Present:
Hilary Cox; Alice Hawkins; Terry Heyes; Janet Hickinbottom; Bron Putnam, Rona Taylor; Diane Swindells.
In attendance:
Cllr Adrian Hickinbottom (Parish Council)
Archie Taylor (HS2 Action Group)
Rona welcomed everyone.
1. Apologies Apologies had been received from Andy Gibbs; Judi Hibberd; Faith Ward; Mary Webb; and Cllr Michael Coker.
Minutes of the last meeting and Matters ArisingMatters arising:
Village Hall: Diane confirmed that the plaque was to be moved as requested.
Compensation consultation response: Judi had circulated this.
Christmas tree: Joy and Rob Barnes had been thanked and would be provided with free tickets for the jazz event.
Judi had booked the Village Hall for the night of carols around the tree on December 16th 2014.
Nick Hogue’s letter: Rona had written to Jeremy Wright MP, as agreed.
Letter from Burton Green School: As agreed, Rona had written to the school thanking the head for the information and wishing the school well with the new venture.
Parish Plan:
A co-ordinator for broadband issues had not yet been found.
Jerry Marshall had started running business club.
HS2: The environmental consultation response had been completed and sent in. (Copy attached).
Any Other Business: John Whitehouse had confirmed the 30mph speed limit was to be recommended. (Post meeting note: this was agreed two days after the meeting.)
The broken utility cover had been repaired.
Archie had discussed the overgrown conifer with the resident concerned.
Diane had sorted out the hearing loop issue. The Village Hall committee was looking at the cost of installing extra bands and microphones.
Rona had written to Western Power about the decorative finials with no response. Diane wished to commend Western Power for all the work carried out on the electricity supply in Hob Lane.
The minutes of the last meeting of January 7th 2014 were accepted.
2. Residents' views/ concernsThis matter was to be covered in other agenda items.
3. Treasurer's ReportTerry went through the report.
He commented that the finances were in a reasonable state and gave details about expenditure regarding the ring fenced funds.
GE had agreed to pay £245 for the distribution of their literature about the solar farm proposal.
There would be more costs for the jazz event such as ticket printing but ticket sales would, hopefully, re-establish the funds.
£926.29 had been taken in subscriptions and this was thanks to the persistence of the collectors.
Thanks were given to Terry.
4. Update on and discussion of Residents’ Association initiatives and issuesFlower tubs had now been bought and would be planted soon. Hilary agreed to talk to Shirley and Bill Howes about sowing the poppy seeds. Once a date was agreed for sowing this would be advertised on the email system
Action: Hilary
The most recent
Retired of Burton Green lunch had again been a success. Thanks were particularly extended to Diane for the excellent meal. £117 profit had been raised. It was noted that the hearing loop and microphone should be used by speakers in the future.
Action: Hilary
The
young people's evening was scheduled for September 12th. It would take the form of a young people’s forum followed by a social event. This would be planned at a later stage.
Website. It was hoped that the jazz event in June would raise funds to consider the development of a BGRA website.
Speedwatch. There was no specific report but Terry said the weather had been a problem as it affected the laser gun. One member asked if Speedwatch could take place in Red Lane and Terry said this was scheduled. He also said it would be good to get the police along to some sessions as their presence had a positive effect. Thanks were given to the team.
28th September afternoon tea with World War 1 theme. This had been proposed by Mary, Diane and Rona with the aim of capturing the spirit of the period with afternoon tea and perhaps a musical item. There was some discussion about what would appeal to different generations. The music hall item was not popular but afternoon tea, an exhibition of artefacts and possibly some games of the era were suggested. Details would be discussed at the next meeting.
5. Opposition to solar farm on Nailcote FarmThanks were due to the Parish Council which had acted swiftly to inform residents as soon as news of the proposed solar farm was received. Some Parish Councillors and residents had attended the exhibition at Berkswell and subsequently, thanks to Cllr Ian Cox and Rona, another had been held in Burton Green followed by a presentation to the Parish Council.
Jeremy Wright MP had asked to be kept informed. He had opposed a similar proposal at Deppers Bridge because of the inappropriateness of the site and it was hoped he would do the same for Burton Green. Rona was intending to see him.
Action: Rona
It was generally agreed that BGRA opposed the proposal. Cllr Hickinbottom said the Parish Council was likely to be opposed once planning permission had been sought. He advised a need to be vigilant with regard to planning applications in succession. Cllr Illingworth had recommended writing to the planners in Solihull to remind them that Burton Green was much more directly affected than anywhere within the borough and would wish to have a representative at the hearing.
It was agreed that a small action group should be formed. Rona, Mary and Terry asked to be on the group and others residents were welcome to get involved.
