Gurnard Parish Council
39 Victoria Road
Cowes
PO31 7JH
The minutes of the Facilities meeting of Gurnard Parish Council (GPC) held at 19.01 on Wednesday 8th January 2025 at Gurnard Village Hall, Westbrook Lane, Gurnard, PO31 8JR.
Present: Councillors Acton (Chair), Bugden, Franklin, Jacobs, and Nolan
Clerk: Richard Shaul
2 members of the public were present.
The meeting started at 19:01
- Apologies
Apologies: Cllrs Fuller and Wood
- Members’ declarations of interest
Cllr Nolan declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item 4.b. (minute as they live close to the property in question
- Minutes
The minutes of the Full Council meeting of 11th December 2024 were taken as read, approved as a correct record and signed by the chair.
- Sale of land in Princes Esplanade by SGN
Southern Gas Networks (SGN) have announced the sale of land at Prince’s Esplanade by auction on 27th February 2025. The land is situated between the Solent Shores development and the Gurnard/Cowes boundary. The auction guide price is £75,000.
Resolved:
- In view of the short time available to adequately complete financing and due diligence investigations Gurnard Parish council are not in a position to consider acquiring this land.
- That Gurnard Parish Council review other land and property within the parish to determine if they were suitable to be considered as “assets of community value”
- Gurnard Parish Council will endeavour to ensure that, should the land be purchased for development, any future planning applications should incorporate SANG conditions. (Suitable alternative natural greenspace)
- Old School Meadow – Repair of border fence
The fence between Old School Meadow and the neighbouring house was damaged by the pine tree falling in recent storms. It is not entirely clear who owns this fence but our lease requires that GPC should repair all walls fences and gates.
Resolved: GPC instruct our maintenance contractor to repair the fence (budget of £350)
- Old School Meadow – Working Party
The OSM working party are meeting on Thursday 23rd January
Resolved: GPC agree the recommendations of the working party with regard to:
- Use of wood
- Removal of bridge – deferred pending quotes on other fencing works
- That the current contractor may use the container for storage of the mower used for cutting Old School Meadow
- Operation of public toilets.
There continues to be issues with the electrical systems of the toilets cutting out. Although they can be reset by the clerk, they very quickly cut out again indicating that there is a fault. Danfo have remotely diagnosed the problem to a faulty LCD panel on the cabinet of the system. They estimate the cost of the paned to be £700 plus commissioning and installation. They will get back to GPC with a more accurate quote and timescales. In view of the Clerk has taken the toilets out of use and posted “Out of order signs”
Proposal: That GPC ratify the actions of the clerk in taking the toilets out of use until the problems are resolved
The meeting closed at 19:46
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