Minutes July 2006

Minutes of the Meeting held on 17th July 2006 at 7pm in Birdham Village Hall.

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

In attendance: A member of the press; the clerk; 3 members of the public;

37-06cl. Apologies were received from Cllr Mrs Rees

38-06cl. Declaration of Interests None was declared.

39-06cl. Approve and sign the Minutes of the Meeting held on 19th June 2006 It was proposed by Cllr Drew and seconded by Cllr Meynell RESOLVED that the Minutes of 19th June 2006 be approved and signed by the Chairman.

40-06cl. Matters arising from the Minutes dated 19th June 2006

i) Min 29-06cl i) Vacancy on Harbour Conservancy Board. The Clerk reported that she had written to Chris Punnet (secretary to the Harbour Conservancy Board) who had replied by telephone and letter to explain that the Harbour Conservancy was set up by government and does not have the power to appoint as all the places on the Advisory Board are nominees of groups who have statutory places on the Board. John Holmes is a nominee of CDALC and as far as the Harbour Conservancy is concerned he will remain there until his term of office runs out in October 2007. The Clerk suggests that Birdham’s representative on CDALC lobbies that Birdham should have the next opportunity to represent CDALC on the Harbour Conservancy when the vacancies come up.

ii) Min 29-06cl

ii) Village Pond sign – the clerk has received a letter from the Council’s Insurance Company about the pond sign. They are happy to see it in place but wish to know when the fence along the front of the pond has been extended the whole length of the pond, and the grass in front must be cut short to comply with insurance regulations. After discussion it was agreed to write to explain the situation.

iii) Min 29-06cl

iii) Trees along the Canal. The Clerk is awaiting a draft letter from the Chairman to the owners of the trees on the south side of the canal.

iv) Min 30-06cl c) ii) Sustainable Communities Bill – the Clerk wrote to Andrew Tyrie as agreed at the June meeting and he ahs replied saying he does not feel early day motions do any good, but he will write to Ruth Kelly about the matter.

v) Facilities for young people – Mason Hannan spoke about the need for a games wall, possibly similar to the one at Birdham School. There was some discussion with PCSO Rose Bainbridge. The matter will be discussed in greater detail at the next meeting.

vi) Min 36-06cl – Village Action Plan – the Clerk to send out the forms from Action in Rural Sussex to all councillors.

vii) The Chairman has replied to Karen Griffin about dog fouling in Crooked Lane.

41-06cl. Hospital Campaign The Chairman introduced this item. It was agreed to send a letter on behalf of the Council.

42-06cl. Clerk’s Report including

a) WSCC Reports, Highways Matters and correspondence

i) New Arrangements for maintaining highways in West Sussex – the County Council has appointed May Gurney Ltd to take over the maintenance of its highways from Minerva Accord with effect from 1st July. This was noted.

ii) South Chichester Area Transport Plan Review has been received and placed in the correspondence file.

b) CDC reports including correspondence

i) The council has been informed that District Cllr Keith Smith will again be the committee member who will represent Birdham on Area Development Control Committee (South) for this year.

c) Other related matters

i) ICIS has sent information to the Council and there are copies for all the councillors to take away. This was noted.

ii) Chichester Harbour Conservancy will be holding a two-day conference Rhythms of the Tide on 28 and 29th September at Langstone Hotel. The Chairman has been invited to attend but may send a representative. It was decided to send Cllr Mrs Rees

iii) The Samaritans, Victim Support and 4Sight have all written to thank the Council for their donations. This was noted.

iv) Principal, who service the photocopier have written to say that the cost per copy will be going up to 1.755p. This is the first rise since 24th May 2005. the Clerk reported that she currently charges 4p a copy to the other parishes for whom she works and 5p a copy to other bodies. She suggests that the charges be put up to 5p a copy for other parishes and 6p a copy for other bodies. It was proposed by Cllr Tilbury and seconded by CllrMeynell RESOLVED to make these changes from 1st August 2006.

v) Penny Lloyd from the Witterings Business Partnership has written about parking in the West Manhood. This particularly affects East Wittering, but she would like to hold a meeting of representatives of the West Manhood Parishes. The Council has been asked to put forward somebody. After discussion it was decided to nopte it

vi) An email has been received from NALC about the Affordable Rural Housing Commission recommendations. It has been placed in the correspondence file for information.

vii) A resident of Kewells Corner has written to complain about the noise from Stirlands Cricket Ground. It was decided to reply to the resident and suggest she contact the Cricket club and send a copy of her letter to the Cricket Club.

viii) The Clerk informed Councillors that her email was still down and likely to remain so for a month or more. She has arranged to go over to broadband in early September and will notify councillors when this happens. She further informed the Council that she will be away from 20th July to 4th August inclusive.

