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CHEPPING WYCOMBE PARISH COUNCIL
OPEN SPACES COMMITTEE
Members of the council are summoned to attend the meeting to be held on Tuesday 1 November 2022 at 7.30pm at the Council Office, Cock Lane, Tylers Green, High Wycombe Bucks HP10 8DS
Present: Cllr L Willis (Chairman) Cllr I Forbes
Cllr L Johncock (Vice-chairman) Cllr C Jordan
Cllr J Gurney Cllr S Digby Cllr H Darch Cllr S Herron Cllr D Johncock Cllr K Wood (ex officio)
OS/22/027 Apologies for absence
There were no apologies received prior to the meeting.
Cllr L Webb tendered his apologies during the meeting (business).
OS/22/028 Declarations of members’ interests in Items on the agenda
There were none.
The clerk advised that there had been some emergency treework undertaken at Old Forge Road in Loudwater at a cost of £720.00.
OS/22/029 Allotments
Members were asked to note that there are no vacancies at the allotment sites:
Chapel Road – full
Ashley Drive – full
There are currently 3 people on the waiting list for Ashley Drive and 4 on the wating list for Chapel Road.
OS/22/030 Tylers Green Common
1 No Entry Sign – Rays Lane
Members were asked to note that following the request taken to full Council a letter would be sent to all residents along the track to garner opinion on the suggestion to place a No Entry sign at the village hall end of Rays Lane.
OS/22/031 Playgrounds
1 Ashley Drive Recreation Ground, Tylers Green
1.1 Surfacing requirements
Members were asked to note that the quotations for the surfacing had been requested and were awaited. Members were asked to note that the grounds team will be placing concrete slabs under each gate entrance at the site; as these areas have the heaviest traffic.
2 Straight Bit Recreation Ground, Flackwell Heath
2.1 Security
Members were asked to consider the ongoing security requirements for the site following the installation of the CCTV at the site.
It was RESOLVED that;
The security arrangements would be delegated to the chairman of the committee and clerk.
3 Green Dragon Lane, Flackwell Heath
Members were asked to note that the play equipment is due to installed in mid-November a firm date yet to be confirmed.
4 Flackwell Heath Play Equipment sub-group
Members were asked to note that the Play Equipment sub-group would be meeting to have initial discussions on the replacement piece following the arson attack at the above site; date was to be confirmed.
It was agreed that the chairman of committee would organise the next meeting which would include more Flackwell Heath ward members.
5 Skatepark Update
Members were asked to receive an update on this joint project from the representatives on the group. The update is attached to the report.
Item of note: There was support for the working group to continue
OS/22/032 Treeworks
Members were asked to note that the memorial trees in Tylers Green were being planted in time for the service on Friday 11 November.
The ash dieback in King’s Wood will be inspected by the grounds team prior to any work being scheduled.
Item of note: Ash dieback is present in Magpie Wood and will need further inspection
OS/22/033 Hedges
Members were asked to consider the following works to the hedges at:
Derehams Lane – roadside hedge requires tidying
Straight Bit Recreation Ground – hedge to rear of site backing on the The Meadows – the hedge needs a reduction in height and this is too high for the grounds team.
Ashley Drive Recreation ground middle hedge – this hedge needs the removal of hedging material leaving the mature trees. Replanting to follow
Green Dragon Lane Recreation ground – the hedge along the front of the site is extremely overgrown with ivy which is making sections fall out. Complete removal of the road facing hedge is required, leaving any mature trees and to replace it with palisade fencing, approximately 72 metres, to allow a clearer view of the new play area. The rest of the boundary to be replanted with hedging.
It was RESOLVED that;
Quotes to be obtained for the work at Straight Bit for height reduction, Ashley Drive for replacement hedging and palisade fencing to the corner of Green Dragon and new hedging material.
OS/22/034 Derehams Lane Recreation Ground
1 Derehams Lane Sub-group
Members were asked to note that a sub-group meeting had been arranged for Thursday 3 November to consider the initial ideas from the architect.
2 Loudwater Bowls Club report from Cllr Jordan
Members were asked to note the report from the last meeting of the Loudwater Bowls Club.
Items that were noted – the track needs to be inspected and the trees around the rink which had been inspected by the grounds team will need significant height reduction.
OS/22/035 Committee Finances
Members were asked to note the committee income and expenditure to Period 6 (September)
OS/22/036 Committee Budget 2023/24
Members were asked to consider the committee draft budget. Members were asked to make
suggestions for the budget lines.
Cllr Forbes advised that he budget had been rolled forward from the current financial year with a few adjustments to make some savings in areas that were historically underspent.
Cllr D Johncock queried funding for the consultation period for the skatepark – this could be from the play equipment EMR or CIL
OS/22/037 Questions from committee members and the public
- Cllr Darch highlighted the overgrown trees along the firebreak in Tylers Green.
An inspection would be made to see if this could be undertaken by the grounds team.
- Cllr Jordan advised that Lot 2 of Magpie Wood had been sold to a developer along with the other section behind the property Little Magpie
Cllr Jordan aired his concerns wondering if there was anyway of preserving the woodland.
OS/22/038 Accounts for payment
The accounts for payment were circulated to the members at the meeting.
It was RESOLVED that;
the accounts for payment be approved and cheques numbered 10937 to 10948 be signed, the BACS payment to Barclays Payflow and direct debits to Barclays, Black Country Metalworks Ltd, EE, E-ON Next and Nest be approved for payment.
The chairman of committee thanked members for their attendance and closed the meeting at 8.34pm
Date and time of next meeting: Thursday 12 January 2023 @ 7.30pm
Skatepark Verbal Input – 1 Nov 22.
The Joint BE and CWPC Skatepark WG has now met 6 times since the beginning of the year – the last time was last night.
After the first exploratory meeting, the group focused on trying to identify a suitable location for the skatepark. This was slowly whittled down to 3 – one of which was the field next to the Green Dragon Sports Ground. The other 2 were both in Wooburn.
About 2 months ago we sought advice from a well-known skatepark constructor called Maverick, This virtually ruled out 2 of the sites and only left Wooburn Park which in Maverick’s opinion was almost perfect as a location. It is accessible, not close to residential dwelling, can be built into the side of the hill making it less obtrusive, and is close to other recreational facilities including toilets.
It was the Wooburn Park outline proposal that Maverick briefed to Councillors from both Parish Councils on 11th October. Sadly, not many of the CWPC Members attended but those that did were I think persuaded that Wooburn Park should be considered as the preferred location.
So what we agreed last night was that:
We would seek the approval of both Councils for the WG to continue to develop more detailed and costed proposals, and to collect evidence that there was indeed a supportable need. Once all this information was collected an put into a presentable form, we would undertake public consultation across both PC areas before deciding on the way ahead.
It was noted that there are many sources of external funding for projects such as this and that there wasn’t therefore necessarily a large cost for the 2 PCs to meet. Again, funding would be covered in the presentation material.
The bottom line is that we are still a long way from getting to a decision point and even Maverick said that this would be a 2 year project. However, we continue to make steady progress and have a t least identified a suitable location for the skatepark. We now need to put some flesh on the bones.
DAJ