Minutes of a meeting of Hook Parish Council Wednesday 6th February 2008 Hook Community Centre, Ravenscroft At 8.25 pm Present: Councillors: Mrs J Bonnin Mr M Campbell Mr N Carpenter Mr T Colman Mrs A Foot Mr F Kirkham – arrived at 9.50 during item 08.31 Mr P Lock Mrs G Morgan Miss J-M Steels Mr M Whittaker Chairman: Mr A Hunter Clerk: Mrs A Atkins 08.23 Apologies for Absence Apologies were received and accepted from Councillor T Taylor 08.24 Declaration of Interests None declared 08.25 Ten Minute Rule No items raised 08.34 Police Report The Chairman welcomed Sgt Paul Maginnis Sgt Maginnis reported that year to date, crime, public order, damage and burglaries were all lower than in the previous period last year. In January there were 6 burglaries, but this has also affected other villages. Vehicle crime increased slightly, but ASB had decreased. A Licensing operation was conducted aimed are tackling underage drinking. He reported that all the Hook premises passed. The Hook team has 3 priories based on citizen input. Tackle ASB – In particular Wellworth Park, Bow Field and Griffin Way South To help the community to feel safer Increased police visibility. There is a new web site http://www.hampshire.police.uk/Internet/localpolicing/northeast/hart/yateley/3HYSNT1.htm The site provides information about the Beat team and contact details for Sgt. Maginnis. Members congratulated Sgt Maginnis on the progress in reducing ASB and remarked that residents had noticed the more proactive approach from the Team. AA\HPC DRAFT Minutes pcm 080206 1 Anne Atkins, Parish Clerk 08.26 Ratification of Full Council Minutes – Meeting held on 2nd January 2008 The Chairman proposed that minute numbers 08.01 to 08.22 be accepted as a true record of the Parish Council meeting held on 2nd January 2008. Councillor Steels seconded the proposal and the Council being in agreement the minutes were accepted as a true record. 08.27 Ratification of Committee Minutes – Planning Meeting held on 16th January 2008 Councillor Bonnin proposed that minute numbers 08.01 to 08.09 be accepted as a true record of the Parish Council Planning meeting held on 2nd January 2008. Councillor Morgan seconded the proposal and the Council being in agreement the minutes were accepted as a true record. Amenity Meeting held on 16th January 2008 Councillor Whittaker proposed that minute numbers 08.01 to 08.10 be accepted as a true record of the Parish Council Amenity meeting held on 2nd January 2008. Councillor Steels seconded the proposal and the Council being in agreement the minutes were accepted as a true record. 08.28 Update on Elizabeth Hall redevelopment The Chairman confirmed that HMRC were forwarding a refund of the Stamp Duty paid plus interest: a total of about £46,000 and congratulated the Clerk on her handling of the claim Indexation and interest on the S106 from Taylor Wimpey had not originally been claimed by HDC. A report is going to Hart Cabinet to approve payment to HPC of £56,559 once these funds are received from Taylor Wimpey. As a separate transaction interest of approximately £25,000 is due from Hart. We hope to get both sums by the end of Financial Year. Councillor Carpenter reported that the project lost 55 day due to weather. The move from the old to the new will take place during the week of 21st April. The old hall will be demolished on 27th April. Completion of site is planned for Friday 23rd May. The project is within budget, although the spend curve is behind due to delays in the building. He gave a summary of the work completed to date and in progress. Members expressed thanks and congratulations to Councillor Carpenter. 08.29 Changes to Committee Membership The Chairman reported that following changes were proposed at the request of the Councillors concerned: Amenities Committee - Councillor Campbell to join Planning Committee - Councillor Foot no longer wishes to be a member of this committee. Finance Working Group - Councillor Lock to join The changes were approved unanimously with immediate affect. AA\HPC DRAFT Minutes pcm 080206 2 Anne Atkins, Parish Clerk 08.30 Appointment of HPC Director to Hook Village Halls Charitable Association – Chairman to Report There has been a vacancy since Councillor Comley left the Parish Council. The vacancy has not been filled due to a concern amongst members that any Councillor nominated to represent Hook Parish Council could not be perceived by a reasonable member of the community as having a loyalty to either the Community Centre or Elizabeth Hall that could lead to bias. Discussions with those Councillors interested in the role have delayed a nomination being brought to the Council meeting. It is now felt that a Parish