Minutes of the Grateley Parish Council Meeting held on Tuesday 7th June 2011 in the Grateley Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Present : Cllr Mr T Seddon - Chairman Cllr Mrs J Cohen - Vice Chairman Cllr Mr D Shields Cllr Mr P Bye Cllr Mr R Tierney Richard Waterman - Parish Clerk Borough Councillor Mr Ben Few Brown Members of the Public - 16

Apologies : County Councillor Mrs P West, PC Roger Kitson and Mr Simon Bennett.

WELCOME. Cllr Mr T Seddon welcomed everyone to the meeting.

DECLARATION OF OFFICE. The Parish Councillors signed the Declaration of Office and filled in the Financial and Other Interests Form.

ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN. CHAIRMAN - Cllr Mr P Bye proposed Cllr Mr T Seddon as Chairman, this was seconded by Cllr Mr R Tierney. There were no other nominations. All agreed and Cllr Mr T Seddon was elected Chairman.

VICE CHAIRMAN - Cllr Mr D Shields proposed Cllr Mrs J Cohen for Vice Chairman, this was seconded by Cllr Mr R Tierney. Cllr Mr T Seddon proposed Cllr Mr P Bye for Vice Chairman, there was no second proposal. There were no other nominations. Cllr Mrs J Cohen was elected Vice Chairman.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS. Cllr Mr P Bye declared an interest in Grateley Village Friends.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT. Attached to the master copy of these minutes :-

FINANCIAL REPORT. The Clerk produced a financial report showing the income and expenditure for the year 2010/2011 and the budget for 2011/2012. Each item was explained.

GRATELEY VILLAGE FRIENDS. Cllr Mr Peter Bye reported that last year has seen some major changes to the organisation of the Village Friends. A year ago our Chairman was Hilary Seddon who with the able assistance of Shirley Stevens and latterly by Christine and Peter Bye formed the committee. Hilary Seddon had given many years to the organisation and without her untiring efforts it may well have not survived. After delivering the annual report Hilary Seddon decided to step down as Chairman. This left us in a dilemma as no one was prepared to fill the post. We took advice and discovered that as Village Friends is a subcommittee of the PC we did not require a Chairman.

The outcome of this is that Shirley and Chris Stevens, Christine and Peter Bye now form the committee all having equal rights but also specific areas of responsibility.

We have had a good year with memorable talks and demonstrations, I was still getting the shavings off me days after Stuart Mortimer’s demo. The Christmas lunch and fish and chips in the Plough were well attended and the tea tasting by Tim Clifton very informative. We had Parker’s chocolates last Thursday and next month an outing for cream teas at Carlos Ice Cream Parlour. We have started on next year’s programme and are making good progress. Cllr Mr P Bye was pleased to report that numbers have increased and the membership is now 28.

The Committee are extremely grateful to Peter and Linda from the village stores for their continued support whereby they donated £200 to our funds by the sale of books. It is generous support such as this that enables us to continue to subsidise the events we run. I hope that you will all have noticed that we have a report of our meetings in the Parish News.

I would like to conclude by thanking the rest of the committee for all of the efforts they put in and I am sure that Hilary will support me when I say that it takes considerable time and effort to organise the events.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING The Chairman signed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record. Matters arising from those minutes :-

PLAY AREA - The Play Area Committee will meet this month to finalise the grant application for the 106 Agreement Funding. Mrs Donna Standfield reported that she has a quote for swings at £5,500. It is hoped that with the remaining money from the 106 Agreement that 5 a-side football nets for the younger children can be installed.

BUS SHELTER - The Clerk reported that Queensbury Shelters have confirmed that a Bus Shelter could be erected at the Bus Stop but are concerned about the foundations of the wall. Permission and a disclaimer would be required from the owner. The Parish Council felt that this will need to be addressed before the project could be taken forward. If this hurdle is overcome an article and picture of the proposed bus shelter will be put in a news letter.

PLANNING GRATELEY BUSINESS PARK - Cllr Mr P Bye reported that both Graham Hymas and he left the last PC meeting with a clear idea of the way forward, only to have the plans turned on their head by the intervention of Councillor Tim Southern. The next few days were fairly hectic culminating with both of us complaining to the Chief Executive of the Council. This resulted in a meeting with Paul Jackson, The Head of Planning on the following Tuesday afternoon. He was very good and explained not only the meaning of B1 and B8 but also the implications of both. Apparently as long as the existing building stands it remains B1, once it is demolished the whole of the new building is B8 however, within the new building around 235sq m are effectively permitted B1 usage. This is independent upon the actual size of the new building but is intended to permit office space and should a subsequent application be submitted to convert the building to B1 it is likely to be favourably received unless prior notification against B1 has been received – hence the need for the letter we agreed at the last PC meeting.

