Nash Parish Council

Minutes of the Meeting of Nash Parish Council held on Thursday 17 November 2011 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.

Present: Cllr A Taylor, Cllr G F Culverhouse, Cllr E Redshaw, Cllr Sir John Southby Bt, Cllr E Watts, Cllr L York

Apologies: Cllr B Wyke. (The Council noted that Cllr Wyke was in hospital and agreed that this was sufficient reason for his missing the meeting.)

In Attendance: Mrs M S Hedges (Clerk).

The formal Parish Council meeting was preceded by an open meeting with residents to discuss the planning application for nine houses on the Church Farm site. Mrs Raven and Mr Wickson (applicants), Mr Brown (architect), and Mr Carter, Mr Hamilton and Mr Davies (residents) attended this meeting.

42 Planning applications 11/02140/APP &11/02295/ALB Land at Stratford Road Demolition of farm buildings (barn and timber shelters) and erection of 9 dwellings

Cllr Taylor introduced this item by saying that these proposals, which had been developed in consultation with AVDC officers, were much better than the proposals of March 2009 to which NPC had objected strongly. The Council was pleased to see that some of their suggestions (such as two-bedroomed houses) had been adopted in the current proposals. Cllr Taylor rehearsed a number of the issues of concern that had been raised by residents and these were discussed with the applicants and their architect.

After the visitors had left the meeting, members of the Council agreed the general terms in which NPC should comment on the application. Mrs Hedges agreed to email/deliver a draft to Councillors by 5pm on Friday 18^th with a view to getting comments back from Councillors by first thing on Monday morning, so that the comments, as amended, could be emailed to AVDC on Monday 21 November, which was the deadline. The agreed final comments are attached to these minutes.

Cllr Taylor reported that the “off-site financial contribution in lieu of on-site leisure facilities” would be £31k. Mrs Hedges reported on her intital investigation of the purposes these funds could be used for and agreed to make further enquiries.

43 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: Nash Parish Council noted with dismay that the Planning Inspector had given Temporary Permission for the residential caravan site for a period of four years from 3 November 2011. While the Inspector had accepted that the site caused significant visual harm and was not a site that he would expect to be approved on a permanent basis, the lack of alternative Travellers sites within Aylesbury Vale had led him to conclude, on balance, that the applicants should be given temporary permission for four years by which time AVDC should have provided suitable alternative sites.

In view of the large amount of work put into Nash’s submission to AVDC and the Inspector, the Council agreed to make a token present to Mr Matthew Collings to say thank you. Mrs Hedges would organise.

44 Minutes of the meeting on 15 September These were approved and signed by the Chairman

45 Matters arising from the Minutes:

a) Website (Minute 33 (ii)): Mrs Hedges reported that Sarah Drew had done some work but she was not yet in a position to provide a demonstration of her proposals.

b) Chapel Lane Hedge (Minute 37(v)): NPC noted that this hedge had been cut in October.

46 Finance

a) Payments authorised: The following payments were authorised/ approved:

EON: Electricity supply, September 2011 20.32

EON: Electricity supply, October 11 20.32

EON: Street Lighting Maintenance (Qtr to 30/9/11) 41.25

Nash Village Hall Cttee: Hire of Hall: April to Sept 2011 127.50

NJ Blackwell Garden Services: Grass Cutting September 2011 234.80

NJ Blackwell Garden Services: Grass Cutting October 2011 269.80

Twentytwentymedia Ltd: Website hosting* 85.00

* half of this sum was refunded by Nash Village Hall Committee

b) Financial position: The Council noted that the total funds in the Parish Council accounts at 9 November were

Current Account 225.72

General Reserve 8,763.96

Recreation Ground Reserve 3,656.31

Total 12,645.99

The donation (£50) for the Community First Responder was still outstanding. The second instalment of the precept (£5,000) had been received on 29 September.

c) Requests for donations

i) Aylesbury Vale Dial –A –Ride: NPC noted that this charity provided a door to door transport service for people who found it difficult to use other forms of public transport. NPC had made annual donations of £50 for the five years 2006 to 2010. In 2011, the donation had been reduced to £25 as no-one in Nash any longer subscribed to the service. NPC was not aware of any-one in Nash currently making use of the service and agreed to make a further token donation of £25.

ii) Nash Whaddon Street Party: Sir John Southby,Bt, as Treasurer of the Street Party Committee has written to Nash and Whaddon Parish Councils asking if each of them would make a donation of £500 towards the expenses of the Street Party, in order to keep ticket prices down. (Cllr Southby declared an interest as Treasurer of the Street Party Committee and the Village Hall Committee, and as a relation of the person receiving payment for providing the lighting and sound. Cllr York declared an interest as a member of the Street Party Committee). After a brief discussion, the Council agreed to make a donation of up to £500 if the Street Party required some funds to enable it to balance its books.

d) Budget and precept request for 2012/13: The Council discussed the budget paper prepared by Mrs Hedges. After noting the various figures, and assuming that its financial position did not change significantly before the January submission deadline, NPC agreed to seek an unchanged precept of £10k for 2012/13.

