Action

1.

Welcome

Chairman Peter James welcomed those present and thanked them for coming. 

2.

Minutes

A copy of the minutes for the last meeting on 7^th December 2006 were submitted, approved and duly signed by Cllr James. 

3.

Parish Plan Steering Group

Mr Malcom Tier, Chairman of the Parish Plan Steering Group gave a short presentation on the work achieved in the last year by the Group.  A questionnaire had been distributed to each household in Firsdown with a response rate of approximately 40%.  Thanks were given in particular to Cllr Richards in his role as a member of the Steering Group as he had very kindly given a great deal of his time to assimilate the questionnaire responses.  Mr Tier said the next step was to communicate with the community on what has been found in the Group’s research and it is envisaged to conduct a follow-up questionnaire in order to finally formulate a Parish Plan in the estimated time of one year from now.

Cllr Hawkins noted that a Neighbourhood Watch questionnaire/survey is being planned to be distributed by WPC Amanda Warren in March and added that it may be useful to the Steering Group if they liaised with WPC Warren in order that question’s were not repeated in the Steering Group’s follow-up questionnaire.  The Clerk agreed to give Mr Tier the contact details of WPC Warren.

Clerk

4.

Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting

Noticeboards – The Clerk reported that she had contacted Richard George to ascertain whether the noticeboard, formerly at Great Croft Road, had been repaired.  Mr George replied that he had not had time to repair the board.  It was agreed that the Clerk should ask Mr George to ask if he would be happy for the Council to arrange for a carpenter to repair the board and then for Mr George to erect the board.

Play area: rubber tiles, fencing update, overgrown vegetation, movement of signage, new refuse bin for teenage play area.  The Clerk gave the Council an update on the research she had done following the last meeting.  Two quotations had been received from Redlynch Leisure for the option of wet pour surfaces on the various play apparatus in the play area as a whole and then a quote showing the cost of individual or grouped areas of wet pour repair.  Due to the large cost of repair it was decided to apply for a SWAG grant from Salisbury District Council to help cover the costs of the repairs.  In addition the Clerk was asked to contact the National Lottery regarding their “National Awards for All” scheme.  The Clerk was further asked to contact Cllr Devine in order to ascertain whether he could suggest any further forms of funding.   Cllr Tier agreed to look into alternative funding options under the “Funding Alert” bulletin that the Council received on a weekly basis.

A further option to cover costs is the R2 funds allotted to the Parish Council.  The Clerk reported that she had received a letter from Sarah Wright of Salisbury District Council informing the Council that they had £1,217.41 left to spend on youth/adult outdoor recreation facilities.  The Council asked the Clerk to contact Sarah in order to clarify that the remaining monies was indeed to spent on youth/adult facilities as it was felt that the Council had already used the allotted R2 funds under this heading in the new teenage play area and it was felt that the monies could be reassigned to the category of the under 12’s age group thus covering the costs of the necessary repairs to the play area surface.

The Clerk informed the Council that she had contacted the company Fencewize, who had erected the fencing in the new teenage play area, on more than several occasions in the hope of organising a further matching line of fencing on the remaining side.  The Clerk agreed to pursue this on behalf of the Council.

Following on from the last minutes a resident asked if the Parish Council could contact the landowner responsible for the area near the play area and in particular overgrown vegetation obstructing the path and therefore causing a visibility hazard.  The Clerk reported that she had contacted the landowner in question and that they had agreed to look into the matter.

It was reported that Cllr Simcock had kindly moved at the request of the Council, signage from the play area to the end of the fencing of the new teenage play in order that the sign was more visible.

Cllr Hibberd reported that following her research and contact with Salisbury District Council that a refuse bin was to be delivered free of charge to Richard George and that Mr George had agreed to erect the bin for use in the new teenage play area.  Thanks were given to Cllr Hibberd for her work in acquiring the bin on behalf of the Council.                                                                                                                                             

Following a request, the Clerk reported that she had passed the relevant forms to Mr Tier, Chairman of the Parish Plan Steering Group, in order that he complete, to enable the funding of £500 be released to the Parish Council.  It was noted that the funding had not been received as yet and that Cllr Richards had incurred £200 in printing expenses.  It was agreed that Mr Tier should send a proposal and invoice to Cllr James in order that Cllr Richards be re-imbursed.  Cllr Tier agreed to pass on this decision to Mr Tier.

