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MILLAND PARISH COUNCIL
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Chairman: Mr. Matt Cusack
Clerk: Mrs. Lorraine Grocott, BEM
23 West Meade, Milland, Liphook, GU30 7NB
Hampshire, Tel: 01428 741393
Email: – Website:
MINUTES of the Meeting of MILLAND PARISH COUNCIL held on
Thursday 10 March 2016in the Committee Room, Milland Memorial Hall
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Present: Mr. M Cusack (Chairman),Mr B Blacker, Mr J Gilliard, Mrs H Davies, Mr R May
Mr. A Farley, Mr Simon Pudge,
Cllr. G Keegan, DistrictCouncillor
4 Members of the Public
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439. Apologies- Mr. N Cartwright, Mr. J Parker, Cllr G McAra (County Councillor)
440. Minutes of theMeeting 14 January 2016 were agreed and signed.
441.Declaration of Interests of Members on Agenda Items
442. Matters arising – There were no specific matters.
443.Report from the District Councillor, Cllr Gillian Keegan
a)The independent Local Government Boundary Commission for England is carrying out an electoral review of Chichester District Council. The review will draw new council ward boundaries across Chichester. The Commission has announced that 35 councillors should be elected to the council in future: 12 fewer than the current arrangements. The parish is being asked for evidence about their local area to help them decide a new pattern of wards for Chichester.
b) CDC’s leisure services will be managed by Sports and Leisure Management Ltd (SLM Ltd), which operates as ‘Everyone Active’, from May, after councillors decided that it would be the best way of protecting the services for years to come.
c)Broadband grants are available for local business hubs.
d) CDC is going to have to increase its recycling to meet the EU Directive. To do this the District Council are considering collecting food waste on a weekly basis.
e)Chichester District councillors agreed a small rise in the council’s element of council tax to protect vital services. The increase of just under ten pence per week to the average council tax bill was agreed at the Full Council meeting on 1 March. It means that the average Band D taxpayer will pay£2.80 a week for district council services.
444.Report emailed by County Councillor,Cllr Gordon McAra, 11.3.16
a)The County has looked at Traffic Regulation Orders in a bid to reduce numbers and make the process far more effective and faster. This means that Highways engineers have revisited the existing lists with a view to reapplying the current criteria to them. This has resulted in a major cull of the lists county wide. In our area, this means that only 3 out of around 18 possible TROs will remain. These are mainly based on road safety issues rather than speed. There will also be new criteria for any requests for TROs which will be issued shortly.
b)Rogate primary school, has had a poor OFSTED inspection.
c)The County council tax is to be increased by 3.95% in the next financial year.
d)The next County Local Committee meeting is on Monday 21st March at Fernhurst primary school, where the TRO position will be explained by a Highways officer.
Minutes of Milland Parish Council meeting 10 March 2016
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445.Public Participation
a)Noise complaint, The Sawmill Studios - Mr Lyons, Westons Farm – Following this complaint in November the District Council had written a strong letter to the proprietors. The noise abated over the Christmas period but there has been a resurgence in the day time. Mr Lyons played a previously recorded sound of metal bashing and sand blasting. He has been advised by CDC to keep a record of the noise disturbance to provide them with evidence should the complaint go to court. The District Councillor would speak to the Environmental Health Officer about the matter.
Regarding planning conditions on the building, the premises received its planning permission in 2000 and there were no specific planning conditions stipulated. It was noted that the new building on the site does have planning conditions because of the possible disturbance to neighbours.
