HADDENHAM PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON MONDAY, 7TH DECEMBER, 2009 AT 7.30 PM IN THE WALTER ROSE ROOM

Present : Cllrs. Mrs. Aston (Chairman), Mr. Austin-Crowe, Mr. Cousins, Mrs. Goss, Mr. Rhodes, Mrs. Talbot, Mr. Truesdale, Mr. Wheeler, Mr. Young.

1.  Apologies – Mr. Adlard – business commitment. Accepted.

2.  The minutes of the meeting held on 2nd November, 2009 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

3.  To receive declarations of interest pertaining to matters on the agenda. None.

4.  FINANCE & GENERAL PURPOSES AND CHEQUES FOR PAYMENT

(a)  Agreed Precept for 2010/11 will be £82,797. This is an increase of .97% on this year.

(b)  Children’s Play area – a quote and scheme had been requested from 5 contractors. Four have responded. Members of the committee had viewed those received and the preferred scheme was that submitted by KOMPAN which included 18 play options, 2 benches and 2 picnic tables. It was agreed the views of AVDC would now be sought and their comments reported to the January Parish Council meeting. An exhibition would be held on 23rd January, 2010 in the Parish Office from 10 am – 12 noon where members of the public could view the plans.

(c)  The following requests for annual grants were approved :-

Darby & Joan £200

Dial a Ride £250

Age Concern Haddenham £150

Thame CAB £200

Air Ambulance £100

Haddenham Parochial Charities £100

(d)  Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Friday, 7th May, 2010 in the Village Hall.

(e)  Playing Field car park resurfacing – it was agreed this should go ahead, extending the car park by one metre to take into account the cycle track and also to include drainage, at a total cost of £26,933.80. This would be paid from Banks Park Trust funds. It is anticipated that £3040.00 will be reimbursed from the grants received for the cycle path.

(f)  Airfield football pitch lease – information received from Lands Improvement that the lease is agreed but the new plan has caused confusion with our solicitor. It is suggested that the plan is agreed between Lands Improvement and the Parish Council and both solicitors are notified accordingly. Reference is made in the lease to the plan in order to qualify the various rights that are being granted. Agreed.

(g)  Agreed a Fire Risk Assessment of the Village Hall is undertaken at a cost of £382.50 plus VAT.

(h)  Three panic bars have been repaired on doors in the Village Hall. Thanks to Mr. Ayers for undertaking this work.

(i)  Playing Field hedge – one quote received for work to hedge and one for new fence. Further quotes being obtained.

(j)  The following cheques were approved for payments :-

Garden Angels – Oct/Nov – Clay Corner £33. BP £144,

Wallflowers £30. 207.00

N. Heath – Sheerstock footpath hedge 1600.00

BT – internet services 72.07

E-On – street light energy Oct. 09. 538.07

Ivor Miles – Oct/Nov fuel 144.04

Haddenham Village Hall – room hire 19.60

Piers Newth – Mattock for Snakemoor 15.00

Haddenham Garden Centre – Xmas tree lights 79.98

Robyn Thorogood – refreshments, business cards, domain

Fee for Snakemoor 44.88

Mazars – audit fee 632.50

Geo. Browns – blower, chainsaw, brushcutter, hedgetrimmer 1309.64

Inland Revenue 370.71

G. Dudley Sal. 1067.07, phone 4, post 9.54, trav. 9.01,

Refreshments 20.63 85.24

J. Ayers – monthly contract 1586.23, extension lead 4.97,

Mileage 33.46 1625.16

(k)  Audit for 2008/9 has been completed and signed off by Auditors. Thanks were given to Mrs. Dudley and Mrs. Dharamshi.

(l)  Grant of £800 has been received from Ringway Jacobs towards the cycle path.

(m)  AVDC – nothing to report.

(n)  Youth Centre – next meeting 26th January, 2010.

(o)  PFMC – there is concern regarding the condition of the pavilion roof. There has been a leak.

(p)  SCMC – a Finance sub-committee meeting had been held in order to set up a Financial Management Plan. Income will be analysed and there will be a monthly monitoring system.

ALLOTMENTS AND SNAKEMOOR

(a)  The hedge alongside the allotment/Sheerstock footpath has been cut to a height of 6 foot. A few of the trees need trimming and one to be taken out as they are hindering the light from the street lamps.

