MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 13 MAY, 2002 AT 7.30PM IN THE VILLAGE HALL, AMPNEY CRUCIS.
(Note: These are the draft minutes, and will not be agreed until the next annual meeting of the Council)
Present: 17 electors, District Councillor B Evans, County Councillor R Theodoulou
Apologies for absence: W/Cdr J Beresford
Presiding: Councillor P Kelly
Clerk: Councillor D Vessey
1. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 14 May, 2001
The Minutes of the meeting were posted in the village. There were no objections to the factual record. Councillor Grazebrook proposed, Councillor Gaden seconded and the meeting agreed that the minutes be approved and signed.
2. Ampney Crucis Parish Council Annual Report.
The Chairman reported as follows.
The Parish Council has had no changes to its composition this year. The seven Councillors still represent specified geographical areas of the village.
Councillor Bruce Evans has continued to attend Parish Council meetings and support their activities, and we have been pleased to welcome Raymond Theodoulou as the new County Councillor. We thank them for their support.
Janet Campbell has continued to act as the Parish Council’s Tree Warden, and comments on all tree works applications.
Meetings
The Parish Council has had seven meetings during the year. These comprised the regular meetings held every other month, and a public meeting followed by an extraordinary meeting held in November to discuss the Park Farm planning proposals. Fourteen members of the public attended the regular meetings at some point in the year, and sixty-one residents attended the public meeting in November.
This year we have received and commented on 43 different applications – of these 8 were for tree works and 5 were for Listed Building consents.
The Parish Council objected to 4 applications, 3 from the Park Farms applications, and one from the owners of Fitzhammon House.
The District Council refused the application for Fitzhammon House.
The Council responds to every planning application, even if there are no objections, constraints can be attached to the approval. If you should have any concerns about a local planning matter, please contact the Chairman or your local Parish Councillor.
The grass-cutting contract has been awarded to the same contractor for the forthcoming financial year with a very competitive bid. Your views on the performance of the contractor would be welcomed.
A successful clean up day was held in the Burial Ground during the summer - thanks should go to Don Underwood who moved countless trailer loads of debris, and to the other volunteers who turned out to help. The drystone wall was also rebuilt where it had collapsed. Thanks to David Ockwell for this work.
Some of the gravestones were made safe last year by Dike and Sons.
There is still pressure on the spaces available in the Burial Ground, and the Council are aware that the area of ground at the bottom of the Burial Ground will need to be levelled at some point in the future.
There has been a significant problem with vandalism in the Burial Ground this year. Windows in the Lych Gate have been broken on three occasions. The Police were informed the second time this happened, and PC George Lager spoke to several families in the village to ascertain the culprits. On the third occasion, the child responsible admitted that he had broken the window, and the costs were paid by the parents.
The Council will contact the Police if this happens again. £150 has been paid in excess charges to the insurance company, and this money comes from the precept paid by every member of the electorate.
Expenditure last year exceeded the income from the precept, but the Council felt it appropriate that the reserves should be used to cover some of the costs. The precept for this year (2002/03) has been set at £5000.
The accounts were audited internally by Councillor Vessey, and externally, for the year ended 31 March, 2001, by District Audit. A new audit regime has been drawn up which should make the audit procedures simpler. However, there is a definite possibility that the costs could be even higher than the previous scheme. The Parish Council will monitor the situation carefully, and will be objecting to the new proposals on the grounds of increased costs.
The Council has continued to make donations to specific organisations that would benefit the residents of Ampney Crucis. Donations up to 31 March, 2002 were made to Junior Citizenship, the Humpty Dumpty Toddler Group, and towards the formation of a pétanque club in the village. £25 was also set aside in this year’s reserves for administration costs for the plans for a playground in the village.
Footpaths were closed until June 2001 to minimise the spread of foot and mouth. Footpaths were gradually marked out again towards the end of the year. Councillors will again walk the footpaths throughout the village and will continue to ensure that they are clearly marked out where they have been disturbed as a result of ploughing.
The footpath map is available from the Church.
