Page 1 11.10.18 BOW BRICKHILL PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 11 October 2018 Present: Cllr R O’Rourke (Chair); Cllr J Price; Cllr R Ford In attendance: Tony O’Rourke (Clerk); Cllr D Hopkins (Unitary Councillor); PC Tony Deeble (PC218) (Thames Valley Police) Public: Mrs D Kesterton; Mr D Kesterton; S Malleson; C Morris; R Horne; S Pepper; M Preen; B Thompson The meeting commenced at 7.31pm 1.0 Apologies for Absence None 2.0 To Co Opt One New Member Onto the Parish Council 2.1 One application had been received to fill the vacancy arising from the resignation of Cllr Jones. However, the candidate did not attend the Noted meeting, so was not co-opted. 3.0 Casual Vacancy 3.1 Following the resignation of Cllr Milford at the beginning of October, a second vacancy had now arisen. Elections at Milton Keynes Council (‘MKC’) had been notified and the relevant public notices had been Noted posted. Noted Two vacancies remained to be filled 4.0 Declarations of Interest in Items on the Agenda Noted Cllr R O’Rourke – Parish Clerk is her husband Noted Cllr R Ford – Resident of 17 Church Road and neighbour of residents of 15 Church Road (item discussed under Matters Arising) Public Session The meeting was adjourned at 7.34pm to receive the Public Session. Application to MKC from Hornes Brewery for Variation of Licence (see also 12.0): Collette Morris, of Hornes Brewery, outlined the rationale behind the application to include the sale of alcohol for consumption on the premises and to extend the brewery’s opening hours. She stressed it was not their intention to open a second pub, merely to offer greater scope for open days, to accommodate groups, visits, tours, etc. and perhaps, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, to open a small tap room, as was common practice for many Noted breweries. Ryan Horne clarified that organisers of events for which a bar service was provided by Hornes would still need to apply to MKC for a Noted Temporary Event Notice (TEN). Stone Walls and Interpretation Boards: Diana Kesterton reported that she, Mary Preen and Sue Malleson had met with Eloise Markwick I accept these minutes as a true record of events Signed…………………………………………………………. Dated…………… Page 2 11.10.18 Eloise Markwick (Conservation & Project Officer - Greensand Country Landscape Partnership) (‘GCLP’) and Stephen Coleman (Historic Environment Information Officer at Central Bedfordshire Council) (‘CBC’) to show them some of the greensand stone walls in the village in need of repair, including those in Green Lane. GCLP and CBC were very positive about the availability of grant funding for informative signage on the subject of acidic grassland in All Saints Churchyard and at the top of The Wicks, together with a more general interpretation board on the Village Green. GCLP and CBC were also happy with the proposal to remove the ivy from the wall outside the Church Hall. It was felt that the portion of the Green Lane wall nearest the main road should remain covered in ivy as it offered a beneficial habitat for insects. However, there was positive discussion of the conservation of the portion of the wall covered in brambles further down the lane, towards the back of Noted Rushmere Close. Mrs Kesterton explained that there was little that could be done to ensure conservation of historic stone walls in the village other than insisting that the conservation of the walls be made a Planning Agreed Condition for any new development(s) in Bow Brickhill. Litter Bin – Church Car Park: Mary Preen requested a permanent litter bin for the Church Car Park. It was agreed that the Council would look into placing at least one bin Agreed Clerk at the site. Christmas Tree Lights and ‘Switch On’: (see 16.2 below) Sally Pepper asked whether, as was customary, BBPC would supply mulled wine and mince pies for the ceremonial ‘Switch On’ of the Christmas Tree Lights on the Village Green at 6:45pm on 28 November 2018. It Agreed was agreed that this would be the case as it had been in previous Clerk years. The meeting reconvened at 7:50pm 5.0 Minutes 5.1 Following the resignations of both Cllrs Jones and Milford, who had been the only councillors present at the 12 July 2018 meeting other than the Chair, Cllrs Price and Ford accepted an email from former Cllr Milford that the minutes of the meeting held on 12th July 2018 were a Agreed true and accurate record. The minutes were signed by the Chair. 5.2 Minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 13 September 2018 were accepted as a true and accurate record by all councillors and were Agreed signed by the Chair. 