Pages 1264 to 1267
May 2008
Minutes of the Meeting of Sherington Parish Council held on Tuesday 6th May 2008 in Sherington Village Hall commencing at 7.30pm.
PRESENT: Cllrs Peter Burton (Chair), Peter Cook, David Keene, Ian Thomson, David Hyde and Lisa Masters
ALSO ATTENDING: Wendy Austyn (Clerk), and 7 public.
1. TO ELECT THE CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN
Cllr Keene nominated Cllr Burton to be Chairman, seconded by Cllr Thomson and Cllr Burton accepted; Cllr Thomson nominated Cllr Cook to be Vice Chairman, seconded by Cllr Hyde and Cllr Cook accepted.
2. TO CO-OPT NEW COUNCILLOR
Lisa Masters was co-opted on to the parish council. She signed a Declaration of Acceptance of Office and submitted a Register of Interests.
3. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Cllr Wright.
4. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
None.
5. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING
The minutes of the meeting held on 1st April 2008 were agreed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
6. CLERK’S REPORT
Street lighting and under grounding. All of the under grounding and street lighting connections are now complete. One wooden pole outside the village hall remains to be removed and one steel column on Crofts End is to be cut off below ground level. The clerk will inform MKC and Aylesbury Mains that they can now test the new lights and mark the numbers on to them. ACTION: Clerk
Dog Bins. Posters advertising the new dog bins have been put on the notice boards, unfortunately due to a technical error the poster did not make it into SCAN magazine. This will now take place in June, followed by visits from MKC Enforcement officers who will bring more posters and stickers to place around the village. ACTION: Clerk
Bus Shelter. The drawings for the hard standing are still awaited from MKC as the first ones were located in the wrong position. The granite kerb setts for the new level access kerb have a 4 month lead time, it was agreed that these were worth waiting for. ACTION: Clerk
Anglian Water – surface water sewer and ditch. Stephen Portlock is currently considering ‘maintenance free solutions’ for the surface water sewer and intends to clear out the ditch behind Smiths Yard at the same time. It was agreed to await results of his meeting in early May and then chase for progress. ACTION: Clerk
MKC Highways – Water Lane. Mark Bennett has informed the council that the scheme to kerb, reconstruct and reprofile the road outside 43 Water Lane has not been successful for 2008/09 and will be resubmitted for 2009/10. It was agreed to respond to this refusal of spending with disappointment and ask if any funding can be found from elsewhere. Cllr Burton will contact the owner of 43 Water Lane. ACTION: Clerk, Cllr Burton
7. PARISH PLAN
The clerk read out a report submitted by Cllr Wright in his absence. He has spoken to Bob Wilson from MKC and Sarah Allwood from Bucks Community Action who have both provided useful information. He will arrange a meeting with Sarah Allwood and if appropriate then produce a full draft for the June meeting. ACTION: Cllr Wright
8. FINANCE
Monthly balances. Enterprise Account £31894.25; Treasurer Account £2678.91
Cheques for payment were as follows:
| 06/05/2008 | A H Contracts | Dog bins | £84.22 | 101560 |
| 06/05/2008 | Wendy Austyn | Clerk’s salary | £322.31 | 101561 |
| 06/05/2008 | Wendy Austyn | Clerk’s expenses | £35.25 | 101562 |
| 06/05/2008 | Bucks Playing Fields Assoc | Subscriptions | £20.00 | 101563 |
| 06/05/2008 | Raymond Graham | Perry Lane grounds man | £240.00 | 101564 |
| 06/05/2008 | Peter Hammond Associates | Quantity Surveyor pavilion | £70.50 | 101565 |
| 06/05/2008 | Colin Scowen | Perry Lane caretaker | £25.00 | 101566 |
| 06/05/2008 | Nina Beal | Pavilion cleaner | £56.00 | 101567 |
| 06/05/2008 | Allianz Insurance plc | Insurance | £1,289.96 | 101568 |
Sherington Toddler Group funding request. Donna Leahy has requested some money for aprons. It was agreed to donate £40. ACTION: Clerk
Approve cost of VH play area bench repair A quote of £95 from Sean Cowley was agreed. ACTION: Clerk
Year End accounts These are currently with the internal auditor and will be available for inspection on weekdays from 21st July to 15th August, after which the Annual Return will be sent to the external auditor. ACTION: Clerk
New councillor training. BALC are hosting training for new councillors at MKC on 20th June. Cllr Masters expressed an interest in attending. Cost £39 per councillor. ACTION: Clerk
9. PLANNING
08/00450/FUL 24 Gun Lane. Amendments to original application to demolish bungalow and build a two storey house. There were no adverse comments.
08/00572/FUL 38 Water Lane – demolish garage and build new double garage. A neighbour had made the clerk aware of his concern over a potential new driveway however the application makes no mention of this. There were no adverse comments.
