HINTON CHARTERHOUSE PARISH COUNCIL – BATH & NORTH EAST SOMERSET

HINTON CHARTERHOUSE PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday 17th Oct 2017 in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Hinton Charterhouse; commencing at 8.00pm

Present: Cllr. C.Clemence Cllrs: R Jacob, R.Coles, N.Helps, F.Robertson, I.Griebenow Mr Geoffrey Parkes (Parish Clerk) Mr Jake Dyson – Hinton House Estate. Mr Ben Seymour – Hinton House Estate. 8 members of the public

Apologies: Cllrs. Whiteley, Seek.

78. Chairman’s Introduction Cllr Clemence welcomed the members of the public, and Mr Jake Dyson and Mr Ben Seymour from Hinton House. The Chairman thanked those who had sent messages of support during his recent ill health and hospital visit.

On a separate matter he did state that there had been many rumours and stories circulating in the Village about planning developments and the Council. If you become aware of these could you please refer people to the Council for an informed answer, and just squash those rumours that are plain silly.

79. Apologies for Absence Cllrs Whiteley and Cllr Seek.

80. Declarations of Interest The Chairman reminded Councillors of their duty to declare any interests in any items on the agenda. No interests were stated.

The Chairman adjourned the meeting to allow Mr Jake Dyson to address the meeting.

81. Meeting adjourned to invite Mr Jake Dyson to speak

Mr Dyson thanked the Council for the invitation to the meeting and for the opportunity to say ‘Hello’. He wished to explain why he had bought Hinton House and backtracked to his youth when he lived in Bath and played cricket here. At the time he thought the cricket pitch was a fantastic ground. Over the last 20 years he had been living and running his business in London and when the opportunity came up to buy Hinton House he jumped at it.

Mr Dyson explained he has a passion for the entire Hinton House property and wishes to restore all of it to what it should be. They have been rebuilding the walled garden to allow it to produce organic vegetables, and they were now restoring the main house with guidance from the best heritage advisors. They would also be reinstating the ha ha in the

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parkland and planting trees. Their current aim is to be able to move into the House in July 2019.

His next main project is to build a new cricket pavilion and bring it back into the Estate. This would involve landscaping and designing it so that outsiders to the Village, and those who are up to no good, will not find it easy to enter the car park and cause damage.

Finally he wished to state that Beeswax Farming is part of the Dyson family. That they do take farming seriously and that the Village will see improvements to the surrounding land. They have bought Tuggy’s Barn and Peipards Farm. They had tried, and are still trying, to buy the field to the south of Tuggy’s Lane that WPB had generated housing designs for. Mr Dyson said that it is all about re-creating a heritage estate and that they want to preserve Hinton Charterhouse village. He said it was nice to meet everyone and were there any questions.

A member of the public asked about the exclusion of outsiders from the Cricket Ground – did this include dog walkers and children?

Mr Dyson explained that the exclusion is aimed at criminals and those engaged in anti- social activity. They will have CCTV systems installed.

Mr Nick Priest and Cllr Helps did say that recently a suspicious vehicle had been seen in the area and it had been reported to the Police. The advantage of a small community is that people do recognise each other and keep an eye on things.

Mr Dyson repeated that he will want to protect a new cricket pavilion and that Ben Seymour would be managing it.

The Chairman thanked Mr Dyson for his explanations and thanked him again for the broadband connection. He then reconvened the meeting.

82. Minutes of the Meeting of The Parish Council 19 th Sept 2017 The Council considered the minutes of the Meeting of The Parish Council held on 19th Sept 2017.

It was proposed by Cllr. Helps and seconded by Cllr. Coles that the minutes of the Meeting of The Parish Council 19th Sept 2017 be signed and adopted as a correct record. All present agreed.

