MINUTES Parish Council meeting Monday 3rd October 2022

Minutes of the Stewkley Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 3 rd October 2022 at 7.30pm at the Stewkley Village Hall

Cllr Higgins (Chair), Cllr Morgan, Cllr Arthur, Cllr Burgess, Cllr Hunt, Cllr Pryke, Cllr Simeone,
Joanna Simonds, Clerk & RFO, Unitary Cllr, Phil Gomm and two members of the public were in attendance

1. Apologies for absence
Cllr Brian Bottomley and Cllr Phil Delafield

2. Open Forum
• A parishioner asked about the 6th November Stewkley Drop-in and whether there was a limit on
representatives from each group. Cllrs confirmed there was no limit and that everyone was welcome.
• Cllr Simeone said there was an upcoming online “Chairing Skills” Course run by the BMKALC, at a
member cost of £40, that he’d like to attend. Cllrs were supportive of this training request.

3. Declarations of interest
None

4. Adoption of The General Power of Competence (Localism Act 2011 s.1)
Cllrs resolved to adopt the General Power of Competence, confirming SPC now meet the mandatory criteria
of having a qualified Clerk, and at least 2/3rds of the Council are elected members.

5. Update from Buckinghamshire Unitary Councillor, Phil Gomm
• The issue of the speed sign as you come into the village on the Soulbury Road is progressing slowly.
• Unitary Councillors met with Highways for a debrief on the new maintenance contractors effective
March 2023. There will be an effect on budgets but it is believed BC will get more for their money.
• TVP have stated that they do not have sufficient staff to enforce the proposed speed buffer on the Wing
Road East development, and the Planning Officer is looking to remove the buffer (despite SPC
supporting the application subject to this traffic calming measure). Cllr Gomm has raised this with
Cabinet Members for both Planning and Transport and will pick up with the SPC Chair tomorrow.
• At last week’s Asset Team Meeting, Sycamore Close was confirmed on the list for re-surface in 2023.

6. To approve the minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on Monday 5th September 2022
The draft minutes were approved and signed as a true record by the Chairman.
Proposed: Cllr Morgan / Seconded: Cllr Pryke / Agreed unanimously

7. Planning
22/03207/APP – 128 High Street North, Stewkley LU7 0EP
Cllrs resolved to SUPPORT this application
Proposed: Cllr Pryke / Seconded: Cllr Morgan / Agreed unanimously

22/03247/APP – 14 Dean Road, Stewkley LU7 0ET
After lengthy discussion, Cllrs resolved to OPPOSE this application on the following grounds:
• The car parking is simply inadequate with only 3 spaces shown on the plans. With an extension of this
size, Buckinghamshire Council’s guidance, and strong recommendation, is that 4 spaces should be
available. Also, whilst the property may be on the corner of a quiet road, if parking nose in, there is no
alternative but to reverse out onto the road.
In addition, and fundamentally important, the Parish Council must enforce its own polices, and STK6 of the 2021 adopted Stewkley Neighbourhood Plan clearly states that “proposals for new, extended or re-developed residential use must provide off road car parking spaces of a number and location that can be demonstrated to be sufficient for the use by all occupants and visitors without having to resort to parking in close proximity to site entrances, road junctions on the road in general”
• The other point to make is that the two-story plot size once it is built is so much bigger than the planned
size of anything else around the area. With virtually a 200% extension to the existing building, going
from 2 to 5 bedrooms and 8 reception rooms, Cllrs believe this overdevelopment is totally out of keeping
for the area.
Proposed: Cllr Morgan / Seconded: Cllr Arthur / Agreed unanimously

8. Enforcement Issues
Cllr Gomm updated on the three village enforcements as follows:

On Red Brick Farm, reports are still coming in regarding un-sheeted lorries. Cllr Gomm requested
that any such breaches be reported directly to VOSA.

Regarding the 74 HSS non-compliance, an Officer visited with representatives from Environmental
Health on 15th September and issued a secondary warning allowing another 28 days for the site to be
tidied up. If by this time the owner is still in breach, final proceedings will commence on 19th October
with a recorded precautionary interview.

On the Dean Road builders yard, construction should have been moved by 27th September, however,
following a site check, an extension was granted to 17th October.

