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EWHURST PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held at the Arthur Herdman Pavilion, Village Street, Ewhurst Green on
Thursday 11 June 2015
PRESENT Councillors Dor Catt, Bill Hooper, Jacqui Hyett (Vice-Chairman), Anne Reed, Ian Stephenson, Maggie Whitaker,
Dave Young (Chairman)
IN ATTENDANCE Richard Farhall – Parish Clerk; District Councillor Tony Ganly; PCSO Demetrius Georghiou; 11 members of the public
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The meeting commenced at 7.31pm.
PART A ROUTINE BUSINESS
15.17 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
There were no apologies for absence.
It was noted that Cllr Davies was unable to be present.
15.18 DISCLOSURES OF INTEREST
Cllr Hyett non-pecuniary 15.28 Member of the EPAA Committee
15.19 ADJOURNMENT
The Chairman adjourned the meeting for the PCSO Report, the County Council and District Council Reports, and Public Question Time. (See Appendix.)
The Chairman reconvened the meeting.
15.20 COUNCIL MINUTES - ACCURACY
RESOLVED To adopt the Minutes of the meeting held on 14 May 2015, as a correct record of the proceedings.
15.21 COUNCIL MINUTES - MATTERS ARISING
Matters Arising from the Minutes of the Meeting held on 14 May 2015
Bowls Club Porch Canopy – obtaining planning consent on Club’s behalf Obtained.
Bowls Club Porch Canopy – donating materials In hand.
Village Hall replacement noticeboard Delivery awaited.
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14.137 Forge Lane & Forge Close (seeking guidance from Highways on ownership and SSALC on potential liability) Outstanding.
13.69 Code of Conduct (incorporation of revised Nolan Principles) Outstanding. It was agreed to delete this item. Clerk
13.158a) Verge opposite Solomon’s Garden (provision of draft scheme/s) EPC to obtain ‘grasscrete’ quote for Highways’ consideration. Outstanding – the Clerk to meet with Cllr Stephenson on site to assess the job. Clerk, Cllr Stephenson
14.60d) Adjournment: Public Question Time, para 3 (approaching Northiam for information about the restoration of its fingerposts) Outstanding. The Clerk to contact Brigitte Fifield for the contact for Northiam Conservation Society. Clerk
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15.17 Replacement Village Signs (amending the contract with Michael Hart) Actioned.
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15.10(b) Finance: Unity Trust Bank Mandate (updating) Actioned – additional information required in respect of two signatories.
15.22 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
a) Current applications
RESOLVED To submit the responses following to the Planning Authority:
RR/2015/1130/P Applebarn Farm, Padgham, Ewhurst Green
Replace existing agricultural wooden frame barn with steel frame barn.
Applicant: Mrs B Fifield, Applebarn Farm, Padgham, Ewhurst Green
SUPPORT APPROVAL
RR/2015/1178/P Longwood, Ewhurst Green
Application to discharge the section 52 Agreement requiring the property to be occupied ‘by a person solely or mainly employed or last employed in the locality in agriculture’.
Applicant: Mr N and Mrs C Hedges, Longwood, Ewhurst Green
SUPPORT APPROVAL
RR/2015/1299/P Stocklands Farm, Ellenwhorne Lane, Staplecross
Variation of condition 6 imposed on RR/2005/2090/P to allow horses to leave the site and be ridden off the land.
Applicant: Mrs N Hiller, 20 Milfield Rise, Bexhill.
SUPPORT APPROVAL
RR/2015/944/P Hobby Hobbs Farm, Cripps Corner Road, Staplecross
Provision of new vehicular access, two car parking spaces and permeable driveway,
Applicant: Mr & Mrs T Ferguson, Hobby Hobbs Farm, Cripps Corner Road, Staplecross
SUPPORT APPROVAL
b) Delegated authority
RESOLVED To submit the response following - submitted to the Planning Authority under the Clerk’s delegated authority:
RR/2015/1094/P Handsel Farm, Junction Road, Staplecross
Removal of condition 3 of planning permission RR/2004/495/P to allow unrestricted residential occupation as a single dwelling house.
Applicant: Diana Ridler, Handsel Farm, Junction Road, Staplecross
SUPPORT APPROVAL
c) For notification
RR/2015/1327/TN Morgay – land opp, Junction Road, Staplecross
Installation of 4 4mx9m telegraph poles.
Applicant: BT Openreach
RR/2015/1329/TN Woodside - opp, Junction Road, Staplecross
Installation of 4 4mx9m telegraph poles.
