Holybrook Parish Council

Council Meeting Minutes

Date of Meeting: 15th November 2010

Location: Beansheaf Community Centre

Present: Cllrs. Mary Bedwell, Claire Tull, Bernard Gilbert, Carol Hedges, Iain Pate, Richard Somner, Val Betteridge, Charlie Croal, Glenn Dennis, Karen Albanese and Clive Littlewood.

Also Present: District Cllr. Peter Argyle and Brian Leahy, Senior Licensing Officer for West Berks.

76/10/11 Presentation from Brian Leahy, Senior Licensing Officer for West Berks: Street Trading Issues

Mr. Leahy told the meeting that a Street Trading Consent is required for all street trading activities such as hot food vehicles, ice cream vans and flower stalls. All streets in the West Berkshire area are designated as ‘Consent’ Streets, except for the whole of the centre of Theale Parish which is a ‘Prohibited’ area. In a Consent Street any person who wishes to sell items from a trailer or stall must first obtain a Street Trading Consent from the Council. Food traders must also be registered with the Environmental Health service.

A Street Trading Consent is not required for trading as a pedlar under licence issued by a Police Authority, a market trader operating at a licensed market venue, a news vendor selling only newspapers and periodicals or trading on private land but they may need planning permission.

The application details of traders applying for Street Trading Consent will be circulated to local councillors, the police, trading standards, the Highways Authority for major roads and local residents and businesses who may be affected by the application. Consent may not be granted if adverse comments are received from the consulted parties.

The parish council can reflect the option of a prohibitive zone, consent, seasonal or with limitations. Cllr. Tull proposed that the parish council allow trading with caveats.

If there were to be a kiosk in Linear Park it would be a permanent entity and would be registered as a food business.

77/10/11 Apologies received from Cllrs. Shallow, Sheppard and Heath.

78/10/11 Declarations of interest relevant to the agenda – Cllrs. Somner in connection with a grant applied for from the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust and Cllr. Pate in connection with a grant applied for from Friends of Linear Park. Neither of which gives either councillor any individual pecuniary interest.

79/10/11 The Minutes of the Council meeting of 11th October 2010 were AGREED unanimously. This was proposed by Cllr. Gilbert and seconded by Cllr. Tull.

80/10/11 Matters arising from the Minutes:

Cllr. Croal was told that nothing further had been heard regarding the ‘Save Our Surgery’ petition. Cllr. Betteridge asked about the grants policy and was told that it was on the agenda.

81/10/11 District Councillor Report

Cllr. Peter Argyle thanked those who came along to the meeting which covered a budget simulator exercise last Tuesday.

Cllr. Argyle told the meeting that 145 posts are in jeopardy at West Berkshire Council. The Day Centre, Greenfields at Calcot will remain open but not the Compton Centre.

The skate park has been ordered and will be installed next spring in Linear Park.

West Berkshire Council aim to complete the proposed junction improvements at Langley Hill/A4, Calcot next year.

82/10/11 Clerk’s update

The CCTV system has been serviced at the Beansheaf Centre. The gas boiler failed on 26th October and the engineers discovered this was caused by a faulty connection from the safety override switch. A new part has been sourced and the boiler repaired. The engineers advise that the boiler is aged, but is currently perfectly serviceable.

The intruder alarms have been examined since various minor faults have been occurring. The outcome is awaited, but we may need to replace the control panels. The Clerk has asked Abel Alarms for an idea of costs.

Letters to tender were issued to four contractors requesting initial designs and costs to be submitted by 19th November for the toilet refurbishment at the Beansheaf Centre. Up to 8th November visits to view the premises have been made by Croft Building Contractors and Wells Builders.

A number of lighting tubes and starters have been replaced in the Linear Hall.

Playgrounds: the latest monthly inspection has revealed a certain number of items need to be replaced/renewed to ensure full H&S compliance. These are – flat swing seats (2x£26), cradle swing seats (2x£80), bark (£20) and gravel boards (total to be measured, at cost of £3.42x3m). The Clerk has instructed RBC to deal with this work. Other minor repairs will be done at no cost.

The four advertisements which have been printed in the winter newsletter have turned out very well.

The Clerk will be meeting with John Bishop of Rushall Farm regarding proposed allotments on Thursday 18th November.

83/10/11 Planning

The proposed development at Underwood Road is due to be heard by the Eastern Area Planning Committee on 15th December. This is a meeting convened solely for this development in view of the number of objections. The Clerk has advised Elaine Rosier of the Underwood Road Action Group and they will arrange for a spokesperson to make their representations. The Clerk will write to the Planning department at West Berkshire Council as the parish council has not received a copy of the revised plans and he will also be writing to the Eastern Area Planning Committee before 15th December listing the same objections.

Planning decisions:

No. 10/02135/HOUSE, 42 Hatfield Court, Calcot. Two storey side extension, addition of an enclosed porch and conservatory to the rear. GRANTED.

New applications:

Application number / Details of application / Name of applicant / Address / Comments
10/02546/HOUSE / New attached garage to side of property / Mr/Mrs Cannell / 14 Balfour Drive, Calcot / No objections
10/02674/HOUSE / Widen footpath to make vehicular access in front of property including grassed area and pavement / Mrs Clements / 45 Bath Road, Calcot / No objections

84/10/11 Financial Information

Members RESOLVED to authorise the payment of items listed on Payment Sheet no. 06-2010/11. This was proposed by Cllr. Dennis and seconded by Cllr. Betteridge.

