Gerrards Cross Town Council

South Lodge, East Common, Gerrards Cross SL9 7AD 01753 888018

Clerk to the Council - Mrs S Moffat

MINUTES of the ANNUAL TOWN MEETING

HELD ON WEDNESDAY 12th APRIL 2017 at the COLSTON HALL, MEMORIAL CENTRE, GERRARDS CROSS

PRESENT Cllr Chris Brown, Town Chairman (presiding)

COUNCILLOR Ian Bayliss COUNCILLOR

“ Martin Baker “ John O’Keeffe

“ Mikael Berntson “ Hellen Orme

Jaspal Chhokar “ Peter Roberts

“Norman Holmes “ Teresa Scott

Mike Lawson “ Jennifer Woolveridge

“

OFFICERS Sue Moffat - Town Clerk

Clair McCoy – Assistant Clerk

IN ATTENDENCE

Cllr Peter Hardy (Bucks County Council), Cllr Duncan Smith ( SBDC) and PCSO Denise Hawkes (TVPA).

Members of the Public:-Diane Holden, Katy Clifton, Richard Woolf, Mrs V Woolf, Mr N Woolf, Val Fisher, Tony Clinch, Penny Clinch, Anna Sullivan, Mr Isidor, Mrs Isidor, Claire Collens, Jane Hudson, John Glasson, Colin Gooding, Ouimuyiwa Ariyo, Sally Baker, Nick Moss, Madeleine May, Ray Austin, John Fidler, David McMullan, Andrew Naylor, Gerald Musgrave, R. Russell, Jonathan Lee, Pat Fea, Julia Fea, Vivien Brown, A Deller, D Deller, Jennifer Gordon, Ian Gordon, Peter Chapman, Phil Hudson, Mike Kavanagh Helen Glasson, Sister Catherine CSC, Nigel Milner, Rosemary Chambers,David Turner, Karin Austin, Margaret Fidler, Louise Kavanagh, Hilary Naylor, Isobel Buchanan, Bill Jones, Sue Jones, Richard Griffiths Pat Lawson, Alan Cobb, Heather O’Regan, Brian O’Reagan, Janie Holmes, Daena Butler, John Draper, Rosemary Duncombe, Sgt Lucy Price.

The Press:-

Shruti Sheth (Bucks Free Press)

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr B Gibbs and Mr Stanning.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 13TH APRIL 2016

The minutes,proposed by Cllr Brown, seconded by Cllr Holme, were agreed and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

APPROVAL OF THE 2015/16 AUDITED ACCOUNTS

Cllr Bayliss, Chairman of the Finance and General Purposes Committee, presented the published accounts for 2015/16 which have been approved by the internal and external auditors. The Audited Accounts proposed by Cllr Bayliss, seconded by Cllr Orme, were accepted by the meeting.

Cllr Bayliss reported that the Finance and General Purposes Committee monitors the expenditure of the Town Council and sets the budget for the upcoming year. It also ensures that proper financial records are maintained and audited.

Gerrards Cross Town Council has responsibilities for maintaining some of the essential services in the community such as street lighting, footpaths and maintenance of the Commons and The Camp.

Other services have now been devolved to the Town from Bucks County Council to allow us to provide a more efficient and effective services tailored to our residents’ needs. These include grass cutting on verges, cutting back foliage on highways land, cutting back foliage overhanging footpaths etc.

The Council continues to support local organisations and projects over the last year by awarding grants. This enables residents from all age groups to continue to benefit from valuable community facilities and services.

The Council has decided to increase the precept for the year 2017/18 by £18.2K to £260k which is equivalent to an increase of about £5 per Band D household. This increase is to cover additional projects which Bucks County Council are unable to fund such as block pavement repairs in Station Road and Packhorse Road and additional gulley cleaning. There was some underspend in the 2016/17 budget, one mainly due to the new footpath upgrade across East and West Commons now being funded by a grant from Tescos Bags for Help Community Grant scheme, efficiencies made in IT software, delay in redecoration of Council office and an unexpected reduction in staff when the Deputy Clerk decided to leave for pastures new. Any unused budget will be earmarked for special projects in 2017/18 for improvements to Gerrards Cross whilst still maintaining a General Reserve for unexpected or emergency contingencies.

