MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF BALCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL, HELD ON TUESDAY 18^th MAY 2004 AT 8 PM IN THE WI ROOM, BALCOMBE VICTORY HALL

Present: Mr Graham Gosney (Chairman), Mr Robin Williamson, Mr Neil Infield, Mr David Miners, Mr George Wiginton, Mr Simon Greenwood, Mrs Alison Stevenson, Mrs Sheila Illsley Mrs Katherine Gunning, Mr Richard Greig (Clerk).

1233 Election of Chairman & to receive Chairman’s Acceptance of Office

Mrs Gunning (Vice Chairman) took the Chair. Proposed by Mr Wiginton & seconded by Mr Miners, Mr Graham Gosney was elected Chairman unanimously and took over the chair.

1234 Election of Vice Chairman

Proposed by Mr Williamson and seconded by Mrs Illsley, Mrs Katherine Gunning was elected unanimously as Vice Chairman.

1235 Public Participation

Mrs Rosemary Robertson, representing the Balcombe School 100 Club, requested that three tickets be drawn. Those selected were –No. 79 – Steve Crathern (1^st), No. 58 – Nikki Leatham (2^nd) and No. 74 – Grace Grace Robertson (3^rd). No other members of the public were present.

1236 Apologies for absence

Mr Gary Marsh, Mr Roland Burke

1237 Declaration of personal or prejudicial interest

Messrs Miners, Williamson & Mrs Katherine Gunning, residents of the London Road, declared a personal interest in respect of Traffic Calming. Also Mrs Alison Stevenson in respect of Planning Application BA/04/ 00966/FUL – Minute 1242 below.

1238 Re-election of Honorary Responsible Financial Officer

Proposed by Mr Gosney & seconded by Mrs Illsley, Mr Robin Williamson was re-elected RFO unanimously

1239 Re-appointment of School Governor

Proposed by Mrs Gunning & seconded by Mr Wiginton, Mrs Sheila Illsley was re-elected as School Governor.

1240 Membership of Working Groups & Nomination of Group Leaders

i) Environment Planning – Mrs Alison Stevenson (Leader), Mr Gary Marsh, Mrs Katherine Gunning, Mr George Wiginton, Mr Simon Greenwood (ad hoc). Unchanged

ii) Traffic Calming/Road Safety Group – Mr David Miners (Leader), Mr Neil Infield, Mr Gary Marsh + the Clerk. Unchanged

iii) Recreation Ground Development – Mr George Wiginton (Leader), Mrs Sheila Illsley, Mr Roland Burke + the Clerk. Unchanged

1241 Minutes of the Meeting held on 20^th April 2004

1208 – The Clerk would be attending a meeting on 19 May at south east water. Mr Greenwood was advised of this.1225 – Annual Report. Revised format & layout agreed between Mr Williamson & Worth Abbey. Circulated as enclosure in Parish Magazine.

1229 - Duty of Care for the Physically Handicapped. Details of Mr George Usher’s concerns now passed over to WSCC.

1230 – NALC guidelines re delegation to a committee under new legislation – No formal meeting has yet taken place. Agreed to postpone until June.

1232 – Speed Cameras for village use (Ringmer scheme). The Clerk would make further enquiries about progress.

Mr Eldred had commented about information passed to Bristol by the Parish Council in connection with his Hope Cottage appeal. The Clerk would write again to clarify our views and reply to Mr Eldred.

Minutes of previous AGM held on 15 May 2003. The matters arising from these in respect of Working Group make up & Budget Plans had already been considered and approved at the meeting held on 22 May 2003. The following matters were additionally considered

976 – Footpath Representation. Agreed that Mrs Julie Worrall, the present Secretary of the Association, be asked to address a future meeting.

The re-establishment of a Railway Working Group, earlier proposed by Mr Infield, would be discussed at a later stage.

977 – Mr Kendric Lewis should be thanked for his willingness to assist BPC in regard to tree planning matters & the Environment Planning Group should be encouraged to call on him as & when necessary.

The Chairman then signed off the minutes of the AGM of 15 May 2003 as a true & correct record.

