Quarley Parish Council Minutes - July 2008

Minutes of the Quarley Parish Council Meeting held on Tuesday 8^th July 2008 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm.

WELCOME. Cllr Mrs Ferguson had laryngitis and could not speak so handed over to Cllr Mr Marshall the Vice Chairman to chair the meeting. Cllr Mr Marshall welcomed everyone to the meeting.

DECLARATION OF INTEREST.
Cllr Mrs Ferguson declared an interest in the Quarley Church.

FLOODING UNDER THE A303 BRIDGE - CLLR MR P LASHBROOK.
Cllr Mr Lashbrook reported that in early 2007 a site meeting took place to discuss the problem of flooding under this bridge. The Highways Agency, Mott Mc Donald, Thruxton Parish Council and Cllr Mr Lashbrook were present.

The surface water under the bridge drains into a sump which in turn drains into a soak away. The problem is that the sump gets full of silt from water running down and eroding the banks of the A303. The water drains away slowly over a period of time and not as it was designed to do, it has been suggested that the drains are linked into the Hampshire County Council main drains which run along the old A303 (Amesbury Road). To date no action has been taken and there is nothing planned.

Cllr Mr Lashbrook reported that he has now been promised that the Highways Agency will now look into the problem. Cllr Mr Lashbrook suggested that Quarley and Thruxton Parish Councils get together and write to the Highways Agency. Cllr Mr Lashbrook stated that he will pursue this matter to its conclusion and will keep the Parish Council up-dated on any progress. In the Mean time Cllr Mr Lashbrook will continue to put out the flood signs.

Cllr Mr Marshall thanked Cllr Mr Lashbrook for coming and reporting on the flooding problem.

Cllr Mr T Southern suggested that the Parish Council and residents of Quarley write to Sir George Young asking him to look into this matter, copying the letter to the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency.

P.C.C. CHURCH TOWER
Cllr Mr Marshall introduced Mr K Hum from the Quarley P.C.C.

Mr Hum spoke about the Quarley Bells and the P.C.C. proposals for a new tower to house the new bells and raised the following points :-

1. It has been two years since the bells were stolen from Quarley Church.
2. The Insurance paid out for new bells to be cast and these are still at the foundry for the time being.
3. Something has to be done to make sure the one existing bell and the new bells are secure for the future.
4. Searching through the archives it has been established that the church originally had a Tower, this was taken down as the walls were not strong enough to hold the bells. After looking at and discussing various options to make the bells secure the P.C.C. agreed to pursue the idea of a free standing tower.
5. It is proposed to open up the north door for access and to provide space for a toilet, Flower arranging area and a small kitchen.
6. After several attempts at designing a tower, it has been agreed that a modern take on a Saxon round tower may be best suited to the site. The Tower will have glass panels so that the bells can be seen from ground level. Drawings of the tower were shown to the Meeting.
7. Financing the project will of course be a major issue and fund raising will play a major part.8. Planning Permission will need to be obtained, advice has been taken from various bodies on how to present this and why the design has been chosen.

Cllr Mr T Southern advised the P.C.C. to speak to the Planners about this scheme and stated that he was happy to help with any problems that may arise.

Cllr Mr Marshall asked the Members of the Public if they had any questions or comments they wished to ask Mr Hum :-

1. Concerns were raised about the amount of money that will have to be raised. Fundraising has always been undertaken to help the church, but there is only so much a small village like Quarley can give. The whole community will need to be behind this project for it to succeed. This was noted.
2. It was suggested that before this project is undertaken ways of making the bells secure on the ground should be thoroughly explored. Mr Hum stated that this would be the most cost effective solution but making the bells secure on the ground just seems impossible.
3. It was felt that this is an existing project for the village and that everyone has their opinion on the building of a tower, however it is a wonderful opportunity to design and build a tower that will be an asset for the village.
4. Mr Hum was asked about the security of the remaining bell. Mr Hum reported that it is to be removed to a secure location.

Cllr Mr Marshall read out the following comment from Cllr Mr Venables on this issue.

On the PCC presentation on the Church Tower I have three points:

1. Several villagers (indeed everyone not on the PCC to whom I have spoken) has said that they are against the construction of a Bell Tower, both for reasons of the expense and because they do not wish to have one in the village.
2. I am personally against the construction of a tower because:
   1. I consider it inappropriate for the village given our history of not having a bell tower.
   2. I do not believe the expense can be justified because it would be cheaper not to insure the bells and to take the risk of having to pay for future replacements having made some less dramatic security improvements (eg earthworks).
   3. There are better things on which to spend such a large sum if it were available.
3. When the tower comes up for planning approval I shall vote that the PC should object to the planning application

Mr Hum stated that fundraising would only be for the tower, if there was no funding available then Plan B is to make the bells as secure as possible in there present position.

Cllr Mr Southern felt that Cllr Mr Venables comments were very negative, this is a wonderful opportunity for the village and one that should be embraced by the community.

