Wye with Hinxhill

Minutes of the Resources & General Purposes committee Parish meeting held on Wednesday, 17th April 2019, 19.15 Council Wesley Room, Methodist Hall, Wye

36/19R Present: Cllr Reece (Vice Chairman), Cllr Bartley, Cllr Vousden. In attendance D. Baines (Clerk/Minutes), A. Dewhirst (Responsible Finance Officer) Apologies were heard and accepted from: Cllr Bouverie (away), Cllr Ovenden (attendance at meeting)

37/19R To receive declarations of the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest (DPI) and any Other Significant Interest (OSI) from members concerning items on the agenda Cllr Bartley made a voluntary declaration as member of the Wye Village Design Group and Wye Heritage

38/19R Public Open Session There were no members of the public present.

39/19R To approve the Minutes of the previous meeting held on 21st March 2019 Both sets of minutes from the last meeting were agreed as an accurate record (proposed by Cllr Bartley and seconded by Cllr Vousden).

40/19R To receive an update regarding progress of actions and resolutions from the last meeting The Clerk provided an update of previous action points and resolutions, and in particular item 25/19Rf use of aerial photography for records maintenance purposes. The council’s insurance company had confirmed that there was no cover provided under their public liability insurance. As any work of this sort would be undertaken on a voluntary basis on behalf of the Parish Council, it was agreed to ascertain details of the level of insurance cover afforded.

26/19 Re 30-32 High Street application letter to be sent to Case Officer at ABC. It was noted that a full response from the Parish Council (a holding objection letter having already been issued) was due to be submitted by 23rd April. It was agreed that James Burnett be listed as a parish volunteer (proposed by Cllr Bartley and seconded by Cllr Reece).

41/19R Finance & Governance a. Elections May 2019: to receive 1) notice of uncontested election for Wye with Hinxhill Parish Council, with 8 nominees standing for eleven seats, and 2) statement of persons nominated to stand for election as Borough Councillor, Wye with Hinxhill Ward The Clerk reported that letters had been sent to two councillors who had ceased to be a member of the Council by reason of failure to attend meetings for a period of six consecutive months (as per the Local Government Act 1972 section 85 (1): Cllr Shoults and Cllr Coxon. Six months since last attendance at a meeting was reached on 22nd October 2018 (Cllr Shoults) and 17th December 2018 (Cllr Coxon).

An extraordinary meeting was scheduled for Thursday 26th April, to deal with any urgent matters before the election, as the last meeting of the current council. Should the meeting not take place for any reason, the RFO was authorised to make any salary payments that were required and report this back to the next available meeting (proposed by Cllr Bartley and seconded by Cllr Reece). b. To receive a report on financial matters from the RFO and authorise any actions The RFO reported that research was continuing in to identifying the most suitable option for a prepaid card and would be reported back to a future meeting. A bank mandate form had been prepared to allow removal of Cllrs Coxon and Shoults as signatories to the Parish Council bank accounts. Cllrs Reece and Bartley signed the form during the meeting.

c. To note action points arising from the Internal Auditor’s report and progress to date A review of matters for attention highlighted by David Bucket, Internal Auditor to the council was presented and progress reviewed. This included revised Standing Orders which had been adopted and were ready for publication on the Council’s website. A draft Risk Management register for the Council had been prepared along with GDPR documentation; to be presented to the next R&GP committee for review. Amended Financial Regulations had already been approved. An additional minor amendment was being presented as part of the current agenda to take in to account changes to internet banking and payment arrangements.

Work was in progress regarding: internet banking and payment cards, payment of staff salaries by standing order. With regards to outstanding VAT reclaims – 3 out of 4 of the outstanding years had been successfully reclaimed, with a submission for the 2018/19 financial year expected in June 2019.

d. Policies: to consider and make a recommendation to full council for their adoption. 1) Financial Regulations (to take in to account changes to payment methods) 2) Health and Safety Policy It was agreed to present both items to a full council meeting, with a recommendation for their approval.

e. To review progress regarding improved footpath and access to the Jungle and authorise any further action It was agreed to schedule a site meeting to allow a review of required works and in addition to consider correspondence from County Council outlining permitted improvements. Action: Clerk to arrange the site visit & circulate KCC correspondence.

f. To consider and approve membership of Kent Association of Local Councils 2019/20 It was agreed to approve membership, with all in favour.

g. To note any income received £113.76 had been received in respect of allotment income and burial ground fees.

h. To approve the cheque list and authorise payments All payments were to be made by online banking, with no cheques requiring signature. Given that invoices had been available to view in advance, it was agreed to scrutinise 10% of the invoices during the meeting and the RFO was authorised to make necessary payments the following day (proposed by Cllr Bartley and seconded by Cllr Reece). Invoices 2 and 5 were examined by Cllr Bartley and found to be satisfactory. It was noted that Financial Regulations for the council indicated that a quarterly audit should be undertaken by a councillor to review a random sample of invoices against payments made. [Post meeting note: a bank statement showing online payments made against the payments list, downloaded and saved to the meeting folder on the 18th April.]

