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Bradwell Parish Council Minutes for the Year 2011/2012
Minutes of the Meeting of Bradwell Parish Council held on
Monday 28th November 2011 at 7.30 p m at
Bradwell Parish Council Office, 21 Glovers Lane, Heelands, Milton Keynes
Members present:
Councillor Brian King (chairman)
Councillor James Alexander
Councillor Rex Exon
Councillor Satinder Gill
Councillor Venetia Sams
Councillor Tom Sayers
Councillor Julian Vischer
After co-option (item 5.3) Councillor Caroline Godfrey
Also attending: Mr Patrick and Mrs Karen McQuillan, Mrs Caroline Godfrey, and Harold Atkins, parish clerk, manager and RFO.
ADMINISTRATION
1 Chair’s Announcements.
a) The chairman introduced the visitors present.
b) The chairman and clerk had met with the chairman of Stantonbury Parish Council, Cllr Terry Nightingale, on 25th November.
c) A meeting with the Reverend Andy Jowitt had been arranged for Friday 2nd December to discuss potential celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in June 2012.
2 Apologies for absence
Apologies for absence had been received from Councillor Ivor Bradbury
3 Disclosures of Interest. None received.
4 Minutes of the meeting held on 7th November 2011
The minutes of the meeting held on 7th November 2011 were approved by all seven members present at that time and signed by the chairman as a true record.
RESOLVED: The minutes of the meeting held on 7th November 2011 were approved.
5 Vacancy for a Parish councillor to represent Bradwell Common & Rooksley
5.1 Milton Keynes Council had advised that this Council was now free to co-opt an eligible person to serve as parish councillor for the Bradwell Common & Rooksley parish ward. This appointment would expirel four days after parish council elections on 3rd May 2012.
5.2 Mrs Caroline Godfrey of 15 Hunters Reach, Bradwell, had written applying to be co-opted as a parish councillor serving the parish ward of Bradwell Common & Rooksley. There were no other applicants.
5.3 Following her answering questions from members, Mrs Godfrey left the room while consideration of her application took place. Following this, all seven members present voted in favour of co-opting Mrs Godfrey as a parish councillor.
RESOLVED: To co-opt Mrs Caroline Godfrey of 15 Hunters Reach, Bradwell, as a parish councillor serving the Bradwell Parish ward of Bradwell Common & Rooksley.
Cllr Caroline Godfrey then took her seat as a Bradwell parish councillor.
6 Report from the parish clerk / manager
a) Following the departure of Craig Kench as MK Council North Area Neighbourhood Manager, Daniel Mullins, the West Area Neighbourhood Manager, would supervise the north area until a review of neighbourhood area boundaries had taken place.
b) Following MK Council’s Community Governance Review, several neighbouring and other local parishes will have their boundaries changed from April 2012, as follows:
i) Great Linford parish to include Willen, Willen Lake and Newlands transferred to it from Campbell Park Parish.
ii) Campbell Park grid square to be transferred from Campbell Park parish to Central Milton Keynes Town Council.
iii) A new parish created to include the areas of Woughton on the Green, Woughton Park and Passmore which would no longer be part of Woughton Parish.
7 Heelands Meeting Place
7.1 Annual Report
The clerk/RFO had produced an annual report and accounts for the first year of operation of Heelands Meeting Place, 1st October 2010 to 30th September 2011, which had been submitted to Milton Keynes Council. The Council is still operating on a 5-year rolling leased dated 21 December 2010, the Homes & Communities Agency having still not authorised the issue of the 30-year lease. The promised grant from MK Council had not materialised. No demand for business rates had yet been received.
7.2 Milton Keynes Council
Mrs Cathy Bland, Leisure and Community Manager, had replied on behalf of MK Council advising that she had released the grant payment of £2,183.
7.3 Problems with Underground Drainage
The condition of services under the meeting place had not been covered by the Milton Keynes Council buildings survey issued prior to this Council’s take-over. Subsequently, three instances of blockages to an underground pipe, mainly beneath the building, had occurred and investigation had found this was due to damaged pipework. On behalf of MK Council, Cathy Bland had offered 50% towards the cost of resolving the situation quoted by the MK Council contractor, Aqua-Jet Maintenance Services as £665.00 + VAT. There was discussion about this as some members felt that MK Council should cover the full cost of repairs. It was ultimately agreed by six votes in favour with two against to request Aqua-Jet Maintenance Services to carry out the repairs during a school holiday period with Bradwell Parish Council and MK Council splitting the cost 50/50.
RESOLVED: To issue an order on Aqua-Jet Maintenance Services to repair the underground drainage pipe at Heelands Meeting Place at a cost of £665.00 + VAT, half of which would be recovered from Milton Keynes Council.
7.4 Twinkletots Pre-School Playgroup
A letter of complaint had been received from Twinkletots complaining about aspects of the garden area, toilet door, electrical testing and protection of electrical socket. These matters would be dealt with by the chairman and clerk.
FINANCE
8 Letters of thanks for Grants
An e-mail of thanks for the £500 parish council grant had been received from the Youth Information Service in respect of their Stantonbury Campus Project. In respect of the earlier grant to Frantic UK, Mrs Nicola Wells of Bradwell Common had reported on her 10-year old son Lewis’s achievements in gaining gold medals in international junior dancing competitions held in Denmark and Austria.
9 Grant Request from Bradwell Village School
Bradwell Village School had requested a grant of £947 towards repairing the school forest path which is decaying and thereby creating health and safety issues. The total cost of the project is £5,947, the balance being paid out of school funds. In a vote seven of the members present voted in favour with one abstention.
RESOLVED: To award a grant of £947 to Bradwell Village School towards repairing a school forest path.
