Ravenstone Parish Council
Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday 11th March 2010 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall.
RAVENSTONE PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday 8th April 2010 at 7.45pm in the Village Hall.
Present Cllr Meades (Chairman), Cllr Howkins, Cllr Fry, Cllr Humphreys, Cllr Geary, Cllr Brock.
1 Apologies: were received from Alan Faulkner-Stevens.
2. Declaration of Member’s Interests: None
3. Minutes of the Last Meeting: Were proposed by Cllr Howkins and seconded by Cllr Fry and signed as a true and correct record of the previous meeting.
4. Matters Arising: (i) Cllr Brock advised that she hadn’t so far made much progress with the school transport bus and the hedges and verges, with regard to the incident that took place with Mr Lane, but would continue to investigate it.
(ii) Cllr Howkins brought up the subject of the 30mph sign on the Weston Road approach into the village and stated that the 30mph sign could be seen a good 100 yards ahead giving plenty of time for vehicles to slow to the speed limit upon entering the village. Some discussion followed and it was agreed to keep a watch on the situation and to investigate the possibility of having the SID for a short while to remind drivers of the limit.
5. Finance: The Clerk advised that the Business Premium account had an additional .19p interest and was £1505.40 and the Current Community statement showed a balance of £3072.40, although two cheques remained outstanding as at the date of the statement. A new mandate form had been obtained to be filled in at the end of the meeting.
A quotation had also been received by Thomas Redding Garden Services for the ground maintenance for the playing field and burial ground of £1146.00, which was actually less than last year’s quotation. It was agreed that the company did a good job in maintaining the grounds and the Clerk was asked to accept their quotation. Action: Clerk
6. Planning: One application had been received relating to tree works at John Tythe Barn, North End, Ravenstone. The members of the Council concluded that there were no objections to these works and asked the Clerk to advise the Council. Action: Clerk
7. Correspondence:
(i) Arriva about changes in the bus service for Milton Keynes.
(ii) Councillors were invited by MKC Environment Directorate to contribute information to the Independent Remuneration Panel on Member’s Allowances, but decided not to.
(iii) A letter has been received from BALC outlining the benefits of membership, however, Councillors agreed that at the present time resources were fairly stretched, but that they would look again at joining in the future.
iv)MKC asked if Councils would prefer to receive their copy of the MKC Parish Council Newletter by hard copy or electronically. The Chairman decided the Council would continue to receive a hard copy.
8. Council Membership: – none
9. Councillors/Residents item: A great deal of discussion took place regarding the forthcoming works in the village. Cllr Brock explained that they were trying very hard to get all the various agencies to work in the village at the same time to minimise the obvious disruption that will ensue. Central Networks have to give Milton Keynes Council 3 months statutory notice and so far enquiries to find out whether or not this had happened yet hadn’t been fruitful. Along with the electrical works that Central Networks will be carrying out, drainage works and pavement work is going to take place at the same time and once all the work is completed the road through the village will be resurfaced.
Meeting ended 8.35pm
Next meeting Thursday 13th May 2010, which will be the Annual General Meeting.
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RAVENSTONE PARISH COUNCIL
The Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Thursday 8th April 2010 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm.
Present: Cllr Meade (Chairman), Cllr Fry, Cllr Howkins, Cllr Humphreys & Cllr Geary, Cllr Brock (Milton Keynes Council).
- Apologies: Cllr Faulkner-Stevens
- Minutes: The Chairman advised that, although he hadn’t actually been in attendance at the Annual Parish Meeting last year, the minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 16th April 2009, had been previously formally agreed by Council members at the May 2009 meeting of the Parish Council, and could be signed as a true and correct record.
- Chairman’s Report: The Parish Year 2009-10 has been a stable year with respect to our compliment of Councillors, with a new member ready and waiting in the wings for the event of a vacancy, and thus we are very pleased to welcome on board Robert Humphreys in place of Richard Craven. This year Jane Craven our Clerk, together with Richard had to resign due to a work move back to Malvern, we wish them every success and would like to thank them for their hard work and commitment during the year.
Ravenstone Parish Council has been very fortunate to secure the services of Mary Lane as our new Clerk, a very capable person who is known to many of our residents.
The main interests this year, apart from the regular planning applications and our never ending request for the repair of potholes, has been the undergrounding of the electricity supply, together with the erection of new lamp standards for our existing lighting followed by a major road improvement scheme for the village. There will be a degree of inconvenience for residents due partly to road closures for through traffic, but we hope that this will be kept to a minimum.
Our Parish Precept (Band D equivalent) has risen by approximately £7.50 per household to cover part of the cost of our new lamp standards, the main part of the cost being undertaken by our application for funding from the Parish Partnership Fund, together with a generous donation of £1400 from the Ward Fund of our Ward Councillors Peter Geary and Debbie Brock.
As in previous years the attendance by Ravenstone residents to Parish Council meetings has been rather disappointing and I hope that we may look forward to an improvement in this direction, especially from the newer members of our community. At present, due to popular demand we have no vacancies on the Council, but should one occur we would like to have someone waiting in the wings, so come along to a meeting and see what it is all about.
I would like to thank my current councillors, Steven Howkins, Alan Faulkner-Stevens, Chris Fry, and Robert Humphreys for their help and contribution this year and also to our Ward Councillors Debbie Brock and Peter Geary for their valuable advice and assistance.
- Reports from Groups and Organisations: There were no groups present.
- Parishioners Business: There was no business to discuss.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 7.45pm
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