A meeting of Stowe Parish Council was held on 12 January 2016 at 7.30 p.m. Those present were Mrs Cakebread, Mr Edwards, Mrs Fyfe, Mr Hawkins, Mr Williams and Mr Windley. 16 parishioners were also in attendance.

The Chairman asked if anyone was recording the meeting. Mr Windley said he was and that the last meeting had also been recorded. (This was done without the knowledge of the other parish councillors.)

1. Apologies There were no apologies.

2. Minutes of the last meeting The minutes of the last meeting held on 1 December 2015 were agreed.

Mr Windley asked why a couple of comments were not minuted. It was explained the minutes were not verbatim.

3. Matters arising All items were covered on the agenda.

4. Standing orders (revision) Finance - at present the wording is:

Orders fornew work valued in excess of £300-£l,000 require the minimum of two quotations. Orders for worfc valued in excess of £l,000-£2,000 require the minimum of three quotations. Contracts exceeding £5,000 require additional safeguards and will follow proper practice.

Mr Williams suggested that the limit be raised to £1500 without getting quotes. This was agreed by ail councillors.

5. Finance Current account: £14,656.68 Deposit account: £18,737.54

Payments £68.40 EoN, street lights maintenance

£133.63 EoN, street lights £45.32 DD EoN, Village Hall electric-December £45.70 AWA, village hall

£203.40 AVDC, dog waste service for one year £395.02 Stephen Lewis, fencing, etc on play area

£80.00 BCC, salt bags £125.00 League of Friends of Buckingham Hospital

£66.08 Pete Williams, quartz clock movement and litter bin £3,435.00 Buckingham Stoves, wood burner in School House

Receipts £4.00 Anthony Hayes, hire of hall £4.00 Anthony Hayes, hire of hall

£47.00 John Windley, hire of hall

Mr Windley asked if someone in the village could have fixed the fencing. There had been problems in the past getting people to do things like this, but we will ask next time.

6. AVDC

Mr Windley asked if the expenditure for parish councillors could be in the minutes - it was explained it was already in the minutes. (a) 5 May 2016 - police and crime commissioner elections (£30 for use of village hall). (b) AVDC had phoned to say they had had an e-mail from Milton Keynes Council saying the

records were not correct for the Clerk. It was explained this had been BCC and AVDCs fault, but it would be rectified.

7. BCC (a) Council tax rise to maintain key services - 3.99%. Chairman will copy correspondence. (b) Devolution of services - small parish councils do not want this. It was proposed we

leave things as they are at present. (c) The white gates have been costed - £10,247 for two at each end of the village. Funds

are small. The Parish Council have said they would contribute if it would hurry things along. The next LAF meeting is in March when funding will be discussed. We cannot put the white gates up ourselves.

(d) New priorities - included activities for old people, young people activities, community facilities, community transport, health, anti-social behaviour, broadband and flooding.

(e) Salt bags and water by telephone kiosk. It had been felt it was better to get the water sorted out than put in stump posts - the water had now been done but by the road contractors, not BCC.

(f) Have your say on Buckinghamshire transport plan for the future - 8 week public consultation.

(g) We Inspect - frequency of inspection of certain roads. (h) Review of current transport provision, 26 January 2016, 7.00-8.30 p.m. Buckingham. (i) The footpath had been cleared. A letter had gone to the Chief Constable after the last

meeting re MVAS and speed limit. An acknowledgement had been received in December. A phone call was received on 12 January 2016 to say they are aware and apologise for not replying. A confirmation letter will follow and they will raise our profile. The litter bin had been purchased but there were no fittings (it was agreed Mr Williams could purchase some jubilee clips) and will then put the bin in place. Some while ago Warren Whyte mentioned about sessions being held on getting trained with a speed camera. As nothing further had been heard. Warren Whyte will be contacted.

