Minutes of the Annual Assembly of Bursledon Parish Council held on
Wednesday 22 April 2009 at 7.30pm at the Village Hall, Long Lane,
Bursledon
Present :
Cllr Clarke (Chair)
Cllr Holes (Vice Chair)
Cllr Allen
Cllr Craig
Cllr Millar
Cllr Milne
Cllr Woodhouse
In attendance: Mrs Jennifer Whittle (Parish Clerk)
15 members of the public
1. Apologies for absence.
Apologies for absence had been received from Cllr House, Cllr Lippold,
Cllr Misselbrook, Cllr Moneypenny and Cllr Ralph.
2. Minutes of the Annual Parish Assembly held on 23 April 2008.
Cllr Millar proposed, Cllr Allen seconded and all agreed the Minutes,
which were duly signed by the Chairman.
3. Presentation of certificates of honour.
Cllr Clarke said it gave him great pleasure to present Diane Andrewes
with a Certificate of Honour for all the good work she carries out
throughout the Parish of Bursledon and for the contribution she has made
to many projects and community groups in the past. Diane thanked
BPC.
Cllr Clarke advised the Margaret Bevis had been nominated to receive a
Certificate of Honour for her lengthy input into the Bursledon Lunch
Club, the Bursledon History Society and the Bursledon Rights of Way and
Preservation Group. Margaret thanked BPC.
4. To receive the annual report of the Parish Council
Cllr Clarke said that it has been a busy year for the Parish council.
He thanked all the members for their unstinting work throughout the year
and said it must be remembered that it is sometimes more appealing on a
cold winters night to stay in front of the fire rather than come out and
do battle with yet another planning application.
He said a special thanks to Steve Holes, who as Deputy Chair had stood
in for him when he was unable to make meetings
He wished to thank our excellent clerk, Jenny, for all her hard work in
what was a difficult year for her as she gave birth to a baby girl.
Despite this Jenny still turned up for all the council meetings taking
notes and liaising with our the locum clerk, John, who kept the office
open to the public during this time. He said that it had made his life a
lot easer when Jenny returned from maternity leave to resume her post.
He confirmed that the Parish Council had a new Assistant Clerk, Angie
Lush, who he had thanked during the previous meeting, as she had to
leave the meeting early.
He went on to say that during the year the council had been involved in
a number of consultations including liaison with Hamble and Hound on the
minerals extraction plan and more recently, as discussed earlier the
boundary review.
The Parish had also consulted with School Road residents after
representations regarding traffic speeds.
Planning applications had continued unabated. It had become apparent
during the year that the Conservation policy is not as robust as it
should be and one of the key tasks for the council next year will be to
make recommendations to Eastleigh as to how it can be changed.
The council had supported a number of local bodies with grants, these
included Pillands Wood Community association, Greyladyes Arts
Foundation, Bursledon Windmill, Bursledon Regatta, the community bus and
a number of other initiatives.
The council continued to support the Community policing (PCSOs)
initiative, although the cost had increased considerably.
Cllr Clarke said that although levels of crime appeared to be relatively
low, the Parish Council still experienced a high degree of vandalism,
which has taken time and money to repair.
He advised that during the year Bursledon Parish Council had been in
consultation with EBC regarding the movement of certain assets owned and
maintained by EBC, but which it is felt would be more properly by the
Parish Council. These assets included the Lionhart Way Ecology
Park, Peewit Hill woodland and the Pilands Wood Play Area. He said
that while decisions to transfer these assets has been taken in
principle much work remains to effect a legal transfer and he felt sure
this would take both Councils time in the coming year.
It had also become increasingly apparent during the year that the Parish
resources were over stretched, both in terms work force and finance.
It had therefore been decided that the Parish Council should employ a
part time Assistant Clerk and allow for more hours from the Assistant
Groundsman. These with a number of other commitments led to the increase
in the BPC element of the precept for the first time in a number of
years, and while the percentage increase appears high the actual amount
is a modest £6.20 on the precept. It should also be remembered that
BPC’s element represents only 3% of the total council tax bill.
Cllr Clarke said he had thoroughly enjoyed his time as Chairman, but due
to other commitments he had reluctantly decided to stand and revert to
the other side of the table as from the AGM in May 2009.
He thanked all the members of the public who had attended meetings,
raised issues, supported or opposed plans and generally added to the
wonderful community which this parish is.
