Extracts Council Minutes 

13th March 2012

B&NES PRESENTATION – TOWN HALL PLANNING APPLICATION

Derek Quilter (Divisional Director for Project Management, B&NES Council) and David Bellotti (Cabinet Member for Community Resources) attended the meeting to do a presentation on the overall scheme.

A model of the development was brought in: this will be put on display at the Library. Points made in the presentation were:

·         Planning application registered 9th March 2012

·         Closing date for comments is 9th April 2012

·         There will be an exhibition in the Library from w/c 19th March for 6 weeks.

·         Target planning decision date – June 2012

·         Vacation of Town Hall – June 2012

·         Vacation of retail units – July 2012

·         Works start autumn of 2012

·         Works completed Autumn 2014 

 

Can Ashton Way cope with the traffic and could a pilot scheme be done? Yes a demonstration/temporary road change will be undertaken. The High Street is used as a short cut and it is hoped that cars will be diverted naturally onto the bypass. Road signage will be improved upon. It was also mentioned that the Ashton Way/Charlton Road roundabout (close to Tesco’s) needed looking at.

It was felt that whilst the consultation has been excellent it is envisaged that the only possible problem area could be Highways. The reply was that as this isn’t a planning issue it won’t be covered in the plans.

Car parking – more spaces will be provided at the initial stages of the development. No car parking area will be completely closed at anytime as efforts will be made to minimise the impact of car parking at all times. The issues of car parking spaces being taken up by B&NES Council employees could be managed by B&NES Council. Ashton Way has capacity so this area could be looked at and other areas for employees were also being considered.

Will there be a clock – yes and this will be done as an Arts Project.

Will there be a reduction in library space/shelves – this is not known.

Where is the temporary library going? In a location by the Sports Centre.

When will the new traffic scheme be implemented? – not sure. It was suggested that it should be done first before the construction traffic arrives. Construction workers will also require car parking spaces and it was suggested that out of town areas could be provided and the workers transported in. Cadburys would be a good site. This suggestion was taken on board.

A resident spoke about a performance area and asked if it would be possible to have fly scenery – this would not be possible in the chosen area in the development.

It was mentioned that the next Town Council planning meeting was after the deadline for the re-development planning application, it was also felt that due to the importance of this application the whole of the Town Council shall be involved. The Town Clerk said that a special meeting could be arranged before the deadline.

KEYNSHAM MOSAICS

Due to the re-development of the Town Centre the mosaics have to be re sited. Members were handed a photograph of a proposed site in the Memorial Park. It was felt that this site was not suitable as it is not visible enough and therefore there could be issues with vandalism. It was also mentioned that this area was subject to flooding.

It was suggested that B&NES Council be asked for suggestions. The recommendation from the Keynsham in Bloom Working Party - that the Town Council take full ownership of the mosaics once they are re sited was discussed. It was felt that not enough information was provided. Which ones do the Town Council own, what state are they in and how much is it envisaged that it will cost to maintain them after ownership?

14th February 2012

  •  Good Citizen Award - The Chairman welcomed the speaker to the meeting who then spoke in support of their nomination.  The Chairman thanked her.  A final decision will be made at the forthcoming panel meeting and any award will be made at the annual Town meeting in April. 
  • Taylor Wimpey - Proposed plans for the Somerdale site - Councillor Hellier welcomed Nigel Holland (Managing Director), Gregg Wilkinson (Land and Planning Director) and Philip Court (Associate Technical Director) of Taylor Wimpey to the meeting.  Nigel thanked the Town Council for their invitation and for the opportunity to answer questions on the proposed plans for the Somerdale site.
  • Internal Audit 2011-2012 - It was noted that an interim internal audit was carried out on 19th December 2011,  the auditors were pleased to report that in the areas examined to date, the finanical control systems in place at the Council continued to operate effectively with no significant areas of concern.
  • Keynsham Railway Station - This matter was discussed and it was agreed that the Town Council should continue to lobby regarding the poor information service at the station, especially as the recently installed audio information point is not always working.

10th January 2012

  The following questions were received from Councillors:

'Councillor Brian Jenkins and I attended the Bristol Airport Council liaison meeting and were impressed with the intention to work with local councils. We were again invited to send a group to the airport for a tour of the operation and ask Keynsham Town Council 'would you like to have a group visit to the airport summer 2012?'

