Minutes of the Meeting of Frilsham Parish Council Held in the Clubroom on Wednesday 27Th July 2016 at 7.30Pm
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Minutes of the Meeting of Frilsham Parish Council held in the Clubroom on Wednesday 27th July 2016 at 7.30pm. Present Cllr. M. Allum (Chairman) Cllr. J. Goodenough Cllr. G. Barber Cllr. D. Benning Cllr. C. Kettlewell Cllr. D. Ward Mr. B. Lyon (Frilsham Future Implementation Group) Mr. David Slack Mrs. H. Pratt (Clerk) District Councillor Pask (arrived late due to an earlier meeting). Apologies: District Councillor Webb. 1. Receive Declarations of Interest. 1.1. Declaration of any councillor’s interest in agenda items. There were no declarations of interest in items on the agenda. 1.2. Receive any changes to the Register of Interests. There were no changes to the Register of Interests. 3. Approve minutes of the following meetings. 3.1. Wednesday 16th March 2016. The minutes of the meeting held on the 16th March 2016 were approved as a correct record of the meeting and signed by Cllr. Allum. 3.2 Wednesday 20th April 2016. The minutes of the meeting held on 20th April 2016 were approved as a correct record of the meeting and signed by Cllr. Allum. 3.3 Wednesday 18th May 2016 (Annual Meeting of the Parish Council). Cllr. Benning commented that he had voted with “no objection” on planning application 16/00586/FUL for Manderley and that the outcome should read “4 members voted in favour of objection, 1 no objection and 1 abstained”. With this amendment, the minutes were approved and signed by Cllr. Allum. 4. Matters arising from the minutes not covered elsewhere on the agenda. 4.1. Grit Bins. Issues were raised about the positions of grit bins on Rectory Hill and that the bin at the top of the hill has a broken lid. These points were raised with WBC and the bins were moved slightly down the hill, however the lid on the bin at the top has not been rectified. The grit bins belonging to WBC are in the process of being transferred to the Parish Council, but given that the lid was raised as an issue with WBC prior to the transfer process starting it was felt worth raising with WBC again. It was agreed that the Clerk would raise the matter with WBC with details of the original report. 2016/17 Signed: Date: 4.2. Antisocial Behaviour. Councillors asked about the antisocial behaviour and whether this was still an issue. It was reported that matter was being addressed. 4.3. Litter on the roads. It was noted that the road sweeper had been seen in Frilsham on the 12th July 2016. Generally, it was felt that the roads looked quite tidy. 5. Beechfield Lane. Cllr. Benning reported that the work on Beechfield Lane, replacing the surface with crushed concrete had been carried out successfully, with only a few minor issues. A few days prior to the work taking place, concern was raised due to a significant volume of water (from a leaking water main at the junction of School Lane and Hatchets Lane) which ran down Beechfield Lane and into “Swallowtails”. Frilsham Parish Council thanked all of those involved with getting the work done and in particular Fiona and Hugh Miller who persuaded residents to accept the proposal and contribute financially. It was noted that whilst Sovereign had verbally acknowledged a letter from the Parish Council about the work (some of the properties on Beechfield Lane belonging to Sovereign), no reply had been received. The Clerk will chase this up. The first meeting of a newly formed residents’ association for Beechfield Lane has been arranged to take place on 7th September 2016. The main aim of the residents’ association will be to maintain Beechfield Lane. 6. Emptying of bins around the Clubroom. Emptying of the bins around the Clubroom continue to cause problems. The dog waste bin and the litter bin by the Playground should be emptied by ISS under a contract from WBC; this is at the request of Frilsham Parish Council. Both these bins are supposed to be emptied on a weekly basis, however on average this is only happening 40% of the time. When the invoice for emptying these bins arrived, given the poor service it was queried with WBC, and it was agreed that Frilsham Parish Council would pay half of the cost; however, a replacement invoice has never been received. The litter bin by the gate and the bin at the corner of the Clubroom have probably been confused by history. The bin on the corner was originally a bin on the wall of the Clubroom and emptied by Veolia when they used the Clubroom carpark for a mid-morning break. At this time both bins were emptied regularly. The bin on