Gerrards Cross Town Council

South Lodge, East Common, Gerrards Cross SL9 7AD 01753 888018

Clerk to the Council - Mrs S Moffat

MINUTES of the ANNUAL TOWN MEETING

HELD ON WEDNESDAY 13th APRIL 2016 at the COLSTON HALL, MEMORIAL CENTRE, GERRARDS CROSS

PRESENT Cllr Chris Brown, Town Chairman (presiding)

COUNCILLOR Ian Bayliss COUNCILLOR Mike Lawson

“ Martin Baker “ John O’Keeffe

“ Mikael Berntson “ Hellen Orme

“ Peter Grimes “ Peter Roberts

“ Norman Holmes “ Jennifer Woolveridge

OFFICERS Sue Moffat - Town Clerk

Anita Mitton – Deputy Clerk

Clair McCoy – Assistant Clerk

IN ATTENDENCE

Cllr Peter Hardy (Bucks County Council), Cllr Duncan Smith ( SBDC) and PCSO Denise Hawkes (TVPA).

Members of the Public:- Eilea Peters, Arnold Naylor, Cynthia Drapkin, Neil Drapkin, John Wheeler,

Richard Griffiths, Patricia Hutchins, Madeleine May, Pat Booth, Jan Jenkins, Trudi Brittan, Peter Robbins, M.R. Robbins, Taiwu Akinseye, Anna Sullivan, Nick Moss, John Draper, Bill Jones, Sue Jones, Anne Deller, David Deller, Celia Stuart Lee, Ken Piercy, Colin Gooding, Helen Glasson, Rosina Carter, Vivien Franks, Sue Woollacott, N Woollacott, V Taggart, Pash Bharinia, Varsha Bharinia, Diane Holden, Helier Murphy, B Wapshare, Pat Lawson, Janie Holmes, Neil Brown, Viv Brown, Pat Collins, Bill Collins.

The Press:-Stephanie Wareham, Tom Herbert.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr J Chhokar, Cllr S Chhokar, Mr & Mrs Milner, Mrs Hurn, Mr Stanning and Mr Gordon.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 15TH APRIL 2015

The minutes,proposed by Cllr Brown, seconded by Cllr Woolveridge, were agreed and signed by the Chairman as a true record.

APPROVAL OF THE 2014/15 AUDITED ACCOUNTS

Cllr Bayliss, Chairman of the Finance and General Purposes Committee, presented the published accounts for 2014/15 which have been approved by the internal and external auditors. The Audited Accounts proposed by Cllr Bayliss, seconded by Cllr Brown, were accepted by the meeting.

Cllr Bayliss reported that the Finance and General Purposes Committee monitors the expenditure of the Town Council and sets the budget for the upcoming year. It also ensures that proper financial records are maintained and audited.

Gerrards Cross Town Council has responsibilities for maintaining some of the essential services in the community such as street lighting, footpaths and maintenance of the Commons and The Camp.

Other services have now been devolved to the Town from Bucks County Council to allow us to provide a more efficient and effective services tailored to our residents’ needs. These include grass cutting on verges, cutting back foliage on highways land, cutting back foliage overhanging footpaths etc.

The Council continues to support local organisations and projects over the last year by awarding grants. This enables residents from all age groups to continue to benefit from valuable community facilities and services.

The Council has decided to increase the precept for the year 2016/17 by £23.5K- an increase of 10.8% which is equivalent to just under £5 per Band D household. This increase is to cover upgraded footpaths on the commons, extra staff coverage in the office and extra grants to help local community groups.

REPORT FROM CLLR BROWN, CHAIRMAN OF THE TOWN COUNCIL

The Challenges we are facing.

Local Government in Buckinghamshire is currently going through major changes. The retiring Chief Executive of Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC), Chris Williams, said in his leaving speech that the Local Government is no longer fit for purpose and recommends a Unitary Council for Bucks. This was echoed by our own County Councillor, Peter Hardy, at our last Council meeting. In its current state of finances, it is likely that Social Care will take over all of BCC’s budget, leaving little for our local infrastructure. We are also seeing the effective merger of South Bucks District with Chiltern District. With the new Local Plan, Slough Council has aspirations to make South Bucks into an extension of Slough.

