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KEYNSHAM TOWN COUNCIL
Minutes of the Town Council meeting held on Tuesday 19th April 2016 at 7.30 pm at the Community Space, Civic Centre, Market Walk, Keynsham.
PRESENT: Councillors K Baker, D Biddleston, M Blankley, J Cron, T Crouch, C Duckett, C Fricker, L O'Brien (Chair), B Simmons, K Simmons,
A Sinclair, S Waite and Z Wilkins.
IN ATTENDANCE: D Drury – Acting Town Clerk, Councillor C Gerrish.
337. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies were received from Councillors J Douglas and S Edwards
338. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
There were none.
339. NON DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS
There were none.
340. DISPENSATIONS
There were none.
341. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting of the Town Council held on 15th March 2016 are confirmed as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
342. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
There was one member of public that raised issues in respect of parking, speeding and dangerous vehicle movements on Charlton Road.
343. CHAIRMANS ANNOUNCEMENTS
(i) The Chair of Council attended a reception held by the Chairman of B&NES Council on 17th March for Chairs of Town and Parishes at the Roman Baths and then in the Assembly Rooms. It was useful to discuss issues with other attendees.
(ii) A new Town Clerk has been appointed. Her name is Cheryl Scott and she will start with us on Tuesday 3rd May.
(iii) Further to the last Town Council meeting, an agreement has been reached with the Cabinet Member for Community Services that the upstairs lounge area in the Library be named the ‘Libourne Lounge’.
(iv) Further to discussions at the February Town Council meeting, Councillor Zoe Wilkins and Councillor Lisa O’Brien met with Mark Youngman of GWR Customer and Community Improvement Fund who had offered £5000 for the station art project. He confirmed that CCIF would not hold the Town Council to the original specification and was keen for all types of community groups to be involved. Various options were discussed and it was agreed to give him a more detailed response by the end of April which might in turn prompt a little more funding.
(v) Subsequent to this meeting, Councillor Lisa O’Brien met with Steven Webster of St Monica Trust, who was able to offer the Town Council an initial funding grant of £300, but again indicated that there might be further funds in January 2017.
(vi) On 18th March, Councillor O’Brien attended the Keynsham Memorial Park Forum: main issues discussed: clearance of trees from park and from the river, repairs to lighting provision and the future of the café. Regarding the latter; initially BANES had plans to improve provision to include indoor seating and better catering space so they intended to make short term arrangements and let on a longer term once these refurbishments had been completed. However, this has since been put on hold until 2022 and the opportunity to let has now been advertised.
(vii) Councillor O’Brien attended the Keynsham Area Forum on 7th April where a number of our voluntary organisations in Keynsham were showcased. There were two additional documents circulated – one giving information of highways capital and structural programmes for 2016/17 in the Keynsham area and also the connecting communities area forum action plans for 2015/16. Councillor O’Brien has copies available if any Councillor would like to see them.
(viii) Following a decision by the Youth Service Working Party, Councillor O’Brien met with Alison Hayes and Sara Brooks to discuss the terms and conditions of use of the new TimeOut. They confirmed that the Youth Service can have as much use of it as they wish with no charge. On other occasions, mostly during the day, it will be available to any community groups at an hourly rate of £10. This will cover the cost of a BANES employee opening up the premises and closing it at the end of the session, and all utilities (£12 if they wish to use the kitchen and £15 if they wish to use the oven – cover any breakages etc.). The Youth Service will have exclusive use of the music studio and equipment and also their computers.
(ix) Finally, the Keynsham Area West of England Joint Strategic Plan (JSP) working group is meeting this Saturday at The Space between 10am-12.30pm. this session should give an important update on the JSP, specifically as regards the Keynsham area, so if you can attend, please let the Acting Town Clerk know as soon as possible.
344. QUESTIONS ON NOTICE BY MEMBERS
A question from Councillor D Biddleston was received:
“In the year March 2015 to February 2016 there were 276 “violent and sexual offences” committed in the Keynsham area according to the official ‘Police UK’ website. Are Councillors in agreement that the joint category “violent and sexual offences” provides insufficient information and that the category would be better split”?
RESOLVED:
That the Acting Town Clerk writes to the Local Police Authority for more details and figures.
345. MINUTES OF MEETINGS
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting of the Planning and Development Committee – 7th March are received and noted.
346. TRANSPORT ISSUES IN KEYNSHAM
Councillor Anthony Clarke (B&NES Cabinet Member for Transport) and Peter Dawson (Group Manager for Planning, Policy & Transport) addressed the meeting on matters relating to transport and parking in Keynsham.
Councillor Clarke reported that under the new administration a transport strategy was undertaken of which 5 days were allocated to consultants to produce a strategy for Keynsham. This strategy on completion was some what deficient but thanks to Councillor Gerrish and other local Keynsham Councillors improvements were made to this document in order that B&NES Councillors could understand the same. Further works have been undertaken in respect of a transport strategy and in the next 4 – 6 weeks an overarching strategy that covers the whole authority should be released.
On taking on the post of B&NES Cabinet Member for Transport, Councillor Clarke was made aware of a number of significant transport issues in Keynsham and was taken on an extensive tour of the town to see the problem areas (pinch points and bottle necks).
There are some very difficult problems from the Councils point of view in dealing with these problem areas and this includes not having the authority at the moment to do anything about moving traffic offenses as these are entirely police matters. The Government is trying to change this so that the authority may in future be able to deal with issues such as HGV’s mounting the pavements at pinch points and on narrow roads.
