Annual Parish Meeting minutes – 6th June 2023

a.      Bramley Youth Club report – Ed Ives-Wara presented his report (See appendix H)

2022-23 has been a busy year – Bramley PC has financially supported a number of activities through the year.  The precept for 2023-24 has been reduced by 4%, but the PC will continue to obtain value for money on behalf of residents.

Recent malicious and unfounded accusations from a few members of the Community Facebook group were disappointing, but Bramley PC moves on determined to deliver support for this community and are honoured to do so.  Communication from the Parish Council will be via the PC website and Facebook page moving forward.

There are a number of new developments coming in the Parish.  140 dwellings at Stocks Farm were approved on appeal, as were 6 dwellings adjacent to the surgery.  8 dwellings at Bramley Garage have also been approved.  Bramley PC is sad to lose the garage, but the owner does need to relocate the business.  However, Bramley does not need more housing, but is primarily contributing to the BDBC housing land supply figures.  The lack of a 5 year housing land supply is a big problem for places like Bramley.  Recent communication with BDBC officers suggest that the number of houses for Bramley in the upcoming Local Plan Update is likely to be 0, based upon the recent permissions granted .

St James Park allotments – Cllr Shimell has done a great job in getting them up and running, and they are finally operational.  It has taken 5 years of hard work from Councillors and the clerk to get to this point.

Clift Meadow – thanks go to Simon Gill as the outgoing Chair of the Trustees, and Graham Auld as the new Chair for their continued hard work.  Bramley PC is the landowner of Clift Meadow, and as such takes responsibility for financing capital projects for the buildings.  The PC relies on the Trustees to tell us what is required.

It has been a pleasure to support a number of community groups in the Parish with various grants – they deliver a wealth of activities to this community.

Bramley PC thanks our County and Borough ward councillors for their continued support.

Bramley PC is carrying out a wilding experiment at Bramley Green.  For the last two years, a trial field has been successful from a biodiversity point of view, so the trial is being extended to the whole of Bramley Green.  There will be two cuts a year with the arisings being collected, sight lines are being maintained more regularly, and a path has been cut across the main area for dog walkers and others.

Cllr Durrant has been returned as Chair, with Cllr Bell as Vice-Chair.  Cllr Flooks remains as Chair of the Planning Committee, and our new councillor Alan Munday is on the Planning Committee and is acting as the Community Speedwatch liaison.  Other members of the Planning Committee are Cllr Oborn, Cllr Tomblin and Cllr Bell.  Cllr Capel acts as the PC liaison to the Clift Meadow Trustees, with Cllr Oborn doing similar for the Village Hall Trustees.  Cllr Shimell continues his work on the Allotments and Burial Ground.

As the Chair has outlined, the PC has given nearly £27,000 of grants to village organisations and those supporting Bramley residents – this is by far the biggest expenditure after administration and maintenance costs.  Of particular note is the hugely successful Jubilee event held in June – we budgeted £5,000 for the event and came in well below that sum.  We also spent nearly £18,000 on key items for the Clift Meadow buildings – the Brocas Hall security gates and electricity for the storage shed were particularly important to the Clift Meadow Trustees.

The PC continues to carry out general maintenance which would normally be carried out by the Borough or County Councils, such as removal of fly tipping, fallen branches, leaf clearance, etc.  We often find that PC can respond more quickly.  HCC fund £1000 for the Parish Lengthsman,  which Bramley PC typically uses fairly early on in the financial year.  We continue to maintain Bramley Green and the Burial Ground, as well as a number of benches and bus stops in the Parish.

For the coming year, the Council’s focus will remain on supporting the local community wherever possible.  There will be a focus on infrastructure projects due to further CIL funding.  The Council finances will be monitored closely, as ever, so that we may use our funds in the most cost-effective way possible to ensure value for money for the community.

We had a successful clear audit for 2021-22.  The annual return figures for 2022-23 will be published on the Parish Council website in the near future.

Cllr Tomblin is now part of the BDBC Cabinet, and is the portfolio holder for Climate and Ecological Emergency.  Cllr Robinson continues to serve on the Development Control Committee (although no longer as Chair), and is also on the Economic, Planning & Housing Committee and the Tree Appeal Panel.  Cllr Durrant is also on the Development Control Committee, and will serve on the Human Resources Committee and the Scrutiny Committee as well.

