Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on Monday 19^th October 2009 at 7.45 pm at Amport School

1. Present
Mr Ian Morrison (Chairman), Lt Col Charles Stephens (Vice Chairman), Mrs Tanya Garman, Mr Bill Gore, Mrs Sarah Hammer, Mrs Diana Preston, Mr Ashley Smith and Mrs Suzanne Hoare (Clerk)
Apologies Mrs Jean Arnell, Mr Nicholas Hoare, Mr Ian Long and Mr Tim Southern TVBC Councillor
Pat West HCC Councillor plus 2 members of the public were present.

2. Minutes of the Previous Meetings.
The minutes from the September meeting were approved and signed having been proposed by Sarah Hammer and seconded by Diana Preston.

3. Matters Arising from the last meeting and Declarations of Interest
No declarations of interest were declared and there were no matters arising from the last meeting which will not be discussed tonight.

Ian Morrison introduced Graham Smith and thanked him for attending tonight’s meeting.
The need for a change was explained: the Planning Inspectorate have the power to make TVBC change their policy for development within villages. The aim is to allow more houses within the existing boundaries of the village to add vigour to such villages.
This would be a Test Valley Borough wide policy but at present there is no intention to seek any more houses within rural villages.
Graham Smith outlined the options open to the Parish Council -

1. Leave unchanged the existing 2002 local plan ( adopted after review in 2006)
2. Produce ‘village envelopes’
   1. A loose envelope around the settlements within the village which would reply on written policies to determine the housing allowed within. i.e. is it within the conservation area, is it a specific open space within the village, does it fall within the parameters set out in the village statement?
   2. Tightly drawn village envelopes with less areas considered for extra housing but still governed by the planning rules as listed in above.

It was stated as important that the policy must be consistent; if gardens are included they must be included in all parts of the village. Paddock areas and open plots only indicated in some parts of the village would not be seen as suitable policy as this could favour some land owners. This would lead to appeals.
It was recognised that ‘a one size fits all’ policy would be difficult to achieve and that views of individual Parishes would not be upheld, the final policy being decided by Borough Councillors.
Questions were then taken by Graham Smith -
Charles Stephens- Is this policy change designed to invigorate villages?
Yes – doing nothing is not an option open to TVBC. TVBC would welcome comments from the Parish Councils by the end of 2009.
Bill Gore – The brown line would seem a very similar policy to the tight envelope?
Graham Smith agreed that a tight envelope in Amport would not produce much additional housing. Areas such as the Green and opposite the Amport Inn would not be deemed suitable for development.
Sarah Hammer – what would happen to the individual comments from Parish Councils?
Test Valley would publish all the comments from the chosen villages and this would lead to 2 sets of consultations culminating in the policy being considered by the Secretary of State to determine if it was fit for purpose. Developers in certain areas would be able to appeal if they felt the policy was divisive and against their interests.
Ashley Smith –What percentage of Parish Councils have opted for ‘do nothing’?
Graham Smith stated that no data was currently available as few councils had yet responded. The final policy will be determined by TVBC, it may be the choice of your Parish Council or totally the opposite. TVBC will not notify individuals within the villages of change, this will only be done though local media.
Ian Morrison sought to clarify if Parish Councils need to seek the opinions of villagers.
Graham Smith stated that there was no mandate to do this, some villages had but others had not.
Diana Preston - No questions
Tanya Garman – Would the policy change attract small industries to the village?
Graham Smith felt that only existing redundant building would be considered and reminded councillors that Affordable Housing was a separate issue, where once a need for houses was established land outside the village boundary could be used for development.
This concluded the discussion on the Core Strategy and Graham Smith was thanked once again by Ian Morrison for attending tonight’s meeting.

Pat West the HCC Councillor present asked Graham Smith if he could give the meeting the benefit of his experience on 106 agreements before he left.
Graham Smith outlined the history and intentions of 106 agreements and when asked for specific comment on whether money would be available to enhance the Fen, reminded councillors that such money was not designed for maintenance. He felt money should be available if designated by TVBC for ‘Parkland’ and the proposal was designed for capital improvement, enhancement and for the provision additional benefits.
He commented that he would speak to Mark Goodman at TVBC and help further if needed.

5. Reports

The Green and Amport Fen
It was decided to again contact the pest control man to eradicate the moles on the Green, this is necessary for the grass cutting. Clerk

Footpaths and Highways
The only footpath requiring additional cutting is the Green end of the watercress beds path, Bill Gore will cut this himself as it is only a short section. BG
HCC have included the proposed footway along the Monxton Rd from Sarson Lane to Wiremead lane in their forthcoming budget. It is hoped that this footway will be constructed as it would be used by parents walking their children to and from school.
A letter will be written to Dr Hole asking him to cut back his hedge along the Monxton rd as the 30mph sign has been obscured by foliage. IM
Jean Arnell via e-mail asked if there was any progress on the use of SID signs to control speeding in east Cholderton IM to follow up with Ray Alborough at TVBC

Lighting
The 25year PFI legal agreement was put forward for signature at the meeting. A vote was taken and approval to sign the document was unanimous. The costs are likely to increase slightly, however the alternative, the Parish maintaining and replacing the 3 lights ourselves was not considered viable.

Mr Garman had attended the meeting held at the Guildhall on the 13October, this was designed to update Parish Councils and concerned parties on the future of the warehousing at Andover Airfield. Parish Councillors will have seen Mr Garman`s full report on this meeting.
The Co-op have signed a 20year lease for the site with Goodman and are expected to create 960 new jobs at the site. The warehouse will now contain a refrigerated unit but will only be 60% of the size of the previous proposal. Overall this was considered a much better prospect for the site which will now include more smaller units and office space.
Ian Morrison thanked Mr Garman for reporting on the meeting.

8. Finance

The following cheques were presented at tonight’s meeting

The cheques were signed by Ian Morrison and Charles Stephens. These were approved by those councillors present.
Councillors were reminded that at the November meeting projects/ items to be included in the financial year 2010/11 need to be submitted to allow approval of the budget at the December Meeting.

9. AOB and Correspondence

Sarah Hammer asked if any information was available on the completion of road repairs at the end of Fyfield Rd IM/Clerk follow up
Diana Preston stated that the drainage problem under the A303 at Quarley had been dealt with and it was a great improvement.
Mr Patrick Langdown has written to the Chairman asking for a meeting to discuss development on land be owns. The Council decided that he should be invited to attend a future Parish Council Meeting to discuss his proposals. IM to reply as such

The Meeting closed at 9.35 pm.
The date of the next meeting is Wednesday 11^th November – 7.45pm at Amport School.