Kingsley
Parish Council
Minutes of the Full Council Meeting
Thursday 26th October 2006 - 8:00pm
in the Kingsley Centre
Present: |
In Attendance: F. Witney - Clerk 3 Members of the public |
| 06/99 Chairman’s Opening Remarks: |
| In the absence of Cllr Neville, Cllr Carryer took the Chair and welcomed all to the meeting. |
| 06/100 Public participation |
Mrs M Comber told Councillors that she had recently received a reply from Peter Bayless of the Traffic Management Group at HCC to a letter she had sent him concerning controlled road crossings and the traffic speed limit in the village. Mr Bayless had said that, once the new government guidance on setting speed limits had been adopted by HCC, some speed limits on roads would then need to be reviewed. The position on road crossings was then discussed and the Clerk explained that the Parish Council’s aim was to achieve a reduction in the speed limit first as it was felt that this would make any crossing safer. When a crossing had last been considered with HCC, problems had been raised over the safety aspects of rarely-used crossings and the adequacy of sight lines available in the centre of the village to make a safe crossing. |
| 06/101 Apologies for Absence |
| Received from Cllr Neville and Cllr Seeckts. |
| 06/102 Declarations of Interest |
| None |
| 06/103 Approval of Minutes of Meeting 28th September 2006 |
| Proposed:
Cllr Blaber Seconded: Cllr Herbert The minutes were duly authorised and signed as a true record of the meeting. |
| 06/104 Matters Arising |
| Playsafe:
Further quotation on repairs and further information on swing barriers
to be considered Playsafe had sent an amended quotation, at the Clerk’s request, to cover the repair of the rungs on the aerial runway which had been omitted from the previous quotation. The extra amount was £20 and it was agreed that this new quotation should be accepted. Proposed: Cllr Blaber Seconded: Cllr Herbert Playsafe had also provided pictures of the proposed swing barriers to show how they would be sited which Councillors considered. Cllr Herbert was concerned about whether there was room to site the barriers by the cradle swings because of the positioning of the slide. Cllr Blaber was concerned about the possible risk to insurance cover if, against the advice of our independent safety inspector, swing barriers were not installed and then an accident occurred which could have been prevented by them. After discussion, it was agreed that a site visit should be arranged by the Clerk before the next meeting and a decision deferred until the next meeting when the full Council should be present. |
| 06/105 Traffic: To consider the data received in respect of the speed survey |
The Clerk explained that the data now received showed that the mean speed through the village at the time of the survey was between 35 and 36 mph, although the 85%ile figure was quite a lot higher. She said that she was trying to find out how the latter had been calculated as it did not make much sense. She explained that a letter had been sent to HCC requesting full details of the criteria used by the police in reaching their decision not to support a 30 mph limit and also requesting full details of the speed survey and police’s decision supporting the reduction in the limit to 30mph in Bordon. Their reply was awaited. |
| 06/106 Alton and Whitehill & Bordon CABs: To consider grant requests from each for 2007/08 |
Alton
CAB was requesting £150 plus £50 to help cover the cost
of outreach work for which funding had been withdrawn by HCC. No statistics
were available to indicate how many village residents had used the CAB’s
services last year. Whitehill & Bordon CAB was requesting £275
and their statistics showed that 118 enquiries had been made by Kingsley
residents in 2005/06. |
| 06/107 To receive a report from Cllr Herbert on the recent Developers Contributions Workshop held by East Hants District Council |
Cllr Herbert had attended a meeting on 29th September, at the Chairman’s request, on Developers Contributions. She reported that the District Council currently holds more than £1.5 m earmarked for community projects representing contributions from developers collected as part of the planning permission conditions. Of this, £7,232 is currently held for Kingsley and can be used for the development of public open space. At the meeting, it was advised that the government has published draft proposals for all contributions to be collected in future as part of a national scheme and it is not clear how this money would then be handed down to local communities. It was therefore stressed that it was important to make full use of the money available now. Most parishes seem to use their public open space allocation for play area improvements but Horndean has plans to use some for the enhancement of its Churchyard and Headley plans to ask for footpath improvements. Any project needs to improve public open space, not simply maintain it, and the wording of applications is important. Cllr Herbert felt that we might be able to apply for grants to cover the planting planned for Upper Green and the dead wooding of the oak trees if we could show they were part of a project to improve the safety of the playground. It was noted that developers’ contributions had already been approved to fund the re-turfing of the football area and the provision of nets for the goalposts. It might also be possible to argue a case for improvements to the footpath between Dean Farm and Baker’s Corner as it leads to St Nicholas Church which is used for recreation i.e. concerts and to pay for a replacement sign for St Nicholas. The provision of more seats in the area of the cricket green on the common could be an enhancement to an informal open space. At the meeting, Cllr Herbert made the following further points in answer to questions from Councillors: the criteria that do not allow spending on maintenance of public open space are set by central government and cannot be changed locally, claims cannot be made retrospectively and funding reverts to central government if it is not used within 3 years. Following discussion, it was agreed that the Parish Council should ask villagers for their ideas on possible projects to use this money for via the newsletter, which should be accompanied by a full explanation of the criteria that must be met for projects to qualify for funding. |
| 06/108 Planning Matters: responses to applications |
| FF27107/031/FUL/SY
UILDING COMPRISING 4 STABLES, TACK ROOM AND STORE. SAND SCHOOL. SLEAFORD
FARM, FARNHAM ROAD, BORDON |
| 06/109 Report from District Councillor |
| Cllr Womack was not present at the meeting |
| 06/110 Report from Chairman |
| Cllr Neville had sent his apologies |
| 06/111 Reports from Councillors |
| Cllr Herbert reported that she had received no response from the aboricultural officer or the rights of way officer in connection with the dead elms on the pathway from behind Inverallen up to Sleaford Bridge. |
| 06/112 Date of next meeting |
| It
was agreed to change the date of the next Council meeting to Thursday
30th November 2006 from the originally agreed date of 23rd November. Proposed: Cllr Blaber Seconded: Cllr Herbert |
| 06/113 Payments to be made |
|
There being no further business the Meeting closed at 8.55pm