Kingsley
Parish Council
Minutes of the Full Council Meeting
Wednesday 26th July 2006 - 8:00pm
in the Kingsley Centre
Present: |
In Attendance: F. Witney - Clerk G. Peet - Head Forester, Defence Estates A. Mathews - Land Agent, Defence Estates 16 Members of the public |
| 06/60 Chairman’s Opening Remarks: |
| Cllr Neville welcomed all to the meeting, and especially Cllr Mary Herbert sitting as a member of the Council for the first time. |
| 06/61 Declaration of Acceptance of Office: |
| Cllr Herbert signed the declaration of acceptance of office as a member of the Council. |
| 06/62 Public participation |
| In response to a question concerning the progress of the campaign to get a speed limit of 30 mph in the village, Cllr Neville replied that the speed survey appeared to have begun that afternoon and that this was the last hurdle if it showed the average speed of traffic to be low enough for the police to support a change to the limit. |
| 06/63 Apologies for Absence |
| Received from District Councillor Warwick Womack |
| 06/64 Declarations of Interest |
| Cllr Blaber declared a personal and prejudicial interest in respect of Item 9 on the agenda, concerning the request by Mrs M Comber to ask Hampshire County Council to clear land adjacent to Sickles Lane and to the rear of Sunnyside. Cllr Blaber left the room during discussion of this item. |
| 06/65 Approval of Minutes of Meeting 29th June 2006 |
| Proposed:
Cllr Seeckts Seconded: Cllr Carryer The minutes were duly authorised and signed as a true record of the meeting. |
| 06/66 Matters Arising |
| Upper
Green Planting Cllr Neville said that he had met with Sabine Roach but they had agreed that nothing further could be done until October at the earliest, given the current dry conditions and that this matter should be deferred until then. Oaklands Farm Cllr Neville reported that a notice had been sent out to as many households in the village as possible, warning them of the expected busy times and the planned traffic routes. |
| 06/67 Report by George Peet and Adrian Mathews about the MOD proposals to restrict public parking and unauthorised vehicular access on Kingsley Common |
George Peet, Head Forester for Defence Estates, explained that the MOD had entered into a declaration of intent with English Nature to bring into a favourable condition all Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) owned by the MOD in the country. As a result there was now a much greater impetus to consider conservation matters, as well as military training. An assessment of the condition of Kingsley Common had highlighted the problems of scrub encroachment onto the heathland (for which work had already been undertaken and would be maintained) and vehicle track damage to grassland and woodland. His proposals for dealing with the latter problem were aimed at restricting unauthorised vehicular access and he stressed that there was no intention to interfere with the legal rights of residents to access their properties. He described two phases to the proposals. Phase One would be to install dragons teeth around the edges of the paths at the Coldharbour entrance to the Common to stop vehicles going into the woodland area and damaging the oak trees, while not shutting off any footpaths or preventing access to residential properties. He also proposed to install dragons teeth around the D shaped area at Sandrock such that there remained sufficient room for residents’ parking and turning and also for service vehicles but with the aim of preventing this sandy area becoming any larger. A barrier would also be placed across the track entrance to the Common. Phase Two was described by Adrian Mathews who explained that there were gaps in the records of legal rights of access. The intention was to identify those properties where records were not held and to consult with the owners on an individual basis to resolve this. Some concern was expressed about putting dragons teeth around the D shaped area at Sandrock. This area needed to be wide enough for all service vehicles to use; residents felt that there was very little problem with non residential car parking and that it was not necessarily vehicles that were causing the area to increase but sand being washed down the track. Although it was accepted that a barrier would not cause a problem for anybody accessing a property, and that fire services etc. would have keys to it, it was questioned whether there was any point to this when there were other access points on to the Common. Mr Peet felt that installing dragons teeth would do no harm and would be helpful in preventing damage to the woodland areas; he