Minutes Ordinary Meeting 11th October 2018

Minutes of Ordinary Parish Council held at 7:30pm on Thursday 11th October 2018  at The Village Hall, Fulking

Present:

Chairman:                              Cllr Firth
Fulking Parish Council (FPC)     Cllrs Hind, Dyos and Healy
Mid Sussex District Council      Cllr Watts-Williams
West Sussex County Council    Cllr Dennis
Parish Clerk:                          Trevor Parsons
Members of the Public            There were nine members of the public present

  1. Apologies for Absence.

Cllr Trist (FPC and Cllr Wilkinson (MSDC)

2.Declaration of Members’ Interests.

Cllr Firth declared an interest in the planning application for Thatchly (item 6) and took no part in that discussion

3. Approve the Minutes of Ordinary Parish Meeting of 12th July 2018 and Planning Meeting of 3rd October

The minutes were approved and signed as true records of the meetings.

4. Reports from District and County Councillors.

Report from Cllr Dennis (WSCC)

  • Speed Indication Device (SID) – Cllr Firth advised that the online results provided inconclusive data, but will circulate them for information.
    Cllr Dennis offered SID to Fulking Parish for a further week, should it be available. The council accepted the offer and would welcome the opportunity to use the device again.
  • Cllr Dennis has spoken to a WSCC cabinet member to try and push forward the TRO (Traffic Regulation Order) to apply some road lines near to Shepherd and Dog to reduce congestion on that corner.
  • Cllr Dennis has offered to assist Preston Nomads CC with grant application for road repairs at the entrance of the ground.
  • WSCC budgets remain very tight with a further £20m of savings to be made. Cllr Dennis confirmed that Statutory Minimum Services will be maintained in regard to Social Service commitments.
  • The Fire Service is looking for old cars to be donated to the service for practicing their rescue drills.

Report from Cllr Watts-Williams (MSDC)

  • Sixth Form College – Negotiations are progressing well between the government agencies to re-open the college in Haywards Heath. Cllr Watts-Williams advised that any new school must now be opened as an Academy.
  • Northern Arc – The Government will fund the roads and infrastructure. 3,500 homes and 3 schools are to be built. The first 500 homes have gained planning approval. The development is planned to finish in 2035.
  • District Plan – Following a previous call for sites, 138 sites have been identified to move to the next stage of ecological and traffic surveys.
  • Cllr Watts-Williams is now on the SDNPA Planning Committee.
  • Traveller Incursions – Any incursions need to be reported to both the Police and MSDC.

5. Matters Arising & Outstanding Actions:  Actions brought forward from the last meeting.

Operation Watershed, Parish Clerk to email Gary Rustle of WSCC to seek assistance in establishing exactly what needs to be done so that contractors can have a better understanding of the works required.

Cllr Firth mentioned to Cllr Dennis that we still await the HGV sign.

6. Planning Matters: To comment on the following planning application:
SDNP/18/04735/HOUS. Thatchly The Street Fulking Henfield West Sussex BN5 9LU.
Erection of a 2 storey rear extension.

The item was chaired by Cllr Hind, the Vice Chairman.

The owner of Thatchly, briefly addressed the meeting to speak in favour of the application to extend the house from a three bed, one bathroom home to a four bed, two bathroom home.

It was noted that:

  • This was a straightforward rear extension
  • In keeping with the current property
  • Well designed

The decision was to unanimously APPROVE the application.

7. Parking in Clappers Lane.

The Council have considered a range of options to improve the parking for residents including parking at the bottom of the lane, using Preston Nomads car park, land opposite (which has now been discounted and road widening which will be too expensive. However more space has now become available in The Street and pressure in CL has eased a little. The situation will be kept under review.

ACTION – Cllr Firth to approach PNCC to see whether residents might be able to rent spaces in the PNCC car park for a small fee.

8. Dark Night Skies.

Cllr Dyos has requested Dark Night Skies as a running item on the council agenda to maintain awareness of the SDNPA commitment to use its role as a planning authority to protect the dark skies above the National Park as well as the landscape on the ground.

ACTION – Cllr Firth to use source material from SDNPA and pass on to residents

9. Elections 2019.

Parish council elections are in May 2019. FPC will seek to encourage residents to stand for election in the run-up period.

ACTION – Parish Clerk to liaise with other local clerks to find out best practices for encouraging new councillors to step forward.

10. Market Garden.

It was agreed that FPC should take steps to be better prepared for future applications to expand the Market Garden / Conifers area. The SDNPA don’t appear to understand the concerns of the residents.

ACTION – Cllr Watts-Williams in his role within SDNPA Planning Committee has offered his assistance.
– Cllr Firth to establish contact with local MP to seek high level advice and support 11. Village Hall Lease.

Due to concerns over personal liability for safeguarding the PCC is looking for an official body to take on the lease of the Village Hall. Cllr Firth has proposed the Parish council take on this role.
An experienced legal advisor has already been identified via SSALC and has provisionally estimate £1,500 costs of this lease negotiation. Cllr firth stressed that this was not a final decision on the lease, but approval to incur cost to begin negotiations. Cllr Hind seconded the proposal, Cllrs Healy and Dyos approved.

12.Fulking Spring, Ram Pump System

It has been proposed by a resident that the Spring Ram Pump system is a valuable asset which could be used to promote the village within the National Park. After significant research two options have been suggested:

  1. A restoration of the system for some residents in The Street and Stammers Hill
  1. An information board and minor restoration next to the ram pump

It was decided that a first step would be to look at the information board option as there were significant concerns about the cost, likelihood of sponsorship, water standards and noise of a full restoration.  Depending on the success of the noticeboard the full restoration can be revisited later

ACTION – Clerk to look into the information board idea further and report back at the next meeting

13. Unoccupied cottages in Stammers Hill (Nos: 2 & 4)

It was established that No’s 2, 4 and 5 Stammers Hill were owned by an absent landlord and were a potential health risk but that the reason for keeping these properties in poor condition was unknown. It was brought to the meeting’s attention that No 1 Stammers Hill, owned by a different person, was also unoccupied and in a poor condition. Cllrs Watts-Williams and Trumble have visited the site which is falling into disrepair and MSDC is investigating whether legal action the District Council can take to compel the owners to improve these properties.

14. Reports from Outside Bodies.

Cllr Healy attending the inter parish meeting and all the points raised have already been covered by Cllr Watts-Williams report.

15. Information Items.

Cllrs Firth and Hind to update the Winter Resilience Plan.

16. Correspondence.

An email regarding a local Bus Survey has been received and whilst not directly affecting Fulking directly Cllr Dennis asked that the Council respond to the survey with a balanced view.

17. Financial Matters:

The following payments were made by the Council since the previous meeting. The Barclays Current Account balance stands at £9,809.60.

Date                     Description                     Cheque / Online / DDI         Amount

23/07/2018               E-On                           Direct Debit                   £ 53.41
21/08/2018               Q1 Clerk’s Pay              Chq No 100742               £1,039.44
15/09/2018              Payroll Services             Direct Debit                  £ 26.70
02/10/2018              Grass Cutting                Online Banking               £ 390.00

24/09/2018            H2 Precept of £4,348 was received into the account.
Date of the next Ordinary Meeting: Thursday 10th January 2019 to be held at Fulking Village Hall at 7.30pm.