Applicant: BT Openreach
15.23 FINANCE
(a) Report
RESOLVED 1
To note the receipts and payments following:
Receipts (April 2015)
Interest (Co-op) £0.27 Interest (JHB) £16.03 Precept £30,500.00 Council Tax Support Grant £637.67 £31,153.97
Payments (April 2015)
R Farhall – pay (Mar 2015) £729.28
Post Office Ltd [HMRC] – PAYE (Mar 2015) £253.71
East Sussex Pension Fund (Mar 2015) £240.04
R Farhall – expenses (Mar 2015) £442.38
Rother District Council – rates (former WI hut)
[reimbursed by Bonfire Soc] £141.60
East Sussex Assoc of Local Councils Ltd - SSALC &
NALC subs 2015-16 £327.95
Wellers Law Group LLP – Land Registry fee (allotments) £46.00
Rye Town Council – photocopying 10.2.14-9.3.15 (incl VAT £52.27)£313.60
Ewhurst PCC – churchyard maintenance grant £1,500.00
R Farhall – (Millbrook Design) APA A board signage
(incl VAT £38.80) £232.80
S Masters – Annual Report distribution £175.00
Staplecross Playing Field – grant (youth shelter) £10,062.00
Michael Hart – replacement village signs deposit £4,850.00
Rother District Council – dog waste bin emptying(incl VAT £45.41 £272.48
£19,586.84
RESOLVED 2 To receive and adopt the bank reconciliations as at 30 April 2015.
RESOLVED 3 To receive and adopt the Budget Monitor as at 30 April 2015.
RESOLVED 4 To receive and adopt the Earmarked Reserves as at 30 April 2015.
RESOLVED 5 To receive and adopt the Cash Flow Statement as at 30 April 2015.
RESOLVED 6 To note the reconciled account balances, to 30 April 2015, as follows:
Unity Trust current account £36,749.75
Co-op current account £2,645.56
Julian Hodge Bank Fixed Rate bond £46,062.89
£85,458.20
RESOLVED 7 To ratify/approve the payments following:
R Farhall – pay (May 2015) £729.09
Post Office Ltd [HMRC] – PAYE (May 2015) £250.56
East Sussex Pension Fund (May 2015) £244.73
R Farhall – expenses (May 2015) £123.81
RALC – sub 2015-16 £30.00
Staplecross Playing Field – new play equipment balance
(incl VAT £2,543) £15,258.00
£16,636.19
RESOLVED 8 To approve the transfer following:
Julian Hodge Bank to Unity Trust current account £15,000.00
(b) ANNUAL RETURN & ACCOUNTS 2014-15
(i) Internal Audit 2014-15
RESOLVED 1 To receive and note the 2014-15 Report of the Internal Auditor, Dennis Farnsworth.
RESOLVED 2 To ask the Chairman to convey the Council’s thanks to Mr Farnsworth for, once again, declining payment for his services. Chairman
(ii) Statement of Internal Control 2014-15
RESOLVED To receive and note the Statement of Internal Control 2014-15.
(iii) Annual Risk Assessments (2015)
RESOLVED To receive and note the risks identified and actions proposed.
(iv) Internal Auditor 2015-16
RESOLVED To re-appoint Dennis Farnsworth.
(v) Draft Audit Plan 2015-16
RESOLVED To Approve the Draft Audit Plan 2015-16.
(vi) Internal Auditor’s Terms of Reference 2015-16
RESOLVED To approve the Internal Auditor’s terms of reference for 2015-16.
(vii) Statement of Accounts 2014-15
RESOLVED To approve the Statement of Accounts 2014-15.
(viii) Annual Return 2014-15
RESOLVED To note section 4 of the 2015 Annual Return and to approve sections 1 and 2.
(c) Grant application
Members were invited to consider an application from the Ewhurst Green Residents’ Association for a contribution of £5,490 towards a replacement village sign.
Speaking from the Gallery, the EGRA Chairman, Wally Close confirmed that the Association intended to offer to gift the completed (installed) sign to EPC.
RESOLVED To award a grant of £5,490 to the EGRA towards the design, manufacture and installation of a replacement Ewhurst Green village sign – and to accept the installed new sign as a gift (and thereby accept responsibility for its insurance and future maintenance).
15.24 POWER OF GENERAL COMPETENCE
RESOLVED 1 To note that the prescribed conditions for exercising the General Power of Competence have been met – namely: a minimum of two-thirds of vacancies on the Council were filled at the last ordinary elections (May 2015) - and the Clerk holds the relevant sector-specific qualification.
RESOLVED 2 To confirm that the Council is eligible to exercise the General Power of Competence until the annual meeting following the next ordinary elections.
15.25 STANDING ORDERS AND FINANCIAL REGULATIONS
Members were invited to consider replacing the Council’s Standing Orders and Financial Regulations with documents based on the sector-specific models.
(a) Replacement Standing Orders
The Chairman advised that he preferred to chair by consensus; however, there can be situations when it is beneficial to be able to refer to formal procedures.
It was noted that the clause concerning reversing Council decisions was now more flexible.
A discussion followed on the electronic transmission of confidential information. It was noted that most of the information the Council generates or transmits is in the public domain and the requirement for Members not to disclose confidential information is based on trust.
RESOLVED To adopt the amended Model Standing Orders, as presented. Clerk
(b) Replacement Financial Regulations
RESOLVED To defer consideration of this item to the next meeting.