said that he would consult with the Sandrock residents and mark out the proposed area first so that they could see where the teeth would be installed. Alain Marchand commented that barriers and dragons teeth alone were not the answer; he felt that greater emphasis on enforcement, use of signs, increased patrols and a change of policy on the encouragement of authorised activities on the Common was needed. This was also true because it was not possible to properly restrict vehicular access to the Common as there was a bridleway over the bridge from the Bordon end which could not be shut off. Trail bikes were more of a problem than 4x4s and the proposals would not deal with these; in particular he felt that the steady increase in official activities involving trail bikes was contributing to the increased unofficial use of them on the Common. Paul Beresford
commented on the importance of protecting the Common as a SSSI which
would help prevent future development of it, especially given the Bordon
situation. Cllr Neville suggested that the Parish Council could write to either Defence Estates or to English Nature to apply pressure over the question of inadequate enforcement, patrols and signage. Local residents present were asked to help prepare this letter at a meeting to be organised in the next few weeks. |
| 06/68 Consideration of request by Mrs M Comber to ask Hampshire County Council to clear land where the public has right of access (land adjacent to Sickles Lane and to rear of Sunnyside) |
| Councillors
were shown a letter from Mrs Comber together with accompanying documentation
concerning an area of land in the village subject to public rights of
access which she would like cleared. Cllr Neville said he believed that
before Kingsley Parish Council became involved, it was appropriate for
Mrs Comber and the landowners, the Blaber family, to meet to discuss her
request and that the Blabers had agreed to arrange such a meeting. It
was proposed that the Parish Council should only become involved should
an agreement not be reached as a result of that meeting. Proposed: Cllr R Seeckts Seconded: Cllr M Herbert |
| 06/69 Update on Traffic (30 MPH campaign) |
| See Public Participation. The Clerk was asked to find out as soon as possible whether the cables on the road were for the County Council’s traffic speed survey. |
| 06/70 Management Accounts for First Quarter 2006/07 |
| The Clerk presented the Management Accounts for the first quarter of 2006/07 which showed net receipts of £680. Variances from budgeted figures were discussed and the Chairman advised Councillors that, following discussion with the Clerk, all future management accounts would include a bank reconciliation as well. |
| 06/71 Consideration of Internal Audit Report for year ended 31st March 2006 |
| The report from the Internal Auditor on the accounts for the year ended 31st March 2006 was discussed, having been previously circulated to Councillors. The Clerk said that in future she would include cheque numbers against payments recorded in the minutes to improve audit trail. The issue of the correct valuation of fixed assets was discussed. The Clerk advised that Box 9 of Section 1 required these assets to be valued at "current value" and Governance and Accountability in Local Councils in England and Wales seemed to define this as the insurance value. It was therefore felt that the figure in Box 9 of the draft return should not be changed, as it was prepared from insurance values, and the external auditor’s response to the internal audit report would be considered in due course. The Internal Audit report also raised the issue of the lack of a full fixed assets register. The Clerk advised that, although there was a list of fixed assets with insurance values that supported the figure in Box 9 of Section 1, this did not contain the date of acquisition, the historic cost and there was no supporting file of documentation to prove ownership immediately available to an auditor. Such a file could be produced for future audits but it would take some time to find the original invoices for some of the older assets and there was a cost/benefit issue to this. It was decided to see what the external auditor said in response to the internal audit report, but also to ask the internal auditor to make clear in his report that the list of assets did exist even if in insufficient detail. |
| 06/72 Review of checklist for Financial Year Ends for year ended 31st March 2006 |
| Councillors
then reviewed the Checklist for financial yearends contained in Appendix
9 of Governance and Accountability in Local Councils in England and Wales.
