--------------------------------------------------------------------- MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF MAYFIELD AND FIVE ASHES PARISH COUNCIL ORDINARY MEETING HELD AT FIVE ASHES VILLAGE HALL ON MONDAY 13 FEBRUARY 2012 AT 1930 HOURS 11C11 --------------------------------------------------------------------- APPROVED FULL Chairman of Mayfield and Five Ashes Parish Council COUNCIL Councillor Deveda Redman DEVEDA REDMAN CHAIRMAN SUMMARY OF MEETING Finance Report for December approved BW92 Extension – Licence discussed ESCC Budget discussed Annual Return Approved Mayfield Primary School Representation discussed West Street – heavy goods vehicles discussed Traffic calming – Fletching Street discussed Traffic calming – A267 discussed ATTENDANCE Robert Fitzsimmons (RF) Present and Voting Monica Aitkin (MA) Apologies for Absence (B) Rosemary Neal (RN) Present and Voting Patricia Balfour (PB) Apologies for Absence (S) Jayne Bramwell (JB) Present and Voting Andrew Burnett (AB) Present and Voting Warwick Child (WH) Present and Voting Jane Driscoll (JD) Present and Voting Ian Parker (IP) Present and Voting Chris Lilly (CL) Present and Voting Lloyd McLean (LM) Present and Voting Graham Playfoot (GP) Present and Voting Deveda Redman (DR) Present and Voting Jerry Watkiss (JW) Present and Voting Elaine Wheeler (EW) Present and Voting Present and voting 13 Present and not voting 0 Apologies for Absence 2 Not present 0 Other Council Business 0 Also in attendance: East Sussex County Council Councillors Robert Tidy (RT), Wealden District Council Brian Redman (BR), Robert Standley (RS) and David Thompson, Clerk. Apologies for Absence: WDC Councillor Jonica Fox (JF), Graham Wells (GW) and ESCC Councillor Chris Dowling (CD) There were 11 member of the public present. 11C11(2) 1 MINUTES 1. COUNCILLORS DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ON AGENDA ITEMS 1.1. There were no declarations of interests by members on agenda items. 2. CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS 2.1. The Chairman reported that the Planning Application for development at Rock Cottage, Fletching Street, Mayfield had been withdrawn on 7 February 2012. 2.2. Complaints had been received from a member of the public regarding an increasing number of heavy goods vehicles using West Street, the increase may be because of nearby building development work or SatNav equipment providing misleading instructions. It was agreed that the Clerk would take the matter forward. ACTION DT 2.3. Localism Act on A4 – The Clerk had obtained a survey of the Localism Act on one sheet of A4. He would circulate to members as part of the minutes. See Annex 2. ACTION DT 2.4. School Representation – It was reported that Mayfield Primary School had decided not to have a representative from the Parish Council at their meetings. Councillor R Tidy (ESCC) confirmed that there was no legal requirement for a Parish Council representative. The Parish Council accepted this decision but nevertheless considered it a retrograde step so far as village cohesion was concerned. Five Ashes Primary School were not affected. 2.5. It was reported that the Mayfield and Five Ashes Society had decided to resurrect their Planning Applications Committee. The Parish Council welcomed this move and would do all possible to assist the new committee. 3. POLICE REPORT 3.1. The Mayfield Police Report was as follows: 04/01 Serial 0983 theft of heating oil stolen from a tank at a property on Witherenden Road . 06/01 Serial 1231 wallet stolen from an insecure van working at Knowle Park 13/01 Serial 1272 damage to fence at small holding on Rotherfield Lane 24/01 Serial 0079 Theft of central heating oil from outside tank at property on Newick Lane, occurred between 09/01 to 22/01. 3.2. There was no Police Report for Five Ashes. 4. PUBLIC QUESTION TIME 4.1. Mr Sutton of Fletching Street, Mayfield gave an update on the residents petition to have traffic calming measures instituted in Mayfield. He reported that: Speeds on Fletching Street had been monitored. There was surprise at the high volume of traffic using Fletching Street. The situation for pedestrians was aggravated by the lack of pavements on Fletching Street. Mr Sutton and Councillor Tidy had attended the Traffic Committee meeting in Lewes to argue for an extension of the 20 mph limit. 11C11(2) 2 The project had not scored high enough on the ESCC Traffic Management Model, so a case could not be made, and was a low priority. ESCC were however willing to help and there would be a further meeting in March. The Clerk would be kept informed of progress. 