FARNHAM ROYAL PARISH COUNCIL
Mrs. K H Holder
Clerk to the Council
clerk@farnhamroyal-pc.gov.uk
01753 648497
Sherriff House
The Broadway
Farnham Common
SL2 3QH
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF FARNHAM ROYAL PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON
MONDAY 24th NOVEMBER 2014 AT 7.30 P.M. IN FARNHAM ROYAL VILLAGE
HALL
Present
Mr. Bill Youel (Chairman)
Mr. John Hodges
Mr. Trevor Clapp
Mr. Clive Robinson
Mr. Richard Thomas
Mr. Karl Tipping
Mr. Bob Milne
Mrs. Hilda Holder – Clerk
Nine members of the public.
The Chairman declared the meeting open at 7.30pm. The meeting was adjourned for
OPEN FORUM recorded at the end of these minutes. The Chairman reconvened the
meeting.
14/120/PC Apologies for absence
Mrs. Heidi Hodgkins , Mr. Peter Cathcart, Mr. Alan French, Mrs. Vicky Thompson and
District Councillors David Anthony and Dev Dhillon.
14/121/PC Minutes of the meeting held on 27th October 2014
These were approved and signed by the Chairman.
14/122/PC Matters Arising (not covered elsewhere on the agenda)
122.1 The Chairman advised that BCC were holding a devolution meeting on 4 th
December mainly for parishes who had indicated their willingness to participate. He said
he would not be able to attend but any other councillor would be welcome to go
provided they understood that this Council’s position was that it was not willing to
consider the offer further unless BCC narrowed down its offer. He added that SBALC
had requested a presentation and that only Amersham and Princes Risborough had
offered to be cluster leaders.
122.2 The Chairman reported that he had been in touch with the Environment Agency
about Allerds Farm who said that they might have done more if they had been consulted
earlier but at this stage they had insufficient evidence with which to take any action.
14/123/PC To receive a presentation on cyber safety awareness
Mrs. French explained that she wished to raise awareness of Cyber Safety – which is
the safe and responsible use of Information and Communication. At the end of April she
had set up a Working Party known as “e –WarenessNetwork” comprised of teachers
and governors from FCJS, FCIS, St. Mary’s Farnham Royal and the Community Library.
She said all children are taught as part of the National Curriculum how to be safe and
how to look after themselves when they are using the internet and of greater concern is
what happens after that.
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Although there were many benefits of the internet, the main issues of bullying,
grooming, addictive behaviour and exposure to pornography were a result of the
seemingly easy access to unsuitable websites and chat rooms by young children which
are changing their attitudes or their behaviours and too often exposing them to risks and
other dangers. Also research shows that parents are not engaging sufficiently with the
issues/dangers often through ignorance, naivety or they are too busy themselves.
The Working Party’s vision is to have an informed and safe Cyber Community with the
aim to keep our children in control and safe on-line by equipping and informing children,
parents and carers so that together they can evaluate and minimise the risks of using
the internet. They want to engage the whole community to become more aware of the
benefits and the dangers of the internet and work together to help keep all of us safe.
They will be using the Community Library to hold events e.g. in February 2015 in and
around World Internet Safety Day. An email address e-warenessnetwork@hotmail.com
has also been set up for this purpose and all input will be treated confidentially.
In response to questions she said that filtering is not a perfect solution; it can catch key
words and filter but it can filter the wrong content and so private enterprise will object.
Perhaps the way forward may be to opt in and pay for adult content but again that is
fraught with difficulties.
Mr. Banks asked if the work could be linked in with the Childrens Centre for younger
children. The Chairman thanked Mrs. French and added that he felt parents needed
advice on how best to protect their children.
14/124/PC To consider whether to support the proposals to install tennis club
floodlighting at FCSC
124.1 Mr. Clapp declared an interest in this matter and left the room.
124.2 Mr. Coull from FCSC explained that, in their efforts to improve facilities, FCSC
wished to install floodlights to allow tennis to be played until 9pm. FCSC had written to
neighbours and held a public meeting on 11th November. Five neighbours had attended
and three had raised objections as they were worried about security and the visual
impact of the floodlights. Accordingly, FCSC were considering security lights on the
poles and whether to plant more trees. Before applying for planning permission they
would like the support of the Council.
124.3 The Chairman confirmed that the Council had received some complaints from
residents. He added that the Council was in a difficult position as many councillors
might be regarded as having a personal or prejudicial interest in the matter so on this
occasion he felt the Council should defer judgment until a planning application was
received. Mr Robinson declared a personal interest as a member of the tennis club.
124.4 Mr. Milne declared a personal interest in the matter. He made the point that
anyone who was a neighbour or member of FCSC or who played tennis there could be
said to have a personal interest. He said he did not believe he had a prejudicial interest
and had been advised by SBDC’s monitoring officer that only pecuniary interests could
amount to a prejudicial interest in practise. He said advice given on this issue by the
Clerk was incorrect and had been superseded by recent changes in the law.
124.5 The Chairman said that there was also a requirement in the Code of Conduct not
to bring the Council into disrepute. He said this was likely to be a controversial issue
and it was possible that even when the Council received a copy of the planning
application the right thing to do might be to not comment given the close links of so
many members with FCSC.