REPORT FROM CLLR BROWN, CHAIRMAN OF THE TOWN COUNCIL

I am pleased to say that Gerrards Cross Town Council has been very pro-active during the past year. All our Councillors are making major contributions to improving and maintaining the facilities in Gerrards Cross for the benefit of our residents and is a privilege to work with such a dedicated team of volunteers. We are very well supported by our new Town Clerk and Assistant Town Clerk.

Some highlights during the past year have been the formation of a residents committee to oversee the creation of a Neighbourhood Plan, our progress with taking on the Devolved Budget for Highways from Bucks County Council (BCC), the safeguarding of our green belt supported by our residents’ input to the Chiltern& South Bucks emerging Local Plan and the excellent work of our Boost Working Party.

We have undertaken a considerable amount of work on the Commons, including holly clearance, which has opened up the Commons for residents to enjoy. The bunds have now been reduced in height, tidied up and reseeded. The ongoing work removing silt and clearing reeds and trees around the ponds is working well. The Conservation Volunteers work on the Commons every month, tidying up footpaths and cutting back overgrown vegetation. Besides our regular volunteers, we have assistance of teams from Tesco and the Crowne Plaza.

We have been a leading Council in localising highways work under BCC’s devolved budget arrangements and continue to press for more responsibilities, including gulley cleaning and pothole filling. We have introduced new parking restrictions on various residential streets, organised our highways work into four quadrants and introduced sponsored flower troughs at the entrances to Gerrards Cross. Work on outstanding Highways projects, including the traffic lights and the block paving, has been slow and frustrating, but we are keeping the pressure on these.

The car parks in Gerrards Cross are now full to capacity at peak times and we continue to press for our preferred option for the capacity of the station car park to be increased. In response to the proposal from South Bucks District Council (SBDC) to build a multi storey car park in Station Road, we explored an alternative that would include parking, residential and office accommodation, but this was not acceptable to SBDC. In the absence of any alternative, we supported the SBDC proposal, subject to a number of improvements. However, this has now be delayed at least until next year, due to an objection by BCC.

At this point The Chairman asked Cllr Holmes to provide an update on recent alternative proposal. Cllr Norman Holmes reported that himself and Cllr Lawson, have just recently had a meeting with the Director of Development at Network Rail to explore the possibility of a multi-story car park at the Station. There is the added complication of Network Rail leasing the land to Chiltern Rail but Network Rail may be willing to part fund a feasibility study for a multi-storey car park.

The Chairman, Cllr Chris Brown, went on to report that Council continues to review all planning applications received from SBDC. With the increasing numbers of plans, with many of these requiring site visits, we have two planning meetings a month. I am pleased to say that the new on-line system we have adopted has proved very effective in speeding up the whole process. We regularly review our recommendations against the decisions made by SBDC and these show a high degree of correlation.

Our Boost Working Party that brings together the many organisations in Gerrards Cross, continues to expand its successful activities. Recent successes are working with the Rotary Clubs on the Christmas Fair, our Best Kept Village improvements and the promotion of the Boost award scheme to recognise contributions from various organisation and individuals for their help in improving GX.

We have worked hard to improve communications with our residents through the Communications Working Party. This includes our new improved Voice newsletter published 3 times a year, use of Social Media with Facebook and Twitter and regular updates to our website.

We have supported the Community Association in improving the WW1 and WW2 buildings for the benefits of our residents and we have supported the Library with its new Citizens Advice Bureau.

The Council has opposed the proposals from BCC and SBDC on the formation Unitary Councils, which we believe will be disruptive and will not result in any major improvements. In particular, we are very disappointed with the lack of inclusion of the Towns and Parishes in these plans.

With the recent co-option of Councillor Teresa Scott, we are now up to our full complement of 12 Councillors. I would like to thank Councillor Peter Grimes for all his hard work on the Council over the years, particularly on his chairing of the Commons Committee and his work with the Conservation Volunteers.

