AMPTHILL TOWN COUNCIL

REPORT OF PARKS AND OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE MEETING

held in the Council Chamber at the Council Offices 66 Dunstable Street, Ampthill on

Wednesday 3^rd June 2009 at 7.30 pm

Present: Cllrs Mrs M Wilson (Chairman), Mrs S Bacon, R A D Chappell, P Eversley, Mrs P Foster, R Holden, G Pascal, M Smith, G Summerfield, R Tebbutt and the Clerk.

1. 1.                 To receive apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Cllrs Mrs M Wright (on holiday) and P Duckett (election work).

1. 2.                 To appoint a Vice Chairman

Councillor R Tebbutt was nominated, seconded and duly elected as Vice-Chairman of the Parks and Open Spaces Committee for the year 2009-2010.

1. 3.                 To receive and record declarations of interest, whether personal or prejudicial

Cllr G Summerfield declared an interest in the report on the location of benches which identifies a location within the boundary of the Reservoir, as he is Vice Chairman of the Angling Club.

1. 4.                 Period of Public Participation

There were no members of the public registered to speak.

Matters arising from previous minutes for information and note only. (see Clerk’s Report)

1. 5.                 Verne Drive (see minute no 94)

All actions have been taken; the resident who raised the matter of the open land boundaries has been sent a copy of the land registry document showing that the boundary between the Town Council’s land and 2 Verne Drive is being observed.

1. 6.                 Everitts Field Allotments (see minute no 96)

There has been no reply from Punch Taverns with regards to the enquiry of whether they would be willing to allow the land at the rear of the White Hart Hotel to be used as allotment land.

1. 7.            Walkabout of park to plot bench locations

Cllrs Mrs M Wilson and R Tebbutt carried out an inspection of the park and a copy of the resulting reports as appended to these minutes were provided for Members.

The Clerk advised that the decision on the location of new benches would be put on the agenda of the Full Town Council as Members had not had the time to digest the information provided.

1. 8.                 To receive a presentation on the Archaeological Dig at Ampthill Park

Hannah Firth of Central Bedfordshire’s Archaeological Team provided Councillors with a report as appended to these minutes.

Question were then raised with the following information being given: 

• The Town Council will now be included in all matters concerning the work at the Katherine’s Cross area. It was never the intention to exclude the town Council and was an error. In future the town Council will be the first port of call for any further information on this project.
• Quotes are being sought from members of the Institute of Archaeologists and the non negotiable sum of £19,250 will not be breached. The £750 difference is being used to finance the administration and facilitation carried out by the Greensand Trust.
• Local schools will be involved, but this is not part of the contract with the Archaeologists, this part of the project will be carried out by Central Bedfordshire Council and Greensand Trust. Depending on what the results of the survey are Central Bedfordshire Council would like to commit a sum of money to do a programme of works with local schools during 2010.
• The specification states that 35mm black and white film is to be used to record any finds, the Archaeologists do not have any problem with gaining access to this type of film.
• Kevan Fadden wishes to carry out further geophysical surveys and would like to have a team working alongside the Archaeologists.
• The Open Day on the 25^th July will run alongside the Town Council’s event to rededicate the Katherine’s Cross, the Greensand Trust, English Heritage, Central Bedfordshire and Ampthill and District Archaeological and Local History Society. The site is of national importance especially in this year being the 500^th year of King Henry VIIIth accession to the throne and it is expected that people will be attending the open day from outside the local area.
• A press release will be published to make people aware of what work is carried out, Central Bedfordshire will take responsibility for ensuring this information is out in the public domain.
• The site is located within a public open space and as such security and health and safety issues will of paramount importance. Dave Rollings of Central Bedfordshire will be able to give details of the CCTV system and a mobile unit may be able to be linked into the system in the play area.
• Damage to the park and ground will be kept to a minimum and the areas affected will be reinstated to their former condition at the end of the project.
• The work load of the Park Keepers will not be affected, however they will be kept informed of what is happening in order that they can answer any questions from the public.
• Any finds will remain the property of the Town Council as owners of the site. Unless finds are of national importance there will be no reason why the Town Council cannot work with Bedford Museum to make arrangements for finds to be on permanent display in the Visitors Centre.

