Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Olveston Parish Council, held at the Queen Alexandra Memorial Pavilion (QAMP), Old Down, on Tuesday 22nd May 2018, starting at 19:30 Present: Mr J Hughes, Mr A Baxter, Mrs C Offer, Mrs P Savage, Mrs N Lewis-Leaver, Mr M Riddle Until 21:35 - Mr A Williams, Mr R Harris Min 45/18 Visitors – Mrs D Buckley, Mrs S Batts, Mrs L Powell, Mr R Williams, Mr K Lazell, Mr C Northover, Mrs R Boere, Mr R Knight, Mr R Offer Mrs Powell began the open session of the Parish Council meeting by presenting each Councillor with a list of 7 questions that she and like minded residents wanted answering. The Chairman noted that it was a slip of the tongue calling the Annual Parish Assembly and AGM and accepted his mistake. The Clerk noted that the monthly meeting minutes of Parish Council Meetings can’t be published until approved by the Parish Council, in the case of the April meeting minutes they were due for consideration at this meeting by the Parish Council, the Clerk admitted that due to his own work load the March minutes had not yet been presented to the Parish Council, and that the February minutes had been queried at a previous meeting, and only that evening were they due to be represented to the Parish Council for consideration. The Clerk also noted that the minutes for the 2017 APA had been prepared by him prior to the 2018 APA and paper copies were available at the meeting, the minutes were published on the website for consideration by parishioners as it is for them to call for the minutes and approve them – the mistake that the Clerk made was not to label the minutes as draft. The general practice for the Clerk is to publish all Agenda’s on the Thursday evening about 23:00 on his return from work (Saturdays can be included within the three clear days) but remembered on his way to work Friday morning that he had not published the Agenda on the website and corrected this mistake before the start of the ‘working’ day). Mr Northover, reminded the Parish Council that its obligations were to the parishioners and parishioners alone, and not outside interests. That the Parish Council was obliged to obey the law in respect of Village Greens and any requirements of the original deeds that transferred ownership to the Parish Council. Mr Northover noted that it was in the Parish Councils interest to make sure that it is met with support in particular with relation to the Village Green. The Parish Council has obligations in respect to the Parish only and not other areas such as Bradley Stoke – when challenged Mr Northover suggested that the Football club was entering into an agreement for a Junior team to become part of Olveston United, however the meeting was informed by Mr Williams that 80% of all players live in or come from the Parish. Mr Williams then spoke on behalf of a group which would urge the council to oppose any further development by the football club of the village green. Mr Williams began by apologising for Mr P Floyd’s absence and asked that Councillors review his email (reproduced below) that captured the essence of the groups concerns regarding the visual amenity of the Recreation Ground, and then made his own statement (Copy included below), concluding that he hated to think that it would reach a point where parishioners would call for an extraordinary meeting and hope that common goals could be achieved. Mr Williams also noted that it was a bad situation that minutes had not been approved for 3 months. Mr Lazell then addressed the meeting – he hadn’t realised that there was such a fuss about the advertising boards, and was a Councillor when the original agreement allowing advertising during matches (providing the boards were erected the night before the match and taken down the next day). Mr Lazell expressed concerns that the boards were now up for the whole season, noting that the Cricket Club didn’t have any sponsorship boards and the Bowls Club only have one sponsor. Mr Lazell suggested that a Parish Meeting be held at which proposals could be presented, and concluded that some local Cricket and Football clubs already have ‘dugouts’ that can be quite visually acceptable. Mr Hughes apologised for the wheels having come off in the last 6 weeks with respect to the publishing of minutes, and anticipated proposing an individual Councillor who would be looking into the issues of the ‘Village Green’ and how to communicate the findings with parishioners. Mr Hughes also noted whether it was right for minutes to take a month for approval and would welcome any comments on how best to communicate with parishioners. Mrs Buckley then asked for an update from