Minutes Dec 2006

Minutes of the Meeting held on Monday 18th December 2006 at 7pm in the Main Hall at Birdham Village Hall.

Present: Cllr Tilbury; Cllr Meynell; Cllr Mrs Rees; Cllr Ms Huskisson; Cllr Churchill; Cllr Mrs Parks; Cllr Mrs Baillieu

In attendance: The Clerk; District Cllr Montyn; District Cllr Jones; Peter Johnson – head of Birdham C of E School; a tree warden; a member of the press and a member of the public.

82-06cl. Apologies: were received from Cllr Drew

83-06cl. Declaration of interests: none was made.

84-06cl. Approve and sign the Minutes of the Meeting held on 20th November 2006. It was proposed by Cllr Churchill and seconded by Cllr Parks RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 20th November 2006 and that they be signed by the Chairman.

85-06cl. Matters arising from the Minutes dated 20th November 2006

i) Min 74-06cl

i) Trees along the Canal – the Clerk reported that she had still had no further word from Mr Mahaddie. Clerk to write again.

ii) Min 74-06cl

ii) Facilities for young people. This will be looked at under the Finance Report.

iii) Min 74-06cl

vi) Contact with Earnley PC – Cllr Drew had contacted the Clerk to say that he had not been able to attend the meeting as he had been working, but he understood that it had a very poor turnout. There will now be another attempt to hold the meeting on a Friday in January and he hopes to be able to attend, or if not he will try to find another councillor to do so.

iv) Min 75-06cl ii) Draft Rights of Way Improvement Plan – Cllr Mrs Rees reported that she has not had time to give the document the time it deserves. Will report at next meeting.

v) Min 75-06cl c i) Access for Birdham Fruit Farm. The Clerk reported that she had received further emails from Mr Crossley. The Chairman will write to him.

vi) Min 75-06cl

ix) Dates of meetings in 2007. The Clerk reported that she had spoken to Mrs Geary and the Hall would be available for meetings on 12 Fenruary and 15 May.

With these changes the dates were confirmed as: 15 January; 12 February; 19 March; 16 April; 15 May; 18 June.

vii) Min 81-06cl Birdham School footpath proposals. Peter Johnson, Head of the school attended to say that they have been encouraging children and parents to walk to school. He explained about the proposals for footways in Church Lane by St Mary’s Cottage and the lane from the Cricket Club to Claytons Corner. The Chairman suggested that the school and the parish council might work together on this, and that it might be worth pressing for a 20 mph limit, possibly first.

viii) Min 78-06cl v) Tree Map framing is being done.

ix) Min 75-06 c vii) Green makeover – Cllr Ms Huskisson reported that the form was very difficult to complete. It was decided to leave this for the time being, and she would write to say how difficult this would be for the village.

86-06cl. Clerk’s Report including:

a) WSCC reports, highways matters and correspondence

i) The Parish is being asked if it wishes to comment on the County’s proposal to reduce transport support for children who travel to faith schools. After discussion it was decided not to comment except to say that any reduction in school transport would imply an increase in cars.

b) CDC reports including correspondence

i) CDC has sent a summary of the recent parish training and development sessions. This was noted.

c) Other related matters

i) Local Works have written to tell the Council that Nick Hurd MP (Conservative, Ruislip-Northwood) has won first place in the ballot for Private Members’ Bills and has adopted the Sustainable Communities Bill. This was noted.

ii) Chichester Harbour Conservancy has written to invite the Council to be involved in the initial public consultation on the Pagham to East Head Coastal Defence Strategy 2007. Comments need to be with The Environment Agency by 31st March 2007. The Chairman reported on this as he had heard at the Peninsula Community Forum. The proposals are not likely to affect Birdham. The Chairman will try to obtain more copies so each councillor can have their own copies so they can study it before coming to an agreed decision.

iii) The Clerk had tabled a report of the Clerks’ training day run by SALC in November. This was noted. 87-06cl. Planning matters including CDC decisions A paper detailing planning matters had been circulated to all members.

Plans to be considered:

BI/06/05223/DOM Mr And Mrs Winterbotham Fir Trees Shipton Green Lane Itchenor Chichester Variation of condition no. 3 of permission BI/62/90 to allow habitable accommodation to garage in connection with Fir Trees. It was proposed by cllr Meynell and seconded by Cllr Mrs Rees RESOLVED NO OBJECTION but that the condition that the garage not be sold separately be continued.