6.0 Matters Arising from the Minutes of 13 September 2018 Meeting From Public Session I accept these minutes as a true record of events Signed…………………………………………………………. Dated…………… Page 3 11.10.18 6.1 Village Planters Gill Cannell had now purchased the plugs required to create a ‘pansy wave’ in each of the large village gateway planters and Noted had been reimbursed. 6.2 Building Work at 15 Church Road (also Minute 19.1 of 13 September 2018) Following a site visit and “a number of discussions with the owner” (of 15 Church Road) an email was received (via Cllr Hopkins) from Neil Allen (Head of Regulatory Services, MKC), setting out MKC’s position, as follows: “The works being undertaken at No 15 do not require permission as they are exempt from the regulations and, primarily due to the basement which exists, the work is not undermining the foundations to No 17. Whilst we have no control over the work there may be other legislation under which the owners of No 17 may wish to consider taking action but these would be civil matters between the two neighbours and not Noted something which (MKC) would be involved in.” 6.3 Greensand Country Village Gateway – Signage & Greensand Boulders (Minute 5.4) Agreement signed on behalf of BBPC and submitted Greensand Trust for LEADER funding for signs at the junctions of Station Road/Brickhill Street and Station Road/Church Noted Road/Woburn Sands Road. To allow PC Deeble to leave the meeting early, Cllr Hopkins suggested items 7 and 8 be transposed. 8.0 Thames Valley Police(‘TVP’) Quarterly Attendance (TVP Q3) 8.1 PC Tony Deeble stated that only four crimes in Bow Brickhill had been reported in the third TVP quarter: 1 x ‘Assault Without Injury’; 1 x ‘Burglary other than in a Dwelling’ and 2 x ‘Theft From Vehicle’ He added that, since the start of TVP Q4, there had been a domestic burglary in Rushmere Close, which was “of concern”. There were no suspects at the time of the meeting but CID officers were working on the case. Over the next few months, TVP would be specifically targeting rural crime in the area. Other upcoming TVP initiatives would include an increase in traffic speed monitoring and enforcement on more isolated roads. The annual ‘Operation Dark Night’ anti-burglary initiative was to be launched over the forthcoming weeks, encompassing crime prevention advice and increased patrols, particularly over the Halloween/Bonfire Night period. PC Deeble explained that the recent murder in nearby Browns Wood had been “resource intensive” for TVP and had necessitated a number of reassurance patrols and an area-wide knife sweep. I accept these minutes as a true record of events Signed…………………………………………………………. Dated…………… Page 4 11.10.18 8.2 Sue Malleson, as Neighbourhood Watch (‘BBNW’) Co-Ordinator, had been told of a recent disturbing incident at the top of Church Road, during which three “gentlemen in balaclavas” had attempted to force entry into a property. She expressed concern that the incident had not been formally recorded by TVP because no crime had taken place. Two similar incidents had recently occurred in Woburn Sands and Mrs Malleson was surprised that TVP had identified “no pattern” linking these to the Rushmere Close burglary. PC Deeble explained that it was TVP’s belief that the Rushmere Close perpetrator was working alone. This did not accord with their evidence relating to the Woburn Sands cases. 8.3 Mrs Malleson again expressed surprise that TVP had not recorded an incident number for the attempted break-in on Church Road, pointing out that the residents concerned were traumatised by their experience and the village, as a whole, was “very unhappy” about it. PC Deeble agreed to look at the TVP systems again and ascertain how the incident was reported/recorded. Following a request from the neighbour of the Rushmere Close burglary victim, the Chair asked PC Deeble whether TVP could provide a stock of “no junk mail/hawkers…” notices for display by residents to PC deter would-be distraction burglars. He agreed to supply some Deeble/ literature for that purpose to BBPC. Clerk 8.4 Sue Malleson suggested that communication between TVP and BBNW could be improved. The lack of communication was then made very clear when, in response to her question: “Is officer Deeble still on the patch? I’ve never met him”, PC Deeble then identified himself to the meeting. 8.5 The Clerk informed PC Deeble that he had examined the footage from the Pavilion CCTV cameras from the night of the Rushmere Close burglary but had been unable to find anything of any use to the ongoing investigation. 7.0 Unitary Councillor Report Full Report circulated to councillors prior to the meeting and published on the Parish Council Website 7.1 MKC had appointed Debbie Taylor-Bond as its new Head of Highways.