LIMPSFIELD PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting held on
in the Glebe Room, St Peter’s Hall,
High Street, Limpsfield at
PRESENT: Chairman Mrs A Williams (AW)
Councillors Mr B Alexander (BA), Mrs R Harris (RH),
Mrs
C Heijmer (CH), Mr D Marnham (DM),
Mr
J Pannett (JP), Mr C Walker (CW), Mrs L Wingate (LW)
In attendance: Clerk Mrs
G Cannon
1.0 APOLOGIES
Apologies were received
from Stella Bryant.
2.0 MINUTES
The minutes
of the previous meeting were approved and signed as a true record.
The Clerk
requested the Chairman to sign a new set of minutes for the meeting held on
3.0 MATTERS ARISING
There were no matters arising.
4.0 PUBLIC SESSION
The Chairman welcomed Clare
Calderwood, Jocelyn Critchett, Angela Howells, and Amanda Masters from the
Limpsfield Chart Playground Association, and Ron Bristow and Chris Neal to the
meeting.
Mr Bristow gave his apologies for
being unable to attend the forthcoming Annual Passenger Transport Assembly to
be held on
5.0 COUNTY & DISTRICT COUNCILLOR REPORTS
District Cllr Colin Walker reported
on the Community Services Committee meeting at which it was decided to put
arrangements in place to enter into an agency agreement with Surrey County
Council and to implement an in-house Decriminalised Parking Enforcement
service. CW also reported on the Clean
Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 which contains a range of measures
designed to improve the quality of the local environment. Some of the new powers will be enacted in
June 2005. The remainder will be subject
to new regulations and will be enacted in April 2006, after a period of
consultation. The Planning &
Environment Committee discussed the new legislation relating to hedges at
length, particularly in regard to the proposed fee payable by the complainant.
6.0 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT (including
correspondence)
Vandalism
near St Peter’s Hall, High Street, Limpsfield:
the Clerk reported the vandalism (crime number
B/0512025) to PC Hazel who telephoned the Clerk to confirm that extra police
patrols had been put in place.
Limpsfield in Bloom: next meeting to be held in the Millennium Room, St Peter’s, Wednesday,
6 July at
6.0
Chairman’s
report (cont’d)
Corrrespondence:
·
SCC
– invitation from the Children and Young People
Strategy Unit to attend a workshop aimed at improving services for children to
be held at
·
SCC
– invitation to the Annual Passenger Transport
Assembly to be held on 14 July 2005 at the
H G Wells Conference and Events Centre in Woking from 10 am to 1.15 pm. Decline.
·
TDC
– Tomorrow’s Tandridge. Consultation on the Core Strategy Issues and
Options Paper June 2005. Questionnaires
to be completed and returned by
·
DEFRA – timetable for introduction of Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act
2005.
·
·
SCC
– Tandridge Local Committee – agenda for meeting on
7.0 PARISH COUNCILLORS’ REPORTS
7.1 Parish Plan Committee
The next meeting will be held at
7.2 Playground Committee
The Chairman thanked DM for the
excellent report he had circulated to all members prior to the meeting.
DM explained that the report
addressed the issue of the Parish Council commissioning and operating a
playground irrespective of where it might be in the parish. In his opinion, this is the only feasible way
to provide such a facility since the risks associated with it are high. It is a two stage decision i) to determine
whether the Parish Council is prepared to commission and operate a playground
and ii) if it is, to prepare a detailed specification for this particular
playground, the most important aspect being the location, which would then come
back to the Parish Council for its formal consideration.
There are also three key areas to
consider a) the liability to the Parish Council in terms of i) its financial
liability and ii) its reputational liability; b) the financial implications to
the Parish Council; c) the amount of work it would involve the Parish Council
in.
It is vital to ensure that the
playground is constructed and maintained in accordance with “best
practice”.
DM answered a number of questions
from the floor. The responses are
summarised as follows:
1. DM confirmed that the initial indication from
the National Trust is that the rent required is likely to be peppercorn.
2. The National Trust has indicated that the
Parish Council would have the right to terminate the lease. Part of the detail would be to obtain draft
leases but it is too early to do that yet.
3. As the actual lease is not going to be
expensive there would be no point in granting a sub-lease to the Playground
Association. The Parish Council would
still have to have overall responsibility for the playground to satisfy the
insurer.
4. The playground will be fenced but not
secure.
5. DM believes that a playground of the
appropriate standard can be constructed but it must then be maintained at that
level.
7.2 Playground Committee (cont’d)
6. There will be an additional insurance premium
to cover the equipment.
7. The amount of safety monitoring
required will depend upon the co-operation of Tandridge District Council which
has not yet been formally approached. If
TDC is unable to carry out weekly inspections, Councillors and Playground
Association members will have to be Rosper trained to do them.
8. DM agreed that the Parish Council should look
into the procedure for setting up a formal Sub-committee comprising Parish
Councillors and co-opted members of the Playground Association which will
become operational once there are some specific proposals for it to consider.
9. Jocelyn Critchett confirmed that the
Playground Association were satisfied that they could raise the sort of money
required once the National Trust has given its approval for the scheme. It is proposed to hold an annual fund raising
event to cover ongoing costs.
BA proposed that the Parish Council should support the playground. A vote was taken and it was unanimously resolved to support in principle the commissioning and operating of a playground
in Limpsfield by Limpsfield Parish Council.
It was agreed that DM, BA and CH,
in conjunction with the Playground
Association would investigate further the matters highlighted in the report and
report back to a subsequent Parish Council meeting.
7.3
Rights
of Way
There was nothing to report.
