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Ringmer Parish Council Cllr A R Peters MBE, Chairman |
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Parish Council
Office, Village Hall, |
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Last Updated: 19 May 2007
MINUTES
OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
HELD
ON THURSDAY, 12 APRIL 2007 AT
RINGMER
VILLAGE HALL
A total of 73 residents, including 7 Parish Councillors, were present of whom 68 signed the attendance book. The Clerk Mr N Hall was in attendance.
1. CHAIRMAN’S OPENING REMARKS
1.1 The Chairman, Cllr. Peters, extended a special welcome to
members of the police and fire and rescue who were present and Mr Ruffles the guest speaker. He reflected on the sad loss
during the past year of Clifford Hunt, John Fletcher and Stuart Bean all of
whom had given great service to the Council and the wider community. The
Chairman also reminded the meeting of the tragic deaths of fire
2. PRAYERS
2.1 At the Chairman’s invitation the Rev. Canon Will Pratt MA
opened the meeting with prayers and those present remembered those who had
died.
3. NOTICE CONVENING THE MEETING
3.1 The Clerk read the notice convening the meeting.
4. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
4.1 Apologies were received from Mr
Cruttenden, Mrs Skeef, Mr & Mrs Batchelor and Cllrs Kay, Longhurst, Mrs Cruttenden and Mrs Woollons.
5. MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON 6 APRIL
2006
5.1 It was proposed by Cllr. Truman, seconded by Mr Greenwood, and agreed that the minutes should be signed
as a correct record.
6. MATTERS ARISING
6.1 There were no matters arising.
7. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
7.1 The Chairman referred to his written report (Appendix 1)
that had been circulated and indicated that he would be happy to take questions
on any of the issues it covered at the end of the meeting. He set out the range
of activities undertaken by the Council over the last four years. He explained
the background to the precept for 2007/2008 which had increased by 1.9% to
£75,897 and also outlined how much the Council had benefited from developers
contributions, what money had been spent to date and future plans for expending
the remainder.
7.2 The Chairman paid particular thanks to Cllr. Kay for his
extensive work on planning matters and to the Council’s
7.3 It was proposed by District Cllr. Wilson, seconded by
Cllr. Wilcox, and agreed that the Chairman’s report be accepted.
7.4 Following the Chairman’s report Dr Parker was invited to
update the meeting on information pertaining to the wind turbine that he had
previously notified the Chairman about. The Chairman made it clear to the
meeting that the intention was not to reopen the debate which had been held at
a special meeting earlier in the year but simply to allow any new relevant
information to be brought to the meetings attention in a neutral way. Dr Parker
referred to information that had arisen from subsequent meetings of the
Campaign for the Protection of Rural England and the South Downs Joint
Committee.
7.5 The Rev. Canon Will Pratt thanked the Council for the
excellent way in which the old churchyard was being maintained.
8. LOCAL POLICING REPORT
8.1 The Chairman welcomed Chief Inspector Johnson, Sergeant
McDonald and PCSO’s Clarke and Dunkling.
8.2 Inspector Johnson reported that burglary was now at an all
time low in Ringmer and violent crime continued to fall. Regrettably criminal
damage cases had remained unchanged. She explained that the firework factory
fire was still under investigation and, therefore, could not be commented on.
Inspector Johnson introduced the village’s second PCSO Andrew Dunkling who had
been appointed earlier in the year. This had led to a greatly increased street
presence as he, and fellow PCSO Cathy Clarke, worked different shifts. It was
confirmed that the policing arrangements for the Remembrance Parade would again
include the stoppage of traffic during the service at the memorial. Appreciation
was expressed for the continuing work of RADAR and finally Inspector Johnson
paid a personal tribute to the work of the late Cllr. Stuart Bean who had
worked tirelessly and effectively as liaison councillor
with the police.
8.3 A resident expressed dissatisfaction with the visible
police presence in the village and Inspector Johnson responded to this comment
and offered for her
9. FIRE & RESCUE SERVICE
9.1 The Chairman invited Station Commander Dexter Allen, of
Lewes Fire Station, to address the meeting. Mr Allen
outlined the services’ priorities and stressed that in Ringmer the main danger
was not fires but road safety and he explained what local actions it was
undertaking to address this and the wish to work closely with local organisations and businesses. He concluded by thanking the
community for its support and expressions of condolence following the death of
10. PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
10.1 The Chairman invited questions and comments on the issues
raised during the meeting and any other matters of concern.
10.2 Mr Greenwood enquired if a number
of the lanes within the village could be considered for designation as ‘quiet
lanes’ under a recent government policy initiative. The Clerk explained that
the County Council were not pursuing this policy as
they did not have the resources to work up such schemes and had doubts about
their effectiveness. Considerable interest was, however, indicated by those
present and it was agreed to keep this matter under review.
10.3 Mr Hockley asked if the Parish
Council was satisfied that it was now getting all the monies due to it from
developers’ contributions and confident that the District Council was
co-operating and releasing all such monies to which it was entitled. The Clerk
confirmed that this was the case.
11. GUEST SPEAKER – MR D RUFFLES
11.1 The Chairman welcomed Mr. Ruffles who gave a very
informative talk on the history of Ringmer Football Club to an interested
audience. Cllr. White proposed a vote thanks to Mr
Ruffles for a very interesting and well-received talk and presented him with a
gift.
12. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
12.1 The Chairman thanked everyone for attending and invited them
to stay for refreshments kindly provided by the Ringmer Evening W I. A date for
the next meeting would be set in due course.
The meeting closed at 8.45pm
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