Sidlesham Parish Council.

Sidlesham Parish Council

Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting

Held in the Church Hall, Sidlesham on Wednesday 26 May 2004 at 7:00 p.m.

Councillors present: Mr Chris Bond (Chairman), Mrs Debbie Kennedy (Vice-chairman),
Mrs Elizabeth Duke, Mrs Diana Pound, Mr Adrian Harland, Dr Trevor Dobbins.
Also present: Sixty Sidlesham Electors, Mr Peter Jones (County Councillor) and Mr John Paul (Parish Clerk)

Chris Bond opened the proceedings by welcoming all present to the meeting.

1. Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held on Wednesday 28 May 2003.
These were proposed by Mrs D Kennedy seconded by Mr A Harland and agreed by those present as being a true record to be signed by the Chairman.

2. Report of the past year by Mr C Bond (Chairman).
Mr Bond introduced all councillors individually to the electors and thanked all for their time and the effort put in during the past year.
He explained that the Parish Council was a statutory body and in representing the electors was bound within regulations and rules of conduct. Although many present knew much of the PC work others may not, therefore it was worthwhile briefly to explain the PC year.
The current meeting was the Annual Parish Meeting, always held in May for public discussion and participation of any matters to do with Sidlesham Civic Parish; it was not a meeting of the Parish Council.
Sidlesham Parish Council met in general session bi-monthly i.e. six times per year, in May the meeting (held this year on 19 May) being the AGM when councillors elected officers for the coming year. The PC also organised a Planning Committee and a Finance Committee that met as needed. Parish Council general and planning meetings were held in open session, members of the public could always attend to observe the meetings but not participate in the discussions unless invited by the PC. Agenda for these meetings were always published in advance on the PC notice boards in various parts of the Parish. Minutes of all open meeting were available to the public.
Other sub-committees / focus groups were organised as needed.

Finance Committee Main function was to consider and set the Precept for Sidlesham. The 2004/05 precept was set at £9,800, a reduction of 11% from last year when the Parish Council contributed towards the Sports Hall at the village school.

Planning Committee All members of the Parish Council may sit on this committee. During the last twelve months 58 applications were received for examination, to meet the timetable for replies to the District Council this necessitated a meeting almost every two weeks. When the Parish Council’s opinions of applications was compared with the District Council’s decisions a high correlation of opinions appeared.

Parish Council Assets
-Recreation Ground, the Sidlesham Sports and Social Club use this.
-Bus shelters, there are four in Sidlesham, including a new replacement one at Sidlesham Common.
-Ponds. During the past year Monica Lucas volunteered to be the Pond Warden, she sent her apologies for non-attendance at this meeting as it coincided with a training event.
-Footpaths and Land. E.g. Beggars Lane and Highleigh Pound.

Liaison. To put forward views and receive information representative Parish Councillors attended many outside meetings, i.e. Peninsular Community Forum (bi-monthly), Chichester Association of Local Councils (quarterly), Campaign to Protect Rural England (various e.g. roads, planning etc), District and County Council meetings (for training, planning, funding etc).

