Quarley Parish Council Minutes - March 2006

Minutes of the Quarley Parish Council Meeting held on Tuesday 21st March 2006 in the Quarley Village Hall at 7.30pm.

Welcome.
Cllr Mrs Ferguson welcomed everyone to the meeting.

Minutes of the Previous Meeting.
Cllr Mrs Ferguson signed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record.

Planning.

• 06/00853/LBWN and 06/00850/FULLN - Conversion of integral garage to provide utility room together with internal and external alterations - Long Mead House, Quarley.
  The Parish Council had NO OBJECTION to this Planning Application.
• 06/00666/FULLN - Extension to residential curtilage for provision of tennis court with 2.74 metre high tennis court fencing - Quarley Manor Farm, Quarley.
  The Parish Council had NO OBJECTION to this Planning Application.

Lains Shooting School.
Cllr Mr Venables spoke about the Lains Shooting School and made the following points :-

Lains Shooting School, owned and operated by Mr Howard Kirby, has been running in its present location and at about the current level of activity for some 8 to 10 years.

Mr Mason from Long Mead House, Quarley has asked Mr Kirby to reduce the amount of shooting taking place, on the grounds that noise is causing disturbance and because Mr Kirby’s planning approval allows a maximum of 50 days shooting each year.

Mr Kirby has stated that if he was constrained to operate the school for only 50 days a year the school would not be viable, would have to close and he would loose his livelihood.

It is clearly not for the Parish Council to intervene directly in a dispute between two people in the village. It is equally clear that Mr Kirby has been operating outside the planning consent for some years, which of course the parish Council could not condone.

Mr Kirby is in discussion with the Planning Authority with a view to obtaining permission to continue operating the shooting school as he has been doing for several years.

The School is actually in Amport Parish and any planning application will presumably go to them for comment. Amport parish Council have said that they would welcome a statement from Quarley Parish Council , because the effects of the Shooting School bear most strongly on residents of Quarley.

Mr Kirby has shown consideration for the Village residents by limiting shooting to between the hours of 10am and 4pm. Until the recent complaint there have been no complains from Village residents. A number of Village residents use the School.

Mr Kirby has been very supportive of the village - At Village Fetes he has run air rifle events and provided prizes at his own expense - At the 2005 Fete he provided a dog display at very short notice and no charge when another attraction was unable to participate - In 2005 he ran and funded a clay shoot at significant cost to him which raised nearly £2000 for the Parish Church - Lains Shooting School provides sponsorship for a local disabled child (George Glover) to enable him to shoot.

The Shooting School employs some 6 staff in addition to Mr Kirby himself. This existence of the School is clearly in line with Government policy to support rural businesses as expressed in DEFRA’s RURAL STRATEGY 2004 and Policy Planning Statement 7 : Sustainable Development in Rural Communities (2004). Both of these lay out guidance supportive of the establishment and maintenance of rural amenity facilities and small businesses .

All these positive contributions to the Village and the Local Community will end if Mr Kirby has to close the Shooting School.

Cllr Mr Venables stated that whilst the Shooting School does cause some noise he believes that its continued existence and thus operation at its recent level is, on balance, very clearly in the interests of the village and the majority of its residents.

Cllr Mr Venables proposed that the Parish Council should adopt statement in support of Mr Kirby’s continued operation of his business and pass this statement to both Amport Parish Council and Test Valley Planning Department. The Parish Councillors agreed in principle to adopt a statement of support.

Cllr Mrs Ferguson invited comments from the Members of the Public.

Mr Mason from Long Mead House, stated that Mr Kirby has blatantly ignored every planning condition relating to the operation of the Lains Shooting School and gave examples of 6 conditions that have not been adhered to, irrespective of the length of time this has been going on, the law has been broken. Mr Mason felt that the Parish Council as guardians of the Countryside have a duty to up hold the law and felt it that it would be irresponsible for them to ignore the facts in this case and support Mr Kirby in maintaining the current level of activity at the Shooting School. Mr Mason hoped that the Parish Council would look afresh at any future Planning Applications for the Shooting School.

There were several statements of support for the Shooting School made from the public.

Mr Kirby confirmed that since 1989 the Shooting School has been open 6 days a week. Mr Kirby stated that he has not yet applied for Retrospective Planning Permission.

A noise report from the Environment Department has been carried out, this highlighted several recommendations to reduce noise impact and will be sent to the Test Valley Planning Department.

Cllr Mrs Tubbs was unable to attend the meeting but had sent a letter of support for the continuation of the present level of activity at the Shooting School.

Mr Mason suggested that the Parish Council should not support any planning application that Mr Kirby made carte blanche, but should properly consider the details of any such application in the light of its terms. Cllr Mr Venables agreed that it would be prudent for any statement from the Parish Council supporting the Shooting School be subject to a detailed consideration of any application for the site. The Parish Council agreed.

Councillors Reports.
CLLR MRS G TUBBS - Is still looking into the Duck Street history. Residents of Etwall have asked if the pavements could be repaired and the Etwall Sign needs replacing.

It has been suggested that the give way white lines are repainted by the bus shelter as traffic is not stopping, making traffic from Grateley direction having to brake hard on occasions.

Cllr Mrs Tubbs also suggested that signs for traffic to slow down are placed at either end of the village. The Clerk was asked to look into these matters.

CLLR MRS J FERGUSON - Reported that Test Valley Borough Council are aware of the state of the fencing from the Southern Water station to Park lane, this will be repaired or replaced when funds are available.

CLLR MR W MARSHALL - Reported that he has received a complaint about horses using the village green. Cllr Mrs L Hill stated that this is an established route for horse users, the Parish Council had no objections and felt that the village green was there for everyone to use.

St Michael's Church, Quarley
Mrs Kit Hum gave a report on the running costs of St Michael’s Church - Report attached to these minutes.

Village Hall
Mrs Ronwen Walker spoke on behalf of the Village Hall Trustees and gave a report on the state of the Village Hall. The new kitchen is up and running. The cost of hiring the village hall is £7 an hour with an additional £2 an hour for the use of the kitchen. Quotes to replace the floor and for new chairs are in the region of £7000. Grants are available on the condition that the Parish Council put in 12% of the cost.

Cllr Mrs Ferguson thanked the Village Hall Trustees for all the hard work they do especially Mr Stuart Cross.

Village Survey
Mr T Ferguson gave a presentation on the recent Village Survey. Copies of the results were handed out and will be placed on the Village Notice Board and the Village Web Site. A copy will be attached to the master copy of these minutes.

Cllr Mrs Ferguson thanked Mr Ferguson for his presentation. The way forward was discussed, it was suggested that each group look at the responses relevant to their organisation and that the Parish Council co-ordinates the feedback and reports back to the village at the September meeting.

Cheques issued at the March Meeting

Close of the Meeting.
Cllr Mrs Ferguson thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

Date of the Next Meeting
20^th June 2006 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm.