Nash Parish Council

Minutes of the Meeting of Nash Parish Council held on Thursday 19 November 2009 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

Present: Cllr A Taylor (Chairman), Cllr G F Culverhouse, Cllr B Dewhurst, Cllr D Gillow, Cllr E Watts .

Apologies: Cllr Sir John Southby Bt, Cllr C G Tomkins

In Attendance: Mrs M S Hedges (Clerk)

45 Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting on 24 September 2009

Subject to adding “and Winslow” at the end of Minute 38 the Minutes of the meeting on 24 September 2009 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

45 Matters arising from those Minutes

(i) Pub Clubs (Minute 33): The Council noted that Llew Monger had attended the recent lunch organised by the church in Nash Village Hall and had described the Pub Club scheme to those present. He had not received any offers to be a local organiser for Nash. The Council took the view that the existence of the quarterly church lunches and the informal men’s pub group meant that there was likely to be limited demand for a pub lunch club in Nash, given that it would involve travelling out of the village. The Council agreed to advertise the possibility again in the next Village newsletter, but if there was no response, then to let the idea drop.

(ii) Letter from Mr & Mrs Harwood (Minute 35): Cllr Watts report that he had spoken to Mark Harwood. The Harwoods were considering moving the gate to the Bridleway back ten feet, but were not in a position to say when the work would be done.

(iii) Car parked on pavement on Stratford Road (Minute 44(i)): Mrs Hedges reported that the car was no longer being parked in the Stratford Road . Cllr Culverhouse reported that a car was still parked regularly on the pavement outside Corner View Cottage, although not every night.

(iv) Beachampton Road : (Minute 44(ii)): The Council noted that the cars were no longer on display at the roadside.

46 Finance

(i) Payments authorised/approved: The following payments were authorised/approved:

Stephen Quainton: Painting Village pumps 150.00

NJ Blackwell Garden Services: Grass Cutting September 09 220.62

Twentytwenty media limited: ISP service 21/09/09 to 21/09/10 85.00

EON: Electricity Supply Sept 09 27.65

G Smith Groundworks Ltd: Gate Repair 65.00

NJ Blackwell Garden Services: Grass Cutting October 09 287.13

EON: Electricity Supply Oct 09 27.80

The Council noted that half of the cost of the ISP subscription would be reimbursed by the Village Hall Committee in due course.

(ii) Financial position: Mrs Hedges reported that the second half of the precept had been received and that the funds in the Parish Council accounts were:

Current Account 214.63

General Reserve 5,107.97

Recreation Ground Reserve 2,651.66

Total 7,974.26

(iii) Requests for donations: The Council considered requests for donations from Aylesbury Vale Dial-A-Ride and the Sue Ryder Care in respect of the Nettlebed Hospice. Given the removal of the regular Nash bus service the Council agreed to continue to support the Aylesbury Vale Dial-A-Ride service by making a donation of £50. The service should be publicised in the Nash Village Newsletter. The Council agreed not to make any donation to the Nettlebed Hospice as it was unlikely to be used by any Nash resident.

(iv) Budget and precept request for 2010/11: The Council discussed the paper and figures circulated by Mrs Hedges. The Council noted the expected out-turn of a small deficit for 2009/10 and the proposed draft budget for 2010/11, which would require an increase in the precept from £9,000 to £10,000. The Council noted that the increase would cost between £5 and £10 per household in 2010/11. After discussion, the Council approved the draft budget and a precept for 2010/11 of £10,000.

47 Planning

(i) New Applications: The Council noted that there had been no new applications.

(ii) Applications approved: The Council noted that following applications had been approved.

(a) 09/01430/APP Holywell House, Thornton Road, Single storey rear extension

(b) 09/01438/APP 4 Thornborough Road : Erection of a detached garage

(iii) AVDC: Submission of Core Strategy for Examination: NPC noted that this document had been published and was available for inspection. The document had been submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination. The examination hearings were expected to rake place in February 2010.

48 Milton Keynes Expansion/ North Bucks Parishes Planning Consortium

Cllr Culverhouse reported on the meeting of the North Bucks Parishes Planning Consortium on 13 October. Newton Longville residents had now formed an action group. NBPPC had informed them that it was too late to stop the development at Salden Chase, but it might be possible to influence the details of the development. MK Council had made a bid for the Salden Chase development to be part of Milton Keynes rather than Aylesbury Vale. Aylesbury Vale District Council and Buckinghamshire County Council would strongly resist any such change. Consequently NBPPC had not attended the workshop organised by MK Council on 16 November to discuss comments on the working draft of the supplementary planning document. It was unlikely that any cross-boundary issues would be resolved until after the forthcoming General Election.

With regard to the Milton Keynes Local Development Framework Core Strategy Document, Graham Stewart was advising NBPPC on particular points that might be of concern to the Consortium. The Council agreed that Cllr Culverhouse should continue to liaise with Graham Stewart and alert Councillors/the Council if any action was required.

