Minutes of the Parish Council meeting held on Tuesday 19th August 2014 at 7.30pm in the Village Hall
Present
Chair: Andrew Alexander
Councillors: Rachel Giddens, Robin Hayden, Chris Howden, Lydia James,
Clerk: Caroline Bradley
C Councillor: Simon Bywater
Members of the public: 1
379.14 Chair’s Welcome
380.14 Apologies and reasons for absence
Cllr Trolove and Cllr Hodson sent apologies and reasons for their absence and these were accepted by the Parish Council (PC).
381.14 Member’s declaration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests
Ref: 388.14 Continued discussion of Planning Application 1401099FUL, 48 Main Street. The PC recognised and discussed the fact that they all had an interest in this item because they were all Trustees of the village hall. As discussed and unanimously agreed, previously, in agenda item 368.14, given the nature of a small PC, all Cllrs would remain and discuss the planning application.
Ref: 388.14 Planning Application 1401066FUL, 87 Main Street. It was recognised that all Cllrs were, ‘friendly’, with Cllr Trolove, however, given the nature of a small PC, it was agreed that all Cllrs would remain to discuss this planning application and verbally declared that they would not personally gain from the decision made by the PC regarding the planning application.
382.14 Public and press participation session with respect to items on the agenda
Member of the public addressed the PC with concerns regarding street lighting in Chapel End, between house numbers 3 and 5, agenda item 389.14. Communications between both parties had already begun before the meeting. The PC decided to address this item at that moment, for the convenience of the member of the public. There was a brief discussion and the member of the public was advised to contact Balfour Beatty as a concerned resident and it was requested that the Clerk and C Cllr Simon Bywater be copied in and kept abreast of future discussions. C Cllr Bywater provided the member of the public with his details. The member of the public was satisfied and at this point left the room.
383.14 To confirm and accept minutes of 15th July 2014
Darren Tysoe was referred to, incorrectly, as County (“C”) Councillor and not District (“D”) Councillor and his name was spelt as “Tyscoe”, incorrectly. The Clerk had also reported in agenda item 371.14, that the Rights of Way Cllr had been corresponding with, “Simon Bywater”, when it should have read, “Simeon Carroll”.
Agenda items were amended and initialled by the Chair and the PC unanimously agreed these to be a true record of events.
384.14 Matters arising from minutes (information only)
None, other than those already on the agenda to be addressed.
385.14 Clerk’s Report
CAPALC training report to follow by next meet.
Meet with CATALYST delayed. New meet to be arranged and Chair requested Chair of Village Hall and Rec. Ground be included. Clerk to action.
New paper supplier, cheaper (-£0.50), however, still satisfactory product.
List of governing powers now filed in office for reference.
School ‘parking’, letter of thanks, sent.
School governing body meetings attendee – Clerk to request permission of attendance of Cllr Howden.
ILCA training – Clerk informed that she was out of time to apply for bursary (April 2014). PC unanimously agreed to pay £99 plus VAT for Clerk to attend. Clerk to action.
Outlook- Clerk informed that she had lost a day’s work to problems with Outlook, now resolved. She added that she now had a password to allow access via other ports should the office laptop become out of action.
Clerk informed that she had previously had a discussion with the Chair regarding shared drives to allow Cllrs access to files. Clerk requested to gather information from other PCs for advice and report back.
It was requested by a Cllr that C Cllr Bywater be allowed to communicate his information at this point.
He advised that Children’s Services were recently reviewed by Ofsted and were awarded the grading of, ‘Good’. He added that he was now a Champion for Child Poverty forming strategies for helping under privileged children. Lastly, he communicated that the 4 million cost to build Cambridgeshire Fire Station had recently been offset by the sale of the flats situated above the station. It was reported that a profit had actually been made.
The PC thanked C Cllr Bywater for his hard work and at this point he left the room.
386.14 Implications of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests following Internal Audit
Clerk confirmed that the PC were acting correctly with regards to Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, as per information gained from the Society of Local Council Clerks (SLCC).
387.14 Correspondence received inc:-
Safe+Well – PC agreed for poster to go onto noticeboards
Glasdon brochure – to be filed
Hallmark Green Power re wind turbine – no action
Give as you Live – Clerk requested to look into the allowance of advertising for profit on PC websites and report back
Streetlife community website – no action
Planning for Climate Change Conference – no action
Fixing the price of oil – no action
Anglia in Bloom Awards invitation – no takers, clerk to advise
eCops Distraction Theft and Scam calls – Clerk advised that she had put on noticeboards, website and shop window and would continue to do this, ongoing
Connecting Cambridgeshire – advice only, no action
The Directory of Grant Making Trusts – no action
Improving Older People’s Healthcare – no action
388.14 Planning inc:-
Continuing discussion of Application 1401099FUL 48 Main Street –
Chair read aloud letter from David Hartley (Architect) and advised that the original planning application had not been approved by Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC), due to lack of information. He suggested he check the PCs archived documents for information relating to the boundary and advised that he would forward a letter to the PC from an interested neighbour.