Issues. The Parish Council has a responsibility to represent the views and concerns of villagers. In the past year there were many significant items requiring a lot of effort.
FP102 This important footpath is along the north edge of the sea wall of Pagham Harbour leading from Sidlesham to Pagham. A minor breach occurred to the earth wall in October 2001, cutting through the path. The FP was closed for emergency repairs in January 2002. Since then the chronicle of events was: – Further closure notices issued in March 02, September 02, March 03, September 03. No repairs were made.
August 03- permissive FP by Environment Agency and WSCC well back from the harbour edge through a field.
October 03- Parish Council meeting with WSCC and ongoing communications since
April 04- PC site meeting with WSCC. Options put forward by WSCC were, bridge the gap or hard path at sea level. Both were objected to by the Environmental Agency and English Nature necessitating an ‘environmental impact assessment’ at a cost to the WSCC of £4000. Results are awaited. The Parish Council is determined that the FP must be reinstated. Indicating a thick file the chairman gave many thanks to Malcolm Davies-White for his tireless legal input to this issue during the year.
Pagham Harbour Local Nature Reserve
The reserve covers 20% of the area of Sidlesham Parish. The PC and many villagers have been concerned for some time that the Parish had no representation on the management.
During the year a ‘byelaw enforcement officer’ was appointed and subsequently a furore was caused in Sidlesham and Pagham by his aggressive approach to dog walkers (sometimes prompted by visiting bird watchers), leading to a prosecution.
Negotiations led to positive action in the setting up of an advisory board composed of 23 people including a representative of each Parish Council. (Chris Bond for Sidlesham). At the first meeting a proposed zoning system of dogs off lead on some paths was put forward. No decision yet but again the Parish Council do not intend that the subject should be forgotten.
TETRA
This is a new system of microwave radio communication for the Emergency Services to be installed over the whole country. In May 03 planning notification was issued for the erection of a 15m monopole mast at Bakers Farm. The Parish Council followed guidance and could not object to a ‘permitted development’ of a telephone mast under 15m. There were no major problems of appearance, materials or site.
However, many people had concerns that mobile phone masts pose a health risk, particularly at the wavelength transmitted for TETRA. This led to the formation of an action group by local people.
After consideration of this perceived health risk the District Council refused planning permission. The Parish Council supported the District Council. The installers of the system lodged an appeal that is to be heard as an inquiry by the Planning Inspectorate in September 2004. (Item below)
Highleigh Sewerage.
Following representation from residents the PC called a public meeting on 24 March that was attended by Southern Water and Water Voice. The problem to be addressed was surcharging in the sewers (total back-up due to ingress of rain water) during winter conditions. Many houses in Highleigh are then unable to discharge into the system for days. This had occurred every winter since installation in 1987 with 54 incidents since 1995.
The public meeting conclusions were: – Southern Water had no capital funds available due to OFWAT restrictions until the 2005 / 2010 period. Further surveys would be done during future problem times.
To maintain pressure on Southern Water all incidents must be reported immediately to Water Voice by every affected household individually not collectively.
Doctors Surgery.
The long established Sidlesham branch service from the East Wittering Practice closed in March following notification in January. In an attempt to maintain a village surgery the Sidlesham WI together with the Parish Council made representation to the National Health Service and a meeting was held in April with the Primary Care Trust. The reasons for closure were given as a combination of factors; – the new GP contract requirements, the necessity for 20 hours opening per week, two staff must be present. Also for the surgery in the football club much modification would be necessary to meet the Disability Discrimination Act also to meet requirements of the Health and Safety Regulations.
The conclusion was that no justification could be made by the attendance figures of 300 patient visits per year (i.e. 3 to 10 per twice weekly two hour surgery). (Item later)
B2145
This ‘curse’ of the village appears in some form on almost every PC meeting agenda. The most radical suggestion was a County Council proposal in 1971 for a By Pass, subsequently abandoned due to lack of funds.
In a further attempt to stimulate solutions to the traffic problems an action group was formed recently. Also the Parish Council was in communication with the WSCC Highways Department. (Item later).
Good Things in 2004
* The Sports Hall was commissioned and put to good use.
* A new bus service started across the Manhood Peninsular.
* Sidlesham qualified for BT Broadband.
* Natures Way gave a no-strings donation for the village environment of £1000.

3. Village Design Statement.
Mrs Pound gave an update of the project. A display stand of the project was on view in the hall. A major item in the Statement will be an evaluation of the housing in Sidlesham. This required special input, as the Parish did not have an overriding scheme e.g. thatch. Financial support for the publication of the Statement was being sought from the District and County Councils.

5. Open forum
.1 Parish Litter Pick. Mrs Kennedy opened the discussion. This annual PC organised event had run into problems. The District Council had issued a document detailing the regulation covering a litter pick that a Parish Council must follow. Although Sidlesham does now have the correct public liability insurance of £10m the requirements to train parishioners, supervise them on the roads, stop children assisting, have cones, yellow vests, flashing lights etc etc meant that an organised pick would not take place. This did not stop public-spirited parishioners collecting litter of their own volition. The Clerk had litter-picking implements if anyone wished to borrow one and could obtain yellow reflective vests, official polythene bags etc.

