Minutes of the Ordinary Council Meeting Fulking Parish Council held Thursday 11th July at 7.30pm at Fulking Village Hall.
Present
Chairman: Cllr Firth
Fulking Parish Council (FPC): Cllrs Hind, Dyos, Healy and Leader
West Sussex County Council (WSCC): Cllr Joy Dennis
Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC): Cllrs Trumble and Bennett
Parish Clerk: Trevor Parsons
There were four members of the public present who were invited to ask questions and make comments prior to the meeting.
- Apologies for Absence.
Cllr Rodney Jackson
2. Declaration of Members’ Interests.
There were no declarations of interests.
3. Approve the Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting of 15th May 2019, Extraordinary Council Planning Meetings of 23rd April 2019 and 25th June 2019:
The Annual Parish Meeting minutes were signed by Cllr Hind and the extraordinary meeting minutes by the Chairman, as a true and accurate record of the meetings.
4. Planning Applications Update.
SDNP/19/01691/HOUS 2 Paythorne Farm Cottages
2 storey side extension, single storey rear/side extension, front porch
FPC: Unanimous Objection
SDNPA: Approved (increase reduced to 26%)
SDNP/19/02644/HOUS 35 Clappers Lane
Single storey kitchen extension to rear of the house, with roof lantern, additional window and raised patio extending from the kitchen.
FPC: Unanimous Neutral
SDNPA: Application in progress
SDNP/19/00908/HOUS Downside
Single storey pool house with games room and shower/change facilities. Timber framed carport structure
FPC: I opposed 3 Neutral
SDNPA: Approved
5. Reports from District and County Councillors.
Cllr Dennis (WSCC) reported that:
- The WSCC owned car park at the Devils Dyke road will be closed for a short period during the summer for a deep clean
- The sixth Farm College in Haywards Heath will reopen in September 2020
- Extensive roadworks at Stonepound crossroads, Hassocks will commence on 24th July 2019 which will cause traffic delays, hopefully reduced by lower traffic through the school holidays.
- WSCC is exploring the adoption of “Quiet Lanes” which is directed towards car drivers respecting the environment, walkers, cyclists and horse riders. These are roads with low levels of vehicle usage where maximum speeds are limited to 35mph.
MSDC met in June 2019, Cllr Bennett and Trumble reported that:
- MSDC are considering options to reduce the impact of climate change in the District
- The regeneration project for Burgess Hill continues to move forward.
- MSDC have concerns over Gatwick Airport’s plans to use the emergency runway for commercial use, effectively a second runway without a proper review.
- Cllr Trumble is looking to arrange a meeting between Downland village councils and South Downs National Park Authority to provide greater clarity regarding the planning issues of concern to both sides.
6. Matters Arising & Outstanding Actions:
Dark Night Skies – matter still outstanding, Chairman to follow up.
Yellow Lines – Cllr Hind reported slow progress
Ram Pump Sign – Clerk reported slow progress; Cllr Hind offered his assistance in the matter.
7. Broadband issues at Perching Sands.
Simon Hughes, MSDC’s Head of Digital and Customer Service, gave a talk to the meeting of the MSDC strategy to improve fibre broadband to the villages and rural areas of Mid Sussex which presently have very slow speed internet. Working with central government, BT and new fibre entrants to market, MSDC are looking to create internet hubs by 2020 from which spurs to rural areas can be built. Simon told the meeting that most of the costs of installing fibre related to the labour and material costs of digging the trenches required, rather than the fibre and piping itself. Simon acknowledged it is a concern for MSDC that rural areas have poor internet speeds unhelpful to those farms and businesses reliant on the internet to access and deliver goods and services.
8. Fulking to Henfield Bridle Path
Fulking Parish Council is looking for ways to provide a path from Fulking village to Henfield, by way of a bridle path suitable for residents, particularly with children who need to walk or cycle to Henfield. Crossing either busy A281 or A2037 is extremely dangerous and the Council lead by Cllr Leader, is keen to collaborate with Poynings and Woodmancote villages to establish a safe path to Henfield and the clerk agreed to contact these councils to work together for the best solution.