Cllr Robinson noted that his position and Cllr Durrants position on the DC Committee means that they cannot publicly comment on planning applications as it would make them pre-determined on the DC Committee.  However, both will still be fighting for Bramley and other parishes in the Bramley Ward.

Census – some census results have come in.  BDBC has seen a population increase of 17,400 over the last 10 years, taking the overall population to 182,200, and increase of 10.4%.  There has been a rise in the number of households in the Borough from 69,315 in 2011 to 76,000 in 2021 – a rise of 10.5%.

Development – 30% of the land in the Borough is covered by AONB, 30% of the land has already been developed, 20% of the land is covered by Conservation Areas.  Only 20% of land in the Borough is available for building.  Development is needed, but it does need to be in the right place.  Bramley is not the right place – it has contributed enough.

Grants – Bramley Ward Councillors have up to a total of £6000 that they can give as a Councillor discretionary grant.  They have always pooled funds for worthy causes  in the Bramley Ward.  A new grant is being launched, the Strengthening Communities Grant Scheme – this grants up to £15,000 for community group projects to be delivered over 12 months.  The deadline for applications is 18^th June 2023.

Green Team – BDBC is the first District Council in the UK to have a specific Green Team.  The green team is being created to help communities and companies to go even further to cut their emissions and play their part in achieving a net zero carbon borough by 2030.  Once established in the summer, the six-strong green team will regularly attend events and go door to door as they help local people and small to medium-sized businesses to cut their carbon footprints and make changes to be more sustainable.

This includes by providing advice on topics such as saving energy, cutting emissions from transport, improving the natural environment and reducing, reusing and recycling waste.

Queens jubilee celebration – Cllr Tomblin was invited to light the Bramley beacon – thanks to Iain James for assistance, and Cllr Malcolm Bell for organising.

Death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – The Queen sadly passed in September.  The BDBC Mayor did the proclamation of the new King, and there was a civic service in memory of the Queen.

Homes for Ukraine – in BDBC there are over 130 households living with sponsors, and BDBC support key roles around homelessness, housing standards and helping to rematch guests if arrangement become unsustainable.

Cost of Living crisis – BDBC has targeted financial support to help residents through the crisis.  A new Cost of Living Assistance Fund of £1 million was established to help households struggling to pay bills, with grants available to help pay for food and energy.  This funding is in addition to Government funding.

Jibbs Meadow car park – new electric vehicle charging points have been installed, which will have a traffic parking order enabling enforcement in due course.

Planning – the solar farm appeal was allowed at appeal, but is the subject of an upcoming judicial review sponsored by residents.  The Stocks Farm development was allowed at appeal.  Such applications are still getting Thames Water conditions applied to ensure that houses are not occupied until the sewerage system upgrade is complete.

Local Plan – it was agreed by Cabinet to delay the Local Plan Update until the housing number calculation issue is resolved, and the recent Government consultation results start feeding through to the planning process.  Currently two possible plans are in the pipeline, one based on the current calculation, and one based on the hoped for calculation.

HCC has £883 million in reserves, but much of it is earmarked for various projects.  However, if savings are not made, then there will be a £132 million  deficit by 2025/26.

Potholes – the situation is improving, with the better weather and potholes gradually being fixed.

Grants – A County Councillor grant went to Community Speedwatch team, and a further grant was made towards the purchase of a gynaecological bench to the surgery.  Cllr Vaughan has also contributed to a new bench at Clift Meadow.  He is trying to secure a grant to for the Village Hall kitchen refurbishment.

An HCC survey coming out on finance and HCC services – this will be on PC website and social media in due course.

Cllr Vaughan continues to be the Chair of the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Authority.

The new site at St James Park has been divided into 24 plots which are substantially the same size as those at the established site at Grays Meadow.  This means the village now has 46 operational plots spread across the two sites.  At the time of writing this, all 46 are rented out to allotment holders.

At the start of the reporting year the waiting list for allotments stood in the mid 40s.  With the St James Park allotments coming on-line, a number of allotment holders choosing to give up their holding and a few of those on the waiting list deciding they did not want an allotment after all, the current waiting list stands at 11.  The longest waiting person has been on the list since April 2021.

