Owl Cottage, 7 Main Road, Astwood, Newport Pagnell, Bucks, MK16 9JS
Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held in the Village Hall on Tuesday the 2nd October 2007 at 7.30 pm
PRESENT: Councillors:Mrs R Hatton (Chair)Mr A Higgins(Vice Chairman), Mr D Hunt,
Mr T Smith (RFO), Fred Flower, Caroline Godfrey MKC Liaison Officer
Parishioners: Mr J Baker, Mrs B Jackson, Mrs D Jeffrey, Mrs J. Leach,
ITEM 1 Apologies for Absence
02/10/07 Apologies for absence were received from Cllr J Hobbs, MK Councillor Sam Potts
No apologies were received from Cllr A Denman
ITEM 2 Declaration of Interests
02/10/07 There were no declarations of interest at this stage.
ITEM 3 To Approve the Minutes of the Parish Meeting held on the
4th September 2007
02/10/07 The minutes were adopted as true record of that meeting and duly signed by the Chairperson – one amendment made, Mrs B Jackson added to public present and the Chairman endorsed the alteration.
ITEM 4 To confirm SCAN reporter for the Month
02/10/07 Cllr T Horne was confirmed as SCAN reporter. He agreed to have them checked by another Councillor for accuracy before forwarding for printing.
ITEM 5 Traffic Calming – Caroline Godfrey, Parish Liaison Officer from MK Council ,came to discuss the limited options available. They were a) road narrowing at both ends of our village with 6 bollards on either side of the road at both entrances into the village and b) to upgrade the road signs for combined maximum effect . After a long discussion a vote of the Parish Councillors was taken at this stage and by 3-1 in favour it was agreed to adopt this option,. The Parish Council have also requested a 40 mph buffer zone outside of this area, particularly thevillage entrance end from Cranfield – this has been agreed in principle with Caroline Godfrey however more discussion is to take place with MK Council as to the start of the buffer zone. The estimated total cost to the Parish Council for all the traffic calming measures agreed at the meeting will be £5000 max. Milton Keynes Council will pay the remainder. Caroline Godfrey agreed to let us have this in writing.
ITEM 6 Councillors Reports:
Highways - Cllr Horne asked Ian McGregor for a SLOW marking on the road near Griggs Piece, Chicheley Road. He also chased the drainage project and was informed the job would be done within two weeks
Landscape – The recreation work and other works are reported to have been completed
ITEM 7 Planning : To consider any current planning applications.
05/09/07 071462 4 Crawley Grange, Pound Lane; bathroom on 2nd floor. Councillors could see no objection to the plans.
11/09/07 071575 1 Crawley Grange, Pound Lane; Work to trees covered by a tree preservation order. Councillors resolved to investigate further before making a decision as the “bat habitat” was overlooked on a previous application. The clerk was asked to write and gain further information as to what trees, if any, they will be replaced with
28/08/07 071497 Crawley View, Pound Lane; extra stable to existing block. It was agreed to ask the Parish Clerk to write to the Planning Dept to ensure that the stable is for private use and that any building works will be limited.
Planning consent has been granted at 3 Hackett Place
It was resolved to include all future planning applications in SCAN
ITEM 8 Village Appraisal: Update on current situation
02/10/07 Good news, this is now progressing satisfactorily with Sheila Bushnell supplying Cllr Hatton with a questionnaire analysis. Cllr Hatton distributed these to all Councillors for discussion at the next meeting.
ITEM 9 The Ford
08/10/07 A site meeting
is to take place on Monday 8th October with David Roche and Ian
McGregor of Milton Keynes Council and Councillors Hatton and Higgins together
with the Parish Clerk, Pat Nunn.
ITEM 10 Windfarms
The clerk was asked to write a letter to Peter Joel to express the PC's concerns.
ITEM 11 Cleaner Neighbourhoods Act
This was discussed with Caroline Godfrey but no decision made on whether to sign up or not.
ITEM12 Consultations with other bodies;
Cllr Hunt attended the North East Forum meeting and reported that the school signage in Folly Lane, reported to Milton Keynes Council by Cllr Hatton, is being looked at.
ITEM 13 Cllr Hunt handed round a police report from April-August 2007 showing no
change in crime rates
ITEM 14 FINANCE
02/10/07 Accounts for payment
P Nunn 101338 £306.06 Clerks salary to 30 sept 07
T A Smith 101339 £224.34 F O salary to 30 sept 07
IR PAYE 101340 £149.60 PAYE
M Chilton 101341 £75.00 Rubbish collection to 30 Sept07
Anglian Water 101342 £35.42 Churchyard water
Roz Hatton 101343 £31.98 Chairpersons expenses
P Nunn 101344 £15.04 Clerks expenses
Maps 101345 £22.00 2 x maps
OTHER INFORMATION MATTERS
Cllr Higgins will be looking into the hedges which do not appear to have been improved.
It was reported that Gog Lane is a mess – it was resolved to look into this via MK highways dept.
Moving out of Chequers Lane is very dangerous, mainly due to cars parking close to the exit and blocking vision – it was felt the traffic calming measures soon to be in place will help somewhat.
Dog bins – it was decided to order 3 more dog bins – we have plenty of new stickers to display
Cllr Horne requested that all councillors should be informed of all comments made in response to planning applications. Cllr Hatton confirmed that as far as she was aware this is already happening however, she will ensure the Parish Clerk is aware of this request.
He also reported that several street lights are currently out of commission; the process for reporting this and action being taken seems unsatisfactory due to a new reporting system, after discussion it was agreed to persevere for the time being.
It was agreed to write to Keith Hall of the IMC to ask when the boundary fence is going to be erected. The Parish Council felt enough time had elapsed. The clerk was asked to write to him.
QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC
Concern was expressed from a resident in East End regarding the speeding and dangerous driving of vans and cars using East End Lane to gain access to the unit at the end; this seems to be worse at the beginning and end of the working day when traffic is heavier. The Resident thanked the Parish Council for sending letters to the business units but was still very concerned about the danger to children, as the speeds are in excess of 60mph on this narrow lane which is totally unacceptable. The Parish Council agreed to discuss this with Milton Keynes Council in the hope of having percentiles put down to monitor the volume and speed of traffic.
The meeting closed at 10.15pm
The next meeting will be Tuesday 6th November 2007 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall