Bosham Parish

Annual Assembly Minutes

Held in the Bosham Centre, Recreation Ground Walton Lane on Wednesday 24th April 2013 at 7.00 pm

The meeting was attended by 22 members of the public and 7 members of the Parishcouncil. It was chaired by Mr John Dean, Chairman of the Parish Council and the Clerk was in attendance. The Chairman welcomed Mrs Louise Goldsmith (CountyCouncillor), Mr Myles Cullen (District Councillor)and MrDavid Myers (District Councillor)as quest speakers; along with Southern Water representatives Martin Baits, Network Quality Manager (working with Groundwater Infiltration) and Dave Bialas, County Sewage Engineer and EA representatives Asad Abbas, Technical Advisor and Mike Ford Chichester OperationsField Team

  1. Apologies

CllrsChapman and Copseysent their apologies along with resident Dave Weston of New Buildings who wished to extend his thanks to the Parish Council for pushing CDC along with the Bosham car park works.

  1. Minutes of the Annual Assembly held on 25th April 2012

The Chairman signed the minutes as a true representation of the meeting with the correction to the attendance of D/Cllr Myles Cullen.

  1. Chairman’s Report – Mr John Dean
  2. I would like to open by welcoming you all to the annual Parish Meeting. This is an event that occurs each April and aims to update you all on the activities of the Parish Council, and gives you an opportunity to question myself or any member of the Council on the actions that we have or have not taken during the past 12 months. This year we have a number of guests: Louise Goldsmith, Leader of WSCC and our local county councillor, David Myers and Myles Cullen our local representatives on CDC. All three of them attend the Parish Council and give their reports, support and encouragement to us, and I thank them for that. Also with us tonight are representatives from the Environment Agency and from Southern Water. I understand that they will be willing to answer questions later this evening.

3.2.Your Parish Council - It would be appropriate that I mention each Councillor by name. They have all contributed their time freely to help ensure that the village continues to function and develops in the best way possible. Apart from attending the Full Council meetings (all of which are open to the public) they contribute to the various sub committees - Finance, Planning, Recreation Ground, and Village Amenities, bringing the result of their deliberations to the full council for endorsement where necessary. Councillors are: Jonathan Fulford, who over the past year has acted as deputy Chairman, reacts to flood warnings, including where needed emergency ditch clearance and posts a regular contribution to the Village Magazine and Bosham Life, as well as chairing the Recreation Ground committee. Alastair Johnstone, chairman of the planning committee, Tony Chapman chairman of the finance committee and Jan Copsey chair person of the Village amenities committee. Also we have other members who are active on the committees and on the working groups. They are Chris Whitmore-Jones, Charlotte Pexton, Gail Powell, John Holloway, and Karen Phillips. They have all contributed variously to the committees as well as giving their time to Council meetings, clearing rubbish from the recreation ground left by uninvited guests and clearing ditches. Also during the past year we have had a great contribution from Hazel Rumsey who has been particularly proactive in the area of affordable housing. Unfortunately she has had to resign in the last few weeks for personal reasons. I would like to thank all these Councillors for their contribution and assistance they have given to me over the past 12 months.The whole operation would not function without Lisa, our Parish Clerk who has done her duties conscientiously and on many occasions given her assistance and expertise to ensure that things get done. Thank you Lisa.

3.3.Issues over the year -Colonel Bernard Trinkwon. Sadly, Bernard, who had become such a part of the village, representing your interests both at District Council and Parish Council levels over a number of years, passed away last month. Many of you will have attended his funeral, and I would like to add my personal thanks for the life of Bernard, who was a good friend and always working for the village.

3.4.Travellers-Last July we were invaded by a group of travellers who took up residence on the recreation ground. It is worth mentioning that in my opinion we were not well served by our Police Force, who apply the Human Rights Act, rigidly and perhaps in an inexplicable way. It seems that travellers take precedence over those who have settled in the area and provided the amenities through the payment of rates. Their invasion of the recreation ground cost approximately £3000 - in the legal fees for their eviction and in reinforcing the gate to the ground. It is necessary to have a gate due to the need to cut and variously treat the grass, access the buildings, fences and ball-stop netting from time to time. The travellers returned last year within the parish, occupying the car park (CDC), land at Cutmill and one of Mr Brinkman's fields. Each invasion costs at least £2000 - over half a year that is a cost to the ratepayers of about £50000. Travellers have also returned this year, and have occupied the car park again. Hopefully they will not attempt to occupy the recreation ground.