The Clerk reported that she had reported a loose man hole cover to Clarence, reference: 227503.                      

Clerk

Clerk

Cllr Tier

Clerk

Clerk      

5.

Financial Report

The Clerk distributed the Parish Council’s spreadsheet to the Council members with details of the Council’s financial accounts and transactions for the last month.   The current balance in hand is £4,279.27. 

A cheque for £411.25 for Fencewize was authorised.

6.

Clean Neighbourhood Acct 2005

It was decided to postpone discussion of this item to the March agenda.

7.

Highways and Speeding

The Council asked the Clerk to contact WPC Amanda Warren to follow up a request by the Council that she contact Steve Colwill, Traffic Management Officer at Wiltshire Constabulary regarding his letter of 22^nd October concerning the automated survey of vehicle speeds taken in Firs Road in 2006.

The Clerk informed the Council that she had finally ascertained that Wiltshire Highways would not replace the missing window pane in one of the bus shelter’s in Firs Road as it was not considered to be under their jurisdiction.  The Clerk reported that she had taken and forwarded several photographs of the shelter in question to Wiltshire Highways in order that they ascertain the make of the shelter and that the Clerk then contact the manufacturer to organise the replacement pane at the cost of the Parish Council.

Clerk

Clerk

8

Roman Road

Following an item in the last minutes concerning the Roman Road, it was reported that a local resident, had conducted extensive research on the matter.  Cllr Hawkins noted that he was due to meet with Nick Cowen, Rights of Way Officer to discuss the issue.

Cllr James reported that he had received a letter from a resident concerned about the presence of an owner and horse on a permissive path in the Parish.  Concern was that that the misuse of the path may force the landowner to close the path for public use.  Cllr Hawkins agreed to contact Nick Cowen, Rights of Way Officer, and report back to the Council at the next meeting.

Cllr Hawkins

9.

Planning

S/2006/2165 – 6 Firs Close – Full application – new dwelling to rear and replacement garage to existing dwelling.  This application had been refused by Salisbury District Council.

The Clerk was asked to contact Salisbury District Council to obtain a map of the Flood zones as mentioned in one of the reasons for refusal in this application.

S/2007/153 – 38 Firs Road – Full application, single storey side extension and demolition of existing and loft conversion and associated works.

Cllr Richards asked that it be minuted that he was disappointed that Cllr Devine had not attended the meeting despite communication with the Clerk that he would do so and that no apologies had been received on his behalf.  Cllr Devine had agreed to answer a query set by Cllr Richards regarding the boundary of 52 Firs Road.

Clerk

10.

Parish Walk

Cllr Hawkins reported that he and the Clerk had organised a date for the 2007 Parish Walk to take place on the evening of 12^th July at Porton Down.  The Clerk agreed to display a poster advertising the walk with details in late May/early June.

Clerk

11.

Correspondence

Wiltshire County Council - White Paper “Strong and Prosperous Communities” – it was agreed that this item be placed on a future agenda for discussion.

Mr Nigel Walsh, resident - email that had been copied to the Parish Council concerning vandalism.

12.

Any other business

Cllr Richards re-iterated his past comments that the hedge at the top of Firs Road, on the left hand side near to the used car lot, required cutting.  The Clerk noted that this had been previously reported to Clarence as requested and was awaiting work to commence.  Cllr Hawkins suggested that he would mention the matter to the Parish Steward.

Cllr Richards made note that a letter received by the Council, dated 8^th December, from Salisbury District Council and entitled “District Costs and Parish Precepts” should be placed on the March agenda for further discussion.

Cllr Richards asked that the item of the AGM be placed on the March agenda for discussion.  In light of this, Cllr Tier suggested that it would useful if the Council gave a presentation at the AGM explaining to the public how the Parish Council actually spends it’s precept.  Cllr James agreed to give such a presentation and asked that all Councillors to make notes of items suitable for discussion at the next meeting.

Cllr James made note that he would be unable to attend the April meeting of the Parish Council and that Cllr Hibberd would be unable to attend the March meeting.

Cllr Hawkins

Clerk

Clerk

All Councillors

13.

Questions or points from the floor

A member of the audience asked the Parish Council what its thought’s of support and finance were for the possible repeat in 2007 of the Firsdown Music Fayre.  Cllr James commented that the Parish Council would be in support of such an event and suggested that the Clerk write to the organiser, Mr Graham Wright, confirming this.

Clerk