Application 1401066FUL 87 Main Street, now including aboricultural report – APPROVED
Application 1401050FUL 59 Main Street – APPROVED
Clerk to communicate decisions and reasoning back to HDC. Reasoning attached.
389.14 Health and Safety matters
Response to Street Lighting in Chapel End detailed above, 382.14.
Drainage soak away matter deferred to the next meeting.
390.14 Communication from District and County Cllrs
Apologies from DC Tuplin. Communication from C Cllr Bywater, 385.14.
391.14 Communication from Parish Councillors
Cllr responsible for Trees was not in attendance.
Cllr responsible for Rights of Way reported that she believed that the bridleway off Winwick Road had finally been cleared. She added that the surface was still poor, as it always had been. She reported that she had noticed that the new surface of Ludington Road to the brook was covered in dog mess and suggested the PC put up a dog fouling notice to prevent this. Clerk to investigate styles and costings and report back. Lastly, she reported that there was a need to clear styles.
Cllr responsible for Highways/Police/Public Transport reported that she had seen the draft report regarding Cambridgeshire Future Transport (CFT). Although, not official, she understood that there might be a Mon-Fri service picking up at Great Gidding at 9.45am, arriving at Huntingdon at 10.30am. She added that she expected the once a month Peterborough service to be stopped. The PC thanked Cllr James for her contribution to a successful outcome.
The Trustee responsible for Farm Business Tenancy/Grazing Land had nothing new to report.
392.14 Communication from Village Hall and Recreation Ground Charity Committee
Clerk reported that, ongoing, she intended to email round minutes of the charity meets ahead of the PC meeting. Chair, (PC representative at committee meetings), communicated that a member of the committee had had to resign. Clerk reported that she had been unable to locate the Financial Regulations for the committee and Chair offered to take this task on.
393.14 Village Hall notice board replacement
Chair advised that the Clerk had investigated various options, however, the budgeted £200.00 was not enough to purchase a big enough board. Chair to continue to investigate and report back. Clerk suggested the PC create a Facebook page to improve communication within the village. A Cllr advised that there was one already created. Clerk to investigate and report back.
394.14 Anglian Water, continued discussion regarding water pressure issues
Clerk read aloud a response from Anglian Water regarding how leaks are reported. The PC appeared deflated by the response and unanimously decided to be mindful of future leaks and to review again if it was felt necessary.
395.14 Gains Lane resurfacing
Clerk informed the PC that Tony King at Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC) had advised that it was just the bottom of Gains Lane that would be, ‘made good’, not the whole road. She added that she would be doing a walk of the village with Tony in September.
396.14 Siting of benches on recreation ground
To be discussed once informed by the Village Hall and Recreation Ground Committee had made their recommendations. Ongoing, item to be moved to the Great Gidding Charity Trustee meeting.
397.14 Skip on the recreation ground and quotations for review
The PC discussed and it was decided that there was not enough waste to warrant the rental of a skip. Chair to investigate and report back.
398.14 PC Policies review
PC discussed and Clerk was requested to email all Cllrs all of the current policies for discussion at the next meet. Cllr Trolove to investigate the creation of a Tree log.
399.14 Finance inc.:- bank reconciliation and payment of accounts
Expenditure was agreed and cheques were written and signed by two Cllrs.
Clerk was requested to investigate CGM outstanding payments from June.
Cllr to action setting up a login so that the Clerk may view the accounts, on-line.
400.14 Staffing matters
Clerk reported that she had not managed to produce a report regarding Pension schemes. She added that she would continue to work towards this.
401.14 Items for the CLARION
Feedback from Cambridgeshire Future Transport, dog fouling, Village Hall and Recreation Ground new committee, eCops information, Neighbourhood Watch. Clerk to log items.
402.14 Items for discussion on next agenda
A Cllr suggested the discussion of signs to be placed at junctions reminding vehicle users that horses were also using the highways. This was unanimously agreed.
Meeting closed at 9.25pm
Great Gidding Charity Trustee meeting
1.14 Reports from Trustees inc:-
Annual return submission
Actioned.
48 Main Street boundary
A Cllr reported that he had received quotations to put up fencing along the boundary costing between £1,000.00 and £1,200.00. It was requested for the Clerk to investigate the Trustees’ legal position should the fencing be removed/damaged by another party. Cllr stated that he was reviewing past minutes to define what is registered as belonging to the Trustees.
Allotments – unworked plots
Clerk produced the tenancy agreement between Trustees and plot users. A Cllr responsible for the allotments offered to prose a letter to those who were not satisfactorily taking care of their plots and to pass back to the Clerk to send out.
Jubilee Wood – winter maintenance
Cllr responsible not in attendance, decision to review at the next meet.
Chapel End Pond – winter maintenance
Cllr responsible not in attendance, decision to review at the next meet.
Siting of benches on recreation ground
As above 396.14
Leave a Reply