| Parks Mins 4 Jan 2012 |
AMPTHILL TOWN COUNCILREPORT OF PARKS held in the Council Chamber at the Council Offices, Present: Cllrs Also presen Report 05/2011 1. Apologies Apologies were received from Cllr Margare 2. Declarations of In There were no interests declared. 3. To consider Members had all come up with various ideas of how the interior of the Park Hub could be laid out. The question was then asked as to what is required as a minimum within the building. Public toilets The toilet facilities are to be accessible 364 days a year, closing only on Christmas Day. There is enough room for two disabled access toilets with baby changing facilities to sit side by side. Doors to the toilets are to be accessed from the outside only. A RADAR lock is to be installed to allow use by disabled people outside regular opening hours. Office space It has been established that there is not enough room to enable a dedicated office; therefore the Park Development Manager is to use a corner of the new mess room in the tractor shed as an office base in the park. This will therefore negate the need for anything other than a compact office cabinet with a desk that can be closed off when not in use to be housed in the Hub. A secure storage area will be required for the IT equipment and services within the Hub. Refreshment area It is part of the business plan for the Hub that a kitchen area and servery be provided to allow a franchisee to operate a business. The hours this area will operate will form part of the negotiations on the tenancy agreement. It would be prudent to talk to interested parties to allow them to have an input on how the kitchen area is laid out and to establish whether they wish the Council to kit out the kitchen or do this for themselves. An area of 3.2m X 2.5m is allocated for the kitchen area. Meeting Space Once the toilets, storage room and kitchen areas are allocated the remaining area can be used for tables and chairs for refreshments to be taken and meetings to be held. It was then: Recommended that: i) Two fully disabled compliant toilets with baby changing facilities are to be provided, these are to be accessed from the outside of the Hub. ii) A secure storage room is to be included behind the toilets to allow pipe work services and IT equipment to be hidden away from the rest of the building. iii) An area of 3.2m x 2.5m is to be allocated for a kitchen and servery area. iv) If funding applications are not successful the Hub is to be funded using Council Reserves. v) An advertisement inviting expressions of interest from parties interested in operating the franchise is to be placed in local newspapers. Once these have been received meetings can be held to talk about the lay out of the kitchen area. No mention of money is to be made at this time. 4. To receive a report from the Joint Allotment meeting held on Members had been provided with a copy of the report as appended to these minutes. Recommended that the report be noted. 5. To consider the matters arising from the above report
Item 2(b) Toilet facilities on allotment sites. Members discussed this matter before it was: Recommended that there is no money within the allotment budget and therefore toilets on the allotment sites will not be possible. Item 3 Grange Farm fencing. There has been some progress on the fencing however to restrict entry onto the allotment site by Deer it may be prudent to place green mesh fencing along the ranch type fencing installed by Belway Developers. Gary Quilter had investigated the cost of this to be between £350 and £400. Recommended that Gary Quilter is given permission to proceed up to a maximum cost of £400. Allotment Rents An escalator increase of 5% each year commencing in September 2012 is to be levied. 6. To consider “That Maggs Field be encompassed within the boundaries of the Park and used primarily as a wildflower meadow” (Cllr Members were provided with a copy of the report from Cllr Whittaker as appended to these minutes. Cllr Tebbutt advised that Maggs Field was purchased in 2001 and the purpose of this was to include the field within the Park. Grazing is currently allowed on an annual basis for which the Council receives funds via the Higher Level Stewardship. After further discussion it was: Recommended that the Clerk and Gary Quilter are to investigate how to achieve opening up Maggs Field to the public as a wildflower meadow. 7. To receive a repor Members were provided with a copy of the report as appended to these minutes. Questions were raised as to whether the stone bench in The Alameda has been installed. Gary Quilter advised that this has been completed; however a memorial plaque has also been erected next to the bench for which no permission has been given. Members felt that this was an inappropriate site for a memorial stone. Recommended that the Park Development Manager arranges for the removal of the memorial plaque. Members then asked Gary Quilter to note matters as follows: Staff cars are to be parked more discreetly around the tractor shed. Contractors lorries are not to be left in the Park overnight. The area around the boardwalk in the wet flushes is flooding. 8. To consider entering into a discussion with Francis Cauldwell Ass. about the ownership and possible lease of land adjacent to Cooper’s Hill (Cllr Roy Tebbutt) Members were provided a report as appended to these minutes. Cllr Roy Tebbutt advised that the Members discussed this matter with the main concern being that the Council would not receive any benefit from taking this land into their ownership. If the Wildlife Trust wishes to enter into negotiations there would be no need for the Council to be involved. Recommended that the Council do not take this matter any further. Members then went on to discuss Coopers Hill with the following comments being made: · The Town Council are the owners of the site; however there is little funding given to the management of the site. Due to limited funding and resources minimal work is carried out on the site and therefore Council staff may be able to assist the Wildlife Trust in maintaining the area. · The Wildlife Trust manages the site on behalf of the Council in order to meet the Council’s legal duty of managing this sensitive SSSI area. The Council does not have the expertise to take on the specialised management. · The Management Plan is now out of date and the new one is still in the process of being drawn up. It was then: Recommended that the Clerk invites Graham Bellamy and Gwen Hitchcock of the Wildlife Trust to the meeting to be held on 7th March to discuss the Management Plan for 2012-2017. 9. Dog walking in Ampthill Park – to consider adopting the Code of Conduct Members were provided with a report from Cllr Margaret Wright as appended to these minutes. Members had been provided with a poster to encourage Dog Walkers to agree to the Code whilst walking dogs in The problem highlighted by Cllr Margaret Wright concerned a commercial dog walking company allowing dogs to run freely out of the back of their van and knocking over a child. It was then: Recommended that: i) Gary Quilter meets with the dog walking companies and advises them of the way in which the Town Council want them to control the dogs in their charge. ii) The amended poster is to be placed in the Dog Walkers notice board in 10. To approve Members were provided with a report as appended to these minutes. It has been advised that A group of National bodies has joined force to put forward a proposal to open up all his houses and landscapes to the public and to set out walks and rides to show what he did to each place. Approximately 100 people will be invited to visit Discussions took place on how this pilot would strengthen the Lottery application. It was then: Recommended that the Clerk advises John Phipps, Debois Landscape Survey Group, that 11. To authorise the allocation of £1,500 from the Parks for People capital reserve budget to fund the Council’s contribution towards the Capability Brown tercentenary pilot project taking place in Members discussed this matter before it was: Recommended that support be given up to a maximum of £1,500. Members asked that a review of the Greensand Trust agreement be placed on the agenda for the March meeting. There being no further business the meeting closed at CHAIRMAN DATED |