Thursday 22nd April 2004 at 7.30 p.m. at the Village Hall, Abbots Leigh . Those present: Cllr.J.R.Blain (Chairman), Cllr. P.J.A’Ness, Cllr. G. Heywood and Cllr. S.M.Livings and Cllr.A.J.Telling. Mr M.C.Crabtree (Clerk) The Chairman began by welcoming everyone to the meeting and introduced the Councillors and the Clerk.
The Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Wednesday 16th April 2003 were accepted and signed by the Chairman. – Mountain biking within Abbots Pool was still seen to be a problem. The Council agreed to raise the issue again with North Somerset Council The Chairman outlined a number of achievements of the Council during its first year. The Council took improving communication with the Parish as its first priority with greater coverage in the Link together with the relaunch of the village web site. The proposed improvements to the Old School Field, the refitting of the Village Hall kitchen, more extensive recycling together with better maintenance of footpaths and verges are among the other achievements for the year. Last month David Turner, Director, Development & Environment for North Somerset Council came to our meeting to discuss issues relating to the A369, probably the primary concern for most residents of Abbots Leigh. The Chairman listed the plan for the forthcoming year made up as follows: In particular the Chairman thanked Peter Ellis and Hazel Britton, caretakers of the Village Hall, for ensuring that it remains a popular venue for hiring, with receipts from bookings this year rising by over 50%, and also Nigel Mail as Village Orderly for keeping the Old School Field and Village Green looking so good. Pip A’Ness gave a presentation on the plans to improve the facilities on the Old School Field.. These include refurbishment of the existing play structure, the provision of additional swings and new activity equipment. For the slightly older generation additional seating , steps to improve access to the lower half of the field and a petanque pitch on the hard standing area. It is also proposed to tidy up the existing flowerbeds and carry out new planting. The project team has carried out extensive consultation of both the children in the village and the adult community. A number of concerns and recommendations have been raised and these are listed below Recommendations Steve Livings gave a brief summary of the three Charities, the monies available for distribution and listed the present trustees as John Walke (Chair of the Charities trustees), Steven Livings (secretary), Rosemary Warren, Caroline Powell, Mike Crabtree, David Wraith and Angus Heron. The Priest in Charge is also a Trustee. Steve Livings informed the meeting that the trustees had been able to distribute the following sums in the past year. During the year 2 applications were withdrawn on the advice of the Planning Department and have since been re-submitted and subsequently approved. This was in respect of the application to build 2 new dwellings and garages in Manor Lane. There have been 15 applications for various forms of extension to dwellings from loft extensions to new build. The planning department has refused 3 applications one a barn conversion, another an extension with the rebuild of an out building and the other for a 142 place car park in Beggar Bush lane on the land owned by Clifton College Services on behalf of Bristol City Council who applied for a larger development for the whole of the Estate in order to attract Heritage Lottery Funding to refurbish the estate. A lot of effort was made to ensure that there was no encroachment of the green belt outside the Village ‘Fence’ and in a conservation area. Thankfully this application was refused. Additionally there has been one application to fell 33 trees , mainly sycamore, at Freeways Trust Leigh Court, an illuminated sign at Brackenwood Nurseries and a change of use from stable to cattery at Blackmoor Road. St Katherine’s school was approved a 2 story extension and entrance for a new 6th form block and our Chair was shown around the school which lies within our parish. The Abbots Leigh Nursing Home (Manor House) applied for an extension to the north east corner for 14 additional rooms for residents. This with some 6 other applications are pending at this time. The Parish Council has been transparent in their dealings with all applications and has published their recommendations in the Link. They have made 5 recommendations of refusal of which the North Somerset Council has actually refused 3 applications. There have been two cases of applications that have been taken to appeal. The Parish Council reiterated their objections in these cases and one application was refused (Cherry Holt) to demolish one dwelling and rebuild 3 dwellings. The other application/appeal was allowed to convert an existing planning permission for a single storey dwelling to a two-storey dwelling. From the floor the Council was questioned on the reasons for its approval of the extension to the Abbots Leigh nursing home. The Council responded that it had taken the view that the increase in the number of rooms together with the increased employment opportunities that this offered outweighed the potentially minimal increase in traffic in Manor Road. Cllr. G. Heywood reported to the meeting that the Hall had a successful year for bookings with a total of 276 events taking place during the year – an increase of 24%. The Hall has been used for a wide variety of events ranging from children’s parties, art classes and exhibitions, various keep fit activities as well as the usual society meetings. Bookings taken during the year raised £8,246 which represents a 53% increase. Expenditure for the year was a total of £11,195; made up of £5250 revenue and £5949 capital. Key Points for the year were The Clerk gave reasons for the main differences in this year’s accounts compared with the previous financial year. The Clerk pointed out that the Skittle Club is still in difficulty and remains behind with their payments though payment does eventually take place. In response to a query from Mr. Heron the Clerk detailed the main items of expenditure under the administration heading. The meeting was closed at 9.05 pm |