Lindfield Parish Council

LINDFIELD PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of themeeting of LINDFIELD PARISH COUNCIL held on Thursday 22 JANUARY 2009 at the King Edward Hall, Lindfield

Present:Mr. W. Blunden (Chairman)

Mr. M. Allen

Rev. M. Davies

Mr. A. Gomme

Mrs. M. Nicolle (Vice Chairman)

Mr. R. Pickett

Mr. C. Snowling

Mrs. V. Upton

Mr. S. Willcox

Also Present:3 members of the public

In Attendance:Mrs. C. Irwin (Clerk)

Mrs. S. Kolien (Responsible Financial Officer)

The meeting commenced at 7.30 p.m.

223.WELCOME AND EMERGENCY ANNOUNCEMENTS.

223.1The Chairman welcomed those present and wished them a good New Year, as this was the first Full Council meeting of 2009. The Chairman announced the emergency procedure for the King Edward hall.

223.2Members observed a minute’s silence in memory of Gwyn Mansfield, a former Parish Councillor, and Peter Lawson, who had also been a very active member of the community, both recently deceased.

224.APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE.

224.1Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs. Leach, Johnson and Hersey and the reasons accepted.

225.DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST BY MEMBERS IN RESPECT OF ANY ITEMS ON THE AGENDA.

225.1There were no such declarations.

226.QUESTIONS/COMMENTS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC.

226.1Mr. N. Kerslake thanked Members for their comforting words of condolence to him and his wife, following their recent bereavement.

227.APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

227.1The Extraordinary Meeting of Council held on 20 October 2008. The Chairman called for approval of the Minutes of the Extraordinary meeting of Council held on 20 October 2008. The Minutes were AGREED and the Chairman signed the minutes as being a true record of that meeting.

227.2The Meeting of Full Council held on 23 October 2008. The Chairman called for approval of the Minutes of the Extraordinary meeting of Council held on 23 October 2008. The Minutes were AGREED and the Chairman signed the minutes as being a true record of that meeting.

227.3The Extraordinary Meeting of Council held on 6 November 2008. The Chairman called for approval of the Minutes of the Extraordinary meeting of Council held on 6 November 2008. The Minutes were AGREED and the Chairman signed the minutes as being a true record of that meeting.

227.4The Extraordinary Meeting of Council held on 11 December 2008.The Chairman called for approval of the Minutes of the Extraordinary meeting of Council held on 11 December 2008. The Minutes were AGREED and the Chairman signed the minutes as being a true record of that meeting.

228.CHAIRMAN’S REPORT.

228.1Three tiers group and Vision Statement. The Parish Council had been invited by Mr. Peter Bradbury (WSCC Cllr. and Chairman of Ansty and Staplefield Parish Council), to join the meetings of the Three Tiers Group set up to provide a Haywards Heath perspective on proposed housing sites, with particular reference to MSDC’s Core Strategy, the most significant of the Local Development Plan documents. This group was concerned that there were no representatives from the parishes on the group, although the plans appeared to be pushing new housing out to Lindfield, Cuckfield and Ansty. Representatives of each of the affected Parish Councils had therefore been invited to the next meeting on 4 February. Each Parish had also been asked to write a Vision Statement and Haywards Heath’s statement had been circulated as a model. This Vision Statement had been requested in advance of the meeting on 4 February, which did not allow time for the document to be approved by the Council and it would have to be made clear to the other members of the group that the document represented the views of a small group of Parish Councillors, but did not yet have the formal approval of the Full Council. Cllr. Gomme had produced a first draft, drawing material from the responses regarding development at Newton Road and the Parish Plan. The final draft would be circulated to other Members of the Parish Council by email for comment and it would be put on the Agenda for a future meeting, for formal adoption. Members expressed their appreciation for the opportunity to take part in this group.

228.2Thank You Party. The Chairman commented on the Thank You Party, which had taken place on the morning of Saturday 3 January, for the Council to express appreciation to members of the Directory Delivery team, Pond Wardens, Tree Wardens and those who had helped with the Village Spring Clean. This year the Council had also invited Mr. Paul Frost, who had served as Street Sweeper in Lindfield for seventeen years and who had now been moved to Haywards Heath by SERCO. Mr. Frost had been pleased to receive a presentation from the Chairman in recognition for his years of dedicated service to Lindfield and this had been reported with a photograph in the Mid Sussex Times. The Chairman reported with regret that it was most unlikely that Mr. Frost would be re-assigned to Lindfield. Members expressed their thanks to those who had organised the event.

229.CONSULTATION DOCUMENTS.

229.1NOTED: documents received since the last meeting, which included:

• Code of recommended practice on local authority publicity – reply date 12 March.

• Standards Board Survey – reply date 16 February.

230.REPORTS BY COUNTY COUNCILLOR/DISTRICT COUNCILLORS.

230.1WSCC Cllr. Mrs. M. Johnson had sent her apologies. It was noted that the Central Mid Sussex County Local Committee had met in Lindfield recently and that Members of the Parish Council who had attended had felt that it was a very interesting meeting. The funding available for the community from the County Local Committee was noted.