Resolved: That the minutes of Meeting of The Parish Council held on 19th Sept 2017 be signed and adopted as a correct record. (The Chairman then signed the minutes)

83. Financial Reports. The Clerk had circulated to the Council the Financial Report for 1st October 2017, complete with the requests for retrospective and advance authority for payments. The Clerk reported that there were no significant financial points to raise and that spending remained in line with the Budget (a spreadsheet had been circulated to Councillors with details of spending to date against the budget). The second half of the B&NES Precept

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had been received early in October and therefore the grants to village organisations could go ahead (Ref: Minute 66 Resolution at the previous September 19th Meeting)

The following payments were made in September 100886 H.C.Memorial Hall Hire 77.00 100887 G Parkes – September 370.83 100888 W Palastre – September 286.97 100889 Post Office Ltd – PAYE Sept 71.60 100890 Somer Direct Limited - Office 117.48 100891 Grant Thornton LLP –Audit 120.00

The following payments had or would be made in October

100892 Millennium Green Trust 450.00 100893 HC Church Committee 350.00 100894 HC Memorial Hall 450.00 100895 The Ridings 50.00 100896 The Play Area Mangm’t Committee 150.00 100897 Mrs Wordsworth (Toddlers Group) 70.00 100898 G Parkes – October 370.83 100899 W Palastre – October 286.97 100900 Post Office Ltd – PAYE Oct 71.60 100901 SSE Contracting Ltd 64.26 100902 SSE Elec Power (Street Lights) 266.00

Cllr. Robertson and seconded by Cllr. Jacob proposed that these Statements be accepted. All agreed.

Resolved That Financial Report for 1st October 2017, complete with the requests for retrospective and advance authority for payments be accepted. (The Chairman signed the Financial Statement)

84. Casual Vacancy. Notice for Co-option The Clerk had heard from B&NES Electoral Services that no request had been made by Residents for an Election; therefore the Parish Council was free to go ahead and advertise for applicants to the Casual Vacancy. The Clerk would arrange for the posters advertising this to be put on the notice boards and the website. (There had already been two interested applicants).

The Clerk had received a question from Mr Andy Parsons about the process of Parish Council elections, Casual Vacancies and Co-option. The Clerk gave a full explanation of the Elections process for the full nine Councillors every 4 years. And the process for election or co-option of Councillors when vacancies inevitably arise. The process is fully overseen and controlled by the Electoral Services Department of B&NES, and strict rules have to be followed. If residents wish to read more of the detail they can either ask the Clerk at any time or see the B&NES website entries for Local Democracy, Your Council.

Notices of changes, elections etc are placed on the two notice boards in the High Street, on the wall of the Rose & Crown car park, and on the Parish Council website.

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85. Planning Not for discussion (as they are now pending with B&NES Planning Dept)

(i) 17/02857/FUL – Hinton House – Green Lane – Revised access. Permitted (ii) 17/03701/FUL – Hinton House – Alterations. Permitted (iii) 17/03702/LBA – Hinton House – Listed Building Alterations. Permitted

For discussion (iv) Mr Nick Priest had contacted the Chairman about Planning; who invited him to read his questions after which he would give his prepared answers.

Mr Priest wished to say that on the behalf of the Village he was glad to see the Chairman back and on his feet. He wished to thank Cllr Clemence for his services to the Village, and also to Cllr Williamson for her former services.

His question was: Will the Parish Council follow local and national planning policy that building is preferred within the boundaries of the Village in preference to the Green Belt? He has raised the concerns of residents about building anywhere in the Green Belt and wished to ask what steps can be taken?

The Chairman had prepared some answers to these questions: 1. What the Parish Council had done is engage with the B&NES Placemaking Plan. Councillors carried out an extensive amount of work on the Rural Area Assessments which resulted in Hinton Charterhouse being graded as the ‘Least likely for development’, known as category GB3. 2. The Parish Council drew the Housing Development Boundary quite tightly about the central area of the Village. This is probably the best level of protection we have at the moment. 3. Future steps. B&NES has already started reviewing its overall plan for the area (The NLP). Cllrs Robertson and Clemence attended the first B&NES briefing on 14th September and it did give some cause for concern.