Both Central Government and the National Association of Local Councils are recommending that Town and Parish Councils, which are the only level of local government that remain uncapped, will need to take on many of the responsibilities of the Principal authorities (County and District Councils) to prevent the decline of our local infrastructure.

We have recently seen the demise of the Local Area Forums (LAFs), which were an attempt by BCC to group together Local Councils, rather that working with them individually. In our case, this would have meant BCC working with the proposed LAF of Gerrards Cross, Denham, Fulmer and Hedgerley, a move that we have strongly resisted from the outset.

In the past year, we have already seen the effects of Local Government changes, including our taking on Devolution and the changes in Planning legislation.

How we have responded

Gerrards Cross Council has taken a proactive lead in these areas to ensure we can deliver the best possible results for our residents. With a population approaching 9000, the move from Parish to Town Council from the beginning of 2016 has advanced our status from the typical Buckinghamshire Parish Council with a population of less than 1000. We believe this makes a clear statement that we will be taken seriously as a community with its own unique identity and requirements. That said, there was no major cost in making this move, there is no need to have a ceremonial Mayor or a Town Hall, nor has it any legal effect on planning legislation.

The Devolution project has involved taking over from BCC the responsibility for the maintenance of grass verges, vegetation, sign cleaning, footpath maintenance and hedge cutting for the 4 year period starting in April 2015. We have taken the lead on this in South Bucks, subcontracting our work to Amersham Town Council. The advantages are that we can manage these functions locally with a more focussed approach and reduced turnaround times. We have been very proactive in this and are now looking at taking on more of these roles, which could include drain clearing and filling potholes.

Planning applications have increased considerably in number and the planning process has now become paperless, meaning that the Council has had to invest in new technology to keep pace with this.

Our response to the Emerging Chiltern and South Bucks Local Plan has involved a considerable amount of work in organising the public meeting in February and in drafting our formal reply. We would like to thank all our residents who responded to this. In the past, we have been able to rely on the South Bucks Local Plan to protect Gerrards Cross from over-development. We are now looking into establishing our own Neighbourhood Plan for this purpose.

Our current status.

I am pleased to say that, with the co-option of three new Councillors, we are now at our full complement of twelve members. With almost half of the Council being new members since the last election, we have a great team of Councillors who are all working hard to look after the interests of Gerrards Cross. Please bear in mind that we are all unpaid volunteers, who each put in an average of ten hours a week, even though many of us have full-time jobs.

I should also mention the positive contribution from our seven Associate Councillors, as well as the many additional volunteers who make our job possible.

On the staff side, our hard working Parish Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer, Diana Hepburn-Park, has now retired after fourteen years, and we wish her all the best for the future. Our new Town Clerk and RFO, Sue Moffat, has taken over from Diana and brings a wealth of experience from her roles as Clerk for Chalfont St Peter and Iver, as well as working for Chesham Town Council. To complement our Deputy Clerk, Anita Mitton, we have also taken on our new Assistant Clerk, Claire McCoy to cope with the additional work.

We currently have four Committees – Commons, Highways, Planning and Finance & General Purpose (F&GP). You can see the individual Annual Committee reports in the report pack handout. All our meetings are in public and residents are always very welcome to attend. Our meeting agendas and minutes are all published on our web site.

Besides Committees, we also have number of Working Parties. These include Packhorse Road Traffic Lights, Speeding & Parking, Communications, Best Kept Village, and Boost Working Parties.

I should also give a special mention to our Conservation Volunteers, who meet monthly to maintain our excellent Commons.

We are also very actively working with many other organisations, including Gerrards Cross Traders, The Youth Club, the Wapseys Wood Liaison Committee, the Scouts, the Guides, our Rotary Clubs, local Churches and Schools and the Gerrards Cross Community Association.

Our Annual Council meeting will be on 16 May, when all our Chairmen, Vice Chairmen and Committees will be elected.

OTHER REPORTS

Reports from the Commons Committee, Highways Committee, Planning Committee, Speed & Parking Working Party, Communication Working Party and BOOST were presented at the meeting and were circulated with the agenda.

