Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held on Monday 30th April 2007 at 7.45 pm in Amport School Hall.

1. Present
Mr I. Morrison, (Chairman), Lt Col Stephens, (Vice Chairman), Mr Neville Geake Mr Ian Long , Mr Bill Gore, Mrs Carolyn Mallam, Mr Maurice Hardy, Mrs Sarah Hammer, Mrs Diana Preston, and Mrs Suzanne Hoare (Clerk)
The village correspondent was present plus 1 members of the public.
Apologies were received from Mr Tim Southern - these were accepted.

2. Minutes of the Previous Meeting
The minutes were agreed and signed, having been proposed by Carolyn Mallam and seconded by Diana Preston

3. Matters Arising from the last meeting
All will be dealt with under reports

The Green
Following further correspondence from Mr Walker threatening court action, a vote was taken by e-mail and a majority voted for payment to be made on his outstanding Nov 2006 invoice. A letter has been written to Mr Walker asking him to undertake £160 worth of scrub clearance on the Green side of the Mill Stream to fulfil his side of the Contract.
A letter of thanks will be sent to Atalanta Clifford commending her for her repair and maintenance work on the play area. IM/Clerk
It was reported that the Stepping Stone play equipment has split and may be in need of repair; Ian Morrison stated that he will check and find a suitable repair person.
The ROSPA inspection of the play area will take place in May.
The Dog fouling sign upright needs some repair, this will be undertaken along with a new notice formalising the name change from Stroud’s Field to Amport Fen. IM
The Goal Posts were discussed and everyone voted in favour of them being left up unless they are found to be in the way of the 2 fetes; some maintenance may be needed. IM

VDS
This issue is ongoing.

Footpaths and Highways
A notification has been received from HCC concerning a proposed byway between Red Post Lane and Monxton Lane; councillors felt this was already used as a byway and that no further comment was necessary.
The proposed byway at Hook lane was still under consideration and Bill Gore has spoken to Harriet Egerton from Monxton; this will be reviewed once more information is available.
Bill Gore reported that the footpaths will soon need cutting and he will contact Clive Hutchinson regarding this matter BG
Pot holes were reported on several roads, if councillors would like to let the clerk know there whereabouts by e-mail they will be reported to Hampshire Highways.

Amport Fen
A full report was given at the Annual Parish Meeting immediately prior to this meeting.

Tesco Application
19 letters to neighbouring Parishes have been sent out asking for a representative to join a steering committee on this issue; at the same time parishes were asked if they would consider contributing to the cost of a planning consultant to fight the proposed application.
Replies have been received from 8 councils so far and 3 have said they will consider contributing to a planning consultant.
Parish Councillors present were all very concerned that the Parish should be as well prepared as possible to fight any application for a large distribution warehouse on the site behind the DE and S and adjacent to the A303.

Further discussion took place concerning the involvement of RODAC and how and where the Parish Council should go in preparing the relevant arguments prior to any application being received.
Ian Morrison will write a follow up letter to all Parishes and liaise with Bernard Griffiths to convene a meeting of the All Parish Action Group, where many of the points raised at this meeting may be dealt with.

The final accounts for the Year ended 31^st March 2007 were presented by the Clerk to the Parish Council and were accepted by all councillors present.

8. Parish Election
Ian Morrison thanked both Tim Southern and Maurice Hardy for their work on behalf of the Parish Council as they prepared to step down.
Neville Geake has also decided not to seek re election citing work commitments; The Chairman thanked them all for their endeavours over the last 4 years.
Ian Morrison went on to ask all councillors to consider whom could be co-opted to fill the vacancies and the necessary publicity will be put into action as soon as possible Clerk

9. AOB and Correspondence
Ian Long, as School Liaison Officer, reported that the school was looking to build a further classroom to enable the hall to become just that, a dedicated hall, meeting room, PE and lunch facility. The PTA would very much like the Parish Council to consider giving a donation to the project. Ian Morrison replied that he would like someone from the School Building Committee to come and give some more information about the project and suggested that this should be an agenda item at the next meeting. All councillors present were asked if they would in principal support the project and all were in agreement. Ian Morrison said he would like a breakdown on the numbers of children who lived in and outside the Parish.
Sarah Hammer reported that the school PTA were organising a Treasure Hunt on foot in aid of funds on the 2^nd July.
Carolyn Mallam asked whose responsibility the uprooted tree by the Sub station near the bridge was Clerk to investigate, and further asked if the PCC could host a plant stall in aid of the Lily Appeal there this coming weekend.

Meeting closed at 9.10pm

Date of the next meeting May 21 2007 at 7.00pm at Amport School - AGM