2012 05 03 PC Minutes

Annual Meeting of Fulking Parish Council: Meeting held in the Fulking Village Hall on 3 May 2012 At 8pm

Present: Ms K Watson (Vice Chairman), Mrs P Rowland, Ms L Dyos, Mr M Trist and Clerk to the Council Andrea Dickson. 8 members of the public.

1. Meeting opened by Ms Kate Watson

2. Nomination for Chairman and Vice Chairman were received by the Clerk. Chairman Ms Kate Watson was nominated by Mrs P Rowland and seconded by Ms L Dyos Vice Chairman Mr M Trist was nominated by Ms K Watson and seconded by Ms L Dyos The Chairman and Vice Chairman signed the Declaration of Office forms.

3. Apologies: Dr D Slavin and Colin Trumble.

4. Minutes of Annual meeting of Fulking Parish Council on 2 June 2011 were amended and approved.

5. Chairman s Report Clerk The previous Clerk did not meet the Parish requirements,this resulted in her resignation . Sheena Trist thankfully stepped in to help out until a new clerk could be recruited. Andrea Dickson took up the post of Clerk in April, her details will be on the website soon.

Planning: In the past year Fulking Parish Council has received 11 applications. 3 have been approved. 1 refused. 6 pending consideration. 1 called in by South Downs National Park Authority. Market Garden site is included in the pending consideration list (the application is for permanent permission for the stationing of caravans and a dayroom on the site). This has been called to committee by Mid Sussex, the planned date for this is 31 May (this has yet to be confirmed). The National Planning Policy Network (NPPN) was introduced at the end of March, hopefully this should not alter things too much for Fulking. More information can be found about the NPPN on the internet.

Finances The annual precept has increased by 3.26% to 6344.

Thank you to Bob Rowland for acting as The Responsible Finance Officer and for looking after all financial matters. Thank you also to Nick Hughes for carrying out the Internal Audit of the annual accounts. This was accepted by the Parish Council last night.

Highways: Flooding is still an issue despite Tony Brooks’s best efforts to get this sorted. Please report any flooding to West Sussex Highways Department in Chichester. Speeding is still a problem, articles have been posted in the Pigeon Post highlighting this issue. Fullking was very prepared this year with a winter management plan, although it was not necessary to put this into action.

Village Hall: Parochial Church Council considered selling the Village Hall due to lack of funds. At a public meeting in December the Village Hall Action Group was formed.The action group has worked tirelessly over the past few months improving the facility, raising funds and encouraging people to use the hall. The current arrangement is still in a trial period, the future of the hall is still very uncertain and in the hands of the community.

Village Plan: The Village Plan published last summer has recently been updated. This will be found on the website in the near future.

Crime: There has been a sharp increase in crime in the area recently so please be vigilant. Anything suspicious should be reported on the direct number for non emergencies 101.

Village Fair: Please support the village fair on Sunday 29 July 12noon-5pm. Thank you to the Social Committee which does a great job raising funds and orgainising cleans ups around the village.

Finally thank you to David Slavin for his work as Chairman in the last few months. David will be stepping down as councillor due to work commitments. This will create a vacancy on the Parish Council which will be advertised on the Parish notice board in the near future.
Thank you to all of the councillors for the extremely hard work they have put in over the past year. Thank you also to Aidan Walker for his continued involvement in Pigeon Post and to James Lightfoot for running the website for the village. Final thank you for attending the meeting and for taking an interest in the local community.

6. Speakers: Councillor Peter Griffiths gave an overview of the services West Sussex provide. Andrew Trigg (SDNPA) Neighbourhood Planning Officer for the National Park gave an update for Fulking on Neighbourhood Planning. Tricia Robinson gave a review of the progress made by the Village Hall Action Group.

7. Comments from the floor.

8. Dates of next Ordinary Parish Council meetings July 12, October 11, January 10 2013.

Meeting closed at 9.30pm

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