Parish Council
PC Minutes June 14
KING’S SOMBORNE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting
held in the Village Hall
commencing at 7.00pm on Monday 2 June 2014
Present: Cllr R Harwood (Chairman)
Cllr A Brock
Cllr J Evans
Cllr F Fahy
Cllr R Jackson
Cllr R Lane
Cllr J Werrett
Cllr S Whitehead
In Attendance: Mr P J Storey (Clerk to King’s Somborne Parish Council)
Public Session
The Open Spaces Warden and eleven m embers of the public were present for part of the meeting.
Members of the public expressed concern and raised various questions on the MUGA installation and its management and these, together with a written comment received, were addressed in open forum. Points raised included the life expectancy of the facility (25 years notional), financing its maintenance (from Parish Council revenues), cost and sources of funding (£56.5k with all but £9k coming from external sources), why it was being built (response to various consultations and Parish Plan update questionnaires), management of the facility (open to all except for certain block bookings agreed with organised sport and school contacts), concern at the flood risk (all-weather surface will be porous), hire costs (none), and noise impact (hopefully low). The MUGA would provide for tennis, 5-a-side football and basketball, as well as a general play area and would serve as a valuable asset to the community.
Some discussion took place on any plans to remove the pumping facility in Old Vicarage Lane and the Clerk explained that frequent monitoring showed a continuing need for the pumps given the local high ground water levels. Water samples taken by Southern Water indicated low levels of bacterial presence well within current bathing water limits. Southern Water had invested £100k in surveying the King’s Somborne sewage system which had been found generally to be in good structural condition and where major leaks occurred these were in the joints and in customers’ laterals. Nearly 6 km of sewer had been surveyed and significant infiltration found at 81 sites. A further 63 manholes had been surveyed with ten having infiltration. Further survey work would be undertaken as the groundwater levels fell and a repair programme would be scheduled in due course.
84. Apologies for Absence
84.1 Apologies received from Cllrs Curtis and Reeves.
85. Chairman’s announcements and Councillors’ questions
85.1 None.
86. To approve the Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 12 May 2014
86.1 Proposed Cllr Brock, Seconded Cllr Evans, RESOLVED unanimously with minor amendment that the minutes of the meeting held on 12 May 2014 be accepted as a true record.
87. To consider any Matters Arising from those Minutes
87.1 Members had considered a letter from a resident who had attended the last meeting commenting that the minutes did not fully reflect the concerns raised and points made regarding the MUGA but no further amendment was thought necessary.
87.2 Para 70.1 Biodiversity site. Cllr Jackson confirmed he would mark out the borders of the biodiversity site in due course.
Action: Cllr Jackson
87.3 Para 70.2 Eldon Road 30mph and other restriction signs. C/Cllr Gibson would follow up on the 30mph speed restriction sign locations in Eldon Road and at the Strawberry Lane junction. He would also seek installation of No HGV signs in diagrammatic form which foreign drivers could more readily understand at the entrances to Old Vicarage Lane and at the top of Cow Drove Hill.
87.4 Para 80.1 Direction signage. It was decided not to relocate the direction signage at the slip road entrance to the Village Hall/recreation ground to the two way entrance by the recycling area.
87.5 Para 82.1 Church tree. The Clerk would seek an opinion from the Test Valley Borough Council tree officer on the stability of the large tree in the Churchyard adjacent to the school play area.
Action: Clerk
88. Declarations of Interest and requests for Dispensations
88.1 None declared or sought.
89. To receive the minutes of the Planning Committee
89.1 The minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 12 May 2014 had been circulated with the agenda papers.
89.2 Proposed Cllr Lane, Seconded Cllr Evans, RESOLVED unanimously that the minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 12 May 2014 be received and accepted.
90. To consider Correspondence Received and determine any action required
90.1 The Clerk drew members’ attention to a TVBC initiative called Recycling Stars which was a new campaign to encourage residents to recycle more waste. It was thought appropriate for the Parish Council to sign up its support and the Clerk would action accordingly. More information was available on www.testvalley.gov.uk/recyclingstars
Action: Clerk
90.2 HCC would cease to fund accredited community safety officers from the end of the year and was inviting councils to join together to fund an officer between them. However, in the first instance, it was thought more appropriate to investigate the services available from TVBC which the Clerk would follow up.
