PITSTONE ANNUAL PARISH ASSEMBLY

Minutes of the Annual Parish Assembly held on 16 May 2017
in the main hall at the Memorial Hall, starting at 7.30pm and concluding at 9.25pm

PRESENT:	Cllr Saintey (Chairman), Cllr Nicholls (Vice Chairman), Cllr Mrs Stack, Cllr Blunt, 
Cllr Mrs Arney, Cllr Mrs Crutchfield, Cllr Weber, Cllr Mattey and Cllr Dr Frearson.  
Clerk: Laurie Eagling.   County Cllr Mrs A White.   District Cllr Mr D Town.  
District Cllr Mrs S Jenkins (from District Councillor update onwards).  PCSO P Boston. 
Plus 41 members of the public.

APOLOGIES: 	Cllr Starling.

Local Community Groups and Charities

Between 7.15pm and 7.30pm residents were able to browse stands from Pitstone Memorial Hall Charity, Town Lands Charity, The Williamson Trust and the Simply Walk scheme.  The Parish Council hosted information stands on Pitstone Recreation Ground Charity (including annual report and accounts), Pitstone Parish Charity (including annual report and accounts), the Parish Council annual report and accounts, the footpath to Marsworth, the proposed new village centre/Pitstone Development Area and village sports & leisure development.

1/17AA	ATTENDANCE AND APOLOGIES - See above.    
The Chairman opened the meeting, introduced the council members and thanked everyone for attending.  He encouraged all attendees to visit the stands during the refreshment break if they hadn’t already had chance to do so.  

2/17AA	MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL ASSEMBLY held on 17 May 2016
	The draft minutes were available on the web site all year.  Copies were also available from the clerk and further copies were available at the annual assembly.  It was RESOLVED that the minutes were a true and accurate record and the Chairman was authorised to sign them as such.

3/17AA	PRESENTATION OF PITSTONE VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2017

The Chairman presented Mrs Margaret Cole with the Volunteer of the Year Award for all her numerous years of volunteering in the parish including her current roles running the Over 60’s, helping every other week at the Pitstone youth café, acting as a volunteer driver for the community car scheme, being instrumental in 1st Thursday Friends and assisting with the Pitstone Church Festival of Art, Craft and Flowers.  

The Chairman presented Margaret with a framed certificate and cheque for £50.00.  She will also go forward as the Pitstone nomination into the AVDC Volunteer of the Year Scheme.

The Parish Council runs the Volunteer of the Year scheme to celebrate the unsung heroes within our community.  If you know someone who goes that extra mile and provides an outstanding voluntary service to the residents of Pitstone, please submit your nominations to the parish clerk so that they can be taken into consideration for the 2018 award.

4/17AA	CRIME REPORT FROM THAMES VALLEY POLICE – PCSO P BOSTON

	PCSO P Boston of the Thames Valley Police Wing Neighbourhood Policing Team gave a report on the crime levels over the previous 12 months.  

	8 incidents of criminal damage, 1 theft of motor vehicle, 9 thefts from motor vehicles (mainly tools from vans), 2 cases of vehicle interference, 3 thefts (including lead from the church roof), 6 burglaries, 2 drugs fines, 3 thefts of pedal cycles, 2 dog fines and 10 reports of anti-social behaviour (mainly motorbikes in the quarry).  PCSO Boston stressed the importance of security marking all your belongings so that TVP can prove a suspect is in possession of stolen goods and so that they can be returned to their rightful owner.

	If a crime is in progress, call 999.  For all other police matters, call the non-emergency number of 101.   Residents can sign-up for alerts from Thames Valley Police via their website.   PCSO Boston advised residents to consider investing in CCTV as a visible deterrent, but to make sure that it only covers your own property and doesn’t also monitor activity in a neighbouring property.

PCSO Boston answered queries from residents relating to graffiti, wheel spinning vehicles in the industrial estate car parks (registration numbers or photographic evidence helpful), ANPR cameras, speeding along Westfield Road (the parish council advised that they were investigating a flashing speed camera for this location) and parked cars causing obstructions (report via 101).

