16/166 Pre Parishing Items
Cllr Brady started by stating that as she had recently moved outside the boundaries of the Parish the question needed to be asked as to whether the Council is comfortable with her remaining as Chair. Cllr Brady explained that whilst she had consulted with the Director of Legal Services for SBC, who had confirmed she is able to continue until the next election. Cllr Brady felt it was essential to have the support and endorsement of the Parish Council for her to continue as Chair and protect the integrity of the meeting. Cllr Brady stated that she would not vote on any issue raised this evening and pass any deciding vote on the Vice Chair rather than casting that vote herself.
Cllr David Hill proposed the vote in favour to Cllr Brady staying on in the role of Chair, Cllr Rawlings seconded the vote. All in favour except Cllr Adelaide Dudman who chose to abstain from voting.
Cllr Brady then introduced David Renard to the meeting and B. Cllr Fionuala Foley advised on the reason for his attendance; he assisted Haydon Wick with their pilot scheme of Parishing and is here to offer the council advice.
Cllr Brady asked the public if they had any issues to raise that were not related to Parishing. There were no issues raised.
16/167. Declarations of interests.
Cllr Sunners advised he is a member of the Green Party
Cllr McMurray advised has a planning declaration due to an outstanding planning application he has submitted.
16/168. Approval of minutes.
Page 2 – 16/156 change the date to show 2016.
Page 3 – 16/158 on police report. Amend wording to make it clear that it was the new Chief Constable and not B.Cllr Bennett that was enthusiastic over the values and philosophy of the new model.
Page 4 – 16/161 change wording to: “Needs to be discussed whether we are to continue to include Badbury Park in Chiseldon Parish” in regards to Governance review.
Page 6 – Actions – change the name of the meeting to “Governance and Library” review for B.Cllr Eric Shaw.
Following this the minutes from the meeting held on 8th February 2016 were approved by Cllr Hill, seconded by Cllr Cabrera; all those at the meeting in favour.
Cllr Hill commented on the thorough write up of the correspondence from the Clerk.
16/169. Matters arising.
Page 3 – 16/158 Progress has been made for the Spar shop to become a Community Contact Point. A postbox for communication with the police hopefully to be installed here.
Page 3 – 16/158 B.Cllr Foley advised that a sign is being organised for Badbury Park to remind drivers to park respectfully with regards to the home owners there. Cllr Hill advised that a planning application had been submitted to provide 401 new parking spaces at GWH for hospital staff, taking the total to 2551.
Page 3 – 16/158 It has been reported that there have been thefts from cars locally and orange recycling boxes set on fire in Turnball.
Page 3 – 16/158 Cllr Sunners reported a case of vandalism near the Spar on a local property which resulted in a citizen’s arrest. The police are now involved and this case will be progressed using the legal framework.
Cllr Sunners reported that the next meeting of the Neighbourhood Watch is 4th April, and the meeting will be devoted to anti-social behaviour.
With regards to these policing points, B.Cllr Foley asked if the police have spoken to SBC Anti Social Behaviour policing team. They can put up CCTV camera’s in an area if there is a suitable pole and electricity supply. B.Cllr Foley is happy to liaise on this. If the people responsible are in social housing then SBC can take them to court. Cllr Sunners said this was very helpful so B.Cllr Foley has invited him to talk with her or B.Cllr Shaw about this.
Cllr Bowles also made the committee aware that there was a theft from a vehicle in Hodson not long ago.
Action points.
Cllr Sunners updated the committee with regards to Fox Hill, saying that their motor cross facility was not suitable for our requirements.
Cllr Sunners updated the committee that he has asked the British Heart Foundation to advise him when they open their submissions for defibrillators again.
Cllr Sunners advised that the BIOS agreement was sent to the previous Clerk. Clerk to look for this in the office.
B.Cllr Bennett had reported back on the meeting on the 8th February that Thames Water advised there are no lorry’s travelling through Badbury. Cllr Dudman had reported that she still sees the lorry’s in the village.
In this meeting Cllr Dudman reports that lorry’s from Thames Water and Connors are still travelling through the village and damaging the grass verges. B.Cllr Bennett advised that he needs photographic evidence from Badbury residents in order to make our case to these companies. B.Cllr Bennett to liaise with Cllr Dudman. Cllr Dudman was asked to provide photographic evidence to support her complaint.
Clerk to carry over the action to ask PC Draper for a full set of crime figures for Badbury Park and Coate for the next Parish Council meeting on 11th April.
The council had received an email update on the Memorial Hall from Cllr Walton. Cllr Hill had asked if this could be included as an action point for the next full council meeting on the 11th April. Cllr Rawlings seconded this.
Cllr Costigan had not yet arrived at the meeting to cover his action points.
B.Cllr Shaw advised the UKB network update had been done and was also being covered at the Locality meeting on the 30th March.
All other action points had been actioned.
16/170. Borough Councillors’ Report.
A report had been issued by email from B.Cllr Shaw before the meeting, the report has subsequently been updated. B.Cllr Shaw provided the Clerk with an up to date report for circulation to all Councillors.
(Note, SBC officers Rob Core & Kirsty Cole arrived for the meeting at 18.54)
16/171 Parishing.
Cllr Hill started by saying that if the meeting came to a vote on Parishing he would like to propose a recorded vote. Cllr Rawlings seconded this; all those at the meeting in favour.
