Nash
Parish Council
Present:
Cllr A Taylor, Cllr G F Culverhouse, Cllr B Dewhurst, Cllr D Gillow, Cllr
Sir John Southby Bt, Cllr E Watts, Cllr B Wyke (from Minute 3 onwards).
Apologies:
None
1
Appointment of Chairman
Cllr Taylor left the
room. On a proposal by Cllr Southby, seconded by Cllr Gillow, Cllr Taylor was
unanimously elected Chairman. Cllr
Taylor then returned to the room and signed the Declaration
of Acceptance of Office Form.
2
Co-option of a Parish Councillor
Cllr Taylor reported that Mr Wyke had volunteered to serve as
a Parish Councillor. On a proposal by Cllr Southby, seconded by Cllr Gillow,
Nash Parish Council agreed unanimously to co-opt Mr Wyke as a member of the
Parish Council. Cllr Wyke then signed the declaration of office and joined the
meeting.
3
Appointment of officers
(i)
Vice Chairman: The
Council agreed to defer electing a Vice-Chairman.
(ii)
Internal
Auditor: Cllr
(iii)
Emergency Planning Officer: Cllr
4
Use of cars by Members and Officers: insurance cover
Members
were advised to check with the providers of their car insurance that their cover
defined as “use for social domestic and pleasure purposes” included cover
when travelling on Nash Parish Council business including driving other members
of the Council to meetings.
5
Internal arrangements for considering planning applications
The
Council agreed to continue the existing arrangements whereby the Chairman plus
two other Councillors approve the comments made to AVDC on planning
applications.
6
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting on 18 March and 27 April 2010
These were approved and signed by the Chairman.
7
Matters arising from the Minutes
(i)
Tree Warden (Minute 78): Mrs
Hedges reported that Mr Simon Green had volunteered to be Tree Warden.
The Council accepted this offer with alacrity and appointed Mr Green as
Tree Warden for Nash. They noted
that Mr Green was a qualified arborist and so it would normally be necessary to
get competitive quotes when he recommended that work be done to trees on Parish
Council land.
(ii) AVDC Draft Community Cohesion Strategy: Cllr Taylor outlined the response he had made on behalf of the Council. Nash PC had commented that the policy did not take account of Gypsy and Travellers sites.
8
Finance
(i)
Parish
Council Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2010: These
had been circulated together with a written report.
Mrs Hedges explained that there had been fewer repairs required in the
second half of the year than she had estimated when the outturn had been
estimated in November. Accordingly the Council had made a surplus of £561 on
the year so that the balance on the general fund at 31 March 2010 was £3,317,
an increase of £559 on the 2009 balance of £2,758. The balance on the
Recreation Ground Reserve was £2,653, an increase of £2. After
noting these points, on a proposal by Cllr Taylor, seconded by Cllr Southby, the
Council agreed unanimously to approve the accounts for 2009/10.
(ii)
Audit 2009/2010: The
Council noted the different format of the forms that had to be submitted to the
external Auditor. After noting that it was the Council itself that took
responsibility of the Governance statement attached to the Finance Report and
that the Council had reviewed its insurance schedule at its March meeting, the
Council approved unanimously the submission that had been signed by Mr Kelsey.
(iii) Payments authorised: The following payments were authorised/ approved:
£
a)
Nash
Village Hall Ctte, Hire Village Hall, Oct 09 to March 10 82.50
b)
EON,
Street Lighting Maintenance (Qtr to
31/03/10)
41.25
c)
NJ Blackwell Garden Services,
Grass Cutting March 10
261.45
d)
EON,
Electricity Supply March 10
27.80
e)
BALC,
Annual Subscription
64.50
f)
John Hamilton, Work
to Trees on the Village Green
25.00
g)
David
Gillow,
Materials for repairs
25.97
h)
NJ
i)
EON,
Electricity Supply April 10
27.80
j)Sir John Southby,
Latch for gate in Playground
7.07
k)
Came & Co, Insurance
for 1 June 2010 to 31 May 2011
870.33
(iv)
Financial position: The
Council had received the first part of the precept (£5,000) and the total funds
in the Parish Council accounts at 20 May after all the above payments had been
taken into account were:
Cash
((found by JS in playground)
.40
Current
Account
934.89
General
Reserve
4,709.15
Recreation
Ground Reserve
3,652.58
Total
9,297.02
(v)
Requests
for donations: The
Council noted that Community Impact Bucks had requested a donation of £25.
