Minchinhampton & Rodborough Common Advisory Committee
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Minchinhampton & Rodborough Common Advisory Committee - Minutes Date 21 February 2019 Subject MRCAC Open Meeting Location Nailsworth Town Hall Start time 7:00pm Attendees Philip Colebourn, Rod Marlow, Ian Shearman, Terry Robinson (chair), Katrina Thacker, Jonny Loose, David Armstrong, Richard Evans, Lisa Edinborough, Emma Norman (minutes), Pippa Schwartz, Gervase Hamilton, Ann Finlayson, Claire Feehily Alick Miskin, Jo Barber Apologies Item Topic Action 1 Introduction & Welcome • Terry welcomed members of the public and the Committee to the MRCAC open meeting 2 • Nigel Matthews, Head of Recreation Management and Learning for the New Forest discussed issues around the highways and cattle management with particular focus on the trends emerging from data collection regarding the amount of livestock deaths each year. The information demonstrates particular trends and from this they are able to educate and make people aware through partnership working. 3 • Chris Short, Chair for the Foundation for Common Land and lecturer at Gloucestershire University spoke about Common land and its complexities and focused on the positive role of commons across England. His overall aim is to focus on implementing the active pastoral management of the commons and discussed how he is an advocate for future policy that supports common land and commoning. 4 • Martin Papworth, Regional Archaeologist for the National Trust discussed the archaeology and historic interest of the landscape of Minchinhampton Common. Much of the land came to the trust in 1913 and thereafter in 1936, 1937 and 1985. Martin explained about the findings on the common, showing aerial views, samples of pottery and flint along with detailed mapping. 5 • David Armstrong, Lead Ranger and Richard Evans, Area Ranger for Minchinhampton and Rodborough Commons spoke briefly about their current projects within the National Trust and introduced the Stroud Landscape Project. 6 Questions from the floor Q: Could a large cow outline be put on the common to try and make people take notice? Nigel Matthews: You would need to establish where the deaths occur and perhaps you could move it around (Nigel referred back to one of his slides which shows a full size cut out of a cow) Pippa S: Currently there is an ANPR system in place which sends an email to the Council to let them know when and where people are speeding. Q: Parking at the Chime School – What plans are in place to manage the problems? Terry R: This is ongoing and the school has been resistant. Due to their own expansion, they have taken away their own ability to be able to park on their land, through their growth as a school. The car parking spaces are not for the school and this is an ongoing debate. From the Floor: The school actually refers to the bays and parking areas as Bay 1&2. David A: The NT is tackling the issue Audience: Beaudesert is also causing the same problems Q: Who put the rocks outside Beaudesert? Richard E: The NT placed the rocks there to prevent parking. The rocks are the only option due to the fact that you cannot put anything into the ground because it is part the Scheduled Ancient Monument. Q: What can be done about people driving across the common for recreational use? Richard E: There are a number of isolated incidents which occur and when we have been notified we have investigated these cases but no irreparable damage has been done in these cases. Q: Winstone’s Ice cream is causing bad parking on the roads and commons – can anything be done about it? Richard E: It is a complicated relationship with Winstone’s and one that we need to nurture because it is so popular. Q: Isn’t 40 too high as a speed limit? Terry R: We are currently in discussions with the Highways Agency to make it 30. 8 Meeting of the Minchinhampton and Rodborough Commons Committee 9 Terry Robinson opened the committee meeting and asked if there were any particular projects that they would like to raise funds for. There was nothing specific raised. Terry asked Lisa Edinborough Lisa from the National Trust if there had been any feedback from local businesses for fund raising. Lisa stated that she was still looking into it. Terry said that he was going to write to the Chief Constable to ask Terry for a more specific contact at the force. It was also noted that Natural England had responded to the local plan, but did not mention Rodborough Common – Parish Council will write to them regarding this matter. 10 Management Report The floor stated that the NT has been doing excellent work and areas of scrub have been cleared. They also noted that it is remarkable the way that it has opened up the area and that it is a real credit to them. It was highlighted that ‘Street’ needs to be focussed on as well. Richard pointed out that the area in question plus other areas have to have an ecological report done before any work can take place. He also pointed out that scrub is very important in its own right. All scrub clearance will be done in phases over a couple of years. With regard to trees and the Ash die back, Richard stated that it is prevalent but thankfully the trees that it is affecting on the commons are young ones – up to 15 years old and these will naturally die back. They are currently looking at an action plan over the next 2-3 years because when the disease get to a certain stage it is too dangerous for a tree surgeon to tackle. 11 Cycle Path The cycle group in Stroud have raised money to do a feasibility study from Chalford to Stroud. The cycle group view the scheme as a separate carriage way. One concern that was raised is that it will potentially create more of a problem for traffic on the common. Jonny commented that a caveat states that you cannot remove areas of common land. In the short term it is interesting but it is unlikely to be able to go on the common. Pippa said that putting it on the road would be a ‘No’ from the cyclists because it is too dangerous. 12 Cows on the Common The Parish Council have been given the budget for 25 metal signs that will be put up during the Summer. The signs would read along the lines of ‘Extreme Caution Cows in Road’. Pippa asked for input as to the wording within the next two weeks ready for the order to be placed. Pippa discussed the speeding of vehicles along the roads and it was apparent from the stats that the problem times were between 8-9pm when the greatest speeds are noted. It was also noted that there are 60 thousand vehicles a week going along the Spine road. Rodborough currently has a number plate recognition camera by the Bear and in Minchinhampton, Butt Street is to have a camera. 13 Previous Minutes The notes from the last meeting held in November were accepted. Jean to be thanked for a full and accurate account of the meeting. Lisa Item 5 Matters Arising Terry reported that the media release issued about the reduction in cow deaths had not been picked up by BBC Radio Gloucestershire. Terry also noted that Item 5 – David Drew meeting with Highways has not yet taken place and cannot promise that it will happen. Item 6 Any Other Business Attendees were thanked for their interest. The open meeting is an annual event. It is planned to call a similar meeting this time next year. The date of the next meeting of the Committee is the AGM on 23 rd May at Longfield at 7:30pm. Meeting closed. .