4.2. Geoff Gregory asked whether the Parish Council had an overall plan for traffic issues. RF reported that at the present time there was no overall plan, but admitted that there was a need for one. 4.3. Duncan Smith reported that traffic speeds on the A267 at Five Ashes were unacceptably high, and that the traffic calming scheme had failed to work. He noted also that there was an increase in traffic over the A267 because of overall housing development. RF noted that speed monitoring was supposed to be taking place. RT reported that he had no sympathy with the case, the current traffic calming scheme had been started 12 years ago and had taken 7 years to complete. The funding for the scheme had been raised through a partnership project. The A267 was one of the few traffic arteries available in East Sussex and was vital to the economic development of the county, and noted also that East Sussex had one of the lowest salary scales in the country. It was also noted that: Although two years after the traffic calming project speeds were still high. There was a high accident rate. It was noted that Buxted were using hand held speed indicator cameras manned by volunteers, and that some Five Ashes councillors had received training. RT noted that no more speed cameras were being provided. Mary Pennington confirmed the increasing high speeds of traffic leaving the nearby A272, and considered that it was only a matter of time before serious accidents occurred. 4.4. There were complaints regarding the general state of repair of Five Ashes Village Green and the small plot of land opposite. Paving slabs were cracked and broken. Bollards had been knocked over in several places. Grass areas needed to be reseeded. The Clerk to arrange repairs. ACTION DT 4.5. Mary Pennington reported that because of traffic speeds there were a number of areas in Five Ashes where patching was required. CL noted these could be reported on the ESCC traffic website. 4.6. It was noted that the recent installation of a new street light at the Church of the Good Shepherd at Five Ashes had ruled against additional 30 mph signs at that location. 11C11(2) 3 5. EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL REPORT 5.1. RT reported that: He and Mr Sutton had campaigned for traffic calming on Fletching Street, at a meeting in Lewes but had been unsuccessful. However they would try again at a members meeting in March. Capital Budget would be for growth and jobs particularly in the poorer areas. ESCC would invest half a billions pounds on capital projects over a period of 4 years. o Broadband delivery o Bexhill – Hastings link road o Road improvements o School improvements including new school at Etchingham o Children in care o Libraries as community hubs o Archive office Small and medium sized firms will be included in the bidding process. Revenue Budget £355m on services to residents, in particular maintaining social care. Some monies will come from business rates. The South East 7 Consortium of large local authorities in collaboration to produce services. Police – for fifth year running a reduction in crime. 5.2. It was noted that CD would be informed of residents issues on the A267 traffic calming problems. 5.3. RN asked whether the recently reported cases of poaching should be included on the Police Report. 6. WEALDEN DISTRICT COUNCIL REPORT 6.1. RS reported that: Following a period of consultation, Cabinet has recommended that a Full Council freeze of the Wealden element of council tax for the second successive year. Full Council will meet on 15 February. The freeze makes use of the Government’s support for those councils which limit expenditure increases to 2.5 per cent. If Full Council approves the recommendation, the Wealden element of residents’ total council tax bill will remain at £174.06 for an average Band D property for the third year in a row. Council Leader Bob Standley told Cabinet that to achieve a balanced budget over the full term of this Council, the Transformation Programme will have to identify another £0.5 million of savings by 2015. Cabinet also agreed that the Medium Term Financial Strategy to 2016/17 should be based on council tax rises that are broadly in line with inflation. 6.2. The Strategic Development Sites consultation ends 5pm on 24 February. The Council has held public Exhibitions at Crowborough and Hailsham and further exhibitions are to be held on Saturday 11 February at Uckfield and Polegate, from 10am to 1pm. The consultation sites are within 12 Strategic Development Areas designated in the Core Strategy. They are at Land to the West of Uckfield; Land to the East of Hailsham; Land to the North of Hailsham; Land South of Polegate and East of Willingdon; Land at 11C11(2) 4 Dittons Road, Polegate; Land East and South East of Stone Cross; Land North of Stone Cross; Land at Pine Grove; Crowborough; Land at Jarvis Brook; Crowborough; Land to the South East of Crowborough; Land to the North West of Heathfield; and Land adjacent to Tunbridge Wells in the Parish of Frant. 6.3. There were no questions on the Wealden District Council Report. 7. MINUTES OF THE FULL COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON 9 JANUARY 2012 (11C10) 7.1.