MINUTES OF THE KEYWORTH ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD IN THE CENTENARY LOUNGE ON MONDAY, 28 APRIL 2008 AT 7.30 PM
PRESENT: Chairman: Cllr Kemmer
Parish Councillors: Mrs Abbey, Barton, Mrs Boote, (Borough/Parish)
Mrs Chmara, Edwards, Erwin, Grant, Grice, Howard,
Heeley, Mrs Price, Roos.
Other Councillors: Sam Boote (Borough); John Cottee (Borough/County).
IN ATTENDANCE: Mr Grocock (Clerk); Mrs Orr (Secretary).
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC: 27 (Including Mr Trevor Dobson, Village Plan)
1 Chairman’s Welcome/Apologies
Cllr Kemmer welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies were received from Cllrs Evans, Kemp and Mrs Oakley. Apologies were also received from former Parish Council Chairman, Simon Meadows, and Borough/County Cllr Cottee [late arrival].
2 Minutes
The minutes of the meeting held on 12.3.07 were APPROVED and signed by the Chairman as a true record.
3 Chairman’s Report on Parish Council Activities during the previous 12 months.
Cllr Kemmer reported that he had been Chair of Keyworth Parish Council since May last year – it had been an interesting year, if a bit fraught at times, but there were a few highlights:
o Christmas lights which looked great around the village, but involved a lot of hard work by Cllr Mrs Janice Price and Alan Wilkins. The brackets will be used this summer for hanging baskets.
o The Village Hall refurbishments, both in the hall itself and the Centenary Lounge, which together make this a much nicer place and excellent for family events. Thanks to Cllr Grice for leading this.
o The heritage plaque which was unveiled last Saturday is a great way to celebrate Keyworth and its history. Lots of people have come up to me to say how good it is. Many thanks to Cllr Linda Abbey for steering this through.
o The Village Plan project which was initiated by the Council and a team of Councillors who set up a display at the last Keyworth Show, collected your feedback and organized a very successful public meeting on 17 September 2007. Trevor Dobson will be updating us on this in a few moments.
o Apart from these very visible things, there has been lots of other work in the background including:
o Planning – the work involved in screening planning applications never stops, and takes a great deal of time for Cllr Linda Abbey and her team. Thanks to them for their hard work.
o The Burial Ground constantly needs attention, both to keep it attractive and plan developments. Cllr Tim Heeley and his team are currently looking at several developments including a children’s area, a car park and a plan to develop the field below the current ground.
o Community Liaison activities including the perennial problem of parking which I know is a great concern to a lot of residents, but which offers no simple solutions. Cllr Tim Heeley has been leading the work on this and is happy to answer your questions.
o A big job this year has been the setting up of a new lease with the Keyworth Playing Fields Association to cover the ground and buildings which they oversee. This was a requirement of the Lawn Tennis Association before they would get a grant for floodlights to our tennis club. The money has now been obtained.
o While mentioning the KPFA, could I take this opportunity to thank them and the Platt Lane Joint Management Committee for the sterling job they do to assist sport and sports people in the village. Could I also thank Derek Oakley who has recently retired as KPFA chairman after many years in the post. I welcome his successor John Dring.
o All the above work and lots more is done by a team of voluntary workers, the 17 Councillors, and team of paid staff, led by the Parish Clerk, Neil Grocock. Could I thank them all on your behalf for their hard work during this year.
4 Village Plan update by Trevor Dobson, chair of steering committee
o Mr Dobson spoke of the processes that had taken place so far with the Village Plan.
o Last September, a meeting took place in the Village Hall with residents and Parish Councillors to launch a Village Plan.
o At this meeting, almost everyone supported the idea of a plan.
o The idea is to enquire what residents think is good about Keyworth and what could be done in the way of improvements.
o A steering group was formed with seven members including Cllr Kemmer.
o The themes of the Plan – ask for community opinions on: Housing and Planning; Business and Commerce; Environment; Leisure; Health and Welfare; Transport and Young People (11-18 year olds).
o A survey will be distributed around the village, with the Keyworth News; this to be collected by volunteers on 10 May – could be left outside door in the resealable plastic bag. Volunteers for collectors are still required.
o Prior to the 10 May, posters will be put around the village reminding people that these will be collected. If there is more than one person in a household who wishes to fill in a form, this can be done on-line or an extra form may be obtained from the Parish office.
o A prize draw will take place at the Keyworth Show on 12 July 2008. If people want to enter the prize draw they must put their names on the form – the names would only be used for this purpose – 1st prize - £100; 2nd prize - £50; 3rd prize £25.
o All collected data would be entered into a programme called ‘ Survey Monkey’ and analysed.
o There is a separate questionnaire for Business and Commerce: about 200 would be distributed asking businesses to look at issues which would be of help and support to them.
o All of this costs money – The Notts Rural Community Council donated some £3,000, and Notts County Council and Rushcliffe Borough Council have also donated.
o The idea is to get the plan to the Parish Council by January 2009.
o Cllr Kemmer commented that many other villages and towns have done this, and things have happened in those areas. He stressed the importance of taking time to complete the questionnaires. He thanked Mr Dobson for his report
5 Britain in Bloom
o Cllr David Roos reported that Keyworth has entered the Britain in Bloom competition for the first time this year. Britain in Bloom is an environmental campaign run by the Royal Horticultural Society. This is divided into regional competitions and we fall into the East Midlands in Bloom region.
