DRAFT MINUTES
CHEARSLEY PARISH
COUNCIL
DRAFT MINUTES OF THE
MEETING OF THE PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 20th MARCH 2017 IN THE VILLAGE
HALL AT 7.30PM
PRESENT
Councillors: Nic
Brown (NB), John Lewis (JL), John Howard (JH), Julia Witcher (JW),
Martin Hearmon (MH), Michael Hawkett
Parish Clerk: Helen
Spurgeon
Responsible
Finance Officer: Robert Parkes (RP)
Parishioners: There
were 3 Parishioners
DECLARATIONS OF
INTEREST
There were no interests declared.
PARISHIONERS
QUESTION TIME
A parishioner asked whether the white gates at the entrances
to the village have been repainted. They have and NB has finalised the new Welcome to Chearsley signs.
1. APOLOGIES
Paul Bown (PAB), Michael Edmonds (ME),
Margaret Aston.
2. APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY 2017 MINUTES
Minutes were agreed as a true record and signed by Chairman, Nic Brown.
3. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES
·
Bank
Mandate forms. The bank has requested these be redone due to too many
crossings out. ACTION: JL to resubmit.
·
Trees in
Village. There is no list of public owned trees in Chearsley. ACTION: ME
to identify on a map trees the Parish Council are responsible for.
·
War
Memorial repair and conservation. ACTION: Clerk and JL to complete War Memorials Trust Grant Application form.
·
Signage for
Village Green. The ‘No Parking’ sign cannot be repositioned on Mr Slatter’s
wall as his railings have been removed. ACTION: NB to remove the first ‘No
Parking’ sign.
·
Bus
Shelters. ACTION: NB to order new bus stop signs. Improvements to the interiors of the bus
shelters are needed. ACTION: NB to determine cost of new wooden
benches and slate floor. JW raised
a concern that the wood inside the bus shelter roof may be coming apart. ACTION: NB
to look at bus shelter roof. JH
put forward the idea of having a picture inside the bus shelter. It could be a
children’s competition and be changed every season. ACTION: NB to contact Jay in the shop to see
if he is able to replace the bin outside the shop.
·
Communication.
ACTION: JW to set up Chearsley PC Facebook
page. It was agreed we need a Chearsley PC logo which will probably be
the new Chearsley flag. The deadline to submit entries for the Chearsley Flag
Competition has been extended. CHUFF and local schools have been invited to submit
entries. JL and JH are working on a village email database using Mailchimp. Once
this is set up, it will be manage by the Clerk
and anyone who wishes to receive the mailings will be able to subscribe.
4. PARISH COUNCILLOR VACANCY
Martin Hearmon has been co-opted onto the
Council.
5. PLANNING
·
17/00686/APP
– The Old Chapel, Winchendon Rd, Chearsley HP18 0DW
Site visit on 21/03/17 at 2pm. NB,
JL, JW, MH to attend.
6. CORRESPONDENCE
·
The Boot and village kerb damage. The owners
would like to make a significant financial contribution to the Parish Council
towards kerb repairs once their renovation works are complete. ACTION: Clerk to respond to email accepting the offer.
·
An email was received from a resident
informing the Parish Council that the ‘No Parking’ signs by the Green are not
working and a dust cart had to drive over the verges. ACTION: NB to update resident.
·
WI homemade cake sale on the Green Saturday 8th
April 12-2pm.
·
There will be no village show this year due to
the rebuilding of the Village Hall.
·
Village events:
·
Flower Festival in the Church Friday 30th
June & Saturday 1st July
·
Village Fete Saturday 24th June
·
Classic Cars with Hurricane fly past Sunday 10th
September
·
NB suggested
a street musicians festival
7. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM AVDC AND BCC
COUNCILLORS
There were no contributions.
8. FINANCE
·
Orders for Payment – cheques were issued for new
flags for the flagpole and the Clerk’s salary.
·
It was decided not to enter the Bucks Best Kept
Village Competition this year. Councillors felt it was better to wait until
next year when a number of major village projects will be complete.
·
RP
produced a draft finance report for the year ending 31/03/17. We are building
up a fund and making good progress to complete several village projects. JH will need audited finance figures
from RP for the LAF grant
application.
9. REPORTS FROM COUNCILLORS ATTENDING
MEETINGS AND OUTSIDE ORGANISATIONS
There were none.
10. VILLAGE PROJECTS
·
Kerbing. Councillors
supported JL’s proposal to proceed
with the kerbing work in Dark Lane.
·
TfB
Feasibility Study. On Friday 24th March at 10am Trevor
Bonsor, the project engineer from TfB, is meeting with Councillors on the Green
for a village walk around to discuss local concerns and priorities. The next
step would be to produce proposals to address these concerns.
·
Defibrillator.
BHF have confirmed that our grant application was unsuccessful. ACTION: JH
to contact Claire Lazaruk and Angela Gray to ascertain whether village fete
funds are available to put towards the purchase. Locating the defibrillator
in an old red phone box is proving very complex so the bus shelter would seem
the best location. An electricity supply to the bus shelter is needed. ACTION: NB
to send electrical report to JL. ACTION: JL to contact Simon at Adam 1st
Electrical.
·
Quotation
for new railings, litter bins and bollards. JL and NB met with a supplier who quoted for new railings to replace those
by the bus shelter, 2 new litter bins to go by the bus shelters and bollards in
either cast iron or timber for the Green. The grand total was over £14k with
around 50% of the cost being for installation. We need to obtain more quotes. ACTION: JL
and NB to meet to discuss project.
JW suggested as a temporary measure
to clean up the existing bin by the bus shelter and attach it to the railings
so that the unsightly concrete post could be removed.
·
Pruning
of horse chestnut tree. The survey of the tree recommended pruning. ACTION: JL
to chase quote for pruning.
11. ANNUAL VILLAGE MEETING (AVM) 24th
April
The AVM will need to be promoted and
advertised well. ACTION: JH to email invitees, asking them to say a few words.
Village hall users and car pool to be added to invitees. ACTION: JH to ask Alicia Howard to design a
poster for the AVM which will go on the notice board, in the Chearsley
News and be emailed out. Presentation slides will form a backdrop to the Agenda
which will include the finance report. There will be a meeting to discuss the AVM
(theme, method, messages) on Friday morning 24th March, following
the 10am feasibility study meeting. JL, NB, JH to attend. The Parish Council
are trying to encourage the engagement of people in the village with this new
approach to the AVM.
12. PC GOVERNANCE
·
Code of Conduct and Standing Orders were approved and adopted by the Councillors. ACTION: Clerk to update and email out.
·
Equalities Policy – ACTION: Clerk to circulate to Councillors for
comments.
·
Financial Regulations and Risk Assessment– RP recommends adopting the Financial
Regulations and this was supported by the Councillors. ACTION: Clerk to send Risk Assessment to RP for comments. Clerk to send both documents to NB.
13. PARISHIONERS QUESTION TIME
A Parishioner asked where Parish Council
funds come from. They come from the Precept which is collected through Council Tax.
14. ITEMS FOR INFORMATION
·
HS2 Update – 30/03/17 2pm, Quainton Village Hall, JH to attend.
·
Elections to Buckinghamshire County Council on Thursday 4 May 2017.
·
JW mentioned
the parking on grass verges by CHUFF parents which is causing damage. ACTION: NB to speak to Hannah Eames.
15. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT MEETING in
Chearsley Village Hall
·
Monday 24th April 2017 at 7.30pm
(Annual Village Meeting)
