Ruscombe Parish Council
Minutes of Meeting of the Parish Council
Held in the William Penn Room, Loddon Hall, Twyford
On Wednesday 6th November 2019 at 7:30pm
Councillors Present: Mr J May (chairman), Mr M Evans (Meeting chair until item 141/19), Mr C Bell, Mrs K Robson and Mr A Wrigley.
Clerk in attendance: Mrs R Reid.
Mr Evans opened the meeting at 7:30pm.
129/19 Apologies for Absence: Mr G Howe, Mr P Cassidy and Mrs C Bulman.
130/19 Declaration of interest: Mr May, Mr Evans and Mr Bell declared that they are directors for the Campaign to Protect Rural Wokingham (CPRW).
131/19 Minutes: Minutes for 2nd October 2019 circulated. Proposed by Mr Evans, seconded by Mr Bell, approved unanimously. These minutes were signed by Mr Evans in the absence of Mr May not arriving to the meeting yet.
132/19 Public Forum: No one in attendance
133/19 Liaison with Twyford Parish Council: No one in attendance
134/19 Liaison with Wokingham Borough Council: No one in attendance but Mr Howe has forwarded a report from Mr Halsall and himself to say they are campaigning to protect the Greenbelt and ensure planning policy is followed.
135/19 Planning applications
192264 132 – 146 London Road: No comment
136/19 Neighbourhood Plan: Mr Bell updated that the Neighbourhood Plan team have made good progress and most documents required are now with ONeill Homer the planning consultants, it is expected that during Decembers council meeting RPC will sign off the Neighbourhood Plan before it enters the consultation periods.
137/19 Remembrance Service: Mrs Reid handed over the Poppy Wreath to Mr Wrigley who will attend the Remembrance service at 8:45 at St James Church, Ruscombe on Sunday 10th November.
138/19 Fly tipping Community Watch: Mrs Reid has received information from Mark Redfern that WBC are focusing on fly tipping awareness and requested if we had any fly tipping hotspots, Mrs Reid put forward Castle End Road and the old allotment land in Pennfields. Mark Redfern was also interested if we had volunteers who would be willing to make sure fly tipping is reported to WBC and RPC. RPC do not want residents putting themselves at risk trying to monitor fly tipping but just to report when they notice it has occurred. Mrs Reid will write to residents of these two locations and ask them to report to WBC and RPC and next time the Neighbourhood Plan team communicate out parish wide, RPC will include a section about fly tipping awareness and reporting.
139/19 SSE Renewal of contract: RPC have renewed with SSE. Mrs Reid checked this renewal is requested 2 years since the previous renewal and prices were compared to other suppliers, but SSE were the cheapest. Mrs Reid also confirmed that the site address is not related to where electricity is supplied to, SSE are fully aware that the electricity RPC need to pay for are streetlamps, therefore site address is changed to Mrs Reid’s address as it could not be a PO Box.
140/19 Finance
ONeill Homer £2,030.40: Cheque #414
BDK £72: Cheque #416
Clerk wages and expenses £765.87: Cheque #415
Nest pension £70.09: Direct Debit
SSE (September) £73.05: Direct Debit
These payments are proposed by Mr Evans, seconded by Mrs Robson and approved unanimously.
Mr May entered the meeting and became meeting chair.
141/19 Michael Firmager Chairman of the Borough Parish Liaison Forum: Mr Firmager explained that the Borough Parish Liaison Forum is an opportunity for Parishes to share ideas and discuss topics of mutual interest. The Borough Parish Liaison Forum takes place every quarter and the next one is due February 2020. Mr Firmager is going around all the 17 Parishes to gain ideas for future agendas and if each parish could put forward 2 or 3 ideas of topics that would be of interest to them, he can then see which ones are being commonly requested and prioritise those topics. RPC will discuss ideas and Mrs Reid will forward them to Mr Firmager or Mr Neil Carr. Mr Bell asked what the differences were between the Borough Liaison Forum and the Neighbourhood Action Group? Mr Firmager explained that the Borough Parish Liaison Forum will focus more Parishes within WBC as where the NAG will deal with area specific issues and not necessarily council focused.
142/19 CIL
Bridge Painting: The idea of painting the Stanlake Lane bridge either one solid colour or a mural type painting has been put forward, Mrs Reid has already established that the bridge belongs to Network Rail and Mrs Reid will contact Network Rail to ask permission to paint the bridge with anti-graffiti paint.
SID: Mrs Reid has asked for confirmation that the Simmonsign SID can go on a street lamp, the instructions indicate it to be post top which would not be appropriate. If streetlamp mounting is possible Mrs Reid will ask about expected battery life. Mrs Reid will contact Sonning PC to ask where their SID is from.
Verge Flowers: Postponed until December 2019 meeting.
Streetlamps: Mrs Reid will draft a letter to certain residents of Pennfields, New Road, St James Close, and Northbury Lane. Mrs Reid will ask WBC to confirm what streetlamps currently look like to see if they match existing ones. Mrs Reid expects each streetlamp to cost approximately £1,000 providing there is already power installed and accessible to the new streetlamp location.
Climate Response: Mr May put forward the idea of RPC purchasing some Greenbelt land and planting 1000+ trees this would counteract the impact on the climate from Ruscombe residents and make as carbon neutral. RPC all agreed this is a good idea but land owners may not be willing to discuss selling until after WBC announce where they will build the proposed large housing development.
Waste bins: Mrs Reid will request a quote again and copy Mr Firmager into the request.
Winter flower box: Window Flowers have planted the box up with the winter flower display. Mrs Reid will purchase some plant food and feed the once monthly throughout the winter.
143/19 Reports from Liaison reps: Mrs Robson will be attending the Youth and Community Centre AGM and will report back.
Mr Wrigley will be attending Twyford and Ruscombe Community Association (Loddon Hall) AGM and will report back.
Mr Bell is considering becoming chair of the Neighbourhood Action Group.
144/19 Any other business
Overgrown trees Mrs Reid will write to two households where their trees are causing a safety issue to other residents.
Mrs Reid had written to McCarthy and Stone and they are planning to install blinds in the corridors to shield light to neighbouring properties.
Councillors email addresses BDK have quoted £100 per annum to supply each councillor with an ‘ruscombepc.org.uk’ email address, this is proposed by Mr May, seconded by Mr Evans and approved unanimously.
CCB loneliness project: CCB have received all the funding they require for the project, Mrs Reid will speak to Tim Parry form CCB on Friday about the project and report back.
Mr May closed the meeting at 9:10pm