ALBRIGHTON PARISH COUNCIL
PLANNING MEETING
Thursday 4th December 2008
Minutes of the Planning Meeting held at the Red House on Thursday 4th December, 2008.
PRESENT: Cllrs. P Lusk (Chair), D Beechey (Vice Chair), R Balkwill, G Beechey,
R Blincoe, P Illes, D Johnson, R Kidson, D Murray, J Nelson, S Pledger.
Public Session:
There were no questions or comments from the three members of the public present.
Cllrs. N Hester, M Holden, M Pate, S Pate.
Cllr. S Pledger declared a prejudicial interest in agenda item 3.
B CRAWCOUR:
The Chairman introduced Mr B Crawcour, consultant engaged by the Red House management committee and Mr H Kirton, management trustee of the Red House, P Joseland, custodian trustee of the Red House and B Middle, management trustee and treasurer of the Red House and thanked them for their attendance.
Mr Crawcour informed members that he had identified the main gap in Albrighton as being the need for a multi purpose, quality community centre similar to Festival Drayton which he urged members to visit. The total bill for the redevelopment of the Red House facility could not be raised through grants alone so it had been resolved to sell the Old School to provide a major part of the funding.
Meanwhile good quality small meeting rooms were missing from the general Albrighton provision and a first stage of work had been proposed to include the development of the four upstairs rooms into high quality meeting rooms with a lift at a cost of £58,000.
Grants had been obtained from SCC and the Red House and Albrighton and Donington Parish Councils had promised third party funding for a bid to SITA which was unfortunately not successful due probably to oversubscription. As a result new architects had been employed and a redesign of the lift was done to save money. The work was divided into two phases and it was hoped that they could be concurrent with no gap in the development programme. Current plans for phase 1 now include the refurbishment of the four upstairs rooms and the construction of the lift shaft at a cost of £47,414. If Albrighton Parish Council agreed to contribute up to £10,000 and Donington up to £5,000 sufficient funding would be available.
Installation of the lift would cost a further £21,000.00 and Mr Crawcour intended to apply for further funding from Awards for All and SCC in February, 2009. Additional Red House funds were also available to help meet the costs. It was hoped to begin the work in February, 2009 and the work would cross into a new financial year which would be helpful in terms of obtaining new funding from a 2009/10 budget.
The later project would involve a high quality refurbishment of the ground floor plus an extension at the front. This would cost approximately £300,000 to be largely funded from the sale of the Old School. Architects are currently working on the details and there would be full public consultation at some point in the future. Possible office accommodation or work area for the Parish Clerk was still part of the plan.
Mr P Joseland outlined the proposals for the sale of the Old School which had gained the necessary approval at a public meeting. A subcommittee had been formed with Mr Joseland as Chair to oversee the sale of the building which now had no users and was standing empty. Consultations had taken place with the Charity Commissioners who had stated that the trusts duty was to obtain best price regardless of public opinion which favoured division into four small units. Architects had been appointed to draw up two sets of plans. The first plan is for a four unit dwelling of affordable housing and the second is for a one four bedroom dwelling. The subcommittee had been advised that the value of the property was £275,000 and it intended to seek planning consent immediately with a view to putting the property on the market in the spring of 2009. The surrender of the Parish Council lease would need to go to the subcommittee or the Red House management committee and Mr Joseland promised to take this matter forwards at the earliest opportunity. Cllr Nelson expressed concern about the possible deterioration of the building now that it was unused and urged that the insurance on the property be carefully examined to ensure the maximum protection for the investment.
The Chair thanked all those who had been involved in the presentation and after the guests had left members agreed to place the matter on the next Parish Council meeting of 18th December in order to make a decision on possible further funding up to a maximum of £10,000.
The Clerk outlined SCC proposals to remodel the roundabout at Albert Road/Pitchford Road/Charles Avenue. Currently many motorists were ignoring the roundabout when proceeding down Charles Avenue into Albert Road and vice versa and the County had decided to recognise the fact that the roundabout was poorly designed and to place give way signs and road marking at the junction of Albert Road proceeding towards Pitchford Avenue. It had been agreed that in the longer term the roundabout would be demolished and the road surface in the area relaid and improved.
The Council noted the proposals.
Cllr. Johnson reported that new lights had been purchased for the front of the Red House which were now in place and operational. It was intended to add to the present provision to make the area in the front of the Red House the focal point of the display and new cable would need to be purchased to fill the gaps in the lighting along the High Street and down Station Road.
With the release of the Old School there would be a storage problem for the lights and also for the lawn mower and related equipment. Cllr Johnson suggested that a lock up garage close to the High Street would be a solution and this was unanimously supported by the Council.
RESOLVED: The Clerk to contact Bridgnorth District Council to identify a lock up garage for rent.
Permission granted:
FUL/08/0737 Erection of a single storey side and rear extension at 5 Holyhead Road, Albrighton.
Received and noted.
Tree Preservation Order:
TPO/08/0116 1 x Sweet Chestnut pollard back to sound wood 29 Grange Park, Albrighton.
Received and noted.
Planning Application:
FUL/08/0846 Conversion of building into four dwellings including the erection of a two storey dwelling, the Old School House, Station Road, Albrighton.
Cllr. Nelson asked whether it was appropriate for the Council to be asked for a view on a development for which it was the lease holder. Members agreed that they needed to declare an interest and asked that clarification regarding the issue be sought. No view on the application would be expressed until the position had been resolved with the planning authority.
RESOLVED: The Clerk to contact planning at Bridgnorth District Council to explore the details of the planning process in this particular case and advise the Council at the next meeting on 18th December.
The location of the speed warning sign bought by the Council is currently unknown and Cllr. G Beechey argued that it should be located and employed in the village at the earliest opportunity.
RESOLVED: Cllr. Murray to provide basic information to the Clerk who would then undertake to discover the whereabouts of the speed sign and report to the next meeting of the Council on 18th December.
A consultation document on the Shropshire Local Transport Plan was passed to Cllr Illes to deal with on behalf of the Council.
A document on Health and Social Care was to be passed to Cllr. Hester and Cllr. Blincoe promised to look at the police service development paper.
A request for funding for a Shifnal based swimming facility was passed to Cllr. S Pate on behalf of the Grants Committee.
The Chair informed members that the proposals for Shropshires Local Joint Committees had been released and Albrighton Parish Council was part of committee number 18 including Donington, Tong and Boningale.
There being no further business the meeting closed at 8.47 pm.
Signed Date ..
Chairman