Parks minutes 7 Oct 09

REPORT OF PARKS AND OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE MEETING

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

Wednesday 7^th October 2009 at 7.30 pm

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

Report 02/2009

1. To receive apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Cllrs G Pascal (work commitment) M Smith (another commitment) and Mrs S Bacon (close contact with Swine Flu sufferer)

2. To receive and record declarations of personal interest

Cllrs G Summerfield and R Tebbutt declared an interest in the item concerning terms of hire for Park Users as they are both involved in the Festival Committee.

3. To receive and record declarations of prejudicial interest

There were no prejudicial interests declared.

Matters arising from previous minutes for information and note only.

4. Dog Walking in Ampthill Park (see minute no 11)

The Clerk has established that Central Bedfordshire is the authority that can set up the bylaw to control the number of Dogs being walked by one person. Barbara Morris has sent the matter to the Environmental Team to investigate.

5. Car Park donation scheme

Enquires are still ongoing as to where the Council can obtain honesty boxes from and at what cost.

6. To receive and consider how to move forward the draft Park Management Plan to be presented by Bob Holland of the Greensand Trust.

Bob Holland made a presentation of the draft Park Management plan as appended to these minutes.

Comment were made as follows

If it is possible a disabled path network could form part of the funding bid for Higher Level Stewardship.
The Town Council wish to retain the country park natural state of the park and a sensory garden may not fit into this.
Each Veteran tree could be funded to the value of £8.00 for a ten year period under a grant scheme.

Bob requested that a meeting be held to discuss the Town Council’s long term vision for Ampthill Park.

Recommended that a meeting be convened to discuss:

i) The long term vision for Ampthill Park.

ii) Visitors surveys.

iii) Ecological plan and proposed projects.

iv) Higher Level Stewardship funding to cover conservation management in the Park.

Bob was thanked for his interesting presentation and well laid out draft management plan which can be used as a starting block.

7. To consider ways of managing the heather on Coopers Hill following a presentation by Graham Bellamy of the Wildlife Trust.

Graham Bellamy made a presentation as per the appended report.

Questions were then raised resulting in the following information being obtained:

Heather and grass burning is regulated by DEFRA and can only take place during winter months.
Grazing would have to be considered if all other management to reinstate the heathland had failed.
Trees will not be removed if there is no sign of heather beneath them.
Burning and turf stripping will be carried out first after talking to Justin Tully Conservation Officer at Natural England.
The SSSI covers a larger area than is managed by the Wildlife Trust.
Some of the heather is getting lanky, these areas will be attended to under the management scheme.

It was then:

Recommended that a meeting is set up between the Town Council, Wildlife Trust and Natural England to talk through the bid for Higher Level Stewardship for the nature reserve.

8. Period of Public Participation.

Dr J Chisholm addressed the Committee on matters concerning Coopers Hill.

He advised that he would like to think that trees would not be removed unnecessarily and that a balance is kept between the heathland and nature needs and use of the area.

9. To consider the printing and launch of the Woolnough Trail leaflet, a quote has been received from Fidelity in the sums of £235 for 500, £335 for 100 and £585 for 2000.

Members discussed the quotes before it was:

Recommended that:

i) The plan requires amendment to show other viewpoints at the beginning of Breakheart Hill and looking out from the top of the Ridge in the area of Katherine’s Cross.

ii) The lines showing the public footpath, the Greensand Ridge Walk and the Woolnough Trail need to be separate lines to identify them more easily.

iii) The Clerk is to request that the Greensand Trust asks Ampthill and District Lions if they can fund the printing of 2000 leaflets at a cost of £585.

iv) Once printed these leaflets can be placed in: Tourist information centres in Bedford and the Forest Centre at Marston Mortaine, local council offices at Chicksands, Dunstable, Bedford and the Citizone, all hotels in Bedford and Woburn.

10. To consider the action to be taken on the bench situated in the Park in memory of Former Mayor Peter Cruse, the feet are rotten and the bench required either replacing or removal.

Members considered this matter before it was:

Recommended that the bench right foot is repaired.

11. To consider the request made by P.C Paul Element for the Town Council to consider installing bollards along the wide area of pavement in Bedford Street.

Members discussed this matter before it was:

Recommended that:

i) The Clerk investigates the cost of decorative metal bollards.

ii) Enquires are to be made of Central Bedfordshire Council as to whether there is any funding available for Town Centre improvements either this year or next.

12. To consider two items of correspondence relating to the accessibility of Ampthill Park.

Letters were received from Lora Fullbrook and Avril Marshall both of which are appended to these minutes.

The Clerk reminded Members that Mr M Dillon from the Disability Resource Centre had advised that the Council only had to do “what was reasonable” and a large cost could be seen as unreasonable.

Members were advised that a few years ago two Councillors met with residents of Cheshire Home and took them over to the Park to look at the problems. Access is possible without using the kissing gates, which are all made to allow wheelchair access, through either the west car park or the central car park. It is difficult to push a wheelchair, but at the Forest Centre there are wheelchairs with balloon type wheels that would make this easier.

Plans were discussed with Bob Morwood as to how the path alongside the road behind the Football Club could be surface dressed to protect the tree roots and provide a level pathway.

Members reiterated that Ampthill Park is a country park and they would not wish to see paved areas and structured flower beds introduced as this would urbanise it.

The Management Plan being drawn up will address making the Park more access friendly and once projects are identified funding can be sought to implement them.

Recommended that Disability access is raised as a priority with Bob Holland.

13. To receive an item of correspondence from Ampthill Walkers regarding footpaths and cycle ways.

Members had been provided with a copy of a letter addressed to the Greensand Trust as appended to these minutes.

After discussion it was:

Recommended that the Town Council note the letter and will leave the Greensand Trust to take action as the only area the Council can have any responsibility for is the Park and Coopers Hill.

14. To consider the way forward for the hanging baskets 2010.

Members were advised that watering of the hanging baskets this year had taken at least four hours out of Peter Van Der Linde’s work day, time that could have been spent doing other jobs in the Park or the Burial Ground.

Members discussed this matter before it was:

Recommended that the Clerk writes to those premises that have hanging baskets outside to request that they water the baskets themselves to enable the Council to keep the town attractive during the summer months.

15. To consider developing an application form for the donation of park benches.

Cllr R Tebbutt

Cllr Tebbutt advised Members that there had been a recent incident where a lady would not accept a position identified for a memorial bench; this had caused a problem for Office Staff and Councillors. If a form was compiled stating that only positions identified were allowed this may stop this type of incident happening again.

Recommended that a form be compiled.

16. To consider amending the application for the hire of the Park to include a car parking plan and Health and Safety Assessment for events of more than 100 people.

Members discussed this matter before it was:

Recommended that the hiring form be amended for events over 100 to include:

At least one month before the event the Council would require:

An estimate of the overall car parking requirement of the event and the normal park users.
Investigation on whether there are any other events happening at the Cricket Club, Football Club, Rugby Club or Parkside Hall.
Extra over flow car parking areas are to be supervised
Consultation with the Police on parking and other related matters and whether any no parking bollards are required.
A copy of the Health and Safety Risk assessment.
A copy of the Public Entertainment licence if necessary