3.5.Ball stop Netting (Eastern End). This was reported as being in a dangerous state, and this was confirmed by an inspection. Action was taken to request the School to avoid that area of the field, in the meantime work was undertaken and the netting replaced.

3.6.Youth Club and Parish Office-The youth club building (this one) and the Parish Office have been effectively amalgamated. This means that the whole building is under the control of the Parish Council - however we have an arrangement with the youth club that allows them use of the building during the hours that the club operates - they have seen no change - except various repairs and replacements have been carried out to the overall improvement of the building. Unfortunately we have also had to deal with a leaking roof - but hopefully that is all cleared up now!

3.7.Lights in Recreation Ground-The PC initiated a project to replace the underground cable and lighting for the recreation ground. Recreation ground lighting had been installed at least twice. Each installation has suffered from vandalism. The last decision was to replace the underground cable and install new lights as the previous cable had been penetrated by water, leading to tripping of the circuits. The new lamps, apparently vandal proof, were installed earlier this year. Unfortunately about 4 weeks ago two of these lamps were vandalised and for safety reasons no lights were working last week. A request has been made to the electrical firm who supplied the lamps to repair them - and that has been completed. It is a sad reflection that people seem to take pleasure in destroying items which are provided for the benefit of all the community.

3.8.Neighbourhood Plan- A number of people including parish councillors, members of Bosham Association and others have been contributing to the Neighbourhood Plan. This is an important document that is proceeding well. There is an exhibition reflecting work to date in the annex to this hall. It's led by Dick Pratt of Bosham Association and he should be contacted for further information. Hopefully this work will be completed at the end of the first quarter of next year.

3.9.Traffic and Parking Working Group- The traffic and Parking working group, which again includes some members of Bosham Association, has been considering a number of traffic issues in the village. We are currently looking for volunteers to man speed indicator devices (SIDs) which we plan to locate from time to time in Delling Lane. Also under consideration are parking in Moreton Road and The Holdens where double yellow lines are planned and in Williams Road (where no solution has yet been identified). The School and access through Walton Lane or a possible footpath are also being considered - but these are at early stages. This will be issued in a report, intended to feed into the Neighbourhood Plan, currently foreseen for early 2014.

3.10.Play area- The play area on the recreation ground has provided the children of the village with an opportunity to enjoy themselves which they have taken up with enthusiasm. The wet weather has led to a string of concerns from parents about the play area matting and its ability to resist mud. This is an ongoing issue and not one where an easy solution exists. The PC is looking at a number of surfaces, and has arranged for the installation of one sample area in the SE corner of the play area.

3.11.Toilets-A number of rumours have related to possible closure of the toilets in the car park. So far the only (non attributable) statement has indicated that these toilets are too busy to close - but your PC is continuing to monitor the situation.

3.12.Flooding and Drainage -The village has been affected by floods, and in the areas of Delling Lane, Green Lane, Chequer Lane and Brooks Lane and Taylors Lane/Stumps Lane some remedial pipework has been recently installed. Both these actions appear to have reduced the flooding - but I will leave that aspect to Jonathan who will outline the work being undertaken to ensure that this village remains safe (despite the Parish Council not having any statutory authority in this area). This will follow after Louise Goldsmith, David Myers, and Myles Cullen have given their reports.

  1. District Councillors’ Report
  2. D/Cllr David Myers’s reportwas received and Noted (see attached)

4.2.D/Cllr Myles Cullen wished to reiterate Mr Myers main point about the Travellers. CDC need a new development plan and polices must be looked at to provide temporary stops as well as permanent sites within the district. These sites will allow the police to move travellers on from trespassed land under Section 61 law. The temporary stops will require a bond payment and rent in advance. If such payment is not forthcoming then the police will have powers to escort the travellers to the district boundaries. There is real weight behind this policy from Katy Bourne the SussexCrime Commissioner. She has been bombarded with this issue from all parishes throughout the county and recognises the need for action. However, the report must be consulted on, like the local plan and it is imperative that this plan is put in place because without it central government can overturn planning decisions and they will not account for the strategic gap.

