January 2010 Meeting
Where has your Dog “Bin”
To encourage responsible dog owners and walkers to clean up after their four pawed pets, the Parish Council is arranging to install four new Dog Waste Bins in and around the Village.
These will be in Shitterton close to the path to Black Hill, in Butt Lane just up from West Street, in the Souls Moor Open Space south of the Bere Stream and Boardwalk, and on Rye Hill near the Bere Regis School.
This should give us good coverage near some popular and well used walks.
Although we know it is common sense and decency, which the vast majority of dog owners already practice in a responsible fashion, you are asked to ensure that these facilities are always used so that popular walks and public areas remain hazard free for the benefit of us all.
Grit Bins
We are considering installing new Grit Bins, at Snow Hill, at Shitterton and one near the cemetery. Although this is unlikely to be of benefit this winter it should help to keep pavements and thoroughfares open if we have another very cold snap in future years.
If you have any thoughts or comments on this, or ideas as to where precisely we should or should not locate these bins please do contact Ian Ventham the Chairman.
North Street
We are pleased to see that, following our suggestion, tree trunks have been placed at the North end of North Street to stop traffic from using that as a rat run out of the village.
C6/Rye Hill
We were joined at our meeting by an ex parish councillor John Pitts who was concerned about the state of the hedgerows and verges up Rye Hill and out of the village on the C6.
In particular these have been badly churned up of late, and in some areas the landowners have not properly cut them back to ensure clear and therefore safe visibility.
Although this is technically Dorset County Council’s responsibility we are going to write to the landowners in the first instance to see whether we can push the process along.
Bere Regis Wildlife Watch
The Parish Council are delighted to support an initiative by a group of willing volunteers who are organising a clean and clear up of the riverside walk.
This will be on Saturday 20th February at 10.00am.
Meet by the new bridge opposite the end of Manor Barn Road.
If you are able bring loppers and small saws as well as a good pair of gardening gloves that would be much appreciated.
First School and Ragamuffins Pre-school
And finally, the Parish Council were delighted to have heard that both our First School and Ragamuffins Pre-school have earned Good Reports from Ofsted.
Congratulations to all the staff and volunteers who have made these results possible.
Monthly Surgery
A Parish Councillor will be joining Peter Wharf our District Councillor at the regular surgery he holds at Turberville Court on the first Saturday of each month from 09.30 to 10.00 am.
We have decided to combine and hold a joint surgery as many of the issues raised cut across Parish, District and County responsibilities and it makes sense for us to work together to address any issues that arise.
Peter Wharf
Parish Councillor
February 2010 Meeting
Your Parish Council met for its monthly meeting on Thursday 11th February, Our next meeting is on Thursday 11th March at the Drax Hall starting at 7.00 pm; as always the public are most welcome and there is an item on the agenda at the very start called “period for public participation” where we would like to hear from you on any points you would like to raise.
Where has your Dog “Bin”
Following comments from two residents, the Dog Bin due to be placed at the end of Butt Lane will now be located at the west end of Back Lane, a popular route for dog walkers.
The Parish Council welcomes input on matters affecting our village and is pleased to respond accordingly.
All dog owners are again urged to use these facilities, once installed, to ensure hazards and problems to other villagers are prevented.
In particular we would urge people not to dump dog poo that is bagged up into plastic bags into the hedges; in this form they are unsightly and take very many years to biodegrade and this is what the dog bins are for!
Thank you all for your forbearance and help on this.
Letter from our MP
Our MP, Annette Brooke, has written to the Parish Council expressing concern regarding road safety in West Street.
A constituent has written to her requesting that parking be banned on the southern side of West Street and a pedestrian crossing be installed, as the speed and volume of traffic are a major concern.
The Parish Council has replied that, working with DCC, the Council had nine speed humps installed which the Parish Council feel are doing a good job in keeping the speed down to a safe level.
As regarding parking the Council have always felt, and continue to do so, that double parking creates a funnel which reduces speed still further and discourages West Street as a "rat run."
Schools
There will be a consultation from Dorset County Council about the Purbeck Schools Review shortly.
The proposal is that Bere Regis School children will go to Lytchett Minster School at age 11.
It will still be possible for children to go to, for example The Purbeck School, but this would be “parental choice” and the cost of travelling would be the parents’ responsibility.
Any problems or comments on this proposal, please email our County Councillor.
