20th March 2002
Published unapproved � for ratification at the April 2nd 2002 meeting
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NOTES OF AN EXTRAORDINARY PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL ON WEDNESDAY MARCH 20TH 2002
Present:- Cllr M Burt
Cllr B Trowbridge
Cllr R Corben
Cllr E Thorne
In attendance:- Mrs D Burt (clerk) and 44 members of the public.
Apologies were received from Cllrs Calcott, Frampton and Nelson.
This meeting was called to discuss possible future development (housing and village hall) at the north side of the village, Castle Lane.
The chairman welcomed everyone and went over the background leading to this meeting.
In 2000 the owner of a parcel of land in Castle Lane approached the Parish Council with the idea of a residential extension to include a new village hall. The Parish Council had a duty to look into this offer and also wished to keep parishioners informed and did this via the Parish Magazine and Parish Council minutes posted on notice boards.
The suggested layout being looked at at this meeting is only very rough and is really only a starting point with everything negotiable. The proposed development is outside the current settlement boundary, what needed to be established was that the idea was reasonable and was the way forward.
He then went over the recent history of the Village Hall and the need for fairly urgent work to be done on it including the two porches, front windows and wall and the installation of disabled toilets, which will be essential in the very near future, also parking was always a problem. A recent lottery grant application for an extension and refurbishment was turned down with no real reason given except that insufficient benefit would be derived.
During 2000 initial discussions had taken place with the land agents, NDDC development control and long-term planners and at that time NDDC were not enthusiastic about the idea but did not dismiss it. We had been waiting since then to get some sort of sketch plan on the table, this we now have and as anticipated it has thrown up more questions than it has answered.
He said that a decision would not be achieved at this meeting because far more detail and consultation would be needed.
Cllr Corben said that more housing was inevitable sooner or later and as a council we have a duty to do the best for the community.
The chairman then opened the meeting to the public.
Some felt that extra housing and a new hall were not needed. Others felt that 2 or 3 bedroomed properties would be more of an asset than those with 1 bedroom and that a bigger, better hall was necessary with perhaps added facilities for indoor sports.
There was much discussion about the location of a new hall some felt that Castle Lane would be too far away from the village, others that Bowey Field or the Recreation Ground would be better. The Village Hall Management Committee had already dismissed the latter as not being feasible due to clashes of events with the Pavilion and football matches.
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Safe access to and from the possible new site was also a matter of concern as was school capacity.
Discussions took place on how a new hall would be funded without having the extra houses.
The discussion having been fairly prolonged a member of the public proposed that a vote be taken to suggest that the Parish Council continue discussions with the land owners agent to see if an acceptable scheme could be put together. A show of hands indicated that a majority were in favour.
A member of the public proposed that a feasibility study be carried out in parallel to build a new village hall in the recreation ground.
Councillor Trowbridge pointed out that this proposition could not be dealt with as it had not been advertised on the agenda, the chairman agreed with this and said that it anyone wished to pursue that course of action then they would need to bring it up in �Points from the Public� at a future Parish Council meeting.
The chairman thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting at 9-47 pm.
