← Parish Meeting

Parish Meeting Minutes - 20 Apr 1993

Minutes of the Longwick-cum-Ilmer Parish Meeting on 20th Apr 1993.

LONGWICK-CUM-ILMER - ANNUAL PARISH MEETING - 20 Apr 93

ATTENDEES :-

MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL MEETING OF LONGWICK-CUM-ILMER PARISH HELD AT LONGWICK VILLAGE HALL ON TUESDAY, 20th APRIL 1993 AT 8.00PM.

Present: Mrs S J Rogers (Chairman) Mr J V Maude (Secretary) Cllrs Mrs Brock, Mr Butler, Mr Harper, Ms Robb and Mr Walker. Also present were 5 electors of the Parish. An apology was received from Cllr Mrs Priestley.

1. MINUTES. The Minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 14th April 1992 were read, confirmed and signed.

2. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT. The Chairman introduced the Councillors and Clerk, and outlined each Councillor's other parish responsibilities. She also explained the reason for the Meeting, and how it differed from a normal Parish Council Meeting. She then reviewed events and activities of the last year, as follows:

"One of our main activities is to consider planning applications and to forward our opinions to the planning authority, which is Wycombe District Council; they take note of our comments and, though they do not always agree with us, they do give us their reasons when their decision differs from ours, ie, they give permission for something to which we have objected.

Over the last year, we considered 34 planning applications and to 21 of these we had no objections, but to 13 we objected. The planning authority has given unconditional permission to 3 applications, conditional permission to 24, temporary permission to 3, and we await the decision on the other 4 applications.

Concerning planning policy, you may be aware that the County Council produced a new Draft Structure Plan for the county earlier this year to cover the period to 2011. Over the year we end up with an enormous amount of informative paperwork to sift, but this draft plan was very important, and every Councillor was given this document to read and comment; our individual and corporate comments were then sent back to the County Council, with a copy to our local MP for his information. The most important thing in the Draft, from our point of view, was of course the proposals for 1500 new houses and possibly a bypass, both on the Longwick side of Princes Risborough. The majority of Councillors objected to this major development, and our comments to the County Council reflected this opposition.

Another continuing important item on our agenda has been the Village Hall, but apart from mentioning the Village Fete on 1st May, which I hope you will all support, I hope that all interested in the Hall will go to the Village Hall AGM on Friday 21st May next.

When I spoke to you last year, we were just getting involved with PATHWATCH, a scheme in which volunteers walked all our parish footpaths and reported on their condition; this was such a success that we subsequently decided to join the Parish Paths Partnership, a Countryside Commission, government-funded initiative which is a partnership between the County Council and the Parish Council whereby funds are made available for contractors and volunteers (suitably reimbursed by donations to their funds) to undertake work to ensure that all our paths are brought up to good condition and waymarked. This is now in progress, thanks mainly to the Venture Scouts who once again are helping us. Hopefully when our next PATHWATCH reports come in they will say that all our paths are now in excellent condition!

I would like to finish my report by thanking our Clerk, Mr Jim Maude, for all the effort he has put in over the year to make the work of the Parish Council possible."

3. REPORTS FROM COUNCILLORS. The Chairman asked 3 Councillors to report on their particular activities during the year:

Cllr Butler, responsible for Environmental Affairs, reported that the Litterblitz 92 had been well supported and successful. Litterblitz 93 would take place on 23rd May 93, at 10-o-clock; again various village societies and organisations had been approached, had agreed to take part, and would be allocated to different parts of the village to clear any litter on that morning. A notice asking for additional volunteers would be posted in due course.

Cllr Mrs Brock, the Parish Tree Warden, reported that, following a survey of the village, a site had been finalised off Thame Road, by the lay-by at the NW end of the village to plant 40 trees to commemorate the Queen's 40th Anniversary; the trees, a mix of 5 indigenous species had been received and planting should be completed imminently.

Cllr Ms Robb, our representative on the District Highways and Safety Panel, reported on recent improvements to the village roads and footways, most noticeably the building of a new footway on the B4009 (Chinnor Rd) by the railway bridge to make pedestrian passage in this area much safer. It was also hoped that the planned necessary improvements to footways along Thame Rd would also be completed this coming year, finances permitting; improvement projects could always be initiated, but in most cases their chances of success was inversely proportional to their expected cost: the cheaper the better.

4. PAROCHIAL CHARITY ACCOUNTS. In accordance with the Charities Act, 1960, the accounts of The Princes Risborough Charity and the Monks Risborough Parochial Charities were laid before the Meeting. Mr Maude summarised the accounts as follows:

Balance b/f | 611.95 | 975.15 Income (Rents, Interest, etc.) | 1725.54 | 2183.64 Disbursements & Donations | 1220.00 | 1887.50 Operating & Admin Costs | 127.50 | 538.23 Balance c/f | 989.99 | 733.06

5. ACCOUNTS 1992/3 & PRECEPT 1993/4 Mr Maude placed before the Meeting the Statement of Accounts 1992/3 of the Parish Council (see Annex), and advised the Meeting that the Parish Precept for 1993/4 would be £3980.00.

6. QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR. Mrs Maude asked if the Parish Council had yet made plans for the Parish Centenary, due in 1994. The Chairman replied that so far one idea, that of instigating a Longwick Footpath Round Walk, had been put forward, but that no decision had yet been made; any other suggestions would be warmly welcomed.

The question of cars parking on verges of roads in the parish was raised. The Clerk said that this perennial problem continued to exercise the minds of our Council, in common with most others, but there was no universal solution; there were no particular bye-laws to which recourse could be made, and in any event the lack of effective policing/enforcement would always remain a problem. Inconsiderate car parking, together with dog fouling, both of which relied ultimately on individual conscience, would always be with us in an imperfect world.

There being no further questions, the Meeting closed at 8.50pm.

S. J Rogers. 19 - 4 - 94.

LONGWICK-CUM-ILMER PARISH COUNCIL STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS - 1992/3

PRECEPT - £3832.00

EXPENDITURE

Clerk's Salary £500.00 Clerk's Phone £ 86.96 Clerk's Car Mileage £ 55.67 Petty Cash (inc Duplicating) £110.14

REGULAR EXPENDITURE Village Hall hire (PC Mtgs) £ 88.00 Village Hall Grant Aid £1000.00 VH/PF Renewal/Repairs £116.14 PC Insurance (inc Village Hall) £377.08 Audit Fee (Reserve) £ 65.00 Footpath Rent (to BCC) £ 10.00

SUBSCRIPTIONS & DONATIONS Bucks Assn of Local Councils £ 91.06 Wycombe Dist Assn of Local Councils £ 4.00 Bucks Playing Fields Assn £ 20.00 Bucks Council for Voluntary Services £ 5.00 Council for Preservation of Rural England £ 12.00 Ilmer PCC (Graveyard Maintenance) £ 30.00 Horsenden PCC ( " ) £ 30.00 NALC Centenary Appeal £ 20.00 Society of Local Council Clerks £ 26.00 ACRE Magazine £ 7.50

NON-REGULAR EXPENDITURE Stoke Leys School (Donation in memory of Cllr Gomme) £ 20.00 Playpark Grant £500.00 Clerk/Cllrs Course Fees £ 15.00 Solicitors Fees (Reserve) £300.00

FREE RESOURCE BAYC Appeal (Donation) £ 10.00 Longwick Village Newsletter (Grant) £ 90.00 Longwick Sixty Club (Donation) £ 75.00 Longwick Youth Club (Donation) £ 75.00 Free Resource Balance c/f (Reserve) £257.17

Balance cf [£164.72] Total £3832.00