WEST CHILTINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

 

A meeting of West Chiltington Parish Council was held at 7.30 pm on Tuesday 13th March 2007 in the Parish Office at the Reading Room, Church Street, West Chiltington.

 

Present: Harvie Steele (Chairman), Dennis Tyler (Vice-Chairmen), Michael Jackson, Peter Knowles, Ken Line, Neil Longson, Celia Rayner, Paul Royce, Estelle Warriner and Roger Watts.

 

 

Also in attendance: Tony Thomas (Clerk), Pat Arculus (County Councillor), 5 members of the public

 

The Chairman opened the meeting and welcomed everyone.

 

 

1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

 

Apologies received from Isabel Butcher, Pietro di Marino and Jonathan Trees.

 

 

2. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

 

It was proposed by Dennis Tyler, seconded by Celia Rayner and resolved to approve the minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on 9th January 2007 as a correct record of the meeting. The Chairman signed the minutes.

 

 

3. MATTERS ARISING

 

a)      Grass Cutting Contract Quotation from Howards Garden & Leisure – the members discussed the contract and agreed the company had performed well over previous years and authorised the Clerk to accept the quotation.

 

b)      Annual Parish Meeting - has been arranged for Tuesday 17th April 2007 to be held at the Community School, East Street at 7.00 pm. The Clerk would advertise the meeting in the Newsletter and the County Times to improve the public attendance.

 

c)      The Cricket Club – are planning to build a patio in front of the sports pavilion and fence part of the stream at their expense if the PC will waive the rent for 1 year (£464).            

 

The Chairman adjourned the meeting to allow David Hardisty, Chairman of the Cricket Club, to address the meeting. He explained the plans and answered members questions on the type and colour of the patio slabs and the type of fence and said the overall cost of £6,144 would be met by the Cricket Club and asked if the years rent of £464 could be waived as a contribution from the parish council. The Chairman reconvened the meeting to allow members to consider the proposal.

 

The members gave their approval to the plan and agreed unanimously to the request to forgo 1 years rent.

 

 

 

d)      Parish Council Elections to be held on Thursday 3rd May 2007 - four prospective candidates were in attendance Amanda Apps, Phillip Circus, Simon Booth and Ruth Simmonds.

 

e)      Car Park, Haglands Lane – continuing problems of too many wishing to park leading to congestion at times. The Clerk was to arrange to paint lines for the spaces to make best use of the space and arrows at the entrance and exit to control the flow through the car park in one direction.

 

f)        Housing Needs Survey – Action in Rural Sussex in conjunction with Defra have offered to carry out a survey of the housing needs of the Parish to fulfil the requirement under Policy CP5 that “all dwellings in the Parish must meet local needs”. There is no cost to the Parish Council for the survey. The members discussed the survey and the proposed covering letter and agreed that parts of the survey were not relevant to the parish and that the format had to be changed. Michael Jackson said Horsham District Council would be issuing guidance and it was agreed to hold any further discussion until that was received.

 

 

 

 

4. COMMITTEE REPORTS

 

a). Finance Committee:  Payments and Receipts:

 

The Clerk reported on payments and receipts for the period 1st January to 28th February 2007.

 

It was proposed by Estelle Warriner, seconded by Celia Rayner and agreed to approve the list of payments made from 1st January to 28th February 2007 totalling £4926.78, and receipts of £6182.22.

 

 

  1. CORRESPONDENCE

 

a) Minutes of HALC meeting held on the 5th March 2007 – copies are available from the Clerk.

HALC are to run 3 training courses aimed at new councillors in June and July.

 

b) County Highways have submitted a report for consideration at the CLC meeting on the 17th April 2007 containing details of schemes for which they propose to use s106 Transport Contributions. Two schemes affect West Chiltington – School Travel Plan Proposals at West Chiltington Primary School and Transport Infrastructure Contributions for West Chiltington. Further details of the schemes are being sought. Pat Arculus was requested to ask County Highways to consider placing “Stop” signs at the cross roads formed by East Street, Church Street, The Hollows and Broadford Bridge Road as the parish council considered this a priority, and Section 106 Transport Contributions  were available if funding was required.

 

c) A public meeting will be held on Thursday 15th March in Washington Village Hall to discuss the Rock Quarry Landfill application; details are available from the Clerk.

 

d) HDC has agreed that the new road to serve the 3 dwellings on the old Panners site is to be called Panners Drive.

 

e) HDC have completed a schedule of Parish Council Tax amounts and West Chiltington is 9th lowest out of 32 parishes, and £12.50 lower than the average for all parishes.

 

 

f)        West Sussex PCT have delayed the consultation process on the future of the NHS in the area until after the elections in May.

 

g)      WSCC Chairman Mrs Margaret Johnson is urging Parish Councils to enter the Sussex Village of the Year competition run by Calor, SALC and Action in Rural Sussex. The closing date is the 18th May 2007.

 

 

h)  Action in Rural Sussex is carrying out a survey of Village Shops and Post Offices and is seeking the views of rural communities through the parish council.

 

i)   A request from our neighbours at Pickerty Cottage for permission to trim Laurel tree at the front as the berries drop on to the cars and drive and get carried into the house on shoes leading to staining on the carpet. The members considered the request and gave permission for the necessary trimming to be carried out.

 

 

6. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

 

a) Peter Knowles said the drains in The Hollows still needed cleaning and Pat Arculus agreed to raise the issue with County Highways.

 

b) Ken Line asked the Clerk to send out the allotment rent invoices as soon as possible.

 

c) Paul Royce said that following the heavy rain and a blocked pipe the earth over the stream at the end of the recreation ground had been washed away leaving a large hole which needed to be filled in as soon as possible.

 

d) Roger Watts asked if there had been any progress with building the Steepwood Farm abattoir. Michael Jackson said the owner had been given a deadline to build the abattoir or demolish the house which was given permission on condition the abattoir was built by 31st December 2006.

 

e) Paul Royce asked if there was any more information regarding the legal position of the lay-by created in Little Hill? Although County Highways own part of the land they were not going to take any action and the members agreed the Parish Council were content for it to remain.

 

f) Michael Jackson raised the use of the recreation ground car park for parking by organisations whilst they went on coach outings. It was discussed by members and agreed that in future organisations would be requested to pay a donation of £10 per day for the parking to meet the maintenance.

 

g) Roger Watts said the ‘flop-over’s’ on the gates at the recreation ground could be a hazard to fingers and he suggested they should be removed as the gates were not being used. The members agreed and he said he would remove and store them in case they were needed in the future.

 

h) Harvie Steele said he had received a request for the Parish Council to approve the use of Section 106 Transport Contributions by WSCC to install a barrier to be able to close the entrance to the school car park at the end of he day, improve the footpath into school and provide a canopy to shelter waiting parents for the sum of £6838. The members agreed with proposal and the Parish Council gave their approval to the expenditure.

 

 

7. ADJOURNMENT

 

a) Phillip Circus mentioned that the “West Chiltington” sign at the entrance to the village from Storrington was placed 50 metres up Common Hill past the junction with Monkmead Lane which meant drivers entering Monkmead Lane  or Roundabout Lane were not aware they had entered the parish.  The matter was discussed by members but it was agreed that it would be dangerous to site the signs any place before the junctions due to the very narrow verges in the area.

 

 

 

8. DATE OF NEXT MEETING

 

Next Parish Council meeting – Tuesday 8th May 2007 at 7.30 pm in the Reading Room,

Future meetings –10th July 2007, 11th September 2007 and 13th November 2007.

 

 

There being no further business the Chairman thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 9.15 pm.