.2 TETRA masts. Mrs Vivian Barron spoke about the action group Sidlesham Against TETRA informing the meeting about the Public Inquiry against planning refusal scheduled to take place in Chichester on 24 September 2004. That the government backed system represented a £2.9 billion pound contract to Airwave O2 and that with so much at stake the Airwave were expected to appeal strongly against the refusal, that maintaining refusal in Sidlesham was important for the campaign to stop TETRA throughout the UK. The SAT group required funds to finance legal assistance to maintain their support of the refusal, the sum they needed was £25,000. Mrs Barron appealed for donations.
From the floor the suggestion was made that the SAT group should contact Radiation Research for backing. Mr Harland urged the action group to coordinate with other TETRA action groups. Another elector asked how the SAT organisation was constituted. The answer was privately not as a charity but with separate bank account.

.3 B2145. The Sidlesham Road Safety Action Group was formed during the year, separate from the Parish Council and composed of concerned residents.
Mr Bond started this discussion by outlining the problem of this overcrowded road that bisected the Parish. He informed the meeting of the outcome of the Parish Council sub-committee discussion with WSCC Highways manager, Mr Steve Johnson, when questions from the Parish were put forward. Detailed notes of the PC/WSCC meeting were already with the SRSAG.
The proposal to re-align the Anchor bends made in 1998 was not agreed and now is not in the WSCC suggested schemes or budget.
The B2145 through Sidlesham already met all calculations and no changes to speed limits or white lining were possible within current National Statutory Regulations.
Some traffic calming measures were possible and Mr Johnson had agreed to implement these during the summer of 2004 (verge marker posts, red road surface markings, white line renewal etc).
May 2004 ‘Village gates’ was a suggestion put forward to draw motorists’ attention to the start of the village. A drawing by Mrs M Grice of such a structure was on display. This was received by the meeting to be an idea worth pursuing by the Parish Council.
Michael Alisstone (Chairman of SRSAG) addressed the meeting. He stated that the group wanted to work on behalf of everyone in the village and that Mrs Corina Hall was the point of contact. He understood the issues of compliance with National Regulations but the group would explore what flexibility there was in the rules. The group knew there were no instant answers but asked that their endeavours should receive the support and interest of everyone.
Residents of Gorse Terrace asked that their road problems (B2201) should be considered with the B2145. Northbound traffic leaving the B2145 at speed at an acute angle off the slip road accelerated past Gorse Terrace at even greater speed.
Mr Colin Field stated that although there was still many problems with the B2145 traffic he considered the road to be safer now than only a few years ago, traffic was slower, the road was better marked and there was a footway. Traffic volume was now the main problem.
Richard Hill of CPRE stated that reduction of traffic should be the aim. That there was no incentive to take a bus to Chichester for the current bus fare of three times car parking cost in Chichester.
County Councillor Peter Jones informed the meeting that the B2145 has been a regular subject at WSCC for the seven years he has served. Unfortunately large sums of money were not available although there was within the CC continued examination and pressure for better marking, better signage (including electronic).
A question from the floor asked Mr Jones why planning permission for Selsey development was not refused because of the B2145. Mr Jones said that until three years ago traffic could only be taken into account for two junctions away from a development. The law has now changed and all new development has to submit to a ‘Traffic Impact Study’.

.4 Sidlesham Doctors Surgery. As outlined in the chairman’s report this was now closed. Mrs Liz Smart said transport now became the major issue for people to get to a surgery. The new bus service to Wittering was a help and a number of people used it (this was confirmed by agreement from the floor). Further enquiries were being made about assistance with transport e.g. through the Rural Business Trust. Mrs Smart also appealed for people to help their neighbours.

.5 Parish Council notice boards. Many present did not know where the three were (next to Manhood Lane PB, Highleigh Road PB and on the corner of Lockgate Road / Selsey Road). The meeting agreed that the notice boards were in positions more suitable to be seen by pedestrians although the majority of people now move around in cars, therefore positions where they get out need to be considered if notices are to be read.
Site suggestions were made for new notice boards: -
* Outside the Church Hall.
* At the Paddock Service Station.
* Outside Sidlesham School.
It was proposed also that better PC/community communications could be achieved by: -
* Regular entries in the Parish magazine (which it was stated would be welcomed by the vicar).
* The creation of a Parish Council or village website (one was initiated as part of the Design Statement project; but had not been progressed.

Mr Bond, before closing the meeting, thanked everyone for their attendance and for their contributions and discussion. He also thanked the WI for providing refreshments.

The meeting closed at 9:20p.m.
Sidlesham Parish Council Parish Meeting 26 May 2004