Following the huge success of the Millennium celebrations in the village, Councillor Sally Hebbs and a small working party are organising celebrations to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. The details have been circulated with the May parish newsletter to residents of Ampney Crucis.
The Praying Cross on church path was repaired in May last year. Everything did not go to plan – one coping stone was left unfinished whilst confirmation from English Heritage was sought. This coping stone has now been dressed, and the Parish Council are now waiting for English Heritage to give their final agreement that the work is satisfactory. (This agreement has since been received).
Environmental improvements
The remaining benches in the village requiring repair were mended by Harold Stevens. The setts on Church Lane were also installed, and thanks should go to CDC’s ward Project Fund, as without the £400 grant from them, the work would have been too expensive.
Periodic Electoral Review
Throughout this year, the Parish Council have been continued to be consulted on the changes to ward boundaries. District Councillors will in future be elected for the new ‘Ampney and Coln’ ward, which will comprise the three Ampney parishes, Barnsley, Winson, Bibury and Coln St Dennis.
The Ampney Crucis Times continues to provide valuable and up to date information to the whole village. Our thanks must go to the editors: Elisabeth Gerver, David Vessey and Fran Huckle.
The village Website is also proving to be successful. Frank Skinner tells us that the site now has more than 64 pages, and has had 6484 hits. The Parish Council post their agendas and minutes on the site. More use could be made of it by village organisations, see the flyer on the home page or contact Frank Skinner.
The 2001 Village Directory continues to be available from any of the Councillors, or from the Parochial Church Council at a cost of £1.
The Parish Council intend that a new notice board will be in place this year, replacing the existing one outside the village hall. The existing board is not watertight, and notices can become difficult to read.
Following complaints from residents, the Council contacted South Cerney barracks, to complain about the constant noise of the aircraft involved in parachute training.
A reply advised that every effort would be made to improve the situation by varying flight patterns, and where possible avoiding flying over villages and towns. Nevertheless where there were operational requirements, i.e.: major training exercises, these would continue to be held.
Neighbourhood Watch continues to operate throughout the village. It can be very effective, and the Council ask you to be as vigilant as possible.
Fly tipping is still a problem in places – if you see it happening, please notify the District Council.
The ditch between the Burial Ground and the school has now been culverted and filled in. The Parish Council gave £500 towards this work. This should relieve some of the problems in this area. However, there is still a potential flooding risk from the fields at the back of Durncourt Cottages – this year, the problem has been eased by the culvert installed next to the Burial Ground, however water could eventually end up running across the Village Street into the Burial Ground. The flooding could be eased if the ditch at the back of the properties is kept clear. This is the responsibility of the owners of the properties.
GCC have taken note of the state of the pavement on Hunt’s Hill and will partly replace the footpaths. However the drains on the hill, and the rest of the footpaths in this area still require substantial repair. County Council finance for highway repairs is very limited, but the Parish Council continues to lobby for further repair work in Ampney Crucis, and in particular for repairs to some of the roads in the parish that have suffered damage from heavy farm machinery.
During the year, following concerns from residents, the Council wrote to the County Council asking whether double white lines could be placed on parts of the A417. The County’s contractors have surveyed the road, and following this survey it would appear that new road markings would be in place during the forthcoming year.
A small working party, headed by Kim Hartshorne has developed outline plans for the provision of a play area on Allotment Lane. The Parish Council was asked to support the scheme by arranging insurance, acting as banker for the purchase of equipment, and supporting future maintenance.
Ongoing costs will be reduced by buying quality equipment at the outset, and equipment with a long life cycle. Community Service groups can be used to install and maintain equipment, with costs for materials only. Grass cutting would hopefully be continued as present, if the site were not fenced.
Councillors agreed to support the establishment of a playground, and allocated a small amount of money in the reserves to help towards administrative costs.
Parish Councillors are now subject to a new Code of Conduct to which they must adhere. Councillors were also asked to complete a register of interests. Copies of the code and the register of Members’ interests are available for inspection at the offices of Cotswold District Council.
Finally the Parish Council would like to thank all those who have contributed in any way to the life of the village in the last year - without their help the village would not be such a pleasant place to live in. Thanks go also to those present for attending tonight’s meeting.
