Item Four – Parish Council Accounts for the Year Ending 31 March 2012 and Report for the Year
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Longparish Annual Parish Meeting 2013 – Approved minutes LONGPARISH PARISH COUNCIL MINUTES ANNUAL PARISH MEETING VILLAGE HALL, 7PM MONDAY 8 APRIL 2013 PRESENT: Parish Councillors : Christopher Duxbury [Chairman]; Jonathan Frere; Jeremy Barber; Karen-Marie Dinesen; Phil Harris; Natasha Rouse; Jim Sawyer. Visiting Councillors: Andrew Gibson [HCC]; Jim Neal [TVBC]. Parishioners and Speakers : Nick Marsden [Chair School Board of Governors]; John Scott [Village Hall Committee]; Andy Smith [Longparish Community Association]; Maggie Barber; Rob Barker; Lucy Barker; Matt Beale; Barbara Duxbury; Reverend Terry Hemming; James Hillier. ITEM ONE – APOLOGIES 1. Apologies were received from Christian Dryden, Simon Troughton, Ed Gairdner and Mary Jo Darrah. ITEM TWO – CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION 2. The Chairman opened the meeting, welcomed all who attended, explained the statutory basis of the Annual Parish Meeting and outlined the agenda. 3. The minutes of the last annual meeting on 12 March 2012 had been approved at the April 12 Parish Council meeting; there were no matters arising. ITEM THREE – PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 4. The Chairman presented his annual report, attached to these minutes at Appendix (1). ITEM FOUR – PARISH COUNCIL ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 MARCH 2012 AND REPORT FOR THE YEAR 5. Jonathan Frere presented the Parish Council accounts for the last financial year, attached to these minutes at Appendix (2). ITEM FIVE – PARISH COUNCIL OPEN SPACES REPORT 6. Jeremy Barber presented a report on open spaces for the year, attached to these minutes at Appendix (3). ITEM SIX – POINTS FROM HCC AND TVBC COUNCILLORS 7. Andrew Gibson confirmed the Superfast Broadband situation and explained what HCC is doing in relation to the pothole problem. 8. Jim Neal told the meeting that he had joined a group seeking to re-open the old bowling alley and night club in Andover [Breakers] as a Community Interest Company, which needs support. 1 Longparish Annual Parish Meeting 2013 – Approved minutes ITEM SEVEN – LONGPARISH COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION 9. Andrew Smith presented a report on the Longparish Community Association, attached to these minutes at Appendix (4). ITEM EIGHT - SCHOOL AND PLAYGROUP REPORT 10. Nick Marsden, Chairman of the Board of Governors, presented a report on the school, attached to these minutes at Appendix (5). 11. On behalf of Ed Gairdner, the Chairman presented a report on the playgroup, attached to these minutes at Appendix (6). ITEM NINE – VILLAGE HALL REPORT 12. John Scott presented a report on the Village Hall, attached to these minutes at Appendix (7). ITEM ELEVEN – PARISHIONERS’ OPEN FORUM 13 . John Scott asked whether the Finance report could include further information on the previous and current years [to date] as the report on the accounts for the year ending March 2012 were by now rather out of date. Jonathan Frere said that the report was on the latest set of audited accounts available, but agreed that an informal summary could be give on the previous year to date. Jeremy Barber added that an up to date financial report was included as an appendix in monthly PC minutes. CJ Duxbury Chairman Longparish Parish Council Date: List of appendices: 1) Chairman’s annual report 2) Parish Council accounts for the year ending 31 March 2012 3) Annual Open Spaces report 4) School report 5) Playgroup report 6) LCA report 7) Village Hall report 2 Longparish Annual Parish Meeting 2013 – Approved minutes Appendix 1 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT FOR THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 8 APRIL 2013 INTRODUCTION 1. This report covers the period since the last APM in March 2012. It has been another busy year for the Parish Council with the Diamond Jubilee and the completion of the village hall refurbishment project which has been an unqualified success. On top of that there has been a great deal of routine work simply to preserve and improve the village facilities that we all enjoy, as well as the activities that bring life to them. 2. I will therefore start by: • Welcoming Simon Troughton who joined the Council in November. Sadly he has not been well, but is making a strong recovery. • Welcoming Matt Beal, who, although not a Council member, has kindly to take on the Chairmanship of the Footpaths Working Party vice Martin Lampard. A thank you to Martin for his 8 year stint in this capacity. • Thanking all my PC colleagues and everyone in the village who contributes to community life for all the time and effort they give towards making Longparish one of the best places to live in the Test Valley. • Thanking all our speakers for ‘turning to’ this evening. 