
White lines are not enforceable although remain an option.
Ringway will be conducting a light check shortly.
The Parish Council had also been asked about the possibility of siting a wormery in the village and also about allowing a gate in order for the pre-school to access a wild garden.
The Council agreed the wormery as long as a suitable site can be found and agreed in principle with the gate as long as land ownership can be obtained and that no right of way is created. An annual agreement was proposed along with a padlock with access only for the pre-school.
- EXTERNAL MEETINGS
None.
- COUNCILLORS ITEMS
None
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be 7.30pm on December 3rd 2019 @the Pavilion