9. Finance
• To agree the October payment run as circulated

To approve the Accounts to 31st August 2022
Proposed: Cllr Morgan / Seconded: Cllr Pryke / Agreed unanimously

10. Community Fund Application
Cllrs resolved to SUPPORT the Scouts £500 application for the annual village firework display, the
application coming in with an overall score of 18.5.

11. Insurance Renewal
The Chairman thanked the Clerk for the time she’d spent scouring the insurance market for renewal quotes,
resulting in a big saving for the PC on last year. Cllrs resolved to SUPPORT the proposal put forward.
Proposed: Cllr Arthur / Seconded: Cllr Morgan / Agreed unanimously

12. Queens Jubilee Commemorative Garden
Cllr Gomm said he’d not yet had the opportunity to catch up with the Officer but confirmed he would do so
as soon as practically possible, and in the meantime asked the PC to continue moving the project forward.
The Chairman said that if all we need is Change of Use that is quite simple but if we have to complete a
new planning application that will take a period of time and if it comes back with conditions, those would
need to be taken into consideration when we do the detailed planning, so some early feedback would be
very helpful. Action Cllr Gomm

Given the recent death of Her Majesty the Queen, Cllr Arthur suggested Cllrs give thought to it being a
Jubilee and Memorial Garden. Cllrs liked this idea.

13. Draft S106 application
An application has been drafted for ball stop netting along the edge of Soulbury Road and potentially into
St Michael’s Close with the total cost estimated to be £25k.

The understanding is that the rec committee might put some of the money in but at this stage, the Chairman
proposed that the Clerk submit the application to BC, as ideally, the Rec would like to be able to install the
netting next Spring, before the cricket season starts. Cllrs agreed to this approach.

When Wing Road East goes forward to Planning, developers will again need to sign a S106 agreement,
which we’ve been advised is worth £53k. We will need to submit our ideas as to how that money might be
spent, and so the Chairman asked Cllrs to think about what other projects they would like the PC to discuss
with the Rec. Cllr Morgan said it is important to stress that this money can only be spent on
recreation/leisure so we can’t come up with projects that are not recreation/leisure related. Cllrs agreed to
circulate some initial ideas for further discussion at the November meeting. Action All Councillors

Cllr Gomm mentioned that some PC’s are including Health and Wellbeing within the Recreation heading.
Cllr Morgan said she would be interested to receive some examples of this as it may spark some inspiration
for Stewkley. Action Cllr Gomm

14. Recreation Ground
The Rec Committee meeting next week will make a presentation to Julie Dawson to thank her for her many
years of service as Chair.

15. Highways, Footpaths, and Lighting
• Cllr Arthur updated that progress was being made with DDL Lighting, just not as quickly as we’d like,
the contractor having recently caught Covid. We are however, hopeful that our outstanding lights should
be repaired in the next fortnight. Also on lighting, we’ve received the asset register from Western Power
which is what we should be billed against. Cllr Arthur will cross reference this with what we believe our
asset register to be in order to determine whether there are any gaps. Action Cllr Arthur
• The Clerk advised she’d had a disappointing response from TVP in regard to the campervan parking,
where TVP have stated that the vehicles are parked legally, and in fact, parking enforcement is no
longer under the jurisdiction of the police but instead enforced by the County Council. Cllr Pryke offered
that he work with the traffic sub-committee to come up with a list of “deemed” dangerous parking areas
in the village to potentially put forward a scheme to manage parking village-wide. Cllr Gomm mentioned
that a similar exercise had taken place in Great Brickhill. Action Cllr Pryke

16. Stewkley Wildlife Reserve
The Chairman asked if Cllr Hunt could have a word with Alan when he next sees him regarding this year’s
Christmas Tree and when the best time will be to start making arrangements. Action Cllr Hunt

17. To report on meetings attended
The Chairman said he’d listened in to the recent Planning meeting online where they reported that the
enforcement team is now fully staffed, they’ve gone up the national league table in terms of notices issues,
and compliance to enforce notices is high on their radar.

18. Date of next meeting
The next meeting will be held on Monday 7th November 2022 at The Village Hall

The Chairman confirmed the meeting closed at 21:43