9. Mayfield Development Update
Fulking Parish Council are looking to join their inter parish group in order to have a joined-up approach to this and other matters affecting the parishes locally.
10. Winter Plan Update
Each year WSCC send out an audit sheet of grit and salt stocks which they will replenish if required. The Audit Sheet is yet to be sent out by WSCC.
11. Operation Watershed Update
The clerk has now required two quotes for Operation Watershed monies, which he will review and report to council separately.
12. Village Hall Lease Update
Correspondence between FPC and the PCC remain ongoing.
13. Adoption of Updated Procedures and Equal Opportunities Policy
The Chairman confirmed to the meeting that the regular review of the council’s procedures had been completed. An Equal Opportunities Policy modelled on the SSALC format was presented to the Council proposed by Cllr Firth, seconded by Cllr Hind and carried unanimously.
14.Village signs
Fulking Parish has three village signs and require some maintenance. The council agreed to initially approach a local artist to see what can be done.
15. Reports from Outside Bodies.
Call My Bluff and Fulking Village Fayre plans all in place.
16. Information Items.
Cllr Leader attended their seminar hosted by southern Water on ways to reduce water usage which also highlighted the Priority Register where residents who, in an emergency, would have no means to obtain water if the mains were to be cut off. Southern Water are committed to deliver fresh bottled water to those vulnerable persons who have registered on the Priority Register.
Cllrs’ Leader and Healy attended an Action for Rural Sussex event which provided information on not-for-profit schemes where local councils can apply for and manage the building of affordable homes at low cost on land donated to the community by landowners minded to help the village. In most cases it was established before building commenced, who the properties would be sold to.
South Downs National Park Plan has now been completed and signed off and is available on fulking.net for anyone wishing to read the report.
17. 2019 – 2020 Precept
The annual precept is £8,950 together with expected VAT recovery of £450. The council has previously agreed to allocate this income as follows, £2,000 for North Town Field and Village Hall upkeep, £4,300 clerk’s salary, training and costs, £700 for IT expenses and £2,400 for other expenditure, including insurance, subscriptions and village hall lease implementation fees.
18. Correspondence.
None
19. Financial Matters:
The Clerk presented the quarterly accounts to end of June 2019 and reported that there have been no additional costs incurred so far and that the council is on track to balance the accounts for 2019/2020. Cllr Firth confirmed to the meeting that the Clerk was now empowered to create online banking payments for authorisation by a councillor which will then be audited quarterly by way of a second check being the initialling of the hard copy Barclays Bank statement by two separate councillors.
A VAT refund of £377.20 was received on 5th April 2019 and the biannual precept was credited to the account on 3rd May 2019.
Payments debited from the Parish Council Account at Barclays were all made by direct debit and online banking are as follows
Date Description Gross Amount
08/04/2019 WSALC / NALC Subscriptions £ 91.43
08/04/2019 NTF Parking Post £239.33
08/04/2019 Dog Bin Management £330.84
15/04/2019 Payroll Services £ 26.70
15/04/2019 Noticeboard repairs £438.00
16/04/2019 Parking cones £ 69.90
24/04/2019 Quarterly Electricity costs £ 63.14
26/04/2019 Surrey Hills solicitors (Lease) £115.20
26/04/2019 DPO Services – Satswana £180.00
26/04/2019 Came & Co Insurance £400.72
17/05/2019 APM refreshments £ 24.85
04/06/2019 ICO Annual Fee £ 40.00
04/06/2019 Domain Name Renewal £ 43.80
04/06/2019 Website Hosting £47.99 18/06/2019 RoSPA Play inspection £103.20
24/06/2019 Clerk’s Quarterly Salary £1,005.42
08/07/2019 Streetlight maintenance £175.50
The meeting closed at 9.25pm
Date of the next Ordinary Meeting: Thursday 10th October 2019