Burial Grounds – The Burial Ground continues to be a peaceful area in Bramley.  There have been several new ashes interments and associated memorial stones in the last year.  Bramley PC are planning to repeat monitoring of the water table in the coming months and review the decision not to allow full burials.  Maintenance continues to ensure that the Burial Ground remains a serene, reflective place in the Parish.

We ask people to sign a disclaimer to say they take responsibility for themselves.

We do risk assessments for any new walk we go on, to establish suitability.

We have 4 regular volunteers, but several walkers are always on hand to help out.

We meet every week, (unless there is severe weather and we need to cancel for safety reasons) and this is what they enjoy – that there is always someone to meet, walk and talk with.

The group has 35 people on the register.

The age range spans 5 decades (plus a 30-year-old but she now works on Thursday mornings for the time being).

We have 9 men who attending regularly, plus occasional partners, especially when we have a social event.

Due to the number of people registered we now have 3 levels of walk – according to level of fitness. A slow walk, a medium one and a fast group. There has been very positive feedback on this.

After a very successful party at Christmas we are holding a summer party in August.

The physical and mental health benefits have been recognised by the participants. There are health issues within the group, and we keep an eye on everyone, making sure each person goes on the right walk for them.

Approximately 18 members have moved to Bramley within the past 1 – 5 years and it has been noted how difficult it is to meet new people when you are older. Others have found it hard to find companionship after retirement.

We have 10 different nationalities, whose first language is not English. One lady struggles with English but the group has provided support in developing her skills. We have one member who has learning difficulties.

The hall is manned during the walk so anyone can come for a coffee and some company if they don’t fancy a walk.

As there are limited walking opportunities from Clift Meadow, we have instigated a few summer trips which have been very well received, especially when it includes lunch.

We are no longer advertising the group, so it doesn’t become too big but we will accept new people referred to by the surgery or social prescriber.

As 3 of the volunteers manage the small garden on the Meadow, some of the group has begun to help with the garden outside – offering plants, watering, weeding and general maintenance and we distribute any produce to them.

Members are being encouraged to enter the Bramley Show, as there is a lot of talent in the group.

One off bookings have picked up this year with many more birthday parties than the last couple of years, the bulk of the regular bookings are consistent, we have picked up one new hirer, and lost three. As always, Brocas bookings are fairly light, and we continue to look for opportunities to increase our income both through new hirers and events.

Our two major events of the last year, the Fete and Fireworks, were both successful in providing enjoyable events for the community and significant fund raising for Clift Meadow Trust. The Trustees would like to thank the Parish Councillors for the support they give to running these community events.

I would like to end by mentioning one of the significant success stories of new events. The Clift Meadow Community Café (formerly coffee mornings) have been built by a team of community volunteers into a vibrant well supported regular event. This has spawned craft sessions, cloths swaps, plant swaps, money raising for charities, food bank collections and more. Built purely on donations the event still manages to raise some welcome funds for Clift Meadow, we appreciate the efforts of the volunteers and attendees immensely.

Each week we have Arts and Crafts, Sports Games, Board Games and each week we introduce a different activity.

The Tuck Shop is a highlight of their night too!!

Monthly total attendance – since April last year, attendance per month has ranged from 45 in October 2022 to 147 in March 2023.  Attendance per month is typically over 100 young people, and has been rising significantly in the early part of 2023.

Next Steps – young people would like to:

·         Raise funds for Clift Meadow Hall (fix the flooring, painting and carpet fixed

·         Family BBQ and Party with Games, Inflatables (raising money)

·         Update the Hall Board with new artwork

·         Purchase new equipment

·         Projector Screen and Projector on the Hall Wall

·         Raise money for an older play area for 13+

Objectives – The objectives of the Village Hall and its Trustees, as set out in the Deed of Trust, remain unchanged.

The Trustees Committee

·         Gareth Jones – Chairman

·         Richard Beale – Treasurer

·         Jo Whatley – Secretary

·         Mike Hall – Maintenance

·         Jane Matthews – Health and Safety and the link with our Caretaker

·         Jenny Begent

·         Tony Walton

·         Max Fullerton

·         Mike Welsh

·         Keith Oborn – Trustee nominated by the Parish Council

Mrs Sarah Hodnett resigned as a Trustee in July 2022, since when we have recruited three additional Trustees to the Committee: Mike Hall, Max Fullerton and Mike Welsh.

Mrs Catriona Hayward continues to be employed as our Business and Events Coordinator. The Trustees are very grateful to Mrs Hayward for her continued efforts to support existing Hall users and in winning new business.

