MINUTES of the Meeting of the Council held on Thursday 23 December 2015 at 8.00pm in the Village Centre, Trinity Road, Hurstpierpoint.  

Members Present 

Also Present:   

Cllr Anthony Watts-Williams (MSDC Ward Member) 

Colin Trumble  (MSDC Ward Member) 

Stephen Hoyles – CLERK TO THE COUNCIL 

The Chairman began by welcoming newly co-opted Member Martin Machan to his first full Council.   

C15/076.  Apologies for absence and declarations of interest:  The following apologies for absence were received before the meeting and accepted: Judith Marsh,  Bob Sampson,  Matthew Stokes, Peter Griffiths (WSCC Ward Member).  No declarations of personal interest in accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct were recorded.    

C15/077.   Minutes of the  Meeting of the Council held on 26 November 2015:  The Council received and accepted the minutes which were then signed by the Chairman.    

C15/078.  Matters arising from the Minutes of the Council held on 26 November 2015:     

1. (1) Minute  C15/067:  Co-option of Council Member:  Membership of Committees:  Further to the co-option of Mr Martin Machan to the Council at its meeting 26 November 2015  it was proposed that Mr Machan is appointed to fill vacancies on the following:  a)  Finance and General Purposes Committee,  b) Planning Committee.  At this stage there were no vacancies on the Working Groups, but Council might wish to consider providing an additional place when appropriate.  It was also agreed that John Wilkinson  is removed from the Finance and General Purposes Committee, at his request.  

RESOLVED:  Mr Martin Machan is appointed to a)  Finance and General Purposes Committee,  b) Planning Committee.  Mr John Wilkinson  is removed from the Finance and General Purposes Committee. 

1. (2) Committees and Working Groups:  Further to Minute C15/060 of the Meeting of 29 October 2015, and for further clarification, it was proposed that John Wilkinson steps down from The Strategic Planning Working Group and is replaced by Allan Brown.   

RESOLVED:   John Wilkinson is replaced by Allan Brown on the Strategic Planning Working Group.   

1. (3) Pitt Lane Working Group:  The construction work was now completed and it is proposed that the Working Group  is dissolved.   

  RESOLVED:  The Pitt Lane Working Group  is dissolved. 

There were no other matters arising from the Minutes which are not covered elsewhere on this agenda.  

C15/079.  Adjournment for questions from the public:  There being no members of the public present, the Council was not required to consider whether to adjourn the Meeting in accordance with clause 70 of Standing Orders, in order to receive questions.   

C15/080.  Reports from other authorities:  The Council received verbal reports from representatives of other Authorities:  

(1)  Mid Sussex District Council   (MSDC):  Cllr Anthony Watts Williams reported:  (1)  The District Plan  

consultation on Focused Amendments was extended to mid-January 2016, at the request of Crawley Borough Council.  (2)  

The devolution process was following two tracks:  the 3SG and Greater Brighton, but only one is likely to proceed.  If the 

3SC group proceeded it would be amongst the largest in the UK.  At this point the Clerk advised the meeting that a WSCC/SSALC briefing was due to take place 11 March 2016, and that further details would be reported to the next meeting of Council.  (3)  Northern Arc:  MSDC had retained planning advisors to assist in discussions with the developer consortium.  (4) The Local Government Financial Settlement was being adjusted such that local councils will be selffunding by the end of the current parliament.  MSDC was in a good position to accommodate these changes. (5)  The A2300 road name had now been settled as ‘Dumbrells Farm Way’.   

In response to the report, the meeting expressed concern about the process of briefing the Northern Arc advisors, to ensure that the interests of the Parish were properly represented.  A question was raised from a recent Hurstpierpoint Society meeting when it had been reported that the MSDC District Plan  and the Parish Neighbourhood Plan were in conflict over housing south of the A2300.  This was not the understanding of the Parish Council, and Cllr Colin Trumble confirmed that MSDC and the Parish Council agreed that no housing provision should be made south of the A2300 as part of the Northern Arc development.   

1. (2) West Sussex County Council County Local Committee   (WSCC/CLC) :  Cllr Peter Griffiths was not present on this occasion and no report was made.   

1. (3) Mid Sussex Association of Local Councils (MSALC) :  Rodney Jackson reported that he had attended a NALC meeting, as the West Sussex representative, and was appointed as Vice-chairman of the Policy Committee.  The issues that will be addressed include the changes to local government finance, the distribution of council tax benefit grant, the devolution process, and the opportunities for parish council clustering.   

C15/080.  Committee and Working Group minutes:  The Committee Chairmen or, in their absence the Vicechairmen, introduced each Minutes, which the Council was asked to receive and where appropriate, consider the RECOMMENDATIONS: :  

1. (1) Planning Committee  (3 December 2015) 

1. (2) Finance + General Purposes Committee (10 December 2015)  

F15/046.6  On-line banking :  The Committee had considered a proposal to move the Council’s current account banking service to Unity Bank, and to implement internet banking.  The following procedure, in line with the Financial Regulations, was agreed:  

1. 1. Authorised Bookkeeper (with an access code) prepares schedule and enters into bank system  
2. 2. Finance Committee approves the schedule for payment  
3. 3. Clerk/RFO (with a higher level access code) releases payments through internet banking 
4. 4. A copy of the schedule of payments released is printed, checked by two authorised councillors against the Committee approved schedule, and signed as correct.   
5. 5. Authorised Councillors could also have a ‘view-only’ access code to enable them to check bank statements and could see if unauthorised payments had been made  
6. 6. Para 6.11 of the Financial Regulations has provision for the safe keeping of the access code.   

