NEWTOWN PARISH COUNCIL
Hampshire
Minutes of a meeting of Newtown Parish Council held on
Monday 13th November 2023 at 7pm, Newtown Village Hall
Present: Meeting Chair: Tony Webb
Councillors: Sean Curry, Tom Reseigh, Bob Ward
In attendance: Clerk: Rebecca Cloke
2 members of the public
49. Apologies
Apologies were received from Cllr Exelby and Cllr Thacker.
50. Declarations of Interest
None
OPEN FORUM – none
51. Approval and signing of the minutes of the meeting held on 28th September.
The minutes were approved by the Council and signed by the Chair. Nominated by Cllr Reseigh and seconded by Cllr Curry.
52. Report for “News from the Villages”
None.
53. Report for the district and/or county councillor
County Councillor not present.
Cllr Izett briefed the council with regards to an emergency cabinet meeting meeting held by Basingstoke and Deane to approve 3500 “Manydown North “homes to help with the land supply.
He further briefed the council with regards to the Local Plan and the general opposition to building too many new homes in the Borough. He stated that the next draft of the plan was expected In December.
Cllr Reseigh queried whether being reliant on larger developers had caused part of the issue with the delay in house supply. Cllr Izett stated that the larger building companies dominated the market and there wasn’t the competition to dilute them.
Cllr Izett stated there were no updates for the local planning applications on the agenda.
Cllr Izett reminded the councillors that there were councillor grants available for up to £3k for capital works within the community.
54. Report from PCSO
The clerk reported that the PCSO had been invited but had not responded. She had contacted the Basingstoke Rural Policing Team to see if here had been personnel changes but had not received a response at the time of the meeting.
55. Highways and traffic issues
a) SLR deployment data and proposed locations – To follow
b) SLR deployment B4640 – Cllr Webb had drafted correspondence to Cllr Nick Adams-King, Lead Cabinet Member for Universal Services (Highways, Transport, Environment, Countryside and Communities) Hampshire County Council regarding the petition to be able to deploy the SLR on the B4640. The petition had been “signed” by around 700 people. All present agreed the correspondence should be sent asking for dispensation or for permanent speed cameras to be added to that location.
Cllr Reseigh raised concerns that even if dispensation was received, would deploying the SLR achieve the desired outcome and that expectations needed to be managed. He stated that the data collected on the C45 had not received any tangible response from either Hampshire County Council or the police.
c) C45 – The council discussed the response received from Cllr Nick Adams-King, with regards to a proposed solution for the surface water. Cllr Reseigh stated that he was very concerned that the road would ice over before the works were carried out and prove to be very dangerous. He further stated that the route was used by school buses to the Clere School which travelled at speeds greater than the limit of 30mph.
56. a) Planning and development control
16/02230/FUL Hill Farm Erection of 8 dwellings No update
Withdrawn Returned (unlikely to be det.)
22/01781/LBC The Swan Inn Replacement of weathered and worn roof tiles Awaiting decision following bat survey.
23/01045/FUL (WB) Land South Of Abbottwood Retrospective change of use of land to a Gypsy / Traveller site PC oppose – Awaiting decision
23/01585/OUTMAJ (WB) Warren Farm Outline for 360 dwellings PC opposed previous application – Awaiting decision
23/02532/LDEO Newtown Court Farm Cert of Lawful Dev’t-Existing operation registered PC no comment
22/02754/OUTMAJ (WB) Land East of Newbury College Retail unit, Care home and 75 residences PC oppose
b) Basingstoke and Deane Local Plan Update
Correspondence had been received from Cllr Andy Konieczko regarding the next steps for the Basingstoke and Deane Local Plan Update. The communication stated that Cllr Konieczko and Cllr Harvey would be meeting with individual parishes to discuss the Local Plan. The Clerk had contacted B&D to arrange a date but B&D had stated there were no available meeting dates until next year.
57. Newtown Common
a) Cllr Curry briefed the councillors on the work the Green Gym volunteers and Heathland Management had carried out on the common.
Cllr Curry stated that a member of the Common Management Committee had raised concerns regarding a swing that had been erected by a member of the public on the common. ACTION: Cllr Curry to contact HCC to understand whether further action needed to be taken.
Cllr Reseigh raised the issue of the state of the Jonathon Hill car park.
ACTION: It was agreed that Cllr Curry would contact HCC with regards to establishing the responsibility of the repair of the car park and Cllr Reseigh would obtain some quotes to repair the car park.
b) Byelaws – Cllr Webb stated he had not received a response from HCC in regards to his request to update the byelaws.
ACTION: TW to pursue previous email.
c) Footpath boardwalk 701b – Cllr Curry briefed the council that landowner permission had still not been granted for the 701b boardwalk to commence.
ACTION: Cllr Curry to contact landowner and request that they make the repairs themselves.
58. Lengthsman Scheme
Cllr Curry stated that the Lengthsman would continue to maintain the west footpath from Horris Hill down towards the Swan.
59. Coronation trail
Cllr Ward briefed the councillors on the quotes he had received for the waymarkers for the trail. It was agreed that the recycled plastic posts from Fitzpatrick Woolmer should be used costing £3,300 (including VAT). He stated that there were two areas that weren’t fully passable on the route. It was agreed that the areas needed to be repaired before the route could be launched. The areas had been reported to HCC but there was no timescale for the repairs to be carried out. ACTION: Cllr Ward to get quotes for the repairs to the areas highlighted before carrying out the waymarking work.
60. Village Hall
The clerk briefed the councillors on the polling station consultation notification received. The councillors agreed no response required as no alternative venue available to be considered.
61. Parish Council website / email
The clerk briefed that the website had been launched and was operational.
ACTION: Issues with individual email access issues to be resolved on a one to one basis.
62. Finance reports
a) To receive the report on the budget for 2023/24
The clerk summarised the main variances to budget, year to date, in the income and expenditure and summarised the reserves held. The Chair checked the bank balances to bank statements. Received and approved.
b) Approval of payments
To approve / ratify the following payments:
13-Nov B076 Rebecca Cloke Clerk salary – website o’time 10hrs £125.50
13-Nov B077 HMRC Clerk PAYE – website o’time 10hrs £31.20
05-Oct B075 Rebecca Cloke Expenses – WWP printing £11.88
c) Draft budget for 2024-25
The clerk had circulated the draft budget for review prior to the meeting along with a summary document of potential projects to be funded by the PC. A precept of £6,180 was proposed. The budget and precept were agreed.
ACTION: Clerk to submit precept request form to B&D by required deadline of 31st January.
63. Correspondence
The Clerk had received positive feedback on the new website from a member of the public and further positive correspondence with regards to the petition.
64. Date of next meetings
Dates for the next meetings were set for:
8th January and 25th March
The meeting closed at 8:12pm
Signed ……………………………. Date……………….