49 CPRE

Cllr Culverhouse reported on CPRE’s concern about the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill which reforms regional planning. An exclusive pursuit by the Government of economic growth could have dire costs for the countryside, and the wider environment. There was a need for sustainable growth.

50 Recreation Ground and other maintenance

(i) Recreation Ground Gate (Minute 40(i)): The Gate had been repaired for £65.

(ii) 2009 Annual Inspection: The Council agreed to use RoSPA again for the 2010 inspection.

(iii) Emptying of the dustbin during 2010: The Council agreed to continue the current practice of emptying the bin in the Recreation Ground and signed up to empty the bins for a month at a time as follows

(iv) Grass Cutting arrangements for 2010: The Council agreed that, if possible, three quotations should be obtained to cut the grass twice a month from March to October 2010, for consideration at the January meeting. The debris should be removed after the first and last cuts and the cut immediately prior to the fete. As previously, the contract should include a limited amount of weed-killing on the paths by the Pond and by the pumps and on the safety surfaces in the Recreation Ground.

(v) Pump at the Village Green (Minute 40 (vi)): Cllr Gillow reported that David Weatherhead had been successful in repairing the pump by the Pond.

Cllrs Culverhouse, Dewhurst and Watts reported on the meeting on 10 November at which the draft Green Infrastructure Plan had been presented to parish councils. NPC noted the particular points that affected Nash and, apart from generalising the desire to obtain land adjacent to the Recreation Ground, the Council agreed that it did not wish to change any of the aspirations in the plan. After discussion, the Council agreed the following motion:

Nash Parish Council recognises the need to provide a framework for Green Infrastructure provision in the local area to meet the needs of existing and new residents and help create sustainable communities. The production of the community-level GI Plan for the Whaddon Chase compliments and gives added detail to the Buckinghamshire Green Infrastructure Strategy produced by the Buckinghamshire Green Infrastructure Consortium in April 2009. All levels of GI Plan, including this Whaddon Chase Plan, will be used by the Council in considering development proposals and assisting with the provision of green infrastructure assets.

(ii) Parish Walk (Minute 41(i)): Cllr Gillow and Mrs Hedges reported on the walk which had taken place with the area co-ordinator and the local area technician (notes of the discussion had been circulated). The visit had increased NPC’s understanding of the role of the “gangs” and of how severe a defect had to be before BCC would add it to its “to do” list. Subsequently the path to the Pond had been cleared of weeds, which was a huge improvement. Mrs Hedges reported that, at 5pm that day, she had been informed that the replacement signpost had been ordered for the junction of the Little Horwood Road and the Winslow Road . The normal delivery time was eight to ten weeks.

In view of the unlikelihood of the road by the Pond being resurfaced, Mrs Hedges said that she would report the various potholes.

(iii) Local Area Forum Delegated Budget Schemes 2010-11 and Priorities Budget: The Council agreed to submit a bid for two salt bins to both these schemes in the hope that one bid might succeed. The total cost was around £800 and so NPC did not believe it was necessary to offer a financial contribution to the project.

(iv) Local Transport Plan 3: The Council noted that this was available on the BCC web-site (www.buckscc.gov.uk/ltp3) and that the deadline for responses was 31 December 2009. Cllr Culverhouse agreed to prepare a draft response on behalf of the Council.

(v) Public Rights of way in Your Parish – ‘Walk your Local Paths’ Initiative: NPC discussed the letter from Mike Walker, Group Manager, Rights of Way and Access about walking local paths and suggesting the possibility of an linking this to some annual event. The Council thought it unlikely that Nash would wish to organise such an event and agreed, as a first step, simply to ask, in the next edition of the Newsletter, for volunteers to walk the paths.

(vi) Bus Services (Minute 41(ii)): NPC noted that the proposed changes to the Bus Services had been implemented and so Nash now had no regular bus service although the Winslow Community Bus provided transport to Winslow, Buckingham and Westcroft a few times a month.

(i) Freighter Service: The Council noted that the freighter service would next visit Nash on Thursday 28 January from 7.30am to 11 am.

(ii) Community Governance Review: The Council noted the terms of the current review. It agreed that it did not wish to change the number of parish councillors and so did not wish to comment on the review.

(iii) Gambling Act 2005: Licensing Policy (Minute 42(iii)): The Council noted that Cllrs Taylor and Gillow had agreed that there was no need for Nash Parish Council or the Village Hall Committee to respond.

(ii) The Council agreed to meet on the following dates in 2009/2010 which were the third Thursdays of alternate months together with Annual Parish Meeting on the second Thursday in May:

Old Planning Documents: The Council recognised that there was no requirement to keep old planning documents as AVDC had copies and all recent documents were available on the AVDC web-site. However, since Cllr Tomkins had stored these documents for many years, the Council was reluctant to discard them. Accordingly, Cllr Watts offered to store the three filing cabinets. Cllr Watts would contact Cllr Tomkins.