After noting that an annual subscription had been paid to the predecessor
body of Bucks Community Action in October the Council agreed, nevertheless, to
make a donation of £25 at the present time.
(vi)
Insurance: The Council noted that the insurance premium took into
account NPC’s three year commitment and the 5% no claims discount.
The policy excess remained at £250 for each claim.
(vii)
Signatories
on the Council’s bank account:
Mrs Hedges reported that, on phoning the bank that afternoon, she had discovered
that the signatories on the account had still not been changed despite a second
form having been completed and taken to the bank. The bank noted that the form
had been given to HSBC Bletchley by Cllr Gillow when he visited the bank to
confirm his identity. HSBC were
investigating and Mrs Hedges would continue to pursue.
(viii)
Accounts
of Village Societies:
Cllrs Gillow and Southby reported that Mrs Firth had told them that the
Youth Club had decided to forgo any grant from the Parish Council for the years
2008/09 and 2009/10. The Youth Club
had sufficient funds at present and did not intend to produce accounts for those
years, which the Parish Council agreed was a prerequisite for receiving any
grant from NPC.
9
Planning
(i)
New
Applications: The
Council noted the following new applications and confirmed the comments already
made by the Council:
a)
10/00775/AHR Land
at Yew Tree Farm off Stratford Road Nash Removal
of Hedgerow While
Nash Parish Council would not normally support the removal of hedgerow, in view
of the condition of the hedge and the size of the field, NPC has no objection to
this application.
b)
10/00919/APP
(ii)
Applications
approved: The
Council noted that AVDC had approved the following applications:
a)
10/00276/APP
36 Holywell Cottages: Front,
rear and first floor side extension.
b)
10/00445/APP
Brakes Farm,
(ii)
Other planning
matters:
a)
10/00680/APP Land
opposite Causter Farm, Nash Road, Great Horwood Change
of use of land from agricultural use to use as a residential caravan site by
stationing on the land of 11 mobile homes in residential use, 11 touring
caravans, 11 utility dayrooms and associated roadways, hardstanding and drainage
works.
The Council noted various articles that had appeared in the
national press about gypsy sites in other parts of the country. The Daily Mail
had quoted Eric Pickles,
the new Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, as saying that
“Gipsies and travellers are to lose the right to flout planning laws”.
Cllr
Southby reported on a recent conversation with AVDC Cllr Sue Polhill, who was
Chairman of AVDC’s Development and Control Committee.
It seemed that it would be some weeks before the application would be
considered by the Committee in view of the number of surveys that had been
requested.
After a
wide ranging discussion about the various aspects of this planning application,
the Council agreed that its priority was to get the instructions to the planning
inspectors changed so that a refusal of the application by AVDC was not
subsequently reversed by the planning inspectorate.
The Council
approved the circulated draft letter to Buckingham MP John Bercow and agreed
that a letter should also be sent to Mr Eric Pickles, MP.
The Council
agreed to return to the other matters it had discussed at its July meeting.
This would include points made at the Annual Parish Meeting, about the
style of gates and fences permitted in the countryside.
The Council
also noted that it had been reported that Gypsies had bought land adjacent to
the A421, between the junctions with the roads from Great Horwood and Little
Horwood. The Council noted the
concerns of residents about who might purchase the land immediately south of the
b)
Furzenfields
Farm (in
c)
High
Speed Rail Link: Mrs
Hedges reported that she had responded to the consultation about the Exceptional
Hardship Scheme saying that NPC supported a scheme that involved all the
publicly proposed routes – i.e. including the two alternative routes, one of
which affected Nash. It was
understood that the new Government was considering whether there was a business
case for such a large investment. The
Council agreed that further information was needed before it would be clear
whether major lobbying would be required, perhaps in conjunction with
Beachampton, Whaddon and the Horwoods. In
the meantime, Mrs Hedges was asked to contact AVDC and BCC to ask what their
current position was on the proposed High Speed Rail Link to clarify whether
there had been any changes of opinion since the BCC pamphlet was issued in early
April.
