MINUTES
OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
HELD ON MONDAY 10 MAY, 2004 AT 7.30PM
IN THE VILLAGE HALL, AMPNEY CRUCIS.
Present: 11 electors
Presiding: Councillor P Kelly
Clerk: Mrs H E Tonks
1. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on 12 May, 2003
The Minutes of the meeting were posted in the village. There were no objections to the factual record. Councillor Vessey proposed, Councillor Hartshorne seconded and the meeting agreed that the minutes be approved and signed.
2. Annual Report of Ampney Crucis Parish Council
Councillor Kelly gave the following report:
The Parish Council has had another busy year. We have welcomed Kim Hartshorne, by co-option, to our existing team of six Councillors: myself, Gerald Gaden, Adrian Grazebrook, Sally Hebbs, David Vessey and John Dear.
The Council is represented at County and District levels by Raymond Theodoulou and Edward Horsfall.
Janet Campbell has continued to act as the Parish Council’s Tree Warden, and comments on all tree works applications.
The Parish Council has had seven meetings during the year. These comprised the regular meetings held every other month, and an extra meeting to discuss whether the Parish Council should make a financial commitment to the proposed playground. An incredible 38 members of the public attended the meetings during the year.
The Parish Council is asked to comment on various types of planning applications. The numbers of planning applications are increasing by the year. For the year ending May 1999, when I was nominated as Chairman, there were 23 planning consultations in total - this year the Council was consulted on a staggering 56 applications. Of these 23 were for Full Planning permission. The remaining applications are for Listed Building Consent (9), tree works (13), amendments to existing applications (10), and mineral extraction (1).
The Parish Council objected to only 2 full planning applications on policy grounds, Stonelea and the proposal to re-open a quarry at Crucis Park Farm.
The Council responds to every planning application, even if there are no objections in principle, 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 discussions into the new local plan have also been ongoing. David Vessey and myself attended a Round Table Session on 20 April to discuss the proposed Policy 21 of the new plan. In a two-hour discussion most of the attendees were seeking to increase the areas in which open market housing would be allowed. The focus was mainly on those development areas, which had been deleted from the original draft and comprised the larger villages such as Andoversford, and Upper Rissington. Our concerns centred on the lack of clarity as to how social and economic needs of those living in the countryside was to be defined if open market housing was to be allowed as an exception in the other villages. The inspector will produce a record of the discussions that we think will cover our objections and thus provide clear guidance for the future.
We also attended a hearing on a one to one basis with the Inspector and the forward planners of CDC on the 28 April to discuss the lack of clarity in distinguishing between villages and the open countryside. A full and frank discussion took place and as the CDC representative agreed with our points the Inspector will clarify the situation in his record of the discussions, which we believe will meet our objections.
The grass-cutting contract for 2003/04 has been awarded again to a local contractor, Tony Williams.
The Council also agreed that the spoil at the bottom of the burial ground should be cleared to allow the space to be used for burials. This will increase the number of spaces available by 23.
A successful clean up day was held in the Burial Ground during the autumn - thanks should go to Don Underwood who moved countless trailer loads of debris, and to the other volunteers who turned out to help.
A further clear up was held in April as part of the District Council's 'Spring Clean' initiative. The burial ground, verges and hedgerows were cleared. 12 villagers cleared the streets and hedgerows and 2 tackled the burial ground. Our thanks go to all who gave their time.
The precept for the year ending 31 March 2003 was set at £5300.
The Council’s accounts were audited (internally) by Neil Holt, (thank you Neil) and externally by Moore Stephens of Bath. This is in line with the relatively new audit regulations.
The Council has continued to make donations to specific organisations that benefit the residents of Ampney Crucis thus donations were made to the Citizens Advice Bureau and Junior Citizenship.
Councillors walk the footpaths throughout the village to ensure that they are open to the public, and they will continue to ensure that they are clearly marked out where they have been disturbed as a result of ploughing
The Ampney Crucis Times continues to provide valuable and up to date information to the whole village. Our thanks must go to the editors: Elizabeth Gerber, David Vessey and Christine Cridford.
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. More use could be made of it by village organisations, see the flyer on the home page or contact Frank Skinner.
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.
County Council finance for highway repairs is very limited, but the Parish Council continues to lobby for further repair work when necessary. The resurfacing on Hunts Hill has now been completed, as have the repairs to the drainage system there.
Drainage in Ridings Lane has been improved. With the help from Norman Simpson of Ampney St Peter drains have been cleared and new drains have been laid. There is still a problem in this area that Thames Water are monitoring.
New white lines will be painted on the A417 near Ampney Park. Hopefully this will make this stretch of road safer.
New setts were also placed on the island at the junction with Allotment Lane.
At the extraordinary meeting in June, the Parish Council agreed that although it was extremely difficult to quantify the costs involved in future maintenance, £1500 would be allocated to a playground budget.
The Parish Council receives regular reports of the progress made by the playground committee – they will hear tonight about the Committees new patron, and of a major fundraising event that will take place in July.
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.
It was noted that there was still some water draining down the ditches at the side of Riding Lane, but none down the road itself.
