Full Parish Council - Meeting Minutes

Monday 13th January 2025

Introduction

MINUTES OF THE FULL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING OF THE

STOKE POGES PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 13 JANUARY 2025 AT 7.30PM IN THE LIONEL RIGBY ROOM AT THE VILLAGE CENTRE, ROGERS LANE, STOKE POGES BUCKS, SL2 4LP.

Present: Cllr Carter (Chair), Cllr Bagge, Cllr Bassi, Cllr Cox, Cllr Finan, Cllr Moore, Cllr Pritchard and Cllr Webster.

In Attendance: Mrs J Simmonds (Clerk)

Also Present: Cllr Moore

Absent: Cllr Flower and Cllr Knox-Scott

Agenda Items

173/PC/25 - Public Session Time (7.30 pm-7.45 pm)

The meeting is open to the public and press and 15 minutes will be reserved, if required, for public comment on items on the agenda.

Cllr Moore introduced himself as a candidate for the election in May to represent Stoke Poges, he answered questions from Parish Councillors around the table.

174/PC/25 - Apologies for Absence

APOLOGIES were received from Cllr Crocker.

175/PC/25 - Declarations of interest

Members to declare any personal interest in any item of business as defined in the Code of Conduct adopted 2021. If that interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest as defined in the Code, the member should withdraw from the meeting for that item.

None

176/PC/25 - Minutes

RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the Council meeting held on 2 December 2024 which were signed by the Chairman.

177/PC/25 – Beeches Community Board

General update from Cllr Bassi.

The written update/notes from Cllr Bassi on the Beeches youth round table event on 14 November 2024 was still not available. Cllr Bassi agreed she would write them up and circulate them directly to all Councillors.

NOTED no Further update from Cllr Bassi regarding the Simply Walk initiative however Cllr Carter has been having conversations with the Simply Walk officer from Buckinghamshire Council as she is trying to make contact with the Social Prescriber at the Surgery and contacted Cllr. Carter for advice. This has resulted in them agreeing that Simply Walk is not suitable for most Friday Club guests, however they will discuss if the initiative is suitable for the wider community. Cllr. Carter will meet with her next week.

Cllr Bassi has gone through the Eco Audit report as discussed at the last meeting, she said the costs of putting the report together were not worth it and that she could put it together herself for free. It was agreed that she would find out the benefits of having the report and how we could use them. The general consensus from Councillors was that an Eco Report was not necessary as we are a smaller parish and many of the recommendations have already been put in place. Cllr Bassi will do more research and send it to all councillors.

178/PC/25 - Buckinghamshire Council Report

Cllr Bagge reported that the budgets for housing were being revised as they were less than expected, they were revised over the Christmas period and went to the scrutiny committee last week. The budgets this year are tighter than they have ever been.

179/PC/25 – Chairman’s/Councilor’s Update from last meeting.

No updates.

180/PC/25– Neighbourhood Plan

Update is that there is no news from the External Examiner yet, clerk to chase. A Planning Consultant has written to the Clerk to ask for the answers to the external Examiners questions. The Clerk has replied that as these are not public yet we are unable to do so, once public they will be on the Buckinghamshire website for all to view.

181/PC/25 – Carols on the Green

NOTED Total raised for the Sunshine Corner Playgroup is £821.63.

NOTED and agree the date of 22 November 2025 for this year’s event.

RESOLVED to Agree all in favour to book/reserve the Reindeers £1295.00 and the Marquees £2200.00 at Approximate costs for this year.

No further decisions made at this stage for this year’s event.

Cllr Carter thanked all councillors for helping with the weather issues on the day and turning out to meet to

decide to change the layout etc. She gave special thanks to two members of the Village Centre who went above and beyond by taking charge of the filling of the water barrels overnight. Thanks also to Terrafirma Sound who had to change all of the electricity schedule at the last minute.

There were 31 stalls and only 2 no shows.

Also, thanks to all the members of the public who turned out to make it such a great event in the bad weather.

182/PC/25 – Request for a Memorial Bench

Request for a memorial bench on Bells Hill Green.

It was agreed by all Councillors that a bench at Bells Hill Green is not required and that the area has been carefully landscaped, and the aesthetics do not require any more seating due to space. It was suggested that Plough Lane Recreation Ground does require new benches around the new jogging trail so that people can take a break and sit down if needed.

It was agreed by all to offer the requester the option of placing a bench in Plough Lane or if they want Bells Hill then placing a plaque on an existing bench there. The style of bench, supplier and installation will all need to be discussed prior to ordering and the wording on the plaque agreed by the Council who would like a reference to the persons being a Parish Councillor in previous years. It was also agreed by all to have a Memorial Policy in place. Clerk to research.

183/PC/25 - Proposal to extend the Conservation Area in Stoke Poges

Request from Cllr Knox-Scott.

The Clerk informed the committee that Cllr Knox-Scott had asked for this item to be deferred. It was AGREED by all councillors that the person requesting this should contact the clerk directly, if they wish to remain anonymous then the Clerk will withhold that information in line with GDPR rather than Cllr Knox-Scott. The request needs to be specific about what changes and extensions to the existing areas are required bearing in mind that there needs to be merit for the changes i.e. something to warrant it being in a Conservation Area. It was also AGREED unanimously that once this information is received it should be dealt with by the Planning Committee and only returned to Full Council if financing becomes necessary. The Clerk has already contacted officers at Buckinghamshire Council to gain advice however they had not returned to work from Christmas due to illness so will contact us in due course.

184/PC/25 – Wexham Parish Council, Neighbourhood Plan

Consultation details from 16 December 2024 – Friday 15 February 2025. To note and decide if there should be any comments made. It was AGREED by all to defer this to the Planning Committee.

185/PC/25 – Reception/Cups 2025

NOTED invitations will be worked on for the reception on 28 March 2025.

DISCUSSED potential recipients of the cups for awarding at the reception, all to go away and bring back ideas to the next meeting. If Councillors wish to they can also email their suggestions directly to the Clerk.

186/PC/25 - Buckinghamshire Lane Rental Scheme (BLRS)

Consultation. AGREED by all that everyone should respond individually.

187/PC/25 – RECEIVED and ADOPTED minutes from previous meetings of sub committees and working parties:

Planning Committee Meeting 18 November 2024 – Signed 9 December 2024

188/PC/25 – Finance

RECEIVED Financial Summary & Statement Cashbook –December 2024.

RESOLVED to approve list of cheques/Bacs for signature December 2024

RECEIVED Bank reconciliations – December 2024

RECEIVED Income & Expenditure Heading Detail/Budget Monitoring – December 2024

189/PC/25 – Circulars List/Correspondence and Items received by clerk but not on agenda.

List appended to the agenda of all circulars received in the office and available to view for one month after this meeting.