BI/06/05548/DOM Mr and Mrs Vernon, Shalford, Lock Lane, Birdham – detached garage – it was proposed by Cllr Tilbury and seconded by Cllr Mrs Rees RESOLVED to OBJECT and to ask for more information on the height of the proposed building and also the footprint compared with the existing one. CDC decisions:

BI/06/04614/DOM – Bulrush Barn, Birdham Road – single storey extension to form new sitting room and hallway – PERMIT

BI/06/02736/DOM – 100 Crooked Lane, Birdham – two storey rear extension – PERMIT

BI/06/04694/FUL – Longmeadow, Main Road, Birdham – Erection of 29 dwellings etc – REFUSE

BI/06/04818/DOM – Philip Boarer, Appleacre, Church Lane, Birdham – extensions and alterations to garage – PERMIT

The Chairman reported that more parking has now been provided in Farne Close and Farne Lane.

88-06cl. Correspondence Correspondence to be circulated includes:

Fieldwork December 2006 Various items collected at the Clerks’ networking day Harbour Views Autumn 2006 CPRE Sussex Review Autumn 2006 CDC papers for Standards committee of 14th December 2006 ICIS News – Winter 2006 Chichester Harbour Conservancy press releases – 10,000 trees to be planted; Pagham to East Head Coastal Defence Strategy Play today December 2006 Fields focus Winter 2006 WSCC Forward plan of key decisions January – April 2007

89-06cl. Reports:

i) Village Hall – the Vice-Chairman had nothing to report. The Chairman has enquired about possible planning permission for the hut. The Senior Area Planning Officer has said that this is not likely to be needed.

ii) Play area and playing field – Cllr Churchill reported nothing to worry about. Trees were planted last weekend with help from councillors etc. The tree wardens were thanked for their efforts. It was agreed to have the ditching done as soon as possible.

iii) Village Green and pond – the Clerk reported that Adrian Dover had contacted her to say that there is a crab-apple tree on the green which is dead and needs taking out, a hawthorn which needs lifting and having the ivy stripped off and then putting back. Also the brambles need cutting back round the pond. She has asked the chairman and Cllr Ms Huskisson to look at these. It was decided to have some of the bramble cut back. The tree wardens will look at the crab apple and the ivy is to be left. The culvert under the road at the bottom of Court Barn Lane may need pumping out – Cllr Mrs Rees will contact them.

iv) Neighbourhood Watch – no report

v) Tree Wardens had reported under ii) above. 90-06cl. Finance, including setting of the precept A financial situation report had been circulated to all members.

Payments made since the last meeting to be ratified:

Clerk’s salary (November) 498.93

Receipts, current account Apuldram, copies and phone 11.14

Receipts, deposit account Interest 76.45

Receipts, Village Hall account – nil

Payments to be considered:

Mrs Geary – litter 65.00 Adrian Dover – grass 78.00 SALC – Clerks’ networking day (includes 6.69 VAT) 44.94 Mrs S Heasman – Clerk’s expenses (includes 6.11 VAT) 67.07

Notes – There will shortly be a statement including the amount of interest earned on the Village Hall account. Now that we have sorted out the money which appeared to have been unentered (it was a missing statement which was the problem) the Clerk intends to move £7000 to the Village Hall account as soon as possible.

It was proposed by Cllr Tilbury and seconded by Cllr Meynell RESOLVED to approve the financial report subject to finding the missing £5. It was proposed by Cllr Mrs Parks and seconded by Cllr Churchill RESOLVED to set the precept for 2007-8 at £48 per Band D household or £36846. It was agreed that from the May meeting all papers would be sent by email unless councillors opted out.

91-06cl. Reports of meetings attended by councillors

i) Peninsula Community Forum – this was dealt with under 5c

(ii). The Annual Meeting with the Parishes will be held on 25th January at CDC where the preferred development sites will be revealed. It was agreed that Cllr Mrs Rees and Cllr Mrs Baillieu will attend the meeting.

92-06cl. Public session It was pointed out that the Pagham to East Head strategy will affect Birdham as far as drainage is concerned. Cllr Meynell commented that his family had hired the hall recently and found it excellent. There being no further business, the meeting closed at 8.59pm.