The Chairman thanked PCSO Boston for her presentation.
5/17AA	UPDATE FROM COUNTY COUNCILLOR ANNE WHITE   

The Chairman wished to publicly thank the previous County Councillor Avril Davies for 20 years of service to Pitstone, he then introduced the new County Councillor Anne White.

Cllr A White advised residents that 17 new members had been elected and they were all getting up to speed with local issues, undergoing training and being set up with the relevant IT eg email addresses and iPad.  She was also investigating the possibility of holding ‘meet and greet’ sessions with residents, in conjunction with the district councillors, as a means of improving accessibility and communication.    Cllr White looks forward to working with our community.

	No further questions were raised by the public.   The Chairman thanked Cllr White for her update.

	REFRESHMENT BREAK AND FURTHER CHANCE TO VISIT THE STANDS, VIEW THE ACCOUNTS AND SPEAK TO THE GROUPS.  

6/17AA	PITSTONE PARISH COUNCIL CHAIRMAN’S REPORT – COUNCILLOR BOB SAINTEY

As Chair of the Parish Council, Cllr Saintey provided residents with information about the recent 4% rise in council tax and discussed the main reasons for the increase.  He advised about the roll out program for replacement LED street lighting and talked about the plans to enhance and redevelop the sports pavilion site including the works planned for the current financial year and investigations into additional community space.     Cllr Saintey also mentioned that we were into the 2nd year of operating devolved services from Bucks County Council including the cutting of grass verges within the 30mph speed limit boundaries.  It was noted that comments had been received about the in verge daffodils having been cut back too early.

7/17AA	UPDATE FROM DISTRICT COUNCILLOR DEREK TOWN   

Cllr D Town advised that AVDC was still dominated by the plans for the Aylesbury Vale Local Plan (AVLP) which was still under development.  Housing requirements had reduced from 33k to 27k but still required AVDC to accommodate unmet needs from neighbouring districts.  Pitstone had completed their Neighbourhood Development Plan last year which was a positive move and would be used as the defined planning policy for the parish.  The Government Housing White Paper had been issued, which was having an impact on the emerging AVLP, as was the forthcoming election.  AVDC still hope to have the AVLP made by the end of the year.

AVDC was committed to the enhancement and development of commercial services with the aim of increasing revenue generated by these ventures and reducing the reliance on the council tax.  

  	Cllr Town explained to residents about the proposals for a unitary council for the district and the two models proposed by Bucks County Council and the District Councils.  The plans were currently with the Secretary of State for consideration.

The Chairman introduced District Councillor Sandra Jenkins to those assembled.  

No further questions were raised by the public.   The Chairman thanked Cllr Town for his update.

8/17AA	PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
•	A resident of Warwick Road asked if the path to Marsworth would definitely go ahead (BCC have approved, funding has been sourced and BCC/TfB are currently drawing up engineering reports), requested an update on the foot/cycle path to Tring station (still under investigation by Herts County Council) and enquired about the adoption of Castlemead & associated lights (Taylor Wimpey (TW) to bring the estate up to adoptable standard before Bucks County Council can officially adopt the highways, but no sign of any physical works by TW as yet.  This has been an ongoing frustration for a long time).
•	A resident enquired about the contributions and commitments on the developer of the Rushendon Furlong development (these are listed in each set of parish council minutes).
•	A resident of Dover Close complained about the suspension of grass cutting at the end of Warwick Road to protect the wild orchids (currently being re-evaluated with a view for the parish council to recommend to the land owners that the area returns to the regular cutting program).
•	A resident of Hever Close requested that the provision of a goal on the Hever Close kicking area be reconsidered by the parish council (council to consider request at a subsequent council meeting).
•	A resident wished to thank the parish council for all the work they undertake on behalf of the residents. 

9/17AA	CLOSURE OF MEETING
	There being no further questions, the chairman thanked everyone for attending the meeting and for their contributions.  There being no further business to be transacted, the chairman closed the meeting at 9.25pm.

Signed:	__________________________________________________	Date: _______________

                  Chairman