Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Maresfield Parish Council held on

20 May 2003 in the Fairwarp Village Hall

Present:  Cllr P Tester, Cllr J Gutteridge, Cllr G Hardy, Cllr W King, Cllr K Ogden, Cllr T Sparrow, Cllr C Stephens, Cllr R Street, Cllr R Tester, Cllr Miss M Thomas, Cllr Mrs S Weekes, Cllr R Woodgate. 

District Cllr B F Brown, District Cllr N Buck, District Cllr J Hollins, District Cllr Mrs P Kennedy. 

Clerk: Sue Wilson.

1.            Apologies for absence:  Apologies were received from Cllr H Fry, District Cllr Mrs S Martin and County Cllr A Reid.

2.            Election of a Chairman:  The Acting Chairman, Cllr P Tester, took the chair for this item.  Cllr Sparrow proposed Cllr King.  This was seconded by Cllr Gutteridge and carried unanimously.

3.            Chairman's opening remarks:  Cllr King said it was an honour to act as Chairman and he would try hard to repay the trust placed in him.  He felt there were others with more experience and wisdom who would be more suitable but due to other commitments they were unable to stand.  However he would be glad of their help.  He would help councillors individually and it was for all councillors to do their job as well as possible.  It is essential to work together and he asked councillors to arrive a little early for meetings, to get to know each other.  It is important to work for the whole Parish, not sectional or village interests.  He pointed out that meetings need discipline and asked that everyone read the papers before meetings, try to respect the need to speak to or through the chair and only one at a time, and be conscious of the work of the clerk when writing the minutes.   

Cllr King sought everyones' thanks for Cllr P Tester who had acted as Chairman since Cllr B Morley had resigned and particularly for the effort he had put into setting up the Parish Office.  This was acknowledged by all councillors.

Cllr King also thanked the District Councillors for being present and especially District Cllr Brown for having attended Planning committee meetings and looked after the Parish interests so diligently.

4.            Election of a Vice-Chairman:  Cllr Hardy proposed Cllr P Tester.  This was seconded by Cllr Ogden and carried unanimously.

Extra item:  Cllr King referred  to SO 14, requiring that new councillors complete their declarations before the end of this meeting.  Noting that Cllr Fry was away, Cllr King proposed and it was unanimously agreed that the time for Cllr Fry to complete his declaration be extended until commencement of the next Council meeting.

5.         To adopt the minutes of the AGM held on 21 May 2002:  This was proposed by Cllr Gutteridge and seconded by Cllr Ogden and carried unanimously.

6.         To agree the number of Councillors to serve on Standing Committees:  Cllr King proposed that the same number of councillors should serve on committees as in the previous year, ie 6 each plus 2 ex-officio for Planning and Environment & Maintenance, and 4 plus 4 ex- offico for Finance & General Purposes; this was seconded by Cllr Hardy and carried unanimously.

Cllr Miss M Thomas arrived.

7.         To elect Councillors to serve on Standing Committees:

7.1            Planning – 6:  Cllr Ogden, Cllr Stephens, Cllr Miss Thomas and Cllr Gutteridge expressed an interest in serving on this committee.  These were proposed by Cllr P Tester, seconded by Cllr R Tester and elected unanimously.  This leaves a vacancy on the Planning Committee which may be filled after the co-option of a second councillor for Fairwarp.

7.2            Environment & Maintenance – 6:  Cllr Fry, Cllr Stephens, Cllr Street, Cllr Weekes and Cllr Woodgate expressed an interest in serving on this committee.  These were proposed by Cllr Hardy, seconded by Cllr Sparrow and elected unanimously.

8.         To elect Chairmen of Standing Committees:

The Chairman pointed out that the chairmen of standing committees sit on the Finance & General Purposes Committee.  SO 44 (the first so numbered) provides for chairmen of committees to be elected by those committees, which makes elections at this meeting impossible.  Cllr Sparrow proposed that the Standing Order be suspended until conclusion of Item 10 on the agenda.  This was seconded by Cllr Gutteridge and carried unanimously.

8.1            Planning:  Cllr Hardy proposed Cllr Ogden for Chairman.  This was seconded by Cllr Gutteridge and carried unanimously.

8.2            Environment & Maintenance:  Cllr P Tester proposed Cllr R Tester.  This was seconded by Cllr Hardy and carried unanimously.

9.         To elect Councillors to serve on Finance & General Purposes Committee:  Cllr Fry, Cllr Gutteridge, Cllr Sparrow and Cllr Street expressed an interest in serving on this Committee.  These were proposed by Cllr Ogden, seconded by Cllr R Tester and elected unanimously.

10.       To elect Chairman of Finance & General Purposes Committee:  Cllr Gutteridge proposed Cllr Sparrow.  This was seconded by Cllr P Tester and carried unanimously.

11.       To appoint Councillors to serve on Parish Council Sub-Committees and Working Parties:

11.1     Civil Emergency Sub-Committee:  Mr D McDonnell had expressed a wish to remain on this committee although he is no longer a councillor.  Cllr Sparrow suggested it would be possible to co-opt a non-councillor.  Other councillors expressing an interest were Cllr Fry, Cllr King, Cllr Stephens and Cllr Street.  These were proposed by Cllr Sparrow.  This was seconded by Cllr Gutteridge and appointed unanimously.