Cllr Mr Marshall thanked Mr Hum giving his presentation and looked forward to hearing the next progress report.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING - Cllr Mr Marshall signed the minutes of the previous meeting as a true record. Matters arising from those minutes :-

ROAD MATTERS - Cllr Mrs P West has informed the Parish Councils that Hampshire Council have made a saving of one million pounds on their highways maintenance and have vowed to plough it back into repairs concentrating on the rural areas. Cllr Mrs West has asked for Parish Councils to forward a list of repairs needed in their parishes so she can forward this on to Highways. This has been done.

Cllr Mr Marshall reported that he has spoken to Cllr Mr Lashbrook prior to the meeting and had mentioned the problem corner on the way to Grateley. Cllr Mr Lashbrook has said he will get this sorted out.

PAVEMENTS IN ETWALL - Cllr Mrs Tubbs reported that the pavements have still not been repaired in Etwall. The Clerk was asked to report this again to Test Way Housing.

POLICE MATTERS - Cllr Mr Marshall read out a report from Cllr Mr Venables.

Mrs Venables in her role as a Member of the Hampshire Police Authority, has made enquiries about having the Mobile Police Unit coming to Quarley. She met with the PC who does this (PC John Viney) and has arranged that the Mobile Police Unit will visit Quarley on the 2^nd Wednesday of each month from 1100 to 1230hours. The obvious place for it to park is in the Village Hall car park. The first visit will be on 13^th August and PC Viney will deliver a couple of small laminated posters to Judy that can be put up on the village notice board and in the bus stop. PC Viney will also make contact with the Editor of the Parish News to make sure that Quarley is added to the list on the front page. I gather that PC Viney will park up and open up. If after about 15-20 minutes there have been no visitors he will put up a sign to say that he is on foot patrol in the village and that if anyone wants him to return to the van they should ring the 0845 number – the call centre then contact him and he will return to the van.

I think that we should support this – even though we are a low crime area, having a police presence on a periodic basis can only be “a good thing”.

The Parish Council agreed that having the Mobile Police Station visit the village was an excellent idea. Cllr Mr Marshall will thank Mrs Venables on behalf of the Parish Council for organising the Mobile Police Station.

PLANNING.

TVN.08/01412/LBWN - Replace existing tiled roof on extension with thatch. Provision of first Floor window on east elevation - Thatchways, Park Lane, Quarley.
Cllr Mrs Ferguson declared an interest in this Planning Application.
The Parish Council had NO OBJECTION to this Planning Application.

The Clerk reported that the Planning Appeal for the entrance gates at Mead House has been approved by the Planning Inspector.

BOUNDARY CHANGES.

The issue of properties in Quarley that are in the Parish of Amport was briefly discussed and the possibility of bringing them into the Quarley Parish if the Parish boundaries were to change. Cllr Mr Southern suggested that Parish Council discuss this with Amport Parish Council. The Parish Council thought this a good advice.

COUNCILLOR MR T SOUTHERN’S REPORT.

Cllr Mr Southern reported that the Planning Application for the Tesco Distribution Centre on the Andover Air Field will be herd at the Lights on the 1^st September 2008. There will be room for members of the Public and it is hoped that it will be reported on the Local Radio Station and be available on Web Cast.

Quarley Parish Council have written to the Planning department stating their concerns and registering their objection to this planning Application.

Cllr Mr Southern spoke about the problems East Cholderton have had with the Sewage Pumping Station, the Planning Application for the Showman’s Site at Thruxton and the new Car Park at Grateley Station that should be open in September.

COUNCILLORS REPORTS.

CLLR MR M VENABLES - Reported that he has been asked if the Parish Council Minutes could be posted on the Notice Board more quickly.

The Clerk noted this and also suggested that he could email the minutes to anyone who would like a copy. A notice will be put on the Notice Board.

Cllr Mr Venables has been asked if the Parish Council have consider installing a set of glass re-cycling bins at the Village Hall. Some of the more elderly village residents do not have transport to enable them to take glass for re-cycling to either Grateley or into Andover. There is a new style of smaller quieter bins (a set of which is now at Grateley) and they are significantly less intrusive.

Alternatively TVBC are able to collect a limited amount of mixed glass – which would require only one bin which would be even less obvious. TVBC would be prepared to consider providing a mixed glass bin and since we are such a small village we could well have a good case. The obvious site is the Village Hall car park - we would clearly have to get agreement from the Village Hall Trustees and some who live near the car park would have reasonable grounds for objection. But subject to the Trustees agreement that I am in favour of asking TVBC to provide a mixed glass bin for the village.

The Parish Council discussed this and were not in favour of installing glass re-cycling bins. It was felt that many of the other villages that have the re-cycling centres have a problem with Fly Tipping and bottles being left everywhere if the bottle bank is full.

CLOSE OF THE MEETING
Cllr Mr Marshall thanked everyone for coming and closed the meeting.

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
23rd September 2008 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm

IF YOU WOULD LIKE A COPY OF THE MINUTES SENT TO YOU BY EMAIL AFTER EACH PARISH COUNCIL MEETING PLEASE EMAIL THE CLERK ON :- Hoggwaterman@aol.com