Present:
Cllr S. Carryer - Vice Chairman
Cllr M. Herbert
Cllr R. Seeckts

Alison Stonard, a resident, raised issues relating to the request by the Parish Council for land adjacent to Sickles Lane (CL132) to be cleared to allow access by the public. She asked who the landowner was and was informed that it was Cllr Blaber. She asked if the land was registered under his name and was told by Mrs Comber, another resident, that it was. She said that the land is already accessible by the public because it is not fenced. During the Winter, the land is so wet that walking on it is impossible and it is not suitable to be ridden on by horses. There was no footpath or bridleway registered for this land. There is a badger set, which is in active use, on the land and this is protected by law under the Countryside Act. It would be impossible to put a footpath or bridleway on the land without disturbing this set. The area is used by nesting birds and wild animals and should never be used as a play area by children. She said that the residents facing the land have not been notified by the Parish Council of what could be a significant change to the nature of the land. She felt they ought to be consulted for their views and that they might be willing to help with any tidying up that was needed. The road in this area was already a potential accident spot (there had been one recently) and if the pond were to be opened up again, it would increase the hazard. If the pond were to be opened up, work would have to be undertaken to improve drainage and this would be a cost. In general increased walking and riding in the area should not be encouraged because of the speed of the traffic.

Mrs Comber said that the land was common land for the local people to access and that it should be available to them. Because the land was not clear, it was not available for them to access. There was no need for a footpath or bridleway to be registered as the right of access applied to the whole of the land.

Cllr Carryer thanked the residents for their views which would be noted.

(a) Removal of rail at Coldharbour
Cllr Carryer said that since there was now safer access to the Common on the other side of the gate, thanks to the efforts of Cllr and Mr Herbert, it seemed appropriate not to pursue this matter further. Mrs Comber, the resident who had made the original request, agreed with this. It was proposed that the Clerk should contact Phil Allen thanking him for his attention to this matter and advising him that the Parish Council no longer requires the rail to be removed, provided that the access on the right hand side of the gate remains available.
Proposed: Cllr Herbert
Seconded: Cllr Seeckts

(b) Response from the Landowner and HCC re request for land (CL132) to be cleared adjacent to Sickles Lane
Cllr Carryer said that since the Parish Council was awaiting a response from the landowner on this matter, no further action was appropriate yet. Cllr Herbert asked for clarification of where the badger set was, as she had not seen this when looking at the area previously. Ms Stonard explained that it was on the land opposite the 3 bungalows and that she had observed it in use over the last five years. The body of a badger that had died there in December was still on the ground.

(c) Road repairs: response from Hampshire Highways
Cllr Seeckts described the response from Hampshire Highways as pathetic and unacceptable. He said that a road is only as safe as the least safe part of it and it was pointless only doing half the job. He questioned why they had deliberately gone into this project knowing that it would not be completed with the time and funds available and that therefore the road would be no safer and the inconvenience and damage to side roads would need to be repeated later in the year as a result. He said that the amount of standing water adjacent to the resurfaced section was greater than ever indicating that the drainage problems may have been exacerbated by the work done, let alone resolved. He proposed that the Parish Council should write again to Hampshire Highways making the above points and requiring a detailed answer as to their plan to sort this situation out.
Proposed: Cllr Seeckts
Seconded: Cllr Herbert

(d) Costings for proposed new iron gate at St. Nicholas
Cllr Carryer advised that she had investigated the proposal and no longer felt it was suitable, since it would mean drilling four holes in the new oak door and the gate would in reality be an iron grill attached to the door rather than a separate barrier. She said that once the new door was completed, she would like to consider further measures including the possibility of an iron gate on the outside of the porch to the main door. She also advised Councillors that the hinges would have to be repaired before the new door could be hung and that this had not been part of the original quotation. It was hoped that the insurers would agree to pay for this once the cost was known.

(e) Cleaning of road surfaces on Sickles Lane and Wheatley Lane
The Clerk advised that Cllr Neville had asked Cllr Mark Kemp-Gee to arrange for this to be done by Hampshire Highways.

