Aldbury Parish Council

ALDBURY PARISH COUNCIL

PARISH COUNCIL MEETING

HELD AT THE ALDBURY MEMORIAL HALL

6th June 2016 at 8 p.m.

Minutes

Present: Cllrs McCarthy (in the Chair), Pearce, Cobb, Page, MacGregor and Tollinton, the Clerk, Borough Cllr Mills and 5 members of the public.

16/123Apologies for absence– were received from CllrsEggar and Juniper

16/124Declarations of Interest - particular to this meeting.

None

16/125Minutes of meeting on 9th May 2016were signed as a true record

Proposed by Cllr Pearce and seconded by Cllr Page

Item 16/138 – Planning, 4/01037/16/FUL – The Walled Garden, Stocks Road; Construction of a 4 bed detached house, was brought forward to the beginning of the meeting. Cllr McCarthy noted that Cllr Juniper who is responsible for the Stocks Road area for planning applications, had reviewed the plans and had seen no issues with the plans. Cllr McCarthy also noted that this application is made in the context of paragraph 55 of the 2012 National Planning Policy Framework. This is where planning permission is given in special circumstances, namely the exceptional quality or innovative nature of the design of the dwelling. As such, he noted that it is really a decision for the local planning authority. Cllr Tollinton noted her concerns about more building outside the village boundary.Cllr McCarthy said that Dacorum doesn’t prohibit development outside the village. He noted that traffic during the building stage was a concern, particularly if the work at Barley End happens at the same time, although not a reason to object. David Kirkland, the architect, noted that it would be stipulated that contractors approach the site from Pitstone rather than coming through Aldbury village. He also noted that there would be space for contractors to park on site. It was suggested that the architect and builders liaise with the developers of Barley End in terms of traffic and timescales.

16/126Matters concerning railway developments and parking at Tring Station.

Cllr Pearce informed the meeting that he had been contacted by PC Gary Williams who had been to Tring Station and asked drivers who were blocking access at Fog Cottages to move their vehicles. He had said that individual drivers had moved on but that cars were still stopping there. PC Williams is going to arrange a meeting with London Midland to see if they can help. Cllr Pearce volunteered that if it would be helpful a Cllr would attend such a meeting. PC Williams said he would let us know if that would be appropriate.

Cllr Page informed the meeting that he had heard from Network Rail that with the exception of the accessible lifts, the Tring Station building was not due to be developed until after 2019.

16/127Parish Mowing

Cllr Page reported that he had received a quote for the Parish Mowing from Goldleaf which had come in more expensive than anticipated. He was still waiting for two more quotes from contractors and had also received an enquiry from a local resident who may want to quote for the work using the Parish Mower. It was confirmed that Possible Gardens would continue with the mowing in the meantime. Cllr McCarthy asked Cllr Page to get the other quotes and report back to the Council at the next meeting.

16/128Pond

An email had been received from Lawrence Trowbridge which the Clerk agreed to circulate to all Cllrs.

16/129Repair of Stocks

Carried forward to the next meeting

16/130Tesco Grant

The Clerk confirmed that the application had been submitted to Tesco and that the Council would hear a decision during August.

16/131Allotments

Cllr Page noted that allotment rent is collected one year in arrears and that one year’s notice is needed in the event of a rent increase. In previous years, the Hall has been open for an hour before the September meeting so that people can bring in their rent. It was agreed that Cllr Page would provide the Clerk with all the details of the current allotment holders. The Clerk will prepare invoices which will include the Council’s bank details for those people who wish to pay by electronic transfer. The invoices will be emailed to allotment holders where the Council has an email address. It was agreed that Cllr Page would pass details to the Clerk of local allotment charges and the Clerk would research this for comparison with APC charges.

16/132Playground

The ROSPA Inspection took place during May. The Clerk had just received the report and agreed to circulate to Cllrs and add to the July agenda.

16/133Diocesan Leases

Cllr Pearce noted that Cllr Eggar had written to the Diocese to ask what the options might be regarding the lease renewal. He will inform the council of their comments when they are received.

16/134Works to Trees

Colin Chambers (Tree Officer DBC) had been to Aldbury and inspected the two trees on the Green. Cllr Eggar had met with him. The Clerk was currently waiting for the report.

16/135The Role of the Village (Parish) Warden

The Clerk had circulated the role description to Cllrs. Cllr McCarthy had responded with a comment regarding a record being maintained of all the checks carried out by the Warden, actions taken and referrals made. It was agreed that this should be added to the role description. The next step is for the Clerk to discuss the role description with the Warden.