It was noted that the parish council discussions surrounding Green Lane (BAC 22) had not been covered in the annual report. An elector wished to explain that although the County had no current responsibility for the lane, as far back as 1896, Green Lane had been used for horsedrawn vehicles.
The Chairman explained that until the County Council had resolved what action to take, there was little that could be done by the Parish Council.
3. Parish Council accounts for the year ending 31 March, 2004
Copies of the summary accounts, which had been drawn up in the format required by the Accounts and Audit regulations, 1996, as amended, were distributed 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. It was noted that the Robert Pleydell Trust had continued to provide financial help to organisations in the village and the school. The Village Hall Management Committee had increased the events in the hall and the Chairman thanked them for their efforts.
There was concern that the expenditure of the Trust had exceeded the income for that year. David Vessey, as one of the trustees, explained that over a number of years, income had actually exceeded expenditure. No assets were being used to provide grants. John Ducker, as another Trustee, also explained that further assets had also been purchased.
Electors with concerns were advised to write to the Trust.
5. Reports, if any, from other Village organisations and District and County Councillors.
Kim Hartshorne explained that it had been a busy but positive year for the playground committee. Agreement had been reached on the location of the playground, discussions with the County Council about the lease were ongoing, and the playground had been redesigned. Grants had been applied for from Vital Villages and CDC.
The proceeds of the Village fete will be shared between the church, school and playground, and profits from the Fundraising Ball on 10 July will also be shared around the village.
There were concerns that the fundraising ball will clash with the visit of a Welsh Voice Choir to the village.
Written report from County Councillor Raymond Theodoulou.
Although County Councillor Theodoulou could not be present at the meeting, he had sent a written report, a synopsis of which was read out to the meeting. The full report is as follows.
On the occasion of your Annual Meeting, I have pleasure in rendering a brief report of my activities as County Councillor for East Cotswolds, which includes at least for the time being, the village of Ampney Crucis.
I am a member of a number of Committees at Shire Hall and am also the opposition member shadowing the Deputy Leader of Council in her capacity as Cabinet member responsible for finance and corporate matters.
One of the committees upon which I serve is the Strategic Capital Working Group. This Committee overseas and approves capital schemes in the County and in particular schools building projects. I have been able to ensure the smooth progress of building at Farmors School and the primary school at Fairford as well as school hall projects in Kempsford and Down Ampney.
Though not major works, I have supported Coln House School to accomplish a significant renovation programme. This school is in some ways typical of some of the older establishments in Gloucestershire. Housed in a decaying listed building with overflow class rooms comprising temporary structures, this is hardly the best boarding environment to offer some of the most difficult children coming from deprived backgrounds. Maintenance is not a strong point of the GCC [and many other authorities] and the overall programme in the County is many 10’s of millions of pounds in arrears and the continued use of these temporary buildings is a badge of shame on our society. We will do all we can to change but it will be a long process.
I guess there never was a time when residents thought well of our road network. However 2 years ago the Government conducted a survey of roads in England and concluded that our Gloucestershire were amongst the best in the country. As a consequence HMG gave us a lower allocation towards road maintenance. The following year they had the senior team check the survey and that team decided that our roads are just as bad as anyone else’s and our budget allocation was reinstated though we did not claw back what was lost in the previous year. We have been able to catch up a little on road maintenance in and around Ampney Crucis and you will have seen the gangs out on the A417 and secondary roads.
Mr Chairman, you will have been aware of a petition to have the A417 downgraded to a B road. I have been pleased to be associated with this community initiative aimed at reducing the flows of non-local heavy traffic along the A417. The effort will not stop there: we think that speed-curbing measures are needed along this road especially where it traverses our villages. We are discussion with GCC to see how this road can be made safer pending a more radical solution of diverting all heavy non-local traffic along other routes.
As the opposition spokesman on finance, I have worked with my colleagues to restrain rises in Council Tax by pressing the administration to be more cost conscious in the budgetary process. Prompted by us they claim to have made “savings” of £3 million over two years. Out of expenditure of £1 billion over the 2 year period, it represents only 0.3%. I consider this to be insufficient.
Last year I was elected as a member of the Investment Board, the body that supervises the investment policies of the County pension fund. I have successfully urged a conservative strategy in the management of the assets. This is important because shortfalls in the Fund have in the last analysis to be made up by taxpayers.
With regret I must report that due to a re-arrangement of the division boundaries by The Boundary Commission, at the next County elections I shall not be representing your village but meanwhile I hope that any residents who have questions or suggestions about GCC services will not hesitate to contact me by telephone, email or fax.
There were concerns that downgrading the A417 will lead to less maintenance.
The process for downgrading the road has been spearheaded by the District Councillors, but will be a decision taken by Government.
Ampney Crucis Association.
As it was possibly six months since the last meeting of the Ampney Crucis association, an elector invited Mr Ducker to give a short report. Mr Ducker replied that as an AGM is to be held in June, it would be inappropriate to make a comment at this stage.
The Chairman thanked all those for attending the meeting, and declared the meeting closed.
The meeting closed at 8.00 pm.