the Parish Council on the Old Telephone Box, beginning with some photographs of the Box before it was destroyed and then handing over a 96 signature petition (7 of whom attended the 2018 APA but live outside Old Down) in support of replacing the Telephone Box. The Clerk noted that the final costs were £3,900 + vat if the box was replaced & £1,000 + vat if the box was not replaced and the Verge returned to its original state. The Insurance company have been asked to investigate whether they can recover costs from the car owner, and a response is awaited. The Clerk noted that all electrical supplies had been disconnected, and if the Box was replaced then it would not include internal lighting – this was acceptable to Mrs Buckley. The Clerk then asked the views of the parishioners on the Old Down play area, and all were strongly in support of continuing to have access for their children and grandchildren {despite it also being a development on the Village Green}. Having confirmed that there were no other issues, Mr Hughes promised that the Council would review the questions, comments and views raised and asked that the Council could produce a measured response that would be published on the Parish Council website. Mr Hughes then thanked Parishioners for their concerns and invited them to stay as observers for the remainder of the meeting. Mr Offer, Mrs Buckley, Mrs Powell & Mr Northover remained for the rest of the meeting. Min 46/17 Annual Elections Mr Hughes asked for nominations for the 2018/19 Chairman, Mr Williams proposed that Mr Hughes stay on as chairman for a further year, seconded by Mr Harris. Mr Hughes accepted the nomination and invited a vote on this motion - all Councillors present voted in favour (no abstentions or votes against). Mr Hughes then asked that this year the Parish Council accept 2 Vice Chairmen and proposed Mr Panes (Mr Hughes understood that Mr Panes was happy to be elected in this capacity if accepted by other Councillors), Mr Williams seconded the proposal and all Councillors present were in favour. Mr Baxter then 2 of 15 proposed Mr Harris, seconded by Mr Williams, and after Mr Harris accepted the nomination all present voted in favour (no abstentions or votes against). The meeting then reviewed and agreed the other posts within the Parish Council (See Appendix 2) Min 47/18 Declarations of interests Mr Hughes – Allotments Mr Baxter – Intelligent Solutions, Mike’s Maintenance Services, Mr Williams - Treasurer of Olveston United Football Club Mr Gibson - Church Warden of St Mary’s Church Mr Panes – GSH Architects Mr Harris – Committee Member & Bar Manager for the Olveston & District Bowls Club, and a member of the twinning association. Min 48/18 Apologies for absence – Mr M Gibson, Mr R Panes Min 49/18 Minutes of the last meeting 24th April 2018 Meeting Minutes – presented to the Parish Council, Mr Harris proposed that they were a fair reflection, seconded by Mrs Lewis-Leaver and accepted by a majority of Councillors present (Mrs Offer abstained). 27th February 2018 Meeting Minutes – the revised minutes were again presented to the Parish Council, Mr Baxter proposed that they were a fair reflection, seconded by Mr Williams and agreed by all present. Both sets of minutes can now be published on the Website 27th March 2018 Meeting Minutes, Mr Hughes asked that they be published to Councillors by midnight on 26th May – this was accepted by the Clerk. Minutes for 22nd May meeting – the Clerk agreed to publish minutes for tonight’s meeting to Councillors by 17th June 2018. Min 50/18 Matters arising from the minutes Village Green Status – Mr Baxter gave a summary of the work done on the Village Green, and recognised that more work needs to be done to accommodate rumours. A specific query was raised some years ago about parking on a Village Green when the overflow car park was being considered, this was addressed following an extensive meeting with Andrew Griffiths the South Glos Solicitor where the benefit could be demonstrated, and the parking area designed to minimise any impact. Recent members of the Parish Council have never looked at the Village Greens as a ‘whole’ (especially as Village Green status was granted 50 years ago) and specifically where does it stand with the original development of the Play Area, the new Scout Hut and the proposed developments of the QAMP, Play Area and the needs of the Football Club. When the Football Club applied for planning permission to extend the QAMP for the changing rooms no mention was made of the Village Green from any quarter (including South Glos Council) and the Parish Council was not aware that it had to consider the implications.