6. First aid courseSincere thanks were given to Alice for arranging the excellent “Heart Start” evening. In turn she thanked attendees for their generous donations of f £120. Interest was expressed in making this an annual refresher course.
Action: Alice
7. Jubilee 2011 group June 14th Jazz on the GreenThe title of the event had been changed to “Summertime Jazz”. Terry had covered the financial aspects in his report.
Parking was sorted as Burrow Hill Nurseries had offered parking places and Hilary was in touch with CJs regarding marshals. Publicity was being arranged in Look Local and Your Call. A marquee would cover the band in case of rain. The event would go ahead whatever the weather.
8. Parish PlanA meeting was imminent and it was hoped the Plan would be made available by the start of April. It would be distributed by the usual delivery team.
9. Village HallApologies had been sent to Cheryl, the new Village Hall chairman as Judi had not been aware that she had been elected. She would be invited in future.
Action: Judi
Diane reported that the committee had been concerned with their responses to the environmental statement and the local plan. They were considering the design of a new village hall. Cheryl was to introduce herself to HS2.
An art exhibition would be held on April 27th with a cheese and wine preview evening on the Saturday.
The Village Hall BBQ was scheduled for July 12th.
An African school choir was coming on Good Friday afternoon as part of a world tour and it was hoped as many people as possible would support them.
10. HS2 opposition GroupArchie Taylor was representing Andy Gibbs as a spokesperson for the HS2 Action Group. He circulated copies of a paper that had been presented to 160 members of the Labour party. Having attended the Labour conference he felt there was significant opposition within the party and that needed to be harnessed.
Archie explained the process of petitioning and felt it was very important that many organisations and individuals should petition. Archie had elicited support for petitioning from a variety of groups and individuals. His concern was centred on a deep bored tunnel for Burton Green.
He warned that HS2Ltd would do its best to avoid petitioning or would aim to reduce the number of petitions presented to save time.
Archie recommended appointing an “agent B” a well-informed individual who could petition on behalf of a group or several groups and it was suggested John Whitehouse might be approached for this purpose. John had already offered to facilitate a meeting of interested parties within the village in the week beginning April 7th. Andy and Archie would be involved. It should be decided what issues to petition on including the deep bored tunnel and mitigation of construction impact. All parties in the village needed to be invited to petition including the school and the Village Hall.
Action: Archie and Andy
11. Parish Councillor’s ReportCllr Hickinbottom had reported back to the Parish Council meeting the previous evening about the results of the questionnaire on housing and facilities distributed at the open event. He outlined the findings to the committee.
He explained nothing further could be done on the Neighbourhood Plan until WDC had issued the Local Plan. However, the questionnaire results had been made known to WDC when he and Cllr Cox had met with the District Planning Officer earlier in the week. WDC would then decide where new housing should take place and this would be followed by a consultation period.
Rona said the findings were consistent with those of the Parish Plan and of the survey undertaken three years ago under the auspices of the Village Hall committee and the Residents’ Association.
Thanks were given to Cllr Hickinbottom.
A new parish clerk called Clare Turner had been appointed. She had volunteered to be the future Parish Council representative at BGRA committee meetings. Judi should add her to the distribution list.
Action: Janet and Judi
12. Warwick District Council's consultationsThis item had been covered at the last meeting.
13. BugleMary had reported that there were fewer adverts in the March edition but more had been promised for the June Bugle.
14. Any Other BusinessThe committee had received a request for funding of £200 to support the 2014 Made in Burton Green event. Having consulted the treasurer, the committee agreed to the request.
The committee was assured that this year any profits from the Jubilee Jazz event would be paid to BGRA funds. Terry recommended that if the Jubilee committee events were to be annual, it would make sense to internally “ring fence” a fund for those purposes. This was agreed.
Rona had received an email from WDC about a consultation regarding gipsy and traveller sites. There were none recommended in the Burton Green area but further details could be found at
http://www.warwickdc.gov.uk/info/20416/evidence_base/733/gypsy_and_traveller_site_allocationsRona had reported to Solihull MBC two faulty signs at the junction of Hodgett’s Lane and Waste Lane and mud on the road which had been the cause of a motorist’s complaint.
Janet said that the Solihull section of Hodgett’s Lane was to be closed for re-surfacing from April 1st to 4th 8.00 to 4:30. She was asked to make sure this was passed around the email loop.
Action: Janet
Parking just inside Hodgett’s Lane was becoming a problem as more people used the Greenway. Hilary would take this back to the Greenway Trust.
Action: Hilary
15. Date, time and venue of Next Meeting
The next committee meeting would take place on May 6th at 7.30p.m.at the Village Hall.
Future meetings would be as follows:
July 8th
September 16th
November 18th
