Action

1.

Welcome

Mr James welcomed those present and thanked them for coming.  Apologies were received from  Councillor Simcock.

2.

Minutes

A copy of the minutes for the last meeting on 4^th May 2006 were submitted, approved and duly signed by Mr James. 

3.

Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting

Midwinter Farm - the Clerk confirmed she had enquired with Salisbury District Council as to whether a planning application had been submitted regarding a telecommunications mast at Midwinter Farm.  Mrs Janet Wallace of the District Council had confirmed that an application had been submitted and approved in 2003.

Play area –  it was confirmed that the vandalism damage to the play area surface had now been successfully repaired and that payment had been received from the Parish Council insurers to partly cover the cost of repair.  The Clerk confirmed that after consultation with Mr George, he had agreed to quote and repair the broken handle to the pillar rocker which had been damaged due to recent vandalism.

Noticeboards – the Clerk confirmed that the recent purchase of new noticeboards had now been delivered to Mr George.  It was agreed that Mr George would quote for the erection of the new noticeboards and Mr James agreed to liaise with him to ensure this was carried out.

R2 funds: update – it was reported that a number of Councillors had canvassed teenagers at the recent Firsdown Music Fayre as to their preference for new teenage play equipment.  The majority response had been a preference for either a seating area or basketball structure.

After discussion it was agreed in principle to spend the allotted R2 funds and to form a sub-committee consisting of Mr Hawkins, Mrs Hibberd, Mrs Tier and Mr Richards, to ensure the purchase of teenage play equipment was carried out.  The results from this the sub-committee would be reported to the Parish Council July meeting.  It was suggested and agreed that it would be beneficial if two or more teenagers should be asked to join the sub-committee to give their advice.  Mr Richards suggested that a waste bin was a necessity in the play area site.

The Council asked the Clerk to contact the Archaeological Society at the Environment department of Wiltshire County Council to make them aware that the Parish Council intended to place new equipment in the play area site.  In addition, as the Parish Council rents the play area land from the District Council the Clerk was asked to advise the District Council as to their intentions.

Footpath 4 – It was reported that Mr Hawkins had been in contact with Nick Cowan, Rights of Way Officer regarding the ongoing issue of Footpath 4.  The farmer had previously promised to re-instate the footpath and has recently claimed that he has re-seeded the path with grass seed in April.  However, after a visit to Footpath 4 by Mr Hawkins and the Clerk they could find no evidence of such a re-seeding.  Mr Cowan has offered to arrange a meeting between the farmer and himself with the attendance of Parish Council member(s) in order to resolve this issue.  After discussion it was decided that the Clerk should contact Nick Cowan to ensure that this meeting be arranged and Council member(s) would attend.

Mr James

Mr Hawkins,  Mrs Hibberd, Mr Richards, Mrs Tier

Clerk

Clerk

4.

Financial Report

The Clerk distributed a spreadsheet to the Council members with details of the Council’s financial accounts and transactions for the last month.

It was confirmed that following a claim for VAT for 2005/2006, payment had been received and banked into Council funds.

It was decided that the Parish Council should fund the expenditure of the recent toilet hire facilities for the Firsdown Music Fayre.  It had been previously agreed that the expenditure would be taken from the interest of the Firs Road ratepayers association.  It was now decided that should the Parish Council require the cost of the hire facilities in the future then the monies could be repaid from this interest.

5.

Steering Group presentation – results of leaflet drop

Mr Richards informed the Council that the presentation would have to be postponed until the July meeting due to the need to gather further data.

Mr Richards

6.

Highways and Speeding

Hedge cutting – a discussion took place as to what the hedge cutting was currently required within the Parish.  It was agreed that the play area and the footpath to the play area, and in addition the inside field edge at Dunstable Crossroads needed cutting.  Mr Green kindly offered to cut the play area and footpath to the play area and the Clerk was asked to write to Mrs Jowett at New Manor Farm concerning the field edge at Dunstable Crossroads.

It was noted that the trees at the bottom of Firs Road, near the 30mph sign were in need of pruning as they were obstructing the street lighting.  The Clerk was asked to contact Clarence in order that the trees be cut back. 

Mr Hawkins reported that he had attended a recent meeting at Antrobus House, Amesbury, organised by Wiltshire County Council to discuss Highways issues and in particular changes to the Parish Lengthsmen scheme.  It was decided that this be added to the July agenda for discussion.

A short discussion took place with Councillor Moss concerning the Roman Road and vehicular traffic using the Road.  Mr Hawkins made comment that clarification was needed with regard to the legislation of vehicular traffic using Roman Road’s.  Councillor Moss agreed to clarify the situation with particular reference to 4x4 vehicles with Barbara Burke, WCC Senior Rights of Way Officer.

David Green & Clerk

Clerk

Clerk

Councillor Moss

7.

Planning

The Clerk distributed the quarterly planning application spreadsheet to Councillors and members of the audience for their perusal.  Thanks were given to the Parish Clerk for its preparation.

·          S/2006/880 – 77 Firs Road: Full application – single storey extension and car port – the Parish Council had no objections to this application

·          S/2006/707 – Rear of 2,4,6 Firs Road, Firsdown – O/L redevelopment of industrial site for housing with associated recreation space, play area and site for community facilities.  It was reported that the Southern Area Committee had unanimously refused this application, held on 1^st June. 

It was noted that the Parish Council had supported this application subject to conditions and had recently sent an amended response to Salisbury District Council.

In light of this application and comments made by Councillor Moss it was decided that the Clerk should write to Eric Teagle, Head of Forward Planning at Salisbury Council to invite him to a Parish Council meeting to discuss the Structure Plan.  The main aim of this meeting would be to seek guidance regarding the Plan with particular regard to understanding the procedure on planning boundaries.

The issue of how planning application responses are prepared and fedback to Salisbury District Council was discussed.  It was now decided that all planning application responses to the District Council should be prepared in the same manner as before but with the alteration that the response should be forwarded to Mr James for final comment.  The Clerk is to either deliver by hand or electronically scan the “Councillor comment sheet” to Mr James together with the final prepared Parish Council response.  Mr James noted that this change was not to interfere with the deadline set by the District Council and if necessary the Clerk should still forward the response to the District Council should Mr James not be available.

It was noted by a member of the audience that there was a difference in response times to the District Council for planning applications (Parish Council has a 14 day response and resident comment is 21 days).  It was agreed by the Councillors that the Parish Council should make this clear in bold in the Parish précis.  In addition, to note that residents should inform the Parish Council of any objections they may have to an application as a matter of urgency.

Clerk

Clerk

8.

Correspondence received and sent

None reported.

9.

Any other business & Councillors comments

Mrs Hibberd commented that the Firsdown Music Fayre had been a great success, with attendance of well over 400 people.  Mr James had kindly taken several photographs of the event and Mr Richards was asked to put the photographs on the Parish web page.

The Clerk was asked to send a letter to Mr George and Professor Wright to thank them for their help in the event and to acknowledge their hard work and effort as it was very much appreciated.

Mr James noted that there had been no responses to the recently advertised Parish logo competition.

Mr Richards

Clerk

10.

Questions of points from the floor

A resident expressed his concern that quad bikes were being ridden on land near the play area and asked the Council whether this was permissible.  In light of this the Council asked the Clerk firstly to write to Wiltshire County Council to clarify who owns the land in question.

Clerk