MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE BEECH HILL PARISH COUNCIL HELD AT THE MEMORIAL HALL, BEECH HILL, ON 22nd FEBRUARY 2007 COMMENCING AT 7.30 PM AND CONCLUDED AT 9.20PM

 

 

 

Present:     D Barr-Miller (Chairman)     

                    C J S Bridges (Vice-Chairman)     

                    D Price

                    Cllr Keith Lock (West Berkshire Council)

                   Cllr Sandra Harding (West Berkshire Council)

                   Mrs Sandra Ilsley (Clerk)

                   Four village residents

         

Apologies: R Joy

                    Mrs M Carter

 

         

1.  MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 6th DECEMBER 2006

 

The Minutes, having been previously circulated to all Councillors, were taken as read and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

 

2.  MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES/CLERK’S REPORT

 

All other Matters Arising are covered in other sections of the Minutes.

 

3.  NOTIFICATION OF ANY OTHER BUSINESS

 

The following items of Any Other Business were notified to the Chairman:

 

(i)      2 Planning Applications

(ii) Insurance claim

(iii)     Churchyard boundary with Highway.

 

4.  PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

 

No members of the public raised any questions.

 

 

5.  REPORT OF WEST BERKSHIRE COUNCIL

 

Councillor Keith Lock gave the following report:

 

“Firstly the Council plan to establish an office for the eastern area at Savacentre on a five year lease, open Monday to Friday and Saturday morning and it is likely to open in April or May.  This is good news because apart from dealing with a variety of enquiries etc the public will also be able to see planning applications.  We are also pressing for a cash collection facility as quite a lot of cash is already collected at the various sessions currently provided at the local libraries.

 

The downside is that the fortnightly public sessions at Burghfield and Mortimer libraries will cease.  We will oppose this but we will not be able to stop it.

 

The Government have decided to cut the funding for the Police Community Support Officers at a time when crime in the area is rising.  Fortunately I understand that the additional PCO who will be part funded by Burghfield, Mortimer and Sulhampstead Parishes will be provided later in the year.

 

I am pleased to report that the Council recycling levels have now touched 24% but still no decision has been made about the proposed recycling site at Padworth.

 

As previously stated the scheme or vehicle activated speed signs was vastly oversubscribed and sadly none of the local sites have received the go ahead.  I think 19 signs have been agreed in all and Councillors will receive a report shortly on which sites have been chosen and why.  As I feared my bid for a chicane in Beech Hill was not successful, despite a personal hearing the Capital Management Group backed the officers views set out in Mr Garratt’s letter to you of 30th January.

 

The Small Grants budget which is in the past has been a good means of supporting schemes such as the improvement of village halls and for supporting small local clubs has been cut to £50,000 with a maximum of £1,000 for each applicant.

 

Next the changeover date for issuing travel tokens and bus passes for 2007-08 will be brought forward to April 1st.  This is to align the date for issuing tokens with the bus passes which must start on April 1st as it is a national scheme.  We will be allowed time to use up our green tokens and details will be sent to all resident who qualify for passes or tokens.

 

Lastly the Council will be discussing the Budget at the meeting on 1st March and a tax increase of 2.8% is likely, i.e. £30.64 at band “D” any changes in Parish Taxes and the Police and Fire precepts will of course be extra.  Costs covering looked after children, people with mental health problems and the elderly will rise by some £3 million and there is an extra £770,000 in the Waste Services budget.  The Collection fund which should balance out each year has grown by nearly £2 million much of this is due to back tax paid by people who had been claiming single occupancy discounts illegally and probably to more new homes being completed than forecast.  Other savings of £2.8 million have been forecast but the detail is limited”

 

Sandra Harding asked if the Parish Council needed anyone to come out to discuss funding regarding grants for the playground.  The Chairman commented that he had found someone and discussions were going well.

 

6.  BNAG (BURGHFIELD NEIGHBOURHOOD ACTION GROUP)

 

No further developments were reported.

 

7.  VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT PLAN WORKING GROUP

 

Mr Price reported that work continues on the Village Plan and Design Statement bur no further developments were reported.

 

8.  WEST BERKSHIRE COUNCIL PRECEPT

 

The amount of £4250.00 was agreed.

