AMBERLEY PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes from Parish Council meeting held on 12th January 2017, 7.30pm at St Michael’s Church Hall.
PRESENT: Geoff Uren (GU) Chairman, Jason Charman (JC), Geoff Conlon (GC), Hazel Allinson (HA), Leigh Cresswell (LC), Peter Cozens (PJC) and Katie Ohno (KO)
Also present: Vicky Spiers (VS) Clerk, and four members of the public.
1. PUBLIC ADJOURMENT TO TAKE COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR
GU moved item 10 on the agenda under this item as members of the public were present to ask questions on this matter.
A resident asked if the agenda could be put on Listserve a few days before the Parish Council meeting. Agreed by Councillors.
Action: Clerk to add agenda to Listserve.
A member of the public advised that there was a lot of vegetation debris on the pavement on the bend opposite the Amberley Museum, making it difficult to pass. JC advised that this had already been reported to WSCC before Christmas. VS advised that WSCC had passed to HDC to clean the pavement. JC and VS unclear as to why it had been passed to HDC as WSCC have responsibility for footpaths.
Action: JC to check that pavement is cleared and Clerk to contact WSCC to establish which local authority is responsible.
A member of the public advised that the ‘flashing 40mph sign’ on New Barn Road was no longer flashing. He had reported to WSCC in October 2016. HA advised that Parish Councils no longer have any individual contacts at WSCC or HDC – all issues are now advised to them via central email addresses or ‘Love West Sussex’.
Action: Clerk to report to WSCC via Love West Sussex
GU advised that APC had applied for an extension in the pavement from Newland Gardens to the football field but have been turned down by WSCC due to the verge not being wide enough and their concerns with a gully along the proposed route. PC don’t feel they have taken the safety of pedestrians walking along the verge to get to the field into enough consideration.
GU advised that all the Parish Council can do is pressurise the local authorities who are responsible for these works.
GU advised that he will be attending a meeting on 20th January being ran by Nick Herbert and if he gets an opportunity he will speak to him about the Parish’s continued concerns regarding the B2139. Our MP has been supportive in the past and has advised that until the A27 Arundel Bypass is resolved traffic on B2139 and through Storrington is always going to be a problem.
Action: Clerk to relay all these concerns to Philip Circus, especially APC’s disappointment and frustration with our proposed pavement extension being turned down.
GU advised that APC have received a letter and a petition from 62 residents of Rackham Road concerning the speed of traffic along the road and expressing their concerns on safety for pedestrians, they would like APC to investigate traffic calming measures with WSCC.
Action: Clerk to advise Philip Circus of petition
GC advised that when we were researching Quiet Lanes for our Neighbourhood Plan he had some discussions with WSCC regarding reducing the speed limit to 20mph. There was not much support for Quiet Lanes in the NP, potentially because this required additional signage. GC advised that we were unlikely to get support for 20mph limit under the Quiet Lanes remit as it is a bus route etc. The NP team also looked at some other villages where ‘sleeping policeman’ and ‘ road width reduced by priority signs’ had been put into place, however with WSCC cost cutting he felt we would be unlikely to get these now.
PJC advised that he had attend a Horsham Authorities Local Council meeting (HALC) and Chris Stark, WSCC Area Highways Manager advised that the Chanctonbury County Local Committee had an allocation of one Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) per annum (this is for 18 Parish Councils including Storrington, Steyning etc.) and includes things such as reduced speed limits, bollards, sleeping policemen.
JC advised that WSCC Highways have been targeted to save £20 million over 5 years, hence why we are seeing all the cuts to services and more responsibilities being passed to Parish Councils.
A member of the public raised the possibilities of speed cameras being used along Rackham Road, JC advised that he used to be part of the Storrington Community Watch team and in 2011 it had cost them £3000 for the speed gun, training, signs etc. and then the speed gun remains the property of the police who can ask to use at any time. Storrington Parish Council took over the running of the community speed watch a few years ago.
GU said Rackham Road is not as busy as the roads in Storrington, the level of traffic using the road is not an issue. JC said he could ask Storrington if we could use their speed gun, if they were willing we could then look into how much the training and signs etc. would be.
A resident asked if they could put signs up stating “20 mph”, GU said that putting these on the Highway is not allowed and they would not be enforceable. There could also be the issue of liability if a motorist hit one and injured themselves, the resident would be liable. A resident asked about the 20mph signs on wheelie bins, again these are not encouraged as they look like official highways signs.
GU said that there may be some ways that residents can tackle the speeding problem that won’t have any cost impact, such as “alternate parking” so cars have to slow down.
GU said that road markings could help, but again these would have to be applied for and we are still waiting for Church Street to be re-marked 8 months after it was resurfaced. The Clerk also mentioned that APC have been trying to get the craters at the end of Church Street filled for over 2 years now.
A member of the public asked about village gates and said they thought these going to be installed along the B2139. GU said that WSCC had advised that the area on side of road was insufficient.
The members of the public said they would be grateful for anything that the PC can do but they would also continue to push forward for some traffic calming.
2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Tim Simpson.
Apologies also received from Jim Sanson and Philip Circus.
3. DECLARATION OF INTEREST
Jason Charman – with regard to item on Newland Gardens as he is a resident.
4. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 10th November 2016
Were agreed by Councillors and signed by the Chairman as a true record.
