MINUTES
Shalford Parish Council Meeting
on Thursday22ndSeptember 2016 at Peasmarsh Village Hall
1) Apologies: Present: Cllrs. Bill Birkett (Chairman) Mary Phillips (Vice Chairman), Adrian Cansell, Nigel Keane, Mike Parsons, David Thomson and Nick Wiggin.
In Attendance: 2 local residents, SCC Cllr Keith Taylor, Cllr Clive Seabrook (St Martha PC), Nuala Livesey (Parish Clerk).
Apologies: SCC Cllr George Johnson, GBC Cllrs Michael Illman and Matt Furniss.
2) Local Code of Conduct – Disclosure of Interests: Cllr Cansell expressedan interest in agenda item 10 Chilworth Community Association as a member of that organisation.
3) Minutes: Confirmation: The Council considered and confirmed the minutes of the last Council meeting held on the 21stJuly 2016and the Planning Committee meeting held on 26th August. Item 7 of the July meeting was amended to read 16/P/01228 First Shalford Scout Hut, Horsham Road Shalford: removal of condition 5 of planning permission 15/P/01416, object to the removal of the condition. The minutes were then signed by the Chairman.
4)Surrey Rural Housing Enabler: Louise WilliamsSurrey Rural Housing Enabler explained that following the offer of some land that was eligible for use as a rural exception site for affordable housing, the local Housing Needs Survey had been revised and updated to reflect the current situation and demand within the parish. The site offered was located in Tannery Lane Shalford and the Housing Enabler was working with Manor Green Housing Association on possible schemes for the site and requested the support of the parish council for this possible development of 8 properties of 1 and 2 bed properties. The council was pleased to support this initiative and it was agreed that a further report would be prepared for the November meeting if possible. A copy of the revised Housing Needs Survey is available to read on the parish council website.
5)Councillor Report: Cllr Keith Taylor reported thatboth he and SCC Cllr Johnson were trying to support improvements to TillingbourneSchool swimming pool. He confirmed that the school was slightly oversubscribed at the moment but had a good Ofsted report which partly explained it s popularity. The Transport Task Group would shortly be looking at schemes for 2017/18 and that the two schemes agreed for Shalford were moving along..
Cllr Keane asked how places were allocated on school buses. Cllr Taylor explained that places were allocated according to distance to travel being 2 miles for primary and 3 miles for secondary school and by personal circumstance based on eligibility for free school meals. Any spare places were offered for an agreed fee and some schools did arrange their own transport.
GBC Cllr Parsons reported that responses to the Local Plan would take 4-6 weeks to process so it may be difficult to meet the original timescale for submission. The SHMAA was being revisited as a result of Brexit.
6) Crime Report: the Clerk reported on recent crime statistics (attached). Cllr Wiggin asked if was possible to have attendance from the PCSO to clarify if there was a correlation in what appeared to be an increase in crime levels and loss of presence of the police around the area. Cllr Seabrook (St Martha PC) agreed that this was very necessary.
7) Public session:A member of the public reported that the recent volunteer group session in Shalford had approximately 10-12 volunteers and that he had tackled the path from TillingbourneSchool towards Rice’s Corner. More families would be coming out the following week. The Chairman thanked him for his support and reminded the meeting that there would be one more volunteer session this year on Sunday 23rd October
8) Planning: Current Planning Applications (Appendix 1): The Council agreed to support all applications except:
16/P/01842 1 Chantry Cottages Chantry Road Chilworth, construction ofa front porch, single storey /two storey rear extension following demolition of a detached double garage, on the grounds that the size was physically very large and probably over the 40% volume allowed
9) Traffic issues:Cllr Wiggin reported that he would be meeting with Martin Foley from Bramley PC and David Sharpington from SCC to discuss progress on the cycle path to Guildford. It was agreed that the Clerk would get an update from the SCC Highways Officer on the current projects for the parish in particular the Poplar Road crossing point scheme in particular had been on the list for a very long time and to move the mobile VAS project forward. Members would meet to review all the other projects listed for consideration within the parish.
10) Chilworth Community Association: the Chairman recapped on the history of the field and confirmed that the CCA were having difficulty reinvigorating the organisation and use of the field. Cllr Phillips confirmed that the CCA would need to make a formal request to the PC to be released from their sub lease of the field and for the PC to formally agree to this. If this was agreed the field would need to be in good order before release. Cllr Cansell agreed to report this back to the CCA.
11)St Mary’s Church wall: the Chairmanconfirmed that the survey report on the church wall did not make happy reading and that the financial implications of a full restoration of the wall were currently well beyond the means of the council. It was agreed that Cllrs Birkett and Keane would look at the wall with the Clerk and try to identify work that could realistically be carried out. The Clerk confirmed that GBC conservation team would like to see a realistic plan of maintenance work but would not insist on specific work being carried out unless the wall became dangerous. The Clerk would investigate meeting with the surveyors for a clearer explanation of the priorities and scale of work.
