MINUTES of a Meeting held at Woldingham Village Hall on 28 August 2008 at 7.30pm.

Present: Bobby Johnson (in the chair) Nigel Cohen Rodney Fuller Nicola Howe
Sally Marks Alistair Pirie

1. Apologies: Cllrs Barton, Meekings and Myers, Karen Newman (Clerk)

2. Minutes.
The Minutes of the meeting held on 31 July had been circulated and were signed by the Vice-Chairman as a correct record.

3. Declarations of Interest
Cllr Johnson - Company Secretary of Woldingham Magazine
Cllr Fuller - Land east of Church Road
Cllr Marks - Member of another authority - Surrey County Council
Cllr Pirie - Westgarth, land east of Church Road

4. Matters arising
The following points arose in discussion of the Action List:
Slines Oak island: The brickwork was in a much worse state than previously thought and it was agreed that rebuilding is necessary, that WPC should write to David Poole (SCC Highways) about the issues arising, and that quotations for the work should be sought in the light of his response.
Signage: Cllr Cohen will review quotations received with Jeff Jeffrey and bring a proposal forward at the September meeting.
Overgrown hedges: Action had been promised by Woldingham Golf Club and it was agreed that WPC should write to follow this up. It was agreed that Cllr Fuller and other councillors will carry out a survey of relevant roads to identify problems so that owners can be asked to take specific action.
Dead Beech Tree: This is at the view point. It was agreed that Cllr Fuller will chase up action and report in September.
Barrier at view point: Action is urgently needed since illegal dumping is taking place. It was agreed that Cllr Fuller would pursue this with TDC since maintenance of the site is their responsibility. A letter should be sent to them.
Village Hall opening hours: Following action by Cllr Marks, suggestions on a sign giving information on opening times and access at other times and about additional keys are to be discussed at the next meeting of the Hall's Executive Committee.
TDC's Standard Planning Conditions: These had been obtained and circulated by e-mail to all members.
Maps of drainage: These have been obtained and copies will be made available to Cllrs Johnson, Myers and Pirie.
Letters: had been sent to thank Julie Moylan and Sue Edwards for organising the Parish picnic, to Caroline Batterbury in support of the application for adoption of Croft Road, and to TDC about the station car park.
Bus stops: SCC have acknowledged that there have been delays in replacing damaged bus stops, caused by glitches in their systems, but have promised that the work is now imminent.

5. Planning Matters:
a. A copy of Appendix A was circulated to all members before the meeting. Cllr Johnson read through Appendix A. The Council voted to ratify the recommendations of the Planning Group.
b. Infringements: An infringement report from TDC in response to WPC's usual request was circulated to members before the meeting. This was reconciled with the full list of enforcement cases on TDC's website, and proposals were agreed on which cases on the latter list should be added to the request to TDC for the next update.

6. Finance:
a. Payments: The payments as Appendix B were signed and approved.

7. Highways & Rights of Way:

a. Highways Monitoring and Reporting:
Blocked drains were reported outside the former shop on the Village Green, on The Ridge (3 or 4, but especially the two by Southfields Road and the letter box), the last two at the bottom of Station Road and at the junction of Bridleway 92 and Slines Oak Road. The pond at the top of Slines Oak Road also overflows down the road. Cllr Marks agreed to take these points up with SCC.

John Osborne's kind offer to deal with the problem of an overhanging branch over the path on the Village Green was gratefully accepted.

8. Reports:

Cllr Barton had reported briefly by e-mail about LORD. LORD seeks the participation by district council represntatives in proposed Freight Quality Partnerships between SCC and freight companies, and Cllr Marks agreed to contact Cllr Barton to clarify whether the proposed Tandridge local government representative should be at SCC or TDC level, and who it should be.