(b)  All allotment holders have received a copy of the rent increases from September 2010 along with a copy of the new Tenancy Agreement.

(c)  Main water has been turned off to the water troughs. At the beginning of January the Clerk will order two new water troughs.

(d)  Snakemoor – AVDC has permitted a footpath on the inside of the field from the Station roundabout to Snakemoor. Mrs. Aston has given a grant from her Community Leaders Fund of £2350.00 towards the footpath.

ENVIRONMENTAL

(a)  Eldridge’s have been in the village repairing street lights. An insurance claim has been submitted to Zurich Municipal for the damaged lamp in Franklin Road.

(b)  The new dog bin in Crabtree Road has been relocated to the Wyre pond area as complaints had been received from a resident that it was too close to their property in Crabtree Road, being on the grass verge on the outside of their boundary hedge. Requests had also been received for bins in Skittles Green and by the new football pitch on the airfield, as the pitches were suffering from dog mess.

(c)  Advice had been received that the tree on the junction of Stokes Croft/Churchway did not need lopping as it was not causing a sight problem. If it was lopped it would grow between 4-6 feet in a year. This to be discussed at Committee.

(d)  There are parking issues within the village and a petition had been received from residents of Wykeham Way concerning the commuter parking and suggesting one hour parking bans during the day. Mrs. Aston had handed this into Bucks County Council. Another area is Townside where vehicles are being parked too close and partly over driveways causing residents difficulties when entering/exiting their properties. Bucks County Council had looked at the problem and suggested sending letters to all residents asking them to be considerate when parking, to see if this approach had any effect. If double yellow lines were laid this would push the problem further up and down Townside. Agreed a letter would be sent to residents.

(e)  Traffic calming Fort End – a plan and costings had been received and are available in the Parish Office for viewing, but as the cost of the scheme is £24,111.34 it was felt this could not go ahead at the present time. To be discussed further. Plans are available to view in the Parish Office, and a full public consultation will be held if funds are found for this scheme.

(f)  LAF – meeting to be held on 9th December at which the Haddenham to Thame cycle way is to be discussed.

(g)  BCC – Mrs. Aston had handed over the petition from Wykeham Way residents concerning commuter parking to two officers at BCC to look into.

(h)  NAG – next meeting 16th December.

PLANNING

(a)  Meeting was held on 16th November at which 8 applications were viewed. Comments had been made on the application for 4 Stanbridge Road for demolition of existing house and erection for two pairs of semi-detached dwellings and one detached dwelling. No objection. It was thought there may be a S106 payment for leisure from this development.

(b)  Colin Stocker of Tiggywinkles had attended the meeting to discuss the building which was being erected without planning permission. This will be used as an extension to their classroom facilities and in the school holidays will be used as a centre to view Red Kites. We await a planning application.

(c)  Application for 40 Thame Road – demolition of existing buildings and erection of a two storey block comprising 5 one bed apartments with associated parking went to AVDC’s Development Control Committee who are recommending approval, but the decision has been deferred pending more details.

(d)  BT phone box Church End – AVDC has written to BT asking if it would be appropriate for the Parish Council to take over responsibility for the kiosk bearing in mind that it is a listed building. It is also asked why BT should remove the telephony equipment as the kiosk would remain the responsibility of BT if it were not adopted locally. We await further developments.

(e)  Information of High Speed Two (HS2) – company set up by the Government to consider the case for new high speed train services between London and Scotland, can be found on http://www.hs2.org.uk. Work began early in 2009. By the end of the year a report will be submitted to Government with a preferred route, including options, and a business case, including environmental, social and economic assessments.

(f)  The Core Strategy for Aylesbury Vale District was submitted to the Secretary of State for independent examination on 30th October, 2009.

(g)  Mr. Truesdale met with Lands Improvements who gave their thoughts for the future development of the airfield. A public consultation event is to be held on 18th December from 3 – 7 pm and 19th December from 10 am to 2 pm in the Village Hall.

(h)  Country Parks and Green Spaces – e-mail received from BCC asking if the PC would be interested in taking over the responsibility for Stanbridge Picnic Site and Farm Trail. SW&CG and Village Society had been asked for their comments.

COMMUNICATIONS

(a)  January Newsletter – content to be received by 18th December. More distributors are required.

(b)  Website is being updated gradually.

(c)  Adverts are still coming in.

CHAIRMAN

4th January, 2010.