CHART SUTTON PARISH COUNCIL

MINUTES OF THE MEETING

HELD ON MONDAY 10th APRIL 2006

AT SUTTON VALENCE PREPARATORY SCHOOL

PRESENT :- Mrs A Rollinson in the Chair, Mrs S Clayton, Messrs A Brooke, M FitzGerald (from 7.45pm), P Forknall, A Mercer, S Waring and Mr R T Avery, Clerk.

One parishioner was present throughout. PC Russell visited during the course of the evening.

1 / PARISHIONERS QUESTION TIME
The member of the public asked no questions. PC Russell reported what amounted to a minor crime wave in the parish during recent weeks, mainly in the lower area of the parish. These were mostly thefts of plant from building sites and garden ornaments, etc., although one elderly resident did suffer theft from bogus officials. PC Russell and colleagues had undertaken some speed checks in an adjoining parish and she wants to carry out a similar exercise in the parish soon. She advised that she is still investigating the matter of a local base and has not discounted using Chart Sutton Village Hall.
2 /

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

All Members were present.
3.1 /

DECLARATIONS OF PERSONAL INTEREST

MF declared his interest in items 7.2.3 and 11.4, a neighbouring property and being recipient of one of the cheques respectively. AR declared her interest in item 12.1.1 as she was one of Councillors seeking reappointment to MBC Standards Committee. SW declared his interest in item 12.1.2, as his business normally undertook the first cut of the churchyard grass.
3.2 /

POSSIBLE DISCLOSURE OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

There were no items that needed to be dealt with in private session.
4 / MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON 13th MARCH 2006
SC proposed, seconded by SW, “that the Minutes as drafted by the Clerk be approved as a correct record.” This was Agreed and the Chairman signed off the official copy.
5 / MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
5.1 /

Speed Watch – Item 5.2 In March

AR reported that she had held informal discussions with the Chair and Clerk of Boughton Monchelsea PC and that they had expressed frustration with the TRAMP initiative. It was suggested that Loose, Boughton and Chart Sutton, being the area covered by the same Neighbourhood Policewomen and Community Warden, should revert to the original suggestion of forming their own Speed Watch group. Members asked the Clerk to try to set up a meeting of representatives to include Sutton Valence PC who had also expressed interest in joining a consortium.
5.2 / Rural Exception Affordable Housing Sites – Social Homebuy – Item 5.3 in March
Members welcomed the news that this matter appears to have been concluded by a change of heart of Government, as announced in the House of Lords on 22nd March. The covering letter from the Rural Housing Trust asked for donations to help cover their costs and MF therefore proposed, seconded by SC “that the Council should send £50 by way of a Section 137 payment, as Chart Sutton will benefit from the work of RHT and they wanted to support similar developments elsewhere”. This was Agreed with SW and SC subsequently signing cheque number 100357.
6 / PARISH PLAN
The Village Design Statement group had yet to meet. However, Members were satisfied that they already had three major projects underway and that action on other recommendations could be deferred for the time being.
7 / TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING
7.1 / Applications received and recommendations of the Planning Group for ratification
No new planning consultations had been received since the last Council Meeting.
7.2 / Other Planning Matters
Members noted the following:-
7.2.1 / Rodgrove, Plough Wents Road – MA/06/0119
That the outline application for the erection of a three bedroom detached house with integral garage had been referred to MBC Planning Committee, as the recommendation of Officers was different from that of the Parish Council, largely because Highways felt the revised plans had addressed their concerns about highway safety, the issue that had caused the original application to be refused.
7.2.2 / Lested Farm, Plough Wents Road – MA/06/ 0158
That planning permission had been given for a single storey building for staff facilities for harvest workers.
7.2.3 / 4 Laxton Drive – MA/06/0445
That an application had been made for a certificate of lawfulness for a proposed development of a conservatory.
7.3 /

