POYNINGS PARISH COUNCIL

Clerk to the Council                                                 West End Cottage

Mrs Nicki Cutress                                                        The Street

Poynings

West Sussex BN45 7AQ

Tel: 01273 857221

UNCONFIRMED

Minutes of the meeting of Poynings Parish Council held in the Village Hall on Tuesday 6^th   September 2005 at 7pm

Present:   Mr Mark Lee                 Chairman

               Mr Les Lowin               Vice Chairman

               Ms Sheila Marshall

               Mr Malcolm Johnson

               Mrs Julia Lewis

               Mrs Nicki Cutress        Clerk to the Council

No apologies were received

Four members of the public attended.

1.     Minutes

The Minutes of the last meeting, as circulated, were approved and duly signed by the Chairman. However, it was agreed that the level of public interest expressed at that meeting on the subject of a possible speed limit through the village justified further debate.  The Council is currently waiting proposals from WSCC and once they are received will arrange for a subsequent meeting to evaluate the options and decide on a course of action.

2.     Matters Arising

(a)    Garden Party

The Parish Council had been asked to nominate two members of the parish for their good works for the village.  We nominated Nigel Lewis, for all his hard and continued work in preparing the internal audit for no charge and Paul Day for his continuous support of village events and help with the Parish Plan.  Sheila Marshall attended as the Parish Council representative.  The Council apologised to Ms Marshall for any embarrassment caused when she realised she was representing the Council on this occasion and not attending as a nominee herself.

3.       Planning Applications

(a)    Poynings House - alterations to and extensions to existing store to form a garage - passed by MSDC.

(b)   Pine Corner - new chimney and 3 velux windows to rear - the Council are becoming increasing disgruntled with the planning department regarding this particular application and the Clerk was asked to write to the planning officer expressing our continued concerns on the scale of the development and question the need for velux windows when the loft space is not to be used for living space.

(c)    2 Grange Lodge Cottages - extension to side of property - this application had been withdrawn.

4.     Expenditure

The following amounts were authorized for the period July and August 2005.

Date                        Payee                                      Amount

6.7.05       N Cutress - expenses April - June         £97.46

6.7.05      N Cutress - ¼ salary April - June          £200.00

6.7.05      D J Flynn - mowing for June                £150.00

1.8.05       Simon Zec - tidying for July                £150.00

15.8.05    D J Flynn - mowing for July                 £150.00

                                TOTAL              £747.46

No income received for July and August 2005

5.      Any Other Business

(a)     Fireworks

The annual bonfire and fireworks evening has been booked for Saturday 5^th November.  The fire will be lit at 6.30 and the fireworks display will start at 7.00pm.  The Clerk is to confirm with Sally Brown regarding her hotdog van, will speak to Phil and Helen and will distribute fliers around the village.

(b)    Payphone

The Clerk has received a letter from BT regarding the proposed change in the payphone in The Street from coin to card.  She has written to BT objecting to the proposed change due to there being no facilities in the village to buy phone cards, it being an essential facility in a rural location and the poor mobile phone coverage in the village.  The closing date for representations is 13^th September and she awaits more information after that date.

(c) Cemetery grass cutting

The Clerk has asked the grass cutter for a quote to remove the grass cuttings whilst mowing.  She is to contact him to ask him to do this for the final cuts of the season and the contract will then be reassessed at the end of the year.

(d)    Website

Malcolm advised that the website is now up and running and the problems with the domain name have been sorted.  The website address is www.poynings.net.   Grateful thanks to Colin Warburton for all his hard work setting this up.

(e)     Sewage works

Numerous complaints have been received about the smell from the sewage works.  The Clerk is to contact Southern Water re this.

(f)     Honeywell Farm

Sheila Marshall said that a caravan had been sited on the Honeywell Farm site and that the use of it must be monitored.  Concern was also raised regarding the unsightly path fencing that has been erected through the field marking the public footpath.

(g)     Rushfields entrance

Mark Lee and the Clerk had met with members from WSCC Highways regarding the access at Rushfields.  The Council have expressed grave concern over the safety of this access.  WSCC Highways said there was little they could do except perhaps putting SLOW marking on the road at the approach from either side.  The Clerk is to speak to Councillor Peter Griffiths to engage his support through the District Traffic Committee.

(h)     Bus Stop

The new bus stop sign that has been erected by the bus shelter by Compass is to be re-sited either by the gatepost or alongside the bus shelter at some point soon, hopefully.

(i)      Design Statement

Sheila Marshall is to attend a meeting with Action in Rural Sussex later this month to find out more about designing a Design Statement for Poynings, and the practicality of it.

6.      Date of next meeting

The next meeting of Poynings Parish Council will be held in the Village Hall at 7pm on Tuesday 8^th November.

Meeting closed at 8.15pm