Action: Clerk
91. To receive Councillors’ Reports
91.1 Cllr Lane reported on the planning meeting which had preceded this meeting.
91.2 Cllr Evans was pleased to report that a bid had now been submitted to the British Heart Foundation for funding the defibrillator equipment with the local responders paying for the storage box.
91.3 Cllr Harwood reported that the Cricket Club had now levelled the uneven ground in the outfield which in turn would make it easier to maintain. He also commented on the amount of dog mess left by irresponsible owners on the rec and at this point other members expressed concern at litter in general and broken glass in particular. The Clerk would write an article for The Gauntlet.
Action: Clerk
92. To receive the RFO’s Report and Budget Monitoring
92.1 A budget monitoring report had been circulated with the agenda papers and was noted.
C/Cllr Gibson arrived at this point and with general agreement the Chairman invited him to report. C/Cllr Gibson outlined the impact of the transport budget cuts especially on rural bus services and explained that a new transport model was being created relying more on taxis and hybrid vehicles. He urged all present to contact him with their perception of the need for rural transport. The Amey roads maintenance contract was due for renewal and he was looking at an alternative method of dealing with road potholes more effectively. There was also discussion on the broadband roll out programme which he would research in greater detail for King’s Somborne and come back with details in due course. In the meantime, his understanding was that all users who qualified would be upgraded to 24 megabits.
93. Payment of Accounts
93.1 Proposed Cllr Werrett, Seconded Cllr Lane, RESOLVED unanimously that the following accounts for May 2014 be approved for payment:
To For Net VAT Gross Chq/Internet
Mr P Storey Salary/expenses 614.05 614.05 Int
HMRC Tax/NIC 383.05 383.05 Int
BPC Shared costs 22.00 22.00 Int
Mr M Rebbeck Grounds maint 660.50 660.50 Int
Weed Control KS rec 263.68 52.74 316.42 Int
KSVH Room hire 24.00 24.00 Int
Totals 1967.28 52.74 2020.02
94. Grant Application
94.1 An application had been made by Victim Support for a grant of £50 to help meet their costs in training and supporting volunteers. Help had been provided to 16 local residents in the past year.
94.2 Proposed Cllr Lane, Seconded Cllr Whitehead, RESOLVED with four votes for, one against and three abstentions, that a grant of £50 be made to Victim Support to assist them in meeting their on-going expenses.
95. MUGA equipment storage facility
95.1 It was agreed that a facility would likely be needed to store dedicated sports equipment when the MUGA was installed and Cllrs Harwood, Curtis and Fahy would review this in due course.
Action: Cllrs Harwood, Curtis and Fahy
96. Parish Development Working Group update
96.1 Nothing to report.
97. Clerk’s monthly report
97.1 The Clerk updated members on the possible costs of transferring the recreation ground title from Fields in Trust which amounted to some £1850 with the Scouts’ lease transfer and onward transfer to the Village hall still to be estimated.
97.2 TVBC had launched a Love Where You Live litter campaign which would target roadside litter. As part of the campaign, car litter bags had been provided and the Clerk had circulated these to the two shops in the Village and would obtain more for The Crown and other possible locations.
Action: Clerk
97.3 The streetlamp at the top end of the Village Hall slip road had been replaced following recent storm damage.
97.4 The Environment Agency had cut back half the reed growth in The Borne and a full cut would occur in October/November.
97.5 Fields in Trust were still awaiting completed paperwork from all landowners across whose land SSE planned to bury the overhead electricity supply cables and the Clerk had a meeting planned for later in the month with the surveyors involved to hasten action.
Action: Clerk
97.6 A team comprising Cllrs Harwood, Fahy and Jackson and spouses would enter the Pub Quiz Night on 24 June as part of the ‘Go Orange’ Myeloma Awareness Week.
98. Date, time and place of next meeting
98.1 The next meeting would be on Monday 7 July 2014 at 7.00pm in the Village Hall, Romsey Road, King’s Somborne.
Action: All
There being no further business, the Chairman closed the meeting at 8.40pm