  1. County Councillor’s Report – Mrs Louise Goldsmith
  2. Last April, there was a severe water shortage in the county and some areas were issued with drought orders. At that time West Sussex became the Lead Flood Authority a new role for County Councils across the Country. Just after hose pipe bans were implemented the rain started and the miserable weather has continued. Between June the 10th and 11th June we had more rain in 24 hours than in a month between 32mm and 80mm in that time. The Fire and Rescue Service received over 2000 calls in 24 hours – same number as in a year. The Emergency Management Team co-ordinated operations between all partners. Over 800 homes were affected by flooding across the County, many residents having to leave their homes.

5.2.Following the floods the County Council had to prepare a Flood Investigation Report in conjunction with partners such as southern Water and the Environment Agency which was published in November. In December there was further very heavy rainfall where once again our emergency Management Team and West Sussex Fire and Rescue service were working hard. This weather highlighted weak points in the drainage systems, culverts and caused damage to the roads with a further increase in potholes.

5.3.In January 2013 the County Council allocated 8.250 million from reserves for ‘Operation Watershed’ to ensure urgent works could be undertaken to improve the drainage systems, road repairs, and also grants to help local flood action groups. Work is underway across the county and will continue throughout the year. There are monthly meetings of Operation Watershed to monitor progress which I, the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Highways attend; In the meantime we hope that the weather will improve!

5.4.Recently the County Council received a further £298,500 from DEFRA towards a community centred approach to flood resilience. Finance is always high on the agenda and this year we met our savings target for the 2nd year running achieving in total 59 million pounds of savings. The relentless focus on tight financial management has meant for the 3rd year running there is no increase in Council Tax. We have installed solar panels on one of our roofs at County Hall and taken other measures to reduce our heating and water costs, saving money and we were recently ranked 17th out of 2097 companies for energy efficiency.

5.5.On the 1st April 2013 the Health and Wellbeing Board became a formal entity and it is good to see public interest in the Health and Wellbeing Board. Public Health was also transferred back to the County Council both are very much welcomed and offer the opportunity of closer joined up working. During the year we have developed policies on Preparing for an Aging Population and Supporting Active Communities. We have raised awareness about dementia and last September commissioned a Memory Assessment Service in order to support people to live well with dementia throughout the county. To date teams have received over 2,600 referrals and undertaken 1624 assessments with 475 diagnosed with dementia. We have also introduced Dementia Crisis Team across the county

5.6.We have invested in new technology such a self-service in our Libraries which has been well received. We have transferred 4 Community Buildings back to the Community for the benefit for the communities. West Sussex Adult’s Learning has transferred into a Social Enterprise called Aspire which provides a wide range of Community Learning across the County. It is the largest Social Enterprise to be launched to date and has already received 2 awards. We are investing £145 million in building schools and classrooms to provide 1665 much need school places as well as other schemes including highways.

5.7.We are the first County Council in the country to implement the Government’s Green Deal Scheme which will help improve energy efficiency in homes across the County. We continue with our plans for High Speed Broadband role out and the procurement process is currently underway. The Big Society Grant and Community Initiative fund have been very successful in developing community activities. We have increased money available this current financial year to a total of £756,000 (£330,000 Big society £426,000 CIF).

5.8.There have been two Ofsted inspections of our children’s service. The Fostering Service was judged to be Good with some outstanding features. The Children’s Safeguarding has recently be rated as Adequate, which means that the service is doing what is required to keep children safe.

5.9.As your CountyCouncillor I try to attend at least 90% of Parish Council Meetings and I would like to say a big thank you for the support of the Parish Council. It is a real pleasure to work with Bosham Parish Council. There have been 2 major issues for Bosham this year:

5.9.1.Flooding has caused not only considerable inconvenience but also homes have been affected. With funding from Operation Watershed there have been major improvements in Delling Lane and Stumps Lane, and I have asked that there should be drain clearance in Ratham Lane in and around the railway station.

5.9.2.Travellers have rightly caused much consternation. The County Council is working with the Boroughs and districts across the County to identify Transit sites which would be helpful and we are now looking for temporary sites to be allocated. I have also raised the matter with our PCC, Katy Bourne and in February I held a meeting with WS MPs and Katy Bourne to discuss this issue. I have also spoken to Martin Walker Police Divisional Commander for West Sussex in March and they are reviewing the Section 61 to see how this can be tightened up.

5.10.So although no solution for this evening there is a real concerted effort on this matter in response to local concerns. Keeping Emperor Way open has been high on the agenda for much of the year. Possible closure has been a great concern to so many residents who enjoy this path.