Present
Hilary Cox; Andy Gibbs; Alice Hawkins; Terry Heyes; Judi Hibberd; Janet Hickinbottom; Bron Putnam; Diane Swindells; Rona Taylor; Mary Webb
In attendance: Kathryn Stewart; Cllr Taylor
Rona welcomed everyone and in particular the two new committee members Alice and Diane.
1. Apologies
Apologies had been received from Faith Ward.
Minutes of the last meeting and Matters Arising
The minutes of the last meeting of September 17th 2013 were accepted.
Parking on footpaths
This problem had been further highlighted at the Annual General Meeting where a resident’s letter was read out, explaining the difficulties and dangers of pushing a wheelchair along pavements blocked by parked cars.
Marlene had sent a response to the September minutes and mentioned yellow lines which had been discussed at the parish meeting but Cllr Blacklock had said would not be possible. At the October Parish Council meeting, councillors had considered putting notices on cars which were parking on pavements. Community Support Officers could now issue penalty notices. It was acknowledged that the problem still existed but progress was being made.
Parish Plan
25 people in the survey said they didn’t know how to contact the Residents’ Association. It was agreed that contact details for the Chair and Secretaries would be included in all future editions of the Bugle.
Action: Mary
The Parish Plan survey had been carried out with children.
Bugle
There had been no further offers of advertisements for the Bugle.
AOB
Flanders poppies - Hilary now had seeds for the poppies which were to be sown on a strip of the Jubilee verge.
Broadband – Paul Thornton is leading on this.
All other matters arising were to be covered by the agenda.
2. Update on and discussion of Residents’ Association initiatives and issues
Website and how to move forward.
It was agreed this item was on hold. Although the development of a website had been agreed in principle, funding needed to be raised. Feedback from the Parish Plan might also help with this.
This item was to be discussed at the next meeting.
Action: Rona and Judi
Speedwatch
Terry said he was still operating as part of the team. One problem was capturing sufficient information about cars exceeding allowable parameters. Reports were generally followed up by the police but there were problems doing so with fleet cars. Thanks were to be conveyed to the Speedwatch team.
John Whitehouse had reported that the new 30mph speed limit for parts of the village and 20mph outside the school was to be implemented next year. At that point, the priority situation on Cromwell Lane bridge would be reversed.
Red Lane - flower tubs
These had been replanted on the Jubilee verge. It was agreed to purchase two new tubs, compost and bulbs at a cost of £60 to be placed by the Burton Green sign on Red Lane.
Proposal for evening get together for Burton Green young people
A proposal was presented for an evening get together for Burton Green young people who had been involved in the parish plan survey. However, before further detailed plans were made, it was decided to investigate the need for DBS clearance for someone taking charge of the evening and the position regarding licensing for the showing of a film.
Bus service to Kenilworth
This was an ongoing problem. Although a 28 seater had been provided, it was often late and its unreliability meant it was not being used so much. Rona and Cllr. Whitehouse were continuing to work on the problem.
Christmas tree
This had been agreed at the last meeting. An outdoor electricity point had been offered by a resident whose land adjoined the Jubilee verge. Mary felt a tree in that position would not restrict the view of drivers turning out of Red Lane. Hilary had asked WDC about being allowed to tap into a street lamp and she was told this was possible at a cost of £300 as a permanent fixture. The electricity cost was estimated at £1.50 for 2 weeks. A licence would be needed too. It was agreed this item should be considered for fund raising for Christmas 2014.
The Parish Council could be approached to purchase lights for the tree.
Action: Rona
Diane would speak to Rob Barnes about the cost of a tree.
Action: Diane
Tuesday December 17th was agreed for carol singing around the tree. Members of the choir would join in as part of the communal singing. The availability of the Village Hall would be checked for the serving of mince pies and mulled wine afterwards. Donations would be requested to cover costs.
Action: Rona
A police meeting had been held recently with a community safety ambassador. PC Pete King issued safety messages. The Parish Council would invite them again to the Parish Meeting in the spring so that not all meetings were in the daytime.
3. Jubilee committee subgroup report back
The Jubilee Committee subgroup had met once and members were still researching the idea of a Jazz Evening to be held on June 14th at the Stanworths’. Further information would be brought to the next meeting of the BGRA committee.
4. Parish Plan Update
Kathryn said that the feedback to the plan was still being analysed. The ongoing task was the production of an attractive, easy-to-read report which captured all the valuable comments. It was hoped that this would be available within the following two weeks. Thanks were expressed to Kathryn and the group.
5. Le Van
Cllr Cox had spoken to WDC planning department and it was felt that the outline plans for the park homes was not in accordance with current planning permission. In light of other developments in the area (to be discussed later in the meeting), the site would have to be in keeping.
6. Village Hall
Kathryn reminded everyone of the Village Hall AGM to take place on Friday November 22nd at 7p.m. All were welcome and cheese and wine would be served.
A craft fayre was to take place at the hall on Sunday November 24th 11-4 with 18 stalls. A cafe would operate as usual.
Local band “Off the Cuff” would be performing at a supper evening on Nov 30th for anti HS2 funds.
The Village Hall committee was aware of parking issues in Hodgett’s Lane. The constitution and the hirers’ agreements were currently being rewritten and the committee was looking at signage for the car park about being courteous to neighbours and consulting with the planning officer about the location of signs.
