Draft Minutes of the December Parish Council Meeting

Ward Councillor Doreen Dart; Mrs G Cheal

Action: Clerk to write to Doreen Dart expressing the Parish Council’s deep condolences on the loss of her husband

Councillors expressed their congratulations and best wishes to Gemma and her husband on the birth of their daughter, Joy Elizabeth on the 16^th December.

Mrs V Davidson was in attendance expressing concern about the mud on the lane between Thornhill Road and South Marston Farm and the bridleway that passed her property The mud was being deposited by lorries associated with turf cutting  in adjacent fields. Mrs Davidson was no longer able to drive and regularly had to walk along the bridleway and lane and it was very hazardous . She had raised the issue with the Borough Highways Dept. and the person involved with the turf cutting but nothing had been done to clean up the lane. SB, who lives in the same location, felt that little could be done about the state of the bridleway as it was usable by horses. However it was thought by all Councillors that as the lane was Macadamed, it constituted a highway and should be kept clear of excess mud for Health & Safety reasons

ACTION: Clerk to write to SBC Highways Dept asking what action they were taking to address the mud issue raised with them by Mrs Davidson and to Mr Dale Wildern asking for steps to be taken to minimise the depositing of mud,

-       Members are requested at the start of the meeting to declare any known interests in any matter to be considered, and are reminded that any such interest should be declared at the start of the item or during any discussion of the matter concerned

SB expressed an interest in item 9 , Community First Membership, because of her professional association with that organisation.

Minutes were approved and signed

Matters Arising:

099/11 – Vanguard value for money issue added to SMVEG meeting agenda.

102/11- Honda to be asked for notes from the November meeting. Make report back on this meeting an agenda item for next PC meeting Action: Clerk

104/11 – WP briefing notes put together by JL

105/11 – News Letter distributed to all households in village. Hoping for more email addresses to reduce    delivery effort

–      e-mail on Septic Tank issue sent to Sam Howell

–      e-mail on Neighbourhood Planning for Community Representatives seminar re-circulated

MATTERS OUTSTANDING REGISTER

Finance Statement and Cheques for Approval and Signature – 20^th December 2011

1. RBS Bank Accounts as at 30^th November 2011.

1. Cheques for Approval and Signature

SB Explained how the proposed 2012/2013 budget of £21,805 had been determined. Some allowance for predicted inflation increases had been taken into account as was the SBC Vanguard funding that would offset some expenditure on the Village Expansion Group activity. The budget would provide an estimated uncommitted reserve of £27.5 K which should be adequate unless unforeseen major repairs to assets became necessary. There would also need to be a more critical appraisal of bids for S137 funding particularly if these were from outside Village.

On the basis of the proposed budget, it was recommended that the Precept remained unchanged for 2012/2013 at £19,312.  CM proposed, SY seconded that the recommended Budget and Precept be adopted. This was unanimously agreed. NB thanked SB for the clear way that the proposed budget had been presented to the meeting.

SB declared an interest

It was agreed that Community First had provided assistance in the past and that the membership should be renewed at a cost of £36.

Invitations to tender had been sent to :- Green Shave Services; Plantaholix and Stratton Garden Contractors; the latter firm being the only one submitting a bid. Stratton Garden Contractors is the firm currently holding the grass cutting contract. Their performance is satisfactory and meets the SMPC specification. The price was acceptable to Councillors and was within the 2012 budget for this work. BM proposed, seconded by CM that the 2012 contract be placed with Stratton Garden Contractors. This was agreed unanimously.

The SMRA chaired had agreed that a meeting with the Parish Council to clarify responsibilities would be useful. MP stressed that in order to have a productive meeting a clear agenda to ensure all issues were addressed was needed. SY felt that his previous report could be used as a basis for the agenda. A discussion about the possible need to change the SMRA Constitution to comply with the Charities Commission requirements ensued. ACTION: SB, JL & SY to liaise with SMRA to produce a joint Working Agenda and report back at the next PC meeting.

CM expressed concern that the Expansion WG was not fully integrated with the Parish Council and that this could weaken the group’s status. When the group was set up in May it was on the basis that Parish Councillors would be involved and report back to the full Council. He was concerned that the taking of notes at meetings of the group, their distribution and their filing in Parish Council records was ad hoc and lacked any real process.

ACTION: CM to report at the January PC meeting on his specific concerns on the links with the PC and the recording of group proceedings by the PC.

CM provided a brief update on recent activities of the working group which had divided into three sub groups dealing with specific issues. Progress on developing the SPD was being held up by lack of information from SBC which was hindering the decisions on options. The PC had made strong

comments on the Core Strategy but there had been no response from SBC. The information was needed to be able to move forward with some certainty.

ACTION: Clerk to ask SBC when they would be responding to the Expansion Group’s questions?

It was proposed by KM, seconded by SY and agreed unanimously that the PC would reimburse the travelling expenses of members of the group attending the Neighbourhood Planning Seminar at the Eden Project on the 5-7 February.

It was agreed that CM should join the Bristol led Neighbourhood Planning  Network as an individual not as a PC representative.

BM reported that he was still waiting for SBC to supply the maps he required and timber for the bridges in the Conservation Area would soon be delivered

SB  reported that Stephen Taylor would be speaking at the next meeting of the SAC on Swindon Special Rates?

MP thanked BT and the team working with him on the production of the News Letter

SY informed the meeting that Shrivenham, Bourton & Watchfield were considering forming a “No Cold Calling Area”. It was felt that this idea could be discussed as an agenda item at a future PC meeting

Councillors congratulated the SM vicar , Vicky Fleming on her promotion to “Priest in Charge of the Stratton St Margaret, Stanton and South Marston cluster”…

ACTION: Clerk to write to Vicky expressing the Parish Council’s congratulations.

Meeting closed at 20.30