230.2MSDC Cllr. Mr. C. Snowling stated that current issues were being well publicised and he had nothing to add at this time.

231.REPORT ON ACTION / PROJECT PROGRESS LIST

231.1All items for noting were to appear later on the Agenda.

232.FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE.

232.1Minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting held on 24 September 2008. These Minutes had not been available at the last Council meeting, but the Chairman of the Committee had reported on the main items discussed. RESOLVED: that the Minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting held on 24 September 2008 be received and their recommendations confirmed.

232.2Minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting held on 12 November 2008. It was noted that most of the items discussed at that meeting were ongoing and had either arisen again at the meeting on 15 January or were on the Agenda for this Council meeting. The recommendation which appeared in the Confidential Minutes would be considered at the end of the meeting, in confidential session. RESOLVED that the public Minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee held on 12 November 2008 be received and their recommendations confirmed.

232.3Minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting held on 15 January 2009. The Minutes were not yet available, although the Chairman of the Committee had received the draft. The Minutes would be formally received at the next Council meeting.

Cllr. Davies reported as follows:

232.4Statements of Account/Budget Progress and Bank Reconciliation for the period 01.10.08 to 31.10.08, 01.11.08 to 30.11.08 and 01.12.08 to 31.12.08and Quarterly Receipts and Payments Summary. RESOLVED to approve the statements of account/budget progress and Bank Reconciliation for the period 01.10.08 to 31.10.08, 01.11.08 to 30.11.08 and 01.12.08 to 31.12.08 and the quarterly receipts and payments summary.

232.5List of Cheques for Approval. AGREED the list of cheques for the period 23 October 2008 to 22 January 2009: cheques numbered 104059 to 104137. NOTED that the Petty Cash balance was £31.50 as at 22.01.09. NOTED that payments totalling £6,787.02 had been made under Section 137 and 139 of the Local Government Act 1972. The list of cheques drawn is attached to these Minutes as Appendix ‘B.’ The Chairman signed the list of cheques.

232.6Review of the effectiveness of the Internal Audit. The group assigned to deal with this (Cllrs. Davies, Willcox, Allen and Gomme)had begun their review and a paper had been circulated to members of the Finance and General Purposes Committee. There was to be a meeting with the RFO on 12 February to progress this.

232.7Strategy document. A Strategy document, drafted by Cllr. Davies, had been circulated to all Councillors before the F&GP Committee meeting in November. Members of F&GP had been invited to comment, but no subsequent changes to the draft had been necessary. Members of the F&GP Committee had then agreed, on 15 January, to adopt the Strategy Document for the Committee and recommended that Full Council also adopt it as a broad strategy for the Council.

RESOLVED: to adopt the Strategy document as the broad Strategy for the whole Council. The Strategy Document is appended to these Minutes as Appendix ‘A’.

232.8Communication Forum – report of meeting held on 13 January 2009. Cllr. Davies stated that it was acknowledged that this Forum was a useful tool for the Community. Cllr. Davies had been the Chairman of the Forum since it was set up but had now relinquished this role to Cllr. Gomme. Cllr. Gomme reported that the previous two meetings (23 October 2008 and 13 January 2009) had focused on the problems with the Lindfield Times and in particular the effect on the distribution of the Parish Council newsletters and publicising of local events.

232.9Lindfield Times / Lindfield Life / Parish Council Newsletters. Further to discussions at the Communications Forum meeting on 13 January, and following a meeting with the Editor of the Lindfield Times, Cllr. Gomme reported that attempts to negotiate a satisfactory way forward, that would ensure regular publication,had proved to be unsuccessful. However Mr. David Tingley had made a proposal to publish a new magazine for the Village, Lindfield Life. Mr. Tingley was hoping that the first edition, in which it was proposed to publish the Parish Council’s Newsletter, would be out for April anddistributed through the Leader newspaperin the Lindfield Parish and part of Lindfield Rural Parish. Cllrs. Davies and Gomme had been asked by the Communications Forum to liaise with Mr. Tingley and to encouragethe community to support this venture. Mr. Tingley had set a deadline of 12 February for making a decision on whether to proceed, provided that the income from advertising would be enough to cover the costs. The Forum had supported Caroline Young in taking on the role of Community Editor. The press date for the April edition, if it were to go ahead, would be 8 March. It was understood that there would be special community rates for newsletters, and a commitment was being sought from the Parish Council to cover four magazine pages each time. Lindfield Rural Parish Council and the Lindfield Preservation Society would also be considering whether to publish newsletters in Lindfield Life.

It was confirmed that further recent attempts to contact the Editor of the Lindfield Times had been unsuccessful and that no adverse consequences to launching a new magazine in its stead were anticipated.

AGREED that, subject to the price per page being reasonable(in line with revised charges previously indicated by the Editor of the Lindfield Times) the Parish Council would publish a four page Newsletter in the April edition of Lindfield Life, should it go ahead. If the magazine proved not to be viable in terms of advertising revenue covering the cost of production, the Clerk should make alternative arrangements for printing and distributing an April Newsletter.

