Annual Parish Meeting of the Electorate - Meeting Minutes
Monday 13th April 2026
Introduction
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING OF THE STOKE POGES PARISH COUNCIL BE HELD AT 7.00PM ON MONDAY 13 APRIL 2026 IN THE MAIN HALL AT THE VILLAGE CENTRE, ROGERS LANE, STOKE POGES, BUCKS, SL2 4LP
Present: Cllr Carter, Cllr Bassi, Cllr Crocker, Cllr Finan, Cllr Harwood, Cllr Pritchard and Cllr Wilson.
The Clerk/Legal & Financial Officer was present.
2 Members of Public
Agenda Items
1 Apologies for absence
County Cllr Dhillon
2 RESOLVED to confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 7 April 2025 which were signed by the Chair.
3 Chairman’s Annual Report given by Cllr Carter.
Welcome
Thank you to Councillors for their time. We are supposed to be a council if 11, however we are working as 7, which is challenging due to the volume of work. Also, thanks to 1 resident who is co-opted to planning and has been for the last 12 years.
Thanks to our unitary Councilors for representing us.
What we have saved:
Precept:
23/24 Precept was reduced by 5%- £202,336.54.
24/25 Precept was reduced by 10% - £182,102.89.
25/26 Precept was kept the same as the 24/25: amount - £182102.89.
26/27 Precept was kept the same as the 25/26: £182102.89.
Total reduction since 2023 is £60,700.95 over the last 3/4 years.
Spends: Kept our spends down as most capital projects were completed last year.
£1,857: Bug hotels: CIL money
£7,150: Footpath and Fence repairs. Replacing fencing that is more than 40 years old. This ensures that our boundary line is secure and clearly defined.
£19,434.00: Play Equipment Bells Hill and Plough Lane it is fitted. Some of our timber play products are perishing and have been replaced with sustainable durable alternatives including a couple of extra pieces of equipment. We also spent £4,350 on RoSPA repairs.
£3,500 hedge maintenance in BH Rec.
£9,000 planning consultancy fees, most of that has come out of CIL monies however in forecasting that planning was going to become complex we did start to budget for possibly having to work with consultants.
Pavillion:
Solar panels are working well, in fact so far this year we have not received any bills It seems we are making enough energy to cover the bills. We are working our way through the readings so will be able to further update.
The PC are in talks with a new under 15’s children’s football team, with the intention of growing children’s teams to support health and wellbeing as well as mental health amongst our younger residents.
We are currently reviewing our rental/ lease agreements to ensure they are clear and ensure best practice between the PC and hirers, we need to keep up with changes in legislation.
Planning:
Planning has been challenging with complex applications. We see more and more applications that are overly large, if they are refused, we are seeing the applicant submit numerous amendments or variations of conditions which go back and forth until it appears the applicant gets more or less what they originally wanted. We also see sheds for beds or conversions of a garage into habitable accommodation/ home office and then later on rented out as a separate dwellings. We are reporting these as and when we spot them.
It would appear that a lot of our time is taken chasing enforcement action.
Speculative Planning Applications:
Developers are testing the system in anticipation of Buckinghamshire Council’s emerging Local Plan and because housing targets are under review via central government. This leads to developers submitting applications to ‘test’ whether the council might grant permission outside allocated sites. Their argument will be that the council needs housing, therefore sites should be approved now, even in the Green Belt.
Stoke Poges Neighbourhood Plan has clearly identified areas within the built form of the village where suitable development might take place, which is clearly brownfield land or previously developed land, therefore avoiding the need to develop any green belt or grey belt sites.
We are seeing that even though Buckinghamshire Council have identified land as unsuitable for development they are granting planning permission!!
The PC are taking this up with Buckinghamshire Council.
We will continue to build our understanding of the evolving planning policies introduced by central government. In doing so, we are working closely with our Unitary Councillors and our Member of Parliament, ensuring that we make full and effective use of mechanisms such as the ‘call-in’ process. At our request, our MP is also writing to the relevant government and local departments to raise our concerns. We are also working with the London GB Council.
As chair, I am joining as many training courses as possible that my time will allow.
We are actively engaging with developers, land agents, residents, councillors, Buckinghamshire Council officers, and our MP. We are also working in partnership with our neighbouring parishes and a planning consultant to support one another. By sharing knowledge and insights, we aim to foster a collaborative approach, one that avoids duplication of effort and learns from past experience.
Ultimately, planning decisions will be determined by Buckinghamshire Council, the Planning Inspectorate, or, in some cases, the Secretary of State. We remain committed to ensuring that our community’s voice is clearly heard throughout this process.
Working Together:
So, taking all of the points we have discussed regarding planning, SP felt that we might be stronger if we worked with our neighbours. This was not as easy as it sounds but after negotiations, we are now working with The Farnham’s/ Fulmer/ Wexham on a joint piece of work. This is unprecedented but very much needed in order to understand how developments will have a knock-on effect on infrastructure for all of us. Again, this is taking time, lots of time!
Local Plan:
We contributed to the HELAA consultation held by BC. Altogether 13 possible sites are up for scrutiny. We spent 39 man hours working on a robust reply. It was complicated and not made easy to identify where these areas were.
NP:
We have found this to be extremely valuable to us in evidencing out objections to not just planning applications but the HELAA consultation. With the change in Planning legislation, we will look to reviewing this at some point this year and if necessary, make any changes.
Conservation Area:
We have agreed with Buckinghamshire Council on the costs to review the Stoke Green Conservation Area. There is a charge of £13000. We feel this is especially important with the treat of development in that specific area.
Road Works:
We are in talks with cabling company undertaking these extended works in the village to better understand what they are for, how long it is for and most importantly what biodiversity gain there could be for SP. More to follow on this.
SPN/ Communication
Stoke Poges News continues to thrive under its 3rd year of editorship.
We launched Newsflash which is a subscribe to mail service. We have been able to utilize this at short notice when dealing with time sensitive news or planning applications.
Improvements to the website: thank webmaster.
Community Cohesion
We did have 2 markets last year but decided to take a rest this year and revisit possibly next year.
Carols on the Green was another success and £1113.06 was raised for our chosen charity.
11 Nov: Remembrance Day was well attended.
Conclusion:
The PC is in good shape financially; we have managed our precept well and are very conscientious when spending money and will always look to do some of the work ourselves in an endeavor to spend effectively.
Thank you councillors for your work over the past year, we are volunteers, it’s so far been quite exhausting but with a change of times unavoidable.
4. General Discussion and Question Time.
One resident asked about rats in the area around the school, Bolds Court, Church and the shops. After a discussion around rats the resident was signposted to reporting sightings to Environmental Health at Buckinghamshire Council.
The other resident said that he and many others in the village even though not here tonight are aware of how much hard work goes in to being a Parish Councillor and most people are very conscious of the Parish Council work and grateful.
He also suggested that a QR Code poster was put up inside the Co-op near the till area for people to sign up to Newsflash whilst waiting in the queue to increase numbers. Cllr Carter suggested that councillors take turns in standing outside the Co-op sometimes to help sign people up.
This resident also suggested that some of the Community Infrastructure Levy money might be spent of installing bird boxes around the village for the larger birds to nest.
It was suggested that the ‘Keep our Village a Village’ was used more widely.
Meeting ended at 7.45pm.
Signed/Chair Dated