42/19R PLANNING a. To receive notes from the Planning Working Group to consider advice and recommendations and authorise any action It was agreed to accept the advice and recommendations of the working group. b. To consider planning applications (with dates for comments where applicable) i 19/00195/AS Sidelands Farm, Little Road, Wye. Demolition of existing buildings construction of office space (Use Class B1), a coffee shop (Use Class A3) and two residential dwellings alongside associated access, parking, & landscaping (19/04/19) A draft response had been received from the Planning Consultant, and it was agreed that this be taken as the basis of the Council’s response, with a small number of changes required before

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submission. Councillors noted that an Environmental Impact Assessment had not been undertaken for the site. It was agreed to respond to the application under Clerk’s Action.

ii 19/00477/AS Former Pig Research Unit, Amage Rd, Wye. The demolition of three buildings and slurry lagoon, erection of holiday let building, conversion of 1 building to a single dwelling, conversion of a building to car port/garage. Associated access, parking & landscaping (2 May) It was agreed to comment on this application as follows: that the contamination should be dealt with across the whole site and not dealt with solely, within the separate units. Given the location of the site within the AONB non-reflective glass should be used and proper consideration be given to proposed materials.

iii 19/00354/AS 2 Silks Farm Cottage, Amage Road, Wye, Ashford, TN25 5DE. Single storey and one and a half storey side extension. Erection of single storey boiler barn outbuilding (revision/resubmission of planning permission 15/01472/AS) (3rd May) It was agreed to make no comment on this application.

iv 19/00433/AS /19/00434/AS Olantigh, Olantigh Road, Wye, TN25 5EW. Infill of 1960's glazing with single storey ground floor extension and reinstatement of historic floor level (partial revision to listed building consent 18/01082/AS) (27th April) It was agreed to support this application.

v 19/00314/AS 10-12 Olantigh Road, Wye, TN25 5EJ. Demolition of commercial buildings and erection of two dwellings (28th April) It was agreed not to comment on the application, but to make an advisory note with regards to planning permissions for the vicinity (including those already granted), to ensure that consideration is given in terms of timings of the work, that building works on different sited not be undertaken at the same time and that consideration be given to the route taken by school children on their way to Wye School.

vi 19/00389/AS 36 Abbots Walk, Wye, TN25 5ES. Vehicle crossover & driveway hardstanding (29 April) The Parish Council regretted the loss of another public highway parking space in the area as it was noted that this matter is not currently covered at policy level by Ashford Borough Council.

vii 19/00389/AS 25 Churchfield Way, Wye, TN25 5EQ. Single storey conservatory (29 April) It was agreed to make no comment on this application.

viii To consider any applications received, but not listed above. No additional applications were considered.

c. To note decided applications i 19/00129/AS Rowan House, Scotton Street, Wye, TN25 5BZ. Proposed side extension and extension to existing garage/store. Permitted ii 19/00198/AS Mukota House, Amage Road, Wye, TN25 5DF Variation of condition 5 on planning permission 18/00274/AS to facilitate changes to facing materials. Permitted The decisions of Ashford Borough Council Planning Department were noted. d. Telereal Trillium (TT) sites. To receive an update, and approve any action, regarding Telereal Trillium’s Draft WYE3 Masterplan and other TT sites

19/00075/AS 30-32 High Street, Wye, Ashford, TN25 5AL

Screening applications: 19/00001/EIA/AS Occupation Road, Wye, TN25 5EN and 19/00002/EIA/AS Former ADAS offices, Olantigh Road, Wye, TN25 5EL

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Decisions taken during 2018 at both the European Court of Justice and the High Court were noted. In the first instance, a recent ruling indicated that full “appropriate assessment” must be undertaken where there is the potential of impact on an internationally protected site. In addition, a High Court decision ruled that the wider context is important when considering whether a site is part of a valued landscape. In light of this information, Cllrs noted that in the case of the EIA assessments for Occupation Road and ADAS, whilst the AONB should be consulted, to date they had not been asked to comment.

e. Planning appeals and enforcements - to hear any updates and consider any actions required Planning appeals – the Clerk had contacted the Planning Inspector to inquire as to whether a site visit had been undertaken at the Former Goods Yard, and to ask whether the PC would be able to attend any future visit.

