MINUTES of a Meeting held at the Peace Hall, Garden Village, Woldingham on 27 October at 7.30pm.

Present:           Jill Meekings (Chairman); Bill Williams; Sally Marks; Colin Packington; Jeff Jeffery; Karen Newman (Clerk); Michael Batterbury

1. Apologies: Cllrs Moylan, Johnson and Fuller

2. Minutes: The Minutes of the meeting held on the 28 September had been circulated and were signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

3. Declarations of Interest

            Cllr Marks - member of another authority Surrey County Council

            Cllr Packington - Forest Edge, Station Road

            Cllrs Meekings, Williams and Cllr Marks’ husband are members of the Horticultural Society

            Cllr Jeffery and Packington are members of the Village Institute

4. Matters arising: Action list which had been circulated to all Councillors before the meeting was discussed and will be updated for the November meeting. 

5.  Planning Matters:

a.      A copy of Appendix A had been circulated to all members before the meeting and the Council voted to ratify the recommendations of the Planning Group. 

b.     Infringements:

Cllr Packington read through the infringement report which had been circulated to all Councillors before the meeting.  The Chairman asked for a letter to be sent to Mr Evans, TDC, Planning outlining the Parish Council’s concerns re Forest Edge, Station Road.          Clerk to send.

Cllr Marks advised that the hedges on the rights hand side past North Downs Golf Club are now approximately 8 feet high and are obscuring the view.  Cllr Marks asked for a letter to be sent to the Golf Club asking them to severely cut back the hedges to about 4ft in height. Clerk to send.

C.   Ombudsman:

Cllr Jeffery mentioned that the Parish Council needs to contact SCAPT Solicitor to see how the Council can move forward in the complaints procedure.  Also to ask the Solicitor whether the Parish Council as a whole can go to the Ombudsman or does it have to be an individual.           Clerk to contact SCAPT Solicitor.

It was agreed that Cllr Batterbury would purchase 2 copies of the standard conditions re planning consent.

6.  Finance:

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

b.    Grants:  The Clerk had e-mailed before the meeting a list of grant applications received.  The Chairman advised that a £1,000 grant had already been issued to St Agathas Churchyard so there was a sum of £3,000 left.  Each grant application was considered and it was decided to give the following: Craigmyle Glebe £500 in respect of the playgound area, Garden Village £200 in respect of materials towards a new compost bin area and the Horticultural Society £300 for the purchasing of Crocus bulbs for planting around the Village. A long discussion also took place over the grant application of Mr Amin - Village Shop re installation of Sony CCTV system.  It was agreed that a security project for the Crescent has much merit and would benefit the whole Village.  However, it was felt that this should be considered as a separate project for the Council to support rather than by way of a grant to an individual business.  The best way forward was discussed to include consultation with the other businesses/residents of the Crescent.  The Chairman asked the Clerk to write to Mr Amin.  Cllr Jeffery advised that he has a meeting with a representative from Surrey Community Action next week with regard to a possible grant of £500 towards security. The Chairman also mentioned that under the 2007/2008 Grant Allowance we had received a request from St. Agathas Churchyard and also from the Village Institute.  The Chairman asked Cllr Marks to liaise with the latter particularly with any future planning for the Village Hall.  Further information was required to support the grant request from the Scout and Guide Group which was therefore deferred until the 2007/08 allocations.

7.  Highways & Rights of Way:

a.         Highways Monitoring and Reporting:  Cllr Marks advised the meeting that the new contact number for Highways is 08456 009 009.  Cllr Marks also mentioned that the Community Gang is being resurrected and asked for Councillors to e-mail her with any jobs around the Village.  The Chairman advised that all requests to Highways should go through Cllr Fuller who will report back at the next meeting of any action.

b.         Service Road: The Chairman advised that the 2006/07 invoices had now been issued and two payments have already been received.  Cllr Packington advised that he has purchased a chain in readiness for the legal road closure of the Service Road and emphasised that the wording must be correct on the notices and individual letters needed to be sent to all residents and businesses explaining why and how this would be happening.

c..         Slines Oak Island: Cllrs Jeffery and Packington advised that they had had a meeting with Highways who have informed them that there is no money in the budget but would come back to the Parish Council with a budget to clean up the island.