Cllr Page said he had spoken to ROSPA regarding the frequency which the playground should be inspected. They had said it depends on usage.

16/136Footpaths

Cllr Page reported that Dacorum BC had come and cleared some of the footpaths within Aldbury village, but it was quite arbitrary which ones. Cllr Tollinton agreed to contact Clayton Rae at Dacorum to find out which footpaths get cleared and why.

Cllr Page had been contacted by the farmer of the field adjacent to the footpath from Stoneycroft to the Bridleway, asking walkers to keep to the footpath so as not to walk all over the hay crop. Cllr Page agreed to draft something for Outlook.

Cllr Page said he had put up signs around the allotments and other areas of the village about clearing up dog mess.

16/137Highways/Transport (including buses)

Cllr Tollinton updated the meeting that the working party had met and that a few members of the Council had attended the meeting at Pitstone regarding their proposed traffic calming measures. The proposal at Pitstone was to have different colourings on the road to alert drivers to the fact that it is a shared space with pedestrians and other road users. Cllr Tollinton said that she felt enthusiastic about the proposals but felt that if the colourings and road surface weren’t properly maintained, they would look a mess. A suggestion the working party have come up with is to get a 20mph limit within the village. The police have arranged for a free speed survey to be conducted on Station Road during June. The current average speed needs to be 25mph or lower in order for Highways and the Police to agree to a 20mph zone. Each speed measure costs about £400 and the proposal is to use part of the Road Safety Fund Grant to pay for additional ones. Cllr Tollinton said she had met with County Cllr Hollinghurst and an engineer and a suggestion had been to have a dotted line on the side of Toms Hill that narrows the road and looks as if there is a dedicated space for pedestrians. Cllr Tollinton noted that getting the 20mph limit wouldn’t preclude the Council from doing more at a later date and would make the village feel safer. Cllr McCarthy asked the working party to come back to the Council with a proposal for the additional speed measures – where they would be and when and how much they would cost. CllrTollinton agreed to this. Cllr Cobb has created a large scale map of Aldbury which will be used to plot information on.

HCC had sent proposals for altered parking restrictions at Beggars Lane, these had been circulated to and reviewed by all Cllrs. Cllr McCarthy said he was in favour of the proposals. Cllr Page noted that occasionally during winter cars slide into the ditch on the bends and perhaps the Parish Council could ask for bend signs to be included as part of the proposals. It was agreed that the Clerk would go back to HCC saying that Aldbury PC are in agreement with the proposals and support the need for icy road signs, rather than bend signs on the appropriate bends.

16/138Planning Matters

The following applications were discussed.

4/01037/16/FUL– The Walled Garden, Stocks Road, Aldbury

Construction of a 4 bed detached house

NO OBJECTION (APC)

4/01295/16/TCA – Galleons Reach, Toms Hill Road, Aldbury

Works to trees (for information only)

4/01362/16/LBC – Ladyman Barn, Stocks Road, Aldbury

Window and door improvements and alterations

NO OBJECTION (APC)

Planning Decisions made by Dacorum BC: - None

16/139Finance:

• Payments made

Dacorum BC - DD / £48.00 / Rent for Garage
LH Bancroft – SO / £298.35 / Clerk’s Salary for May
EON / £40.43 / Electricity for street lights
Came & Company / £188.59 / Annual motor insurance for Parish Mower
Cllr D Eggar / £13.45 / Expenses for meeting at Dacorum
Cllr Eggar / £33.95 / Refreshments for Parish Assembly
Zurich / £686.57 / Council Insurance renewal

• Receipts

Tennis Club / £175.00 / (Gee, Booth, Kirwan, Van derMerwe, Gill, Woodus, Garfath)
Interest / £0.70

• Bank Balances at 13/04/16

Natwest a/c 60669756£20,789.67

Natwest a/c 06501141£300

NS a/c£33,607.59

• Payments:

Ernest Newhouse / £275.00 / Internal Audit visit and report
Playsafety Ltd / £96.60 / ROSPA Play Inspection Report
D Foster / £212.99 / Warden hours (March-May2016) and expenses
Cllr Page / £26.96 / Petrol for mower and strimmer wire

A resolution was taken to make the payments, proposed by Cllr Pearce and seconded by Cllr MacGregor

Cllr Cobb raised the issue of payments for use of the Tennis Club. She said that because the Council had agreed that people could use the club without paying and the payment was to access the booking system, the Council ought to offer a refund to those people who had paid not knowing this. The Council agreed that refunds could be paid if requested.

