Parish Council Meeting 28 June 2011 Minutes

MIDGHAM PARISH COUNCIL 21 Swan Drive, Aldermaston. RG7 4UZ Email – angela@midghamparish.co.uk Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Tuesday 28 June 2011 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm. Present were Mr H Long (Chairman) (HL) Mr R Norris (RN) Mr D Lombardo (DL) Mrs H Hutchins (HH) Mrs A Spoor (Clerk) Mrs I Neill plus 4 members of the public 1. Apologies for absence Mr J Carey (JC) sent apologies due to a memorial service 2. Declarations of interest - none declared 3. Minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 17 May 2011 were approved and signed 4. Matters arising not on the agenda – none 5. Annual Village Meeting – concerns raised that the 2 presentations were not specific to the needs of the parish – the good attendance was noted. 6. Midgham Village Hall – M Brooker, Chairman of Village Hall Committee attended the meeting to request ongoing financial support for the Village Hall specifically he presented improvement plans for the hall and requested financial support of £1998 towards the total cost of £3996 (the remaining amount being matched by funds raised by the hall committee). The proposal is to pave and complete the concourse, replace the hand rail, improve the exiting steps, replace the rotten door/frame including a new locking system. Labour is being undertaken by hall committee members to keep costs to a minimum. Response from the council : DL recommended keyclamp for the rails, light sensors need looking at, improvements should comply with guidelines, consider if edges need marking. Motion carried – all parish councillors present agreed the proposals and PC donation. It is hoped that work to improve the hall will make it more attractive to hire. Additionally Matthew Brooker requested that the PC include signage for the village hall when using 106 monies to restore other signage/notice boards in the village – ACTION: Clerk to factor this in with plans for new notice boards. 7. Toad Hall Sewerage System – progress is slow and planning decision still with WBC. IN reported that the highways report is delaying a decision. HL had spoken to J Bowden from highways. IN will chase highways, but advised that WBC realise the urgency. HL thanked DL for the amount of work on this issue. 8. Section 106 contributions – c/f to next meeting 9. Midgham Rail Bridge Safety Improvements – Clerk advised there was no progress 10. Alms Houses – HL reported that he met with J Bowden of WBC to review the flooding problem in School Lane and presented a plan of the area. Flooding on the road occurred and was a potential risk in event of severe frosts. It occurred, even in dry weather as prevailed at the above meeting with Bowden most noticeably by the westerly access to the Alms Houses where the ditch was full and the water did not seem able to flow down to the stream. We both agreed that the best solution was to have the drain rodded and cleared and the open ditch from this access to the New Road Hill junction piped and backfilled as the road was very narrow there and vehicles tended to push the bank into the open ditch. It was left that WBC would trace the bordering owners whose responsibility it was to ensure water drained away. They would report back. 11. Emergency Plan – was again discussed and it was felt this matter would be better discussed at a specific meeting about the Emergency plan. It is agreed that the focus needs to be on 1) Who are vulnerable people within the parish 2) Who can help in a crisis 3) Communications. ACTIONS: Bob to look at colouring a map that clearly show the areas/wards within the parish. Clerk to obtain maps for this purpose and to send out revised planning areas. 12. District Councillor’s report IN advised that the Core Strategy hearing has restarted. 13. Nursery Copse Appeal – no progress to report. 14. Public Time - Moira Rusbridge acknowledged the efforts to organise social events but queried why the premises licence was still not on display which she had previously pointed out, she expressed her view that the AGM had not been advertised properly and that minutes that had been requested had not made available. Clerk confirmed that she had seen adequate notice/adverts for this meeting. Response: licence is held but is having name changed. Points were noted and licence situation will be rectified. 15. Clerks’ report: Clerk presented the Internal audit of accounts making reference to the recommendation to review the replacement costs of fixed assets. The Chairman and clerk signed the end of year accounts. ACTION: Clerk to prepare and submit the accounts to the external auditors. Financial statement: C/A £945.21 credit D/A £20814.87 credit The following amounts were agreed - £100.00 Election fees 16. Planning: - Applications ..11/00922/LBC Button Court Farm House – new 2 bay detached car port Councillors present agreed the following response - no objections to this application but to respect the setting of a listed building, which is also within the ‘countryside’ the gable end roof on the north elevation should be altered to become a hipped roof similar to the south elevation. - Decisions .... none 17. Correspondence: Clerk presented correspondence received: - Digital Television Switchover Community Outreach Pack - W Berks Citizens Advice Bureau (letter of thanks) 18. Play area: Monthly check OK Date of next meeting: agreed there would be no meeting in July - next meeting Tuesday 23 August 2011