Clerk
15.26 OUTSIDE BODIES AND EVENTS
Village Hall Committee Cllr Young had not received notice of this week’s meeting and so had not attended.
Ewhurst Green in Bloom Cllr Whitaker reported that preparation for the judging (8 July) was continuing to go well.
There was a discussion about ESCC’s contractors flaying verges before wildflowers had ‘seeded’. The Clerk had read that there are now more species of wildflower in verges than in the open countryside – and that the ill-timed cutting of verges had been identified as a national problem because of the risk of reducing biodiversity.
RESOLVED To ask Cllr Whitaker to draft a briefing paper on this topic with a view to the Council considering referring it to Cllr Davies at a future meeting. Cllr Whitaker
15.27 Future Meetings
RESOLVED To note the dates of the next two meetings: 25 June 2015, 7.30pm (Priority-Setting, St Marks) and 9 July 2015, 7.30pm (St Marks).
PART B - SPECIAL BUSINESS
Cllr Hyett observed that ‘Local Action Plan’ no longer appeared on agendas.
RESOLVED To consider the future of the Plan (which expires this year) at the Priority Setting meeting.
15.28 ALLOTMENTS
Members were asked to consider whether to retain ownership of the sheds (now erected) and ground protection mesh (installation pending), or to offer one - or both - to the Ewhurst Parish Allotments Association as a gift.
Cllr Hyett advised that the EPAA had not yet discussed whether it would accept these two items as gifts. Her personal view was that EPC should retain ownership. The Chairman viewed the items as a ‘Parish asset’.
RESOLVED To defer further consideration until the official view of the EPAA had been established.
15.29 REPLACEMENT VILLAGE SIGNS
It was noted that the Clerk had distributed information about the underground services present at the preferred locations for the replacement Cripps Corner and Staplecross Village signs.
The Clerk advised that he might need to spend a few hundred pounds on improving the graphics to accompany the application for advertising consent – although he would run the sketches provided by Michael Hart by a Planning Officer for an informal opinion first.
Cllr Reed asked if would be possible to place a ‘half planter’ around the base of the replacement Cripps Corner – and two flower tubs on the grass verge opposite the Garage in order to prevent further damage. The Clerk advised that licences from ESCC would be required.
RESOLVED To consider this suggestion further once the exact position of the Cripps Corner replacement sign post had been established.
Just prior to the meeting closing there was a brief discussion about the need for a litter bin adjacent to the Staplecross Youth Shelter – including the cost of suitable bins.
The meeting ended at 9.14pm.
Date ……………………………… Chairman ………………………………………
APPENDIX
15.19 ADJOURNED SECTION
(a) PCSO Report
PCSO Georghiou’s report included:
Cold calling A parishioner had contacted the Police immediately a caller had been observed. As a result he had managed to catch up with the individual who, it transpired, was known to the Police – as was the vehicle that collected him and its driver. Although no crime had been committed the individual had been moved on and details of the incident had been recorded. He emphasised that the public needed to report suspicious persons as soon as possible by ringing 101 (local call rate).
The Chairman asked Cllr Reed if she would incorporate this request within Village Voice.
Break-ins Since the last meeting a couple of sheds had been entered. It is not unknown for the public to leave doors unlocked and windows opens – thereby aiding the opportunist thief.
Criminal damage A car windscreen had been deliberately smashed. It was suspected that this was linked to a neighbor dispute.
Neighbourhood Watch He had been invited to attend a Ewhurst Green NW event arranged by Mira Martin at the Arthur Herdman Pavilion on 24 June, 7pm.
PCSO Georghiou left the meeting.
(b) District Council Report
Cllr Tony Ganly’s report included:
Assets Register RDC was reviewing its assets in order to determine whether there was a need to retain them – or whether they could be considered for disposal (43 had been identified for this purpose thus far).
Cllr Ganly did not yet know if any RDC assets had been identified in Ewhurst. He confirmed that he would hope that any assets earmarked for disposal would be offered to the relevant parish/town council in the first instance.
Waste & Recycling In Rother, the performance of the contractor, Kier had deteriorated – resulting in an increased ‘missed bins’ rate. The explanation appeared to be linked directly to the company’s difficulty in recruiting a new supervisor for the Bulverhythe depot. One of its requirements was that the post holder should live in the area. There was also a problem with its street cleansing performance. Legislation introduced last Autumn meant that Kier had to invest in additional safety equipment for its work on/adjacent to A roads.
Boundary Review (East Sussex) RDC would be recommending that its total number of Members remained the same – to recognise the increase in population that that will be associated with the Link Road-related housing development (in addition to the new dwellings across Rother required under the Core Strategy). The Boundary Review would go out for public consultation. He added that the Boundary Commission had advised that the proposed Bexhill Governance Review should be postponed until the outcome of the Boundary Review was known.
The Chairman had noticed that RDC had recognised that it takes far too long to identify accommodation for the homeless. Cllr Ganly advised that officers were addressing this and that if the Overview & Scrutiny Committee was not satisfied with the measures put in place it could ask for further work to be undertaken.