Purbeck Housing Trust
Paul Derrien, the Housing manager of PHT will be coming to the next meeting of the Parish Council.
If you have any questions about any of their properties or the surrounding grounds to their properties please do come along and ask Paul directly.
Housing in Bere Regis
The Parish Council will be discussing “Housing in Bere Regis over the next 20 years” with Steve Dring – the Planning Policy Manager at Purbeck District Council - at our next meeting in March.
As a Parish Council we will then review what options are open to us and which one we think would be best for Bere Regis.
We would then hold an open consultation Meeting on Thursday April 9th (in place of our normal Parish Council Meeting for the Month) at 7.00 pm in the Drax Hall where we hope as many members of the public as possible would be able to come along and give us your views so that we can review our proposals in the light of this.
I would emphasise that there will be further opportunities for people to comment after this but that this will direct the next stage of the consultation process which will result in a pamphlet being issued to every household in Purbeck with the views of the various town and parish councils.
Please put April 9th in your diary
Monthly Surgery
A Parish Councillor will be joining Peter Wharf our District Councillor at the regular surgery he holds at Turberville Court on the first Saturday of each month from 09.30 to 10.00 am.
We have decided to combine and hold a joint surgery as many of the issues raised cut across Parish, District and County responsibilities and it makes sense for us to work together to address any issues that arise.
Peter Wharf
Parish Councillor
March 2010 Meeting
Your Parish Council met for its Annual meeting on Thursday 11th March.
Our next meeting is on Thursday 8th April at the Drax Hall starting at 7.00 pm. This will be a public meeting on one particular topic – the Future Housing Developments that we would like to see in Bere Regis.
Do come to hear what is being proposed, and, as this is your village, have your say everybody is most welcome.
For this month, following the Annual Parish meeting, we have included the Chairman’s Annual Report in full as it represents the Parish Council’s report on their activities for the last year to every resident of Bere Regis
ANNUAL PARISH MEETING
Chairman’s Report
Introduction
A very warm welcome to everyone here.
Between us we represent most of the village organisations and residents.
Last year, when I took over the chair of the Parish Council from Jim Parsons, I said that I thought the role of the council was to try to meet the wishes of the people who live here, and that my guess was that most people have quite modest aspirations, to live in a community which is peaceful, clean and tidy, safe and secure, with a good school, and a wealth of clubs and organisations to enjoy.
I believe, too, that most people would welcome some modest housing developments, particularly more affordable housing, so that sons and daughters can continue to live here, provided that any development does not overwhelm the village, nor lead to a loss of sense of belonging.
I believe that during this past year this council has contributed successfully to that unassuming vision.
Of course, that rather modest vision was also at the heart of the Parish Plan, so ably developed by Jon Cleave and his team in 2006, and so well implemented by my predecessor Jim Parsons.
Now, let us turn to what we’ve been up to this past year. I’m afraid that, this evening, you are going to get a report from just me, as we have a couple of quite weighty matters to go on to in our normal meeting after this annual meeting.
Achievements this year on our own account
I’m sure most of you are well aware that our village precept is very small, amounting to about £24000 pa, that is about £15 per head of population, so there is a severe limit on what we are able to do ourselves, but there have been three things that we have done this year, that I think are worthy of note:
• Village Tidy. Masterminded in October by Martin Howard, a small but enthusiastic band of volunteers, including members of Bere Regis Scout group, turned out to clear leaves and debris from gutters, and litter from the stream.
This was a very successful event, which left the village looking noticeably tidier
• The Cemetery.
Tim Maunder keeps a close eye on the monuments and on the grass-cutting contract to ensure the cemetery remains a peaceful and well-kept place of rest.
• Development. We want to be masters of our own destiny, so rather than waiting to see what others would like to inflict on us; this council has opened very fruitful discussions with a number of the developers who would like to build here, over the next few years.
Hopefully, this could lead not just to appropriate levels of new housing, but also to the development of much needed new facilities.
Achievements in conjunction with others
More often than not, to get things done, we have to work with other levels of local government, or with other organisations which have resources and expertise we can tap into.
Our major partners are Purbeck District Council, with whom we have an effective and fruitful relationship; Dorset County Council, which we often find to be inefficient and unprofessional;
The Police, with whom we work well; Purbeck Housing Trust, which promises much and seems to deliver little; Graingers, the developer which owns land to the south of the village, with whom we are slowly developing a good working relationship; and the various arms of the Drax Estate which sometimes gives the impression that it is not very interested in working with the village.