We look forward to working with our residents for the coming year. This will be particularly challenging, with potential changes to local authorities that will impact on our work. If you have some spare time, we always welcome your assistance on a number of projects, from participating in your Neighbourhood Plan to joining our Conservation Volunteers.

OTHER REPORTS

Reports from the Commons Committee, Highways Committee, Planning Committee, Speed & Parking Working Party, Communication Working Party and BOOST were presented at the meeting and were circulated with the agenda.

In addition to these, Cllr Norman Holmes gave a brief overview of the start of the Gerrards Cross Neighbourhood Plan. initiative. This is an initiative, devolved from government under the Localism Act, to develop a shared vision for Gerrards Cross. It will enable the community to help shape the future development and growth of our local area and offer all stakeholders in Gerrards Cross (residents and those engaged in business) to influence where they want new homes, shops and offices to be built and the appearance of the townscape.

REPORT FROM GERRARDS CROSS POLICE

Sgt Lucy Price explained that she is the Neighbourhood Sergeant for Gerrards Cross, Denahan, Iver and Beaconsfieldand. She has one PC and 3 PCSO’s at present in her team. Since the beginning of the year in the Gerrards Cross area, there has been 11 assaults (which includes domestic and the one in East Common), 10 burglaries which is approximately 3 per month (with GX being on the Hertfordshire border cross border crime tends to make the figures higher), 14 non-burglaries (such as sheds and garages), 4 criminal damage (eg smashing phone box, graffiti), 11 thefts from cars and 2 car thefts. These figures are pretty good and shows that the police are doing well and the resident in GX are taking care of themselves and their property.

Questions

  1. Cllr Ian Bayliss asked about the groups of aggressive young people who hang around West Common and behind Barclays Bank who would appear to be dealingin drugs. Also some have made a den in the Woods which is littered with evidence of drinking and drug use. Sgt Price responded that the Neighbourhood Police Team have carried out a lot of work with these youths. Most use GX as a venue and come from Wycombe, CSP,Iver and Denham. They have served notice on some youths so if they continue to behave badly they will have action taken against them which may include effecting their tenancy if they live in social housing. Police officers work with Chalfonts Community College, schools in Wycombe and with the Transport Police (for those youth comingin by train).If any members of the public are worried about groups of youths, they should phone the police who will deal with it as GX is treated as a priority. The police also know about the den in West Common woods.
  2. Cllr Woolveridge asked about Rural Crime such as fly-tipping and car crimes. Sgt Price responded that fly-tipping should be reported to Bucks CC who do carry out ID checks and have had success at catching the culprits.The Police carried out ‘Rural Crime Week’ in February and marked up a lot of property and got people to sign up to a messaging system. The Police are very happy to visit rural property to suggest ways of improving security. Abandoned cars should be reported to SBDC.
  3. Query on ID theft –Sgt Price responded that cyber crime is becoming very large scale. ID theft is a fraud offence and reported to Action Fraud who carry outthe investigation.The Police only take action as a result of the investigation. Sgt Price did offer for the Police to give a talk on cyber crime to GX local community.
  4. Sue Jones thanked the Police for the Thames Valley Alert which is excellent Neighbourhood Watch scheme and she passes this on to all those in the Residents Association.
  5. Cllr John O’Keeffe queried if incidents that are reported but not followed up as the police are too busy, are included in the crime statistics as he reported an incident but heard nothing from the Police? Sgt Price responded that incidents not investigated immediately do go through to the relevant Neighbourhood Police report box for follow up so would be included. In this case, presumably it was missed which is unfortunate.
  6. Query on ‘Boy Racers’ along the Oxford Rd, GX in the summer months – Sgt Price responded that if the registration can be seen report this to the police and action will be taken.
  7. Query on obstruction on pavement – Sgt Price responded that if a photo can be taken of the vehicles’ wheels on the pavement send it to the police and action will be taken for obstruction.
  8. Query from local resident about vandals pushing fences along the back gardens in Bulstrode Way which back on to the footpath running parallel to the railway line. Sgt Price responded that CCTV cameras on the fence could possibly work to identify the culprits.

