Brill Common & Village Green Advisory Group Meeting Report
december 11th 2023 5pm
Attendees: Alex Cruickshank (AC - BBOWT – Chair) Pat Stone (PS - BVHC), Christine Bailey (CB - BVCH), Elaine Dickinson (ED - Walks Committee), Dave Munson (DM - Common Volunteers), John Cable (JC - Walks Committee), Roger Stone (RS - Friends of Brill Common), Liz Springs (LS - Brill Parish Council), Emi Slater (ES - Brill Parish Council – Common Rep)
Bobs Damerell (BD – Minutes)
Future Agenda
It was agreed by all to have a formalised Agenda for each meeting going forward to be sent on the Friday preceding the meeting.
Apologies
Apologies were received for Tim Patrick (TP)
Actions from last meeting:
Nettles – A quote was received from Aspire to cut the nettles in the Walks for approximately £1,000. After the quote was submitted an offer was received from Ken Furminger (KF) to cut the nettles at no cost using the mower and tractor kindly supplied by BVCH, to which the Parish Council gratefully accepted.
Grazing - AC to send through an example template of grazing rights
ED to talk to the farmer to check if grazing rights are currently in place and if so if there is a document available for the PC to have a copy.
Ranger Advert – ES confirmed agreement from the Parish Council for the advert to be drafted.
Span Green:
Hedge: PS confirmed that approximately three quarters of the hedge has been cut and the contractor has confirmed the remainder will be cut in Autumn 2024.
Sycamore Tree: The sycamore Tree (S21) has been removed and work is complete.
Flooding: BD to meet with landowner of the adjacent field to try and arrange a site visit to discuss what works can be done including the reinstatement of the ditch which has now become flush with the ground.
BVCH
The whole Group expressed is congratulations to BVCH for its receipt of The Kings Award for Volunteers.
Q. Has this been well publicised?
A. Yes, and in the days immediately after there was a dramatic increase on visits to the BVCH website
Q. Is there insurance in place for volunteers helping with BVCH?
A. Yes, and we have the Deputy Lieutenant comes to check and ensure all necessary insurances are in place.
Q. Is there an age limit for insurance purposes for volunteers?
A. There is no specific stipulation, however children can be members of BVCH but not volunteers, unless accompanied by their parents
Winter Schedule
Common Volunteers - DM
3d, C & H
JC has been working on 3H coppicing the blackthorn hedge. There was a comment raised by a resident who was concerned about building a boundary to discourage encroachment on the Common.
Q. Has you been able to lay any of the Blackthorn Hedge?
A. Yes, quite a lot of it.
3E – The Bramble clear out has been done to get access to the large Hawthorn
3G – The Brambles have been cleared as has the outlying hawthorn to the sycamore.
3C – Work has been completed
3D – We have not yet completed 3D though this will be done in December 2023.
FOBC - RS
S16 – The site has been cleared the site and the brambles cut back
S21 – The Sycamore tree has been removed
12, 134, 14 – These have all been encased with the goats.
AC had a look with ES at S16. Noticed eco plugs had been used. These were added to stop the sycamore from resprouting at FOBC request as agreed at the September meeting
Walks Mowing
Ken Furminger and Tim Patrick (TP) have also subsequently offered to cut the grass and nettles in the Walks for no cost with the Parish Council mower. BVCH agreed to the use of their tractor provided some conditions put in writing regarding damage, fuel etc have been agreed.
Jon Vaile has been spoken to about the mowing and has reiterated his commitment to cutting the nettles.
It was also agreed for the mower to be placed under a tarpaulin and stored on the Walks so it is accessible for TP and KF when required to cut the grass and nettles.
Jon Vaile has confirmed that the mower has now been repaired and will be ready for use in the spring.