Beachampton Parish Council – Minutes Wednesday 19th August 2020 – via Zoom

1. Present Councillors Graham Vinall Sasha Lousada Chris Porter Joe Gurney

Sir Beville Stanier – Councillor John Chilver – Buckinghamshire Councillor Absent George Djuric

Residents James O’Connell (& briefly Julie O’Connell) Liz Hulbert Viv Melia Clerk Rosie Corlett

2. There were no declarations of interest

3. There were no changes or amendments to Standing Orders

4. There were no changes to the previous minutes

5. Planning Applications • 20/03783/ACL Application for a Lawful Development Certificate for a proposed Detached garage/workshop Field Cottage Thornton Road This was refused before, but the applicant has resubmitted. The Parish Council has no issue with the application and it was agreed that it should be dealt with by the planners and there is no requirement for the Parish Council to comment

• Updates of outstanding planning applications (included as an addendum to these minutes) John Chilver will ask for any more information, as the updates are themselves 2 months old. o It is believed Manor Farm House was advertised as sealed bids by the end of October. o It is expected that if the reduced number of industrial units is agreed, there may be further applications for development o There was a discussion regarding the likely rejection of houses being built on the land next to Teal House although the Local Plan had suggested houses should be built there.

• ‘Battery Park’. Sasha had spotted that there had been some changes to the application and is concerned that this might override the landscaping / hedge infill agreed, John will investigate o The requirement to use grey paint rather than green was queried, but Joe was able to confirm that grey blends in with the landscape better than green.

• Planning Call in. The Parish Council are invited to contact both John and Sir Billy if we want an application to go to committee but even their support is not guarantee it will happen. A Planning Officer needs to have a reason why.

• Planning for the Future Consultation. This will put a lot of emphasis on a Local Plan and it is important that this is engaged with. (Clerk will make sure any notifications on the Buckinghamshire plan are forwarded to the councillors promptly) Concern was expressed from the Buckinghamshire councillors that the numbers of houses that will be required to be built in rural areas of the South East will double.

• Planning Classes. Sasha looked at the information sent. The aim is to allow greater flexibility for the high street for change of use and is unlikely to affect Beachampton.

6. Fibre to the Premises Clerk will investigate more

7. Village Sign and gates Graham met with Leone Dale of the Winslow Community Board, applications for grants need to be in by the end of December. The ground where the gates would be fixed is maintained by the council so the work would be six times more expensive that if we could get a private company to do the work. John Chilver was not surprised about this and put the cost down to the processes that need to be completed. John said he would support entrances from both Nash and Stony Stratford and Graham would speak to transport about changing the road markings. There is community board funding available to pay for a feasibility study on how to slow traffic down and, if applicable, there could be funding for ‘smiley face’ signage. Sir Billy would also support.

8. Defibrillator update Chris will send all the details he has to Graham to expedite

9. Village Hall lease Julie O’Connell suggested that there should be a joint approach to the Oxford Diocese from the Parish Council and the Parochial Church Council. Julie will raise it formally at the next church meeting. The Parish Council agreed with this.

10. Speeding through Village (also see point 7) There has been no update, John confirmed that due to matters including Covid-19 that use of the Sentinel equipment was on hold He informed the PC that new equipment was coming available, and Great & Little Horwood are looking at funding.

11. Finance Invoice from e-on £14.66 agreed

12. Hedge Cutting Andrew Fountaine has kindly cut the hedges in Watery Lane, Graham to ask Tim Lever who is responsible for cutting grass in ‘triangle’

13. Dog Poo bins Agreed to fund 2 bins (£313.34 each) subject to clarity of collection cost (clerk to confirm) at top of Watery Lane by the salt bin and near the church (Proposed by Graham, seconded by Chris)

14. Correspondence • It was agreed, with the consistent information from 2 sources, that the change in the stacking arrangements for Luton airport would cause negligible increase in aircraft noise for Beachampton and no further action was required

15. No information from any committees

16. The Parish Council had received a question regarding the ‘rubbish tip’ on the village green It is noted that the skip is legitimately there but rubbish is spreading, the grass will need to be reinstated and the kerb will need to be rebuilt. The residents have asked the village to bear with them and to pass on their apologies It was agreed that Sasha would respond back to them pointing out that they are responsible for ensuring the ground is put back to its pre-skip state (including the green being grass come spring, not just weeds) The replacement Watery Lane sign will be part of the grant application to the Community Board and the broken kerb will be reported to TfB.

17. Proposed Solar Park Following a wide ranging discussion between members of the Parish Council, representatives of and residents of the village, the clerk was asked to draft a letter to RO saying that the Parish Council was against their planned development.

18. Other matters • It was suggested that local area technician Paul Foot should be contacted with regard to road marking scheme • Gravel Extraction in Passenham could affect the local water table but possibly in Beachampton’s favour. If there are any issues the PC will need to contact South Northants

19. Next meeting Wednesday 24th February 2021 Meeting closed at 21.36

Planning updates from September 2020 • 19/00969 The Old Sawmill (Mar 2019) There are numerous concerns relating to these proposals which are unacceptable. I am looking to progress the refusal of the application as soon as possible.

• 18/04586 (Dec 2018) and 18/04006 (Nov 2018) Manor Farm I have been working with the applicant on the above applications to discuss amendments to the proposals to bring them in line with policy. This has lead to significant reductions in the overall scale of the proposals which are now essentially conversion schemes. Amended plans for the commercial scheme (18/04006/APP) have been recently submitted and I am anticipating the submission of amended plans for the residential scheme shortly.

• 18/04587 (Dec 2018) Home Field House A recommendation for the approval of this, and the associated listed building consent application are being prepared.

• 18/04007 (Nov 2018) Land at Main St Fundamental concerns have been communicated to the agent in relation to these proposals. The case has not been progressed whilst focus has been on the progressing the applications from the same agent at Manor Farm. If the agent does not wish to withdraw this application following the determination of the applications at Manor Farm/Homefield House, it will likely be refused.