12)DunsfoldPark development: Cllr Phillipsexplained that WaverleyBC was moving towards making a decision on this application. The Local Plan was due for submission in November and the site was identified in that plan. The parish councils group had urged the BC to postpone a decision until after the approval of the Local Plan and had asked for the housing number to be reviewed in the same way as GBC were doing following a consultants report challenging the current figure. They had also written again to the Sec of State to request the application to be called in and hoped that Shalford PC would continue to support their efforts financially. Cllr Birkett reiterated that there may be a time in the future when we would need their support so we should consider some financial help at this time.
Resolved: to donate £200 in support of the most recent consultant’s reports.
Proposed: Cllr Birkett, Seconded: Cllr Phillips. Abstained: Cllrs Parsons and Wiggin
13)Finance: Finance Report:
13.1)Report for the year up to the end of August 2016 (Appendix 2): This report provides an updated review of the 2016/17 accounts up to 31st August 2016.Income for July totalled £856.00 being mostly cemetery income. Expenditure for the month was £6534.03 incl VAT being mainly regular monthly outgoings and replacement bus shelter costs. The cash balance at the end of July was £122,798.73 compared with £128,474.76 at the start of the month. In comparing actual with budget, expenditure at 24.6% was comfortably within budget for the year . Income for August totalled £1629.53 being a VAT refund. Expenditure for the month of August was £5687.15 incl VAT being mainly regular monthly outgoings and the cost of the church wall survey. The cash balance at the end of August was £118,741.11 compared with £122,798.73 at the start of the month. In comparing actual with budget, expenditure at 29.7% was comfortably within budget for the year considering the annual payments covered the full financial year.
13.2)Concurrent grant application 2017/18: the Chairman confirmed that the Finance Committee proposed the following applications to GBC for the 2017/18 allocation of grants:
£4850.00 for two new bus shelters for Tilthams Green
£925.00 for two benches for ShalfordCemetery
14)Authorisation of Expenditure:the Council approvethe following additional expenditure:
Bench winter protection treatment Shalford £252.00 +VAT
The Clerk requested permission to source a new laptop according to funds available in the current budget.
15) Shalford Footbridge: the Clerkpresented the latest update from Network Rail which was as follows:
Update – Footbridge by Shalford station
Network Rail’s Wessex Route will deliver a new footbridge by Shalford station by April 2018 at the very latest. The programme for works, which includes design, construction and access arrangements, is currently being finalised and will hopefully enable delivery earlier in 2017.
We are grateful to local residents for their continuing patience and apologise for delays experienced to date and inconvenience caused. The Route will continue to update all stakeholders on any news relating to work on the new footbridge and any questions in the meantime can be directed .
16) Heritage Open Days 2016: Cllr Keane reportedthat despite the poor weather on Saturday a number of people had attended the chapel but that Sunday had been a much better day with more than 30 visitors across the afternoon. Cllr Phillips reported that St Mary’s Church had also suffered from the weather on Saturday but those who did visit found the exhibition interesting and informative. She reminded the meeting that the Tillingbourne trails project would be holding its final event of the year at ShereMuseum on Sunday 16th October and all members of the Council were warmly invited to attend.
17) Councillor vacancies:the Chairman asked that the Council record its thanks to Mark Hallam for his efforts for the parish council over the last two years. However with two current vacancies it was necessary for members to make every effort to fill those vacancies if possible. Anyone interested in the Council should be referred to the Clerk in the first instance to find out more about the role.
18) Correspondence: The Clerk reported on recent correspondence to the Council and letters were dealt with according to any necessary actions.
19) Members reports: Cllr Cansell reported that Cllr Peake (St Martha PC) had requested some help from Shalford PC to distribute leaflets about the forthcoming Gunpowder Mills Annual meeting across Chilworth. Chilworth members agreed to assist.
Cllr Thomson proposed that he would like to organise a clean up day in Chilworth. He agreed to liaise with the Clerk over flyers for the event.
Cllr Keane reported that despite a good clean ups session on 18th September there continued to be litter around Tilthams Green
Confidential item:
20) Clerk’s pension arrangements:the Council agreed that the Clerk should be enrolled in the Surrey County Council Pension Scheme from November onwards in accordance with the requirements of the Pensions Agency. This would require a resolution which would be made at the October meeting.
Meeting closed at 10pm
Signed……………………………………………..Chairman
Date…………………………………………………
Date of Next Meeting: Thursday 20thOctober atShalford Village Hall.