Mrs Emelia Rutt continues as our Caretaker, and we wish to place on record our appreciation of her continued commitment and support to the Village Hall.

Policy Documents – We have policy documents covering all of the key areas of the Hall’s functions, including finance, Health and Safety, bookings, maintenance and safeguarding; these were updated in March 2023. We have a Business Plan which is updated annually and a Strategy Document for the 5 Year period, 2020-2025. All of these documents have been published on our website.

Key developments – The past year has been dominated by a return to ‘business as usual’ with an increase in footfall by both regular users and for one-off event hirings. Although we have a small number of new users, we continue to retain sufficient capacity and flexibility across our suite of rooms to meet the requirements of most hirers. Maintenance issues have taken up much time and effort, chiefly dealing with wear and tear from hirings and occasional minor accidental damages.

Inflationary pressures, especially the rise in energy costs (see below) necessitated an increase in hiring charges. The charges for one-off hirers increased by 10% in October 2022 but we held off a similar rate of increase for regular users until 1 April 2023.

Our major project in the past year was the installation of a solar panel system on the front, flat roof at the Hall. This was successfully completed at the end of July and our electricity is now supplied mainly by our own system. We have also installed a new battery storage system which will enable us to store electricity from our solar panels for use during the dark hours. The control system enables a smooth management across the system and the ability to switch over to mains supply when the battery runs low, and equally to recharge using cheap electricity during off-peak periods. This project was supported financially by National Grid’s Community Grants Programme and Hampshire County Council’s Parish and Town Council Investment Fund, and was as much about us being more sustainable, being ‘greener,’ as it was about saving money. While we need to see how the system performs over the full year, the evidence suggests that on a bright sunny day, the Hall can operate to a high degree of self-sufficiency for electricity, including running off the battery system overnight.

Forward Look – The Village Hall Trustees have initiated work on two projects for the year ahead. The first, for which the contract has already been tendered is for the refurbishment of the floor in the main hall and committee room. This is a messy job requiring the sanding down, waxing and resealing of the floor surface and will necessitate the closure of those two rooms for a two-week period starting on 24 July. The other project is the replacement of the units in the main kitchen, installation of a new sink and addition of a dishwasher to ensure that we keep our crockery clean. This project will follow on from the work on the flooring in the main hall. The latter project is likely to be expensive and at the time of writing we are applying for grants to underpin our investment in the new amenities. Other works include periodic paint updates to the walls and doors to deal with scuffs and other marks; we are grateful to Mrs Emilia Rutt for her efforts to repaint some of the busiest areas.

Externally, work has been completed to replace the stock fence to the rear of the Hall and to clear brambles from the ditch it borders. Removal of dead trees and some shrubbery was necessary, with more work to be undertaken in the next few months, and the Trustees will then examine ways in which the green spaces around the Hall can be rewilded; this is as much about supporting the Village’s green agenda as it is about reducing our garden maintenance costs.

During 2021 and early 2022 we had several meetings with representative of Wates Developments concerning their plans for land to the rear of the Village Hall. As Trustees for the Hall, we could neither support or oppose their proposals for the land but made clear our concerns about the impact any development might have on shared infrastructure, especially drainage, and on traffic flows on The Street. We stepped back from further contact while the planning application was underway but we anticipate renewed engagement now that the application has been approved.

Financial situation

·         Our year-end figures have yet to be audited but Income from hirings during 2022-23 amounted to £52,878, an increase of nearly £10,000 compared to the previous year. (Income from regular users increased by £4,900 while fees from one off hirers went up by around 70%.)

·         Expenditure in 2022-23 was £50,302. This sum is slightly higher than the expenditure for the previous year, by about £500. We anticipated that costs would have been higher given increases in maintenance costs, cleaning costs and energy costs; however, while we spent £1,200 more on gas supplies our electricity costs remained static as a consequence of the availability of solar energy.

·         In addition, we currently hold a reserve of £17,000, some of which may need to be expended on the cost of refurbishing the floor in the main hall and on the replacement of cabinets and equipment in the main kitchen.

·         Pending audit, we reached year end with income exceeding expenditure by £2,524.

