317. Public Participation
None.
318. Disclosures of Interest
As a member of the New Forest National Park Authority, Mrs Wyeth declared an interest in Agenda Item No 10 – Draft Recreation Management Strategy for the New Forest National Park.
319. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence had been received from Mr M Böckle, Mr J Charlesworth and Mrs A Trend.
320. Minutes of Previous Meeting
The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 12 January 2010, having been circulated, were signed by the Chairman as a true and accurate record.
321. Matters Arising
Correspondence had been received from Hampshire County Council which indicated that the bus/taxi lane at Shrubbs Hill Road was to become permanent and the Parish Council would be consulted on the design and positioning of permanent signage.
With regard to the road closure at Goose Green, it was noted that this would now be delayed until 15 February.
322. Correspondence
Email from Nick Hunt, Principal Engineer, NFDC Transportation Section (copied to all Councillors) - Draft Traffic Management Programme for 2010/2011 to be progressed by NFDC as HCC’s Agent. Comments before 26 February.
South & South East In Bloom – Invitation to attend a seminar (19.02 or 16.03) to find out more about what is involved in entering this competition.
NFNPA – Red telephone kiosk in Lyndhurst Parish. The NFNPA are now willing to make a one off capital payment for maintenance such as painting or repair of adopted kiosk (but not day to day cleaning and maintenance).
RESOLVED: That no further action be taken.
HCC – Newsletters from Hampshire’s Countryside Service. The Small Grants Scheme Newsletter will be of particular interest to Lyndhurst Parish Council as there is an article about Lyndhurst Walk on the front page.
New Forest Community Media – Letter asking for support to help get them on air, either financially or in kind (by way of sourcing or supplying equipment and materials).
NFDC – Notification of cattle grid replacement at Pikes Hill which will necessitate a road closure from 8.03.10 for up to 6 weeks.
Mrs Pat Wyeth – Correspondence concerning High Street junction Gosport Lane. Concerns expressed regarding safety issues for pedestrians.
NFDC – New Forest District Annual Monitoring Report available at http://www.newforest.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6618
323. Minutes of Committee Meetings
Planning Committee Meeting – 26 January 2009
324. Accounts
(a) The Clerk submitted accounts which had become due for payment since the date of the last meeting, as detailed in Appendix A and these were approved.
(b) The Clerk submitted details of Parish Council spending for the period 14 April 2009 to 9 February 2010.
325. Vacancy for a Parish Councillor
The Clerk reported that four definite applications had been received from Mrs Tina Simmens, Mrs Anne Turner, Mr Nick Davies and Mr Len Cornell. Four other expressions of interest had been received and the closing date for replies had been set at 28 February.
RESOLVED: That applicants be invited to the March Parish Council meeting to give a short presentation and answer questions from Councillors.
326. Draft Recreation Management Strategy for the New Forest National Park
Mr Abbott read out his comments and councillors were generally in agreement with these.
RESOLVED: That the Chairman and Clerk formulate a response before the closing date (12 February).
327. Method of Distribution of Councillors’ Packs
The Chairman explained that following Mr Böckle’s attendance at a nearby Parish Council meeting he had suggested that this Council dispense with the use of paper copies of Councillors’ Packs and use a projected copy of the Agenda.
RESOLVED: That Parish Councillors be offered the opportunity to receive their Packs from the Clerk by email and/or by post.
328. Annual Parish Meeting
Copies of the proposed Agenda were distributed to Councillors for comment.
RESOLVED: That the Agenda be adopted for use at the Annual Parish Meeting on 16 March 2010.
329. District Councillor’s Report
Mrs Wyeth reported that the NFDC council tax increase will be kept to 2% or lower, representing an increase per annum of £155.76 for a Band D property. They have managed to find savings without losing members of staff.
Central government would be used to fund the building of ten new affordable houses in Pennington. Robertshaw House is to be decommissioned, although anyone wishing to stay in their present accommodation would be able to do so. The age limit would be lowered to over 45s from 2012.
Following concern expressed for the safety of pedestrians, and particularly school children, at the junction of Gosport Lane and the High Street Mrs Wyeth had enquired whether safety improvements could be made but had been informed that signage would not be considered appropriate.
An update had been received regarding Lyndhurst Air Quality Management indicating continued exceedance of the annual mean objective for nitrogen dioxide in a number of locations and this situation would be monitored. Further funding had been secured from DEFRA to complete the air quality modelling for the additional transport scenario in the High Street. Once data was collated working feasibility studies might be undertaken by Hampshire County Council.
The long vehicle detection system had been installed in the High Street to enable the left hand filter into Romsey Road to be used more frequently although it was recognised that there had been problems with queuing traffic on Romsey Road.
The VMS is in operation to advise drivers to use Junction 2 of the M27 if queues build up along Romsey Road.
HCC Road Safety Committee has launched a competition to find the county’s favourite school crossing patrol of the year. Mrs Wyeth had put forward the name of the “lollipop person” at Lyndhurst Infant School.
330. County Councillor’s Report
The Chairman welcomed County Councillor Keith Mans.
Mr Mans stated that, after the recent bad weather, HCC had made provision for an extra £2M to be spent on repairing the county’s roads, specifically potholes and special machines had been brought in to tackle the problem. All potholes should be reported to Kevin Fuller at Highways and Transport West.
£800,000 had been allocated for the provision of grit bins and Parish Councils can make applications.
Complaints had been received regarding noisy lorries on Southampton Road and to combat this problem the 30 mph speed limit would be extended from La Pergola to National England’s offices.
Mr Rollé asked if extra signage could be used to draw attention to the need to use the cycle track but Mr Mans said this would not be possible.
HCC’s increase in council tax would be kept to 1.9%. A high percentage of people in Hampshire pay for their own care.
The new development by Lidl at New Milton would lead to increased lorries passing through the village.
331. Reports from Representatives of Outside Bodies
Mr Abbott had attended the New Forest Passenger Transport Forum. Bus re-tendering and train services had been discussed. Mr Abbott had stressed that the Parish Council did not want to see any reduction in the 56/56A bus service, particularly at the beginning and end of the day. The possible re-opening as a passenger train service to Hythe had been discussed.
Mr Bisson said the Village Lighting and Decorations Committee would be erecting bunting at the beginning of May for the 20th anniversary of the village twinning with Le Chevroliere.
Christmas lights would be switched on from 27 November and the carol service would take place on the 11 December at the Fire Station.
332. Future Planning
To be held in abeyance until the March meeting.
333. Dates for Future Committee Meetings
Planning Committee – Tuesday 23 February – 7.15 pm – Lyndhurst Community Centre
334. Items for Discussion at the Next Meeting
Items brought forward from the Agenda for the February meeting.
Any other items brought to the Clerk’s attention by 1 March 2010.
In the absence of any other business the Chairman thanked those present for attending and closed the meeting. |
