Minutes of Parish Council Meeting – 4th January 2018

Minutes of Ordinary Parish Council Meeting held at 7.30 pm on 4th January 2018 at the Village Hall, Fulking

Present: Chairman Miles Firth, Councillors Linda Dyos, Mark Hind, Clerk to the Council Derek Blackhall, WSC Councillor Joy Dennis, MSD Councillor John Wilkinson, and 10 members of the public.

Public Participation. There were no issues raised.

The Chairman welcomed everyone; and confirmed Karen Healy had accepted co-option to the Parish Council.

Apologies: MSD Councillors Colin Trumble and Anthony Watts Williams, Michael Trist, Karen Healy.

Please will all Councillors or district/county council representatives ensure that they notify the Clerk of any possible non-attendance, ideally 24hrs before the meeting.

Declarations of Interest: Miles Firth declared an interest in the Barn Cottage planning application and would abstain from any involvement in the debate.

  1. The minutes of the previous meetings held on 12th October & 12th December, having been previously circulated, were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman.
  1. Reports from District and County councillors:

WSCC matters

-it was confirmed the Parish would pay for the replacement HGV sign if it went ahead
-Joy would speak with Miles offline regarding outstanding broadband matters Action Joy
-Joy confirmed there would be an Operation Watershed budget in 2018/19
-Joy will follow up with Richard Speller the advice he has been asked for in respect of Clappers Lane Action Joy
-Joy confirmed replacement SID equipment was being purchased to replace the stolen items
-Albourne are offering free defibrillator training
-the mobile telephone signal is still poor, but a new mast is planned in the North of the region which may improve the signal in Fulking
-Joy is part of a task & finish group regarding buses and happy to take any feedback.

MSDC matters
The District Neighbourhood Plan is nearing completion; it now contains an additional 500 houses in Hassocks, there is a half-day hearing with the inspector on 5th February. The five-year housing supply now exists, but none yet exists for years 2024 onwards; this could be a big issue as Mayfield Homes sites must be considered in consequence.
The MSDC 2018/19 budget increase was 3.8% higher than the previous year

  1. Planning Applications:

3.1 SDNP/17/06019/FUL
Location: Land at Cannonberries Poynings Road Fulking Henfield West Sussex BN5 9NB Proposal: Erection of dwelling.

It was noted this is a substantial, inappropriate development on a green field site and that the surrounding properties are all bungalows.
It appears to contradict the SDNPA policy for no additional buildings in this area; and there are issues in respect of both MSDC and SDNPA planning policies.
A further concern relates to setting a precedent as there are no plans for extending the village in that direction.
The Parish Council voted to object to this application.

3.2 SDNP/17/06007/FUL
Location: Barn Cottage Poynings Road Fulking BN5 9NB Proposal: Extension to and re-modelling of existing house.

It was noted the previous application was much bigger, and was withdrawn.
The current application shows the roof height to be higher than the existing property, and has a slightly bigger footprint; however, it was accepted there needs to be some reasonable applications for property extensions allowed in the village.
The resulting vote was NEUTRAL.

  1. Matters Arising:

4.1 Clappers Lane Unsuitable for HGVs sign-There is an outstanding issue to be resolved regarding the actual siting of the sign.

4.2 Proposed parking measures West of Lady Brook Spring-Joy Dennis agreed to approach the SDNPA regarding possible funding availability with Mark after he has supplied the historic correspondence; but stated that the current proposal includes very expensive materials Action Mark/Joy.

  1. Highways

Gullies/Drains
As usual, any problems/blockages must be reported to
http://love.westsussex.gov.uk/Reports or 01243 642105. Please pass info to the PC for its records.
The Parish Council must be informed of highways/flooding issues for them to follow up; please send incident numbers to the Parish Clerk. Richard Speller has an interest here.
 

  1. Other matters.

6.1 Yellow Lines-There is to be a paper written for the next meeting explaining the 3 options (do nothing/white lines/yellow lines) and a discussion with a view to making a final decision. Action Mark/WSCC Highways.

The meeting was suspended at 8.35 to hear a comment from the audience, then reopened at 8.40.

6.2 village hall status-It was noted there are ongoing local discussions and a need to find the definition of the term ’safeguarding’. Action Miles
6.3 FOI/Transparency Issues-There are known privacy/email/cloud issues coming up this year. Miles is attending a course for clarification.
6.4 Operation Watershed update-the invoice has been paid; further funds were needed when justified by application to WSCC. Action Miles

The meeting was suspended at 8.50 to hear (an unrelated) further comment from the audience, then reopened at 8.53.

6.5 The clerk’s resignation-The Chairman reported that the clerk had decided to resign, received and accepted the resignation letter, and thanked him for the valued work undertaken since his appointment in early 2015.

  1. Financial matters

7.1 The following cheques have been processed since the last PC meeting

Date Description Cheque No £
Outgoings
23/10/17 Eon direct debit 012901574940A       48.02
12/10/17 D I Blackhall salary/expenses 100712     831.34
12/10/17 HMRC I/tax 100713     169.60
12/10/17 SSALC WSALC conference 100711       96.00
12/10/17 Edburton Op Watershed works 100717 18,886.64
12/10/17 Emergency blank cheques for Miles 100714/15/16
Total £20,031.60
Income
Oct 2017 VAT refund HMRC    3,531.90

 

NB Advance email acceptance must be obtained from the Parish Clerk in all cases before using an emergency cheque in order to ensure full financial compliance whilst ensuring as far as possible suppliers are paid in the month the invoice is received-this meets SSALC best practice advice.

7.2 The current cheque list and stubs, and the quarterly bank reconciliations were approved; and the income and expenditure to date were noted.

7.3 2018/19 Precept. The Parish Council approved the Clerk’s paper noted the amount of £8,696 (a 2% year on year increase) will now be notified to MSDC in accordance with their submission timetable. Action Derek.

Meeting closed at 9.06pm.

Signed…………………………                      Date…………….  Minute 20/2017