Author: Miles

Minutes of Ordinary Parish Council Meeting held at 7.30 pm on 4^th 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 12^th October & 12^th December, having been previously circulated, were taken as read, approved and signed by the Chairman.

2. 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 5^th 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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.
 

6. 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.

7. 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

Minutes of the Fulking Parish Council Co-option Meeting
Held in the Village Hall, Fulking on Tuesday 12th December 2017 at 6.30pm

Present: Miles Firth (Chairman), Councillors Mark Hind, Linda Dyos, Michael Trist, and Clerk to the Council, Derek Blackhall
1 member of the public was present

Apologies for Absence: None.
Declarations of interest: None

The Chairman announced that this was a normal type of meeting with an open vote on whether to Co-opt to the current Councillor vacancy or not at this time.

Prior to the meeting, there had been one request by a member of the public to speak, having already established the candidate’s eligibility to apply for the vacancy via local business interests.

Karen Healy explained that she was fairly new to Fulking but keen to contribute to the community; recognised that some decisions are not always popular; has sat on children’s charities which was ultimately rewarding; along with PTA and committees experience; always endeavours to be proactive; has got time to be a councillor as working part-time; and offers a long-term commitment to the village.

The panel of Councillors explored a variety of topics:

• Views on representing parts or all of the village
• How the Parish Council operates
• Attitude to training courses
• Examples of being a team player
• Attitude to possible disagreements over tricky issues
• Attitude to established Council policies as they must be paramount for a
• Councillor over and above being a resident
• Attitude towards playground inspections
• A view on some known forthcoming possible village hall issues and alternative strategies if it becomes difficult to resolve overall

After listening carefully to the responses to the above scenarios, the Chairman asked the panel for a vote.
There was a unanimous agreement to appoint Karen as a co-opted Councillor.
Karen signed the Declaration of Acceptance of Office, and agreed to return the Register of Interests to the Clerk within the necessary 28 days.

The meeting closed at 7.05pm

Signed ……………………         Date………………………