Full Parish Council - Meeting Minutes
Monday 15th May 2023
Introduction
MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE STOKE POGES PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON
MONDAY 15 MAY 2023 AT 7.30 P.M. IN THE LIONEL RIGBY ROOM AT THE VILLAGE CENTRE, ROGERS LANE, STOKE POGES BUCKS, SL2 4LP
Present:- Cllr Bagge (Chair), Cllr Bassi, Cllr Carter, Cllr Cox, Cllr Finan, Cllr Flower, Cllr Knox-Scott, Cllr Moore & Cllr Pritchard.
In Attendance: Mrs J Simmonds (Clerk)
Also Present:- 1 Member of public.
Agenda Items
At 7.30pm Councillor Bagge opened the meeting with the sad news that a previous Parish Councillor, Naomi Arnold MBE, has passed away. Naomi was a Parish Councillor between 1999 and 2010, she edited Stoke Poges News between 2004 and 2010 and was a District Councillor between 2003 and 2011. Naomi was awarded an MBE for her services to the hospitality industry, she set up Neighbourhood Watch and her famous Round Robin email service.
Everyone in the room stood for one minute of silence.
001/PC/22- To Elect a Chairman for the coming year
Cllr Finan proposed Cllr Bagge as Chairman, this was seconded by Cllr Pritchard, RESOLVED to agree uncontested. Cllr Bagge RECEIVED and signed the declaration of acceptance of office which was countersigned by the Clerk.
002/PC/22 - To Elect a Vice Chairman for the coming year
Cllr Finan proposed Cllr Carter as Vice Chairman, this was seconded by Cllr Pritchard, RESOLVED to agree uncontested. Cllr Carter RECEIVED and signed the declaration of acceptance of office which was countersigned by the Clerk.
003/PC/23 - Public Session Time (7.30 pm-7.45 pm)
The meeting is open to the public and press and fifteen minutes will be reserved, if required, for public comment on items on the agenda.
None
004/PC/23 - Apologies for Absence
APOLOGIES were received from Cllr Crocker.
005/PC/23 - 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
006/PC/23 - Minutes
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the Council meeting held on 3 April 2023 which were signed by the Chairman.
007/PC/23 – Review of Standing Orders, Financial Regulations, Financial Risk Assessment for 23/24 and all adopted Policies
REVIEWED and AGREED NO changes to any of the above.
008/PC/23 - To Appoint Committees (Current list circulated)
Cllr Bassi proposed to resolve to agree to keep all committees as they are currently including the co-option of two residents on Planning, this was seconded by Cllr Knox-Scott, RESOLVED to agree, all in favour.
(a) Recreation & Environment Committee
(6 members plus Chairman ex officio)
Cllr Bagge, Cllr Bassi, Cllr Carter, Cllr Cox, Cllr Crocker, Vacancy. (Cllr Bagge (ex officio)
(b) Planning Committee
(6 members plus Chairman ex officio)
RESOLVED to agree to co-opt the current two residents of Stoke Poges who sit on this committee, all in favour.
Cllr Bassi, Cllr Carter, Cllr Crocker, Cllr Finan, Mr Harris, Cllr Knox-Scott, Mr Rawlings (Cllr Bagge (ex officio).
(c) Finance & General Purposes Committee
(6 members plus Chairman ex officio)
Cllr Bagge, Cllr Carter, Cllr Crocker, Cllr Finan, Cllr Knox-Scott, Cllr Moor, (Cllr Bagge (ex officio)
009/PC/23 - Fix times of meetings (every month except August at 7.30pm.)
Full Council - second Monday except July and December (first Monday) and if a bank holiday falls on second Monday, then it will be previous week.
Planning Committee - Every third Monday at 7.30pm (including August)
Recreation and Environment committee - fourth Monday three a year June, October (Finance), February.
Finance Committee – fourth Monday twice a year May and November.
Subject to change by the Clerk.
Cllr Carter proposed to fix the times of meetings as above, this was seconded by Cllr Moore, RESOLVED to agree all in favour.
RESOLVED to agree no changes to other bodies as circulated.
010/PC/23 –Vacancy
NOTED Electoral Services have confirmed no election was called.
AGREED by all that the vacancy should be advertised and after a reasonable period (six weeks) that any applicants will be asked to complete the form which was also agreed by all, they will then be invited to the next Full Parish meeting to be interviewed by the Council and then votes will take place by secret written ballot as per Standing Orders.
011/PC/23 – Beeches Community Board
No update from Cllr Bassi as next meeting is not until June.
012/PC/23 - Buckinghamshire Council Report
Cllr Bagge reported that potholes are being worked on via a 7-day rolling programme and the aim is to fix 2500 per month by the new contractor Balfour Beatty.
013/PC/23 – Chairman’s/Councillors' Update from last meeting
Cllr Bagge reported that the litter pick had just two councillors and their partners along with one resident attended the event.
Cllr Carter reported that the Friday Club Coronation event was a success and there were about 20 pins left over. Agreed that all Councillors should have a pin and the others to be distributed to some older residents.
Cllr Carter had received a message from a resident complaining that the verges are overgrown and they would like a bus stop on Bells Hill Green. The request for a bus shelter will be added to the next agenda.
The bunting needs to come down and the school caretaker’s wife has asked if she can cut it up and give a piece to each child as a keepsake. Cllrs agreed to take it down and give to the caretaker of the school.