Nonetheless, over the past year we have worked with these bodies in a number of ways:
• Planning and Housing – led by Laurie Fairhurst, the Planning Working Party has liaised with PDC, scrutinising all planning applications, and continuing to work on the future use of play park area, as a possible site for affordable housing.
We have also had valuable discussions with several of the developers who would like to build here.
• Environment – With help from PDC, our Environmental sub-committee, led formerly by John Pitts and latterly by Martin Howard, finally achieved the long-awaited tidy up of the car park and the recycling bins, and successfully organised the Village Tidy.
Although it sometimes felt it was despite DCC, rather than with them, we finally got the Pedestrian Crossing installed at the school, the new village signs put up and yellow lines put in at the Shell Garage and in West St and Old Barn Rd. Support has been given to the Wildlife Watch Group, and to the embryonic Allotment Management Committee.
• Young People -- Robin Pitcher and Jayne George have made some slow progress towards creating a Young Peoples Forum.
Support has been given to Ragamuffins, and we have consulted with our school on its future needs.
• Police and Security -- Keith Nurrish has participated in PACT, and in moves to revive Neighbourhood Watch in the village.
• Village Organisations -- Christopher Maunder has continued to liaise with many of the Village Organisations.
As a Council we recognised the excellent OFSTED reports that were earned by the School and by Ragamuffins, and we nominated Alison Bennett as Bere Regis’s Volunteer of the Year.
• Purbeck District Council -- We have been kept well in touch by our District Councillor, Peter Wharf.
We acknowledge the help given with Village Tidy, close liaison over Planning, and the development of the Purbeck Core Strategy, and on various other issues including trying to sort out who owns what of our amenity areas in the village
• Purbeck Housing Trust -- We have to draw attention to the slow response to maintenance issues within the PHT estate areas.
• Dorset CC -- We receive very good support from our county councillor, Alex Brenton, and on traffic matters we have joined forces with other PCs to lobby DCC with some success. Generally, though the service from DCC is very disappointing.
The Future
• We look forward to participating in the consultation on the Purbeck Core Strategy to ensure we get what we want in and for our village from developers
• We are keen to develop the Lengthsman Scheme, and are looking at how it works elsewhere
• We are very keen to establish a Youth Forum
• We would like to know if there would be interest in an annual Village Forum event, to bring together into informal workshop sessions all those who have an interest in the future of our community
• We would like set up the Post Office window as a shop front for all events and organisations in the village.
• We want to move ahead to create new play parks and set in train the building of affordable housing on the present play park site
Conclusion
I’d like to thank most warmly Councillor Malcolm Munro, who will be standing down shortly, as he and his wife move to Wool.
He has been a stalwart of the council for many years, and his knowledge of environmental matters has been a great resource to us all.
Our thanks are due to all who contribute actively to the life of the village, particularly to that minority of people who are ‘doers’, who run things and work hard on behalf of others; to the volunteers who give so much time and effort to our organisations; to the carers of the sick and elderly; to all parents who look after and help their children to become good citizens; to the responsible pet owners who think about the impact their pets have on others.
We are all fortunate to live in a community with soul, in a beautiful part of the country, and we are glad to play our part in maintaining this community.
Ian Ventham
Chairman – Bere Regis Parish Council
The Windfarm application
Many of you will be aware that an application has been lodged with Purbeck District Council for the installation of a four turbine wind farm at East Stoke.
This was discussed at some length by the Parish Council who voted 6 to 2 with one abstention to oppose the application on the grounds of the close proximity to Buddens scout camp and the adverse environmental impact caused by visual intrusion, noise and potential harm to wildlife and habitat. It was felt that these outweighed the undoubted benefits of sustainable energy generation. We are informed by our District Councillor that this is likely to come before a special Planning Board in Wareham some time in May.
Housing in Bere Regis
Steve Dring – the Planning Policy Manager at Purbeck District Council -- gave an informative and interesting presentation on housing within Bere Regis. As a Parish Council we have agreed in principle to some modest proposals for houses within Bere Regis over the next 20 years.
We reviewed the options open to us and we will be discussing these in detail at our next meeting on Thursday April 9th which will be an open consultation meeting where we hope as many members of the public as possible would be able to come along and give us your views so that we can review the proposals in the light of this.
