NEWTOWN PARISH COUNCIL
Hampshire
Minutes of a meeting of Newtown Parish Council held on
Monday 25th March 2024 at 7pm, Newtown Village Hall
Present: Meeting Chair: Tom Reseigh
Councillors: Jo Exelby, Bob Ward
In attendance: Clerk: Rebecca Cloke
CSPO Drew Mechen (B&D) + colleague
80. Apologies
Apologies were received from Cllr Webb and Cllr Curry.
81. Declarations of Interest
None
OPEN FORUM – none
82. Approval and signing of the minutes of the meeting held on 8th January.
The minutes were approved by the Council and signed by the Chair. Nominated by Cllr Ward and seconded by Cllr Reseigh.
83. Report for “News from the Villages”
ACTION: Cllr Reseigh to draft a submission for the May edition.
84. Report for the district and/or county councillor
Cllr Izett queried the planned works on the C45. Cllr Reseigh briefed Cllr Izett that that the work did not appear to have been carried out despite planned for 11th March and the road condition has deteriorated further. Cllr Izett confirmed he would also query why the planned works had not taken place.
Cllr Izett briefed the council that there would be an election for a third of the borough councillors.
He further advised that prior to the election period commencing, there had been a council meeting to ratify the budget and agreeing the increase for council tax. Investment had also been approved for a new aquadrome.
Cllr Izett confirmed he would be writing to support the Parish Council’s objection to the planning application for Threeways and further briefed the council on the borough’s intention to legally challenge the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to approve the Wash Water development.
85. Report from PCSO / CSPO
The clerk reported that there was currently a vacancy for PCSO and the PC had been unable to attend but had sent a brief crime summary for the previous 30 days for the local area including 3 non dwelling burglaries, 3 traffic collisions, 4 thefts, 6 anti-social behaviour incidents and 1 criminal damage incident. (All in local villages not Newtown)
It is hoped that a representative from Hampshire Police will be able to attend the Parish Assembly in March.
The parish council welcomed CSPO Drew Mechen and his colleague. Drew introduced himself and outlined his role working for Basingstoke and Deane as a Community Safety Patrol Officer.
The clerk briefed CSPO Mechen on the issues that had been raised by residents such as overnight parking, vehicle storage and trail bikes on the common. She explained the frustration held by the residents that the police had not taken any action when these issues had been reported. The clerk further stated that, as these were breaches of the Common bylaws, that it was hoped that the CSPO, on behalf of Basingstoke and Deane, would be able to support to combat these breaches. Furthermore how the Parish Council could communicate these issues to access such support.
CSPO Mechen confirmed these were incidents that would be breaches of the bylaws and also antisocial behaviour incidents. He requested that information be gathered from residents about the location and times of such incidents in order to provide the CSPO with as much information as possible.
ACTION: Correspondence to be included in the News from the Villages article and Facebook to encourage residents to report incidents of bylaw breaches to the Parish Council to compile a list of occurrences for the CSPO.
ACTION: Clerk to purchase two wildlife cameras to support information gathering efforts.
The Parish Council thanked CSPO Mechen and his colleague for attending and his support.
86. Highways and traffic issues
a) SLR deployment B4640 – Cllr Reseigh briefed the council that he had had further correspondence with MP Kit Malthouse, who had contacted Hampshire Police on the Parish Council’s behalf. Hampshire Police had confirmed they would not have an issue with the Parish Council using their own speed device on the B4640 to gather data, however Cllr Nick Adams-King continued to refuse this to be allowed.
Hampshire County Council have agreed to a 7 day traffic survey (to be funded by Newtown and Burghclere Parish Councils).
Thanks to MP Kit Malthouse for his support to address the Parish Council’s concerns regarding the excessive speeding along this stretch of road.
b) C45 – The council discussed the lack of work carried out on the 11th March as had been expected. It was noted that neither Newtown or Burghclere Parish Council had received a response from the Hampshire Highways team when querying this matter.
87. 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
22/02754/OUTMAJ (WB) Land East of Newbury College Retail unit, Care home and 75 residences PC oppose – referenced Burghclere PC submission – awaiting decision
24/00290/FUL Land south of Threeways Erection of a detached dwelling. PC objection – awaiting decision.
88. Newtown Common
a) Common update – Cllr Curry absent
b) Byelaws – Cllr Reseigh briefed the council of the correspondence with Tola Otudeko, Legal Serivces, Basingstoke and Deane regarding the sanctions for a breach of the bylaws as current sanctions are inadequate and not indexed linked. ACTION: Cllr Reseigh to pursue previous correspondence.
c) Additional signage and speed signs – Cllr Reseigh had prepared a draft of additional signage including new welcome signs for the common entrance, speed roundels for the tracks and a bylaw summary for the noticeboards and website. The signage expenditure of approximately £2,500 (including installation) was proposed by Cllr Reseigh and seconded by Cllr Exelby.
d) Footpath boardwalk 701b – Cllr Curry briefed the council that landowner permission had still not been granted for the 701b boardwalk to commence despite repeated requests.
e) Jonathan Hill car park – Cllr Reseigh had circulated quotes for the repairs to the car park. The clerk had submitted grant applications to both Basingstoke and Deane and Hampshire and had been successful with both. Cllr Reseigh stated that the repairs could not take place until the weather had improved as the material to be used (to comply with HCC requests) needed dry weather conditions. Cllr Reseigh stated the work had been confirmed for the 8th May.
f) Horris Hill signage – Cllr Curry met with a representative from Horris Hill to discuss the signage they wished to erect to advertise their open day and had confirmed the signage and location.
g) Vehicle parking / storage at Jonathan Hill / motorised bikes – It was discussed that a resident had reported that the Environmental Team (B&D) had visited residents at Jonathan Hill but it was unclear as to what action had been taken, regarding the vehicles stored, and whether there would be further follow up. ACTION: Clerk to contact Environmental Team (B&D to request an update as to action taken and proposed follow up)
As per item 85, information will be gathered to provide to the CSPO regarding the location and times of the motorised bike incidents.
89. Lengthsman Scheme
The clerk stated that she had received correspondence from St Mary Bourne Parish Council regarding the lengthsman contract and potential re-tender. Cllr Curry had previously stated that he was happy to continue with the contract as per the current situation. This was proposed by Cllr Exelby and seconded by Cllr Reseigh. ACTION: Clerk to confirm this with St Mary Bourne clerk.
90. Village Hall
No update
91. Policies
The Clerk had previously circulated updated polices. The following were considered and approved:
a) Financial and management risk assessment
b) Model publication scheme
c) Financial procedures
92. 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:
[Following item 93a the following payment was also approved]
93. Correspondence
a) The Clerk had received correspondence from the Treasurer at Burghclere with Newtown Parochial Church Council requesting a contribution. A £500 contribution was proposed by Cllr Ward and seconded by Cllr Reseigh.
ACTION: Clerk to confirm contribution to BwNPCC designating contribution for churchyard upkeep.
b) Cllr Reseigh briefed the Parish Council that Hampshire County Council had informed NPC that the Environment Agency would be carrying out water monitoring work on the common.
94. Date of next meetings
Dates for the annual meeting and Parish Assembly was set for 13th May.
Further meeting dates are to be confirmed.
The meeting closed at 8:45pm
Signed ……………………………. Date……………….