Planning Decisions Both of the applications for 45 High St to convert existing barn into a dwelling and to extend the house have been refused; the application from 25 Crofts End to alter garage and dormer windows has been approved; as has the application to erect a horse shelter at 3 End Farm, Water Lane; and the application for an extension and conservatory to 4 Village Close has also been approved.
10. SHERINGTON SPORTS GROUND
Pavilion building project. Cllr Burton reported that the MKC Parish Partnership Fund has awarded £15000 to this project; a response from the Football Foundation should be received within two months; a funding application has been submitted to Awards For All; and that building work is now anticipated to commence in August . ACTION: Cllr Burton
Pavilion management committee. Cllr Thomson has been away so was not able to progress this; he will now approach potential committee members, together with the paid contractors to hold an initial meeting. ACTION: Cllr Thomson
Caretaker position. Colin Scowen from 9 Hillview has agreed to take on the responsibility for the car park gates and bins, and seems keen to get involved with other duties too. It was agreed to have a meeting with him to go over the caretaker role and discuss any pertinent issues such as increased litter and youths playing ball games in the car park. It was agreed to pay him £50 per month from May. ACTION: Clerk, Cllr Cook
Graffiti in play area. A report has been received of graffiti on the play area picnic table. The parish council has a graffiti removal kit, and the clerk will look into getting a graffiti resistant surface for the table. ACTION: Clerk
Youths in car park. A Hillview resident has contacted the parish council with concerns over youths kicking balls into his elderly mother in laws back garden; police were also invited to a meeting with other Hillview residents on the same subject. Whilst the issue of youths from outside the village would seem to have been resolved with the resumption of the gates being closed, the issue of youths from within the village remains. Members of the public were included in the discussion which included ideas of putting railings around the buildings and having a separate goal wall in the recreation ground, and contacting any known youths to ask them personally to be more respectful of the No Ball Games signs. At this point it was agreed to place a notice in SCAN magazine highlighting the issues. ACTION: Clerk
Pitch/pavilion hire. Argos will be holding its summer football tournament from May to July; the Twinning Association will be using the pavilion on 13th July.
11. EXTERNAL MEETINGS
Streetcare walkabout 1st June. Cllrs Burton and Thomson and the clerk walked around the village with Nick Wood the new Area Maintenance manager. It is confirmed that the remainder of Hillview footpaths will be resurfaced this summer, along with Chicheley Hill and probably Alban Hill. Resurfacing of the High St has been postponed until 2009. Ian McGregor has suggested making Crofts End the priority for kerbing.
Stone pits Close site visit Sunday 18th May 10.30am. Cllrs were reminded of this. ACTION: Cllr Keene
MKNECAF Wed 4th June Emberton pavilion. It was agreed to ask for the cycle path to be included on the agenda; and for a note to be sent to the former chairperson regarding the absence of MKC officers at these meetings, leading to non-answerable reports being read out by colleagues. ACTION: Clerk
12. CORRESPONDENCE
Notice of Traffic Order outside Sherington School. A letter has been received confirming the intended enforcement of the traffic order, preventing parking on the zig zag markings.
Proposal of 40mph speed limit on Alban Hill. Following the request for the parish council’s comments on this proposal, this has now entered the official consultation stage.
Flower Festival July 08. Following an invitation from the organisers, it was agreed to contribute £50 for flowers to be arranged on the parish council’s behalf. ACTION: Clerk
Beer and Sausage Festival. A letter has been received from a Church Road resident complaining about events which occurred during the bank holiday weekend at the White Hart, the details of which have been passed to Keith Shepherd.
13. PUBLIC COMMENTS
A resident expressed concern over the size of the new barn being constructed at Manor Farm.
Possible evidence of smoking illegal substances has been found in the preschool play area at the village hall. Cllrs were reminded to be vigilant in their checking of this area and it was agreed to place a notice in SCAN. The clerk will also speak to the pre-school supervisors. ACTION: Clerk
It was acknowledged that the new 40mph speed limit on Alban Hill would lead to increased road signage; concern was also raised over road markings being removed before the new speed limit was in place.
14. COUNCILLORS ITEMS
Cllr Cook responded to the public comment that he too was disappointed with the visual impact of the new barn, but added that with cladding and landscaping this would be softened in due course. He also added that the new barn would result in considerably reduced levels of noise and dust than exists currently.
Cllr Masters reported having read an article in SCAN from the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre offering support and funding to implement energy saving measures in public buildings, it was agreed to investigate this further. ACTION: Cllr Masters
Cllr Masters passed on concerns from the resident of 15 Crofts End about the ditch on the border of this property that is severely eroded and a blocked drain. ACTION: Clerk
Cllr Burton noted that it has been six months since the visit from the MKC Emergency Planning team, who intend to draw up a draft emergency plan for rural parishes using Sherington as its pilot parish. It was agreed to chase progress on this. ACTION: Clerk
15. DATE OF NEXT MEETING The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 3rd June 2008 at the Village Hall commencing at 7.30pm. There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.35 pm
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