8. Play area and pond (a) It had been too wet to do the pond, but it will be done as soon as the weather improves,

at no cost to the Parish Council. (b) Inspection of the play equipment is due - £71 accompanied, £45 unaccompanied. Mr

Windley proposed and Mr Williams seconded an unaccompanied visit. (c) Mr Williams and Mr Hawkins had got the finials for the climbing frame. (d) Mr Windley asked if the seats could be replaced on the play area as the old ones were

rotten. Mr Edwards proposed and Mr Windley seconded that we look at them with a view to changing them.

9. Cemetery Trees and tree work - Brampton Valley Training had been out to look at work that may need doing. 14 yew trees needed reducing by 20% and undergrowth cleared at a cost of £1250.00. The lime tree near the chapel is also dangerous - £650.00. Mr Windley proposed and Mr Hawkins seconded to go ahead with both.

10. Old School House The fire had been fitted - it has been checked and everyone seems happy. It has been suggested the disused chimney is dropped at a cost of £760.00 plus VAT. Mr Williams proposed and Mr Hawkins seconded this should be carried out.

11. Notice board Mr Williams had not, as yet, due to personal reasons, been able to make a new notice board. Mr Windley asked if it would be possible to buy one. It was suggested it could go on the wall of The Old Vicarage - the Chairman will contact the owners and ask their permission or otherwise. The board that had appeared before Christmas had been taken down. It was proposed to put DRA and SPC on the top of the board - it was thought it may be better with just Dadford Village noticeboard or nothing at all. Mr Windley had got one quote of £400-£500. It was agreed to get a definite price once the owners of the wall had been asked. The decision of who will pay will be made later.

12. Defibrillator The money from the funeral directors will be handed over shortly. It may be that we have to put an amount towards it. Mr Windley asked if solar panels could be used to power it. We need to decide where it will go, but we will have to be guided by the family on this.

13. Induction loop Mr Williams has spoken to three companies re a proper induction loop. The prices had all been within the region of £2,300-£2,500. We would probably go for the most local company, but are still awaiting one estimate.

14. Purchase of equipment to record parish council meetings Mr Williams proposed and Mr Edwards seconded the purchase of some suitable equipment -prices can vary from £15-£100 with a removable SD card (to be kept by the Clerk). Residents and councillors would be able to request it to listen to meetings.

15. Any other business (a) Wildlife - the removal of a dead badger is not the parish council's problem. Anyone can

contact AVDC and ask for it to be removed. The problem of a badger sett was also not the parish council's problem - the people whose garden it is in would need to contact the appropriate people. This would be someone like the Badger Trust as it is illegal to move them yourself.

(b) One of the street light's is not working again. The Chairman will contact the appropriate people.

(c) Mention was made of the proposal to change parking restrictions in Buckingham. (d) Mr Williams had repaired the light switch and got the clock going. (e) Dates for the rest of the year are: 23 February, 5 April, 17 May, 28 June, 9 August, 20

September, 1 November, 13 December. The AGM will be between the May and June meeting.

Parishioners were asked if they had any questions.

1) Better means of communicating to the village on items like transport, defibrillator etc. 2) Could there be a notice board at North Hill also - this will be discussed at the next meeting. 3) A few people commented on the cost of the white gates, saying they seemed expensive (which

the parish council agreed with). It was asked if anyone else could make them, etc but the Council wouldn't allow this. This request had been made to the parish council some time ago to make Dadford look like a village. A suggestion was made that the gate money be put towards some chicanes instead. Someone commented that Wiltshire had only paid £800 per gate.

4) A new resident said that nobody had been introduced to him, that he had looked for the parish council website and minutes and couldn't find them. It is hoped to have our own website soon. Mr Edwards and Mr Windley will hold 3 sets of minutes each for residents to look at.

5) Could a list of parish councillors go on the notice board(s)? 6) Could the clerk's e-mail address be put in the minutes?

7) A short discussion took place regarding traffic calming including dummy speed cameras, more speed checks, etc. It was mentioned the traffic problem was part of the logistics of the village and was a countrywide problem. A traffic survey questionnaire, sent out by the DRA, may help to push things through.

The meeting closed at 8.45 p.m. Mr Windley left the meeting.

Clerk: iuliecakebread@skv.com