the corner of the Clubroom then broke and was replaced by an ordinary bin. Veolia continued emptying this bin most of the time until earlier this year and it now hasn’t been emptied since May. The bin by the gate is emptied 90% of the time. Caroline Booth (WBC) has been contacted a number of times about the service. Despite various maps, WBC still has a map showing a bin to be emptied by Veolia in the middle of the carpark, rather than at the entrance or at the corner of the Clubroom. The Veolia contract is managed by a different team. It was agreed that the Clerk will work with Mr. Lyon to resolve the issue and discuss the situation with Caroline Booth (WBC) and Sue Tarn (WBC) to determine who should be emptying which bins. It was agreed the Parish Council would pay for an additional bin to be emptied if this is necessary. 2016/18 Signed: Date: 7. Thames Water – replacement water main. Cllr. Benning reported that when the workmen came out to repair the water leak at the junction of School Lane and Hatchets Lane, it was found that the pipe had been repaired twice previously in the same place. It was noted that the time taken to get engineers out to fix the leak was too long. It is understood that Thames Water are in the process of surveying water mains to identify those which it would be most cost effective to replace. It is understood that there is concern over the main from the reservoir in Cold Ash to Frilsham. Cllr. Benning will continue to monitor progress. 8. Drainage. 8.1. Hatchets Lane – storm drain. As a result of the water leak, it became apparent that there are no storm drains on the south side of Hatchets Lane around it’s junction with Beechfield Lane. Cllr. Benning has had a site meeting with Jon Bowden from WBC. It has been proposed that WBC carry out a survey of the all the drains around the junction over the next few months. This action is fully endorsed by Frilsham Parish Council. There is currently a drain which runs under the garden of Mr. Bell’s property; Trenance Lodge. Any new storm drain could connect to this, but concern was raised about the capacity of the pipe. Cllr. Allum commented that the drain from Mr. Bell’s property comes out in his property (Holly Cottage) and that he didn’t believe there would be a problem with the capacity of the pipe. It was reported that Mike Wilson in Frilsham Woodhouse has suffered from flooding issues and is talking to someone in WBC. It was agreed it would be useful to find out who is dealing with this in WBC. 8.2. Drainage Ditch and Culvert from the Clubroom under Hatchets Lane. It has been identified that the south side of the culvert under Hatchets Lane from the ditch alongside the Clubroom needs to be rebuilt; this needs to be carried out by WBC. It was reported that the ditch itself is full of mud. Mr. Slack (Yattendon Estate) agreed to get the ditch dug out. 9. Allotments – to consider a field shelter. Cllr. Benning reported that a new tenant has taken over the allotment field with a larger horse than the previous tenant. The horse is too big for the existing shelter and the new tenant would like to erect a larger field shelter, whilst retaining the existing shelter for storage of hay. The proposed new field shelter would come in panels and be bolted together and placed on slabs, such that it could be removed. Cllr. Allum commented that such a structure would need planning permission; field shelters not requiring planning permission must be on skids and moved every 6 weeks. Cllr. Benning will report this information back to the tenant. 10. Superfast Broadband. Gigaclear organised an open meeting in Yattendon. The timescales for Superfast Broadband in Frilsham are no clearer; two different statements were made, one saying by Christmas 2016 the other by April 2017. Gigaclear still needs to work with Yattendon Estate to determine how they will get the cables across Estate land. Mr. Slack reported that he has a meeting with Colin Batchelor (WBC) and the engineering hierarchy in mid-August and offered to report his findings back to the Parish Council. 2016/19 Signed: Date: 11. Yattendon Estates. Mr. Slack reported that Yattendon Estate have started harvesting. Unfortunately, the harvest started with the combine hitting a flint causing a fire and the loss of 25 acres of barley in Streetly. Luckily no one was hurt and no property was damaged. A planning application has been submitted to WBC for the dairy at Frilsham Home Farm to be converted into a brewery and store for classic cars. The classic car rally was a success. A carriage drive will take place from Yattendon on August 14th.