Lavant Valley Partnership

LAVANT VALLEY PARTNERSHIP

Minutes of meeting held on Tuesday 13 January 2004 at East Dean Village Hall

Present: Angie Hobson Eartham Parish Council, email: [email protected] Henry Potter Boxgrove Parish Council Tim Weeks East Dean Parish Council, email: [email protected] Karen Barrett East Dean Parish Council Kate Shaw East Dean Parish Council John Elliott Singleton Parish Council Bill Spence Singleton Parish Council, email: [email protected] Phil Norrell Singleton Parish Council John Baker Lavant Parish Council Bob Holman Westhampnett Parish Council Anne Poulter Tangmere Parish Council, email: [email protected] Simon Ward West Dean Estate, email: [email protected] Cllr Andrew Smith Member, Chichester District Council Cllr Mike Hall Member, West Sussex County Council & Chichester District Council Inspector Kim Hudson Sussex Police – email: [email protected] Rob Benny Deputy Chief Executive, Chichester District Council – 01243 534708, e-mail: [email protected] Bob Riley Service Development Manager, Chichester District Council – email: [email protected] Kris Collins Administrative Officer, Chichester District Council, email: [email protected] Amanda Jobling Head of Community Services, Chichester District Council – email: [email protected] Martin Barnes Electronic Government Manager (Business), Chichester District Council – email: [email protected] - 01243 534855 Elizabeth Brealy PA to the Chief/Deputy Chief Executive (Forum Administrator), Chichester District Council – email: [email protected] - 01243 534709

East Dean Parish Council welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Apologies: Apologies were received from John Doff, John Ruffell, Ken Franklin, Cllr Joyce Meyer and Cllr Janet Duncton

1. Minutes of the last meeting and matters arising

Correction to Simon Ward’s email address “[email protected]”.

Subject to this amendment, the minutes of the last meeting were agreed.

Martin Barnes advised that at the April meeting Keith Morgan, Head of Environment & Policy Services would be attending to discuss how parishes could become engaged in the planning process.

1 2. Affordable Housing

Amanda Jobling, Head of Community Services, attended the meeting for this item.

A copy of Amanda’s presentation was attached.

Clarification was requested as to who owns the housing stock. Amanda explained that the Council transferred the housing stock to Martlet Homes who now own and manage all the former Council houses. Most of the Council’s work was now in partnership with different housing associations. When referring to developments this meant the Council working in partnership with other associations.

Simon Ward reported that West Dean Estate had built 8 houses on the estate, but felt that a more creative solution was required to encourage building of affordable housing. Land owners could provide land for affordable housing for this kind of development, but it did not produce any return for the land owner. He believed that if land owners could be granted consent for speculative developments in return for affordable housing this could be an incentive. Amanda replied that it appeared the community rather than the Council were opposed to speculative developments, but this issue would be referred to Keith Morgan, Head of Environment Policy Services for consideration.

Angie Hobson reported that following circulation of a questionnaire in Eartham it was apparent that 50% of the housing stock was rented or tied for people working on local farms and that the village would welcome more privately owned houses.

A request was made for consideration of adapting 106 type agreements.

Cllr Mike Hall advised that he was a member of the Local Strategic Partnership that concentrates on affordable housing. Simon Ward and Cllr Mike Hall to make contact to discuss affordable housing as there may be some issues arising from the LSP group that may be of interest and assistance to Mr Ward.

Cllr Andrew Smith enquired how the Council select a particular RSL for a scheme. Amanda advised that after stock transfer the Council had a capital receipt which it thought it could invest for affordable housing, but now there was some doubt as to whether this receipt could be retained. The Council usually selects large housing associations who were fairly rich that could help subside our housing schemes and specialist associations who have a track record in the district or provide some form of specialist accommodation.

It was noted that some residential garage sites may be considered for housing development.

3. Abandoned Vehicles

Bob Riley, Service Development Manager and Kris Collins, Administrative Officer, attended the meeting for this item.

A copy of Bob and Kris’ presentation was attached.

Clarification was requested as to who finances the removal of abandoned vehicles. Bob explained the major cost was officer time and £35 per car for disposal.

2 Mr Weeks enquired whether the Council had considered setting up a scrap yard where people could bring their old vehicles to be destroyed. Bob replied that this had been considered but it was not viable.

Kris highlighted that if an abandoned vehicle was found on private land, the Council makes contact with the land owners to make them aware prior to removal. No charge was made to the land owner.

4. New Qualification for Town and Parish Councils – AQA Certificate in Local Council Administration

An article had been circulated from the DEFRA website detailing a new qualification for Town and Parish Councils that may be of interest to parishes. A number of parishes confirmed their parish clerks were undertaking this qualification.

Martin requested a volunteer from one of the parishes attend a future meeting to inform the forum about this new qualification.

This item to be included on the agenda for the Annual Parish Meeting to be held on Wednesday 21 April at 7pm.

5. Any Other Business

5.1 Budget for Policing, Sussex – Public Consultation

Martin reported that Sussex Police Authority were currently consulting members of the public by way of an on-line questionnaire with regards to setting next year’s budget for policing in Sussex. If parishes would like to make their views known the questionnaire could be completed online by 23 January 2004 and accessed at www.sussexpoliceauthority.gov.uk.

Angie Hobson reported she had received an application from West Sussex Rights of Way Section to turn Stain Street from a bridleway into a BOAT. The application did not make it clear whether this was for bikes or 4 wheel drive vehicles. The District Council agreed to contact West Sussex Rights of Way for further details on the application.

Bob Holman advised that it would be well received if the local police officer could occasionally attend Westhampnett Parish Council meetings in order that the parish council could ask questions regarding how the community police system works.

Inspector Kim Hudson requested Bob Holman to write to him with this request. It was stressed that as there were a large number of parishes within the district it would not be possible for a police officer to attend every parish council meeting, but if there was a particular issue that the parishes would like to discuss, or an area where the mobile police station did not visit, consideration would be given to a police officer attending.

It was noted that some parishes were not aware until very short notice that the mobile police station was visiting their village. Inspector Kim Hudson advised that the location of the mobile police station was published in the Chichester Observer each week.

If there were any specific policing issues that require addressing, prior to the mobile police station visiting a particular parish, contact could be made via email to: www.sussexpolice.co.uk and your enquiry would be passed to the appropriate person to deal with.

3 Post meeting note – following the last meeting details were circulated of the date, location and deployment times for the mobile police station from February to June.

6. Dates of Future Meetings

The next meeting would be held on Tuesday 20 April at 7pm at West Dean College.