1) Attendance and Apologies

Jim Aldridge – Chair. Mary Beechey, Pat Bingham, Brian Greenfield, Andrew Gough, Malcolm Greenwood, Oz Hall, Brian May, Kevin Morrell, Alf Oliver, Anne Parkinson Ivan Ould

No Parishioners present and no Apologies received:.

Kevin Morrell opened the meeting with a tribute and a minute’s silence for Eric Knight, who had lived and worked in the Parish all of his life.

2) Parishioners’ Open Forum

H & BBC Local Development Framework – Core Strategy – The Chair commented on rumours, which had been circulating saying that 30 houses were to be built in Sheepy Magna and he referred to the Core Strategy Document. Section 4.43 defines key rural centres and Section 4.53 defines rural villages. Section 4.54 states "rural villages (including Sheepy Magna) will be the focus of limited development". Section 4.55 and 4.56 refers to rural hamlets (including Sibson) and states, "only limited development is proposed and this will be confined to infill". Section 4.64 said "200 dwellings need to be provided in rural areas…..these to be distributed around rural villages (of which there were 7), but no numbers for Sheepy Magna had been decided upon. Section 4.68 also states "all sites with developments of 6 or more dwellings, or 0.2 ha in rural areas, 40% of the dwellings will need to be affordable, at least 75% must be social rent housing"

For further information Councillors should visit Hinckley & Bosworth website and look at the Core Strategy

Kevin Morrell responded that he had met with Katrina Barlow, the officer in charge of the Local Development Framework and she would be contacting the Parish Council within the next month. In the meantime, he asked Councillors to consider where houses could be sited. He also said that H & BBC would be considering the infrastructure.

The Chair said that 3 Expressions of Interest were on the website, 2 in Sheepy Parva and 1 in Sibson. He also asked Councillors to stop rumours now that they knew the facts.

HGV’s on B4116 – The Chair read out an email from Pat Clark re Heavy Goods Vehicles on the Main Road, Sheepy Magna and reported that he had a conversation with Mrs Clark and asked her to provide the name of the company, who they believe are sending their lorries along this road and the Clerk will write to them. It was pointed out that it was a Main Road and there was no legal reason, why the HGVs could not use the road, however, TNT and Aldi were co-operating with the Parish Council and advising their lorries not to use the road.

Oz Hall reported that TNT has been monitoring the lorries, which are coming through the village.

3) Minutes of Last Meeting – It was noted that Brian Greenfield should not have been in attendance and then the minutes were approved as a true and correct record.

4) Matters Arising from Minutes

• Pedestrian Crossing – Sheepy – LCC advise that an investigation to be carried out. Ivan Ould pointed out that the work is prioritised on a points system basis and it is unlikely that the crossing in Sheepy would score high points as the system was biased towards urban areas.
• Ground Maintenance contract – an opportunity to tender had been sent to 3 contractors (including Brian Mee, whose increase was 4% on the previous year.). After calculation of the 3 tenders, it was agreed at a meeting of the Clerk and Chair and later verified by Councillors May and Hall that the grass cutting contract for 2008/9 should go to Countryside Gardens with a 2 month probationary period. This would mean a saving of £900 a year to the Parish Council. References and a copy of their Health and Safety Policy and Public Liability Insurance had been received. This was a 3-year rolling contract dependent upon the quality of work.
• Overhanging trees at churchyard. The Chair confirmed that Brian Sutton had cut these down and an invoice for the work had been received.
• Sign at Orton Lane – an email had been received from Sally Crossfield stating that the work would be carried out on Thursday (6 March).
• Flooding – the Chair reported that he had spoke to Severn Trent and they were checking out the sewer pipes with CCTV prior to putting the non return valve in. There was nothing to report as yet from Environment Agency.

5) Report by County Councillor – Ivan Ould reported on the Cabinet Meeting on 3^rd March, which included decisions on the following: pilot project of travel vouchers of £50 for young people, similar to the scheme for the elderly; LCC were selling off property but these would contain covenants to stop unsuitable development; there would be higher charges for parking enforcement; the County’s waste cannot keep going to landfill and LCC were looking at either incineration or bio-degradable works.

Ivan also reported that he planned to meet Warwickshire County Council re withdrawal of plans for a roundabout at A5/A444 junction and also the Highways Forum had discussed BOTATs and Bull in Oak junction. With regards to flooding – LCC were putting money into flood protection and also Ivan was to talk to Environment Agency re river dredging.

