Minutes of the Maresfield Parish Council Environment Committee Meeting held on Tuesday 29^th June 2010 in the Parish Office, Nutley

Present: Cllr Mrs. P Palmer (in the Chair), Cllr P Harris, Cllr W King, and Assistant Clerk

Mrs. K Larkin.

Mr John Bury was also present.

1. Public session.

Mr John Bury introduced himself to Councillors as the prospective Tree Warden for Maresfield, and was welcomed to the meeting.

2. Election of a Vice Chairman – Cllr Mrs. P Palmer was proposed by Cllr King and seconded by Cllr Harris, and was duly appointed Vice Chairman of the Committee. She then took the Chair.

3. Apologies for absence – Cllr C Stevenson, Cllr K Ogden, Mr P Easton, Mr D Endacott, Major G Allt, Mr Ian Johnstone, and Mr A Allen, Clerk.

4. Declarations of Interest – None.

5. Minutes of the previous meeting – 27^th April 2010:-

5.1 Adoption – The Minutes were adopted as a true record.

5.2 Matters arising from the Minutes not elsewhere on the Agenda –

• Item 4.2 Dog Fouling notices: notices were now displayed in all the play areas.
• Item 4.2 Insurance of telephone kiosks: Zurich Insurance had advised that All Risks cover would increase the premium by £100 per year. This was well in excess of the £50 limit set by the Council and would not be taken up.
• Item 5.1 Copy of TPO: the Clerk had sent a TPO to the Chairman for review.
• Item 5.2 Conifers at Maresfield play area: the works had been completed.
• Item 5.3 Overgrown trees in The Street/Oldlands Hill, Fairwarp: these works had also been completed.
• Item 5.4 Tree planting on Batts Bridge and Lampool roundabouts: ESCC Highways had replied saying they had no budget for planting new trees, but it could be done by the Parish Council on highway land under Licence. In discussion it was noted that the Council had not made a decision to do any planting but was merely dealing with an enquiry. There was an argument that tree planting could sometimes unhelpfully obscure the view across a roundabout, and each should be considered on its merits before any decision were made.
• Item 5.4 Dead tree in Nutley churchyard: Cllr King reported that the tree in question was just outside the churchyard, and that its ownership still needed to be established. Furthermore, it might not be dead. The situation should be monitored.
• Item 10.1 ESCC Ward inspections: The Clerk was arranging the first meeting with ESCC Highways under the new Strengthening Local Relationships initiative (SLR). Cllr Galley had kindly volunteered to be the Nutley representative in this Forum, but the meeting could not proceed until volunteers had been obtained from Maresfield and Fairwarp too.
• Item 10.1 Corner of Crowborough Road and A22 – ESCC Highways were investigating the clearance work required.

6. Trees and Hedges.

6.1 Tree Wardens: Reports, Actions and Requirements. The Committee noted the resignation of Emma Newman as a Tree Warden, and were appreciative of her contribution to the work of the parish. It was resolved that Mr John Bury be appointed as a new Tree Warden. Mr Bury would be the Tree Warden for Maresfield; Mr Johnstone would be Tree Warden for Nutley; and ideally a third Warden should be recruited for Fairwarp. The Clerk would soon convene a meeting of Tree Wardens in the Parish Office, to start going through the Tree Wardens Action Plan.

6.2 Overgrown hedges in Underhill, Maresfield. The Assistant Clerk reported that this section of hedge had in fact recently been trimmed back by the owner, Mr Wilson, to the edge of the tarmac.

6.3 Overgrown hedge south of Middle Drive: Cllr King reported that this section of hedge was encroaching on the pavement reducing it almost to a single track, which was dangerous for pedestrians.

ACTION; the Clerk to write to the owner to request that it be trimmed.

6.4 Any other Tree Warden related matters: None.

7. Civil Emergency Matters.

7.1 Community Emergency Action Plan development and risk assessment – the  development of the Plan was progressing slowly. All the responses to the questionnaire had been analysed and tabulated. Cllr King advised speaking to the District and County Councillors to see how far those authorities might reduce their coverage of civil emergencies as a result of budget cuts.

ACTION: the Chairman and the Clerk to meet to review the remaining work.

Cllr King also drew attention to the fact that the emergency generator owned by the parish was battery fired and that the battery might need re-charging.

ACTION: the Clerk to organise regular testing of the equipment at intervals to be advised by Mr Easton.

7.2 Radio Operations and other CE matters: None.

8. Play Areas – inspections, maintenance and development.

The inspection reports from Wicksteed dated 27^th May 2010 had been circulated, together with a recent Memo from the Health and Safety Executive regarding Health and Safety in Childrens’ Play areas. The Committee took note of both documents. They also noted that the safety surfaces in all the play areas had just been topped up with wood chips.

8.1` Fords Green, Nutley:  Cllr King reported that his fortnightly inspection showed that rust was appearing on the support struts of the small slide in particular.

ACTION: THE Clerk to a get a qualified opinion on the safety of the struts from Cllr Barlow.

The Committee also discussed the ongoing project to get a body other than the Parish Council to take on the replacement of the Fords Green and Maresfield play areas, following the general pattern established in Parklands. It was agreed that advice on how to go about this should be sought from Craig Black and Ellie Boultbee at Parklands. However, no new fund-raising should begin whilst the Parklands fundraising effort was still in progress. Funding might eventually be sought from Veolia, although Cllr Harris advised that the Fords Green play area, which was the oldest and needed the earliest attention, lay just outside the Veolia catchment boundary, at least according to the online information. The possibility of moving the site to the school playing field had yet to be fully explored. The Maresfield play area would be tackled second and Fairwarp, having relatively new equipment, would come last.