Cllr Mr P Bye is now convinced that the previous B1 usage of the building was illegal and should such action happen again we on the PC should be able to intervene. Cllr Mr Bye is aware that Graham Hymas and Cllr Mrs Cohen have had a traumatic time in the past but we can only look forward and be vigilant in the future. One outcome of the meeting was that the Head of Planning has offered to attend one of our future meetings and give a brief talk on planning. He would like to know which specific areas he should cover.

Cllr Mr Bye has subsequently spoken to the owner of the industrial site and he has informed us that as part of the 106 agreement he has to put forward £8,500 for “improvements to Cholderton and Station roads”. On the supposition that the planning application will now be agreed is there any way that we can track this money as it has been defined for a specific purpose?

There were no new Planning Applications to discuss.

BOROUGH COUNCILLOR MR BEN FEW BROWN. Borough Councillor Mr Ben Few Brown introduced himself. He stated that he had limited knowledge of planning issues but had been advised that neither B1 nor B8 allows noise related industry. The Red Post lane bridge will be opened once the traffic lights are in place.

Network Rail are carrying out work on the bridges as they need to be raised/enlarged to accommodate the new freight wagons that are being used. The Road bridge will be close for three months leading up to Christmas - diversions will be in place. Cllr Mr Few Brown was not sure if work was to be carried out on the Grateley bridge. Due to the work involved there will be many weekend closures on the line.

Cllr Mrs Cohen asked if she could be kept informed of any news on the closures.

Cllr Mr D Shields reported that there is a large pot hole on the Grateley Bridge that has appeared since the repairs have been done, Cllr Mr Few Brown will report this to County Councillor Mrs P West as this is a County Council Highways matter.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Mr Few Brown for his report and stated that the Parish Council looked forward to working with him.

COUNCILLOR’S REPORTS. CLLR MR PETER BYE - Asked when the Clerk is due to take over the emergency changing of the batteries in the Flashing Speed signs?

The Clerk stated that he is due to be trained this summer and will be able to change the batteries if the need arises, next April the Clerk will take over the three weekly moving of the Flashing Speed Signs and the changing of the batteries.

CLLR MR D SHIELDS - Reported that the Parking Restriction sign by the Chicken Farm on Station Road is still facing the wrong way after being hit by a passing vehicle.

Cllr Mr Shields asked Cllr Mr Few Brown if he had any idea how long the would remain closed? Cllr Mr Few Brown though it would be open some time in July.

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC Mr B Funnel asked if the Parish Council had any information on the proposals for the Old Stockbridge/Wallop Road and Kentsborough junctions?

The Clerk reported that Parish Council have asked Mr Ray Alborough for an up- date and would like him to attend one of their meetings to address the public. The Clerk will keep Grateley informed and the date of the meeting when he has confirmed.

Some Residents from Locke Close addressed the meeting. They are not very happy with the minutes of the previous meeting - they portrayed the residents of Locke Close as being aggressive and unfriendly. This is not the case, the residents of Locke Close welcomed the new residents of Streetway Close when they moved in. There is a minority of the Streetway Close residents that do not get on with Locke Close and there have been a few problems but they have not involved the police as reported in the minutes. The Chairman stated that the minutes portrayed the issues reported at the May Meeting and he was sorry that this has upset residents of Locke Close. However with them attending the meeting tonight they have redressed the comments reported.

The Parish Council were asked if anything could be done about the caterpillars that are killing the hedgerows along Station Road? It was thought that these are moths and the hedge rows will rejuvenate once they have gone. The Clerk was asked to report this to the Country Side officer at TVBC to ask for clarification.

CORRESPONDENCE The Parish Council has received information from the Fire Service regarding the risk of fire in Thatched Properties. This will be passed onto the owners of the thatched dwelling in the parish.

AGENDA ITEMS FOR JULY The Queens Diamond Jubilee Celebrations 2012

CHEQUES ISSUED IN JUNE 2011 Mr B Pearce Refurbish Telephone Box £260.00 R.N. Waterman Wages £148.34 Mr P Reynolds Audit of Accounts £105.00

CLOSE OF THE MEETING. The Chairman thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING 5th July 2011 in the Grateley Village Hall at 7.30pm