Whatever B&NES decides has to fit with the National Policy. This Parish Council has no policy powers. Our only real influence will be to contribute to the B&NES consultation exercise. The timetable for this is Spring next year although it already seems this will slip to next Summer. The Parish Council can’t do anything until that consultation exercise starts. As the NLP emerges it has more maturity and more weight to it and a potential developer can refer to it. HCPC had been told that the NLP will be a further development of what we have already done. As it is the Parish Council does have mixed feelings about what B&NES are doing.

If the Parish Council did decide to produce a Neighbourhood Development Plan we have already been told it will have to comply with the NLP. The Chairman said he had some sympathy with those Parish Councils who had created a Neighbourhood Development Plan as they have been told it will now have to be re-assessed to confirm compliance with the NLP.

(v) 17/04356/FUL – 11 Wellow Lane. New 4 bed house in garden.

The Chairman invited residents to speak if they had any comments on this Planning Application.

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Mrs Mavis Bennett, who lives at No.9 Wellow Lane said she was not happy at all with the proposed development. The building would be too large and not at all in keeping with the scale of housing in Wellow Lane. It would be overbearing and intrusive to neighbouring properties. The balconies on the second floor would look into the bedrooms of neighbouring houses. The road is already too narrow at this point and more parking would also obscure the well used exit from the Public Footpath from Hinton Villas. The contours of the land and the road are already unable to cope with flooding, which flows into the driveways of houses on the other side of Wellow Lane. The owner of No.11 Wellow lane has already dug out part of the roadside bank, which may be Council property. Mrs Bennett said that while she would like to see the gardens tidied up that overall the building was too large and intrusive.

The Resident from ‘Northerly’ also said that the proposed building would also look into their house, that the roads are too busy, and drainage is bad as water has nowhere to go.

The Chairman reconvened the meeting and noted that there had been objections from other residents as well as from the B&NES Highways Team. The B&NES flooding and drainage team had also commented. The Parish Council noted that the proposed development was outside the Housing Development Boundary; while Cllr Coles pointed out the practical problem that a building work site would block the lane – which is well used by large agricultural vehicles.

Cllr Clemence proposed that the Parish Council supported the planning application. There was no seconder and the motion failed.

Cllr Clemence proposed that the Parish Council submitted comments only on the planning application. There was no seconder and the motion failed.

Cllr.Clemence seconded by Cllr Griebenow proposed that the Parish Council Object to the Planning Application on all of the above grounds. The vote was unanimous to object to the application.

Resolved That the Council Object to Planning Application 17/03456/FUL – 11 Wellow Lane. (The Clerk would contact the B&NES Case Officer with the list of above objections)

(vi) Housing & Economic Land Availability Assessment (HELAA) – Review of sites put forward. B&NES had received notification of two sites proposed by land owners or developers within the Parish. These were HCH2 – The Field south of Tuggy’s Lane, and HCH3 – The field to the north of The Brambles. The Parish Council had been asked to add any factual corrections to the information that B&NES held on these two parcels of land.

The Parish Council discussed the point that for both HCH2 and HCH3 sites ‘Transport’ is not listed as a constraint. The Council agreed that actually the B3110 is already congested and sometimes at capacity and that access on and off it is potentially dangerous. It was also noted that the bus services on the B3110 were rudimentary.

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Cllr. Helps pointed out that site HCH2 does not list Ecology or Biodiversity as a constraint and yet the field half surrounds the Horse Pond. The Pond does harbour a wide range of wildlife and the land surrounding it is an important factor. Therefore as the Council has a legal duty to protect and promote Biodiversity that this be noted for HCH2.

The Clerk would forward these responses to the B&NES Planning Department.

