Bosham Parish
Annual Assembly Minutes
Held in the Bosham Centre, Recreation Ground Walton Lane on Wednesday 29th April 2015 at 7.00 pm
The meeting was attended by 20 members of the public and 9 members of the Parish council. It was chaired by Mr John Dean, Chairman of the Parish Council and the Clerk was in attendance. The Chairman welcomed Mrs Louise Goldsmith (County Councillor) and Mr David Myers (District Councillor) as quest speakers; along with Alison Morey, CEO of St Wilfred’s and David Seaman, Architect who were exhibiting the proposed planning application.
1. Apologies
Cllrs Fulford & Holloway sent their apologies, as did Mr R Pratt and D/Cllr Cullen who arrived during the meeting.
2. Minutes of the Annual Assembly held on 30th April 2014
The Chairman signed the minutes as a true representation of the meeting with the correction to the attendance of D/Cllr Myles Cullen.
3. Chairman’s Report – Mr John Dean
3.1 I would like to open by welcoming you all to the annual Parish Meeting. This is an event that occurs each April and aims to update you all on the activities of the Parish Council, and gives you an opportunity to question myself or any member of the Council on the actions that we have or have not taken during the past 12 months. This year we have a number of guests: Louise Goldsmith, Leader of WSCC and our local county councillor, David Myers, his potential replacement, Penny Plant, and Myles Cullen our local representatives on CDC. They attend the Parish Council and give reports on the activities in CDC and WSCC, support and encouragement to us, and I thank them for that. Tonight we have a presentation on the Neighbourhood Plan – which will be your opportunity to ask questions as we head towards submission of this plan.
3.2 Your Parish Council - I will mention each Councillor by name. They have all contributed their time freely to help ensure that the village continues to function and develops in the best way possible. Apart from attending the Full Council meetings (all of which are open to the public) they contribute to the various sub committees (also open to the public) - Finance, Planning, Recreation Ground, and Village Amenities, bringing the result of their deliberations to the full council for endorsement where necessary. Councillors are: Jonathan Fulford, who over the past year has acted as deputy Chairman particularly over the past two months while I have been away, reacts to flood warnings, including where needed emergency ditch clearance and posts a regular contribution to the Village Magazine and Bosham Life, as well as chairing the Recreation Ground committee. Alastair Johnstone, chairman of the planning committee, Charlotte Pexton chairperson of the finance committee with Tony Chapman responsible for the accounts, and Jan Copsey chairperson of the Village amenities committee. Also we have other members who are active on the committees and on the working groups. They are Chris Whitmore-Jones, Charlotte Pexton who has recently assumed responsibility for the Neighbourhood Plan, Gail Powell, John Holloway, and Karen Phillips and last, but by no means least, Rod Cooper. Karen has decided to resign to sail to distant places. I shall express my thanks to her for her contribution to the decisions over the past year. All councillors have contributed variously to the committees as well as giving their time to Council meetings and clearing ditches. I would like to thank all these Councillors for their contribution and assistance they have given to me over the past 12 months. The whole operation would not function without Lisa, our Parish Clerk who has done her duties conscientiously and on many occasions given her assistance, most recently to the Neighbourhood Plan subcommitteee, and her expertise to ensure that things get done. Thank you Lisa.
3.3 The street lights have been replaced. This was a WSCC contract with SSE which is aims to replace all street lights in West Sussex. I hope you have all experienced less light pollution, which was accompanied by reduced energy consumption and lower energy bills. Also the lights have been turned off from about midnight to 5:30am, saving further energy. I hope you approve!
3.4 Lights in Recreation Ground -The present state of the lights is that they not are working after vandalism. We could replace them – and it would certainly make the walk to the youth centre more pleasant – but we would welcome feedback on this issue. The last replacement of these lights a little more than a year ago, cost over £2000.
3.5 Neighbourhood Plan - A number of people including parish councillors, members of Bosham Association and others have been contributing to the Neighbourhood Plan. This is an important document that is proceeding well. Under the guidance of Dick Pratt, the chairmanship of Charlotte Pexton, and with a team of volunteers this is a real example of “localism”. The decision was taken to submit the plan at a meeting last week. This year the discussion will be on the submission of the neighbourhood plan.
3.6 Play area - The play area on the recreation ground has provided the children of the village with an opportunity to enjoy themselves which they have taken up with enthusiasm. The artificial surface has recently been extended to avoid the possibility of injury.
3.7 I attended the Bosham Association AGM on the 22nd November. Discussions were on the new sea wall, flooding and on planning issues, mainly Burhill's proposed development that had been rejected by the Planning Authority. The talk was on the Novium Museum in Chichester, which is now freely accessible (7 days a week in summer, 6 days in winter).
3.8 We have had some movement in planning applications, this has become more challenging as we adapt to the demands of 'electronic planning' where, from recently we have been asked to respond on the basis of projected images rather than paper plans. This has been challenging as the website appears not especially reliable and the dimensioning of drawings needs some improvement.
3.9 Jonathan Fulford attended a flooding and emergency meeting in London.
3.10 The Council has considered the merits of a presence on Facebook and Twitter, and decided against the concept at the moment. However Jonathan Fulford and Lisa are attending a risk assessment course on this matter - and essentially your council continues to review its position.