The LCC were in the top 3 in the country for Children’s Services and had received a good report for Youth Services. The Council Tax was 3.9% but government had asked for cuts of £11 million over the next two years.

Ivan noted that the 40 mph speed limit on A444 was not working and was requesting vehicle-activated signs. The speed limit on the Main Road, Sheepy Magna was discussed Ivan said that the Police would not enforce the limit unless a traffic regulation order was obtain. Ivan to try and get 30 mph on the Main Road. He said that if this was not successful, it might be a good idea to get a village petition. Jim Aldridge reported that the School Travel Plan had been submitted.

6) Report by Borough Councillor – Kevin Morrell presented the report and said that Reg Ward (who represents Sibson and Upton) was willing to attend meetings if we needed him for anything. Kevin reported that, at the final meeting of the Leisure Centre Working Party, it was agreed to re build and it was hoped that this would be on the land next to Hinckley Football Club. With regards to the Council Offices, a phased withdrawal from the building was recommended with greater emphasis on home-working and satellite offices.

7) Correspondence

The following was discussed:

Duck Signs at Sheepy Parva – LCC had contacted the Clerk following a complaint from a parishioner that the duck signs had been removed. After discussion and a vote, the majority of the Councillors were in favour of replacing the duck signs and the Clerk to inform LCC.

Membership of RCC – all in agreement that this should be renewed.

Funding Fair – 11 March at Huncote – posters to go on notice board

Leicestershire Association of Local Councils – membership was discussed and it was agreed by all that this would not be taken up.

8) Crime and Safety - Andrew Gough reported that Travellers had made an application for 1 acre of land at Higham on Hill (1 permanent and 1 temporary). Kevin Morrell said that this was up for permit by H & BBC and Jim Aldridge pointed out that it was included in the Core Strategy.

Andrew also reported that the Mobile Community Bus was to start to take youth facilities to villages. The Local Intelligence Network was providing recorded messages and the latest was to make parishioners aware of a scam, which was operating in the area. Callers were saying they were from Neighbourhood Watch and asking parishioners when they would be in to talk to them and then calculating when the houses would be unoccupied.

The Crime figures would be in the Borough Bulletin but for the year April to March 2008, overall crime was down by 14%.

Andrew also informed the meeting of a conversation he had with PC Anderson concerning traffic and HGVs speeding through the village. It was felt that the Parish Council could not do any more and he explained that one of the priorities of Market Bosworth police was to try and get evidence of vehicles who are taking a short cut down country lanes and asked parishioners to note registration numbers and name of company, if possible and report to Market Bosworth Police. The 3 priorities for the police in the area were: speeding, parking by schools and HGVs down country lanes.

9) Accounts and Signing of cheques

Asset Register – it was proposed by Andrew Gough, seconded by Malcolm Greenwood and all in agreement that the Domesday Book and Photocopier no longer have any book value. Also with effect from 31 March 2008, it was agreed that assets be depreciated by the straight-line method, i.e. the same amount each year over the period of its lifetime until it reaches its residual value. Dog Bins to have life of 5 years: Bus Shelter to have life of 10 years: Car Park Light to have life of 10 years. This will not affect the insurance value.

The following cheques were presented for payment in March:

P Roberts Dog Bins £100

M Bassett Salary/com/tel £576.89

Sheepy Magna Memorial Hall Donation to staging £2.000

RCC Membership £50.00

Carol Riddington Design of Village sign £100

G Batchelor Supply of winter bulbs £52.00

H& BBC Emptying litter bins £26.00

Viking Stationery £38.43*

J Aldridge Travel expenses £42.41

B Sutton Trimming trees churchyard £117.50*

A Gough Travel expenses £8.92

*includes VAT

10) Planning

The following applications were received without comments:

08/00036/CLU Application for a certificate of lawfulness for an existing use in breach of planning permission, Spinney Bungalow, Wellsborough

08/00085/fUL Extension/alteration to 1 Main Road, Sheepy Magna

08/00081/FUL Landscaping around Lake, Elms Farm, Sheepy

08/00176/TPO Work to oak tree at 8 Oakfield Way, Sheepy

It was noted that the following application has been approved

07/01461/FUL Loft Conversion, Rocklyn, Mill Lane, Sheepy Parva

11) Any Other Business

Andrew Gough asked everyone to note the telephone number and email address for our local beat officer – Graham Anderson – 0116 486140. Email graham.anderson@leicestershire.pnn.police.uk.+