7.4 Planning
Watts
Hill Potential Mineral Zone (PMZ): JP reported on a meeting held by local residents at Limpsfield Golf Club
on
JP explained that this is just
one of the three sites in Limpsfield identified by SCC for potential sand
extraction, to which JP prepared a submission on behalf of the Parish Council
last autumn giving detailed reasons why all three sites should not go
ahead. The original consultation
highlighted 107 sites for mineral extraction, from which 21 preferred sites
were to be put forward for public scrutiny before an inspector was appointed to
give his report which would be binding on SCC.
SCC was not proposing to recommend any of the three Limpsfield
sites. It would appear, however, that
Titsey Estate, who already operate three sandpits in Limpsfield and two further
sandpits just over the Kent border, has expressed a desire to extract sand at
Watts Hill and has put forward four highly contentious suggestions for getting
sand away from the potentially lucrative site.
JP highlighted the fact that the Titsey Estate, whilst managing the existing
sandpits very efficiently, did not have a good record of site restoration once
extraction was complete.
Residents are extremely concerned
that the granting of a mineral licence will seriously blight the land. There
appears to be little support so far from Tandridge District Council. Mr Nick Skellett has expressed a view that it
is unlikely to be a suitable site. The
Consultation on the preferred sites is expected to take place between April and
June 2006, with the inspector’s report scheduled for November 2006.
JP recommended that the residents
set up a formal association funded by donations from interested parties. In answer to a question about land ownership,
JP agreed to ask for this to be put on the agenda of the next meeting held by
the residents.
7.4
Planning
(cont’d)
BA proposed a vote of thanks to
JP for his excellent presentation at the meeting.
Bull PH
free standing sign: the sign that was erected outside the Bull PH in Limpsfield High Street
was not part of the planning consent granted under application TA/2005/14
earlier this year. It has now been
removed at the request of TDC.
The
Ridge,
Boulthurst
Farm: District
Cllr CW will express the Parish Council’s concerns at the next Development
Control Committee meeting that activities are taking place at the converted
barn other than the teaching classes for which planning permission was granted
and in particular retail sales as observed by Members of the Council on visits
to the site.
No objections to
TA/2005/849 88 BLUEHOUSE LANE, LIMPSFIELD
ERECTION OF DETACHED BIN/CYCLE
STORE.
TA/2005/858 PASTURES,
ERECTION OF SINGLE STOREY EXTENSION
TO NORTH WEST ELEVATION.
TA/2005/902 1 & 3 GATEWAY SUPERMARKET,
ERECTION OF SHUTTERS TO MAIN
ENTRANCE OF STORE.
CW declared an
interest in the following application:
TA/2005/600 TITSEY
DISPLAY OF TWO NON-ILLUMINATED SIGNS
TO VIEWING PLATFORM.
TA/2005/870 WILDWOOD,
ERECTION OF 1.8M HIGH TIMBER FENCE
LINKED TO BRICK WALL WITH 2.6M HIGH BRICK PIERS & GATES.
TA/2005/954 SPRING COTTAGE,
DEMOLITION OF EXISTING UTILITY ROOM
& ERECTION OF SINGLE STOREY REAR EXTENSION.
Planning Refusals
TA/2005/532 10 Park Road, Limpsfield
Demolition of stable block,
chimney and conservatory. Erection of 2
x 5 bed houses each with detached double garage.
TA/2005/551 Rose Cottage
Move kitchen door, create extended
cupboards under the stairs, remove lower stair hall wall and replace with oak
retaining rails/stair posts.
TA/2003/938/A1 Boulthurst Farm, Pains Hill, Limpsfield
Planning Approvals
(cont’d)
Variation of condition 4 of permission 2003/938 to
allow use to take place on
TA/2005/523/TPO Beechdene,
TPO45 (T) – crown thin cedar by 5 – 10%, crown lift
canopy to the level of lowest roadside limb and reduce limb over garage by up
to 50%.
TA/2005/542 85
Bluehouse Lane, Limpsfield
Demolition of existing garage/car port. Erection of 2 storey side extension and
single storey infill side extension with first floor over existing rear
addition.
7.5 Highways
Correspondence:
·
Copy of e-mail from Mr Stone to District
Cllr CW regarding
RH
reported on the following:
Pollards
Lime trees, High Street,
Limpsfield: in spite of
repeated requests to Highways to cut back the lime trees in the High Street
prior to the village fair, this was eventually done by Geoff Tozer late
afternoon on the Friday before.
LW reported a
faulty traffic light at the
7.6 Publicity
There was nothing to report.
7.7 Trees & Parish Property
Old Oxted Landscapers has supplied
a copy of its insurance certificate for the ensuing year.
There was some discussion about
watering the newly planted shrubs adjacent to the Memorial Stores.
8.0 REPORTS FROM
REPRESENTATIVES ON OUTSIDE BODIES
8.1 Limpsfield Common
AW reported that Mr S Kirkwood had
been elected the new Chairman of the Commons Committee.
8.2
There was nothing to report.
8.3 Police Community
Partnership Group
The next meeting will be held at
Hurst Green Community Centre on
9.0 FINANCE
9.1 To adopt Financial Regulations incorporating
the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2003
The new set of Financial Regulations were adopted by the Parish Council
and duly signed by the Chairman.
9.2 Accounts for Payment
Resolved: to pay the following accounts
·
Clerk’s salary (so
·
Clerk’s expenses (May & June £5.85), Broadband
(June £14.00)
plus 3 months’ back dated salary increment (£50.00)(chq 301) £69.85
·
St Peter’s Hall (hall hire on
·
Old Oxted Landscapers (grass cutting) (chq 303) £112.00
10.0
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
CH
proposed a further vote of thanks to JP for the excellent way in which he had
represented the Parish Council at the meeting to discuss the Watts Hill PMZ.
RH
proposed a vote of thanks to CH for all her help in planting the shrubs in the
High Street.
11.0 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
The next meeting
will be held on
The meeting closed at