 

9.  VILLAGE WEBSITE/EMAIL ADDRESS

 

The Chairman gave the following report, submitted by the Webmasters, Peter and David Simpson:

 

“The number of visits to our website over the last few months has been:

November 77, December 69, January 53, February (up to 18th) 43

The Clerk's email address has now been transferred to the new Clerk”

 

The Clerk mentioned that since the Clerk’s email address had been set up she had been receiving a large number of “spam” emails from various unknown sources.  Peter Simpson suggested that a basic filter could be purchased for approximately £30 which should help this problem.  It was agreed that the filter would be purchased straightaway.

 

 

10.     HIGHWAY AND OTHER ISSUES IN THE VILLAGE

 

Councillors discussed the current situation in the Village and the following is a summary of comments made:

 

(i)  Traffic Assessment

 

Discussion took place on a letter dated 31st January 2007 received from West Berkshire Council in response to the Chairman’s letter about the lack of any planned future provision for physical traffic calming measures in Beech Hill.  The response had not been favourable and contained nothing for serious consideration. David Barr-Miller and Chris Bridges had been around the village and had measured various parts of the road.  They had also taken photographs which were shown at the meeting which showed in certain areas the road had collapsed.  The situation was very frustrating and there was no indication from West Berkshire Council how they had reached the conclusions they had made and they needed to tell the Parish Council how such conclusions were reached.   David Barr-Miller had drafted a response which he read to the meeting and after further discussions the letter was approved and it was agreed this letter would be sent out on 26th February 2007.

 

11.     APPROVAL OF ACCOUNTS FOR PAYMENT

 

RESOLVED: That the following accounts be approved for payment:

 

To approve the following accounts for payment:

 

          1        Clerk’s Salary and Expenses: 

                                      Salary (Jan, Feb)                                    £   220.00            

                                      Mileage  @ 45p per mile                        £     16.20          

                                      Postage& Stationery                               £     13.55

                                                                                 Total           £   249.75

 

          2        SLCC Subscription Renewal                                     £   55.00

 

          3        Bullpitt Brothers of Bramley  - grass cutting           £ 720.00

 

4               Nick Gorst Property Maintenance for erecting

Notice board beside post box                                    £   25.00

 

5.       Invoice x 1 for hire of Memorial Hall                     £   14.00

 

 

12.     CORRESPONDENCE

 

Members received a list of the correspondence and publications received since the last meeting of the Parish Council in December 2006. 

 

Approval was given in response to the letter dated 9th February 2007 from Audit Commission to confirm Appointment of External Auditor that these should continue to be UHY Hacker Young.

 

 

13.     ANY OTHER BUSINESS

 

(i)  Planning – Old Elm Tree Cottage

 

Photographs and plans were produced and David Barr-Miller and Chris Bridges had visited the property.  David Price expressed his concern that if the extension was allowed to take place this would go right to the edge of the boundary of the neighbouring property Bear House.   Councillor Lock suggested that if the Parish Council had concerns it could draw the Planning Officers attention to this.

 

 Planning - Wheelwrights

 

David Price expressed his concerns regarding the double storey extension which at present could come half way across the neighbouring property at a 45 degree angle which would make the extension too dominating and perhaps the extension could be narrowed.  Mr Price felt that these concerns should be put to the planner’s attention.  After some discussion a vote was taken Mr Bridges and Mr Barr-Miller did not object in principle but had some reservations but Mr Price objected and wanted his objection to be minuted.  The result of the vote was 2 in favour and 1 objection.

 

 

(ii) Insurance claim

 

David Barr-Miller said that due to subsidence to Coppers on Beech Hill Road a claim had been passed to our insurance company.  The subsidence may have been caused by trees on the recreation ground belonging to the Beech Hill Allotment Trust. 

 

(iii)     Churchyard boundary

 

David Barr-Miller drew to the meetings attention the condition of the road on the churchyard boundary.  This was discussed and it was suggested that some money could be spent by West Berkshire Council to put in a kerb or ballast or a rigid clean walkway to improve the condition of the road.  It was agreed that a letter could be written to the Highways Department to see if they could look at this to see if the road could be improved.

 

14.     DATES OF PARISH COUNCIL MEETINS DURING 2007.

 

These were agreed subject to the result of the elections in May.

 

15.     DATE OF NEXT MEETING

 

The next meeting will be held on Thursday 26th April, at 7.30 pm in the Memorial Hall. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Signed:  ………………………………………      Date:   26th April 2007

          David Barr-Miller, Chairman