The Clerk completed each line as instructed by Council and it was proposed
that the checklist then be signed by the Chairman and the Clerk. Proposed: Cllr S Carryer Seconded: Cllr A Blaber Cllr M Herbert abstained and all other Councillors voted in favour. |
| 06/73 Approval of Annual Return for year ended 31st March 2006 |
| Councillors
then reviewed Section 2 of the Annual Return, the Statement of Assurance,
and the Clerk completed each line as instructed by Council. It was proposed
that Section 2 and Section 1 then be signed by the Chairman and the Clerk. Proposed: Cllr R Seeckts Seconded: Cllr A Blaber Cllr M Herbert abstained and all other Councillors voted in favour. |
| 06/74 Consideration of motions suggested by Binsted PC and Whitehill & Bordon Town Council for the HAPTC AGM concerning the role of SEERA |
| Cllr
Neville read out the wording of two motions in respect of SEERA proposed
by Binsted PC and Whitehill and Bordon Town Council respectively. Cllr
Herbert said she understood that there were 74 members elected indirectly
and some 38 who had not been elected to any other authority. Cllr Neville
said that voters were allowed to vote directly for MEPs but not for members
of SEERA. It was agreed to support Whitehill and Bordon TC’s motion
that "Would HAPTC join with HCC, other councils and other groups
to question the authority of SEERA to act for the people of the region?
SEERA has no mandate by the people of the region. It is unelected, unaccountable
and its existence should be subject to a democratic referendum". Proposed: Cllr M Herbert Seconded: Cllr R Seeckts |
| 06/75 Planning Matters: responses to applications |
|
F21066/019/OUT/DLS
Outline two dwellings with associated parking, Bakers Farm, Oakhanger
Rd, Kingsley |
| 06/76 Report from District Councillor |
| Cllr W Womack was not present. |
| 06/77 Report from Chairman |
| Cllr Neville reported that he had attended the Regulatory Committee meeting of HCC on 19th July to oppose the Grundons planning application to extend and deepen Frith End Sandpit to extract a further one million tons of sand. Other attendees included Brian Davey, David Graham, Roger Trout and County Councillors Mark Kemp-Gee and Adam Carew. Concerns were expressed at this meeting about the proposal to dig sand below the water table within the source protection zone for the Headley boreholes which supply drinking water to over 30,000 people and the inadequacy of the restoration proposals to contain the aquifer and protect it from pollution. Concern was further expressed about the proposal to import nearly 500,000 tons of inert waste in a two year period (2017 and 2018) to partially infill the pit at the end of its working life, which it was believed would generate 100 lorry movements a day as opposed to the normal 40. Alternative suggestions had been made to the Committee, not to dig below the water tale which would still provide an extra 400,000 tons of sand and a more holistic approach to restoration which would avoid nearly 500,000 tons of inert waste being brought into the site and thus no extra lorry traffic. County Councillor Mark Kemp-Gee had summed up the objections, endorsed the alternative proposals and requested that the application be deferred for the alternatives to be considered. The Committee had agreed to this and instructed County Council officers to arrange for meetings with the interested parties. Since then a meeting had been sought with Grundons, but they had refused. Cllr Neville concluded that he would be holding a meeting next week to discuss what to do next. |
| 06/58 Reports from Councillors |
| Cllr
Herbert reported that she had visited St Nicholas Churchyard and the playground
to look at them from the point of view of a Parish Councillor. Cllr Blaber reported that the bottom of the C70 had been temporarily blocked by the hearse at the funeral of Jean Coulson earlier in the week. The Clerk was asked to bring this to the attention of funeral directors for any future burials. Cllr Carryer reported that she had visited the playground this week and had been appalled by the amount of litter on the ground. It was known that Sid Newman and the Clerk both removed litter when they were down at the playground but Cllr Carryer asked whether another bin would help the situation. Councillors were of the view that it would make no difference. |
| 06/58 Payments to be made |
|
| 06/59 Date of next meeting |
| The
next full Council meeting will be held on Thursday 28th September 2006
at 8.00pm in the Kingsley Centre. There being no further business the Meeting closed at 10.20pm |