MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING OF HARTFIELD PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 18th APRIL 2011 AT 7.30PM IN HARTFIELD VILLAGE HALL
Councillor Chalke welcomed all parishioners and thanked them for attending.
- Apologies for Absence: Penelope Cardon, Cllr John Smith, Cllr Whetstone. Cllr van Maurik
- Chairman’s Report 2010/11
Councillor Chalke reported as follows:
. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 2010- 2011
As this is an election year and it marks the end of the four year term of the current parish council, rather than giving you a report of 2010/ 2011 alone. I would like to incorporate it with the achievements and activities of this parish council over the last four years.
It hardly seems like four years ago when we were elected as councillors. It didn’t take very long before the new councillors found their feet and attended their new councillor courses.
Quite early on we decided that all councillors needed to know what the parish assets are. So we set about driving around the parish, not all councillors, taking photographs and making lists, and recording the state of repair of the assets. The next step was to prioritise what had to be repaired, so we set about creating a maintenance schedule, this has now been put in place for a rolling maintenance programme.
Finger Posts
One of the first tasks was the wooden finger posts around the parish 12 in total, these were in quite a poor state of repair, some had fingers missing and others the wood was rotting. ESCC were approached and they agreed to pay for half the maintenance cost as a one off contribution, as they would like to do away with wooden sign posts. We also had a kind donation towards future maintenance. The finger post have now been renovated and repainted.
Bus Shelters
We have three bus shelters one of these at Coleman’s Hatch Church, one at Upper Hartfield and the other next to the HayWagon. The one at Coleman’s Hatch needed quite a bit of work including roof tiles being replace, weather boards replaced, shrubbery being cut back and painting. The one at Upper Hartfield was so major required the guttering to be replaced and repainting. The one in the Village has had the window replaced several times and clock above it has had a total make over, the window is to be replaced yet again.
Benches
We have 27 benches dotted around the parish and on the Village Croft, all of these were weather treated and repaired, slats replaced. Partly due to vandalism.
Memorial Garden
The oak post that supports the Hartfield sign in the memorial garden was replaced and the sign repainted. The shorter oak posts around the memorial were also replaced. It was a fascinating mechanical feat watching these posts being removed without digging them out. Two car jacks were used with an attachment between them to lift them m out. A brilliant idea.
The memorial garden itself is maintained by a team of volunteers of parishioners and councillors; the grass is cut by a paid gardener...
Pavilion
One of the bigger projects that the Parish Council embarked on was the renovation of the pavilion, it was starting to look tired and the facilities were no longer suitable or functioning. As with all things finance comes into it. A wish list was created and prioritised. We then set about fund raising activities, for two years we had fund raising functions in the marquee after the horticultural show. We had generous donations from the fete committee and others, and for three years we have had the Fun Run, this is growing in popularity. There were expectations to get sections of the work carried out while we had smaller sums of money, but it was decided it would be more prudent to raise a substantial amount and then apply for a grant. We were successful in being awarded a grant of about £6000. And now the pavilion has a new gas heated shower system, central heating, a very effective alarm system a newly created disabled lavatory, refurbished changing rooms and a new kitchen.
Short term maintenance continues with painting the windows and creosoting until sufficient funds are raised for the next phase, that is double glazed windows, new flooring, veranda, new roof etc. These are all wishes at the moment.
At the same time the Youth Hut is being painted and creosote treated to prolong its life.
Along with these activities the regular maintenance of the Croft continues, that is the grass cutting, spiking the croft to improve drainage, weed killing etc. and other items such as lampposts, litter bins etc
The Parish Council although not responsible for the New Surgery, worked very closely with and supported Graham Credland of the PCT to ensure that we had a surgery.
Likewise with the affordable housing at Old Crown Farm we were not directly responsible for them but were instrumental in making them happen.
The Parish Council are trustees of the Playschool and are formalising the deeds.
Coal Yard
This next item must be the largest project that the parish council has taken on for quite some years. That is the coal yard. The Parish Council bought the coal yard having taken a loan from the Public Works Loan Board. The intention was to secure the future of the play school, provide parking for the village and improved parking for the playschool, affordable housing and facilities for a new parish council office and meeting room facility for the parish.
If you remember we had tremendous problems early on, because of rumours of contamination, flooding, danger to children at playschool environmental impact and so on. This caused a considerable delay to our plans. Eventually after proving to everyone that these rumours were unfounded we were able to proceed.
We sold part of the yard to Town and Country Housing Association for affordable housing.
We worked very closely with them to achieve planning permission for 9 houses to be built,
These houses are very near completion.
The architect who drew the plans for the houses drew plans for the car park that has been completed except for the planting of trees and shrubs which will be done when the next phase is completed. The next phase is to convert the engine shed into Parish Office and the upper floor into two one bed room flats. We have appointed contractors who start work on this on the 9th May.
I hope I haven’t bored you too much, it is important for you to know what your parish council have been involved in over the last four years. They have been extremely busy and productive. I as the Chairman would like to thank every one of the councillors who have given freely of their time and efforts over the years every one of them has different skills to offer, there have been some very fraught moments, but together they have achieved all of the mentioned.