5. To receive the annual statement of Parish Council accounts for the
year ended 31 March 2008 together with the audit certificate for the
year 2007-2008.
The accounts had been audited and the Certificate of the external
auditors received and publicly displayed for the relevant period.
The Clerk introducing the Annual Report advised members of the public
that the report was available for inspection in the Parish Office.
6. To receive the observations of the County and Borough Councillors
for the Parish.
Cllr Millar presented the HCC report on behalf of Cllr House who was
unable to attend this meeting, due to work commitments.
“Introduction
This report summarises key County Council issues in the Parish over the
past year.
I apologise for not being able to present this in person and am sorry
that so many of the items reflect the failure of the County Council to
meet local need.
Highways and Traffic
The pedestrian island to help cross Bridge Road near Yachtsman Close has
finally been completed. This fairly modest scheme was agreed in
theory back in 2002 – so it has taken seven years of indecision at the
County Council to get it put in place as one section of the County’s
Environment Department argued with another section. Amazing, but
true.
Working through the Partnership for Urban South Hampshire, a package of
funding to address “access from the east of Southampton” has been won
from government. This will initially be research and measures
within Southampton, but ultimately this is likely to open-up funding to
make changes to Windhover roundabout and traffic congestion from
junction 8 of the M27 towards the city.
There has been no progress on other longstanding traffic issues such as
the Hamble Lane/Portsmouth Road junction, and the re-opening of Botley
Road.
Education and Social Services
A ballot of parents has endorsed the federation of the Infant and Junior
Schools. This should give the combined staffing greater capacity
to improve the educational offer to children in the parish.
The Sure Start Children’s Centre has been established and I have joined
the Board of this through its initial development phase. It is
based at the schools’ site in Long Lane and is a government funded
initiative to help children and families through the difficult early
years of parenting, offering support and advice on everything from
healthy eating to the use of IT and job hunting.
HYPE goes from strength to strength at Hamble Sports College, despite
Hampshire sadly having the lowest funded youth service in England.
The staff do a great job with the small funding they have. Our
support as a Parish Council, and that from Eastleigh as Borough Council,
is greatly appreciated.
Recreation Services
There has been no progress on the aborted Library project. The
County Council failed to honour its pledge to help achieve a library in
Bursledon. This is a project I want to have a further crack at
after this year’s elections when I hope there will be a new Cabinet
Member for Recreation who will be prepared to take this forward.
If this happens, a positive response from the Parish Council and
Community Association would be a great help.
Keith House”.
Cllr Holes presented Eastleigh Borough Council’s report. He
advised that Eastleigh Borough Council had had a very busy year
continuing work to improve their services to the community. They
had dealt with several projects within the Parish of Bursledon and were
consistently looking to make further improvements throughout the Parish.
They had worked alongside the Parish Council and Hampshire County
Council in providing these services.
7. to receive a report from diccon bright, area
co-ordinator.
Cllr Clarke welcomed Diccon Bright to the meeting. Diccon advised
Members and members of the public that he had taken over from Martin
Coulson the previous Area Co-ordinator for Bursledon, Hamble and Hound.
His role was to support the Borough Council, Local Area Committee and
Parish Councils and to respond to members of the public and ensure that
access was made to funding from developers to improve services and the
infrastructure locally. He invited the public to put forward any
ideas they may have direct to him at Eastleigh Borough Council or via
the Clerk at the Parish Council. He then went on to advise that
the Local Areas Unit had been set up to improve services and consisted
of himself and 4 colleagues. He advised that he was happy for his
contact details to be provided to anyone who had a query they wished to
discuss with him.
Cllr Craig thanked Diccon and made a request that BPC write to Martin
Coulson to thank him for his service and support to BPC over the time he
was in post. Members voted unanimously in favour. Diccon
advised that if the Clerk would like to forward something to him, he
would arrange for this to be forwarded to Martin. ACTION:
CLERK.
8. To receive a report from Hampshire Constabulary.
This item was deferred, due to the work commitments of Police Officers.
9. to receive a report from bob finch, police community support
officer.
This item had been brought forward to the Business Meeting prior to the
Annual Assembly, due to Bob Finch’s work commitments. Bob
confirmed that once again crime is down. He confirmed that Sarah
Gulliver is no longer the PC for Bursledon; PC Matt Paling is the new PC
for Bursledon.
