Minutes for Full Council Meeting – 13th June 2016

Public Recess

Mrs Carys Day from Norris Close addressed the Council with regards to the decline in the bee population. Her question was can the Parish Council help in any way to promote the increase of bees and prevent further decline. She believes a chemical called Glyphosate is responsible for this decline and the EU are currently looking to vote on whether to re-license the use of this chemical.
A paper on this has been given to the Parish Clerk.
Cllr Brady advised Mrs Day to write an article for this and provide to the Ridgeway Bell for publication. Cllr Brady also advised we will discuss this at the next Environment meeting.

No other comments from the public.

16/20. Declarations of interests.

None

16/21. Approval of minutes from 23rd May 2016

The minutes were proposed as approved by Cllr David Hill, seconded by Cllr Matt Harris and all those at the meeting were in favour.

16/22. Matters arising and action points:

Matters arising:

Item 16/19 – the creation of the parish plan/PC leaflet is in hand – Cllr Brady, Harris and Cabrera are meeting on Friday 17th June.

B.Cllr Eric Shaw advised that the post box issue at Badbury Park is in hand.
The hospital parking issue at the eastern entrance of Badbury Park is still a problem but developers are working on signs to erect to ask people not to park there.
Peter Eaves from the Badbury Park Residents Association has reported a mains sewerage overflow problem near the Spotted Cow, and a pollution issue at a nearby stream from diesel.

Cllr Brady advised the Council that Adelaide Dudman had stepped down from her role of Councillor and would be sadly missed after 3 terms in the role. A card and flowers will be organized for Adelaide as a token of thanks to her from all of the Council.
Cllr Brady will advertise this role shortly.

Action Points:

Clerk – 16/8 investigate merging of phone line and broadband – outstanding but being worked on.
Clerk 16/13 – max. number of councilors per subcommittee – ongoing
Clerk 16/11 – Ask SBC whether we can print just a list of councilors contact details without addresses – ongoing
Cllr Rawlings – Action points – to email B.Cllr Sumner with a list of actions we require him to look at – ongoing
Cllr Dudman – 16/14 – Using stones on verges at Badbury – moved to Environment meeting on 16th June.

16/23. Policing Update

PC Rory Draper and Sergeant Barrie Card attended the meeting.

PC Draper reported that there has been a large reduction in the recent spate of offences seen in the Parish. They will continue to employ their monitoring measures where necessary.
There have been 4 arrests with the individuals on police bail. Residents still need to be vigilant and keep properties and vehicles locked.
Cllr Brady and Cllr Sunners thanked PC Draper and his team for the work they have done with providing extra officers when needed. Action for Clerk to make people aware to still be vigilant via FB and website.

Sergeant Card then talked about the forthcoming changes to the policing model. The community policing team in Swindon will be implemented on 7th Nov 2016.
There will be a merge of the response, neighbourhood policing, support and investigative staff into 1 team. They don’t know who will take over what role yet. PC Draper wants to carry on looking after Chiseldon Parish. The changes will hopefully be ready by August 2016.
B.Cllr Shaw asked if there will be any reductions to the force size. Sergeant Card advised there is no plan to downsize and they want to employ 500 new specials.

B.Cllr Shaw raised the issue of cars being parked on the road side between Turnball and the Patriots Arms. PC Draper said they are investigating this but need to see the vehicles themselves. PC Draper and B.Cllr Shaw to talk about this after the meeting.

Cllr Walton asked about the differences between a PCSO and a Special Constable.
A Special Constable is a volunteer who has all the same powers as the police but only whilst they are on duty. A PCSO has no arrest powers.

Cllr Hill asked PC Draper about the police post box for Oakleys Spar. PC Draper advised a good position had been located for this and they will get it installed ASAP. They will empty this several times a week when they are in the village.

PC Draper and Sergeant Card then left the meeting at 20.05

16/24. Introduction of Ward Councillor Gary Sumner.

B.Cllr Sumner introduced himself to the meeting and advised he is the Ward Councillor for Badbury which is within Chiseldon Parish.
He is aware of the traffic issues in Badbury and advised that an infrastructure plan was being organized with Highways for the following day and this would identify rat runs and busy roads due to new developments.

He advised that he is trying to get some money from the new Eastern Villages development as this work will affect our Parish.
He asked that we contact him straight away if something happens within his Ward.

16/25 – Ward Councillors reports

B.Cllr Shaw reported that the path signs for the track leading to the washpool (At the Hodson end of the village) were being put up.
The verges between Chiseldon and Burderop are very overgrown at the moment and people are having to walk on the roads. B.Cllr Shaw is pursuing a result for this. The Estate are reluctant to cut the hedges at the moment due to nesting birds.

M4 J15 work will start in 2017 as this is connected to the new Eastern Villages development. J16 is being worked on first.

The Eastern Villages development will have an effect from the A420 at the Police station down to J15 of the M4. He will see the plans in the next 12 months so can understand better what is intended.

B.Cllr Foley reported that she is attending the Badbury Park Residents Association AGM next week. The monthly Borough & Parish Council combined surgeries were then discussed with a view to moving the location back to the Patriot’s Arms. Cllr Brady to contact the pub to ask permission to hold them there.

B.Cllr Foley was invited to Chiseldon Primary School by the Headmaster to see the work that they have been doing after their decision to open their own pre-school.

Halcrow recently had a consultatation event on Burderop Park and whilst no comment can be made a present, the news seems positive. There will be a further consultation event in July concerning the redevelopment of the Halcrow/Ch2m site.