 ‘At the November meeting of Council I asked if we could write to the Factory Manager of the Fry’s site and request a meeting in order to ascertain the current position regarding the future of the site. In view of the recent announcement regarding the site can the Town Clerk please write to Nigel Holland the Managing Director of Taylor Wimpey in Bristol and ask that he meet with the Town Council as soon as possible to discuss ideas for the site’.

 ‘In view of the letter written by the Leader of B&NES Council, Councillor Paul Crossley and published in the Evening Post on Saturday can the Town Council write to Councillor Crossley to ascertain what action he has taken to rectify the state of the station as described by him. Can we also please write to Network Rail complaining about the state of the station and in particular request that real time signs are erected as soon as possible?'

  • That the Town Council agrees in principal that a Youth Newsletter is produced in partnership with other youth agencies and that the cost of producing it is shared.  
  • Swings at Holmoak - due to the information received in the report all agreed that it would be wasting money if the swings were replaced at the present time. It was mentioned that when the swings are removed a sign should be erected to notify residents of the reasons why the swings are not presently being replaced.
  • Members agreed to take up the opportunity to receive some free non-political training and that a workshop style session would be the preferred choice of training.
  • That £4,000 funding for Arts Development is to be administered through the Arts Working Party but approval will be given by the full Town Council for any funding to be released.
  • The Town Council approved it's budget for the next financial year (2012/13) and set the precept at £443,811. This is an increase of 2% on last year and will mean that each household pays £1.51p per week for the services provided.  

  13th December 2011

  • The disabled ramp for Keynsham Railway Station has been agreed.
  • That Councillors G Hellier, D Johnson, L O’Brien and K Simmons be appointed as Directors to the new     Keynsham Music Festival Association Ltd Company and that they serve 3 years to fall in line with elections to save changes of Directors every year (thereafter they will serve a 4 year term).
  • That the draft budget be noted as being accepted, with the agreed changes and be presented to the January meeting of the Town Council to agree the level of precept to be levied in 2012/2013.  
  •  It was mentioned that the monies put in the budget for items at Holmoak play area need to be considered carefully due to the development in the area.         
  • That B&NES Council is advised that the Town Council would like the name of the Street to be Chewton Close. 
  • That there will be no replacement for the Arts Development Worker’s post but that an Arts Budget will be retained for the purpose of providing Arts grants for groups in Keynsham to bid for, which could be managed through the Grants Working Party.
  • It was requested that all the Town Council staff involved with the Victorian Evening be thanked by the Town Council for a successful event.  

  15th November 2011

  •  Allotments – that the £2,000 in earmarked reserves previously agreed to be spent on fencing, be spent on hedge laying as requested by the allotment association. 

·         That Councillor C Fricker is the Manor Road Community Woodland representative. 

·         Members liked the new style newsletter and felt it was an improvement. A question was asked if the new style newsletter was more expensive to produce. The Town Clerk reported that in fact it was less expensive. 

·         After a brief discussion it was agreed on the following formal response regarding the re development consultation:

          ‘Keynsham Town Council supports the speedy re-development but are unable to give     detailed comments.   The Town Council look forward to greater clarification on car parking and traffic management’.    

11th October 2011 

  •  The following awards were received for the South West in Bloom competition:

Portman Cup – Silver Award to Keynsham – in the floral campaign to beautify the cities, towns and villages of the South West of England.

The Sutton Seed Cup – for outstanding area of nature conservation – awarded to Manor Road Community Woodland.

It’s Your Neighbourhood Award – level 5 – outstanding – awarded to Old Vicarage Green Residents Association.

Thanks were given to all those involved for their hard work and efforts on achieving a Silver Award for this years South West in Bloom competition.

  •  The Town Council is to have a representative on the Manor Road Woodland Management Committee.

·         Draft Core Stragety - when the draft of the concluding points came out it wasn’t clear therefore there has been no submission as the agenda suggests. The deadline is Friday 21st October therefore it was requested that a meeting take place to fine tune the response and to be i) accurate in what the Town Council are saying and ii) be clear in what the Town Council are saying.