The Year Ahead – We will remain focussed on our running costs and will continue to seek ways of reducing the impact of price increases across the board: energy costs (especially gas) and maintenance costs will be priorities. Completion of the two refurbishment projects during the course of the year will underpin our operations over the next five to six years; these are significant investments but we are mindful of the steady toll minor damages and accidents can have on the fabric of the building and on our maintenance costs. The ‘Bramley Village Hall’ sign in car park will be replaced with a slightly larger, more visible sign in the next few months.

We hope to resume our ‘Kick Start’ scheme as part of our strategy to encourage use of our facilities, offering partners in the community the space to develop ideas, to experiment and trial events or new groups without worrying about room hire costs, while we accept a degree of risk in the loss of potential hiring income while a new group gets established.

The Trustees remain committed to supporting the Charity Commission’s desire to encourage people under the age of 25 to become more involved in the governance of charities, large and small. We remain keen to recruit at least one Young Trustee and seek additional volunteers to support the work of the Trustees and to eventually join the Committee.

We have a full provision of services, including our usual Sunday morning services in addition to weddings, funerals and christenings. We continue to live stream the 1030 church service each week. The average attendance for Sunday services during 2022 was 74. The church building is well used and well maintained thanks to a group of dedicated and committed people, to whom we are very grateful. Cross House is well used and bookings are getting back to pre-pandemic levels, with an increase in the number of regular users plus an increase in occasional bookings for events.

The church is often decorated with flowers and we have a team whose love, enthusiasm and skill makes this possible. The highlight this year was the Flower Festival to celebrate the late Queen’s Jubilee. We had a large number of visitors, many of whom also enjoyed the cream teas in Cross House. Flowers in church are sometimes given in memory of loved ones or special anniversaries and anyone can request this. The Music Festival did not happen this year, but we hope to have one in 2024 if we can get a team to help.

We receive many visitors throughout the year as the building is open every day of the year. Villagers walking by, people visiting graves and those walking the St James Pilgrim Way: a pilgrimage route from Reading to Southampton. During the summer, way markers were put up in the churchyard to direct walkers along the route. We often see walkers in the church, collecting their pilgrimage stamps and admiring our wall paintings.  As someone wrote in the visitor book recently, “What a well-loved church it obviously is”. Even if you are not ‘religious’ or don’t attend church services, we welcome people to become involved in cleaning and maintaining the building, for future generations to enjoy.

The church is pleased to produce the Bramley Magazine, distributed free of charge to all homes in Bramley and Little London. We are grateful to our efficient team of deliverers who go out in all weathers. We made a small loss of £137 in 2022/23, but this was a reasonable result as, unlike the previous year, the magazine not receive any money from the Bramley Fete. The magazine is one of the main ways Bramley Parish Council updates the community on local issues and they contribute £1000 a year in return for their regular column, for which we are grateful. Securing sufficient advertising revenue to meet our costs continues to be a challenge.

We are happy to contribute to organising the Village Fete and value the way this brings the community together, as well as raising money for Clift Meadow and the church.

We were blessed with a full year of bell ringing for the first time since the pandemic and a growing team of ringers, so we are often able to have a full band of eight ringers for Sunday services. Bells were rung for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and we also gave chiming demonstrations to visitors during the church’s flower festival. A bell was tolled 96 times on the evening of the death of the late Queen. Fully muffled bells were then rung the following day, and on the morning and evening of her funeral. We ring on other special occasions, such as weddings.

The Foodbank collection continues with boxes placed at the back of the church and at the entrance to Cross House and regular deliveries were made to the distribution centre in Basingstoke. The total amount of produce collected during 2022 (Jan-Dec) was 546 kilos, the equivalent of around 1000 meals.

We support our village Church of England school in many ways. Church members contribute as governors, with school assemblies (plus Open the Book), RE lessons, staff training, visits and we help with fundraising as part of the Bramley School Association. Bramley School places the Christian values of love, courage and respect at the heart of all that it does.

The church welcomes children and young people in many ways, including children’s groups at our weekly contemporary ‘Sunday at 9’ service in Cross House, the Good Friday crafts morning, the Pancake Race on Shrove Tuesday and special services at Christmas.

St James Bramley is committed to the safeguarding, care and nurture of everyone within our church community. Our safeguarding policy guides our work and we are assisted by Diocese of Winchester Safeguarding Team.

This was the first full year with our new vicar, the Reverend Mark Anderson who is enjoying Village life in all its beauty and diversity.