8.2 Maresfield Recreation Ground: the project to replace this play area would face the difficulty that many children in the village lived nearer to Parklands than to the recreation ground. It could therefore be relatively difficult to find adults to pilot the project. Help could perhaps be sought among the parents at the school. Cllr Palmer suggested that the existing equipment looked dated and it would be important to tap into new ideas and provide more modern equipment suitable for the 12-15 age group. The youth group should be involved. It would be important to capture the imagination of residents, and especially of the target age group.  

8.3 Parklands, Maresfield: the report from Wicksteed dated 27^th May 2010 had been copied to the Residents’ Association who would arrange for any necessary works to be carried out and would contact the Clerk for any support or help required.

8.4 Fairwarp Village Green: the report from Wicksteed dated 27^th May 2010 had been copied to the Village Hall Committee who would liaise with the Clerk for any support or help required.

9. Grass verge cutting in the Parish. In response to the request for Committee members to keep a log of any grass cutting in their villages, Cllr Palmer reported that the Parklands grass frontage had been cut by ESCC on 5^th May; it was supposed to be cut six times a year but that did not now seem possible in the current year. MCG had cut the same area three weeks later at a cost of £40. However, MCG was concerned that public liability insurance of up to £10 million was required for anyone working on a highway, and a request to ESCC for this to be reduced on minor roads within the village had been refused by Rupert Clubb as a departure from standard requirements based on national safety standards. Cllr Stevenson was producing a briefing on this matter to include a guide to using the Parish Online system, but was hampered by the fact that relevant information was being treated as commercially confidential.

ACTION: the Clerk to put this matter on the agenda of the SLR Forum and to ask DCllr Tidy whether WDC could also send a representative.

It was also noted that a dispute had arisen in Nether Lane over the best way to manage an area of grass that had been intended to facilitate road widening but was not required. This should be monitored.

10. Footpaths. The meeting with the Maresfield Volunteer Group had yet to be arranged. However, the members of the new Group had had First Aid training and Cable Tool Locator training. They were now waiting for ESCC to arrange Site and Tool Safety training. ACTION: the Clerk to liaise with the Maresfield Volunteer Group to arrange a meeting and walk for the new volunteers.

11. Roads and pavements. The committee had before them a Memo from Cllr King regarding Winter snow and ESCC Highways policy. ESCC was not offering any improvements over last winter’s very difficult situation – only a publicity drive advocating self-help. Cllr King was concerned that parish salt supplies could be very hard to secure and very hard to use, in the absence of a suitable work-force. Public liability insurance was not an issue because the spreading of salt could never be argued to have made the situation more dangerous. It was agreed that an article should go in the next edition of The Parish Matters inviting parishioners to send in their ideas on the fairest and most efficient ways of providing and distributing salt in the parish.

ACTION: all Councillors to put forward ideas on how to supply and distribute salt in the parish.

ACTION; Cllr King to write an article to go in the next edition of The Parish Matters

12. Street lighting. The Assistant Clerk reported that the new contract with EDF Energy was now in place as authorised by the Council.

13. Parish Notice Boards. The Assistant Clerk reported that the refurbishment of all the notice boards should be completed by the end of July.

14. Reports from outside bodies:-

Maresfield Recreation Ground - Cllr King reported that the Annual Meeting had been productive and well attended.

Ashdown Forest Parish Liaison Panel – a meeting had been held on 15^th June.

ACTION: the Clerk to obtain a report for the Committee from Cllr Street.

15. Maresfield Parish Community Allotment Scheme.

The Committee had before them a comprehensive note on the allotment project prepared by the Assistant Clerk. It was noted that the Cottingham family were concerned about the fact that land purchased or appropriated for allotments could not be sold without the consent of the Secretary of State who must be satisfied that there was adequate alternative provision or that no such provision was necessary. The Maresfield project could not go ahead in its present form unless it could be established that the Cottingham family would not accidentally be caught up in an unintended long-term letting.

ACTION: the Assistant Clerk to seek advice from SALC/NALC; from Trevor Scott at WDC; from Firle Parish Council; and from Crowborough Town Council.

ACTION: Cllr King to research a way of proceeding with the Cottingham land.

In further discussion, Cllr Palmer suggested the land at Norman’s Pond as an alternative site. This, however, would be difficult to access. Cllr King suggested that some land might be made available within the area designated for the Ashdown Business Park. It was noted that the work already done on the setting up of the scheme would still be useful whichever site were used.

ACTION: the Assistant Clerk to update Mr Cottingham and Mrs. Bury after the meeting.

16. Correspondence.

16.1 WDC re Environmental Partnering with Parish and Town Councils – it was agreed that it would be very helpful if Mr Pashler of WDC Environmental Services  could attend the forthcoming SLR meeting with ESCC.

ACTION; the Clerk to organise this.  

17. Communication

The next issue of The Parish Matters would publicise the plans for the play areas; the appointment of Mr John Bury as a Tree Warden; and the issues already discussed about winter snow and salt. All these items should also go in the Parish Brief.

18 Date of next meeting – Tuesday 24^th August 2010.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 8.50 pm.