9. Miscellaneous Matters:
a. Airports: Cllr Johnson reported that Alan Simmons had not received feedback from Flightpath on his report about the meeting he and Cllr Myers had had with Biggin Hill Airport management (see July minutes), but he had drawn attention to the article headed "Runway Success" in "Management Today" which largely replicated his report. Alan emphasised the nature of the problem for Woldingham: BHA still has huge capacity to increase flight numbers when most other airports are at full capacity, and is Britain's fastest growing airport. Other points mentioned were that:
1. Boris Johnson is to be asked for his official view on whether BHA should be expanded (Livingstone was against this). It was agreed that WPC should write to Boris Johnson.
2. There is to be an important vote by Bromley councillors early next week on a new development which could result in a large increase in helicopter traffic at BHA.
3. Flightpath would like a WPC representative to join their steering committee. It was agreed that Cllr Myers should be asked to undertake this role, on the basis that Alan Simmons could be his alternate if that was acceptable to all concerned.
b. Station Car Parking: A response is awaited from TDC to the letter sent by WPC. Cllr Barton reported by e-mail that other aspects of this issue will be progressed in September, since it has not been possible to hold the necessary discussions in the holiday period.
c. School Parking: In Cllr Barton's absence nothing to report.
d. WAG: Cllr Pirie advised that the report by transport consultants to be considered at the Tandridge Local Committee meeting on 5 September was helpful, since it recommended against both the one-way proposal on Chalk Pit Lane and the suggested haul road up to the Ridge. A prioritised list of other measures, close to WAG's thinking, was recommended for implementation when resources permit. Cllr Johnson advised that she had written to other Parish Councils so that they can make their contributions.
e. Cold Calling: PCSO Harris-Ross has submitted an application to Trading Standards. TDC's reply on whether planning permission is needed for the signs is awaited.
f. Litter pick on 27 September: It was agreed that Cllrs Marks and Barton will allocate roads to councillors, for them to recruit helpers, and review the relevant points in the risk assessment. Cllr Marks will take action to secure the first aider required for this event.
g. Northdown Road footpath: Cllr Marks reported that the path is owned by SCC Highways, who had inspected the site and provided initial comments. Given their resource constraints, SCC do not attach priority to improvement of the path, but their ownership has consequences for any action for improvement by WPC. After discussion of options the Council resolved in principle, subject to cost, to proceed with a project to improve the part of the path which does not yet have a tarmac surface and the section up to the seat (some 120 metres plus the replacement of existing paving leading to the seat). To progress this, it was agreed that WPC should write to Derek Poole (SCC Highways) to seek his advice, pointing out that this is a community project which WPC wishes to carry out at minimum cost, and to invite him to a site meeting to identify all the issues to enable the necessary quotations to be obtained. Cllr Howe offered her experience of managing tendering processes to deal with the relevant aspects when WPC is ready to proceed.
h. Grants: Cllr Johnson drew attention to the timetable for finalising the precept (WPC's November meeting) and the need to identify deserving recipients for grants and take decisions on grants to be made before that deadline. The previous list and some other village organisations were considered, and it was agreed that members would encourage deserving village organisations to apply for grants with appropriate supporting information.
i. Maintenance of the View Point: Following a suggestion made before the meeting, it was agreed that WPC should write to TDC to remind them of their responsibility for this and the need for them to arrange appropriate action on it.

10. Meetings to attend:
Tandridge Local Committee at 10.15 am on 5 September at Oxted Community Centre (consideration of report on "Highway Considerations for Oxted Chalk Quarry Traffic").

11. Correspondence:
1 letter had been received this month regarding the footpath on Northdown Road.

A letter had also been received from Mr. John O'Brien, and the Council resolved to continue the established policy of not responding to correspondence from him.

12. Any Other Business:
a. Diary: All Councillors completed diary dates for September 2008.
b. Cllr Fuller will pursue with Michael Batterbury the long awaited detailed map to assist WPC's work on planning and other issues.
c. Cllr Fuller noted that Long Hill had been maintained by Caterham and Warlingham UDC in the distant past. It was agreed that Cllr Pirie would check the status of Long Hill in the 1987 Inspector's Report on roads in Woldingham and report at the September meeting.

Meeting ended at 9.32
1 member of the public present

Before the meeting:

John Osborne noted that TDC were shown as responsible for maintaining the View Point in a 2006 TDC document. While volunteers had in practice been doing this job, he asked WPC to write to TDC to remind them of this responsibility and the need for them to arrange appropriate action on it.

John also said he would be willing to attend a site meeting about the footpath on Northdown Road if that would be helpful.