Cllr Mrs M Wilson thanked Hannah Firth for her attendance.

 9.                 To consider installing a post and rail fence in the Football Club car park

A Member had raised concern over the condition of the earth bunding and asked for this matter to be placed on the agenda for discussion.

 Recommended that this matter is accepted in principle but will be deferred until after the Visitors Centre is constructed, funds should be earmarked to carry this work out.

10.             To receive a report on the Doggie Day out on 19^th April 2009

Members were provided with a copy of the report drawn up by the Park Ranger Lorna Walker as appended to theses minutes.

Members discussed the event and felt that it has been advertised too widely and this should be kept in mind for future events as car parking in the area is not sufficient.

With the event raising £1,000 it is hoped that future events will be self funding and the cost of the Greensand Trust time will be included in the overall costs and not charged to the Town Council.

The event was felt to be a good public relations exercise and Lorna Walker is to be congratulated on bringing all aspects of the day together.

11.             To consider charging for commercial Dog Walking in Ampthill Park

         The following information has been received:

• There are two known Commercial Dog Walkers using Ampthill Park to exercise dogs one of these is charging £8.00 per dog per 45 minute walk in Ampthill Park, Aspley Guise etc.

Wandsworth Council have a multiple dog walking byelaw covering all the parks under their control.

The main points under the bye-law are:

• Anyone wishing to walk more than four dogs at any given time in any of the parks must obtain, free of charge, a license from the council.
• The license allows up to and no more than eight dogs to be walked, the license will specify the number of dogs and how long the license is valid.
• A person in charge of more than four dogs without a license shall be guilty of an offence and can be (i) removed from the grounds and (ii) fined up to a maximum of £500
• All council officers have authority to enforce the byelaws.
• Having public liability insurance of a minimum £2 million and signing up to the Code of Conduct is a condition of applying for a license.
• Wandsworth Council will advise the Inland Revenue of any person or organisation who earns money from its premises.

      A copy of the full details was provided for Members.

Members discussed this matter in depth before it was:

Recommended that the Clerk investigates applying for a Byelaw on all open spaces in the town based on the Wandsworth Council’s existing Byelaw.

12.             To receive the Street Lighting Scheme design drawn up by Amey for Oliver Street. The approximate cost of implementing the scheme will be £25,000

Members considered that there were no funds in this years budget for the Lighting Scheme and it was:

Recommended that the design be accepted and that implementation of the lighting scheme is considered for the estimates of 2010/2011 in October.

13.             To further consider projects for the Developers Contribution for the West of Ampthill site in the sums of £96,768 for the provision and or improvement of off site sports facilities serving the development

Members discussed this matter and it was:

Recommended that the Town Council would like to work in partnership with Bedfordshire Police and Central Bedfordshire to provide a purpose built BMX trail on a location somewhere in Ampthill. The Youth Working Group is to meet on 24^th June and this matter will be explored further.

14.             To receive a copy of the report on the Park Staff meeting of 13^th April 2009

Members were provided with a copy of the report as appended to these minutes.

             Recommended that the report be noted.

15.             Items of Correspondence received for note

a)      TRUE- Solar Energy suitable for areas with no electrical supply

                   Available from the Clerk.

            b)   ROSPA report on the Play Area in Ampthill Park

                  The Clerk advised that there were no high risk areas highlighted and that she had instructed the Head Park Keeper to attend to the matters that are indicated within the report for actioning.

16.             Cllr R Tebbutt then passed the following motion

“That in view of the confidential nature of the business about to be transacted relating to staff and financial matters, it is advisable in the public interest that the public and press be temporarily excluded and that they are instructed to withdraw”

17.             To approve the Greensand Trust Outputs for 2009-2010 at a cost of £15,951.10

This minute is appended for Members only.

18.             To receive a copy of a report from the Burial Grounds Working Group of the meeting held on 26^th April 2009.

This minute is appended for Members only.

19.             To make recommendations for any actions arising from the above report.

This minute is appended for Members only.

 There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.50pm.

CHAIRMAN                                                             DATED