The Minutes Of The Ordinary Council Meeting of Shipley Parish Council Held On Thursday 8thDecember2016 at The Andrew Hall, Shipley at 7:30pm
Cllr Coad stated that item 213/16 would be excluded to the press and public due to the item relating to staffing matters.
192/16 Attendance And Apologies For Absence
Those Present:P Baxter, W Beckett, J Coad (Chair), G De Zoete, J Emrich, T Hayes, L Lovett, N King-Toursand S Roggendorff
Also Present:Cllr N Jupp, Cllr A Jupp, Cllr K Rowbottom and Parish Clerk F McNeile
Apologies: Cllr P Sinton (Choir Practice), Cllr G Lindsay (Work)
193/16 Public Session (Members of the Public may speak for up to 3 minutes on an Agenda item at the discretion of the Chairman)
None in attendance.
194/16To Receive Declarations of Interest, Notification of Changes to Members’ Interests and consider any requests for a dispensation
None received.
195/16Approval OfThe Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meetingheld on Thursday 10th November2016
The minutes having previously been circulated were taken as read. Cllr King-Tours raised a query regarding 176/16 and requested that the word ‘excepting’ be inserted before ‘5 January’ on page two of the minutes. The Clerk confirmed she had lifted the wording from the email information sent by the Compliance Officer at HDC. It was AGREED to insert the word ‘excepting’ to ensure that the minutes were factually correct. Cllr King-Tours also requested further information regarding the WSALC Spring Conference. The Clerk confirmed that she had forwarded all the information presently available. Cllr King-Tours questioned whether, further to item 182/16, Members should investigate the reduction of the speed limit outside of William Penn School to 20mph. Cllr A Jupp confirmed that enquiries could be made into the speed reduction process by contacting Pene Mather at WSCC who is responsible for School Road Safety, however, Cllr A Jupp recommended that the Parish Council waited until a speeding survey had been conducted as this would probably be required and would also provide valuable evidence.
Subject to the above change, Cllr Coadproposed that the minutes be accepted and signed as a correct record, this was unanimously AGREED.
196/16Matters Arising from Item 195/16 (For information only)
176/16 The Clerk reported the Parish Council’s wishes to HDC regarding the naming of the roads in the new Mill Straight development. Following the meeting, it has transpired that all roads on the development will be named after fallen soldiers from Shipley Parish. The seventh will be known as Centenary Road to connect the names to WWI. There will be poppy emblems and suitable road suffixes. The names chosen were;
COOTE
HAYLER
HEASMAN
GRATWICK
FAIRES
LINFIELD
These names were chosen as they appear more than once in the Parish records.
176/16 The Clerk has been notified by Ed Sparrow that there has not been any vans parked overnight or during the day opposite Larkins Caravan Park. It appears that notice has been taken by the residents not to park opposite. Ed Sparrow passed on his thanks to the Parish Council.
177/16 The Clerk has composed a letter with assistance from Jonathan Ullmer (WSCC Highways) and is waiting for approval from PS Martin Drabble before issuing to the landowners surrounding Coolham Crossroads.
187/16 The Clerk has received confirmation from BT that the maintenance of the telephone kiosk in Shipley is covered by BT. The Clerk has issued photographs of the kiosk to BT requesting thatpaintwork problems are addressed.The payphone repainting issue has been passed onto the BT commercial team who will assess whether the payphone will be added onto next year’s painting programme.
188/16 The Countryman Gun Club have agreed to support an application to WSCC CIF Fund for funding for the restoration of Coolham War Memorial. The Clerk to meet with David Meadows on 12th December to complete all required paperwork.
197/16Report from the Police
None received.
198/16 Report from the County Councillor
Cllr A Jupp passed a hard copy document of all the traffic survey companies that had been sourced by other local parishes. Cllr A Jupp has received an email from the Cabinet Member For Highways And Transport, which details a Bus User Survey which is seeking to understand the level of passengers on local bus routes. The 108 bus which travels throughShipley on a Wednesday morning (from Shoreham) will cease and there will be other services affected in Parish. The 74/75 route which encompasses Coolham is also subject to change. A public consultation will take place and Cllr A Jupp has asked the Clerk to put the information on FB and the Parish Council Website so that residents have the opportunity to have their say.
Cllr A Jupp will be attending a full Council meeting on 16th December. The main purpose of the meeting is to discussthe WSCC budget for 2017/18 with particular reference to the provision of funds for additional places required for children attending primary and secondary school. Funding is required to provide 1600 additional school places. 1450are needed for primary schools and 150 for secondary schools within the County. WSCC currently supplement government grants by 20% to ensure the provision of places in education.