 13th September 2011

  • That the Amenities Committee will not be reinstated.
  •  That the Town Council has now satisfied the prescribed statutory criteria required to qualify as an eligible Town Council and that the Community Engagement Strategy be received and approved.
  •  It was reported that Churches Together were interested in celebrating the Queens Jubilee. The general feeling was that a street party in the High Street was the preference as due to the Music Festival and the Youth Fest being in the Memorial Park another park event was not necessary. Councillor B Simmons said he would put £2,000 of his Councillors Incentive money for next year towards the event. After a lengthy discussion it was suggested that the Keynsham Business Association, Churches Together and the Town Council meet to discuss this further.
  • Street naming – residential development rear of Grange Hotel, Bath Road. All agreed that the word ‘Chew’ in the street name was the most appropriate.
  • That a joint working arrangement with the Youth Service and Butterflies goes ahead for 6 months with a report at the end of this period.

16th August 2011

  ·         Mr Adam Heard spoke and presented a signed petition regarding a disabled ramp being installed at Keynsham Train Station. The petition has been signed by 1000 Keynsham residents and Jacob Rees-Mogg has also signed it and will take it to Parliament. Mr Heard has been informed that the ramp is in the pipeline but there has been a lack of information and a date is unknown therefore he wants to present the petition to the Town Council to hopefully push this matter forward. Councillors B Simmons said that Network Rail had put a bid in but had to resubmit it due to the bid not being high enough. B&NES Council have £50K for the project and Network Rail will know in September if the bid has been successful or not. If successful it is anticipated that the project will be completed by March 2013. There is little that Keynsham Town Council can do due to the financial implications of the project, however it was suggested that the petition be received and sent on to Network Rail and that Mr Heard also presents the petition to B&NES Council. Comments were made about the cost of the project and how very expensive it seemed.

 ·         Derek Quilter (B&NES Council) attended the meeting to speak on options for the new proposals for the Wellsway Sports Hall. Huw Lewis (architect) gave a presentation and took questions.  Concerns were expressed regarding the sustainability and thermal efficiency as it has been reported that it doesn’t meet the government’s recommendations - the building will comply with building regulations which have controls regarding environment impact and sustainability. Concerns from the public were about the access and noise. It was suggested that the car parking be moved away from resident’s properties. This had been looked into but Highways were not in favour of this as there were concerns about the increase of traffic from Bath Road. The same restrictions on pedestrians will apply/remain.

 ·         The Clerk is to organise a site visits and prepare a report regarding reinstating the Amenities Committee.

 ·         Cemetery Headstone testing is to start in September.

  ·         The Clerk is to organise for Councillors to visit Manor Rd Woodland.

19th July 2011

  • Directors of the R.U.H. give a presentation on the R.U.H. becoming a NHS Foundation Trust and invited the Town Council to become members. After the presentation questions were taken. Brochures and leaflets were handed out and more are available at the Town Council office. 
  • S106 was discussed in detail and concerns were expressed about the suggestion of how the money was to be distributed and the membership of the group who may make that decision. It was felt that these decisions should be make by Keynsham Town Councillors and B&NES Ward Councillors only. The Town Council do not want the money to be given away as small grants.  
  • The Town Council formally approved the Keynsham Arts Plan 2011-14.
  • That a parking permit is not purchased from B&NES Council for the Chairman of the Town Council but that Councillors may claim back car parking costs after this has been confirmed by the Town Clerk.
  • That a job evaluation be carried out by SW Provinical Employers.
  • That the Deputy Town Clerks hours be increased to 37 hours a week.
  • That a time and motion/organisation and method study will not be carried out externally.
  • A report on the appointment of an internal auditor for 2011/12 will go to the next meeting of the Internal  Audit Committee due to be held on 20th July 2011 and recommendations will be presented to the next full Town Council meeting.
  • The Town Clerk has been informed by Warren Payne, Building Surveyor (B&NES Council) that works to the footpath along Avon Mill Lane, adjacent to the lower play area, are being considered for improvements to the ramp side of the bandstand and widening of the path to the play area adjacent to the top play area.