REPORT FROM GERRARDS CROSS POLICE

PCSO Denise Hawkes introduced herself to the meeting. Although she is based at Beaconsfield, she works closely with Gerrards Cross designated PCSO’s, Paul Dobbins and Gary Tugwell. They work as a team so she does have a good knowledge of the Gerrards Cross area.

Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) – The PCSO’s have carried out joint operations and under Section 35 they have new powers to impose a Dispersal Order for up to 72 hours. If offenders refuse to disperse, they can be arrested. The police follow up offenders of ASB with homevisits and,if appropriate, contact the Housing Associations to take further action.

TVPA hold ‘Have Your Say’ meetings on a monthly basis which are well attended.Over the last 3 months in the Gerrards Cross area there have been 2 burglaries, 3 attempted burglaries, 3 thefts from motorcars and 10 incidents of shop lifting. Burglary in non-dwellings (e.g.sheds) has risen and the Police plan to introduce tool marking and security advice. The Police do follow up victims of crime and offer advice and counselling.

Mr Hogarth reported that he had windows smashed by youths and there was no follow up. PCSO Hawkes will investigate this.

Cllr Bayliss asked for more police presence by the bus turning circle on West Common at school drop off and pick up times as there is complete chaos.

Cllr Bayliss also asked what is the strategy for fly-tipping in the middle of the road? PCSO Hawkes replied that a check is first made to see if road is blocked and then Highways at BCC are notified to clear the fly-tipping. A thorough search of the rubbish is carried out for evidence to find the culprit and to see if there is any CCTV evidence. There has been a good success rate of catching offenders.

PUBLIC QUESTION TIME

The Chairman invited questions and comment from the public on matters in relation to which the Council has powers or duties or which affects the Town.

  1. Neil Drapkin asked who was responsible for organising the construction of the bunds on West Common. Cllr Bayliss replied that Bucks CC are responsible for travellers and offered to provide the bunds free of charge to prevent another illegal incursion. GXTC are responsible for the top dressing, grass seeding and future maintenance of the bunds.
  1. A resident from Oak End Way reported that a ‘neck tie’ has been tied round a post for some time now. Cllr Lawson asked the resident if he would remove the tie as in order to keep the town tidy as we must start to do more work ourselves now that funding has been cut at Bucks CC.
  1. Peter Robbins reported that during the Local Plan consultation he asked SBDC on 3rd March about the rateable value and number of houses to be built and still has not had a reply. Cllr Woolveridge responded that SBDC have a duty to develop a robust local plan for the future. Mr Robbins wondered how can we object to the number of houses if we don’t know the volume of development.
  1. Nick Moss asked if the Town Council was going to provide a grant for Christmas lights again. Cllr Brown responded that GX Town Council may be providing a grant on request but GX Traders Association are looking for funding elsewhere as well.
  1. A new resident to the area reported that he has received no response from Bucks CC in to his enquiries asking for school transport for his children. This matter was referred to Bucks County Councillor, Peter Hardy, to discuss with the resident after the meeting.
  1. Mrs Robbins asked why The Camp, although an English Heritage site, has no signs publicising the location. Cllr Woolveridge responded that The Camp is marked on Gerrards Cross footpath map and is well-used by members of the public.
  1. Brian Ruckshaw enquired about the £20,000 spend on Highways and £60,000 spend on Commons? Cllr Brown explained that the Town Council is allowed to spend money where it has the power to do so which includes work on the Commons and on Highways. Expenditure on Highways has increased due to funding Bucks County Council’s devolved highways work in order to maintain standards as the County’s budget has been reduced.
  1. Sue Wilcox reported that along the A40, from the Beaconsfield Roundabout to Gerrards Cross, the amount of litter is appalling, particularly bad outside the Re-Cycling Centre. South Bucks District Cllr Duncan Smithresponded that the District Council spends a significant amount of money on litter clearance. At present this area is scheduled to be litter picked every 2 months and it would be unable to increase this schedule without increasing the precept. Cllr Brown suggested sending photographs to SBDC and a copy to GX Town Council to highlight the problem.

CLOSE OF MEETING

The meeting closed at 9.08pm.