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14/125/PC To consider the Council’s response to the decision by the Secretary
of State relating to the Khalsa school
The Chairman acknowledged that the overriding issue was that Khalsa would become
the nearest school resulting in children losing free transport for example to Beaconsfield
schools. He referred to a draft letter to Mr Pickles from the parish council in support of
SBDC which had been circulated to councillors. Following debate the draft letter was
agreed with reference being made to the fact that the school represented a minority
faith group. It was also agreed to copy the letter to SBDC, BCC and neighbouring
affected parishes encouraging them to write in support if they so wished. Mr. Thomas
asked what practical advice could be given to local parents. The Clerk was asked to
consider how Stoke Poges parish council had approached giving such advice and to
update the website and notice boards accordingly.
14/126/PC To consider ideas for LAF projects
Mr. Milne explained that he and Mr. Robinson were the council’s representatives on the
LAF which consisted of five or six parishes and County and District councillors. Each
year funding was made available for extra traffic related budget issues and the LAF was
meeting next week to consider ideas for the 2015/16 budget. The only idea put forward
so far from this council had been to undertake a feasibility study for a cycle path from
One Pin Lane to Forge Drive. Other ideas suggested at the meeting included whether
dropped kerbs were needed for the approach to the Doctor’s surgery and the flooding at
Elm Close.
14/127/PC To consider whether to fund the reinstatement of wooden posts on
BCC land at the corner of One Pin Lane
The Chairman had circulated photographs prior to the meeting and reported that several
posts had been damaged or removed. It was not clear why the posts had been erected
originally but they did not prevent anyone parking on the land. BCC had said they would
not replace or re- install posts but that the parish council could do so at a cost of £125
for each ‘edgemaster’ post. The total cost was likely to be £4,000. Future maintenance
would also be a matter for the parish council. It was agreed that the parish council
should not take on any responsibility for the posts. BCC should be asked to remove the
damaged posts but retain what is still standing.
14/128/PC
Planning
128.1 Planning comments submitted since the last meeting were approved.
128.2 Planning decisions were noted.
14/129/PC Finance
129.1 Mr. Hodges reported that this month’s cashbook expenditure figures were higher
than usual but included two months’ expenditure. Payments as per the cashbook
circulated prior to the meeting were approved for payment. Receipts were noted as per
the cashbook.
129.2 Mr. Hodges reported that the Finance Committee had met just before the Council
meeting and had considered income and expenditure to date and likely income and
expenditure to the year end together with the level of reserves and forecasted income
and expenditure for next year. The recommendation was that the Finance Committee
saw no reason to increase the precept. It was agreed that the precept for 2015-2016
should stay at £115,000.
129.3 In response to questions, Mr. Hodges confirmed that this did not preclude any
new initiatives for capital projects as these could be funded out of reserves.
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14/130/PC Any Other Business
130.1 The Chairman reported that Mr. French had provided an update on the
community orchard. Following the vandalism a number of new trees were required.
£233 had been expended to obtain new trees, two had already arrived.
130.2 The Chairman reported that he had observed that three new telecoms cabinets
had been installed on Kingsway Green. TfB had been asked what they knew about
these.
130.3 The Chairman reported that the Christmas lights had been switched on but some
were faulty. Only five of the seven mistletoe lights were working and only about a third
of the lights near the car park and on the Farnham Royal tree were working. It was
unlikely that the suppliers could attend and make repairs as this was a busy time for
them. The parish council would need to decide whether to obtain new lights or to
continue to repair these lights which had already lasted several years longer than
originally expected. The suppliers would be asked to test the lights before switch off and
review what to do then. Mr. Hodges recommended that £350 be set aside to try and
repair the lights on the Farnham Royal tree before Christmas.
130.4 Mr. Clapp would shortly circulate a copy of the proposal from the communications
company the parish council had engaged in relation to the Parish Plan. They would be
asked to make a presentation at the January meeting where Mr. Clapp would be
seeking approval to proceed with the proposal. Expenditure of between £4,000 to
£6,000 was being proposed. Mr. Milne was asked to enquire whether any LAF funding
might be available to assist.
130.5 The Clerk advised that a small Christmas social would be held in the office on
Wednesday 17th December at 11.30am. All welcome.
14/131/PC Next meeting
The Chairman wished everyone Merry Christmas and the meeting closed at 9.07pm.
The next meeting will be on Monday 26th January 2015 at 7.30pm at Farnham Common
Village Hall.
NOTES from the public open forum of the meeting
Jerry Houdret thanked the Council for its contribution to the church roof project which
had now completed within budget and on time. He voiced his concerns about how to
respond to Mr Pickles’ disregard for the principles of the Localism Act by overturning
local views and the Local Authority’s decision.
David Banks thanked the Council for its donation to the FC Village Hall and added his
voice to Jerry Houdret’s opinions. He said the issue here was not about ‘faith’ issues but
the genuine danger that children whose parents or carers couldn’t afford transport costs
elsewhere will be forced to send their children to the Khalsa school.
Jonathan Dodd said that Khalsa would now be the nearest school for six of the
surrounding parishes but it should not have been placed in South Bucks but in Slough
where there is a proven need for it. Free schools were supposed to mean greater
choice for parents but that is not what is happening.
This concludes the meeting.
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