3.11 Accounts, the council continues to investigate where the Parish monies can be best stored (to produce the most favourable outcome for the village) and this is reviewed regularly. For the present I can advise you that £60000 of the monies are all stored in bonds. The finance committee resolved that the precept should be set at £60000 less any grant which may be forthcoming from CDC. This would impact on each household (on a Band D property) paying an increase council tax of about 75pence over the year, compared to last year.
3.12 We were not troubled by illegal encampments on Parish land during the past year and with the coming on stream of the transit site things should be easier for everyone. However, travellers are currently in the village (who, I understand received an eviction notice last Monday) we must continue to be vigilant – this applies equally to private land as to parish land. The stream continues to cause concerns regarding the apparent irregularity of flow and the levels. The replacement of the sluice at BSC has been monitored and the work has been completed. The closed Churchyard continues to occupy us – however we cannot pass money to this cause (or any other, however worthy) without receiving estimates for the work to be undertaken beforehand which have generally not been forthcoming. Under an initiative by the Parochial Church Council, the Churchyard will pass to the responsibility of the Parish Council on 1 January 2016. At that time the responsibility falls directly on the Parish Council who will determine the amount of work needed and subcontract the work necessary.
3.13 You will have noticed that the hospice has a display. This covers the proposal that they build a new hospice on land at the former Oakcroft Nursery. You are welcome to give them full attention during the break, although no agenda item is proposed for this development. The next item will be my colleague David Myers who will report on the activities of CDC. In the meantime if you have any questions regarding the above please raise them under Item 7, and I or one of my colleagues will endeavour to answer them. Finally, I would like to thank all of you for taking an interest in the parish council and coming to the Annual Parish Assembly this evening.
4. District Councillors’ Report
D/Cllr David Myers’s gave the following report:
This is my final report to you after serving for 12 years as one of your two District Councillors. In that time there have been significant changes to the Council, from actions by central government, to advances in technology, financial challenges and others. Some examples are:-
· Rubbish collection changed from weekly to fortnightly with separate bins for recyclables and waste.
· Scrapping quangos and targets including the Audit Commission, Standards Board and South East Regional Assembly.
· New Licensing Laws that doubled the cost of licences for one off local events.
· Rationalisation of CDC management to meet the changing business environment.
· Leasing off Council office space and property disposals and acquistions to increase income.
· Reviewing services based on those that must be provided, those that should be provided and those where there is no legal requirement to provide.
· Re-assessing other sources of income like car parks.
· Sharing facilities with other local authorities and government bodies.
· Replacing the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with the National Park at high cost, although the AONB had similar status.
· Requirement to produce a Local Development Framework by the previous government that failed. Then followed by Local and Neighbourhood Plans and ongoing. All entailing much work over a long period. It is fair to say that none of us at CDC has enjoyed this situation, exacerbated by the National Park taking two thirds of our area for planning purposes, forcing new building into a tighter area around the City, along our coastal strip and on the Manhood Penisular.
· Finally money. We expect the annual rate support grants from Government to continue to fall each year. So far, with a range of economies and careful management CDC has managed to agree a balanced budget each year. We do wonder though whether there will come a time soon when local government will be expected to become self funding or nearly so. That could mean a major rethink on what councils should and should not provide.
Thank you for your support whilst I have been a councillor. I have tried my best, had some successes and some failures, as well as an interesting time.
On behalf of Bosham, Cllr Whitmore Jones wish to record a vote of thanks to David for representing the people of Bosham diligently as a parish and District councillor.
5. County Councillor’s Report – Mrs Louise Goldsmith
C/Cllr Goldsmith report back on a busy year transforming the services ready for the challenge of saving £124 million, whilst still retaining the fundamentals of:
· providing children 0-18 services to maintain the best start in life;
· Championing an economy which helps make people independent of longer. Population of Britain 1 in 5 are over 65+ that rises to 1 in 4 in Sussex. WSCC are providing guiding principles to help communities help themselves; and
· Collective assistance in times of crisis. Keeping all the emergency services working together, providing health, welfare and criminal support can minimise costs to the public;
There is a new website to provide open and transparent reporting on how the council spends your money, and ensure that we are hitting targets. Showing funding such as the £35million spent on repairing roads, and £2.25 million spent on Operation Watershed, working in partnership with communities to prevent localised flood problems.
Other projects have included the A27 campaigning; Working with districts and boroughs on a new transit site for the travelling community; Increasing recycling rates from 42% to 43% with a projected target of 50% by 2020.
C/Cllr Goldsmith congratulated the Bosham on the Trippet Wall project which was a great example of community spirit
6. Neighbourhood Plan – Where are we, what are the next steps?
Cllr Charlotte Pexton gave the following report:
6.1 Tonight I have been tasked to talk to you about the Bosham Village Neighbourhood Plan. The Agenda shows 2 sub-headings; Where are we and What are the next steps. I crave your indulgence to allow me to cover four sub-headings:
Background - What is our remit
Who are we
What have we done and where are we
What are the next steps
6.2 Background
The National Policy Planning framework (NPPF) was introduced in 2012. It sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how these are expected to be applied. The NPPF provides a framework within which real people and councils can produce their own distinctive neighbourhood plans, thus reflecting the needs of the community. Communities do not have to prepare a NP but if they do not they cannot exercise any control over what happens. It is no surprise then that the residents of Bosham decided to take control and prepare a plan!
6.3 What is our Remit?