MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON Wednesday 11th September 2019 in St George’s church, Trotton at 20:00 hrs

Members present: Carola Brown, Barry Cooper, Katherine Mackellar, Neil Ryder, Darren Stiles (chairman) Also attending: 5 members of the public 1. Apologies: Thais Robertson, Kate O’Kelly (district & county councillor) 2. Disclosure of Interests: None. 3. Public questions: a. A ‘boggy’ path was reported close to the small bridge on Dumpford Lane. BC agreed to report it to WSCC. b. Climate change: question deferred to item 7b below. c. Tree in Chithurst graveyard: see item 8e below. 4. Reports from district and county councillors: see appendix 5. Minutes from the council meeting held on 10th July 2019: The minutes were approved and signed 6. Finance a. The updated 2019-20 budget had been circulated. NR pointed out that VAT refunds from both prior years had now been received, although he had had no explanation of the delay. He also reported that the second part of the precept (£1,500) had been received since the budget was circulated. b. Members agreed to cancel the subscription to the Open Spaces Society as it had been established that the ‘memorial corner’ would not qualify as a village green and the parish had no other “open spaces”. 7. Environmental issues a. WSCC electric vehicle strategy: see appendix b. Climate change policy: Andrea Linell (AL) suggested the PC should adopt a climate change policy. After some discussion, members agreed it would not be appropriate for the PC to declare a climate emergency and that the parish did not offer much scope for specific action, but that it would certainly help to communicate guidance to residents on issues such as food and other waste disposal. BC agreed to work with AL to put forward suggestions to a future meeting. c. Dark skies policy: NR had asked Andrew Shaxson (as parishes representative on the SDNPA board) for suitable policies but had learned nothing suitable was yet available. AS had undertaken to suggest to the SDNPA that it should produce a model policy for parish councils. d. Speed / noise monitoring: NR had made contact with CANS (Communities Against Noise and Speed) and volunteered to bring ours and other local councils into its campaign, but had so far received no specific proposals for co-operation. NR to pursue 8. Updates on current projects / plans: a. START Community Trust: 90+ voting members had signed up so far; START expected preliminary views from the SDNPA by the end of September about the 21 sites it had identified so far. It would then try to meet landowners of any sites not ruled out by the SDNPA. If this resulted in any apparently “viable” sites, it would then hope to arrange member meetings in all three parishes to collect community views. NR hoped this would be the point where its membership would rise. b. Telephone box opposite St Georges: no progress yet; DD to get advice on what needed doing and he and CB to look for volunteers to do any repairs possible or to get quotes if replacements are needed. c. Operation Watershed: DD was still to return the DVD of the CCTV survey for NR to send to WSCC for assessment of the work required. NR to ask Kate O’Kelly to chase WSCC officers. d. Bus consultation and working party: see appendix. e. Trees in Chithurst graveyard: a neighbour complained that CB, DS and NR had promised to be bound by the advice of an independent consultant regarding the felling of the ash tree with die-back, but these three councillors all denied any such promise and the clerk pointed out that decisions like this cannot be made

