NEWTOWN PARISH COUNCIL
Hampshire
Minutes of a meeting of Newtown Parish Council held on
Monday 17th July 2023 at 7pm, Newtown Village Hall
Present: Meeting Chair: Tony Webb
Councillors: Bob Ward, Tom Reseigh, Jo Exelby
In attendance: Clerk: Rebecca Cloke
16. Apologies
Apologies were received from Cllr Curry and Cllr Izett.
17. Declarations of Interest
None
OPEN FORUM – none
18. Approval and signing of the minutes of the meeting held on 22nd May.
The minutes were approved by the Council and signed by the Chair. Nominated by Cllr Ward and seconded by Cllr Exelby.
19. Report for “News from the Villages”
Cllr Webb stated there was no August edition.
20. Report for the district and/or county councillor
None
21. Report from PCSO
The clerk reported that the PCSO had been invited but had not responded.
ACTION: Clerk to request PCSO sends an update.
22. Highways and traffic issues
a) SLR deployment – Cllr Reseigh circulated the recent data from the SLR. The councillors discussed what actions could be taken with the data collected.
ACTION: Cllr Reseigh to chase response from Cllr Thacker as to how to best utilise the data to encourage HCC / police to take action.
b) SLR deployment B4640 – The councillors discussed local residents’ concerns regarding the speeding on the B4640. A recent incident was raised regarding a family pet that had been killed on the road. It was noted that despite HCC not allowing NPC to deploy their SLR on the B4640 due to the speed limit, there was a West Berkshire SLR on the Sandleford link just on the other side of the Hampshire / Berkshire border.
ACTION: Cllr Webb to draft note to local residents regarding the situation, RC to check wording in respect to GDPR guidelines.
c) C45 – The council discussed the underground spring leak that had re-emerged on the C45 following recent building works that had damaged the previous diversion work carried out. It was reiterated that this would be extremely dangerous in winter. Cllr Reseigh reported that a representative had visited from HCC but that subsequently the ticket that had been raised by NPC had been closed on the Hampshire Highways portal with no further action taken.
ACTION: RC to contact Hants county councillor to raise the issue and ask for assistance in getting a resolution.
The clerk raised that several members of the public had raised the issue of visibility on the bend of the C45 at the Swan public house. The clerk had raised the issue with Hampshire Highways but had received no update in almost a month.
ACTION: RC to contact Hants county councillor to request assistance with this issue.
23. Planning and development control
16/02230/FUL Hill Farm Erection of 8 dwellings Withdrawn Returned (unlikely to be det.)
22/01781/LBC The Swan Inn Replacement of weathered and worn roof tiles PC – no comment
Awaiting decision
23/00255/FUL Newtown Court Farm amendment to planning permission 22/02506/FUL to add additional dwelling PC opposed –
Awaiting decision
23/00954/HSE Sebaricom Gables Construction of single storey garage with office PC support – granted
23/01169/FUL Land at Old Post Office New detached 2 bedroom dwelling PC oppose – granted
23/01045//FUL (WB) Land South Of Abbottwood Change of use of land to a Gypsy / Traveller site PC oppose – awaiting decision
ACTION: Clerk to submit objection
23/01585/OUTMAJ (WB) Warren Farm Outline application for 360 dwellings ACTION: TW to contact WBC to establish what the application is.
Bulpitt Land The councillors discussed a concern raised by a local resident regarding trees being cleared at this land. No application submitted as yet.
24. Newtown Common
a) Cllr Curry had circulated an update on the common which was discussed.
b) Coronation bench – it was decided that this would be discussed once the walk had progressed further.
c) Byelaws – Cllr Webb briefed the council on the response he had received from HCC in regards to his request to update the byelaws.
ACTION: TW to consider what action required next
d) Footpath boardwalk 701b – the council discussed the quote that had been received for materials for the proposed boardwalk. Countryside Access have committed to providing the labour if funds can be raised for the materials. Funding opportunities such as County and Borough councillor grants were discussed as well as the possibility of applying to The Good Exchange for potential grants and match funding. Cllr Curry will contact Horris Hill too as the footpath has been utilised more due to the impact of them restricting access to the school grounds. Concerns were raised that there would be a loss of funding opportunity for the Coronation / Elizabeth trail if they were utilised for the 701b boardwalk. It was decided that the new trail should take priority in timescales and funding applications.
ACTION: Cllr Ward to urgently report the ROW issues on the trail route.
25. Lengthsman Scheme
Postponed until Cllr Curry present
26. Coronation / Elizabeth trail
Discussed in item 24 above
27. Village Hall
a) Cllr Reseigh requested a further donation from NPC for Village Hall improvements. It was agreed to donate the difference between what had been previously committed and what had already been donated. Proposed by Cllr Webb seconded by Cllr Exelby.
ACTION: Clerk to calculate the donation value and make donation via Good Exchange platform.
b) Parking sign placement – Cllr Reseigh briefed the council on signage needed to designate disabled spaces. This was agreed. Proposed by Cllr Reseigh, seconded by Cllr Webb.
28. Parish Council website / email
The Clerk briefed the councillors that NetWise had been appointed and had commenced building the new website. Clerk now prioritising loading all the documentation onto the new website and ensuring all content up to date and correct.
ACTION: PC member to send clerk bio and headshot if not already completed.
29. 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.
30. Approval of payments
To ratify the following payments:
15-Jun B066 NetWise Website / email build and hosting £1,114.80
16-Jun B067 Nature Conservation Services Tree popper £350.40
25-Jun B068 Rebecca Cloke Expenses – P Assem / paper £102.10
30-Jun B069 Rebecca Cloke Clerk salary – Apr-Jun £658.28
30-Jun B070 HMRC Clerk PAYE – Apr – Jun £164.40
31. Date of next meetings
Dates for the next meetings were set for:
28th September, 13th November, 15th January, 25th March
32. Correspondence
The Clerk confirmed that the external audit completion / compliance had been confirmed
The meeting closed at 8:35pm
Signed ……………………………. Date……………….