(vii) Neighbourhood Planning

Cllr Helps explained to the meeting that Neighbourhood Development Planning came out of the Localism Act 2011. There are various pros and cons to starting on this route.

The key actions involved in developing a Neighbourhood Plan are as follows: 1) Defining the neighbourhood area. For HCPC we would select the civil parish boundary; 2) Undertaking community engagement; 3) Building an evidence base; 4) Developing the plan; 5) Undertaking further consultation; 6) Draft plan to be examined by someone appointed by B&NES; 7) B&NES to organise a referendum. A simple majority vote of residents will allow the plan to be adopted and become part of the legal development plan for Hinton Charterhouse.

In B&NES there are 5 completed Neighbourhood Plans and 13 being worked on.

Key issues a) Focus on guiding development, not stopping it; b) Neighbourhood plan must conform to national and local policies; c) Neighbourhood plans have weight in planning decisions; d) Can't allocate sites in the green belt, except limited (less than 10) affordable housing. A plan is unlikely to say there is a need for more private housing.

The Chairman reported that one of the main difficulties identified by B&NES is the need to approach landowners about land for development.

There followed some discussion about the merits and disadvantages of starting a Neighbourhood Development Plan and the possible value in picking up the earlier Village Plan. Mr Nick Priest explained that there is a sense that residents would like to contribute to a plan and that currently they feel exposed without one. The overall feeling was that if Cllr. Helps could come back at the next meeting with some ideas on how to engage with the community, and options for plans, then that would be valuable.

Cllr.Clemence seconded by Cllr Coles proposed that Cllrs Helps and Robertson be given authority to start the process of establishing the options relating to Neighbourhood Development Plans or Village Plans, including likely costs and timescales., and report back to the council ahead of a commitment to make an application is made. All voted in favour.

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Resolved That Cllrs Helps and Robertson be given authority to start the process of establishing the options relating to Neighbourhood Development Plans or Village Plans including likely costs and timescales.

86. Highways & Footpaths (i) Main Roads. A36. The Clerk had written to Sean Walsh at Highways England about the junction with Branch Road. But a recent reply from Highways England seemed to indicate it had been overlooked until now. Any repairs to the junction would not be possible until the 2018/19 year. In the meantime ‘Caution Uneven Road Surfaces’ signs and temporary patches are all that will be done. The Clerk wrote to Highways England saying that they had done all they could to highlight the potential for accidents at this dangerous junction and that it was now up to Highways England and their contractors. The Chairman said that he would continue to attend the twice yearly meetings held by the A36 Road group of the Valley Parishes Alliance with Highways England.

(ii) Other Roads. Nothing to report.

(iii) Footpaths. Nothing to report.

87. Millennium Green Trust Committee There was nothing to report.

88. Play Area There was nothing to report.

89. Village Facilities (i) Broadband. Mr Ben Seymour said that they may be able to give the Council about a week’s notice of when the link would become live. (ii) Village Notice Board. Cllr Seek had protected the two village notice boards for the winter.

90. Police Report Cllr Jacob reported that there had been some thefts from outhouses and vans. The Police Neighbourhood emails give more details. He hadn’t seen the PCSOs in the Village.

91. Free exchange of information not covered by any of the above

There were no reports.

92. Correspondence The Clerk placed the following correspondence on the table for Councillors to consult. Posters attached to this correspondence would be placed on the notice board. Any discussions about correspondence are noted below. (i) Cotswold AONB. Appointment of replacement parish representative – applications by 20th November.

93. Date of Next Meeting & Specific Items for the Agenda

The next meeting would be on Tuesday the 21st November 2017 at 8pm. Specific Items for the agenda should be submitted to the Clerk by Thursday the 16th November.

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Summons to the meeting, and agendas, would be issued three working days before the meeting.

The Meeting Finished at 9.16pm

Date of Next Meeting: Tuesday 21st November 2017 at 8pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Hinton Charterhouse

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