14th June 2011

  •  Last week a number of volunteers, staff from B&NES Council, did volunteering for a day. They painted the Community Room in Carpenters Lane and worked at the Cemetery doing dry stone walling in the compost area. At the volunteers evening hosted by B&NES Council the volunteers reported that they were very pleased with the volunteering work/day at the Cemetery and that the Town Councils grounds staff were to be complimented and thanked. One of the volunteers was so impressed he is going to continue working on the dry stone wall to help get the job completed.
  • The Clerk reported that the toilets in the park were discussed in detail at a recent park forum meeting, Jim Nash from B&NES Council is aware of all the complaints etc and has promised to do something about it sooner rather than later. Through this forum (which is made up of the park users) the Town Council will be able to keep on top of the situation now that Jim Nash has promised to do something about this. 
  • That Roy Staddon be co-opted onto the Town Council (vacancy 1) and that Tony Crouch be co-opted (vacancy 2).
  • That the schedule of recommendations of the Grants Working Party be agreed for payment by the Town Council.
  •  S106 – PROPOSAL FOR COMMUNITY BUILDING FUNDS The Chair reported that due to new information been given at the previous nights Keynsham Development Advisory Group that this item could not be discussed at this meeting and that it should be referred to the July meeting or a later one if required. It was also reported that the five year period previously mentioned by B&NES Council is in fact ten years. This has now been confirmed therefore the urgency is not as immediate.  

17th May 2011

  •   Councillor G Hellier was elected Chairman of the Council for the municipal year  2011/2012. 
  •   Councillor C Fricker was elected Vice Chairman of the Council for the municipal year 2011/12 

 5th April 2011

  • The Park Cafe will be taking over the running of the multi-sports as from Monday 11th April 2011.
  •  The Clerk has been advised by the Big Lottery Fund that our entry for The People’s Millions has been unsuccessful. 
  • TimeOut report - several questions were asked regarding the report. It was suggested that a recommendation be put to the new Council to earmark money in the next financial year for TimeOut due to the uncertain future of the premises/staff. 
  • Playground inspections – the report regarding changes to the playground inspections was positively received and members were pleased that savings could be made whilst providing a better and more efficient service.          

 8th March 2011

  •  The Town Clerk is meeting the builders at the bandstand (9th March) as they are going to start building the bandstand shed. It is expected to take 2 weeks and once completed the Town Clerk will purchase the chairs as previously agreed. 
  • That the Keynsham Good Citizens Award be awarded to all three candidates.
  •  Section 106 - it was felt that the situation was becoming more confusing and that the new Town Council should deal with it as a priority matter. History of the Ombudsman decision was reported and discussed. It was felt that there needed to be clarification of the time frame and a question was asked if the Town Council see the legal agreement. 
  •  B&NES Council have advised that the Town Council’s interest in the surplus land at Labbots has been noted but they would like clarification on what the intentions are for the land and what the Town Council is proposing. There is also other interest in the land and they will be undertaking a process of considering all the proposals before coming to any decision - it was felt that the land should remain an open space and the Town Council do not want it to be developed on. No proposals or intentions were put forward.
  • That the proposed fees and charges for the sports facilities from 1st April 2011 were approved. 
  •  That £3000 be earmarked for tools for the grounds staff but before any tools are purchased the decision will be made by the Town Council. 
  • The draft Annual Report was agreed and it was agreed that the new style was an improvement on the old style Annual Report. 
  • That the formation of a Limited Company by Guarantee will be undertaken by the Town Council for the Keynsham Music Festival. 
  • Business Link have advised that as a result of changes to Government funding for Business Link they will no longer require the use of the meeting room after 31st March 2011. They would like to thank the Town Council for their assistance. 
  • BT has advised that there are no plans to remove the telephone box outside the Manor House Hotel. In the event that they have any future removal plans, they would, as Ofcom regulations currently stand, carry out a 90 day consultation with the local authority (B&NES COUNCIL). Also, as the kiosk is listed BT would need to apply to have it de-listed.

 8th February 2011

  •  That the Deputy Town Clerk’s hours be increased from 25 to 28 hours a week from 1st April 2011.
  • The criteria for ‘Good Citizens Award’ be changed slightly – the word ‘Keynsham’ to be replaced with ‘local’
  •  That all overtime expenditure incurred during the weekend of the Music Festival and the previous week’s events be charged to the Music Festival and not to the Town Council.
  •  The Town Council objected to an application for street trading consent for a flower stall in the High Street.
  •  Surplus land at the Labbots - the Town Council indicated an interest in this land.