He advised that Tescos now have a new Manager who is tackling the
parking issues in the Tescos Car Park late at night and they were
currently in the process of getting a barrier. The Police were now
issuing Section 59 warnings to any offenders, 6 letters had been sent
and to date the offenders had not returned.
He had heard suggestions from members of the public that the PCSOs were
not evident patrolling the area. He advised that they do not work
24 hours a day and have to cover a very large area. If members of
the public encounter any problems they should report these to the
helpline 0845 0454545.
He said the PCSOs were currently dealing with some anti-social residents
on the Pilands Wood Estate. They would deal with the nominals and
the Police would deal with the Court proceedings.
He confirmed that the PCSOs do a regular patrol of the Long Lane
Recreation Ground.
Bob confirmed he intends to do another year on duty, but may leave after
this.
Cllr Millar spoke to commend the two PCSOs for the fantastic job they
have done. Members agreed.
A member of public asked if the footpath next to the Fox and Hounds was
regularly patrolled. Bob confirmed that it was.
10. Public session.
John Spiers introduced himself as a previous long term Parish Clerk for
Bursledon Parish Council. He advised that upon receiving his
Council Tax Leaflet he was staggered at the steep increase in the BPC
element of Council Tax and more so that Bursledon Parish Council Members
had voted in favour of adopting the Pilands Wood Play Area, which would
without doubt prove extremely expensive for the Parish Council. He
had been pleased to note from Cllr Clarke’s Chair’s Report this evening
that BPC had not legally adopted any of the areas, as the Minutes dated
28 January 2009 on the website suggested and that BPC Members still had
time to reconsider their decision and the extreme cost implications
relating to Pilands Wood facilities. He compelled all Members to
vote against adopting the Pilands Wood facilities and asked what
consideration had been given to the cost implications and what financial
evidence had been provided to identify that a mere £2 per resident
increase in Parish Council Tax would cover the massive costs involved
with managing such facilities. He felt that current Members voting
in favour of adopting Pilands Wood facilities would be leaving future
generations of Parish Councillors and Officers with a legacy that would
be impossible to manage with the funding available to do so. He
advised Members that Eastleigh Borough Council had approached Bursledon
Parish Council 13 or 14 years ago to adopt facilities at Pilands Wood
and to offload other irritant areas and Members at that time had voted
strenuously against adopting these areas, due to the high levels of
vandalism and associated costs that would be incurred.
Cllr Clarke confirmed that the adoption of these areas had only been
voted for in principle, but that BPC were currently in discussions with
EBC regarding the legal ramifications and that BPC Members would be
considering this matter further in the near future. He also felt
BPC needed to support all areas of the Parish. John Spiers said
that adequate funding was given to Pilands Wood from Eastleigh Borough
Council.
Ron Grassy spoke to raise the matter of why Bursledon Parish Council was
now fighting the gravel extraction, as in 1994/1995 Cllr House had voted
in favour of gravel extraction in the area and now it was too late to do
anything about it, as it had been agreed. Cllr Millar confirmed
that the current strategy runs to 2011, but the parishes and other local
authorities are now looking at a new strategy for the area to take over
from this and all parties are in favour of fighting future gravel
extraction. Cllrs Craig and Holes confirmed that EBC are looking
to fight gravel extraction and future development in the area. Mr
Grassy felt that it would be considered that gravel has to come from
somewhere to support local development, could the local authorities not
look at using the railway to transport the gravel. Cllr Millar
confirmed this was being looked at.
Diane Andrewes mentioned that the speed limits in Dodwell Lane were not
being observed. Cllr Millar confirmed that the Police are going to
carry out regular monitoring of Dodwell Lane in an endeavour to warn
drivers against speeding.
John Prinn enquired whether BPC had a list of all the trees in the area
with Tree Preservation Orders on them. The Clerk advised that such
a list had been requested from EBC, but they had advised that due to the
lack of officer time, such a list had not yet been revised and updated.
He enquired whether the large tree on Windhover roundabout had been
removed to make way for a new lorry lane on Windhover roundabout.
Cllr Millar confirmed that this tree had been removed as it was diseased
and that general clearance was being carried out to the roundabout to
allow for the growth of wild flowers. He advised that the new
lorry lane was proposed to come off Junction 8 of the motorway.
Tony Norton complained about the condition of the tarmac on the roads
through Lowford. Cllr Millar confirmed that these road repairs
were on Hampshire Highways priority list. Cllr Holes confirmed
that repairs to the junction with School Road were also on the list.
The meeting closed at 9.25 pm.