446. Neighbourhood Plan– Mr John Slater, who was appointed as the Independent Examiner to examine the Milland Neighbourhood Development Plan (MNDP) has now submitted his Report to the South Downs National Park Authority.He found that overall the Plan was well written in a narrative style. He has, however, had to make changes to the wording to most of the policies, to bring them into line with Basic Conditions. He has set out his reasons in each case but often it is to give greater certainty to the decision maker. He congratulated the Parish Council, the Steering Group and the Plan’s editor on the hard work that had gone into the preparation of the Plan. He confirmed that the Plan, if amended in line with his recommendations, would meet all the statutory requirements including the basic conditions test. He is therefore delighted to recommend to South Downs National Park Authority that the Milland Neighbourhood Development Plan, as modified by his recommendations, should proceed to referendum. Chichester District Council has been instructed by SDNPA to organise a referendum in which all those on the electoral roll for the parish of Milland will be invited to say either Yes or No to the final draft of the Plan. The plan can be viewed at
447. Annual Parish Assembly 14 April, 2016, 7.30 for 8pm in Milland Memorial Hall – Along with the usual reports from the parish council, invitations will be sent to the Headmistress, Hollycombe Primary, School, the Chairman, Borden Village Hall, the Chairman Milland Sports Club and Mrs Hilary Marston, Milland Nursery School. There will be a presentation on the Neighbourhood Plan and presentation of thanks to Allan Jones who is retiring as our Village Handyman for 20 years.
448.HM Queen’s 90th Birthday celebrations – Mr Mike Friend
a) Mr Friend has arranged for the Lighting of the Beacon on 21st April at 8pm. This has been arranged with Bruno Peak, Pageant Master for the Queens 90th Birthday Beacons. This will be followed by a Toast, Prayers, Bugle, Fizz, Fireworks and then moving to The Rising Sun for a mini ‘last Night of the Proms’. The council agreed to a grant of £250. Insurance will come under the council’s policy.
b)‘Party in the Park’ on Sunday 12 June – A small group led by Mrs Caroline Powell will organise a community party on the Recreation Field from 1-5pm. They have been awarded a District Council grant of £250 for the event however they need more funding for up-front expenses. The Council agreed to provide a loan of £250. Tables will be sold at £20 to help recover costs. Insurance will come under the council’s policy.
c)Flag pole and flag (Union Jack) – To commemorate the HM Queen’s 90th birthday the Council has purchased a flag pole/flag which will be erected on the recreation field between the shop and the hall.
449.Website problems/changes - In about the year 2000 Chichester District Council (CDC) rolled out a programme for parishes in the district providing the Clerk with a laptop computer and an email account. For Milland the email address was . CDC used Claranet as the Domain Host for the various domains; that for Milland being milland-wsx-pc.gov.uk.
Minutes of Milland Parish Council meeting 10 March 2016
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The conditions for the use of a .gov.uk name, as defined by the Naming and Approvals Committee (NAC), which is run by the Cabinet Office, state that the web address must lead directly to the Home page for their organisation on the .gov.uk domain. As a website with an address of milland-wsx—pc.gov.uk doesn’t exist, Milland was deemed to be in breach of the regulation.
In October 2015 JISC, the Domain Registry Service used by Claranet, wrote to Claranet drawing attention to this breach of the Regulations, and said that failure to rectify the issue within 60 days would result in the domain being closed down. Subsequently the ‘drop dead’ date became the 16 February 2016. Claranet failed to inform the various people concerned of this deadline. On the 9th February the Clerks emails stopped working. Some urgent phone calls to Claranet quickly established the problem and we were told that the only way to get emails working again was to set up the relevant website. Contact was made with Fernhurst PC and with the help of one of their councillors who works in IT we were able to set up a new website which now conforms to the regulations.
The new website is slowly being edited to show information relevant to Milland and construction of the site will mean that information held on the existing CDC site will gradually be moved. The new website will be more attractive and will be much easier to input information. It is also recommended that at some point in the future a new non-conditional email address for the Clerk should be set up thereby escaping from the .gov.uk constraints.
450.Milland Cares – New local initiative – Ron May
There will be an open meeting in Milland Memorial Hall on Saturday 16 April, starting at 10.30am. The idea is to look at ways in which a local network could be set up to help anybody in the parish who needs good practical advice on matters relating to health care, welfare and how to remain independent in their own home. There is also the idea of creating a pool of equipment, that as individual locals might only need to use for a short while, like crutches and various home aids, which could be lent to others who need them. The day will be hosted by Chrissie May and Val Porter.