A number of regular hirers of the Beansheaf Centre have been lost this year and although another church group is using the Linear Hall on Sundays, the loss of revenue currently is around £1,000 per month. A schedule summarizing this was sent to councillors, together with a list of rooms and times when the Centre is unused. It was suggested that the Beansheaf Centre advertises in the Free Ads in Yellow Pages and Thomson Local. The Beansheaf Pre-school and Holybrook websites are linked and the refurbished Beansheaf Centre to be advertised in the spring newsletter.

An enquiry has been received from a Holiday Club – ‘Goosebumps’ normally based at Purley for hire of the Linear Hall for one week in December. This group has indicated that they might be looking for an alternative venue to Purley for all holiday periods but nothing has been progressed. Cllr. Albanese offered the council £30 a day if the Beansheaf Holiday Club runs on the week beginning 20th December. This was accepted.

The Clerk is currently in the process of compiling figures for next year’s Budget ready for discussion by the Finance Committee on 29th November. No information has been received as to whether there will be any cap on future Precept.

85/10/11 Skatepark

After a number of false dawns it has been confirmed that the Playbuilder funding will, after all, be forthcoming and West Berks issued a Press Release to this effect, a copy of which was sent to councillors. West Berks have asked if the Parish Council will pay for the electricity costs for the lighting and members were asked for a decision. This was AGREED. The Clerk has obtained the technical specification of the lights which will be made available if required.

Solar lighting is not an option since it would not be powerful enough.

Cllr. Gilbert has suggested that the lights are operated not only on a timer, but also with a motion sensor so that they will only operate when the facility is in use. The Clerk will pass this information to West Berks when replying about the electricity costs.

86/10/11 Festival 2011 update from Cllr. Tull

Minutes of the meeting held on 1st November were sent to councillors. Meetings will be arranged in January and February 2011 to discuss organization, raffle and advertising. The date of the next festival is Sunday 26 June 2011.

87/10/11 Grants – update on grants policy – Cllr. Somner

Cllr. Somner will email the Clerk with a draft grants policy. This will be discussed at the Finance meeting on 29th November.

Requests for grants/general donations have been received from the following and await a decision:

Applicant / Grant/Donation / Amount requested
Neighbourhood Wardens / Grant to help run a Christmas tea party for elderly and vulnerable residents of Fords Farm area / £100
Cllr. Mary Bedwell will help with the tea party and there will be a free raffle.
Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust / To help fund a medical robot that enables keyhole surgery / Not specified
Friends of Linear Park / To help with the costs of creating a community garden / Costs of the total project is £1,146
Air Ambulance / General financial support towards the Trust’s annual running costs of £2.8m / Not specified
Berkshire MS Therapy Centre (received 18/11/10) / To contribute to cost of treatment for people with MS in the RG31 area / £250

Air Ambulance has, as requested, provided the information required by the Council’s grant application form. £250 was AGREED to be granted to Air Ambulance. This was proposed by Cllr. Tull and seconded by Cllr. Gilbert.

As a general note, the Council’s grants budget for the current year is £2,000, all of which is currently available.

The £100 requested by the Neighbourhood Wardens was AGREED. This was proposed by Cllr. Dennis and seconded by Cllr. Tull.

88/10/11 Neighbourhood Action Group

Minutes of the last Neighbourhood Action Group meeting were given to councillors. The next meeting will be in the Beansheaf Centre on Thursday 2nd December at 10.30am. The Clerk has contacted Caroline Booth who is arranging a site visit at Sharnwood Drive with the Neighbourhood Wardens. The Clerk has also written to Rachel Craggs from whom a reply is awaited.

89/10/11 District/Parish Conference special event

Cllr. Croal told members of the Help set West Berkshire’s budget ‘Budget Simulator’ discussed at the meeting held on 9th November. Cllr. Croal told members that changes are taking place in public services, and West Berkshire Council is asking for the public’s help through an online ‘Budget Simulator.’ This can be seen at www.westberks.gov.uk/budgetsimulator. The services provided can be viewed, choices can be made of where spending should be increased or reduced (it shows you the consequences of any savings you want to make). Suggestions help West Berkshire Council set its budget in future years. Internet access is free at all West Berkshire Council libraries. Closing date is 17 December 2010.

Chairman’s Remarks

Cllr. Mary Bedwell asked the Clerk to write to Maryanne Thomas regarding the level of supervision at the ‘Garage.’ Cllr. Pate asked if the Parish Council is being kept informed about the outreach work carried out by the youth workers.

Cllr. Hedges was concerned about the exit road from Fords Farm onto the A4 in the event of a major incident. Cllr. Mary Bedwell replied that it will be discussed at the Emergency Planning meeting in February.

Cllr. Dennis praised the work of the West Berkshire Neighbourhood Wardens who do a very valuable job and councillors were amazed at all the different jobs they take on.

Cllr. Tull commented on the spate of burglaries in the area and stated that it is very important to keep doors and sheds locked.

There being no other business, the meeting closed at 9.15pm.

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Chairman Date

Council Minutes 15th November 2010