8.  Reports:

MacMillan Coffee Morning - nothing to report

10/10 Hearing - land behind Roseacre - Cllr Packington attended along with 15 residents from the Village.  Awaiting decision.

16/10 Village Hall - Cllr Jeffery advised that Frank the caretaker had now gone and Simon and Liz Aggiss were standing in as temporary caretakers.  Cllr Jeffery confirmed that the Village Hall Committee were in the process of advertising the vacancy.

24/10 Parking Meetings - The Chairman advised that two meetings were held at the Village Hall 10am and 7.30pm.  The Chairman mentioned that no one came to the 10am meeting but 10 residents/businesses turned up to the 7.30pm meeting.  The residents/businesses advised the Parish Council that they did not feel there were any parking problems in the Crescent but did suggest that they would not park in the 3 bays opposite the Village Shop to allow short term shoppers to park easily to gain access to any of the businesses in the Crescent.  This was appreciated and, if effective, would eliminate the need for seeking further parking controls.  The issue would be raised in the next newsletter to seek views  from the rest of the village. 

9.  Miscellaneous Matters:

a.         Airports: In Cllr Moylan’s absence - nothing to report

b.         Post Office/Village Shop: Cllr Jeffery advised that things were still on target for a possible opening date of November 17.

c.         Litter Pick September 30 - Cllr Packington advised that only 32 people had turned up to do the litter pick and mentioned that in order for it to work that more volunteers are needed and also all Councillors need to attend.  The next litter pick is the last Saturday in April (28 April).

d.         Road Group: This item will be removed from the agenda as the speed restrictions were approved at the Local Committee Meeting on the 29 September. Implementation will hopefully take place in the later part of 2007.

e.         Security:  Covered above.

f.    Christmas Tree/Decorations: The Chairman advised that the Reverend Charles Bradshaw has agreed to conduct a carols evening on Friday 15 December.  All the shops will be open for the evening and Fine & Country have kindly agreed to run the electricity for the Christmas lights.   There will be mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies available. 

g.   Parking: covered above

h.   Village Event: The Chairman advised that herself and Cllr Moylan had a meeting with the Village Institute to talk about ideas for the Village Event scheduled for the 14 July 2007.  A group of residents is still required to drive this initiative.

i.    Newsletter: The Chairman thanked everyone for their contributions and advised that she had been in contact with Sue Edwards and they hoped to distribute the newsletter by the end of November.

10. Meetings to attend

APM Dial A Ride 22/11/06 - Cllr Batterbury to attend

11.  Correspondence:

Correspondence received during the month was circulated to all Councillors during the meeting.

12.  Any Other Business:

a.         Diary: All Councillors completed diary dates for November.

Meeting ended at 10.05 and was attended by 2 members of the public.

Next meeting to be held on 30 November at Woldingham Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Police Meeting at 7pm.

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APPENDIX B

WOLDINGHAM PARISH COUNCIL

OCTOBER 2006

Gold Account

Balance as at 27 October 2006                                          £58,247.82

Monies Paid In

Churchill Properties (2^nd instalment re service road)              £268.85

Craigmyle Glebe (2^nd instalment re service road)                  £199.15

Expenses Paid During the Month

Bobby Johnson exp re Park Mews                                       £17.96

Expenses to be paid:

Karen Newman Wages & Expenses                                     £516.40

Planning Assistant                                                               £250.00

Society of Local Council Clerks - re Practioners Guide           £16.99

Colin Packington Expenses re Service Road                         £24.66

Expenses for the month                                                    £826.01

Monies Paid In                                                                   £468.00

Balance                                                                             £950.28