Brailes Parish Council

Minutes of the second January meeting of the Parish Council

MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY January 28th 2008 at 7.30pm in the Methodist Room

Apologies for Absence:-

Mr. N. Drury and Mr. A. Jervis.

Present:-

Mrs. B. Foster, Mrs. G. Woods and Mrs. B. Manley, Mr. C. Righton, Mr. R. Cheney , Cllr. P. Seccombe, Cllr. C. Saint, & 12 members of the public.

Minutes:-

of the last meeting were amended and approved.

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC:-

Council Tax:-

A resident spoke of the ever rising costs that we all have to face and expressed the hope that when the Council was setting its Precept it would keep this in mind, although he accepted that money had always been spent wisely by the Parish.

Library:-

Why was everyone who used the Library sent a booklet that cost 50 pence to post plus the cost of the booklet itself, when all that was needed was a single sheet to inform those using the service? The new arrangements meant that a much smaller vehicle now came and it seemed that the service was being slowly phased out.

Flood Committee:-

Mr. Hyland reported that out of 194 gullies 50 were still blocked. He spoke of the ones on Holloway Hill needing attention. The bridge was badly silted up. Some work had been done and he thanked Mr. C. Righton for his help. People who were still living in caravans would get relief on their Council Tax. Mr Hyland spoke of the vehicles parked that prevented the sweeper from cleaning the leaves etc from the edges and that subsequently helped to block gullies. Could the sweeper give notice when it was coming through the village and possibly we could get vehicles off the road?
Cllr. Saint spoke regarding the work that had been reported to have been done when he Chaired a Meeting recently and said that the figures given were misleading as he personally had had similar complaints to those in Brailes from many of his other villages regarding cleaning gullies.
Only 16 houses in Brailes had claimed from the flood relief fund so that the record showed that only 16 houses had been flooded. Mr Hyland was asked to contact those who hadn’t claimed and get them to do so, so that the statistics would reflect the real number of houses that were affected.

Web Site:-

Mr Doherty spoke of the work involved in adding something to the site but said that there would be no further charges until the end of March when he was happy to carry on.

MATTERS ARISING:-

Light Saltway Lane:-

The Clerk had received the quote of £3,144.78 from the County for a new installation to include the cost of the pole and the lamp. The Councillors discussed the financing, which would add a further £3,000 to the Precept and felt that the money should be spent on the drainage work put forward by the Flood Committee.
It would not be prudent to add money needed to relieve flooding that had caused so many problems and money for an additional lamp. Proposed by Mrs. Woods, Seconded Mrs. Manley and all in favour.

Dragons Teeth:-

The Clerk had contacted the County and found that the quote was still not available.

Neighbourhood Watch:-

Mrs. Woods pointed out that when the matter had been discussed with Mr. Dale Packer, the 25th of February was suggested, and this was a Parish Council Meeting date. After discussion it was decided that before anything further was agreed, contact should be made with Mr. Packer to agree a date that would suit him and also to see if he had made any progress. The Clerk said she would speak to Mr Packer.

Fence - site meeting:-

Three Councillors had met on site to look at the problem and felt the main drawback to installing a fence was the difficulty that it would cause for someone cleaning out the grill under the bridge. It was agreed that it was a deep drop into the brook at that point and although the point was made that the water level was normally very low there were times when it would present a danger. It was agreed that fencing should be installed.

Recycling:-

Mr. Cheney had attended the meeting on Jan. 17th in Shipston when recycling was on the Agenda. Nothing would change until the new facility at Ettington had been completed.

Speeding Signs:-

The Clerk had written to Mr. J. Maples and had received acknowledgement of her letter.

