MINUTES OF A MEETING OF THE PLAYING FIELDS AND OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE

 

HELD ON 6th December 2004 AT 7.25 p.m. IN THE BUSH ROOM

 

PRESENT: -      Mrs. A Wilkins(Chairman), Mr J Head, , Mr M Webb,

                             Mr J Cutland,

                             Mr R Fergyson (Clerk)

 

1 Acceptance of apologies for absence:

    Mrs. J Rodell (Holiday), Mr J Veasey (Ill)

 

2 Minutes of previous meeting

 

The Minutes of the meeting held on October 4th   2004 were approved and signed by the Chairman.

 

3  Matters arising.

             

              Parish Store

              The cricket club had cleared the inside, and cricket club property put to the back. Other rubbish had been taken to the tip.

 

A letter had been sent to the Cricket club regarding the leak of hydraulic or diesel fuel. The Club has responded and will have the problem fixed by the end of the year and the floor cleaned. In the meantime an old door had been placed under the roller to prevent further leakage onto the floor.

 

Other work in the roof space will be tackled after the New Year.

              

Cross Hands

                   

The turffing is yet to be done. The other work to be carried out will be discussed under Play area Work.

 

Safety Report

 

The repairs outlined in the safety report will be discussed under Play area work.

    

Any other business

 

   The playing field weeding and feeding will be discussed again with Garden Manicures in the spring.

 

The hedge at 43 Greenhill Road is within the boundary and neither the Parish Council nor the Highways department can do anything.

 

The shrubs bordering the A38 at the millennium stone will cost an additional £40 per cut.

The removal of fallen branches is not in the contract, only the removal of those cut by the contractor. At the moment a give and take relationship exists, but some items may need to be included in the contract next year.

 

 

The terms and conditions document.

 

           A draft terms and conditions had been produced by the Clerk for consideration by the Chairman. This review would produce some amendments. The final draft would be copied to all members of the committee.

 

5                 Play area Work

 

Attached are the estimates received from the contractors together with a summary sheet.

 

Cross Hands Play Area. Tarmac

The Clerk explained that the site was an old tip and was constantly moving and sinking in different places, which is causing water to lay and affect the tarmac. All parties were asked to level the play area and allow water to run off to the sides. This means the safety surface in some parts will need to be brought up to the new level and the edges of the tarmac and safety surface sealed. The quotes could not be compared directly because of the different methods of edging to the wet pour safety surface. Premier Surfacing proposed to kerb the area around each of the items of play equipment and then the Council would need to contract say Wicksteeds to seal the edges and build up the low areas. Both G.B. Sports and Farm Track propose cutting the safety surface back and butting the tarmac to the safety surface. Only GB Sport included a figure for the necessary wet pour work.

 

Following a discussion Councillor Ann Wilkins proposed that G. B. Sport’s estimate of a maximun of £8753.18 is recommended to the full council. The committee agreed.

 

Cross Hands Play area Fencing.

 

Both Farm Track and York Fencing were asked to quote for renewing the fence in a phased renewal. A separate estimate was to be provided to replace the small entry gates with the same hydraulic self-closing gates, at the Lime Kiln Fields Play Area. This will allow the Council to decide if replacement is necessary, the farm gate on the Cross hands side similarly quoted for.

 

The committee discussed the estimates and the amount of work. The Committee recommend that the full council approve the replacement of all the self-closing gates, and the rusty farm gate.

 

The estimates from Farm Track and York Fencing were then compared and the committee are in favour of the estimate from York Fencing of £9095.00. This includes the self-closing gates, which the Council will purchase separately in order to re-claim the vat.

 

Councillor Ann Wilkins recommended the self-closing gates and the rusty farm gate are replaced and the estimate from York Fencing is recommended.

 

A schedule of works will then need to be considered.

 

Lime Kiln Fields Play Area.

 

The safety report highlighted the damage the roots of some tree have caused to the level of the tarmac surface. The estimated are based on extending border around the isolated beech tree and incorporating the other two beech trees into the garden border.

 

The committee recommended the Farm Track estimate for this work of £662.00

Councillor Ann Wilkins recommends the Council accept the estimate from Farm Track for this work.

 

 

 

6                 Cemetery

 

Almondsbury charges had not yet been sought. The Clerk will do this.

 

A small amount of annoyance had been caused by a person cutting the chain at the first gate, and the joining the links with a padlock. Mr Biddle has cut out the padlock and can now close the gate as before.

 

The work on cutting the hedges will be examined.

 

7                 Any other Business

 

There was no other business.

 

The meeting closed at 8.05pm.