East Dean Parish Council

Minutes of Council meeting held on Tuesday 11th April 2017 in The Parish Rooms, at 7.00pm

Present: Councillors: Jeff Hatcher (JH) – Chairman, Andy Bravery (AB), Paula Rickaby (PR), S Owen (clerk): Cllr I Jeffery (TVBC) 1 member of the public.

Open Forum

1. Apologies for absence: Andy Wickham

2. Declaration of interest: None

3. Minutes of Annual meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday 10th January 2017 were agreed by the council and signed by JH.

4. Co-option of New Councillor – the Council has yet to find a new member, this will be carried forward to the next agenda.

5. Report from TVBC Cllr Jeffrey (IJ) attending the Lockerley PC AGM the previous evening which was also attended by Cllr Roy Perry of HCC who will replace Andrew Gibson as the HCC councillor from May. IJ confirms that the TVBC borough re-organisation has been decided. The existing 48 wards will be reduced to 43, meaning each ward will be expanded. The Dun Valley ward will join with The Wallops, Stockbridge and King’s Somborne and be re-named Mid Test. This new larger ward will be represented by three councillors. These changes will come into effect in 2019. The leader of TVBC, Cllr Ian Carr, has resigned after 18 years’ service. Cllr Carr has nominated Cllr Phil North of to be his successor and this will be voted on at a full TVBC Council meeting – date to be confirmed. IJ reports that no decision has been made by the Boundary Commission regarding the proposed Parliamentary boundary changes to which all the parishes in the area objected. IJ fully supported the objections made by all the neighbouring parish councils including East Dean PC.

6. Report from HCC - None

7. Website AB reports that the website is live and contact details for all the councillors plus the clerk have now been added. AB would like any ideas or suggestions for further content for the website. In future, the minutes of the meetings will be added to the site much sooner after the meetings have taken place. Minutes will be displayed in draft form to be agreed at the next meeting.

8. SID (Speed Indication Device) Email from Lucia Homer of WT&FPC enquiring if neighbouring councils would be interested in jointly purchasing and sharing a SID (Speed Indication Device), these devices flash if the speed limit is being exceeded. The PC decided it would be interested and the Clerk will relay this back to Lucia.

9. Planning – None

10. Finance The account balances were reported as follows: Treasurers account £3919.71 (as of 31.03.17) Instant access account £4248.07(as of 31.03.17) Cheques: Chq no. 000198 Payable to S Owen (clerk) for £28.18 – printer ink Chq no. 000199 Payable to M Eastwood for £30.00 – grass mowing near the phone box Chq no. 000200 Payable to S Owen for £3.84 - stamps Chq no. 000201 Payable to TVBC for £79.34 – dog bin emptying Chq no. 000202 Payable to Association of Local Councils for £142.00 – annual subscriptions

11. Correspondence i. Letter from Natural , in reference to the recent consultation (2012) on the existing direction restricting access at the former MOD Marshalling Yard, East Dean, under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (2000). The letter enquires whether the PC would be interested in revisiting this issue again now and/or funding any fencing that would be necessary to allow access to the area. The PC discussed the issue and confirmed they would not be interested in pursuing this or funding it. The clerk will reply to Natural England. ii. The clerk raised the issue of the amount of time the train gates at Dean Hill crossing remain down, sometimes over ten minutes – the clerk will raise the issue with Network Rail.

12. Items for the next agenda/Any other business Co-option of a new Councillor The Annual Parish Assembly and the Annual meeting will be held on the same night – 16th May at 7pm, this will include refreshments. The clerk will invite Cllr Roy Perry and the local PCSO or Police Officer

Being no further business JH closed the meeting at 7.45pm

Date of the next Parish Council meeting is Tuesday 16th May in Lockerley & East Dean Parish Rooms at 7pm, to include the Annual Parish Assembly and Annual meeting of the Parish Council.

Signed by J Hatcher (Chairman) Date

DRAFT MINUTES TO BE SIGNED AT THE NEXT MEETING OF THE PARISH COUNCIL