11.2            Parklands Play Area Sub-Committee:  Mrs M Pegg, although no longer a councillor, had expressed a wish to remain on this committee.  Cllr Gutteridge wishes to remain on the committee and pointed out that there are also three Parklands residents.  Cllr Mrs Weekes said she would like to serve also.  These were proposed by Cllr P Tester, seconded by Cllr Ogden and appointed unanimously.

11.3     Traffic & Environment Working Party:  The Chairman said that this committee has been greatly helped by non-councillors.  Cllr Sparrow confirmed he was willing to continue, Cllr R Tester attends as Chairman of Environment & Maintenance, Cllr Miss Thomas confirmed her willingness to continue and Cllr Fry had expressed an interest.  These were proposed by Cllr P Tester, seconded by Cllr Hardy and appointed unanimously.

11.4     Village Plan Steering Group:  Cllr Sparrow questioned the necessity for a separate group, saying that three or four of the main objectives highlighted by the Village Survey were up and running.  He suggested that the Finance & General Purposes Committee could maintain a watching brief.  Cllr Miss Thomas asked how Council would deal with development in the villages and was advised that such matters would be brought to the Planning Committee and full Council meetings.  Cllr Gutteridge reminded the meeting that concern had been expressed by councillors during the past year about the lack of reporting by some groups.  He was assured by the Chairman that all groups would in future report to full Council.  Cllr Sparrow proposed that

the work of this group should be part of the remit of the Finance & General Purposes Committee.  This was seconded by Cllr Ogden and carried unanimously.

12.       To appoint representatives of Council on outside bodies:

12.1            Maresfield Recreation Ground:  Cllr P Tester proposed Cllr R Tester as he carries out the inspections of the play area.  After a short discussion it was agreed that Cllr Woodgate would also represent the Council, with Cllr Mrs Weekes to attend if Cllr R Tester or Cllr Woodgate was unavailable.  These were proposed by Cllr Sparrow, second by Cllr P Tester and carried unanimously.

12.2     Fords Green Recreation Ground:  Cllr Mrs Weekes said she would be interested in representing the Council on this committee.  Cllr P Tester proposed Cllr R Tester and Cllr Mrs Weekes.  This was seconded by Cllr Hardy and carried unanimously.

12.3            Wealden District Association of Local Councils:  Cllr Sparrow said he was willing to continue with this committee as he has other Wealden responsibilities.  Cllr Gutteridge also expressed his willingness to continue.  This was proposed by Cllr Ogden, seconded by Cllr Hardy and carried unanimously.

12.4            Maresfield Conservation Group:  After a short discussion whether we should have a councillor who is not a member of the Group as our representative, it was decided that Cllr Gutteridge would continue to represent the Council, joined by Cllr Woodgate.  This was proposed by Cllr Ogden, seconded by Cllr Sparrow and carried unanimously.

13.       To appoint Council representatives as follows:

13.1     Tree Warden:  Cllr Stephens expressed an interest as he had been on the appropriate training course.  In future he will assist Cllr Hardy who is to remain a tree warden.  This was proposed by Cllr Sparrow, seconded by Cllr Ogden and carried unanimously.  It was noted that we should seek to find a successor to be trained for this work.

13.2     Press Officer:  The Chairman of the Council will be the Press Officer, assisted by the Clerk.  This was proposed by Cllr P Tester, seconded by Cllr Miss Thomas and carried unanimously.

13.3            Maresfield Recreation Ground Patrol and 13.4 Fords Green Patrol:  After a short discussion it was agreed that the Environment & Maintenance Committee would draw up a roster for these inspections.  Cllr R Tester reminded councillors of the necessity for inspections to be noted in the book and signed, for insurance purposes.

13.5     Civil Protection Officer:  The Civil Protection Officer is the Chairman of the Civil Emergency Sub-Committee, presently Cllr King.

14.       To confirm the appointment of School Governors representatives:

14.1            Maresfield Bonners Primary School and 14.2 Nutley CofE Primary School:  The Chairman stated that he has recently become a governor at Maresfield Bonners School where Mrs Mack is doing an excellent job as Chairman of Governors.  Mrs Barbara Smart has recently accepted the position of Council representative at Nutley School.  Cllr Sparrow proposed their appointments should be confirmed.  This was seconded by Cllr Ogden and carried unanimously.

15.       To appoint an additional holder of the Definitive Map:  One copy is held by Cllr R Tester and the other by Cllr Hardy.  It was agreed that these councillors should remain holders.

16&18.To appoint Council bankers and signatories of cheques:  Cllr Ogden proposed that the Council's bankers should remain Barclays Bank Plc.  This was seconded by Cllr P Tester and carried unanimously.  It was decided to defer appointment of signatories as the wrong forms had been supplied by Barclays.  This matter will be passed to Finance & General Purposes

Committee and in the meantime Cllr P Tester and Cllr Sparrow will remain as signatories.  Cllr P

Tester pointed out that Mrs M Pegg can no longer be a signatory as she stood down at the election.  A letter should be written to Barclays Bank to this effect.

17.       To appoint solicitors:  It was agreed to leave the appointment of solicitors until there is a specific need to instruct one and then an appropriate specialist can be selected.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.35pm.