3. We need also to record thanks for support from Hampshire County Council, Test Valley Borough Council, the Test Valley Association of Parish Councils and the Hampshire Association of Local Councils. Our County Councillor, Andrew Gibson who is with us this evening, has also managed to attend several of our meetings despite a very busy schedule. Our local Test Valley Borough Ward Councillor, Jim Neal, is a regular attended at our meetings and has provided advice, particularly on Planning. 4. it is only since becoming Chairman that I have come to recognise and appreciate the many and wide ranging skills and talents that we are lucky to have amongst us; and, indeed the wide range of facilities, clubs and societies on offer, which all take time to manage and develop. The increase in the number of families with young children too over the last 5-10 years is very welcome; such change helps to enhance and sustain the village - the thriving and vibrant community that we all enjoy. PLANNING 5. One of the main functions of the Council is to comment on planning applications and notifications; and in the last 12 months we have dealt with 25 applications and 10 tree notifications that are required within a conservation area, including the Owls Lodge Solar Farm now operational] and several ongoing developments by Raymond Brown at the A 303 Recycling facility . I would like to thank Graham Darrah who, as Tree Warden, advises the PC on each such notification. Very few applications have been contentious; where possible, the Council has worked with applicants to modify them where it has felt they might be improved; and where necessary we have attended TVBC planning committee meetings to explain the Parish Council’s views. I am grateful to Jim Sawyer for his input to planning as Chairman of the Planning Committee. 6. Planning is an ever moving feast due to various Government initiatives and I should also mention that The Revised Local Plan, the new name for the Core Strategy, which TVBC consulted on during January/February 2012, is presently available on the TVBC website for further consultation until 26 April 2013. Please let the Parish Council know if you have any comments. The Planning Committee will be meeting in the Village Hall committee room [side entrance] on Monday 15 April at 19.45 pm to consider the Council’s response. 3 Longparish Annual Parish Meeting 2013 – Approved minutes COMMUNICATIONS 7. Hill & Valley: The Council wishes to record a particular thank you to Mary Jo Darrah who continues to edit our Hill & Valley pages. How lucky we are to have such a useful Parish magazine, which the Council pays to be delivered free to each household. Thanks too, to the magazine distributors – it is another task that just gets done. 8. Village Website: There is a huge amount of information about the village on our website at www.longparish.org.uk , which earns many compliments. David and Fiona Gould do a great deal of work on the website; the sort of behind the scenes work which doesn’t always show but is very much appreciated. I would just add here our thanks to David who continues to support the Council as Clerk to the Burial Board. 9. High Speed Broadband: • The County Council Plans to roll out high speed broadband to 90% of households in Hampshire. They have recently let a ££13.8M contract and appointed BT as its commercial partner in a 3 year roll out programme. • Bringing faster broadband to Longparish will involve minimal disruption. All that is needed is fibre optic cable to the telephone exchange and three new sub boxes and that cable will use existing ducting. • Andrew Gibson has been working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the voice of the rural villages is heard and the Parish Council has met with a BT Director involved with the contract. • For our part, we need to ensure that demand from Longparish is sufficient to make it certain that we are included in the 90%. If you have not already done so, please register an interest on the County Council website at http://www3.hants.gov.uk/broadband/broadband-signup.htm. Registering support does not commit anyone to signing up for a new service. FOOTPATHS 10. We have around 20 miles of footpaths in the Parish and we are lucky that most of the landowners in the village take their responsibilities for footpaths seriously and look after them well – thank you. Some of our footpaths are regularly maintained by volunteers who have adopted them. A thank you to all of them too. 11. A long term ambition in the Parish Plan has been to improve the surface of part of the spinal path running from North Acre to Sugar Lane, thereby offering a safe route to school by mothers with buggies all year round. There have been a number of near misses on the B3048 in recent years which have emphasised the need. I am pleased to report that he Parish Council gave authority to the selected contractor to proceed with the work and we hope that there will be a start in May.