Cllr Rawlings asked if there was any progress on the vehicle dumping at the Crescent in Chiseldon. B.Cllr Foley advised that this has been passed to the Housing team.

Cllr Hill asked after the progress on adopting the roads at Badbury Park. There is no time scale but the Borough Council are chasing this.

B.Cllr Sumner then advised that the mini bus service is still going ahead and is currently being costed up. It will hopefully start from October 2016. West Berkshire have re-instated the 90 service for this year.

Cllr Walton asked if we can get a housing officer to attend an Environment Committee meeting. He is going to talk to B.Cllr Foley in regards to arranging this.

16/26 – Parishing Update.

Cllr Walton advised that the work has now started. We need to check who is responsible for the grass verge between the Service Station and the motorway as this has not been cut.

The official papers have been signed and Lois from Withy King is creating an addendum to the original document to customise this to our exact requirements. A letter of intent has gone to AllBuild and the official contract is being completed.

A H&S statement is needed which Cllr Walton is looking into. The finances have been agreed with SBC.
SBC will continue to run a 24/7 helpline with issues being emailed directly to the Clerk.

Cllr Hill commented on vehicle parked on grass areas so AllBuild cannot cut the grass. B.Cllr Foley advised us to ask Rob Core what SBC do. Do they have a standard letter they can issue to ask for vehicles to be moved.

B.Cllr Shaw advised he has requested the trees at Plough Hill be trimmed as they are blocking the signs.

Cllr. Sunners asked about a borough wide view of parishing. What about the unparished areas?
B.Cllr Foley advised that this is going through the Cabinet as a recommendation to try to get the whole borough parished.

Cllr Sunners commented on the unkept state of Swindon town centre. B.Cllr Sumner advised that children’s services commitment is growing so large that SBC can no longer ring fence budget for items such as cleaning. It is hoped that bringing in parishing to all areas will instil a sense of community ownership.

16/27 – Review of the future of the New Road Build Out.

The majority of comments from residents have been negative. An open discussion is needed as its been nearly two months since installation and Councillors are divided on their opinion.
Cllr Brady reminded the Council that this was a trial.
After a discussion with various points raised; it was decided that:
Cllr Brady would ask Suzanne Coles at SBC for a monitoring camera (not for speeding) to be put in place for a week.
We review all the data available at the end of 3 months from installation date.
Cllr Brady to also ask SBC for all data they have on this area in regards to traffic, whether it be an accident black spot and the Build Out.
Cllr Harris will view the camera footage and data from the speed strips.
After 3 months we will have a closed meeting to discuss the findings.
Cllr Brady to ask for the data strips to also be repeated.
We will keep the trial in place for the original 6 months.
Copy of our letter to be CC’ed to B.Cllr Foley and Shaw.

It was also decided that an update be put on the FB page, website and in the Ridgeway Bell.

B.Cllr Foley suggested that if the decision is to remove the Build Out and change the speed from 30mph to 40 mph that a named vote be taken and she will take this back to Highways and campaign to have this removed.

B.Cllr Foley, Shaw and Cllr Wright left the meeting at 21.08

16/28 – Review of Committee reports and Correspondence

Finance figures for May – Approved with no issues

Environment – Cllr Rawlings reported that he hadn’t had much support from allotment holders in regards to the new fencing.

The Clerk is to add an item in the next Ridgeway Bell to get definite answers from people willing to help with flower planters around the Parish.

Recreation – Could Councillors make themselves available on the 2nd July at the Fun day to act as stewards – High Vis jackets will be needed. Cllr Sunners is going to their next committee meeting to find out more about their progress.
Action for Clerk to contact the PC’s insurance company to advise, to see if our insurance needs amending.
Action for Clerk to get the track cut by Countrywide before the event.

Reminder to all Rec Committee members that the meeting on Monday 20th June starts at 6.30pm

Planning – Cllr McMurray reported that the Eastern Villages Transport document has been released and the PC’s responses sent back. Action for Cllr Brady to write to David Renard with our comments.
Esso Garage on A346 – they still have 5 months to appeal against the planning refusal for the gray storage building on the side of the garage.

Correspondence – nothing commented on, however it was noted that the fund for Eric the sheep’s care and treatment had risen to £1,800.

16/29. Memorial Hall Update

Cllr Walton and Cllr Costigan updated the Council that the memorial hall holds £43,000 that can be distributed locally for good causes.
An £11,000 quote is under consideration for the Memorial Hall for a new floor. There are also quotes for new doors which are under review.

16/30. AOB

The Clerk updated the Council that Chiseldon Primary School is producing some art work for the Chapel which we will display at the Church Fete. It was approved that a gazebo would be purchased for this event and others in the future.
It is to be discussed further at the next Recreation meeting as to how our stall can be set up for the day. How can we promote what the Parish Council do.

Cllr Sunners reported that he is attending the Neighbourhood Watch annual meeting as the Parish Representative and that Cllr Hill is attending as a Parish Councillor.

Cllr McMurray commented that the parish boundary map in the Chapel is slightly wrong, as the boundary making has been shifted sideways when printed. He also commented that diesel emissions are also responsible for the decline in the bumblebee population.

Cllr Hill reported that in regards to Wiltshire Councils bus consultation that Chiseldon are on the list of parishes being consulted. They have had 11,000 responses so far. The initial reports shows that they will keep the day time services but cut the evening and weekend services down. They want the council to re-negotiate a commercial service. The committee are very aware that people don’t want the services cut. No cuts will take place until April 2017.

The meeting closed at 9.38pm