Cllr Bagge commented that the bunting had looked fabulous.
Cllr Finan asked for thoughts to go to the family of Ron Watts from Sefton Close who sadly passed away.
Cllr Bagge met with Stoke Park who told him that one large planning application will be submitted for the whole of the works required once Historic England have confirmed that they have no objections to the proposals.
Cllr Bagge and Cllr Carter both received a request from the head of the school to meet to discuss traffic again, they are meeting this week.
Cllr Bassi said she had been a parent/helper on a school visit to look at Pioneer House School.
014/PC/23 – Neighbourhood Plan
Cllr Carter updated on Neighbourhood Plan and meetings held with working party. A Zoom meeting took place today with the consultant and Farnham Royal Parish Council about connectivity, they then had a Zoom meeting with Buckinghamshire Council who were open to the idea.
Next process is to write to the landowners of potential land for small stock housing and to look at the NDHA complaint letters and emails and make decisions on those.
Wexham Parish Council have contacted Cllr Carter to ask for advice on the plan and whether we would recommend our consultants, which everyone agreed we would.
Cllr Finan proposed to agree to collaborate with Farnham Royal PC, Buckinghamshire Council and City of London on Brockhurst Wood in the green infrastructure policy, this was seconded by Cllr Bassi, RESOLVED to agree all in favour.
015/PC/23 – Pond
Cllr Carter updated on the quotation received and that the company were unable to take on the project due to volume of work. They have recommended another contractor that they work closely with who were meeting with the working party this week, and will be able to send a new quote, to be brought back to the next meeting.
The Clerk had received a copy of the land registry map from one of the pond owners which was exactly the same as the map we had and sent to the GIS officer to work out the percentages.
The flooding is now so bad that it has waterlogged the grasscrete which has been damaged, and will need replacing, the car park is also at risk of being damaged, all owners are responsible, only a fraction of the car park is available at the moment and bollards have been placed in the flooded and damaged areas to stop cars using it. This is now causing congestion and problems for the football teams and uniformed groups. Report from a pond owner that 3 bollards have been thrown into the pond.
DISCUSSED Whether to co-opt a villager who is a surveyor onto the pond working party who has volunteered to help with the project and manage any works that go ahead. This person has extensive knowledge having worked within Local Authorities previously and currently. Cllr Carter proposed that we co-opt him to the working party to advise the council and attend the meetings with residents, this was seconded by Cllr Pritchard, RESOLVED to agree all in favour.
016/PC/23 – School Traffic/Traffic Watch Update
Update from Cllr Bagge and Buckinghamshire Council on the camera option which is being trialed in Derby. Cllr Bagge has confirmed that we have been added to the list of potential sites and this will be costed out and sent through.
017/PC/23 – Bells Hill Green
AGREED by all to get quote for pruning the big trees on green in time for Christmas Lights to be installed.
018/PC/23 – Future Land Sales
NOTED response from Property & Assets at County with list of land which is owned/leased by Buckinghamshire County in this area. Clerk to go back and ask what of this list of land is actually leased and when do the leases run out so we can diarise to enquire about leasing ourselves. There were a couple of places missing off the list, clerk to enquire about those as well.
019/PC/23 – CIL Payments
NOTED that the CIL payment received last year is the only one so far due to Stoke Poges. The link to what it can be spent on is circulated. AGREED by all to set up a column in the budgets for CIL and add this to it to be spent in the future.
020/PC/23 – Bench/Hollybush Hill project
Cllr Carter proposed to agree to replace the broken bench on Hollybush Hill, initial costings are around £1000 for bench, delivery and fitting. Clerk recommendation is a Coronation Bench, this was seconded by Cllr Pritchard, RESOLVED to agree all in favour, to be taken from the repairs budget.
Cllr Carter proposed to agree to the group looking after the piece of land on the green area on Hollybush Hill as outlined in the map provided for a one year trial, this was seconded by Cllr Moore, RESOLVED to agree all in favour.
021/PC/23 – Rainbows
Cllr Finan proposed that the Rainbows have secured a grant and would like to purchase two items for the Pavilion do so, this was seconded by Cllr Cox, RESOLVED to agree all in favour.
022/PC/23 – Pavilion
DISCUSSED and DECIDED all in favour to investigate and get quotes for battery storage and Solar Panels on the Pavilion roof to offset soaring electricity costs.
023/PC/23 - RECEIVED and ADOPTED minutes from previous meetings of sub committees and working parties:
Planning Committee Minutes 20 March 2023 – Agreed/Signed 17 April 2023
024/PC/23 – NOTED Finance
- Financial Summary & Statement Cashbook – April 2023 to be added to June meeting.
- To approve list of cheques/Bacs for signature April 2023 to be added to June meeting.
- Bank reconciliations – April 2023 to be added to June meeting.
- Income & Expenditure Heading Detail/Budget Monitoring – April 2023 to be added to June meeting.
025/PC/23 – Internal Audit
NOTED that the internal auditor will be in from 18 May and the following week.
026/PC/23 – 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.
027/PC/23 – NOTED Dates of Future Meetings
Planning Meeting – 22 May 2023
Parish Council Meeting – 12 June 2023 followed by
Finance Meeting – 12 June 2023
028/PC/23 - Exclusion of the Press & Public
Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960. RESOLVED NOT CONTINUE WITH THIS PART II all in favour.
029/PC/23 – Pond
To discuss and make decisions on quotes received.
Meeting ended at 8.53pm