MINUTES OF THE BISLEY-WITH-LYPIATT PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD at

7.30 p.m. on WEDNESDAY, 7^th MARCH 2001 at

BISLEY WOMEN’S INSTUTE HALL

Mrs P Carrick		Chairman
Mr M G Flint	}
Mrs J M Martin	}	Bisley Ward
Mr J P L Perkins	}
Mr N S Rogers	}
Mr T G Carter	}
Mr R K Brooks	}	Eastcombe Ward
Mrs J W Russell	}
Mrs O M Turner	}
Mr R N Budgeon	}	Oakridge Ward
Mr R S Bryant	}
Mrs E F Jordan		Clerk

In attendance: District Cllr L C Greene

No members of the public were present

1.	Apologies for Absence
	Mr A C Newman – Holiday, County Cllr C Fellows – Previous appointment.
2.	Public Participation
	Nothing was raised under this heading
3.	Minutes of Previous Meeting
	The minutes of the meeting held on 15^th February having been circulated to all members were approved and the Chairman signed the Minute Book.
4.	Matters Arising
	a)	Road Repairs for Parish
		Requests have now been received from the Wards and the Clerk was asked to forward this to the Highways Authority.
	b)	Rural Access Study
		The Chairman had received a Synopsis of Tenders from Stroud District Council’s Special Projects Officer and requested that a copy of this be circulated with these minutes.

	c)	Stancombe Village Signs
		A satisfactory site meeting took place with the County Council Highways Authority and it is anticipated that the signs will be in place shortly.
5.	District Council Matters
	District Councillor Greene told the meeting of the change in administration of the District Council. Although there will be changes in funding in some areas. The Rural Grants will remain the same. The changes could have an impact on the Garden Assistance Scheme. She offered to supply details to the Clerk to be circulated to members.
6.	County Council Matters
	As County Councillor Fellows was unable to be present nothing was raised under this heading..
7.	Finance
	Receipts:
	Lloyds Bank Interest				6.70
	Hire of Bisley Pavilion				10.00
	Oakridge Ward Allotment Rents				79.00
					£95.70
	Cash Balances as at 28^th February 2001				£4,895.87
	Payments:		Service	VAT	Total
	District Auditor – 99/00 Audit		206.40	36.12	242.52
	JNC (Fire Protection) – Bisley Pavilion		19.95	3.49	23.44
	T Butt & Son (Stonecote Ridge Notice Board)		1.22	.21	1.43
	British Telecom (Parish Telephone)		64.58	11.30	75.88
	Bisley Women’s Institute (Hire of Hall to year ended 31.3.01)		61.00		61.00
	The Consortium (Stationery)		20.95	3.67	24.62
	E F Jordan (Petty Cash)		50.00		50.00
	Clerk’s Salary Cheque (February)		405.85		405.85
	Inland Revenue/NI		21.53		21.53
			851.48	54.79	£906.27

Anticipated payments April:

Cornhill Insurance £595.65

Severn Trent £53.18

Anticipated receipts:

VAT refund £1,486.10

The Lock Up account balance has now been transferred to an account attracting a better rate of interest.

