PARISH COUNCIL OF NEWLANDS
MINUTES OF THE AMENITIES COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON THURSDAY 4 JUNE 2020 VIA
A SCHEDULED ZOOM VIDEO CALL COMMENCING AT 7.30 pm
Members: Cllr M Read (Chairman) (P) Cllr A Kirby (P)
Cllr L Price (P) Cllr F Tingle
Also present Cllrs D Crichton and J Parry and Tony Daniells, Clerk to the Council.
001/21A Apologies: Apologies were received from Cllr F Tingle.
002/21A Declarations of Interest: Cllr M Read declared an interest as he was a Ward Member for
Winchester City Council.
003/21A Minutes: The minutes from the Amenities Committee Meeting held on 13 February 2020
were received. It was unanimously RESOLVED that the minutes of the Amenities
Committee meeting be accepted as an accurate record and would be signed at a later
date by the Chairman.
004/21A Public Session: The meeting was adjourned at 7.33 pm to allow comments from
Councillors in the Public Session. The meeting reconvened at 7.40 pm.
005/21A Adoption of Open Space: The Clerk read out an email dated 3 June 2020 from the WCC
Landscape Architect and a further email dated 31 March 2020.
In summary, he thought that NPC had agreed to adopt the open spaces. He answered
questions put to him following the last Amenities Committee meeting relating to
commuted sums and costs.
The Chairman referred to a sum of £123,269 for drainage works. This was because WCC
adopted the land prior to any survey and work identified after adoption now fell on the
Council and would be met from the commuted sums. Additional drainage costs of £21,000
was also identified. Cllr Crichton asked if there were any further sums of money to come
out of the commuted sums. There were no further questions arising from WCC Officers
emails. The Chairman advised that the commuted sums were for day to day maintenance
and not projects.
Cllr Crichton thought that WCC had an assumption that NPC would adopt the land and
do so shortly. He considered that this was not the case and more work was needed to get
to a position when adoption could be further considered.
Committee considered the Landscape and Ecology Report The report was comprehensive
but would need more time to fully understand. There were outstanding questions as to
what had already been adopted by WCC. WCC were expected to retain ownership of
Newlands Walk. The Clerk referred to Appendix 1 which had a maintenance schedule.
This could be the basis of getting quotes for maintenance. This listed specialised works
besides grass cutting such as tree maintenance although this work may be contained to
Newlands Walk.
WCC would hand over the play area in Newlands Walk to the Parish Council.
Outstanding questions remained over the breakdown of commuted sums by area and what
would transfer with the land. Council would also need to understand the split of the
commuted sums between Newlands Walk and the other areas.
It was also questioned who received the payments from SSE for siting of their pylons.
Maintenance was undertaken by Norse and they should be contacted to confirm their costs
and if they were to continue the contract.
If commuted sums came to the Parish Council, this would need to be invested and advice
could be sought from HALC.
It was unanimously AGREED to recommend to Council that the Parish Council
progressed taking over the landscaping and commuted sums subject to further
information being supplied prior to any commitment being made. It was further
AGREED that the Clerk would contact Norse to make an enquiry about continuing
maintenance.
006/21A VE Day Street Parties: Cllr A Kirby advised that this event was on hold but it was still
proposed to hold an event at some time. A possibility was to combine the VE Day event
with a VJ Day event. NOTED.
007/21A Youth Shelter: The Clerk gave some examples and costs for basic shelters. There would
be a need to fund local installation and also agree a suitable site. No budget had been set
for this and it would be considered in 2021/22. The Chairman suggested that when time
allowed site visits were needed to look at existing shelters and also a suitable site for a
second shelter. A document on what to consider before purchase and siting of a youth
shelter had been previously circulated. Before deciding this, the Community officer
should be involved and maybe the youth themselves. The Chairman proposed the
Committee Members read the document and Members looked at sites over the next month
and this was AGREED.
008/20A Other reports: The Chairman advised that WCC were making available additional green
waste bags on request. He also referred to additional issues with Planning Enforcement
and fly tipping. The HWRC would open at 9.00am from 15 June and a booking system
would be put in place.
The meeting closed at 8.35pm
The next meeting of the Amenities Committee is scheduled for Thursday 6 August starting at 7.30pm
Amenities Committee Meeting – Thursday 4 June 2020
Public Session
Cllr Crichton, speaking during the public sessions raised the following points
i. Council had been trying to establish what land in Wellington Park and what will/has transfer.
This matter was still be chased.
ii. There is a shortage of litter bins in Wellington Park. .
Cllr Parry asked if there were any measured to prevent the proposed new youth shelter from being
vandalized and covered in graffiti. The existing shelter by the skate park was badly defaced.
Cllr Crichton spoke of a youth shelter he was aware of elsewhere and there was little that could be
done to protect them. He also advised that another notice board would be installed at the junction of
Milk Lane and Newlands Avenue.
The Clerk advised of the background to the request for a youth shelter and the steps that could be
taken to reduce the incidence of graffiti.