So once again I say thank you to the councillors and to you as parishioners for your support.
District Councillor Michael Hoy has also been very supportive of parish council activities. In particular I would like to thank him for supporting our application for the 9 houses at the coal yard, The WDC officers recommended refusal, but Michael lobbied his colleagues and got almost all of them to visit the site, the result was we were granted permission. It has been a pleasure working with Michael, we may not have always agreed but he would stick to his principles and let us know why he disagreed.
Michael will not be standing as District Councillor again as he plans to move away.
We wish him and his wife the very best wishes for the future.
County Councillor Francis Whetstone is given a hard time when he attends the Parish Council meetings, normally about blocked drains and pot holes. I would like to thank him for looking after our interest in general but mainly for the conditions of the road leading in and out of the village. When you drive around the condition of the roads are still very bad except for ours. The High Street is still to be done. Francis thank you for your assistance.
Lastly there is an election on 5th May, Effectively all of the councillors will be standing down some are re-standing for election, however six of the councillors will not be re-standing.
I would like to say a special thank you to them for the many years of service and their commitment to the parish and the various roles they played, they are Mrs Clair Park, Mr Tommy Mitchell, Mr Chris Simmons, Mr George Korbel and Mrs Sheila van Maurik.
Thank you
At the moment we will have two new councillors who have put themselves forward and they are Mrs Laura Hatch and Mr Daniel Maher. They will be joiningMr Mike Colenutt,Ms Jo Edwarde, Mr Kevin Hawes, Mrs Anne Higgins, Mrs Nancy Holmes, Mrs Clare Risby and Mr John Smith. They are your new parish Council. As there are insufficient nominations there will not be an election, all councillors will be elected.
Finally for those of you who were counting, the sixth councillor who will not be standing is me. I have done eight years as councillor five of them as Chairman. I feel very humbled and privileged to have been chairman of a parish council who have been able to achieve so much. But it is time for me to move on and do the other things that I have had plans for. So before I open the meeting to all of you, thank you councillors it has been my privilege to have worked with you and you the electorate who elected me on to the parish council. Thank you and good luck to the new Parish Council.
Cllr Edwarde as vice chair thanked Cllr Chalke for his persistence and hard work to turn a dream at the coal yard into a reality in financially straightened times. Cllr Chalke made the project a reality with work commencing on 9th May 2011. Cllr Chalke has been generous in his time and given every effort to the community.
There was a round of applause for Cllr Chalke.
- Identify Topics for Discussion and Discuss Each Topic In Turn
- Adrian Fenton asked if there would be election expenses in the case of the current parish uncontested election. Cllr Chalke confirmed there would not be an election and no costs associated would be incurred. There would of course still be the WDC election and referendum on AV.
- Daniel Meyer asked about plans for the youth hut. Cllr Chalke confirmed there had been some proposals by the scouts but the council felt until the large Coal yard project was completed that it would be best to delay taking on further projects.
- Martin Hatch asked about the possibility of faster broadband. Possibly using Virgin as a carrier. David Graham confirmed there was fibre optic cable from Virgin running along the old rail line. Kevin Hawes confirmed with local pressure Forest Row had achieved a promise from BT to increase speed anyone in the parish on a 01342 number would benefit. Perhaps more lobbying required for those on the 01892 number.
- Chris Hardy asked about the Cricket club dropping from the league. Nancy Holmes confirmed they had lacked numbers and were trying to rebuild.
- Kevin Hawes suggested a possible review of the parish plan as it was now due as the original had been completed some time ago.
- Kevin Hawes confirmed there were now opportunities for co-option due to parish council vacancies. Cllr Chalke confirmed people interested should contact the clerk.
- Adrian Fenton thanked the parish council for their hard work on behalf of the public.
- Adrian Fenton asked about damaged chicane near Oak lea. Cllr Chalke confirmed matter for ESCC.
- Mike Colenutt thanked Jo Edwarde for her efforts with the fun run - a great success.
Jo Edwarde thanked all the volunteers and confirmed likely proceeds would be £1600. There was some discussion re parking arrangements for next year possibly using field opposite the school. It was generally agreed that there had been plenty of options but people preferred to cram in as near as possible to the event. Arrangements would be reviewed before next year’s event.
- Reports from Organisations, Items for Reporting and Diary Date
- Penny Lamb presented the benefits and requirements of the community play project and the history of the Claque theatre including the 8 month period of research for the history of the village. The types of volunteers needed from child minders PR and stage builders. There would be final performance in 2012 with a children’s literary festival and was a great once in a life time opportunity. The cost was £100,000 but the Claque would find grants from Arts councils etc leaving £3000 for the community to raise. It would involve all aspects of the community children teenagers and would be a great enriching experience. Jim Lusted agreed having been sceptical he was now positively behind it. Kevin Hawes asked about venue but none have been decided on. Penny confirmed how people could get involved and in touch.
- Claire Risby confirmed Ashdown Forest annual meeting 7th June at the Forest Centre.
- David Graham confirmed all the local news and events were to be found in the chronicle.
Meeting closed at 8.25pm