Annual Parish Meeting

Present: Alan Taylor (Chair), Marjorie Bell, Gloria Chaplin, Geoffrey Culverhouse, Barbara Dewhurst, Henry Eggleston, John Hamilton, Margaret Hedges, Miles Hedges, John King, Margaret Morgan, Sir John Southby Bt, Ron Unwin, Edwin Watts, Barry Wyke, Hilary Young.

1 Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 14 May 2009

The Minutes were approved by the meeting and signed by the Chairman.

2 Matters arising from the above Minutes: None

3 Annual Report of the Parish Council for 2009/10: This report was tabled at the meeting and introduced by the Chairman. The following additional points were noted:

a) Christopher Tomkins: Cllr Taylor outlined the proposal to install a bench in the Recreation Ground just outside the Play Area and facing towards Cllr Tomkins’ house in recognition of his forty year’s service on the Council and his part in the Council’s acquiring and equipping the Recreation Ground. The intention would be to install a quality bench with a plaque and to invite residents of Nash to contribute to its cost, but with the cost being underwritten by the Parish Council. It was known that the Youth Club and some others would be likely to make donations. This proposal was supported by the meeting.

b) Land opposite Causter Farm: “ Nash Park ” Gypsy site: There was an extended discussion of the circumstances surrounding the establishment of this site and the reports in the media of the establishment of similar sites in other parts of the country. Cllr Taylor said that the Daily Mail had reported that there were confidential guidelines to planning inspectors instructing them to let most applications for Gypsy sites through at the appeal stage. This was of particular concern to NPC and, at its meeting the following week, the Council would be discussing what action to take, including writing to John Bercow, MP to ask for his help in getting the instructions to the planning inspectors changed. In the course of the discussion the following points were made:

· Because a range of villages across the country are affected, there would be a better chance of getting changes if a number of MPs were lobbied on this issue.

· In Southern Ireland , the action of establishing a gypsy site without planning permission was be a criminal offence rather than a civil offence.

· The opportunities for the gypsies to purchase land were increased because there were now fewer large landowners.

· Under the current rules, the use of pasture for keeping horses was regarded as a change of use from agriculture.

· South Northamptonshire would not allow the closed board fencing that had been used in a number of recent cases where stables had been erected and as had been used to surround the gypsy site.

· South Cambridgeshire had a number of gypsy sites and had succeeded to enforcing the removal of at least one in an inappropriate location.

Cllr Taylor said that the Parish Council would discuss the next steps at their meeting the following week and would consult with Great Horwood Parish Council.

The meeting agreed to express its thanks to Matthew Collings who had drafted the response in behalf of the Parish Council.

c) North Bucks Parishes Planning Consortium: Cllr Culverhouse explained the location of the Salden Chase development where outline planning permission had just been sought. With this large development and that of the Western Expansion Area of Milton Keynes, Nash would be close to two new major residential developments. It would be important to avoid traffic “rat-running” through the village.

d) Winter maintenance: The meeting noted that Nash would have suffered even more severely if wind had caused snow drifts which had cut off the village. BCC no longer supplier any local farmer with a snow plough to attach to a tractor to clear local roads when BCC staff were fully engaged with major routes. In future years Nash should make a point of asking BCC for help when snow was likely to last more than a day or so.

e) Area 14 Speed Review: Cllr Southby reported on the briefing of the Speed Limit Review that was about to take place in North Buckinghamshire , including Nash. There were strict guidelines so as to ensure consistency across the county. Apart from a small part of Thornborough Road , it seemed unlikely that any more of Nash would be covered by a 30mph limit. However, the rest of the village would be covered by a 40mph limit. In response to a question, Cllr Southby said that it was not possible to have repeater signs in a 30mph speed restricted area, but Nash could ask for “30” to be painted on the road. Cllrs Southby and Gillow were thanked for attending the meeting.

f) Children’s entertainment: Cllr Gillow was thanked for his part in ensuring that the Village Hall was full when the entertainers visited in August 2009. [1]

g) Neighbourhood Action Group: Mrs Chaplin described the work of the monthly meetings of this group. This was a forum in which matters could be raised with the Police – particularly the police community support officers. Mrs Chaplin said that speeding was the commonest matter raised at these meetings. Further, if any villager saw anything that they thought was suspicious, they should report it to her, preferably with the relevant vehicle registration number, so that she could report it to the police who would investigate and see whether the vehicle was in the neighbourhood again. Other matters of concern were parking and the need for yellow lines outside the Village Hall, because of the proximity of the entrance of the Village Hall car park to the bend in the Stratford Road . Mrs Chaplin reported that the police had requested that NPC provide the names of the owners of all the properties and fields around Nash. NPC did not have this information – but it was publically available on the Land Registry web-site. Mrs Chaplin was thanked for her work with the NAG.

4 Matters raised by Local Government Electors on the current Electoral Roll

High Speed Rail Link: The meeting discussed the implications of the proposed High Speed Rail Link between London and Birmingham . The route initially proposed by the government would not have affected Nash but two alternative routes had been proposed, one of which passed through Whaddon Chase close to Nash and would have major implications for the village. It was recognised that while this alternative route remained a possibility there would be “planning blight”. This would range from residents having problems selling their houses, to the refusal of grants to support the planting of trees to screen the Moto-Cross at Barnhill Farm. The meeting agreed that it would support the establishment of the Government’s proposed Exceptional Hardship Scheme – on which the deadline for comments was 20 May. The Parish Council would discuss the matter further at its meeting on 20 May when there might be some information about the new Government’s attitude to the proposed high speed link.

[1] After the meeting it was discovered that, because the existing civic centre in Aylesbury was closing, there would not be any children’s summer entertainment in 2010.