232.10Risk Assessments. Councillor Davies reported that work was being done within the Committees and a better system of documentation was being developed. The E&A Committee had allocated responsibility for different areas of activity to named Councillors and they were reviewing their areas. The P&T Committee had reviewed their risk assessment and their report was recorded in the Minutes. The F&GP Committee was looking at the Risk Assessments for its own functions and overseeing the process for the whole Council.

232.11Grants. A grant of £150 to Victim Support Sussex had been agreed at the meeting of F&GP on 15 January, and Members were asked to note for the Minutes that this grant was to be made under Section 137 of the Local Government Act 1972.

The Committee had also considered a request from the 1st Lindfield Sea Scouts for funding towards camping equipment. A number of Members had been minded to make a donation of £750. However, as this would exceed the normal £250 limit, the Grants Policy and Procedure required that a paper by a delegated member should be presented to the Committee, setting out the case against the relevant criteria in the policy. PC Bennett, who had made the request on behalf of the Scouts would therefore be asked to provide further information,as required to comply with the Council’s procedures. Councillor Davies agreed to write a paper to be presented to the next F&GP meeting on 19 March.

232.12The Lindfield Parish Directory and Year Book. Members had all received a copy of the report by the Clerk, which indicated that income from advertising had dropped considerably and would not cover the cost of printing the 2009 edition. After considerable discussion, the Committee had felt that the Council should commit to publishing the next edition, but that this should be re-examined next year as the cost to the Council was substantial, when taking into account the cost of Staff time. The Council would have to consider whether to continue with the Directory, if it was making a loss, was good stewardship of resources. However it was estimated that the total cost of the Directory only represented approximately 1.5 % of the precept.

233.ENVIRONMENT AND AMENITIES COMMITTEE.

233.1Minutes of the Environment and Amenities Committee meeting held on 13 October 2008. These Minutes had not been available at the last Council meeting, but the main points had been reported. RESOLVED:that the Minutes of the Environment and Amenities Committee meeting held on 13 October 2008 be received and their recommendations confirmed.

233.2Minutes of the Environment and Amenities Committee meeting held on 11 December 2008. These Minutes were not yet ready for circulation and would be received at the next Council meeting.

Councillor Blunden reported as follows:

233.3Street Lighting Maintenance Contract. It was noted that only one quotation had been received of the three requested. It was understood that Lindfield Rural Parish Council had recently made a decision on letting their contract and would not be seeking a joint venture, which may have reduced the cost for both Councils. The Clerk would chase up the other two contractors as a decision would have to be made in time for the new contract to take effect from 1 April. Street lighting maintenance was within the E&A budget, and it was AGREED that it was in order for the E&A Committee to make the decision at its next meeting, provided members were satisfied that there was enough information. The decision would then be reported to the next Full Council.

233.4 High Street Lime Trees. The Chairman stated that the work to pollard the High Street trees had finally begun. Initially, the reduction of the trees had given the High Street a stark appearance, but the historic buildings were now more visible. Compton Road had also looked severe after pollarding two years previously but the trees had put out new growth and the appearance of the road had been restored. Thanks were recorded to West Sussex CountyCouncil for persevering, despite the difficulties.

234.PLANNING AND TRAFFIC COMMITTEE.

234.1Minutes of the Planning and Traffic Committee meetings of: 28 October 2008, 18 November 2008, 9 December2008 and 30 December 2008. The Minutes of these meetings had been circulated. RESOLVED: that the Minutes of the meetings of the Planning and Traffic Committee held on 28 October, 18 November, 9 December and 30 December 2008 be received and their recommendations confirmed.

234.2Minutes of the Planning and Traffic Committeee meeting of 20 January 2009 These Minutes were not yet availablefor circulation and would be received at the next Council meeting.

Councillor Snowling reported as follows:

234.3Newton Road Development. Cllr. Snowling stated that it had taken a long time to secure agreement on Section 104, but the approval letter had now been issued by MSDC for the development of 120 housing units at land off Newton Road. There was no indication yet of when the building would commence.

234.4LDF Core Strategy. Cllr. Snowling referred to the references in consultations on the Core Strategy to the “Haywards Heath Villages” and expressed his disapproval of the linguistic joining up of Haywards Heath and the neighbouring Villages.

234.5High Hedges. MSDC had recently considered a formal proposal forthe delegation of complaints relating to high hedges to the District Planner, as such matters had been delegated to Local Planning Authorities under the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003. It had been noted that it would be very expensive for people to pursue complaints about neighbours’ hedges and MSDC would be looking into this through itsAdvisory Groups so that residents would not be held back from starting proceedings.

234.6MSDC Planning Committees The three Area Planning Committees were to continue. It was too early to evaluate the effectivenessof the District Planning Committee, which would be dealing with larger housing developments and would have a heavy workload, as so far it had only met on one occasion (to consider the Newton Road application). A review of the District Planning Committee would be undertaken by the Better Services Advisory Group by April 2010. In response to a question from Cllr Davies, Cllr. Snowling agreed to find out the criteria for referring applications to the District Planning Committee and would report back for the Minutes.