Parish Council Minutes 20th May 2013

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Published on Tuesday, 18 June 2013 16:45

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Minutes of the Meeting of Bramley Parish Council

Held in the Bramley Room at the Village Hall on Monday 20^th May 2013 at 7.30pm.

Minutes

Parish Councillors present were:

Richard Wood, Chris Holland, Chris Wright, Alison Jayawardena, Janet Grieve, Tony Durrant, Claire Penfold

Also present were:

Borough Cllr. Ranil Jayawardena, and Chris Tomblin, and 8 members of the public

1.0                    Apologies

Cllr. Bell

2.0                    Minutes of the last meeting

               Proposed Cllr. Durrant, seconded Cllr. Jayawardena

3.0             Income and expenditure as circulated, no comments

                   Accounts for approval March 2013

Proposed Cllr. Wood, seconded Cllr. Grieve                                                                                                    

Annual Return

The Annual return having been circulated was approved and duly signed by the Chairman.

Proposed Cllr. Durrant, Seconded Cllr. Grieve

It was noted that there would be a Finance Committee meeting to review the procedures and budget, date tbc.

    Public Interval

                   Cllr. Jayawardena made his report during the public session. He explained that he had been reappointed at the Annual Selection Meeting at the Borough Council, and that the regeneration project continues to be his focus. He explained that he had attended a Planning meeting at the Civic Offices about Razors Farm and that he raised concerns about certain aspects. He explained that the Local Plan process was awaiting a decision on housing numbers which would be due in July, and hoped the Parish Council would continue to work with him to represent the local position.

                   Cllr. Tomblin reported that there was a new Mayor. He also explained that there was a timetable of key dates available regarding the Local Plan process which the Parish Council has a copy of.

4.0             Planning and Development Committee Report

                   Cllr. Durrant explained that the minutes from their meeting were available separately, and went on to reiterate the Borough’s Planning and Infrastructure timetable of meetings over the summer, leading to final adoption of a Local Plan. He explained that the Parish Council should secure attendance at these meetings.

It was reported that the agents acting for the developers who have an Option on the land at Minchens Lane had contacted the Parish Council following the publication of the decision notice by the Borough’s Cabinet. They had misconstrued the decision notice as meaning that Bramley was being given an allocation of 200 new homes to deliver over the Local Plan period, but it was explained to them that the decision notice merely allows the continuing investigation into all of the sites under review, including Bramley’s ability to deliver some housing through Neighbourhood Planning. The final proposal has yet to be made.

5.0             Neighbourhood Development Plan update

                   Cllr. Durrant reported on behalf of Cllr. Bell, explaining that there had now been 2 meetings of the Steering Group. He explained that the group had applied for Grant funding and were awaiting the outcome.

6.0             Community Wellbeing Committee reports

                   It was reported that there had been some comments from a resident on the google group where BT had suggested fibre broadband may be available sooner than first thought. It appears that this was an error, and that websites for providers appear to have a discrepancy between 2013 and 2014 for completion of the fibre to the cabinet. The best information appears to still be that Bramley residents will be able to sign up to high speed broadband by the end of this year.

                   It was also noted that there was a project under way to combine and improve some of the communications with the village, focussing on a test the Parish Council were invited to take part in to increase the circulation of the Church Magazine and make it free to all homes. Cllr. Wright will work with the editors to develop the idea with the expectation that the Parish Council can take some pages in the newsletter at no cost. The Parish Council intends at this stage to continue with its own twice annual free newsletter focussing on parish council and other community matters.

7.0             Transport briefing

                   Cllr. Holland summarised his briefing which would be made available in full on the parish council website. He reported that the Client Manager from HCC Highways had agreed to attend the June Parish Council meeting to review the recent highways improvements and address any residual matters, such as the signs which had been knocked down.             He also reported that there had been some progress on a separate scheme, that being to provide some road markings to prevent inappropriate parking in residential side roads. There had been some meetings with the Parish Council, Bramley’s PCSOs, our Borough Councillors and the Borough’s Principal Engineer. As a result some proposals have been considered and draft plans will soon be consulted on. Provided there are no significant objections the road marking works may be carried out over the summer months. It was noted that the PCSOs had commented that in any cases where there are double yellow lines there should also be markings in the Kerb.

8.0             Community Feasibility Study

                   June Balcombe from BDBC attended the Parish Council meeting in case there were questions regarding this project. Cllr. Holland reminded Cllrs that in the April meeting there had been some information about proposals to match the S106 funding pot to a need which had been identified within the community. The project aims to enhance facilities focussed on youth provision, a scheme which the funding pot under BDBC control will support. Parish Cllrs Holland, Grieve and Wright had met with June Balcombe and Mark Penfold, who is already contracted to assist with this project, to scope the proposals. At present an outline of the proposal is the develop a single storey building at Clift Meadow, adjacent to the current pavilions.

                   Cllr. Grieve asked for the Cllrs support in proceeding to the next stages of planning and to continue getting the project scoped out for consultation. Cllr. Penfold abstained, all other Cllrs present voted in favour.

                   It was resolved that the Cllrs working on this project would continue to develop the proposals.

                   Cllr. Penfold explained that there was data available in the Parish Plan survey results relating to the village facilties which she would share with Cllr. Grieve. In addition she requested that the Parish Plan survey be on the agenda for the forthcoming months so that she can drip-feed in results to the Parish Council.

9.0             Bramley Granary

                   It was agreed that the costs for restoration were approved and the clerk would attempt to source another grant to assist with the difference between the costs and the CHEF grant received.

10.0           Items for the next meeting

                   Hampshire County Council transport plan update

                   Parish Plan survey results

There being no other business the meeting closed at 8.45pm with Councillors remaining present to discuss a confidential matter.

The minutes do not record confidential details relating to the employees pay reviews but they will be appended in the minute book for future reference. The Councillors reviewed the salary for both the litter warden and the parish clerk.

It was noted that the NJC pay scales clearly define the rate of pay for parish clerks and that the profile on which the role is currently being applied was not correct. There had also been a second separate assessment of the role using the CPALC profiling system, which resulted in a recommended pay scale for the parish clerk which was within the band recommended by the NJC profiles. These assessments are based on several non-subjective factors for which there is responsibility, such as the number of Councillors, the number of employees, the size of the budget, various facilities etc, the clerk was awarded a new pay scale commensurate with the responsibilities. The NJC profile being applied is attached as an appendix.

Chairman ................................................................................................Date................................