• Funds available going forward£54,342
• Asset Register – Cllr Pearce updated the meeting that the Clerk would be updating the asset register with appropriate amendments following discussions and this would be brought to a future Council meeting.
• Internal Audit Report – The Internal Audit report had been circulated to all Cllrs. Cllr Pearce noted that he and the Clerk had been through the report looking at the implications for APC and that he would draft a response to the Internal Auditor, on behalf of the Council.

Noting point 1.2 of the report, Cllr Pearce informed the Council that the Clerk had started using Dropbox as an electronic filing system. This means that the Clerk, and others can access the files from anywhere. The plan is to allow Cllrs read only access to the files. Cllr Pearce suggested that the Council look into upgrading to Business Dropbox as this would give greater security and more features. The cost looks to be about £600 a year. Cllr Tollinton pointed out that this hadn’t been budgeted for, and it was agreed that the Clerk would write a proposal for the use of Business Dropbox.

Noting point 5 of the report, ‘the Council has a duty to maximise income’, Cllr Pearce said he had checked this with HAPTC as he felt that the Council’s duty was to maximise value rather than income. This would be included in the response to the Internal Auditor.

• Annual Return 2016/17 – The Annual return was approved by Cllrs and signed by the Chairman having been circulated to and reviewed by all Cllrs. The Annual Return will now be sent to the external auditor and the accounts be made available for public inspection from June 15th.
• Grants Payable 2016/17 – it was noted that the Clerk will be contacting local community groups to invite them to apply for grants.Cllr Tollinton asked that the halls are asked for evidence of usage; Cllr McCarthy said that a business case should be submitted with each application. It was agreed that Cllr Eggar would contact the Sports Club regarding an application for a grant. It was discussed whether other community groups should be given the opportunity to apply for a grant, such as the Lunch Club. Cllr Pearce suggested putting something in Outlook inviting parish organisations looking for modest financial support to apply. Cllr MacGregor agreed to write an article for Outlook. The Clerk confirmed that £1600 had been put in the budget for grants.
• National Pay Awards – It was noted that the National Salary Award (2016-2018) has now been agreed for local Government Services. Chairman to discuss with Clerk at separate meeting.
• Local Government Pension Scheme-Clerk to contact HAPTC regarding the Local Government Pension Scheme
• Chiltern Society Membership – Cllrs agreed to renew the Chiltern Society Membership £30.00
• Clerk’s copy of Aldbury Outlook – Outlook agreed that they would provide the Clerk with a copy free of charge as this was deemed to be an essential tool of the Clerk’s role.

16/140Areas of focus for the Council

• Making Parish look more attractive – carry forward
• Pedestrian Safety – covered under item 16/137
• Safe Parking – covered under item 16/137

No further issues were raised.

16/141APC Website

Carried forward to the next meeting.

16/142Ashridge Management Plans

Written update from Cllr Juniper on Ashridge Estate Committee Meeting on 18th May

-The NT Dovecote on Stocks Road will be open on 2 Sunday afternoons (10th July & 14th August 2.0pm – 5.30pm.) It is being advertised under events on the NT website with the meeting point stated as Stocks Road, it will also be included in their next events leaflet.

-Tree safety work has started along the B4506 along Northchurch common. This work will be extended down the Aldbury road/Toms Hill. Subsequent to the meeting Lawrence Trowbridge said that about 8 trees have been identified which need to come down as they appear dead or in poor condition and they will be marked with a paint spot before the work is done.

-Lawrence Trowbridge has previously reported that the planned/postponed tree clearance work on Toms Hill will be included in the Estate 20 year Woodland Management Plan. The work on this plan has yet to start, it will probably begin later this year and is thought likely to take 1 year to put together.

16/143Parish Defibrilator(s)

Carried forward to a subsequent meeting.

16/144Street Lights

Carried forward to a subsequent meeting

16/145Parish Councils Bill

Correspondence from HAPTC regarding the Parish Councils Bill was noted. Cllr McCarthy informed the meeting that he had volunteered to be involved with the HAPTC response.

16/146Correspondence

None

16/147Any Other Business and to consider items for agenda of next meeting

None

16/148Meeting open to the public

A member of the public reported an abandoned car at the recreation ground. He was informed how to report this via the Dacorum website.

Cllr Page was asked when the Orchard area would be tidied up, he responded that he hadn’t been asked to include the orchard in the mowing spec.

Next Council meeting –Monday 4th July 2016

Aldbury Parish Council website – .

Lucy Bancroft,

Clerk to the Aldbury Parish Council 12th June 2016

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