Flood Relief Plan:-

Mr. Righton presented a plan showing what was intended to reduce the amount of water in Sutton Brook after it joined Henbrook. This involved ditches that would take the water onto a designated flood plain. A firm quote for the work had not as yet been received but it would probably be in excess of £6,000. Cllr. Seccocmbe said that Mr. Dave Tiley would hold a list of those who needed money for flood relief and this would be allocated according to need so that it was important to get this plan off to Mr. Tiley as soon as possible. It was agreed that £2,000 would be given from Parish Council funds. Mrs. Woods wondered what would happen if grant money was not available.

Precept:-

All items were considered. The Village Hall was asking for a total grant of £3,000 each year to replace the £2,000 plus £575 given for playing field maintenance.
This would mean only an increase of £425. As 3 members of the Council were also on the Committee of the Hall these people left the room while the matter was discussed. Mrs. Foster proposed that this be included in the Precept, seconded Mrs. Woods. The clerk was given a £200 a year increase and an extra £2000 was added to the Maintenance budget to cover flood relief. £2000 was budgeted for lighting as the Council was committed to changing to low energy bulbs - some had already been done.
This made a total proposed spend of £17,335. £3,000 would be taken from monies in hand and a Precept of £14,000 was then proposed by Mr. C. Righton, seconded Mrs. Woods, all in favour.

Cllr Seccombe reported:-

Council Tax:-

would probably rise by 3.49% although this had to be ratified at a meeting on February 25th.

Speeding:-

Had the Clerk received information and a brief questionnaire on the changes to the speed restrictions? The Clerk said not but she had seen something in the local paper that the B4035 would change from 60 to 50 mph and Cllr. Seccombe advised the Clerk to ask the County for information.

NEW ITEMS:-

Further fencing:-

Mrs. Westerman had written asking for more fencing around the brook and it was agreed that the length of fence needed would be measured and the Clerk would get prices for fencing similar to some seen elsewhere and considered suitable.

Burial ground:-

The Clerk had spoken to Mr. C. Locke who spoke of the charges made by other Churchyards/Burial Grounds and agreed that Brailes had fallen way behind.
It was unanimously agreed that the Council would charge the same prices as the Church which meant that to erect a Memorial Stone would rise to £98. and the cost of an Internment would rise to £184. The Clerk will inform all those involved.

MAINTENANCE:-

Castle Hill Lane:-

Mrs. Woods said the edges of the road were in a really bad condition. The matter had been reported on a number of occasions but very little has been done. There was a large pot hole about half way up the lane.

General Maintenance:-

Mrs. Woods spoke of the outstanding jobs though out the village and felt that we simply weren’t getting the attention needed. The 30 mph roundall by the Old Forge was still missing after more than a year and a number of complaints and the pavement in the same area was heaving. The gully outside Chendawan was still spilling water across the road every time it rained.
Severn Trent. Water was still coming out of the B4035 in Upper Brailes and needed reporting again.

REPORTS OF OTHER MEETINGS/COMMITTEES:-

Electoral Divisional Panel and Stour Area Community Committee:-

were both attended by Mr. R. Cheney when recycling was on both of the Agendas.
Mr. A. Dore spoke of Emergency planning and said everyone should have such a plan. The Clerk said Brailes did have a plan that was usually upgraded each year.
Mick Potter seemed to be in charge of this and she would speak with him about this.

CORRESPONDENCE:-

Youth and Community Service:-

A letter from Carla Harris, who runs this service, wondered if Brailes had a need of such a service - as after completing an analysis it was identified that there is a fairly large number of youths living within the village. Would Brailes benefit from such a service? The Clerk will get further information.

PLANNING:-

Permission refused for:-

FINANCE:-

Cheques:-

100920 Computer Course £ 60.00

100921 Lighting Maintenance WCC £ 650.36

100922 Brailes Village Hall £ 575.00

100923 Westerman Sand, Bags £ 216.36

Meeting closed at 10.08pm. Next Meeting February 25th 2008.

It was agreed that the Annual Parish Meeting would be held on Monday 21st April and that a speaker would be invited to talk about the new recycling scheme.