Minutes of Parish Council Meeting Held on Tuesday 13 March 2018 Chairman: Councillor Mrs V Lynch Councillors: Councillor Mr M Bird, Councillor Mr D Clements, Councillor Mr A Coulson, Councillor Dr L Kennedy and Councillor Mr N Rickard Apologies: Councillor Mrs M Lawrence and Clerk Mrs R Biley Parishioners 2 1. Apologies for Absence Apologies received from Councillor Mrs Mary Lawrence and Clerk Mrs Rebecca Biley 2. Disclosures of interest on matters on the agenda There were no items of interest to disclose. 3. Comments from District Councillor, County Councillor and Police 3.1. Police Viv Lynch reported that a new local PCSO, Megan Harriet had been appointed and hoped to attend the next. 3.2. District Councillor Peter Cooper Peter Cooper reported the Secretary of State was minded to “confirm” a single unitary council. This would be subject to a 6 to 8-week public consultation period. A special district council meeting would be held next week to consider the implications and potential timescales. Peter said there would be no change to parish councils. 3.3. County Cllr Netta Glover Freight Strategy: The long-awaited Freight Strategy has been out for public consultation since 26th February. You can take part and have your say through via the following link: survey. See Appendix for full reports 1162 Signed by Chairman 4. Sign off of minutes Parish Council Meeting 20 February 2018 The minutes were approved and signed as an accurate account of the meeting held on 20 February 2018. 5. Planning 5.1. 18/00333/ALB – 3 The Green Wingrave Buckinghamshire HP22 4PD To remove existing built in timber framed wardrobes, to erect new timber stud walls for new upstairs Cloakroom. This will involve moving existing door through 90 degrees to extend landing, leading to new doorway to cloakroom The council discussed the application and confirmed by unanimous vote to register no objections to this application 6. Twelve Leys Development- Thames Water Update Les Kennedy gave an update of discussions with Thames Water regarding sewage capacity. Since writing the report Les Kennedy has negotiated with Thames Water for a representative to attend a Parish Council meeting and a prior visit to view the locations. Les Kennedy, Peter Cooper and Viv Lynch will attend this site visit. See Appendix for full report A resident queried whether a green buffer zone would be included. Les Kennedy believed this would not be favoured by the developer, but he would ensure the matter was raised again at the next meeting with Cala Homes. Peter Cooper stressed the issue would need to be resolved before the planning application was presented to the District Council. 7. WWRSAL Netball Court Update & Planning A detailed progress report was provided by Gavin Chater which confirmed that a grant from New Homes had been secured to support the financial plan. Contractors had been selected from the tenders and the council gave permission for them to be engaged subject to formal planning permission being given. The Planning Applications is being prepared and would be ready for presentation to the PC in the next few days. It was agreed this would be considered by Councillors, Lynch, Kennedy and Rickard. Peter Cooper asked to be informed when the application was submitted to AVDC. 8. Request for owl nesting boxes This item to be held over to next meeting as supporting information not received. The meeting closed at 20:50 hours 1163 Signed by Chairman Appendix 1 – Councillor reports Cllr Peter Cooper - Report to Parish Councils March 2018 Unitary transition Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has announced that he is ‘minded’ to confirm that Buckinghamshire will become a single Unitary Authority based on the proposals put forward by Bucks County Council. He said that, in his judgement, this would be more efficient than the twin North South Unitary solution put foreword by the four Bucks District Councils. It appeared to him that the single Unitary had the greatest support of the public. The final decision will be made by parliament following a 10-week public consultation period, which effectively starts 14th March 18. 1. Oxford Cambridge Expressway The District Council will meet on 15th March to make its recommendation to the government on route selection. The proposals being considered are: A. Southerly from Cambridge to north of Dunstable, then Aylesbury, Thame and Oxford. This route would impact heavily on Mentmore, Wingrave, Rowsham and possibly Aston Abbotts B. Mid from Cambridge following the re-opened East West Rail link, passing South of Milton Keynes, Winslow then on to Oxford. This would appear to be the preferred route. C. Northerly from Cambridge to Milton Keynes, Buckingham, Bicester and Oxford. The Expressway will attract considerable volumes of new housing, business etc and are intended to form the UK equivalent of Silicon Valley, the centre of future high-tech industries. The government are giving this project a high degree of priority and intend to commence construction within 2 years. 