Cllr Brady confirmed the objective this evening was to review & evaluate available information on Parishing. Our responsibility is to represent the interests of our residents and therefore we must examine all the facts and costs until we are satisfied that we can take an informed decision on Parishing. Cllr Brady introduced Kirsty Cole and Rob Core from SBC to make sure all our questions can be answered where possible at this meeting.
All received questions on parishing had been put to Kirsty Cole and Rob Core in advance.
Rob Core has agreed to do a drive around the village with Cllr Rawlings to advise on the services that SBC do currently.
The call to action is: can we vote tonight on behalf of residents if we have enough information to do so, or do we need more information before we can vote.
Kirsty Cole then went through her presentation with regards to SBC’s reasons for Parishing and funds that Chiseldon Parish Council would receive.
She made it clear that Borough Council services are being reduced on council tax bills so that residents are not double taxed.
The main funding points are:
100% funding from any savings achieved will be given in the first year
50% in the second year
25% in the third year.
0% in the forth year.
The Borough will continue to meet the cost of maintenance on Housing land.
The feedback from current pilot parishes is that residents can see that a few more pounds on their council tax bill means a better service is provided.
The core reason for Parishing from SBC point of view is the increase cost of adult and child social care.
The pilot sites saw a 46.5% drop in demand of service requests.
SBC currently receive 4 calls a week from Chiseldon Parish in regards to grounds/street clearing.
The existing work on bank erosion would stay with SBC and they would make sure that any outstanding work was handed over smoothly.
Some items confirmed were:
Needles, glass and obscene graffiti were the only items that needed a priority response.
Any street sign or gritting bin damage would still be handled by SBC
Large instances of fly tipping will still be dealt with by SBC
If we decline to take on some services then there may be borough wide contracts that parishes can buy into.
If further services are passed down to parish level at a later date then support will be given to handle this.
It was agreed at this point that further costings needed to be checked out, to include the other areas of the parish so we can do a like for like comparison of our costs and compare against current SBC funding.
Also need to consider the admin tasks involved in this.
Cllr Brady then invited questions from members of the public attending the meeting.
1 parishioner commented that it appears to be political points scoring and that SBC should have just raised council tax by 1 % per year to carry on these services themselves.
Another parishioner asked where the money would come from to do the work in the parish in year 4. He was advised that this would come from the precept.
Another parishioner commented that in 4 years time if he is paying the same tax levels as others in the borough yet if other parishes are not doing this extra work, they get more money to spend on other things. It doesn’t seem to be clear on how this is handled.
Cllr Brady then asked the committee what they needed now in order to make a decision.
The council requested the following:
Cllr McMurray said we need definite costings
Cllr Sunners said we need a possible consultation with the community. Cllr Brady advised that we used information gathered from the Parish Plan to see what parishioners wanted. This had a huge response back and the main area was the appearance of the area with litter picking and general cleanliness being priority.
Cllr Brady advised Kirsty Cole that the Parish Council will not take a vote on Parishing at this meeting.
As identified additional costings and a financial evaluation will need to be carried out prior to a decision on Parishing. In addition the Parish Council would benefit from further information from the Parish Plan consultation process – council will approach Paul Maycock for further information.
The aim is to obtain the additional information prior to the next meeting on 11th April 2016.
Cllr Costigan advised he will try to present the information the same way as it was for the precept discussion.
The council then took a short recess at 20.48
The council reconvened at 20.53
16/172. AOB
Community Governance Review
The question was asked “Do we want to keep Coate, Badbury Park, and Day House Lane as part of Chiseldon Parish? Yes/No.
Councillor Harris proposed this vote, Cllr Rawlings seconded, and the vote was in favour with 10 votes in favour.
Public Consultation on bus services
The first proposed action was to email Wiltshire Council Transport unit to highlight that the proposed cuts will have a large effect on Chiseldon Parish and to ask for a fresh look to the cuts.
Cllr Hill proposed the vote, Cllr Rawlings seconded this; all those at the meeting were in favour.
Action for Clerk and Cllr Hill to action this.
The second proposed action was to email Nigel Hale and Dale Heenan to ask what SBC will be doing when these cuts take place and to support Chiseldon’s views on these cuts by sending their own communication to Wiltshire Council about these cuts.
Cllr Hill proposed the vote, Cllr Rawlings seconded this; all those at the meeting were in favour.
Action for Clerk and Cllr Hill to action this.
Committee reports.
Environment, General Purposes & Highways.
Cllr Rawlings advised there was nothing to report.
Recreation & Community.
Cllr Sunners advised there was nothing to report.
Finance
Cllr Costigan advised there was nothing to report.
Planning.
Cllr Rawlings presented the planning status.
Regarding the retrospective applications for the Esso Garage, this will need to be referred to the Senior Planning officer. The enforcement team have been to the garage as the internal plans are also not correct. We are waiting for enforcement to come back to us. Cllr Rawlings requested B.Cllr Shaw add this to the next planning committee meeting.
Cllr Hill requested that we add the proposed library cuts to next month’s agenda. There is a meeting in Wroughton on Friday 18th March. Proposed cuts could include the home library, mobile library and Wroughton library.
Cllr Sunners suggested we review councillors allowances in regards to Parishing.
The meeting closed at 9.24pm