10 Use of Debit Card
10.1 As part of account review by Lloyds TSB in which they started charging 65p per cheque or cash transaction, but not on electronic transactions, the bank offered the use of “company” debit cards and two had been issued in the names of Brian King and Harold Atkins. There was no limit on expenditure by the cards by the bank, but members felt that amounts in excess of £100 should be brought before the Council. Members then granted the clerk permission to use the debit to buy a new laptop computer costing around £400 + software subject to his getting comparable quotations. The chairman was granted permission to purchase a new safe for the office.
RESOLVED: To authorise the purchase of a laptop computer with software and a new safe. The combined cost would be in the region of £500.00.
10.2 The clerk was authorised to change the parish office gas supplier from n-power to Switch Business Gas, who offered the cheapest of four quotes, from January 2012.
RESOLVED: To change the office gas supplier to Switch Business Gas on a one-year contract from January 2012.
10.3 As a petty cash account was now being kept in view of the increased number of cash transactions, members agreed to relatively small claims by councillors to be paid out of petty cash instead of by cheque which would involve bank charges.
11 Half Year Accounts to the period ended 30th September 2011
Cllr Satinder Gill, as accounting scrutineer, checked and approved the bank reconciliations as at 31st August and 30th September 2011.
All eight members present then approved the accounts for the period 1st April to 30th September 2011.
RESOLVED: To approve the half year accounts to 30th September 2011.
All eight members present also approved the accounts for King George’s Field, Bradwell, charity for the same period on the grounds that Bradwell Parish Council is the sole managing trustee of this charity, and the clerk is its authorised correspondent with the Charity Commission.
12 Payment of Accounts
Three cheques were raised on the Bradwell Parish Council account, as follows:
Cheque No. 002667 for £570.00 to J V Hough for erecting signs and bins and minor repairs.
Cheque No. 002668 for £337.00 to D H Atkins for delivery of the newsletters.
Cheque No. 002669 for £947.00 to Bradwell Village School for the grant authorised in item 9 above.
One cheque was raised on the King George’s Field, Bradwell, charity account, as follows:
Cheque No. 000037 for £105.00 to DA Garden Services for completion of bulb planting.
RESOLVED: To pay the above accounts. All eight members present agreed to this.
ENVIRONMENTAL & COMMUNITY
13 Consideration of items that could be included in the 2012/2013 Budget.
a) The appointment of a part-time administrative assistant largely to cover lunchtimes and early afternoon Monday to Friday and probably to take over Meeting Place and Allotment bookings and accounts.
b) That advantage should be taken of 50% funding of schemes under MK Council’s Parish Partnership Fund and Parking Partnership Scheme, assuming they continue under the present economic conditions.
c) To allocate some funding for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June 2012.
d) To allocate funding for paying a casual area caretaker (upgraded from the current voluntary Friday litter picker).
e) That the Heelands Central play area be enlarged on the Southern Field for equipment for teenagers. It would be hoped that the bulk of funding would come from WREN through the Landfill Tax.
14 “Community First”
Lee Mooney of MK Council had clarified that the £33,910 was the whole sum available for the four years’ duration. There may be other funding allocated to Conniburrow. The position would not be known for several weeks, and Mr Mooney had provisionally been invited to address the Parish Council meeting on 6th February on this subject.
15 Planning Applications
15.1 New Planning Applications
Ref. 11/02361/FUL – Erection of two storey rear and side extensions at 24 Walkhampton Avenue, Bradwell Common. Applicant: Mr Tom McEvaddy
Ref: 11/02487/FUL
Two storey side extension, 55 Hadley Place, Bradwell Common. Applicant: Mrs S. Williams.
Ref: 11/02514/FUL
Replacement of existing timber window surrounds with UPVC double glazed casements; replacement of existing flat entrance doors with UPVC: replacements of existing storage area doors with composite doors. At the flats Nos. 2-32 Eelbrook Avenue, 57-59 Hadley Place, 58-60 Wimbledon Place, and 1-12 Arbrook Avenue (incorrectly stated as Arbrook “Place” on the application list), Bradwell Common. Application from United House Limited.
No specific comments were made. A request was made that the papers for planning applications in future be sent with the agenda rather than asking members to look up details themselves on the MK Council Planning Portal.
15.2 Planning applications granted or refused
None received.
16 “Enviro Day”
It had been pointed out that the two other parishes in the North area, Great Linford and Stantonbury had held “Enviro” days, but Bradwell had not. There was no great interest at this time, although a “clean up” of an area could be considered in better weather, such as was done around the cemetery at Bradwell Church a few years ago.
17 Environmental and Community Matters
a) The fast food van street trading in Patriot Drive, Rooksley, was not trading illegally and was not in breach of any highway or environmental health legislation.
b) The ownership of the land around a small play area between Walkhampton Avenue and Maidenhead Avenue, Bradwell Common, is in doubt. Cllr Rex Exon agreed to try to discover who is responsible for it.
c) The fence between Bradwell Memorial Hall and the church gates in Vicarage Road, Bradwell Village, was breaking down. As ownership of that part of Glebe Field (“Motte & Bailey Site”) had not yet been transferred to the parish it was agreed to request MK Council to repair it.
d) The chairman reported that the voluntary litter picker was continuing to work on Fridays and would also cover Heelands Southern Field.
e) The uneven road in The Craven, Heelands, had still not been repaired.
f) It was asked what had happened about the curtains in Heelands Meeting Place as this could be covered in the 2011/2012 budget.
The next meeting would be on Monday 12th December 2011 at Heelands Meeting Place.
The chairman closed the meeting at 9.37pm.
Signed….……………………………………chairman.
Date ………………….……………….……………2011
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