451.Cartersland wildflower plans for 2016 season – Paul Strike
The group will continue to increase the plants that are doing well on the Green, eradicating the coarse grasses as a priority. Habitats will be provided to encourage bumble bees and insects and a small pile of logs will be sited to encourage wildlife. Mowing will begin as soon as possible. At present they are using a Flymo which necessitates ‘rake-up’, so they are looking at the possibility of a grass collecting mower. A record of fuel used will be kept to calculate the annual cost of mowing. The Parish Council has agreed to cover these costs. The area around the beacon will be increased to accommodate those attending the Queen’s birthday celebration and a local residents gathering scheduled for 3rd July. The group will host a table at the Rural Fair this summer which will be educational as well as having some wildflowers on sale to raise funds.
452.Finance report – Mrs Grocott
a)The final VAT Reclaim for 2015-16 will be submitted to HM Revenue & Customs.
b)Electronic banking – A Barclays ‘reader’, ‘card’ and ‘pin’ have now been sent to Ron May as a signatory. Once the council approves the Online banking process and sends a letter of confirmation to Barclays, the Business Relationship Manager will then remove the embargo and allow for payments to be made electronically. Currently the account is ‘view only’ with transfers. The Clerk will prepare the payments and Ron May will approve. Payments will continue to be approved by two councillors. The Financial Regulations will be amended to include “or electronic bank transfer” after “cheque” in Para 6.3. AGREED
c)The Reserve a/c been closed and the balance plus interest of £14073.45 transferred to the current account.
d)Preparation on year end accounts will take place at the end of March for submission to the Internal Auditor Rachel Hall.
Minutes of Milland Parish Council meeting 10 March 2016
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The payments were approved by the Council.
453.Planning report -
454. Environment report –
a)EmergencyPlanning – The snow plough and salt spreader have now been relocated to the Milland Pottery side under the responsibility of Robin Carter. A new snow blade has been purchased and repairs were needed to the jockey wheels. Neither the snow plough nor the spreader have had to be used this season. Liaison has taken place with the committee members.
b)Allotments – last season – Mrs Carter has agreed to allow the use of the allotments for one more season much to the delight of the allotment holders. There are 5 allotment holders. A note will be placed in Milland News asking for any philanthropic offers for a small piece of land.
c) Chapel Common Liaison Group meeting will be held 16 March– The Clerk, Mr Pudge and Mrs Davies to attend. It is hoped the Stewardship Agreement (SA) situation between Mr Mir and SDNPA will be clarified otherwise the SA will end on 1st April which will mean that the site will not receive any money for management and it future will become uncertain.
d)Parish Spring Clean – weekend 9/10 April - The Clerk has arranged for the District Council to collect rubbish from verges left at the Crossroads on the Monday. Councillors would be reminded of their areas of responsibility.
455.Highways and Byways –
a)Retirement of Allan Jones – Allan has been the village handyman for 20 years and it was agreed to make a presentation of thanks at the Annual Parish Assembly.
b) WSCC have been consulting on Highway services. They are reviewing the way they currently primarily deliver on areas of discretionary service. One of these is the Community Support Teams. These teams undertake small scale street scene improvements in the same way that our Handyman has done. The council was offered 4 options and selected Option 2 – Actively seek partnerships with parish Councils to enable them to help themselves with limited support from WSCC which is a more flexible service geared to local need.
c)Highway verge restoration at the junction of Hollycombe School Lane and Fernhurst is being carried out by Rob Findlay as agreed at the January meeting.
456.Report from Representatives –
a) Milland Memorial Hall – CDC have advised that the proposed shed on the recreation field does not need planning permission. The new boiler has been installed. There is meeting on 17 March 2016
b)North West Forum meeting will be held on 5 April 2016 at Lodsworth VH. The speaker will be Mrs Katy Bourne, Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Inspector Justin Burtenshaw, Arun & Chichester District Commander. Mr. Cartwright will attend.
c)SSALC – Councillor training, Chichester Park Hotel, 23 June 2016 (1400 to 1700).
457.Date of next meeting –Annual Parish Assembly, Thursday 14 April 2016, 7-30 for 8pm
in Milland Memorial Hall
Annual Statutory Meeting – Thursday 5 May 2016, 7.30pm in the Committee Room MVMH
Chairman: …………………….Date: ……………………
These minutes are unconfirmed until signed by the Chairman.