10
SE Plan/Milton Keynes Expansion/North Bucks Parishes Planning Consortium
Cllr
Culverhouse reported that NBPPC would meet on 23 June.
In the meantime AVDC was consulting on an outline planning application in
respect of the Salden Chase development near Newton Longville.
NPC agreed that it should comment as it was important to avoid
“rat-running” through Nash, particularly as Nash might be used as a
cut-through for cars seeking to go north on the M1 or go to Northampton.
Cllr Culverhouse was asked to draft the Council’s response.
11
Annual Parish Meeting held on 13 May 2010
Copies
of the unconfirmed Minutes of this meeting had been circulated.
The
Council agreed to proceed with the proposal to install a bench in the Recreation
Ground in recognition of the long service to Nash by Christopher Tomkins as
Chairman of NPC. Mrs Hedges was
asked to seek contributions from Nash residents in the next edition of the
Village Newsletter – the cost of the bench being underwritten by Nash Parish
Council. It was agreed that, to facilitate mowing, the bench should be inset
into the fence around the playground.
12
The
Council noted that the Chairman had approved the holding of the Fete on the
Recreation Ground on Saturday 12 June. The event would be covered by Nash
Village Hall Insurance.
13
Recreation Ground and other maintenance
(i)
Play
Inspection Report: This had not yet been received.
(ii)
Repairs in the
Recreation Ground:
Cllr Southby reported that Blackwells had still to apply the weed-killer
in the Recreation Ground and at the pumps.
14
Buckinghamshire County Council
(i)
Local Area
Committee Meeting 25 March 2010:
The Council noted Cllr Culverhouse’s report which had been attached.
The subsequent meeting would be on 24 June.
(ii)
Highway Repairs:
The Council received Mrs Hedges’ note of a discussion with the Local Area
Technician that had been circulated.
(iii)
Speed Limit Review, Area 14: Cllrs Southby
and Gillow reported on the briefing meeting they had attended.
BCC were applying a uniform policy across the whole of the county.
Cllr Gillow tabled the proposals – the 30mph limit to be extended past
the last house in
(iv)
(v)
Bus stops and
timetables: The
Council agreed to ask BCC to remove the timetables from the bus-stops as there
was no longer a regular service. It
would also improve the appearance of the village if the bus-stops were removed,
although the Winslow Community Bus did use some of the existing stops to pick up
passengers. The Council discussed
whether the bus shelter by the allotments should be removed – as this would be
the responsibility of the Parish Council and was a source of shelter for
allotment holders and residents walking round the village, the Council agreed to
leave the bus shelter for the time being.
15
Aylesbury Vale District Council
Village Freighter
Service:
The Council noted that the next visit of the Freighter Service would be
on Thursday 8 July from 7.30am to 11am. (The
subsequent visit would be 27 January 2011)
16
Woodland Trust
The
Council considered an invitation to organise a local community event in August
2010 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the planting of trees in College
Copse. In view of the fact that the Village Hall Social Committee had already
planned its programme of events for the summer, and the fact that College Copse
was not in Nash Parish, the Council decided to decline the invitation.
17
Anti-social behaviour
A
number of councillors reported instances of anti-social behaviour.
The Council agreed that the appropriate mechanism was to report this to
the police. It was suggested that
Gloria Chaplin might include something about this in her section of the next
village Newsletter, with the contact number of our PCSO or other appropriate
contact.
18
Dates of meetings
The
Council noted that the dates of the remaining meetings in 2010/11 were:
2010:
22 July; 16
September; 18 November;
2011: 20 January; 17 March
There being
no further business the meeting closed at 9.30 p.m.
MH/21.05.10