Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on Monday December 6th 2004 at 7.45pm at Amport School

1. Present
Mr I. Morrison, (Chairman), Lt Col Stephens, (Vice Chairman), Mrs Carolyn Mallam, Mrs Diana Preston, Mr Tim Southern, Mrs Sarah Hammer and Mr Maurice Hardy, Mr Ian Long and Mrs Suzanne Hoare (Clerk).
Mr Unwin, the acting village correspondent was present, 1 member of the public attended.
Apologies. Mr Neville Geake and Mr George Bacon

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
These were agreed and signed.

3. Matters Arising from the last meeting
Ian Morrison confirmed that he had received George Bacon’s resignation; all members had read the letter via e-mail. Ian Long stated that George Bacon was happy to still actively help manage the Green in the future. A letter thanking George for his time spent as a Parish Councillor will be sent. IM/Clerk
Ian Morrison felt he should contact Simon Dixon-Green, Tanya Garman and Ruth Hughes personally and inform them of the vacancy, notices should be displayed next week, advertising the vacancy.
The Bus Shelter at Fyfield Road – Hampshire Highways have suggested a meeting on site to discuss the problems of overcrowding at the shelter IM to attend. Numbers using the shelter need to be determined.
The Bus Shelter at Fox – An Engineer is to visit and assess the feasibility moving of the salt bin.
Lifeline – Information on this service has been passed to Carolyn Mallam by Ian Morrison.
Dog Fouling signs – these have been collected from TVBC and were passed to Maurice Hardy for use on popular footpaths.

The Green
Carolyn Mallam has agreed to take over monitoring the Green. The two main duties will be:

1. Controlling the Mowing Contract

2. Monitoring the safety checks on the Play area

A quote for mowing has been received from Mr Pasque and this information was passed onto Carolyn Mallam.

Village Design Statement
Charles Stephens stated that the VDS was re-drafted on the 24^th Nov to include all comments made so far. The next move will be to publicise the draft to invite more comment and be truly inclusive of the Parish. It was proposed to promote the draft in the following ways:

Footpaths
Maurice Hardy informed the meeting that HCC have performed essential maintenance on several footpaths in the Parish.
Unfortunately the third cut of Footpaths was not forthcoming in September, however Hampshire County Council have instead agreed to perform the first cut next year in April 2005. HCC have also agreed to commence the reinstatement of Footpath 26 at Cholderton. A letter to Peter Watson the Footpaths Officer at Winchester has confirmed these 2 matters.
Maurice Hardy felt that 2 contractors should be used next year on cutting the footpaths to assess the quality of work.
Footpath 23 is still not complete, the disputed path has not been fully determined and owners of land do not wish to accept responsibility for the path. HCC currently consider this too costly to pursue as the path is so little used.

4. Planning Applications

6. Finance
The following cheques were presented for signature, by Ian Morrison and Charles Stephens:

SA Hoare Dec salary                 £208.78
Mr Horne Bus shelter cleaning    £ 33.00
HCC Street Lighting                   £ 98.02

A full discussion then took place on the proposed budget for 2005/6.
Comments were made on several items, primarily the need for a contingency fund for unseen expenditure.
Stroud’s Field is likely to become an expense to the Parish Council in approx 3 years. A 5-year plan on costs is to be prepared CS
Diana Preston proposed accepting the budget and precept and Sarah Hammer seconded this.
A vote was taken and the Budget and precept charge were approved by 6 votes to 2.
The precept requested from TVBC will be £8,500.
The proposed budget is included in the minutes (appendix a)

7. AOB and Correspondence
Tim Southern informed the meeting of the crack at Waterloo Bridge and told the Parish Council that he was having a meeting with an Engineer from HCC the following morning at 11am.
Maurice Hardy asked if the mobile home at The White Horse had planning permission- This was noted.
Ian Long reported back on the Quality Council pamphlet and felt that benefits might include :

1. Increased civic pride

2. More accountability

3. Parish Council - seen to be taken more seriously

The Parish would need to have independently assessed expenses, open elections and 4 newsletters a year. The current Parish Council achieves most of the aims of a Quality Parish Council and the clerk would need to peruse a qualification requiring a further 40 hours of study and exams to achieve the status.
It was not felt necessary to follow up this initiative at present.
Sarah Hammer was concerned about the potholes in the road at Mullens Pond.
A letter has been received from Amport PCC thanking the Parish Council for the increased graveyard maintenance grant.
Amport and Monxton Village Hall - problems exist with a shortfall in income, and capital is to be used in the short term to support the village hall. Amport parishioners should be encouraged to use the Hall whenever possible.
HCC is promoting an e-mail route of distributing warning of doorstep crime in our area- clerk to sign up.
Richard Unwin asked if the pot holes in Wiremead lane could be improved, Ian Morrison and Tim Southern to discuss with the HCC Engineer tomorrow. Traffic in Wiremead lane to be a future Agenda item.

The meeting closed at 9.25pm.

Date of the next meeting….JANUARY 17TH – 7.45pm at Amport School.