Action

1.

Welcome

Mr James welcomed those present and thanked them for coming.  Apologies were received from Councillors Bill Moss and Chris Devine and Sgt Hardiman.

2.

Minutes

A copy of the minutes for the last meeting on 6^th April 2006 were submitted, and after one amendment requested by Mr Richards, were approved, and were duly signed by Mr James. 

3.

Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting

Parish Council insurance – The Clerk reported that she had sought and received two new insurance quotes for the forthcoming year – Community First and Zurich Municipal.  The renewal insurance quote from the current insurers, Allianz Cornhill had also been received.  Following a discussion of the quoted amounts it was decided to renew the insurance policy with the current insurers, Allianz Cornhill.

Play area – Following on from a request at the previous meeting the Clerk confirmed she had written to Redlynch Leisure, the company that had repaired part of the ground surface in the play area following vandalism damage.  The letter had stated that the Council was not happy with the repair and that if the repair was not carried out by 1^st May 2005 then alternative repairers would have to be sought and payment would not be made to Redlynch Leisure.  After discussion it was decided by the Council that the Clerk should telephone Redlynch to ascertain that they would definitely not be carrying out the re-repair and once confirmed the Clerk should write a letter to the company stating this fact.  The letter would be sent by Special Delivery.

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.

Mrs Hibberd noted that an interim audit for 2005/2006 on the Council’s funds had successfully carried out.

The Clerk confirmed that after recent agreement with the Parish Council the new accounts with the Abbey had been set up and that the agreed funds had been transferred to the Abbey in order to gain a greater amount of interest.   The current banking facilities with Barclays bank have been retained until September 2006 with £100 on deposit in both accounts.

It was confirmed that a VAT claim had been completed by Mrs Hibberd and the Clerk and forwarded to the relevant organisation for repayment to Council funds.

At the Annual Parish Meeting a resident had asked why the Parish precept had increased from £4120 to £4500, a rise of nearly 10%.  Mr James requested that an amendment to the minutes be made in answer to this question.  Mrs Hibberd noted that the Parish Council had not asked for an increase in the precept for the last five years and that the recent increase was needed due in particular to an increase in administration costs.  If the Parish Council had asked for a 3% annual increase then the precept for each of the years would have been as follows:

2001/02  - £4120

2002/03  - £4244

2003/04  - £4371

2004/05 -  £4502

2005/06 -  £4637

2006/07  - £4776

The Clerk agreed to write and explain to the resident who had expressed concern at the recent rise in precept.

Clerk

5.

Salisbury District Council – Recreation Policy R2 – follow up discussion of Councillor ideas

A follow up discussion from the last meeting took place regarding the Parish Council’s allotted R2 funds from Salisbury District Council.  Sadly there had been little response from residents following a request by the Parish Council in the Parish newsletter asking for resident comment. 

Following a suggestion from a resident it was decided to have a manned Councillor tent at the forthcoming Firsdown Music Fayre with brochures available and comment sheets aimed at the teenage population of the village.  It was hoped comments could be collected following this exercise in order to further the decision making process as to what equipment should be purchased using R2 funds.  Mrs Tier offered use of her gazebo and it was agreed to organise a timetable for Councillors to be available in order to “man” the tent, with the exception of Mrs Hibberd, who would be unavailable as she would otherwise be engaged acting as chief steward at the event.

6.

Highways and Speeding

Mr James reported that there continued to be a problem in Firs Road with regard to vehicles exceeding the 30mph limit.

7.

Planning

·          S/2006/671 – 3 Firs Close (rear of) – Proposed bungalow.  The Parish Council objected to this application on the grounds of concerns over access and contravention of  H16, G2 and D3 of the Salisbury District Local Plan.

·          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.  The Parish Council supported this application subject to conditions.  One letter of objection had been received.

A discussion took place following the announcement of the Parish Council’s decision on this application.  Mr Richards expressed his concern that the response from the Parish Council to Salisbury District Council did not reflect the views of the Councillors.  Mr James added that in light of this, the response now needed to be revised and it was agreed to review this application.  The Clerk agreed to re-distribute the application for the Parish Council to view all Councillor comments.  In addition it was agreed to add a discussion item of planning applications and how responses are prepared and fedback to Salisbury District Council to the agenda of the next meeting of the Parish Council.

·          S/2006/107 – Dstl, 18/84 procedure – amended plans.  Chairman Peter James informed the Council that the Parish Council had received amended plans for this application, however, the estate is within the parish boundaries but the planned buildings are not.  The Clerk confirmed that she had written to Salisbury District Council thanking them for sending the Council the plans and for being considerate in keeping the Council informed of the developments. 

·          S/2006/568 – Clearway Kennels, Firsdown – Full application (retain for additional 6 months) 28 metre high mobicell portable lattice tower supporting 3 x colinear antennas with equipment cabin and cabinets.  The Parish Council supported this application subject to conditions.

·          S/2004/0001 – Full application with environmental statement for construction of new Stonehenge visitor centre, transit system, undergrounding of 33 KV power line, removal of existing visitor facilities and replacement with new underground operations facility, restoration works to A344.  The Parish Council made no comment on this application.

·          S/2006/856 – 23 Juniper Road – Full application – demolition of existing garage and erection of single storey extension.  The Council had no objections to this application.

·          Appeal ref: APP/T3915/A/06/2005807: Land off Maple Drive – rear of 64 Firs Road, Firsdown – new dwelling – Appeal dismissed by the Planning Inspectorate.

Clerk

8.

Correspondence received and sent

The Clerk informed the Parish Council that she had received a letter from a concerned resident regarding the Roman Road and the use of the road by traffic.  Following Councillor comment the Clerk agreed to reply to the resident and to forward the letter in question to Sgt Hardiman for his perusal.

Clerk

9.

Any other business

The Clerk was asked to enquire with Salisbury District Council as to whether a planning application had been submitted regarding a telecommunications mast at Midwinter Farm.

Clerk

10.

Councillors comments

It was noted that the Winterslow web page organiser had offered to place a link on the Winterslow web page to the Firsdown Parish Council web page – all Councillors were in agreement that this would be a good idea and in addition agreed to create a similar link from the Firsdown web page to the Winterslow site.  Mr Richards to ensure this was carried out.

Mr Richards