A risk analysis needs to be carried out when considering any traffic related problem areas e.g. Charlton Road and this includes looking at the history of accidents or serious injury at the particular pinch point. B&NES budgetary constraints requires an analysis of risk to be undertaken before allocating any public money to be spent on mitigating injury.
A substantial sum of money from the B&NES budget been allocated to implement a number of items that the strategy has highlighted. Highways are looking at potential ways of resolving issues raised by the Council and this will probably be instigated by putting in place a temporary experimental traffic order to see whether changing markings would make a difference. Charlton Road is clearly not a road that could be made one way or closed to heavy goods vehicles as this is an important route for traffic moving around the town.
Peter Dawson (Group Manager for Planning, Policy & Transport) confirmed that there is money allocated for the trial of a one way system through the High Street. Following the publication of the Transport Strategy a number of follow on studies as part of the Placemaking Plan have been produced and he will send the Town Council links so that these may be viewed. These studies included a look at the parking demand, cycle routes into the town and public realm for the High Street. More monies have been earmarked for further follow on studies within the town. A review of the parking needs is to be undertaken as the B&NES offices in Keynsham are now at full occupancy and employee parking numbers have increased in the town.
Councillor Wilkins suggested that when undertaking future surveys regarding parking that B&NES consult the retailers and businesses of Keynsham by contacting the Chamber of Commerce. Also, that Councillor Clarke may wish to attend a future Chamber meeting.
The issue of the use of the loading bay on The Centre was raised and it was confirmed that next month new signage would be in place and there would be a significant enforcement campaign undertaken to resolve the issue. The Police have also been asked to continue this enforcement once the campaign ends.
Issues relating to the cost of parking permits and parking locations granted by the permits (e.g. use of all car parks), the closed lower level of the multi storey, no parking availability for users of the Leisure Centre and the fact the top of the multi-storey is empty at weekends probably due to poor signage for the car park were raised and these matters will be taken on board and reported back to Council. Suggestions of car pooling/car sharing and a dedicated bus service for B&NES workers were made as possibilities of relieving some of the parking issues.
Problems that have arisen on Park Road due to the construction of The Meadows development including increased vehicle movements and driving on the pavement due to congestion were mentioned. It was reported that the Cabinet are also aware of the problems that have arisen regarding the developers failure to deal the relief/emergency assess route and in future Major Projects and Highways will ensure that agreements signed by developers are carried out.
Councillor Clarke will take on the issue of bollards on Park Road together with the on street parking issues reported at the meeting..
Once the one way flow scheme for the High Street is put into a programme the Town Council will be consulted on this, prior to the trial being implemented. No date could be given for when this would happen and Councillor Clarke said that he was aware that better time lines need to be available.
347. KEYNSHAM CEMETERY – DURLEY HILL ROMAN BUILDING REPORT
Bryn Walters and Robin Holley (The Association for Roman Archaeology) attended the meeting and gave a presentation on the above topic. This was very informative and explained the significance of the Durley Hill in comparison to other major Roman discoveries in other parts of the country. Mr Walters reported that the Durley Hill site could be one of the most important findings in Britain.
The proposal to carry out further investigations to gain more accurate details of the Roman site at the Cemetery was explained and this includes:-
· Obtaining planning permission to undertaken the digging of several investigatory trenches.
· The removal (with permission) of part of the listed Victorian curtilage wall that spans part of the newly located Roman building
· Removal of cut timbers, building materials and standing trees at the base of the embankment near to the Victorian wall site. It was suggested that TPO’s be put on two significant trees (a red cedar and a yew) in this location.
· Archaeological digs in the specified location be undertaken to record the Roman findings. These then to be re-buried, the area levelled and historic structure then marked out visibly on the grass to record the exact location and extent. Public information display boards to be erected detailing the findings.
· The programme will be as follows:-
2016 – Monies allocated for the geophysical study of the field to the south of the A4175 (adjacent to the Cemetery).
2017 – small trench benches in the embankment in the Cemetery.
Mr Walters will put this information into a paper for the Council so that time is allowed for obtaining any permission required for the excavations.
Councillor O’Brien thanked the speakers and the support of the Council was expressed.
348. YOUTH COUNCIL
Andy Wait gave a report on behalf of the Youth Council as follows:-
· Members of KeynshamNow attended the ‘Bath Pride Award’ ceremony announced at Bath Race course on 4th April and are pleased to announce that they were received a ‘Highly Commended’ award certificate. A press release will be issued in respect of this and will include issues about youth and politics.
· At the May meeting of KeynshamNow Megan Morris (Deputy Head of St.Keyna School) will be presenting details of the schools anti bullying policy and programme. The school have just had an Ofsted inspection which has resulted in the school be classed as good with outstanding features.
· KeynshamNow have been invited by the Euro Debate organisers to give presentations one for and one against the exit from the EU. To date only two young people have expressed an interest and these are both for an exit.
349. SCHEDULE OF EXPENDITURE – MONTH 12 (March 2016)
RESOLVED:
That the attached Schedule of Expenditure is approved.
350. BANK RECONCILIATION – MONTH 12 (March 2016)
RESOLVED:
That the attached Bank Reconciliation is received and noted.
351. PETTY CASH EXPENDITURE – MONTH 12 (March 2016)
RESOLVED:
That the attached Petty Cash Expenditure sheet is approved.