The Clerk provided a summary explanation to Councillors of the new policy on setting of traffic speed limits recently adopted by Hampshire County Council, with particular reference to villages. A full copy would be circulated in the next correspondence. HCC had adopted Department of Transport Circular 01/2006 as the basis for setting speed limits in Hampshire and agreed that a review of speed limits on all A and B roads be undertaken. This Circular gave guidance that 30mph speed limits should be the norm for villages but also contained "get-out" clauses allowing 40mph limits in situations where road engineering measures are not considered practicable and existing measured speeds are significantly higher than 30mph. HCC had agreed to explore options for how increased enforcement might be achieved in villages through the Safer Roads Partnership.
It has also agreed to commission a survey through HAPTC on public attitudes towards increased enforcement, as advised by the Clerk previously (ref 06/139). The Clerk said that she had heard nothing further on this survey since it was first mentioned by HAPTC in January. HCC's policy decision also made reference to the use of the new Hampshire Action Teams in helping to determine local priorities and demand. Councillors agreed that, while further developments of this policy would be watched with interest, it was important that pressure should be maintained and especially important that the Parish Council should continue to be represented at Hampshire Action Team meetings.
In reply to a question from Ms Stonard as to why the speed limit signs did not have fluorescent rings, Cllr Seeckts said that the signs had been changed by the County Council last year at the time when the red gateway surfaces were introduced. The Clerk was asked to check that the signs now in place are in accordance with what the County Council had said they would do.

There were no planning applications requiring responses since the last meeting.

Cllr Neville had sent his apologies and was not present at the meeting.

Cllr Carryer reported that Otto Voce would be giving a concert at St Nicholas Church on 23rd June.

Cllr Herbert had attended 3 meetings on behalf of the Parish Council in the month. The first was a meeting at Oaklands Farm on 28th February, held by invitation of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association. This meeting was to explain to the local community that there had been a misunderstanding with the District Planning department about what work would be permissible without planning permission. They had withdrawn the retrospective planning application in order to discuss the issues with the local community. The outcome of the meeting was that they had agreed to remove the gravelled edges of the tracks so that they were not so prominent in the landscape and to use temporary road surfaces to protect the underground electricity and water supplies at the time of the Convention. They further agreed to remove the raised soil terrace which had been constructed to provide a flat surface for temporary water tanks and to replace the hedging adjacent to the gate and public footpath at the Western access on to the B3004. Retrospective planning permission would be applied for again for the underground electricity and water supply. It was also suggested that there might be a liaison group formed. Councillors felt it was important that Kingsley Parish Council should be represented on such a group and Cllr Herbert said she would be willing to undertake this.
The second meeting was at the Kingsley Centre on 5th March. After the building work was complete, the Kingsley Centre wanted to create a sensory garden surrounding the building which would be accessible to the public. Cllr Herbert asked if the Parish Council would look favourably on supporting an application for the use of Developers Contributions to support this project as an open space improvement. In reply to a question from Cllr Carryer, the Clerk said that some time ago she had discussed with Steve Proctor at EHDC whether such a project could count as open space improvement and he had seemed positive. Cllr Herbert was asked to present plans and costs to a future meeting when ready.
The third meeting was in Alton on 10th March to facilitate preparation of a Town Design Statement. When asked what made Alton distinctive the majority response was the importance of its character as a small market town and the rural landscape that surrounds it. Since Kingsley is part of that rural landscape, Cllr Herbert felt that a Town Design Statement giving importance to this ought to be supported.

Cllr Herbert had reported to the Rights of Way team the missing stile at the entrance to Footpath 15 and the disintegration of the sleepers over the ditch between Footpath 8 (Sandy Lane) and Footpath 7 onto the Common.

There had been further fly tipping at Forge Rd and at Coldharbour, but this had again been removed promptly by the District Council and Cllr Herbert had written to thank them.

Cllr Seeckts asked what response had been received to the Parish Council's request in the village newsletter and Kings World for suggestions for the use of Developers Contributions to improve public open space. The Clerk replied she had only received one suggestion which had been to apply for funds to be used to clear CL132 at Sickles Lane.

Cllr Seeckts reported that the tree stumps on Upper Green had now been removed. He asked why his Council Tax bill showed the % precept per household increasing when the Parish Council had not increased the precept. The Clerk agreed to investigate this with EHDC.

Cllr Seeckts noted that the re-turfing of the football pitch had been completed. The Clerk advised that the next stage was to purchase and install the goal post nets.