Council Director should be appointed to the board of HVHCA with immediate effect subject to the EGM planned by HVHCA in early March to clarify the number of Directors. The appointment will need to be renewed at the start of the next municipal year in May. Given the delay it would not be reasonable to ask HVHCA to delay our appointment any further. The Chairman noted that Councillor Taylor is seeking re-appointment as a Director in his own right. The Chairman proposed the nomination of Councillor Lock as the HPC appointed Director to HVHCA. This was seconded by Councillor Colman and the motion was carried A question was raised about the membership of HVHCA and the number of members required for the EGM to be quorate. The Clerk was asked to obtain a copy of the HVHCA Memorandum and Articles 08.31 HDAPTC Update The Chairman summarised the minutes of the last two meetings. S 106 agreements. It was agreed at the October meeting to hold a further meeting with Hart to discuss the extent to which Parish Councils would have first bite at the money. This meeting has not yet been held. Hart Budget 2008/9 This has become a rolling topic at meetings and the Chairman attended a further one on 28th January. Hart’s increase in Government Grant is £83,000 for the year whilst staff costs alone will rise by £300,000 1 The budget gap is now reduced to £1.25m on a total budget of £10m. Indications are that Central Government Grant will increase by 0.5 % in each of the following two years. 2 2 of 7 Heads of Service posts are likely to go and redundancies are expected 3 Cathy Powell, Corporate Director is retiring 4 Parishes have now been invited on three occasions to take over and fund services that Hart “cannot afford to provide.” Along with the rest of the room I have grunted sympathetically and declined. No Parish has taken up the offer. 5 Revenue and benefits is being outsourced to Capita of London Congestion Charge fame 6 Payroll is being outsourced to Hampshire 7 Hampshire’s Grant from London is a 2% increase: all money is going to the “north of England” which is judged to have the greatest need. 8 The usual favourites are in the sights again namely closing public loos and increasing car park charges The Yellabus project which is a Yateley based Call and Go, yet much cheaper to run, is under financial threat. No Parishes present offered anything more tangible than sympathy. Hart Neighbourhood Centre has a projected £30k budget shortfall for 2008/9. The view was expressed that as Hart set it up Hart should fund the shortfall, however, the Parishes will be invited to contribute” something”. Hook has provided a grant application pack but AA\HPC DRAFT Minutes pcm 080206 3 Anne Atkins, Parish Clerk explained at the same time that we do not fund “overheads.” It is not believed that any parish intends to offer any money. Most of their “surgeries” seem to have some form of corporate sponsorship. The Chairman reported that since the meeting Parishes had received a list of suggested contributions per Parish and that Hook is being asked to contribute up to £160. There was no support from members for making any contribution. Councillor Colman expressed disappointing that the budget preparation for such a new facility as the HNC had no long term guarantee of funding. The Chairman continued that after around four months with no staff at all the section that handles Parish Plans has come back to life headed by Lesley Trussler. It has two new ones to evaluate and then intends to revisit all the older ones to “ensure they fit Hart objectives.” The mega sports pitch scheme application by Hampshire at Robert Mays has attracted objections from Hart and Odiham Parish Council both of whom feel there is inadequate evidence of need. 08.32 Annual Report Copy Date Councillor Bonnin reminded members that copy for the 2007-8 Annual Report needed to be provided to he before the end February in order that the final version can be with the printer by 12th March 08.33 Amenity Committee request for approval to spend budget 08.33.1 New skate park Councillor Whittaker reminded members of the history of this project and the consultation process which has been undertaken. A final design had now been agreed following input from the user group. The Amenity Committee requests: a) approval to spend £66,200 of the reserve funds set aside for the project. The contract is under negotiation and is subject to agreement of payment terms. A pending grant from BLF is expected to be available and will also influence the contract placement date. b) that the final negotiation of payment terms and contract placement can be delegated to Chairman of Amenities and Chairman of the Parish Council.