It was agreed to take a RECOMMENDATION to Council.  The Council considered the recommendation and agreed that Unity Bank should continue to be monitored as part of the ongoing risk management by the Council.  The Council agreed the resolution on a unanimous vote. (Ref: BRIEFING NOTE Online Banking 3 December 2015 )  

RESOLVED:  The current account banking services are transferred to Unity Bank and that the online banking system is implemented.   

It was also suggested that the Council reviewed the number of signatories mandated to authorise the bank to undertake transactions.  It was proposed that the following are authorised signatories of the new bank account, and that a combination of any two may instruct the bank on behalf of the Council:  Stephen Hand (Chairman), Allan Brown (VC),  Judith Marsh (Committee Chairman), Bob Sampson (Committee Chairman),  Rodney Jackson (Finance Committee VC).   RESOLVED:  That the following are authorised signatories of the Unity Bank account, and that a combination of any two may instruct the bank on behalf of the Council:  Stephen Hand (Chairman), Allan Brown (VC), Judith Marsh,  Bob Sampson, Rodney Jackson.   

(3)  Traffic and Parking Working Group (8 December 2015)   

TP15/018.  Hurstpierpoint Carparking Survey:  Further to the report to the Working Group at its meeting 15 

October 2015 (Minute TP15/012) the Group considered the results of the survey in order to make RECOMMENDATIONS to Council as appropriate.  The survey of Trinity Road and Brown Twins carparks covered the periods 07.00 to 09.30 and 14.30 to 19.00 on Tuesday 29 September and Thursday 8 October 2015.  The surveys were by observation only.  It was reported that concern had been expressed that the St Lawrence School staff carpark of 12 spaces (off St Christophers Road) was not being fully utilized by the staff, but spaces were being fully taken in the Trinity Road long-stay carpark.  The considerable recent and continuing growth in car ownership and use was noted, and whatever additional provision might be made would be quickly used up.  It was also noted that the carparks are owned and managed by Mid Sussex District Council and any proposed changes to parking arrangements would be subject to their agreement.   

The Working Group considered the BRIEFING NOTE and agreed:   

1. a) To note the survey results and conclude that the only significant improvement to the long-term parking would be the addition of a 50+ space off-street carpark, but no location has yet been found. 
2. b) To note the survey results and conclude that there is sufficient benefit to justify the addition of some  short-term, 3-hour spaces within the Brown Twins carpark.  This would provide additional short-term parking at the east end of the High Street, and provide for slightly longer short-stay parking, as had been sought by some traders.  It was hoped that about 12 spaces could be released from the long-stay by better use of the St Lawrence School staff carpark.   

The Council discussed the matter in detail and some concern was expressed about reducing the number of available longterm spaces.  A suggestion was also made that the 2-hour restriction in South Avenue could be increased to 3-hour, as an alternative to the recommendation.  The matter was decided on a vote.   

(Ref:  Carparking Survey Data – Trinity Road and Brown Twins –  9 October 2015;  BRIEFING NOTE   Carparking Survey Hurstpierpoint 2015 –  2 December 2015) 

RESOLVED:  That MSDC are asked to consider changing about 12 long-stay spaces to 3-hour spaces in Brown Twins carpark, Hurstpierpoint.  

C15/081.  District Plan – Focused Amendments Public consultation:  The Council was asked to respond to the consultation by MSDC on amendments to the Pre-Submission Draft of the District Plan.  The closing deadline for comments was 31 December 2015.  As reported to Council by  Parish and Ward Member John Wilkinson at the meeting 26 November 2015 (Minute C15/071) the District Council have increased the housing targets to 13,600 in the Plan period.  This increase follows external advice regarding the response to ‘un-met housing need’  in neighbouring planning authorities.  The revisions to Sections 3.12 to 3.18 of the Plan are of particular interest, and Section 3.29 now states that  ‘There will be no necessity for the current generation of neighbourhood plans to increase their housing numbers’.  The 

Council’s attention is particularly drawn to these revisions.  There appears to be no direct impact on the Parish Council’s Neighbourhood Plan and it is therefore suggested that the Council notes the amendments and affirms the role of 

neighbourhood plans.  (Ref:  MSDC District Plan  Focused Amendments – ltr and amendments 19 November 2015)  RESOLVED:  The Council notes the District Plan Focused Amendments and affirms that areas covered by made Neighbourhood Plans are not required to take additional housing in order to meet the revised District-wide targets.   

C15/082.   Information items, correspondence received and requests:    The Council was asked to note:  

1. (1) Sussex Police : letter from  Assistant Chief Constable – 14 December 2015   
2. (2) Getting Your Message Across  NALC toolkit  (2010)  This publication has recently come ot the attention of the Parish Office.   
3. (3) MSDC Quarterly Update (November 2015)  
4. (4) South Downs National Park  – Highlights (October 2015) 

There being no other business the Chairman closed the Meeting at   9.04 pm.   Chairman