MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 8 MAY, 2006 AT 7.30PM IN THE VILLAGE HALL, AMPNEY CRUCIS.
Present: 7 electors, District Councillor Edward Horsfall.
Presiding: Councillor D C Vessey
Clerk: Mrs H E Tonks
1. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 9 May, 2005
The Minutes of the meeting were posted in the village. There were no objections to the factual record. Councillor Gaden proposed, Councillor Kelly seconded and the meeting agreed that the minutes be approved and signed.
2. Annual Report of Ampney Crucis Parish Council
The only electors present at the meeting were Councillors and the Council’s Tree Warden, all of whom were familiar with the activity of the Council over the last 12 months. The Chairman’s written report was accepted by the Council and is detailed below:
The Parish Council has had another busy year with ever increasing diversity of business, and just one change of personnel. Kim Hartshorne has left the Council, and Roger Hayes has joined the remaining team of councillors; myself, Gerald Gaden, Adrian Grazebrook, Barry Dent, Tim Tremellen and our vice chairman for the last 12 months, Peter Kelly.
The Council is represented at District level by Edward Horsfall and at County level by Lady Dunrossil as our County Councillor. We are very grateful for their help throughout the year. Two villagers who provide a regular service to the Council are Janet Campbell, our Tree Warden who comments on all tree applications and Neil Holt our Internal Auditor.
We have held six meetings this year, covering a variety of topics.
Planning
The Parish Council comments on all planning applications. We received 27 applications this year, but of these, the Council objected to only three. Copies of all letters of objection written by the Council are posted on the notice boards.
The new Local Plan has now been reported on by the Planning Inspector and it is likely that it will be adopted in the next month or two. It will last until 2009. A new planning regime will then be introduced under which most of the major structural decisions (for example, the principal locations in which new housing is to be built) will be taken by the South West Regional Government ,with the County Council playing no further part in planning policy.
The grass-cutting contract for the coming year has been awarded again to a local contractor, Tony Williams.
Work was carried out removing and levelling the ground at the southern end of the Burial Ground to allow the creation of 23 more grave spaces. This has relieved the pressure of available spaces in the burial ground.
Finance
The precept for the year ending 31 March 2006 was set at £6,900. This will rise to £7,500 for the current year with the larger part of the increase due to an increase in our insurance costs. The accounts for the year will be audited by our Internal Auditor, Neil Holt and externally by Moore Stephens of Bath.
County Council finance for highway repairs is very limited, but the Parish Council continues to lobby for further repair work when necessary. The village roads were resurfaced during last summer, with varying degrees of satisfaction, and we will continue to monitor the roads in the village.
Allotments
Following a general request from a number of parishioners, the Council investigated taking on the management of allotments in the village. After a period of discussion, the Parish Council felt that the best way forward would be for the interested parties to take on the management of any allotments.
Communications
The Ampney Times is now delivered to all 416 households in the three villages. Our team of three editors was strengthened by the arrival of Terry Bloxham. Earlier this year, we decided on a redesign of the newsletter as the original had lasted for six years and was beginning to look a little tired.
One encouraging sign is that, in the six years of the newsletter, we have seen a steady trend towards increasing acceptance. The days of hoping for copy to fill the pages are long gone; now, we often struggle to contain it to six sides.
There is also a village Website run by Frank Skinner. The Parish Council posts their agendas and minutes on the site as an additional means of notification, and all minutes, from 2000 onwards are on the site.
Elisabeth Gerver and Terry Bloxham will be producing a directory of all Village organisations. They have applied for a grant from the Rural Community Council and the whole cost of the Directory will be met by this grant and also by local advertising.
The Playground
The playground is now finally up and running with all the necessary work having been completed. Thanks are due to the Playground Committee for all their hard work and in particular to Kim Hartshorne who has doggedly kept to the task. It seems hard to believe that the decision to go ahead was taken in September 2000. These kinds of project can take years to bring to fruition.
Playgrounds don’t come cheaply either and we have seen just over £40,000 required for our own modest set up. Of that total, 80% was covered by grants with the remainder being raised through fund raising and the considerable generosity of local residents. The final costs exceeded the original budget by £147.