I would emphasise that there will be further opportunities for people to comment after this later on in the year but that this will direct the next stage of the consultation process which will result in a pamphlet being issued to every household in Purbeck with the views of the various town and parish councils.
Please put April 9th in your diary
Monthly Surgery
A Parish Councillor will be joining Peter Wharf our District Councillor at the regular surgery he holds at Turberville Court on the first Saturday of each month from 09.30 to 10.00 am.
We now hold a joint surgery as many of the issues raised cut across Parish, District and County responsibilities and it makes sense for us to work together to address any issues that arise.
April 2010 Meeting
Your Parish Council met for its monthly meeting on Thursday 8th April.
This meeting was devoted to the very important topic of future housing development in Bere Regis.
We were delighted with the good attendance at the meeting which included 24 members of the public, two people representing the land owners – The Drax Estate and Grainger PLC, 7 Parish councillors, representatives of a number of the village organisations and your District and County Councillors.
The Purbeck Strategy
The meeting was chaired by Ian Ventham who invited Steve Dring, Planning Policy Manager from Purbeck District Council, to give a presentation outlining the Purbeck Core Strategy and the consultation process plus the findings of this consultation to date.
Mr Dring ended by outlining the possible development areas in Bere Regis which could accommodate the 50 or so houses (a mixture of market and affordable rented properties) which have been proposed for Bere Regis as part of the 2400 houses for the District as a whole over the next 20 years.
The Parish Council’s View
Ian Ventham, on behalf of the Parish Council, then gave a presentation with more detail about the potential development sites and the Parish Council’s view as to the suitability or otherwise of each of these.
He then went on to outline the potential benefits the village would like to see as a result of any development.
These benefits include a new Primary School, more secure sports and recreation facilities, open play areas and a number of other facilities including a new allotment site.
He then outlined the two options that the Parish Council most favours:
• Option 1:
A new Primary School on the very central site to the west of Egdon Close and south of Souls’ Moor, with a single housing development between Rye Hill Close and Green Close, incorporating the present school site.
This option would be dependent on Dorset County Council being able to fund the new school and on appropriate traffic measures being implemented on Rye Hill.
• Option 2:
Should option 1 fail we would favour improving and enlarging the school on its present site, with housing development on two sites, one near the present school and the other on the old allotment site north of the west end of West Street.
This option would also require appropriate traffic measures on Rye Hill and the development of an alternative access to the proposed site avoiding Butt Lane
The Land Owners’ Views
The chairman then gave both landowners an opportunity to talk about their intentions.
Both clearly expressed their desire and willingness to work closely with the village through the Parish Council to meet village aspirations whilst also meeting their commercial needs.
The representative of Grainger acknowledged that an earlier proposal of theirs some years ago to develop south of the village had been ill thought out.
Discussion
The discussion was then opened up to all the Parishioners and a large number of very constructive points were raised, including:
• Concerns over transport infrastructure and the lack of investment in major roads and public transport around Bere Regis.
• Concerns that if the 50 houses were built too quickly that more housing would then be demanded soon after.
• The question was raised as to whether “infilling” could replace the need for a 50 house development.
It was pointed out that in the past few years we have used up most of the obvious potential areas for infilling.
• Concern was expressed as to the number and nature of affordable houses to be provided.
It was pointed put that the type of affordable housing to be provided would depend on a housing needs survey and could include a range of properties from one bedroom flats or bungalows to large family homes.
This detail would be determined later on in the process.
• A number of people expressed their support, in principle, for the proposals as, without development, the village would have difficulty in thriving.
• It was pointed out that previous developments had been thought controversial at the time, but were now well integrated into the village and we would hope to achieve a similar outcome with these proposals.
The Chairman closed the meeting and reminded everybody that this was merely the start of a consultation process and there would be many opportunities later on this year to respond to more detailed proposals which should be delivered to every household during June and July.
Monthly Surgery
A Parish Councillor will be joining Peter Wharf, our District Councillor, at the regular surgery he holds at Turberville Court on the first Saturday of each month from 09.30 to 10.00 am.
We have decided to combine and hold a joint surgery as many of the issues raised cut across Parish, District and County responsibilities and it makes sense for us to work together to address any issues that arise.
Our next meeting is on Thursday 13th May at the Drax Hall starting at 7.00 pm.
Peter Wharf
Parish Councillor