1242 Planning Applications, including any applications received before the meeting

BA/04/00874/TCA – Woodstock, Oldlands Avenue – Oak: lift canopy by approx 2 metres No objection in principle, but practicality queried.

BA/04/00895/LDC – 1 Holly Cottage – Use of property for 4 people with learning difficulties. Considered this application is a legal, rather than a planning matter, but continuation of the present use is supported.

BA/04/00908/TCA – 3/4 St. James Cottages – Two cherries – fell. Precise degree of subsidence caused was queried. Considered best solution was to remove only one of the trees.

BA/04/00995/FUL – Spanners, Mill Lane – Retrospective application for replacement of fire damaged workshop. We feel unable to comment, as we were unaware of what was there before.

BA/04/00966/FUL – 13 Foxwells. External remodelling and internal alterations.

Mrs Stevenson declared a personal interest and the application merits were presented by M r Wiginton. This amended application is now acceptable, with the exception of the feature intended to disguise the flat roof, which it is recommended is lowered.

BA/04/01104/TREE – Stumble Cottage, Oldlands Avenue – Two limes: thin canopies by approx. 50%. No objection, but feel pollarding would be the best option.

BA/04/01102/FUL – Pemby, Oldlands Avenue. 2 storey extension to side of house. Conservatory. Rear Lobby. No objections to the plan, with the slight reservation that the two-storey side extension is narrow & may be out of scale with the house.

1243 Financial Matters

i) Cash Book Receipts & Payments May 2004. Approved as presented.

ii) To approve cost of Annual Report. Cost of £88 + VAT approved.

iii) Annual Salary Review. Clerk’s contract requested for approval/signing off requested. Messrs. Gosney, Williamson & Mrs Gunning to consider further.

1244 Traffic Calming: report & Village exhibition of plan

Mr Miners reported that the northern positions for the Solagen columns had been agreed. The southern siting still had to be finalised, and this would necessitate further discussion with Mr Dearden, a resident on the London Road. There might need to be reduced number installed, if the matter was not resolved.

Owen Williams had now provided a Consultant’s Proposal for the Traffic Calming Scheme. This was in order, except it was felt that our brief for the mini roundabout needed to be spelt out in closer detail. Likewise we needed confirmation that a lighting survey was to be include – point 2 in our letter dated 26.04.04.

The Chairman suggested that approval to this proposal from OW be given and proposed by Mr Williamson and seconded by Mr Infield it was agreed that, subject to clarification of the above points, a signed copy of same be returned in agreement.

1245 Recreation Ground Development Report

Mr Wiginton mentioned his recent meeting with Rupert Browning, together with Mr Roland Burke & Mrs Sheila Illsley. The purpose of this was to review the revised plan for the layout of the proposed playground area and to establish an action plan for the progress of the playground development. Mr Browning was working very hard on our behalf and a programme of works and costs for implementation of the initial and subsequent development phases is under discussion at MSDC.

1246 Celebration of Parish of St. Mary 22-23 May 2004

As previously agreed the Parish Council would be having a small display. Should manning be required volunteers were requested to give their names to the Clerk.

1247 Correspondence

MSDC had advised that a rise in rail fares would be effective from 23 May and pensioner rail cards would be increased by £2 from this date. Rather than increase the present BPC subsidy of £5.30 it was unanimously agreed that the cost to villagers would rise by this amount and in future would be £12 & £8 respectively.

1248 Exchange of Information

Mrs Illsley. Balcombe School would be having a new Form Teacher for Years 4+5 in September.

Mr Miners. There were still hawkers operating around the village.

Mrs Stevenson. Abandoned white car near tennis courts in Oldlands Avenue.

Mr Wiginton. Fault with streetlights on Troymede, the Twitten between Troymede & Combers & Haywards Heath Road beyond Oldlands.

Mr Greenwood. Thought that we should send a letter of support to Bluebird as requested. The Chairman said that other organisations such as 61 Club, Care Group & MU might need use of this service.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 10 pm

Signed……………………….

Date………………………….

RG/HS Revised at Meeting of 15.06.04