Consultation – Maidstone Local Development Framework

Copies of the Preferred Options Papers for the Affordable Housing DPD and the Open Space DPD that MBC have submitted to the Secretary of State had been sent to us for consultation. These had been perused by AR and she had found both policies sound, although she felt that the Affordable Houses paper needed to better reflect the recently changed Government policy on rural exception sites (see 5.2 above). Members were happy for her to respond along these lines.
8 /

HIGHWAY MATTERS

8.1 /

Public Footpaths – Registering “new” Rights of Way

AM drew the attention of Council to an article by the Open Spaces Society in the March edition of Local Council Review concerning the need to take action in respect of registering paths that had been in common use. After some discussion, it was proposed by MF, seconded by AM, “that the Council should investigate through KCC the possibility of registering the paths that run from Amber Lane to Chart Hill Road behind Orchard Bank and the one from Cobfields to Plough Wents Road”. This was Agreed.
8.2 /

Proposed Meeting with Highways Liaison Officers

Members noted that our Liaison Officer has changed, but that we are still waiting to have a meeting.
9 / RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT MATTERS
9.1 / Pavilion at the Memorial Playing Field
It was noted that the Working Party were due to have their first meeting on Tuesday 11th April.
10 /

MATTERS OF REPORT

10.1 / County and Borough Councillors’ Reports
Cllr Hotson was not present. Cllr FitzGerald had been on leave and needed to get back up to speed. However, he drew Council’s attention to an inevitable change of leadership at MBC after the forthcoming elections for one third of the Council. The current Council Leader and the leader of the Labour Group of councillors were not seeking re-election and the result of the election is likely to be very close.
10.2 / Chairman’s Report
AR reported on the MBC Cabinet Roadshow at Boughton Monchelsea, which she thought to be a good meeting overall. However, she did think that some comments made by a Cabinet Member about the traveller community were unfortunate, possibly offensive.
10.3 /

Individual Councillors Reports

SW reported on the recent Village Hall AGM. Mr Clayton had been elected Chairman of the Committee. There had also been some discussion about revising the Hall’s Constitution and although the Committee still wished to do so, they realised that they probably needed technical guidance before proceeding.
10.4 / Clerk’s Reports
10.4.1 /

Annual Parish Meeting – Thursday 20th April

Members were disappointed to learn that few village organisations had currently indicated their intention to present reports and that there was a possibility of a poor attendance. However, they agreed that the Agenda for the evening should follow the format of previous years and approved the Annual Report drafted by the Clerk.

11 / FINANCE
11.1 / Budget Monitoring and Reports
The monitoring report to 31st March was noted. Members also acknowledged that they should consider allocating some of the funds building up on General Reserve to specific future projects, such as the Pavilion Project, Village Design Statement, Footway Works, as these initiatives gathered speed.
11.2 /

Income received since the last meeting

AR perused the records and was satisfied that anticipated income for March had been received and that the balances in hand agreed with the Clerk’s records. Actual payments received during the period were:-
HSBC – Interest on Current Account – March / £0.06
HSBC – Interest on Reserve Account – March / £33.68
11.3 /

