Little
Milton Parish Council
Minutes of Council Meeting held on 10th December 2008
Present:
Cllr.
Cllr.
Cllr. Mabel Wood
Cllr
Cllr. David Wakeling
Cllr. Tim Robinson,
Mr Raymond Fergusson (Parish Clerk)
John Nowell-Smith (District
Councillor)
David
Turner (
One
member of the public
(Part Meeting only)
01//12/08
Apologies
for Absence:
02/12/08
Declaration of any personal or
prejudicial interests of members
Cllr.
03/12/08
Approval of Minutes
The
Parish Council RESOLVED to approve
the minutes of Parish Council Meeting held on 12th November 2008 as a true
record of the meeting and the Chairman signed the minutes.
04/12/08
Matters Arising.
The
Clerk reported back on his attempts to obtain a quote for filling in the pot
holes on the car park and that his initial enquiry has been unsuccessful but
that he was pursuing an alternative provider of the service.
05/12/08
Youth Facilities
The
Chairman reported that the recent Youth Evening that was held on the 25th
November attracted nobody to the Pine Lodge. The Council were disappointed with
the response but they RESOLVED to follow up on the suggestion by Kevin Brophy to
conduct a survey around the village with a prepared questionnaire.
06/12/08
Recreation Ground
The
Clerk reported that the new meter box for the MUGA had not yet been fitted due
to the unavailability of Mr Phebe and that the corrective work on the moles had
been held up due to the ill health of Peter Ilbury.
07/12/08
Finance
The
Council RESOLVED to approve the
following expenditure:
Colourplus December
Newsletter
£246.13
Enterprise
grass cutting October (2 cuts)
£113.46
Broadleaf Joinery
£334.88
Little Milton Village Hall - MUGA electricity £29.99
Society of Local Council Clerks: Annual membership
£61.00
Oxfordshire Playing Fields Association
£32.00
SODC: Lotteries & Amusements Licence Fee
£17.50
The
Council declined to support Victim Support Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire.
The
Clerk presented the bank Reconciliations for inspection by Council members.
The
Clerk circulated papers in respect of the precept for 2009-10 and highlighted
the Councils underlying income and expenditure. The Council spent some time
considering the likely additional expenditure in 2009-10 in respect of the car
park and the re-instatement of the Post office. The Clerk was asked to try and
ascertain a more accurate range of costs for re-surfacing the car park to meet
the Councils planning obligations.
The
Council also discussed the replacement of assets that the Council currently own
and maintain. The Council recognises the future liability but RESOLVED that this was best met by holding sufficient reserves that
represented a proportion of the total replacement cost and the balance would be
made up from grants. However the Council RESOLVED
to obtain a quote for brushing the surface of the MUGA as this was considered to
be good practice in maintaining the surface.
The
Council sought clarification from the representatives of the IPS as to whether
they anticipated requesting any funds from the Council in 2009-10 and the
response from Cllr Stuart McGill was that this was unlikely to be the case.
The
Council RESOLVED to determine the
2009-10 precept at the January 2009 Council meeting.
08/12/08
Planning
P07/W1422/RET:
Abbots Close: Appeal decision:
The
Council noted that the appeal that had been lodged with the First Secretary of
State following the refusal of SODC to grant planning permission had been upheld
by the Inspector.
P08/W1095:
30 Chiltern View: Amendment to original plan:
The
Council noted the minor amendment to the plans but it felt that the changes did
not materially change the Councils position and it had still recommended a
refusal of the planning application.
P08/W1117
: Penn House; Single storey glazed extension conservatory. First floor extension
over existing utility.
The
Council noted that the resident had withdrawn this planning application from the
register.
P08/W1151
: 16 Old Field; two storey rear extension and porch:
The
Council noted that planning permission had been granted by South Oxfordshire
District Council.
P08/W1239:
Five Penny Cottage; Single storey rear extension:
The Council RESOLVED
that this planning application should be approved by
09/12/08
Correspondence
There were no matters under correspondence
10/12/08
Adoption of New Model Publication
Scheme
The
Clerk outlined the details of the New Model Publication Scheme and circulated
the information that would be made available under the model publication scheme.
He stated that the new publication scheme would be publicised in the newsletter
as well as being made available on the website.
The
Council RESOLVED to adopt model Publication Scheme issued by the Information
Commissioners Office with effect from 1st January 2009.
11/12/08
Extension to Village
Hall
At
this point in the meeting Cllr
Cllr
Barry Coward took the Chair.
The
Chairman briefed the meeting on the recent Bi Lateral meeting that took place on
Monday 8th December 2008. He highlighted that the meeting had agreed
all of the Heads of Terms including a framework for the Rent and Service Charge
clauses. The framework for the rent had been agreed, subject to ratification, as
follows:
1.
Peppercorn rent for
the first 5 years.
2.
Rent would then be
reviewed after five years and thereafter at a period of three years.
3.
Rent would be
determined as a small percentage of turnover on a scale that reflected the
growth of the business, but also recognised that no rent in addition to the
peppercorn would apply if turnover did not reach an agreed figure which
reflected financial viability.
4.
There was also a
capping such that the rent would never exceed an open market rent.
5.
The turnover in future
years would be linked to the RPI or equivalent index
The
Chairman advised that Little Milton Village Shop Ltd had since requested that
the turnover figures and percentages discussed at the Bilateral meeting be
reviewed again. The Council were supportive of this and wished to see the matter
concluded as soon as possible. Chairman had suggested that a further Bilateral
meeting take place as soon he was advised that the shop project were ready to
meet.
On
the matter of the service charge, it was finally decided that it would reflect a
40% recovery of actual expenditure on the car park after year five and it too
would be subject to review at the same time as the rent.
The
decision to give the IPS a 92 year lease had created the difficulty of
determining a rent and service charge clause that provided fairness to both
sides. The Council had agreed the principles but the detail had not yet been
finalised. The Council RESOLVED that
it agreed the structure of the service charge and rent but the details were to
be finalised with flexibility from the Council to ensure the success of the
project. The Council concluded that it had formally given a green light for the
project to proceed.
The
Chairman outlined the likely legal costs that the Council would incur and these
would include the costs of addressing the existing leases with the Village Hall
as well as the Orchard.
The
IPS asked if it could place contracts although the lease had not been signed.
The Council stated that it would require a legal contract, a signed lease,
before the IPS occupied the site as it would protect both parties.
12/12//08
Renewable Energy
Mr
13/12/08
Exchange of Information
14/12/08
Date of Next Meeting
The
Parish Council will meet at 7.30 p.m.
on Wednesday 14th January 2009 prior to
the Council meeting at 8.00 p.m. in The
Pine Lodge Little Milton unless
there is a need to convene any planning or other meetings. The earlier start is to receive the training for the Power of
Wellbeing.
The
meeting finished at 9.35 p.m.
Parish Forum
Mr
Signed
by
Chairman
Date