Some of the running costs (principally insurance) are met by the Parish Council but the largest ‘hit’ is the requirement to build up a sinking fund to remove the playground, if necessary, after five years. This is seen as highly unlikely but it is a potential risk and the audit requirements mean we have to cover it. The projected cost is around £5,000 so we have to put £1,000 a year into the fund.
Major planning issues
Most planning issues are relatively routine; some are not. This year, we have spent some time considering two major issues the Sunhill proposals and the developments at Park Close.
Sunhill
Most parishioners will be familiar with the proposal to build waste processing facilities at Sunhill. The proposals have been generally opposed by nearly all the towns and parishes along the A417 and CDC’s Planning Committee have viewed them unfavourably as well.
The situation is complex. There are now three planning applications in the arena; the original application to process green waste and also domestic kitchen waste (the so called Mixed Organic Waste MOW); a revised second application covering both areas and a third application for green waste only. The need for a second application was due to the deficiencies of the original application but the applicants, rather surprisingly, went to appeal on the original application on the grounds that the decision had taken too long. The Parish Council recommended rejection of this appeal on the grounds that the delay had been to widespread objection and a deficient application. The Planning Inspector rather took the wind out of everybody’s sails by rejecting the original application on planning grounds a decision which also affected the revised second application. This has subsequently been with drawn and we understand that the applicants are considering an appeal to the High Court.
Meanwhile, the third application for the processing of green waste only has been accepted but this decision is being challenged by the Sunhill Action Group as the Planning Inspectors rejection of the original application was for reasons which would also affect this green waste only application.
Park Close
This only affects Ampney Crucis but it is almost as confusing. The story begins with the purchase of the Builders Yard by a Cirencester building company, Wildmoor. Planning permission was in place for low key commercial use for a named user but the new owners began to advertise it as Park Close Units. There are currently two other occupants on the site and the Parish Council has been pressing for sometime for the use of the site in this way to be tested by the submission of further planning applications. CDC agree that further planning permission is required but this is being contested by the owners.
In the meantime, one of the occupants, Calves Hill, has successfully applied for a Vehicle Operators Licence to operate two lorries from the site though with conditions on the route to be used in and out of the site. This application was opposed by several villagers. Unfortunately, Parish Councils are specifically excluded from commenting on these applications.
Meanwhile, the latest situation with Calves Hill is that the site owners have now been asked to submit a planning application for the change of use of the site to which they have responded by offering to apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness. This is similar to a request for retrospective planning permission – the Parish Council’s response will have to wait until we see exactly what it is they wish to include in the Certificate.
Thanks
I can do little better than to repeat the remarks I made last year. We do not always get a large turnout to our regular meetings but those people who do attend often comment on the range of items and work that the Parish Council has to cover. It is often unglamorous work but it has to be done. I am grateful to my fellow Councillors and particularly our Clerk for their contribution over the last twelve months.
None.
3. Parish Council accounts for the year ending 31 March, 2004
The summary accounts, which had been drawn up in the format required by the Accounts and Audit regulations, 1996, as amended, were explained to those present. Detailed accounts will be found with the Annual Parish Council minutes.
These accounts will be adopted at the Annual Parish Council meeting.
4. Accounts of the Village Hall Charity and the Robert Pleydell Educational Charity.
These were presented to the meeting.
There was a query about how the funds were managed. David Vessey explained that income of £5,000 - £6,000 was raised from an equity fund and a fixed interest fund.
5. Reports, if any, from other Village organisations and District and County Councillors.
Written report from County Councillor Lady Mavis Dunrossil.
The following report was circulated to all present:
This is not an exhaustive survey but just picking out some highs and lows as your Clerks suggested:-
There have been some ‘lows’:
Personally, it has been an honour and a privilege to chair the County Council and represent it at a variety of functions from royal visits to the many civic charity functions which help County and District come closer together for the good of Gloucestershire.
It was a privilege too to be involved in the granting of our first ever Freedom of the County to 501 Squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force.
District Councillor Edward Horsfall
A grant will be made towards the cost of repairing the windows in the Village Hall.
He was extremely concerned that a vehicle operators licence had been allowed for Calves Hill at Berry’s Yard.
Written evidence can be submitted for either the application for lawful use or enforcement procedures at Berry’s Yard.
£25,000 has been allocated into the budget for litter clearing.
The meeting closed at 7.40pm.