Minutes of the Buxted Annual Assembly held at Buxted School on Tuesday 6th May 2014 at 7.30pm.
1. Present: Cllrs Blandford (Chairman), Warner, Rose, Treacher, Hall, Harding, McQuarrie, Marlowe, Sheard, Skinner, Wealden DC Cllr K Ogden, parish clerks Beccy Macklen and Claudine Feltham and approximately 50 members of the public.
2. Apologies for absence: Received from Cllrs Dopson, Marlowe, WDC Councillor Buck, ESCC Councillor Galley and also Mr & Mrs Banks and Mr Tricker.
3. Minutes of the Annual Assembly held on 8th May 2013: Having been available for inspection on the parish council’s web site for the last 12 months, these were approved.
4. Buxted Pavilion Management Committee Trustees: Four trustees had to be appointed and on the proposal of Cllr Rose, seconded by Cllr Hall, the following were duly elected – Dave Butcher, Karl Harrison, Erick Reily and Jane Brooker.
5. Presentations: The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. She explained how the evening would unfold and thanked all for attending. There would be an opportunity to ask questions at the end and finally everyone was invited to stay once the formal proceedings were concluded for refreshments.
Buxted School Children - Aspirations for enhanced pay facilities at the Ionides Trust site. Unfortunately the school was not represented at the meeting.
Brendan Clegg – 40mph zone in Herons Ghyll:
For eight years Mr Clegg and his colleagues have spear headed a campaign to reduce the speed limit at Herons Ghyll.
Mr Clegg introduced his colleague and chairman of the 40mph at Herons Ghyll campaign, Christina Wilson and advised that if any members of the audience are considering starting a road safety campaign he would be happy to talk to them and give the benefit of his knowledge.
Mr Clegg explained that after serious accident 20 months ago at which a young man was knocked off his motorbike by a van (fortunately surviving) it was decided to begin the campaign. This also followed 11 previous fatalities. At the same time the Government was reviewing how speed limits should be set, especially in rural communities as part of the Localism Agenda which aims to put powers back into the hands of the local communities
The first step was to collect key facts and statistics for the previous 10 years and to identify other communities that had already set a precedent of 40mph zones. Secondly, being mindful of the new government policy, the group set out to secure the overwhelming support of the community via a hand delivered petition to all households and looking for support from local clubs, societies, organisations, schools and churches. The next aim was to secure the support of the elected representatives from parish councils to district and county councillors and ultimately Charles Hendry MP. Stage four was to have an informal meeting with the Police and ESCC Highways at which it soon became clear that there as a major disconnection between government and local policy. However, the campaign persevered and presented a petition and supporting report to the ESCC Select Committee which added that aside from the human misery a fatality causes, it also costs £1.7 million for each fatality and £190,000 for a serious injury.
The perseverance paid off and finally the 40mph zone has been agreed in principle but the design details have not yet been agreed. However, the group will continue with the campaign now the principle has been set.
The Clegg closed his presentation by advising that all material is available to view and he would be pleased to answer any questions.
Caroline Mac – Wealden Citizens Advice Bureau:
Advised that Wealden CAB have offices in Crowborough, Hailsham and Uckfield who’s 120 volunteer staff and a handful of paid officers served 4500 clients last year gaining £2.1 million of financial outcome for their clients. In Wealden the most popular topics of assistance were Welfare benefits (38%), debt problems taking 25% and housing and relationship problems 5% each of workload.
Wealden CAB was lucky enough to secure a lottery grant to provide new services and to work with other advice providers which will be directed towards training, open longer than 18 hours per week, improved answering system and provide specialist advice services.
It is perceived that Wealden is an affluent area, however there are real pockets of need of various types. This is why donations from ESCC, WDC and parishes are so important to the service as they provide the source funding for premises, administration etc that grants usually do not cover as they are more for specific projects.
Wealden CAB is also always looking to recruit more volunteers, but understands that this is a big commitment as each volunteer has to give at least 1 whole day per week and it takes 18 months to 2 years to fully train to ensure sufficient advice can be given.
The Hailsham Bureau has recently recruited a debt and housing specialist and a solicitor who can give advice on any subject together with a form filling volunteer. Also ‘Home Start’ advice and ‘Age UK’ work out of the Crowborough bureau weekly.
All CAB’s are all local individual charities responsible for raising their own funds. It has a publicly available website called “http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/.
Chairman – Parish Council Update
The Chairman looked back at old issues from the minutes of previous parish councils back to the War and compared what were the main topics of discussion back then and how they are not so far removed from the problems we face today. Looking back, it would seem that train times and unwanted animals at the allotments were the issue of the day, however it may not be quite so easy to influence trains times as it was back in 1940!.
Back to 2013/14 the allotments have caused some problems with trees being the victim of the winter wet weather and high winds. We managed to lose four or five poplars which managed to also fell two fences and a telephone line. Tree surveys resulted in some being felled immediately with the rest scheduled to be removed in the early Autumn.
Reference was also made to the ongoing issue with the state of the roads and how they would originally have been created during the war and thus we have now inherited a huge problem.
On the positive side, the Chestnut planted at Pound Green in memory of our previous Councillor and Chairman James Chalmers is thriving.
Furthermore new green cabinets are springing up all over the place being installed by BT Openreach which will provide new superfast broadband to the area.
The Parish Council is also undertaking a refurbishment and replacement (where needed) of all fingerposts in the parish as they are considered an important part of our country landscape and heritage. If we don’t look after them we will lose them.
New for the parish council are three councillors – Jon Milner, Fiona McQuarrie and Morna Cox and a new clerk, Claudine Feltham who replaces Malcolm Wilson who left the parish council in November 2013. The clerks have re-started the monthly surgery in the Reading Room and do a round up in parish magazines, and the website is regularly updated.
New Village Hall – The Chairman updated that the parish council has submitted a new planning application to WDC, and it is currently out for consultation. We may well have objections and there is a long consultation period before we may or may not get planning permission. Some plans were shown of the hall and all in attendance were encouraged to visit George Claydon of the Buxted Community Hall Trust who could answer any more questions and show all plans and a model of the site. It is hoped that together, with the Ionides Trust we can do a lot for the centre of Buxted.
Finally, The Chairman wished to thank Councillor Michelle Warner who has now moved out of the area and therefore has resigned after 7 years on the parish council. She has worked tirelessly on our behalf as Vice Chairman and Chairman of the Finance Committee and will be very much missed.
6. Public questions:
Andrew Harvey – Buxted Players – requested if there are any plans to make improvements to the Reading Room, especially the mens toilets. The Chairman advised that cosmetic improvements have recently been made to the toilets including new flooring and the parish council will have a look at what further improvements can be made to the mens toilets. However, no large projects would be undertaken until the outcome of the planning application for the new hall is known.
A resident asked if there was a timescale for the new hall and how it will be financed. The Chairman advised that a certain amount has been set aside by the Parish Council, but the project will require a huge amount of fund raising by the community. The Parish Council resolved to take the project to planning permission stage, but following this, it would be passed to the Buxted Community Hall Trust to take it forward.
With no further questions the Chairman closed the meeting at 8.28pm and invited in all attendance to peruse the represented clubs, societies and associations in attendance and enjoy some refreshments.