47 Planning

a) New Applications: The Council noted the new applications and the comments made on them.

i) 11/02157/AEL Rebuild and replace 2.7 km of overhead lines between Great Horwood and Nash: Nash Parish Council has no objections as we believe that this line needs rebuilding. However, for accuracy, on the plan submitted there is a pole missing as a fairly recent spur line has been added to supply the games establishment. We assume that the new pole (marked X on the attached plan) will have to be retained.

ii) 11/02144/APP Gransden Lodge, 36B High Street Single storey rear extension and alteration to the garage: No objection

b) Application approved: The Council noted that the following application had been approved.

i) 11/01457/APP Tithe Cottage Demolition of garage. Erection of picket fence and erection of summerhouse

c) Application refused: The Council noted that the following application had been refused.

i) 11/00528/APP Holywell Farm House, Thornton Road Erection of a detached two storey dwelling

d) Other Planning Matters:

i) Vale of Aylesbury Plan: Possible Neighbourhood Plan. The Council considered a paper summarising the responses to the consultation with residents. The Council note that responses had been received from between 25% and 30% of houses in the village and that the vast majority of those believed that only very small infill development was appropriate for Nash. The Council confirmed its view that the Council itself did not have the resources to prepare a formal neighbourhood plan and that the lack of any support for any significant development within the village meant that it would largely be a paper exercise. Mrs Hedges and Cllr Taylor were asked to prepare a suitable response to AVDC.

ii) Consultation on Neighbourhood planning regulations: Cllr Taylor reported that the Government had initiated this consultation exercise. The Council agreed that it would not submit any comments.

iii) Consultation on Community Infrastructure Levy: Cllr Taylor that the Government had initiated this consultation exercise. The Council agreed that it would not submit any comments.

48 North Bucks Parishes Planning Consortium

Cllr Culverhouse reported that NBPPC had commented on a post-submission change to the MK Core Strategy. NBPPC had again emphasized that development of Milton Keynes to the east should not be limited by the M1. The next meeting was on 10 January.

49 Consultation on parliamentary constituencies boundaries

The Council noted the changes proposed for the Buckingham Parliamentary Constituency but agreed not to comment.

50 Recreation Ground and other maintenance

a) Goal Posts (Minute 37(i)): The Council noted that Mr Ian Watts had welded metal to the bottom of the posts and painted them so that they should last for some years. Cllr Taylor reported that some considerable time ago, the Council had purchased nets for the goal posts but they didn’t appear ever to have been installed. Cllr Southby agreed to make enquiries.

b) Youth Club Bench (Minute 37(ii)): This had still to be installed.

c) Emptying of the dustbin during 2012: Councillors agreed the following rota for the emptying of the dustbin in the Recreation Ground on during 2012.

d) Grass Cutting arrangements for 2012: The Council agreed that, if possible, three quotations should be obtained for the cutting of the grass twice a month from March to October, 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.

a) Local Area Forum: The Council noted Cllr Culverhouse’s report on the meeting on 29 September that had been emailed to Councillors on 7 October. Cllr Culverhouse agreed to attend the next meeting is on 15 December, as Cllr Wyke was unlikely to be well enough to attend. The Council would review at the next meeting whether an additional or different alternate for Cllr Culverhouse should be nominated.

b) Speed Limit Review Area 14: Mrs Hedges reported that the speed review of Area 14 had now been completed and it had been agreed that the whole of Nash within the Village name-plate signs should be covered by a 30mph limit. It was likely that this would be implemented next summer, assuming appropriate budgetary provision was included in BCC’s budget for 2012/13.

c) Road outside Greenside/Pond House (Minute 39(ii)): The Council noted that BCC had taken the view that the condition of the road surface beyond the new surface was satisfactory so there was no need to take the new surface further.

d) Salt Bin: The Council noted that the new salt bin had been installed on the Whaddon Road and that all the salt bins had been filled. Cllr Southby raised again the state of the salt bin outside Ringle Crouch. Mrs Hedges agreed to raise this again with BCC.

e) Road Sign between the Pond and the Cross (Minute 39(v)): The Council noted that this sign had now been rotated back to its correct position. Cllr Watts queried whether the sign for motorists should indicate that Wood End is a cul-de-sac.

f) Scrutiny Review into Transport for Buckinghamshire services: The Council noted that comments were being sought about the service provided by the Transport for Buckinghamshire Services. Mrs Hedges was asked to respond pointing out the times at which there had been long delays in getting necessary repairs done, although Nash had been pleased to have two roads resurfaced this summer.

g) Switching off street lights to save energy trial: The Council noted That BCC was seeking views on whether the trial of switching off of lights on certain highways to save energy had been a success (letter dated 19 October). As none of the roads concerned affected Nash, NPC agreed not to comment.

h) Grass cutting of verges: The Council noted that from 2012 BCC would use its own contractors to cut the highway verges within villages (instead of sub-contracting to AVDC). Mrs Hedges understood that it was intended to continue with ten cuts per season. Cllr Southby commented that the contractors had, generally, made a better job of cutting the verges in 2011.

i) Minerals and Waste Core Strategy Submission Development Plan (Minute 39(iv)): Cllr York reported that, after studying the document, he had taken the view that there was no need for NPC to respond.

Mrs Hedges reported that it had been suggested that there should be a public access defibrillator located in the village. The idea was that this piece of the equipment would be located on the outside of a building with electricity so that when a call was made to the emergency services they could advise on its use and so save time before an ambulance or the Community First Responder (if he was on call) arrive. As the only public buildings in the village were listed buildings (the Church and the Village Hall) and the likely cost of the equipment was £3k, the Council agreed that it would not be possible to have such a public access defibrillator in Nash.

b) Dates of meetings in 2012/2013: The Council agreed to continue to meet on the third Thursdays of alternate months. The Annual Parish Meeting would take place a week before the May Council meeting

a) Land adjacent to North Bucks Bridleway: The Council took the view that the new gate (and adjacent fence) into paddock immediately south of the North Bucks Way on the west side of the Winslow Road was totally inappropriate. Mrs Hedges was asked to check the approved plans and raise with AVDC.

b) Road sign on the Whaddon Road: Cllr Watts reported that one of the supports for this sign had been damaged. Mrs Hedges agreed to report to AVDC.