Confirmation of payments already made

It was proposed by SW, seconded by AB, “that this payment should be ratified”. This was Agreed.
Mr R T Avery – Net salary for March / £329.64
11.4 / Cheques for signature
It was proposed by AM, seconded by SW, that the Council should approve the following payments, some relating to 2005/06 and some to the new financial year. This was Agreed and the cheques were signed by SW and SC.
100349 – Maidstone Borough Council – Litter-picking – March 2006 / £79.10
100350 – Inland Revenue – PAYE – January/March 2006 / £263.07
100351 – Mr R T Avery – Expenses and Petty Cash – March 2006 / £44.79
100352 – Mr K Paramor – Neighbourhood Watch expenses / £28.98
100353 – Mr M FitzGerald – Village News – April edition / £175.00
100354 – Seeboard Energy Limited – Electricity for Playing Field pavilion / £26.61
100355 – EDF Energy Contracting Ltd – Streetlighting Maintenance 2006/07 / £37.41
11.5 / Annual Audit
Members noted that we have been served with the date for submitting our Annual Return to the Audit Commission and that the timetable left little room for manoeuvre. However, Brenda James was available to conduct the “internal audit” and it is hoped to have the Annual Return ready for approval by Councillors at the meeting on 8th May.
12 / CORRESPONDENCE
12.1 / Received and requiring action: -
12.1.1 / MBC Standards Committee – Appointment of Parish Representatives
Having declared a prejudicial interest, AR left the room with MF taking the Chair. He described the role of the Standards Committee and, having assured Members of the valuable part played by the parish council representatives, proposed “that Cllrs Rollinson and Younger of Lenham should be recommended for reappointment”. This was seconded by SC and Agreed. AR was then invited to return and resume the Chair.
12.1.2 / St Michaels Church
The annual request for assistance with the cost of the first mowing of the grass in the churchyard had been received and, after discussion, MF proposed, seconded by AM, that we should make a grant of £300. This was Agreed with SW and SC signing cheque number 100356.
12.1.3 / The Samaritans – Invitation to their AGM
Members decided not to be represented at this event.
12.1.4 / Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005
Members noted that some provisions of the Act, relating to fixed penalty notices for littering and dog control orders, came in to force on 6th April. However, they decided to defer taking any immediate action as they anticipated receiving further guidance from either, or both, MBC and DEFRA in due course.
12.1.5 /

Consultation on the South East Plan

The papers had just been received and copies of the Executive Summary were issued. Members agreed that they would consider this consultation at the May Meeting in order to meet the response deadline of 23rd June.
12.2 /

Received since last Meeting and which has been copied to members for information purposes: -

12.2.1 / KAPC – Parish News – No 315
12.2.2 / Action with Communities in Rural Kent – Rural News – No 73
12.2.3 / Action with Communities in Rural Kent – Oast to Coast magazine – Spring 2006 – copy circulating
12.2.4 / Kent Police – Letter welcoming the Home Office decision to allow the Kent Force to continue to standalone
12.2.5 / KCC – Local Board – Notice of the Meeting scheduled for 12th April
12.2.6 / CPRE – Countryside Voice magazine – Spring 2006 – copy circulating
12.2.7 /

MBC – Advice that the Statement of Community Involvement in the Development Plan had been adopted

12.2.8 /

Medway Valley Community Partnership – Kingfisher newsletter – issue 1

12.3 /

The following items of correspondence received since the last Meeting were noted: -

12.3.1 / MBC – Refuse and Recycling Consultation Questionnaire
12.3.2 / Kenward Trust – Letter of thanks for donation agreed last month
12.3.3 / MBC – Forward Plan of Key Decisions – 1/4/06 to 31/7/06
12.3.4 /

Clerks and Councils Direct magazine – March 2006

12.3.5 / Local Works – Campaign for Sustainable Communities – Further circular and campaign broadsheet
13 / DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next Council Meeting, the Annual Meeting, is on Monday 8th May 2006 at the School House, Sutton Valence Preparatory School. Before that, the Annual Parish Meeting will be on Thursday 20th April in the Village Hall.
14 / OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST
The following matters were drawn to the attention of the meeting:
a) Large vans regularly parking adjacent to the bus stop at the Village Green, causing loss of vision for vehicles emerging from the side turnings and difficulty, on occasions, for buses using the stop.
b) The need for minor repairs to the post and chain fence at the Village Green.
c) The ongoing problem of a vehicle being parked on the verge at Marshalls Corner, causing not only damage to the ground but also loss of vision for approaching traffic.
d) Reports that syringes and other paraphernalia had been seen at the Playing Field – this had been reported to the Community Warden.
e) The Scouts’ charity walk from the Village Hall on 1st May.
f) The Scouts’ intention to undertake a village litterpick in the early evening of Monday 5th June.

CSPC – Minutes of Meeting of 10/4/2006

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