RPC Minutes 6th February 2019

Ruscombe Parish Council

Minutes of the meeting of the Parish Council

Held in the William Penn Room, Loddon Hall, Twyford

On Wednesday 6th February 2019 at 7:30pm

Councillors Present: Mr J May (chairman) Mr M Evans, Mr P Cassidy, Mr A Wrigley and Mrs K Robson.

Twyford Parish Councillor Present: Mrs L Jarvis.

Clerk in attendance: Mrs R Reid.

Mr May opened the meeting at 7:30pm.

13/19 Apologies for absence: Mrs C Bulman, Mr C Bell and Mr G Howe.

14/19 Declaration of Interests: Mr May and Mr Evans declared that they are directors of the Campaign to Protect Rural Wokingham (CPRW). Mr Wrigley declared that he is a trustee of The Twyford and Ruscombe community Association – Loddon Hall.

15/19 Minutes: Minutes from 2^nd January 2019 circulated. Proposed by Mr Cassidy, seconded by Mr Wrigley and approved unanimously.

16/19 Public Forum: No members of the public were in attendance.

17/19 Update from Twyford Parish Councillor: Mrs Jarvis updated that Theresa May had attempted to come litter picking in the area but because of Twyford’s Adopt a Street scheme there wasn’t any littler to be picked. Twyford are preparing for their litter pick day. Twyford Neighbourhood Plan is progressing, their next meeting in on the 4^th March. TPC have purchased a new lawn mower and some new park signage. They have set their budget and precept. TPC hosted a meet your councillor, they had lots of people asking about the Homes for the Future Local Plan Update and about parking. Twyford Twinning has a new committee elected because one year after initial set up the committee is re-elected; the next election will be in 4 years’ time.

18/19 Update from Wokingham Borough Councillor: No one was in attendance but RPC discussed the Local Plan update. There is a section within their Questionnaire for organisations to respond therefore Mrs Reid will use the CPRW guidance and enter a response. Mr May and Mr Evans attended a Priorities meeting with Jude Whyte and Mark Redfern, Borough Councillor John Halsall was also in attendance. Mr May and Mr Evans gave their top three priorities for Ruscombe as

• Protection of the Green Belt
• Parking
• Traffic

They also had the opportunity to talk about other issues affecting the local area including the Library, schools and road conditions.

19/19 CCB Research into risk of Loneliness: Mrs Reid received a phone call from Tim Parry at CCB (Connecting Communities in Berkshire) to explain that although people in Ruscombe have got access to services their risk of loneliness is higher than other areas where people do not have access to services. CCB have applied for funding to be research as to why this is the case.

20/19 Heathrow Expansion: Mr May had spoken to a resident who wondered if RPC were planning to do anything about the Heathrow expansion. Mrs Reid will use our sources (facebook and website) to raise awareness of the consultation survey which closes on 4^th March.

21/19 CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy)

Pennfields land: Mrs Reid meet with Angie Gibson CIL manager to get the Topographical Survey results. There are various services that would need to be relocated, including a telegraph pole, moving any of these could be very costly and costs would be largely unknown until the task was complete. Two options were drawn up

• Layby style creating 5 or 6 spaces and costing £36,000 and above.
• Car park Style creating 12 spaces and costing £46,000 and above.

There are several concerns with the project, including the fact that even by doing either of these options it would not create enough spaces and there would still be a huge shortage of parking in the area and by creating official parking spaces it could appear to be inviting commuters to use it for access to the station. Councillors will continue to consider the positives and negatives of this project.

Church fences: Mr May has spoken with the Church, they are having their fences replaced at a cost of £3,900. Mr May will ask to see the quote and ask to see if they had gained three quotes before proceeding. Mr May proposed that RPC pay them £3,000 from CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy) money, seconded by Mr Wrigley and approved unanimously This is subject to deliberation until 6th March 2019.

Loddon Hall CCTV: Mr Wrigley reported that London Hall ahs had lots of antisocial behaviour therefore they are installing CCTV and have requested help with the cost. The total cost is £8,839.43. Mr Evans proposed that RPC pay £3,000 from CIL (Community Infrastructure Levy), seconded by Mrs Robson and approved unanimously. This is subject to deliberation until 6^th March 2019.

Garages in Pennfields area: The garage doors could do with some redecoration, Mrs Reid will contact WBC and ask if they could quote.

Other ideas: The old allotment in Pennfields could be used as a community allotment, with raised planter beds. Playpark in Pennfields could benefit from something for older children. Polehampton Swimming Pool they are having to refurbish the boiler room to meet current standards, Mrs Jarvis will write to RPC to formally request financial support.

22/19 Planning:

183298 application to extend car park in Ruscombe Business Park. This application was declined by WBC because the application had not considered environmental impact.

Mrs Reid will contact Andy Meader to ask what costs are involved to have him review contentious planning applications, we don’t currently have any, but it would be useful to have his advice if we do.

Neighbourhood Plan: Progressing well, Questionnaire is nearly finalised and there is another volunteers meeting on the 7^th February 2019 to go through a skeleton plan.

Mrs Jarvis left the meeting.

23/19 Finance

Mrs Reid wages and Pension payment £571.84 Cheque #378 proposed by Mr May, seconded by Mr Cassidy and approved unanimously.