43-06cl. Planning matters including CDC decisions Plans to be considered by the Council: BI/06/02391/OUT – Mr Noon and Mr Cobley, Tate House, Main Road, Birdham – erection of 3 no. 3 bedroom chalet cottages. It was proposed by Cllr Tilbury and seconded by Cllr Churchill RESOLVED OBJECT because of overdevelopment of a restricted site, very close to the roundabout. It is also overdevelopment of a transitional area between residential and rural sites.

BI/06/02505/DOM – Mr R Lamdin, The Calf Pen, Birdham Road, Chichester – Proposed single storey extension. It was proposed by Cllr Tilbury and seconded by Cllr Meynell RESOLVED NO OBJECTION but there was an assumption from the original application that this was an agricultural building.

CDC Decisions

BI/06/00765/ELD – Margherymore, Claytons Corner, Birdham – Strip of land used as garden and private amenity – PERMIT

The Clerk reported that she had received a letter from the Planning Authority to say that from 1st July they will not be issuing the planning decisions to Parish Councils. This arrived on the day the CDC web-site was down. This is again making additional work for parishes without any additional revenue or recognition that internet access is not always easy to obtain. After discussion it was decided to write to CDC to object to this.

44-06cl. Correspondence

Correspondence to be circulated includes: NALC – Affordable Rural Housing Commission

Chichester Harbour Conservancy – press release CPRE – news Peninsula Community Forum minutes CPRE Countryside Voice Action in Rural Sussex – various WSCC Connections July 2006 The Phoenix Summer 2006 Local Council Review July 2006 Bago - advertising 45-06cl. Reports

i) Village Hall- the Chairman reported that before the next meeting in September the six months snagging period is over. During August the Clerk and Chairman will consult with Donna Gander about the grant for the hall.

The Chairman had invited Ian Wilson from Sidlesham Lane had contacted the Chairman as he was interested in the project of the wind turbine. The Chairman explained the possible ways of providing power for the hall. The firms which make the turbines say they can produce more than they actually do produce. It was decided to ask Fran Wallington for further advice on the matter. ii) Play Area and Playing Field – the Rospa report has been received and copies are available for Cllr Churchill. It was agreed to discuss the report at the next meeting. He also reported on the Clean Neighbourhood and Environment Act.

iii) Village Green and Pond – the Rospa report has been received and copies are available for Cllr Ms Huskisson. She will try to organise another working party to clear the pond again.

iv) Neighbourhood Watch – no report

v) Tree Wardens – they reported that an oak tree next to the grounds of Birdham School has just come down because it was a danger to children. There is another oak tree nearby which may be worth applying for a TPO on. Forms are currently being printed about the free trees available for the parishes. Marianne would like to attend a training course at West Dean in September and the Council agreed to pay the £13 fee for this.

vi) Other

46-06cl Finance to include approving the internal audit

Payments made since the last meeting to be ratified:

Clerk’s salary (June) 485.37

National Playing Fields Association (subs) 25.00 The Information Commissioner (Data Protection) 35.00 Geof Muffet (Village pond fence repair) 25.00 Receipts, current account – miscellaneous, copies 7.95

Receipts, deposit account – interest 11.47

Receipts, village hall account – nil

Payments to be considered

Mrs Geary – litter, July 65.00

Adrian Dover – grass and bus stop tidy, June 106.50 Playsafety Ltd – Rospa inspection, inc. 23.10 VAT 155.10 CDC grasscutting – includes 42.82 VAT 287.50 Mrs S Heasman, Clerk’s expenses, includes 13.81 VAT 103.63 Southern Electric – street lighting, includes 7.08 VAT 148.79 Owen Higby – auditor’s honorarium 100.00 Notes The next interest payment on the PWLB loan is due on 8th August, so the Clerk will move the sum of £8591.04 to the current account before she goes on holiday to ensure it is there on the relevant date. She may need to transfer a sum from the deposit account during August to meet that month’s bills.

It was proposed by Cllr Parks and seconded by Cllr Huskisson RESOLVED to approve the Financial Report. It was further proposed by Cllr Tilbury and seconded by Cllr Meynell RESOLVED to approve the audit parts 1 and 2.

47-06cl. Reports of meetings attended by councillors

Cllr Tilbury attended the County Committee South at Sidlesham. Car parking at New Park site will be difficult while the work is being done on the area. County councillors in South are being given £20,000 to spend on their area. Not yet known what will be done with it. Grants could be applied for early next year. There was a presentation from residents of Sidlesham about the traffic through the village, which mirrored the problems in Birdham. It is now proposed that 140,000 tonnes a year of London’s waste will be sent to W. Sussex – everyone against this. 48-06cl Public session Nothing was raised

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.59pm