o The entrants are visited in July by judges who assess the appearance of the village in five areas – floral displays, permanent landscaping, sustainable development, local environmental quality and public awareness.
o The Parish Council, through the Amenities advisory committee, is sponsoring floral displays in the form of hanging baskets for stores within Keyworth. The brackets used at Christmas for decorated Christmas trees will be used for the hanging baskets. Shop owners have been approached, and asked for a small contribution; the store can have a hanging basket which will be maintained during summer. To date, seventy hanging baskets are going to be distributed within the village.
o The Keyworth Nature Reserve has also committed to take part in the project, and will run a “picture and poem” competition. The competition will be launched during the Open Day planned for 18 May. The concept is to take a picture in the Meadow and write a poem to accompany the picture. The winners will be announced at the Keyworth Show. We hope to impress the judges with the Nature Reserve as there is a Countryside Companions award for the best wildflower and conservation area.
o A “best residential garden” competition has also been launched. The aim is for residents with gardens that enhance the street scene to enter the competition. The competition has been published in the Keyworth News and on the Parish Council website. Entries have, however, been limited.
o Judging of the entered gardens will be in June and the best gardens will be added to the judging route for the village. The judges can then enter these gardens into a bigger competition where they compete for the Frank Constable Best Residential Garden award.
o Local businesses have also been approached to improve the appearance of the surrounding areas. This has so far had limited success.
o I am also trying to get local organisations to “adopt” an entrance to the village. The entrance, underneath the village name, will be planted with flowers and maintained by the local organisation. The two key entrances, Plumtree and Bunny Lane, will be the priorities. This will be further discussed at a meeting to be held on 30 April at 7pm in the Centenary Lounge.
o The meeting will also elect officials to allow the group to apply for external funding for improving the appearance of the village.
o It is hoped that judging can be aligned with the Keyworth Show on 12 July. This will enable the judges to see the excellent displays and community involvement in the horticultural tent.
o This year will be a “gap” analysis to understand the strengths and opportunities within the village and allow us to plan for future success. This includes applying for and making appropriate use of external funding to improve the appearance of Keyworth for all residents.
o At this point, Borough Cllr Sam Boote presented Cllr Roos with a donation cheque from the Borough Council Community Support Group.
6 Questions from Residents
o Chris Antcliffe spoke of his concerns regarding disabled parking in and around Keyworth.
o Cllr Kemmer said that this was talked about at last year’s APM meeting – there are a few spaces by the health centre, but this is not enough.
o Mr Antcliffe commented that it was difficult for disabled people to walk very far to the shops; disabled parking spaces were required near the chemist or bank.
o A resident suggested a disabled bay outside the Post Office on Main Street would be ideal or perhaps outside the Co-op, so that people would then not park on the double yellow lines.
o Borough Cllr Sam Boote suggested that a disabled parking bay outside the Co-op was not to be recommended. Illegal parking in the village will be addressed by the CPE/ Borough Council as from 12 May and there will be parking tickets given for any illegal parking.
o Cllr Kemmer asked Mr Ancliffe to write a letter to him at the Parish Council office and he will look into the problem.
o Mr Dobson commented that, in the Square, there were insufficient markings on one side and the single yellow line was not prominent.
o Cllr Heeley would be making a note of this and will follow it up.
o Cllr Barton thought that re-routing the buses could be an answer.
o Re-routing was discussed but it was felt that this could not be done as it would mean making major road markings, etc.
o Deborah Babot asked ‘Is anything being done about permit parking outside the townhouses on Brookview Drive?’
o Cllr Heeley explained that the Borough Council is reviewing car parking in the village; before any solution is reached, they would have to consult residents, shoppers and workers.
o Cllr Kemmer said that residents were inconvenienced by workers parking in the village.
o Cllr Sam Boote reported that he had taken up the question of residents’ parking areas with Notts County Council Highways. It has taken one year checking over parking regulations in the whole of the County. A sub-committee is to consider off-street parking, the business of trying to come up with a policy which is going to the Cabinet on 3 June.
o A resident spoke about limited parking discs which were used in North Yorkshire.
o Cllr Mrs Abbey stated that she had consulted the Borough Council about car parking and using universal time-limited discs.
o Cllr Mrs Boote stated that she was in favour of disc parking but mentioned that the Borough Council were not in favour.
o Cllr Edwards mentioned his concern regarding “the disgraceful state of the road approaching the new health centre”.
o A resident enquired about a poster seen in the library regarding the ‘Notts Sure Start’ and wondered whether there was to be a special building to accommodate this project.
o Cllr Mrs Boote informed her that there had been meetings so far, a group had been set up looking what can be done for the children in the village – there was no special building for planned for this.
o Chris Antcliffe enquired whether there had been any road accidents or fatalities in the village.
o Cllr Barton explained that he had previously done a survey of the traffic at ‘Costcutter Corner’ and logged all traffic that used that corner – one vehicle every seven seconds.
o County Cllr Cottee had taken this up with Notts. County Council – one good thing that came out of this was a crossing for the school children.
o Cllr Mrs Abbey enquired whether anything had been done about the dangerous stony path on Bunny Lane.
o County Cllr Cottee explained that the person concerned had received a letter from Notts. County Council explaining that if any accident happened, they would have to take full responsibility.
o Cllr Mrs Abbey said that this was an obstruction of the highway and did they realise what their responsibilities were?
o Cllr Grice said that he had mentioned this to the police.
o Cllr Heeley enquired of the visitors whether they thought that the Parish Council was doing enough for them.