199/16Report from the District Councillors
Cllr Rowbottom has been very involved within the district Dementia awareness programme. Cllr Rowbottom recently attended a forum at Parkside for all Dementia stakeholders in the district and also assisted in the running of a Dementia pop up shop which has been set up with the aim of raising awareness of the help and resources that is available locally. HDC hope to have the pop up shop available every three months to continue this work and resource availability.
Cllr Rowbottom explained that the changes to rural car parks charges will be effective soon. Car parking in rural car parks will be charged at £12 per disk per annum (£6 for second car) for local residents. Debit card pay stations will be available for non-residents and charges will be £0.75 per hour. Rural carpark maintenance has not been undertaken as well as it should have been by HDC due to serious underfunding. Cllr N Jupp explained that the introduction of rural car park charges is an effort from HDC to make them cost neutral. Rural car parks currently cost HDC £350,000 per annum to operate the car parks. There will also be charges for season ticket holders for businesses in the district of £130 per annum for reserved spaces. Substantial income (approx. £1.25M) is raised through car parking in Horsham multi-storey town centre and Horsham residents do not have subsidised parking.
Cllr N Jupp updated Members regarding discussions at HDC on the Boundary Elections. HDC’s submission requested that Southwater is split between North and South and that Shipley is joined with Southwater South. The changes to ward boundaries is a numbers exercise. Billingshurst has grown considerably more than Southwater in recent years and on the basis that you can only have three Members per ward, Billingshurst on its own could support three Members. The Boundary Commission will give people another opportunity to submit opinions on their preferred changes. The Clerk confirmed that following the last meeting, she had submitted the SPC Members wishes to remain with Billingshurst ward to the Boundary Commission.
Cllr N Jupp also reported that a planning application for a five screen multi-plex cinema in Horsham had been approved. The multi-plex will provide 850 seats and also include 3 restaurants and will be located where the Wilkinsons store and Trend business are currently based in Horsham. There are also planning applications in HDC for an ‘up market’ two screen cinema in Piries Place, Horsham and three further restaurants and a Premier Inn Hotelproviding 92 bedrooms. Cllr Rowbottom stated that the large investment of well-known business brands showed the confidence businesses have in Horsham.
Further to the Parish Council discussions at the last meeting regarding Parish Councillor Allowances, Cllr N Jupp reported that at North Horsham Parish Council, which deals with a Parish population of 22,000, only Elected Members receive a Members Allowance.
200/16Report from Representatives on Outside Organisations
The Clerk read the following report from the Neighbourhood Planning Committee.
“In light of outcome of the Henfield plan the committee feels that we should take our time to proceed with our plan and to this end we will wait for the proposed meeting at HDC which should take place early in the New Year. This meeting will bring together committees across the region to learn more about what exactly is needed to produce a plan that will succeed. Hopefully this will ensure that the enormous amount of time and effort that is being put into the Shipley plan is not wasted.
A major concern to the committee is the uncertain nature of how the plan will be financed. There does not appear to be enough funds available to see the plan through to the end.
Troy Navigus have advised that the total cost of producing the plan will be at least £8,000. This figure will rise by another £5,000 if we need a SEA. There is a lack of clarity at present as to what we do or do not need which hopefully will be addressed by the HDC information meeting.
The final draft of the survey we have collated was discussed and it was decided that we should pass it across to Troy Navigus so they could give us an indication of any glaring omissions or mistakes. We will also ask the Chair of Nuthurst Parish Steering Committee for his opinion as he was so helpful and informative when he came to meet with us earlier in the year. We also intend to produce a survey to be completed by the local school children and their teachers.
We have amended the Call for Sites letter supplied by Troy Navigus and this will be published appropriately in due course once our survey is returned. We would hope to be in a better position to move forward when we have attended the HDC meeting and have received more information regarding funding for the plan.
The next meeting is on January 9th 2017 at Coolham Village Hall.
Sarah Bulmer
Chair, Steering Committee Shipley Neighbourhood Plan
The Clerk has been in communication with the new Neighbourhood Planning Officer at HDC, Norman Kwan, and has suggested that he liaises with the Steering Committee and meets with them early in the New Year. He is now in touch directly with Sarah Bulmer.
201/16 Chairman’s Announcements
Cllr Coad reported that information had been received for stickers for Wheelie Bins which inform drivers of 30Mph speed limits. A bulk pack of 100 would cost between £70 and £96. Cllr Coad asked Members whether they felt this was a good idea to issue to Parish residents in Speed Limit areas. Cllr A Jupp suggested that the Parish Council seeks advice before issuing the stickers as there is set legislation regarding the issue and placement of the stickers. Members AGREED to the Clerk investigating the legal position.
Cllr Coad presented the Clerk with a bouquet of flowers and wine as a thank you for her work over the past two years as Parish Clerk. The Clerk was extremely grateful to the Parish Council for the very kind gesture.