Enforcements – no news had been received from Ashford Borough Council regarding any of the ongoing enforcement actions. Action: the Clerk would chase up those that were still outstanding.

f. Planning policy To receive notification of the pre-submission consultation for & Eastwell Parishes Neighbourhood Plan and authorise any action (comments by 19th May) It was agreed that this review should be considered by the Planning Working Group and that a PWG meeting would be scheduled for w/c 13 May, to allow feedback to be provided by the deadline of 19th May.

43/19R To hear any reports and agree any actions regarding ongoing tasks and projects a. Community Transport Working Group mini-bus project Parish Council had agreed to provide details of their finance system, which would be used to assist the Council when drafting a business plan for the Wye mini bus. Leaders of various groups in the community had been written to, requesting an expression of interest for the proposed mini bus. In addition, Cllr Ovenden was expected to talk to members of Luckley House about the scheme, at their request, on 19th April. Action: the Clerk to make contact with any groups who had not responded to the request for an expression of interest b. Village Caretaker Scheme Working Group Figures quoted by Ashford Borough Council and the contractor were reviewed. It was noted that figures would need to be carefully considered before a decision could be taken. c. Wye level crossing risk assessment An action point for the Clerk to write to the local MP about this matter was still outstanding.

44/19R To receive correspondence, and authorise any action a. Correspondence regarding recently installed NCR18 signage The council had been copied in to correspondence sent to Cllr Clair Bell KCC member, relating to the recently installed NCR18 signage in the village and in particular that at the Methodist Hall, incorrectly showing the village centre and in addition pointing cyclists away from the designated cycle route and village centre.

Action: for the Clerk (in consultation) to take this matter up with Councillor Clair Bell. b. To consider any correspondence received, but not listed above. The AONB unit had been in touch regarding the village sign on Oxenturn Road which was no longer in place. This matter had been reported to Kent County Council.

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45/19R To hear & note items from Councillors for the next agenda or for information only It was agreed that to allow Councillors to have easy access to and be fully aware of all correspondence sent on behalf of the Council, that folders would be set up on drop box and items saved there. A folder was already available for Planning Items. The Clerk would make sure that it was easily accessible and clearly labelled.

46/19R Date of next meeting

Thursday 25th April at 19.15 Extraordinary Parish Council meeting Thursday 9th May at 19.15 Annual Parish Council meeting Both meetings would be held in Brook Agricultural Museum, as no alternative venues were available to book in the village. (Post meeting note: a cancellation at the Methodist Hall, allowed Annual Council to be held in the Wesley Room).

47/19R Resolution: That under the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, the public and representatives of the press and broadcast media be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following item of business because of the commercially sensitive/ confidential nature of the business. 48/19R To discuss any commercially or legally sensitive business relating to Telereal Trillium sites including Telereal Trillium’s Draft WYE3 Masterplan and Wye College Buildings and authorise any actions. 49/19R To receive a report on staff appraisals and responsibilities, and authorise any actions

50/19R Close of meeting

The meeting closed at 21:40

These minutes are signed as an accurate record.

Signature

Name

Date

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ACTIONS

Person to Agenda no. Item Action required action

41/19R Improved footpath and access to To arrange the site visit & circulate KCC Clerk the Jungle correspondence. 42/19Re Planning enforcements To chase up outstanding enforcements Clerk 43/19Ra Mini-bus project To chase up expressions of interest Clerk 43/19Rb Village caretaker scheme To revisit proposed costings Clerk

43/19Rc Wye level crossing risk To write to the local MP to request this Clerk assessment take place 44/19R NCR18 signage To write to Cllr Clair Bell about this Clerk matter

Invoices presented for payment

Invoice Date Payee name reason Payment Amount method 16/04/2019 J. Austen Grass cutting and FPS 220.00 strimming #52 04/04/2019 Castle Water Amended invoice for FPS 149.02 Beanfield allotments 08/04/2019 Wye Village Hall & Rec Ground Hall Hire April #2558 FPS 27.60 17/04/2019 Action with Communities in Rural Membership Renewal FPS 52.00 Kent 17/04/2019 Ashford Borough Council Public WC Rates FPS 58.00 17/04/2019 Ashford Borough Council Office Rates FPS 43.00 17/04/2019 D.Baines Reimburse Expenses - FPS 87.21 various 17/04/2019 J.Austen Repairs Burial Ground FPS 120.00 gate #53 17/04/2019 Staff Staff salaries FPS 434.88

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