· There was a query regarding the responsibility of residents for the ditch at the rear of Durncourt Cottages and other properties along the northern side of the Village Street as the farmer had cleared the ditch on more than one occasion.
· The grass cutting was not entirely satisfactory. Occasionally, the contractor had to be reminded to cut the grass and there were reports of the grass cuttings being left lying around at the pound Tree and outside the Burial Ground.
· Fly tipping was reported at the old barn on Riding Lane and at the top of Ash Steeple hill.
3. Parish Council accounts for the year ending 31 March, 2002
The Clerk presented the accounts, which had been drawn up in the format required by the Accounts and Audit regulations, 1996. The Council’s Internal Auditor, Councillor Vessey, had audited the accounts.
In response to a question, it was explained that ‘advertising’ included the cost of the Ampney Crucis Times.
4. Accounts of Village Charities
4.1 Village Hall Charity
The Accounts and Annual report were presented to the meeting. District Councillor Evans asked that the meeting should be aware that, although CDC were responsible for applying many of the expensive regulatory requirements referred to in the report, the requirements were introduced as a result of Government legislation.
4.2 The Robert Pleydell Educational Trust
The Accounts and Annual report were presented to the meeting. In response to a question, it was explained that after meeting the expenses of the Trust and the requirements of the school, any surplus income was available to meet certain expenses of students in tertiary education including apprenticeships.
It was announced to the meeting that, after over 30 years service as a Trustee, Mr R E L Pile was standing down. The meeting noted with appreciation the value of Mr Pile’s contribution to the Trust over the years.
4.3 John May Charity.
Following advertisement of the intention to disburse the capital of the charity, which was very small, the Charity Commission approved the action. A three person committee consisting of the Rector, Paddy Thompson and John Ducker identified four deserving persons and the remaining funds were donated to them. The account has been closed and the Charity Commission notified. The charity will therefore soon be de-registered.
5. Reports from District/County Councillors and other Village organisations
Paddy Thomson reported on another successful year for the Over 60’s, which now numbered 65. There were regular meetings of club members from all the parishes in the benefice and the club was now on a firm financial footing.
District Councilor Evans informed the meeting that
· work had been done at the Crown crossroads to solve the flooding problems and it was hoped that these would be the cure.
· CDC now had its new political structure in place which seemed to be working although some fine tuning was taking place in relation to the committee structure.
· a medium term financial review had revealed a shortfall of some £3 million and that a full review of spending policy was to be carried out.
· waste management is now a major problem due to the general lack of competitive resources and that there would be increasing pressure for re-cycling.
· salaries were now vulnerable as all eyes were on the increased salaries being offered to NHS staff.
· the Government were generally very satisfied with the way in which CDC conducted its affairs.
County Councilor Theodoulou informed the meeting that
· GCC also had a new political system in operation (with a Leader and Cabinet) which was still bedding in.
· GCC had had a disappointing year with a poor Ofsted report on the LEA and a poor review of the county’s Social Services provision.
· the bid for the Easter Spine Road had been rejected.
· the PFI request for £50 million for school improvements had been rejected by the Government which left the county with a need for funds but nowhere to get them.
· waste disposal was a real problem though hopefully some funds would be made available.
· foot and mouth had been a real blow for the county with levels of compensation being low in comparison to the real costs.
· the increases in Council Tax had been unwelcome but there was little chance of avoiding further large increases in the future.
In response to questions from the meeting, the following points were made
It was not clear why the request for funds for education had been turned down. The County were following this up with the Department of Education and the MP.
There was little immediate possibility of the A419 being resurfaced. The contractors schedule gave priority to the Swindon end and it was likely that old concrete roads would be dealt with first.
The problems with respite care in Cirencester were understood . GCC had a statutory duty to provide respite places but the contractual arrangements in Cirencester had been withdrawn at very short notice by the contractor. Finding new places was proving to be very difficult.
After announcing that CDC were holding a Rural Access Forum to investigate travel arrangements throughout the area (Village Hall, 29 May at 7.30 p.m.), Councilor Kelly thanked everyone for attending.
The meeting closed at 8.20 p.m.