Ticehurst Parish Council

The Village Hall, Lower High Street, Ticehurst, East Sussex, TN5 7BB 01580 754 090

Minutes of Ticehurst Parish Council meeting held on Tuesday 2 February  2010 at 7.30 p.m.

The first thirty minutes of the meeting were reserved for questions and comments from the public (6 members of the public were present):
Topics raised were:

Speed Humps.  A member of the public suggested that simple speed humps might slow the traffic passing through the village.  It was pointed out that the emergency services are not in favour of humps but that her comments would be passed on to the ‘traffic calming committee’ who are due to meet before the next Parish Council meeting.

SHARED SPACES – Piers Young presented a written paper on ‘Shared Spaces’ which was circulated to all Councillors – suggestions of how the Village Square could be improved under such a scheme.  This will be placed on the March 2010 agenda for further discussion.

Present:  Cllrs. Goodall (c), Langdown, Mitchell, Young, Rigby, Cook, Yeo, Semple, and Hastings.

AGENDA

259.0 Declarations of Interest: Cllr. Cook declared a personal interest in item 282. The Bell Field if there were any matters to be discussed.

260.0 Apologies for absence:  Apologies were received from Cllrs. Maynard, Cocking, Burley and Seemann.  The reasons for absence were accepted by the Council and recorded in the attendance register. 

261.0 Minutes of the meeting held on 5th January 2010:  - Proposed by Cllr. Semple and seconded by Cllr. Young and signed as a correct record of those proceedings by the Chairman.

262.0 Additional Agenda Items:  There were no items to add to the agenda.

263.0  Insurance:  Cllr. Cook reported that she and the Clerk had met with the Insurance Brokers and gone through all items on the insurance schedule.  Fidelity Insurance has to be included in the policy and an additional quotation for public liability insurance on the allotment sites had been requested in line with the leases that the Council has entered into.  Individual allotment holders policies will be quoted and available if allotment holders wish to take out a policy. 

264.0   Diary Dates:  Dates for the diary were set as:
Annual Assembly  Wednesday 28th April 7.00 p.m.  Clerk and Cllr. Mitchell to meet on 9th February to compile list of jobs for delegation.
Main Meeting dates,  Annual Parish Meeting (4-18 days after an election)  11th May 2010 Meeting dates for each Advisory Group and for the Planning Committee.
Clerk to update the draft schedule of Parish Meeting dates.

265.0  Emergency Planning:  Cllr. Semple reported on the meeting held on 12th January 2010 which was not well attended due to adverse weather conditions, but was very useful and informative.  Rother District Council will supply all that is needed in the event of an emergency but it is up to the Parish to identify the vulnerable and out- lying properties and who live in them.  The next stage of drawing up the final plan is to build up a list of such information to be collated by Cllr. Semple.

266.0  Bins: A new sleeve for the Flimwell Recreation ground bin has been received together with a new small  bin for the bus stop at Flimwell.   A license has been applied for from ESCC for  installation of the small bin.

267.0  Appendix of Outstanding Matters:

268.0 District Council Report: No written report was available but Cllr. Jenkins  commented that he had attended the Planning Committee meeting at Rother District Council which had turned down the application at Upper Platts for affordable housing, and he believed that they would now look for alternative sites.  Cllr. Cook confirmed this, pointing out that she had identified another site and brought this to their attention.  However, Cllrs. Young, Mitchell and Langdown had attended a ‘traffic calming’ meeting at Lewes that morning with Hastoe Housing, who stated that they intended to appeal the decision and  bring back the plans with a more attractive proposal with regard to the Highways.  D. Cllr. Jenkins pointed out that the site had been turned down largely due to it being a segment of a much larger plot of land and the implications for the future.

269.0  County Council Report:  No report available.

270.0 SALC and RALC Reports: Cllr. Cook submitted written reports – attached.

271.0 Dog Bins:  Wealden District Council  have installed the new bins. 

272.0 Finance Report:  A Financial statement, together with a reconciled bank statement was circulate  and the following list of cheques for sanctioning  were presented to the Council.  Cllr. Cook proposed signing the cheques, seconded by Cllr. Semple.

273.0 Planning Report:  Report on meetings held on 21st January 2010.
RR/2009/2840/P – Youth Shelter at Recreation ground – retrospective – no comment made.
RR/2009/2882/L – The Priory  Ticehurst House – Change of coping detail on Grange 1 - approved.
RR/2009/2977/P – Mr parker  Hopvine Cottage – Variation 2009/405 re materials- approved
RR/2009/2987/P – Mr Gilbert  Mabbs Stonegate – Proposed utility extension porch and alterations - approved.
RR/2009/3013/P – Dale Hill Hotel – proposed conservatory and dormer to flat - approved.
RR/2009/3076/P – Beavers Pond Tinkers Lane – proposed equestrian sand school - approved.
RR/2009/3088/P – Steelands Farm House – extension of time limit to RR/2007/1131/P – approved.

274.0 Flimwell Hall:  Alan Hughes provided an up to date report on the progress of this project – circulated by email.  Councillors felt that they should know what assets the Flimwell Village Hall Trust have and were disconcerted that the annual returns had only been filed very recently. It was resolved that a time limit should be imposed with regard to the ‘pledge’.  It was resolved that the Clerk should ask for this information and  that the Elections in may 2010 might be used to canvass current opinions about the needs of Flimwell.  It was further resolved that the Clerk should request an up date from the Weald Woodnet Enterprise organisation about the progress at Corner Farm and likely time-schedules on this site.

275.0  Credit Union:  Cllr. Langdown requested that this matter be dealt with at the start of the meeting as Mr McCrumlish wanted to contribute to discussion.  It was resolved that the principle of the idea of facilitating local saving and loan measures at cheap rates was a good one and Cllr. Langdown was asked to continue investigating what is involved and keep the Parish Council up to date with any progress.  Circulated written report attached to minutes.

276.0 Allotments:  The Clerk reported that she had delivered a draft lease to Mr Smith at Stonegate.   Council voted to proceed with Stonegate lease and to delegate responsibility to Cllr Maynard to conclude negotiations.
Cllr. Mitchell to talk to Cllr. Maynard about proceeding with materials to establish more paths at the Flimwell allotments.

277.0 Traffic Calming: The Clerk has sent copies of the ‘brief’ received from ESCC to three road consultants and asked for responses in the first week of January 2010.  One consultant has responded to say that the project is too big for them to consider.  Clerk to chase up the others.

Cllr. Langdown  reported on Speed  Checks that she had attended with CSPO Tom McAspurn in five locations around Flimwell, Ticehurst and Etchingham  –  ( report circulated to all Councillors).  She concluded that ‘parked cars’ were very effective in causing traffic to slow down.

278.0 Correspondence: 

279.0 Village Notice Boards:  T Casey project manager has confirmed that they will contribute £750 towards a new board on the basis that they can use it during works to update the Village on progress.  Resolution to proceed when permission is granted to writing from Amicus Horizon for the positioning  of the Board outside the ‘Annexe’.     

280.0 Community Bus:  Community Transport Review

281.0 Items for the March Agenda:    Code of Conduct – address by RDC Officer.
Shared Spaces – Piers Young          

282.0 The Bell Field:  (Confidential). There were no matters for discussion.

283.0  Date of the next meeting: The meeting closed at 8.55 p.m. and the next meeting date was set for  2nd March 2010.