202/16 Coolham Speeding Survey
The Clerk obtained three quotations for a speeding and traffic volume survey to take place in four carriageway areas approaching Coolham crossroads. The survey takes place 24 hours per day over a seven day period. Results are issued in an excel spreadsheet format. Suppliers liaise with WSCC Highways regarding licences required to conduct the survey. Members AGREED unanimously to the appointment of Base Point Data at a cost of £700 +VAT to conduct the survey.
203/16 Planning Applications
DC/16/2467 Oakview, Mill Lane, Coolham – Proposed single storey side extension with the addition of dormer windows in roof space to provide additional bedrooms. Proposed oak frame open porch to front. Proposed change of external materials to match existing house and proposed pitch roof to existing detached garage.
After Consideration the Parish Council voted to support the application
Votes 9 support
DC/16/2421 Co-op, Worthing Road, West Grinstead – Erection of 14 panels of signage in various formats.
After Consideration the Parish Council voted to support the application
Votes 9 support
DC/16/2533 Perrylands Farm, Dial Post, Horsham – Construction of sand school
After Consideration the Parish Council voted to support the application with the provision that all previous planning applications are legally revoked.
Votes 9 support
DC/16/2534 Perrylands Farm, Dial Post, Horsham – Construction of hay barn/storage barn
After Consideration the Parish Council voted to support the application with the provision that all previous planning applications are legally revoked.
Votes 9 support
DC/16/2535 Perrylands Farm, Dial Post, Horsham – Erection of stable building with ancillary storage, tack room and feed store facilities and laying of hard standing for access, parking and turning of horse boxes and other vehicles.
After Consideration the Parish Council voted to support the application with the provision that all previous planning applications are legally revoked.
Votes 9 support
204/16Planning Decisions
The Clerk issued an update of planning decisions made by HDC.
205/16 Parish Maintenance Supplier Contract 2017
The Clerk outlined the quotations received from five suppliers for the Parish Maintenance Supplier Contract for the New Year. The Parish contract runs from March to October 2017 and the tender for 2017 includes more work than previously requested. Members AGREED unanimously to renew the contract with Grasstex Ltd based on service provided over the past year and prices received.
206/16 Parish Councillor Allowances
The Clerk outlined the information received from North Horsham Parish Council and Slinfold Parish Council regarding Parish Councillor Allowances. The Clerk’s understanding is that if Members wish to allocate an allowance then it needs to be a) agreed by an Independent Panel at HDC and then b) advertised to Members of the Public. Cllr Baxter suggested that there should be provision in Precept for an allowance even if the allowance was not utilised by Members. The Clerk responded that there would need to be a policy and therefore a set amount if the Parish Council wished to Precept for an allowance. The Clerk suggested that Members might like to consider precepting for allowances for those members who worked above and beyond the meeting requirements of the Parish Council. This would include commitments to HALC, SALC, Planning and village hall committees. Cllr King-Tours mentioned the need for provision to allow Members to claim for child care costs should they arise when carrying out Parish Council duties. Cllr Baxter outlined the number of meetings he had attended on behalf of the Parish Council and the hours involved both during meetings and reporting back to the Parish Council. The Clerk added that the Chairman also spent a lot of additional time assisting in background work to ensure the smooth running of the Council which included checking the work of the Clerk to ensure accounting functions etc. are carried out correctly. Cllr Lovett stated that with the exception of the examples cited and travel costs for additional meetings or training and considering the size of Shipley Parish, he struggled to justify the need for budgeting for Councillor Allowances for all Members. Members AGREED unanimously that the Clerk should investigate with HDC the requirements for Members Allowances for those Members who go above and beyond the duties of a Parish Councillor and to write a policy in accordance with HDC’s advice. It was also AGREED to precept for Members allowances in anticipation of the policy being implemented in the forthcoming Council year.
8:45pm Cllr K Rowbottom left the room.
207/16 Precept Planning 2017/18
The Clerk outlined the revised precept plan as requested by Members at the last PC meeting. HDC notified the Clerk that the Band D figure to be used for Precept calculations for Shipley Parish is 648.6 households. This has increased from 607.8 Band D households and is likely to be due to the number of house extensions and larger houses being built in the Parish over the past year. Cllr Emrich requested reassurance that there is enough maintenance provision within the budget. The Clerk responded that there is approximately £2000 in reserve set aside over and above the general maintenance costs of the Parish. This year the Parish Council has undertaken the largest maintenance projects such as the Pavilion and fencing replacement at Coolham Playing Fields. In the future, the younger children’s play equipment will need replacing and it would be prudent to continue each year to set aside reserves for this eventuality. Members noted this and the provision for Council running cost reserves, Members allowance provision, election reserves, VAT outlay together with the reduction in HDC environmental grant. Members AGREED unanimously the precept plan for 2017/18. The Clerk to submit the figures to HDC as required.