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

The Chairman invited questions and comment from the public on matters in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Town.

  1. There were many questions raised about the planning application submitted by SBDC for a multi-storey car Park in Station Road. Many people objected to the design, the effect on the street scene, the need for a multi-storey car park and the traffic congestion this may cause along Station Road and Marsham Lane.

In response to these queries SBDC’s Councillors responded:-

Cllr Santokh Chhokar responded: - Firstly he thanked GXTC for initiating discussions with Network Rail for a multi-storey car park by the Station. However SBDC have committed to doing something about the lack of car parking in GX and have allocated resources to enlarge their car park in Station Road. The first planning application has been withdrawn due to many objections regards the appearance of it. However SBDC are committed to doing something that GX is happy with and will work with GXTC and residents to find a long term solution that is pleasing to everyone with proper consultation. Cllr S Chhokar also stated that SBDC would be happy to work with GXTC, Network Rail and Chiltern Rail to look at having a multi-storey car park by the Station.

SBDC Cllr Duncan Smith responded that SBDC has responded to the 2013/14 survey which shows that an additional 140 spaces are needed. As SBDC owns the land for the car park in Station Road the District Council will be able to build a bigger car park a lot quicker. Previous experience of negotiations with Network Rail shows it takes a very long time. Local residents did not like the appearance of the proposed multi story car park but a ‘prettier’ car park will cost more money so will ultimately increase the price of the car park tickets.

  1. Mr Russell stated that the obvious answer for a new car park is to build a tunnel over the railway.
  2. Rosemary Duncombe – Network Rail built a car park at Beaconsfield so why not GX.
  3. Penny Clinch – Is thereanything we can do to encourage Network Rail to build a multi-storey. Cllr Norman Holmes responded that it is not only Network Rail but Chiltern Rail as well that need an incentive to build it but not sure what this is.
  4. Penny Clinch went on to thank all the councillors for all the work they do. This was supported by Richard.
  5. Richard Griffiths said that potholes are getting worse in GX. Cllr Chris Brown responded that Bucks CC are not investing money in Highways and the problem will get worse as potholes are a symptom of the bigger problem of not re-surfacing. GXTC is trying is trying to carry out pothole repair of minor roads in GX under Devolved Highways work but Bucks CC has not yet given permission.
  6. Diane Holden said that potholes need to be reported on-line. If it is a severe pothole it should be repaired within 10 days.
  7. A man was delighted that GXTC has taken the initiative and started negotiations with Network Rail but still need to look at the overall traffic problem. Need alternative means of transport such as cycling but roads are dangerous. Or walking but Mill Lane and Marsham Lane are dangerous. Cllr Chris Brown responded that Sustran did propose a cycle route in GX but the cyclists rejected it as the roads are too dangerous.
  8. Brian O’Reagan cannot understand why SBDC did not negotiate with Network Rail if GXTC can do it.
  9. Louise Kavanagh stated that GX does need a multi-storey in Station Road for shoppers and users of the town centre even if there is a one way system in Station Road and even if the car park is ugly.
  10. John Draper suggested a ‘Park and Ride’ to solve the parking problem.
  11. Another resident suggested that need to run a bridge from A40 to Orchehill Rise car park to avoid traffic through the town centre.
  12. Sal Fisher asked what is going to happen to Layters Way footbridge? Cllr Chris Brown said it is reported yearly to Network Rail who states they have inspected it and it is safe. Cllr John O’Keeffe suggested reporting it to Footpath England.
  13. A local resident asked who is the enforcing parking in Station Road car park as he has figures to show invalid tickets displayed in cars? Cllr Woolveridge asked him to send these figure s to Enforcement at SBDC and take it up with them.
  14. A resident from Orchehill Rise said Orchille Rise car park is never full as no signage.
  15. Another local resident asked for more litter bins. Cllr Chris Brown reported that GXTC 3 more have been ordered for the town centre and soon to be installed.

Lastly Cllr Norman Holmes thanked the Chairman for all his hard work in his duties as a town councillor and thanked the Town Clerk and Assistant Clerk for all their dedication to their work.