5. MATTERS ARISING (a) Neighbourhood Plan – GU provided an update, our NP is currently with the Examiner, and she has come back with some questions on some of our policies. Some of these are fairly challenging. TS is currently away in France and the NP Steering Group were hoping to have a meeting next week to finalise their response to the questions.
GU said that unfortunately it had been brought to APC’s attention that SDNPA have been receiving some representations from HDC regarding our NP. PJC said that their concern was mainly regarding our failure, as they saw it, to consult at Regulation 14. In fact, we have a response from HDC to our Reg 14 consultation, so the grounds for this are unclear. SDNPA were continuing to support us. GU said he is going to contact Jim Sanson to express our concerns about this.
The Clerk explained that we have some funding to return to Locality which was given to us to be spent by 31st December 2017 for costs of holding the NP referendum and printing of the final plan. GU and HA authorised the BACS return of this money.
Action: Clerk to raise BACS payment
(b) Church Street Drain – JC advised that following the works undertaken to repair the drain it became apparent that the issue was further down the road in Church St. New piping has been put down. Unfortunately the drain is still flooding. WSCC have been contacted and they have raised a work order to come and jet the entire length of the piping as there is the possibility that silt further down the pipe needs to be jetted out.
HA asked if Clearflow had sent in an invoice, VS confirmed that this had been paid. HA advised that when Clearflow came out in April they advised in a conversation that they failed to ‘zero their meter’ before putting in the CCTV camera. This led to the incorrect conclusion that the blockage was by Drewitts Farm when it was actually by The Old Brew House.
Action: Clerk to write to Clearflow advising of the above and expressing our concerns that we were given incorrect information, which wasted time, effort and money
(c) Newland Gardens maintenance – GC and JC have had a meeting with Esther Somerfield from Saxon Weald concerning the lack of maintenance work carried out on the grounds of Newland Gardens. Some work was carried out by the contractor prior to the meeting. All the works that needed doing were reviewed. A follow up meeting will be arranged in 3-4 months, GC said that we need the residents to tell us by then what is still outstanding. GC also mentioned the trees by the stream to Saxon Weald, they have undertaken to cut back the bracken and tidy up debris along the stream (as they are the riparian owners).
6. COMMITTEE REPORTS
(a) Planning – Prior to the meeting the Clerk produced a list of planning applications that had been reviewed since the last Parish Council meeting in November, these are as follows;
GU advised that the planning committee had also been contacted to provide some pre-planning advice.
PJC provided an update on the Black Horse, there has been a site meeting between PJC, HDC and the buyer. The buyer is currently not providing any commitment that he will continue with the purchase. There is another potential buyer who is looking to re-open the pub more or less in the same style that it was previously (he isn’t looking currently to have any B&B). There are still some conditions to be discharged by the conservation officer regarding use of material etc. GU asked PJC to keep the planning committee up to date on any progress.
(b) Roads and Paths – JC advised that the blocked gully by the entrance to the station car park had finally be cleared by contractors for Southern Rail.
However, the gully by the telephone box on the road up to station is completely blocked.
Action: Clerk to report to WSCC via Love West Sussex
JC also spoke about WSCC turning down our application for the extension of the pavement to the football field, he advised that two years he had a site meeting with the Highways engineer who agreed that there was sufficient land, but would need permission from the owners of Pickwick House (APC previously had this, but the previous owners have now moved). The engineer also advised that the gully would not be an issue.
Action: JC to speak to the new owners of Pickwick House to see if they would be in agreement, if they are then Clerk to contact Chris Stark from WSCC and ask for a site meeting with him and Philip Circus.
(c) Finance – VS advised that there was a finance meeting on Thursday 17th November where the precept for 2017/18 was discussed.
(d) Assets and Amenities – HA advised that there was nothing to report with regard to playgrounds. With regard to the football field, there is currently have a problem with moles. JC has trodden down 56 molehills. It is APC’s responsibility to ensure that the field is kept in good condition. APC have enlisted professional help to rid the field of moles in order to make the area safe for playing football on again. Once clear, Keith Dalmon hopes to find a volunteer to roll the pitch.
(e) Village Bus – GC provided a report to all Councillors prior to the meeting advising;
‘The Amberley and Slindon community bus operation continues to operate a scheduled operation every week on 3 days (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday) and monthly (first Tuesday) to Worthing. This operation is set to continue unchanged into 2017.
A replacement (new) bus started operating in November and has been found to provide a better/more comfortable service for passengers. The bus, provided by The Department of Transport, is hopefully still to be supported by West Sussex County Council and the annual grant (2017) has been applied for, and awaits approval. As well as the annual Grant we receive concessionary fare rebates and a fuel rebate. Whilst passenger numbers vary an average of 24 per week was achieved in the last year.
Over the years the Bus has been used to support village events and last year it was used on private hire to take pupils from the Amberley village school to swimming lessons.’
GC also provided a copy of the income and expenditure account showing healthy funds, GC advised that they may be in a position to make donations and/or support community activities or ideas.
8. FINANCIAL REPORT
All the necessary documents were approved and signed. The financial statement for the period up to 12th January 2017 was produced and agreed.
The financial statement is as follows;
8. 2017/18 PRECEPT TO BE AGREED
VS had emailed Councillors a copy of the draft precept prior to the meeting. GU asked for Councillors to all confirm that they are in agreement. All voted in favour. There has been a small increase of 3.58% on the 2016/17 precept, GU said that he felt this still represented good value to the Parish.