The Village Hall outside light was not working and measures were taking place to resolve this.
The Village Hall committee was always looking for new members. A suggestion was made about a group of “Friends” or volunteers who would not wish to join a committee and be expected to attend every event, but would probably be happy to be called upon to put out tables and help set up events etc on an occasional basis.
Mention was made of the original village hall plaque and whether it could be re-installed.
Action: Kathryn
Thanks were given to the Village Hall committee.
7. HS2
Andy reported that the hybrid bill was likely to be published the following week, hence introducing a new phase.
Petitions would be able to be submitted the following spring by “affected parties”, although it was not clear what the definition of this term was. It was suggested that joint petitioning by interest groups would be a good approach e.g. by those involved in proposing tunnels; by those concerned with access and income protection e.g. the school. Further guidance was needed from WDC. Much more would be known after the publication of the hybrid bill. It was felt that the Parish Council should lead on this and that a working party should be formed.
The Judicial Review was still outstanding and due any day.
The compensation consultation would close on December 4th. Rona and Mary were still to co-ordinate the Residents’ Association response.
Action: Rona and Mary.
The mitigation proposal had received no response and the local MP had written to HS2 on behalf of all the action groups and Alison Munro had agreed to respond.
The next Action Group meeting was scheduled for December 8th.
8. Parish Councillor’s Report
A new clerk had not yet been appointed.
At a Parish Council meeting on the previous evening, a presentation had been given by Cala homes to build houses on the site of Burrow Hill nursery. This site had been chosen by WDC as the best potential site for development in Burton Green.
Initial plans and visuals were circulated. Further information about WDC Local Plan can be found at http://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/WDC/Planning/Planning+policy/Local+Development+Framework/New+Local+Plan.htm
The Local Plan encouraged the building of up to 90 houses and Cala were confident they could build on this site within two years. The houses would be of 2-3 bedrooms and 40% would be affordable housing targeting people from the local parish.
The site would also accommodate a playing field available for use by the school, parking, a new village hall and almshouses. The current owners of the site had made a proviso that a playing field and village hall should be incorporated into the scheme.
The Parish Council had been disappointed to find WDC and Cala homes had been working on this proposal which they felt had been presented to them as a fait accompli.
There had to be a 6 week consultation period with WDC and it was agreed that residents should be made aware of the situation as soon as possible so that they could feed back their views. A meeting should be called with Cala present to present their plans. Was this something the Parish Council should lead on?
It was suggested a display of the plan and artist’s impressions should be made available at the Village Hall and that a meeting should be called as soon as possible. December 13th was suggested subject to availability of the Hall.
Action: Rona
10. Treasurer’s Report
Terry presented the following report:
BGRA Accounts as at 19 / 11 / 2013
Current Account net balance: 1274.49 Deposit Account net balance: 1500.96
Total Funds (A): 2775.45
Ring Fenced Funds (Balance remaining of monies donated/allocated for specific purposes but not yet spent):-
Parish Plan Survey: 102.28 Defibrillator: 470.86
Speed watch: 375.01
Total Ring Fenced Funds (B): 948.15
Freely available/unallocated Funds (A – B): 1827.30
The above funds include the following monies:-
2013 – 14 residents’ subscriptions collected to date: 920.29
Terry went through the report explaining that the only recent major expenditure had been on the printing of the Bugle and the AGM agenda.
A number of items of expenditure were covered by income but he advised on caution with regard to spending as the cost of many small items soon mounted up. Additional fund raising would be necessary for some items such as a website.
It was also suggested that cash flow might be helped if other village organisations could consider upfront costs which would be repaid (as in the case of the Oddsocks event.)
The Residents’ Association needed to have a “cushion” of funds but at the same time, residents quite rightly wanted to see what their money (in the form of annual subscriptions) was spent on.
Mary agreed to create an inventory of the catering equipment now owned by the Residents’ Association.
Action: Mary
The following items of expenditure were agreed:
Christmas tree (to be negotiated with Rob Barnes) Action: Diane
Christmas tree lights Action: Mary
Evening for village young people Action: Mary and Rona
Flower tubs for Red Lane Action: Mary
Rona reminded everyone that the owners of the Water Tower had offered to have an open day when the building work was completed and perhaps donations could be requested to provide further funds.
11. Dates to be agreed for 2014 meetings
Meetings would be arranged in 2014 on January 7th, March 18th, May 6th July 8th September 16th and November 18th.
12. Any Other Business
A damaged lamp post in Red Lane was being repaired.
The Parish Council had applied to join 51M, the group of councils opposed to HS2.
The Local Authority was discussing boundary changes. There was some uncertainty over which Parish Council the University would belong to in the future.
Editions of the Bugle would be produced in February/June/September/December 2014.
A fund raising event for the Philippines disaster was to be held at lunchtime on Saturday November 30th in the Village Hall from 10-2.
Kathryn pointed out the success of a regular cafe held at Shilton Village Hall.
The Parish Council was taking up the issue of mud on the road.
13. Date, time and venue of Next Meeting
The next committee meeting would take place on January 7th 2014 at 7.30p.m.at the Village Hall.
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