2. New Railways Construction of the East West rail link now has new impetuous and work is expected to start this year with the Bicester to Milton Keynes section opening by 2022. Preparatory construction of HS2 is now underway and large-scale construction will become evident this year. 3. Local Plan The new local plan VALP has been submitted to the government inspectorate for discussion, consultation and approval. If all goes well, we anticipate the plan being made at the end of 2018. 4. Litter picking It has been become evident that some parishes may have become excluded from the regular highways litter picking programme that is carried out by contractors on behalf of AVDC. It has been established that both Mentmore and Slapton have been adversely affected, but this has now been corrected and recent picking visits completed in those villages. If any other villages have not spotted the professional litter pickers in recent years, please let me know. 1164 Signed by Chairman County Cllr Netta Glover Vice Chairman of Bucks County Council Unitary decision - representations You can give your views on the unitary decision before 25 May 2018. To do this, contact the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government by email at: [email protected] For more information on the County Council’s business case for a single unitary council, please visit www.futurebucks.co.uk. Flooding after the freeze: After the recent spell of sub zero temperatures there was a lot of flooding because of burst pipes – the fire fighters dealt with 40 episodes – Do you know where your stop cock is? If you don’t might be as well to find out now. Crown Court : has now closed. This iconic building will be well known to TV viewers – Judge Deed was shot there as well as many other TV shows. The plan is to use it as a posh hotel Freight Strategy: The long awaited Freight Strategy has been out public consultation since 26th February. You can take part and have your say through our short survey . Click on link. Achieving our commitments will require strong partnerships with central government, the district councils, communities and businesses. So we need to know what everybody thinks of our plans. There’s more information here where you’ll also find a link to the consultation survey . Children’s services The Department for Education has announced the Children’s Services Commissioner for Buckinghamshire, John Coughlan CBE. Please see announcement link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revised-direction-issued-to-buckinghamshire- county-council. John is the current Chief Executive of Hampshire County Council, a former Director of Children’s Services and a past President of The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS). He will work closely with the council over the next few months and will report to the Department for Education with a recommendation about the future of Children’s Services in Buckinghamshire. There is an open meeting at County Hall on 26th March at 7.00pm Link to Expressway: There has been a lot of press comment about the proposed Expressway. Here is a link to it. Lot of stuff to read! https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/571353/oxford -to-cambridge-expressway-strategic-study-stage-3-report.pdf 1165 Signed by Chairman Report on Thames Water & the Sewage proposals for the Twelve Leys Development 9th March 2018 The Parish Council is concerned about the Foul Sewage solution proposed by Thames Water for the Cala Homes development at Twelve Leys. The proposed solution is for a large underground storage tank at the south of the site with a pumping scheme that connects into the Nup End Lane Sewer near to Nup End Farm. The Nan Ayers and the end of Chiltern Road foul sewers are proposed to be connected into this new system. The Parish Council wrote to David Stamateris at Thames Water Developer Services, asking for a review of the proposal and an assertion that if used the sewage system was fit for purpose and had the capacity to handle the additional effluent. The Parish Council sent the completed resident survey on sewage issues in Twelve Leys and Nup End which had 58 responses to David Stamateris. To further emphasize the concern, copies of all this correspondence, was sent to Steve Robertson the CEO of Thames Water, with a request to review the Thames Water responses. On the 6th of March a telephone call was received from Julie Walton an assistant in the CEO’s office. She reported that Thames Water Developer Services, consider the Nup End sewer has the capacity for the new development and the additional load and it is the appropriate solution.