8.	Matters for Discussion
	a)	Oakridge Society’s Letter
		The Society does not believe that the War Memorial is a listed building nor do the Parish Council records show it to be. The Clerk was asked to write to the Stroud District Council for confirmation that this is the case before any work is carried out by the Oakridge Society. If it is not listed, members were asked to consider whether they wished it to be so. The Parish Council expressed its willingness to have its photograph taken as requested in the letter but felt unable to make a financial contribution. It was agreed that the Society could use the Parish Website in order to improve its Museum. The Clerk was requested to reply to the letter.
	b)	Proposed Changes to Bus Service
		There were no comments on the proposed new timetables sent by the County Council other than during the school run it was difficult for buses to pass on the narrow roads.
	c)	A strategy for the identification of contaminated land
		The Clerk was asked to e-mail the Environmental Health Technician to ascertain exactly what ‘contaminated land’ was.
	d)	Grass Cutting
		The clerk was asked to contact Wiltshire Direct again to try and get a better price for the grass cutting in Oakridge and Bisley. For various reasons, it has not been possible to arrange for grass cutting of verges to be done locally and it was therefore agreed that the County Council be responsible for this again this year. A request was made again for a definitive map of exactly which verges were to be cut. The Chairman and Clerk will once again try and get a more detailed map and how many times cutting will take place.
	e)	Public Footpath – MBL 14/16
		A letter from the County Council had been circulated to members indicating that the gate obstructing this footpath was illegal and therefore the Council had taken statutory enforcement action to remove obstructions from footpath number MBL16. It was accepted that it would be difficult to take any action in the present circumstances due to the Foot and Mouth outbreak
	f)	Possible change in format of Planning Reporting
		Mr Brooks’ paper regarding this was discussed at great length but due to the complexities it was decided that a meeting of the Chairmen of the Planning Sub-committees meet to agree the details. It was agreed that a notice should be put in the three village magazines by the Ward Chairmen informing parishioners that all planning applications are in the Stroud News & Journal weekly and if they require further details, to contact the Chairman of the Planning Sub-committee for their ward.
	g)	Possible changes in Format of Parish Council Meetings
		It was agreed to adopt Mr Brooks’ paper regarding the change in Standing Orders with Mr Flint’s additional wording that in order to reduce the time often spent in discussion, each item on the agenda should have a time limit, the authority of the Chair is paramount, only one person should speak at a time and no person should speak more than twice on each item unless asked to do so by the Chairman. Mr Flint was asked to draft new Standing Orders for approval to be circulated before the next meeting.
	h)	DETR – Local Power for Country Towns and Villages
		The Chairman stated that this initiative had already been launched. She felt that it was very important for all members to understand the implications and what it means to a Council the size of Bisley-with-Lypiatt and therefore it was agreed that Mr Nick Holliday of the Countryside Agency be asked to attend a special meeting to go through Section 12 with the members. The Clerk is to make enquiries to find a mutually suitable date. It was also agreed that it would be beneficial for some Parish Councillors to go on specific training courses. Stephen Wright, Director of Gloucestershire Rural Community Council will be contacted to ask is he is willing to talk to the Council.
	i)	Parish Councils’ Way forward
		This will be considered at a later meeting.
	j)	The Countryside Agency Strategy
		This will be considered at a later meeting.
9.	Planning
	a)	Bisley
		q Overcourt, Erection of summer house and demolition of existing. q Lower Packmans Way, Nashend, Erection of 2 storey extension and garden room. q Hayhedge Lane, Display of freestanding post-mounted sign
	b)	Eastcombe
		q The Rest, Bisley Road, Erection of single storey extensions and conservatory – no observations. q Erection of conservatory q Whitegates, The Ridge, Erection of extensions and loft conversion
	c)	Oakridge
		q Bywell Cottage, Tunley – Construction of tennis court – Comments: Finish should be darker, surface water should be dealt with by soakaway or other type of means. q Land at Avenis Farm, Bournes Green – Retrospective application to upgrade and extend existing track to facilitate woodland management and repair boundary wall – Support q Woodlands, Waterlane, Erection of glazed kitchen extension, demolition of shed and installation of window – Support q Rookwoods, Waterlane – Replacement of outbuildings – no objection q Frith Wood, Far Oakridge, Revision to existing permission – no objections.
10.	Correspondence
	The following correspondence was received during February and was on the table to read.
	CPRE		March Newsletter/Diary of Events for 2001/Voice
	SDC		Matching Funding for Play Area Improvements 2001/02 Crime & Disorder leaflets
	National Monuments Record		Invitation to Research Projects Workshop – 30.3.01
	Care & Repair (Stroud)		Gardening Assistance Scheme
	Community Health Council		Speaking for Patients
	Gloucestershire Education Council		Organisation Plan 2000 - 2005
11.	Ward Matters
	a)	Bisley
		Foot and Mouth notices were in place. More were requested.

	b)	Eastcombe
		Foot and Mouth notices were in place and again, more were requested. The Ward Chairman said that since the outbreak and footpaths have been closed, more people were exercising their dogs on the Recreation Ground. It would appear that dog owners are ignoring the signs telling them to clean up after their dogs and the Clerk was asked to contact the dog warden to see if anything can be done. The Ward Chairman will put a notice in the village newsletter.
	c)	Oakridge
		The Headwell – a plan/drawing is urgently needed for exhibition purposes – Mr Newman to be consulted or other sought. The roads have been in a dangerous condition during the icy conditions as no pre-salting had been done. A request has been made by Mr Bryant for an out of hours number. Despite previous requests to the Highways Authority, there is still a very large pothole on the edge of the road coming out of Eastcombe towards Bisley where the road curves on the left hand side. The Clerk will report this.
12.	Date and Place of Next Meeting & Parish Meeting
	The Parish Meeting is to be held at Thomas Keble School at 7.30 on Wednesday, 4^th April followed by the Council Meeting.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 9.35 p.m.