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except in full council meetings. The neighbour claimed that the decision to fell the tree was unconstitutional (as not all members had seen the consultant’s advice) and asked to have the decision reversed. DS replied that all members had heard the advice read out and members were satisfied that they were adequately informed at the meeting when the decision was unanimously agreed. [Post meeting note: DS has checked and admits his memory was slightly faulty and that it was the May meeting at which Dr Dobson’s advice had been read out in full. However, he confirms that CB had fully summarised the advice at the March meeting before the decision was made.] The clerk pointed out that reversing the decision would be against council standing orders as that decision had been taken within the last six months. As the date was so close to six months, DS asked members if they would reverse the decision if it were possible but all members reaffirmed the vote. CB had circulated the quote from Arborlec; she and NR had tried to get other quotes but those tree surgeons that they approached had declined to do formal quotes as they said they could not come close to Arborlec’s price. Members confirmed that they were happy to use Arborlec after all the discussions earlier in the year, so it was agreed that CB should accept the quote and ask for the tree to be felled as soon as practicable. Margaret Bentall had suggested planting a tree to replace the ash and had recommended Rowan or Hornbeam; however, members decided to defer this decision for BC to research whether one or both of these types would be suitable in ground close to known infections of honey fungus and ash die-back. f. Office 365 launch & GDPR compliance: NR had helped all members except KM and DD to connect to the PC system. DD does not use digital systems, but NR and KM expected to complete her setup shortly. g. Paths and open spaces: BC had attended a Pathwatch meeting with SDNPA, police and other council representatives. He said the main items were the rise in rural crime in the area, including fly-tipping, motorbikes on paths and a rise in local car break-ins thefts of farm and garden machinery. Sussex police were launching “Sussex Crimewatch” to tackle rural crime and an app called DISC for reporting crime. h. Memorial corner: BC had finally received official “permission to plant” from WSCC. He had investigated getting village green status for the memorial corner but found that it was not appropriate. He had discussed the plot with DD and agreed that it should be developed in three stages to make the task more manageable. Members agreed that the next stage should be for BC and DD to produce a programme of working party dates and NR would try to urge residents to join the effort. i. Velo South / WSCC protocol for major public events: No news j. Trotton fete update: Members agreed that the event had been a great success. Preliminary figures suggested that the net income would be close to £4,000. It was agreed that TR (as events co-ordinator) should arrange a “wash-up” meeting and approach the Parkers to agree a date for nextyear. 9. Information for councillors that are considered urgent or to be included on future agenda: None 10. Date of next meeting: 13th November 2019

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APPENDIX: County and district councillor reports Schools update There are about 50 small primary schools, in West Sussex. Small schools are disadvantaged in the way funding is distributed – this means all small schools face a threat to their financial viability. The Worthless campaign led by Headteachers across West Sussex is calling for fairer funding for small schools and for all schools across the county because they are some of the least well-funded schools in the UK. Government policy is to encourage federation of small schools rather than close the small rural ones and this approach is reflected in the WSCC Schools Effectiveness Strategy. Federation can be tricky for governing bodies as they have to find a partner school and work together to move towards federation. Currently WSCC will provide support to small schools once they have entered a formal federation but there is no formal support for governing bodies to start the partnership process and work to build these proposals with staff, pupils and communities. Both schools gain from the relationship: the school and staff can share resources and planning and pupils gain a wider perspective through shared activities but retain the joy of being in a small community and importantly schools can stay open within their rural villages. My view is that schools should be given more time and support by the Local Authority to make and develop these partnerships. Consultation on the future of any school should be the last resort and absolutely the last stage in the process. West Sussex County Council has published a plan to consult on the future of 5 of its small schools including the possibility of closure, the schools include Compton and Stedham locally. They have taken views from the community over the Summer and will take the decision as to whether to enter formal consultation in September. I am calling for them to stop, think again and look to provide more support to overworked governing bodies in finding possible partner schools. Electric vehicles I have had an interesting time on a member group at WSCC looking at an Electric Vehicle (EV) strategy for the county. WSCC will be consulting on this further in the Autumn. Current issues include whether to allow leads across pavements, as they are doing in Brighton, to enable residents without off street parking to charge. Chichester District have put in a bid for a government grant for EV charging points – 18 new charging points will be introduced across the Chi District – small steps but it is a start. Bus update Good news about the new bus stop signs – they have arrived! They look smart and send a message to everyone that our buses are here to stay. Our local bus group met at the end of June, there was a good discussion between SDNPA and Stagecoach. Joint promotion of these services is a great way forward. I now have loads of paper timetables which I am distributing around the area – so no excuses for not knowing the times! Our next meeting is on 24th Sept. Midhurst Vision update A series of workshops have started I have attended the first 2 and there is another one this week – you will be able to follow progress on the Midhurst Vision website - https://midhurstvision.org/ Culture Novium museum exhibition – Aliens, Zombies and Monsters has opened – open until 4th Jan Businesses Business start ups – 75 new businesses in July 3 more than previous July. Enabling grant scheme now closed – very big response. Will be relaunching in Jan 2020. Well being Home energy advisers – they provide advice and support for those who are in fuel poverty and those with health conditions affected by the cold. If you know anyone living in a cold damp home then they can be contacted at [email protected] 01243 521041 High streets August vacancy rates - Chichester 7.9% (8.2)% Petworth 0% (unchanged), Midhurst 6.36% - Unchanged Kate’s drop-ins: Harting – The White Hart – 3rd October – 10.30-12.30

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