GREAT AND LITTLE EVERSDEN PARISH COUNCIL
A meeting of the Parish Council was held in the Village Hall on Monday 11th March 2013 at 8 pm.
Apologies: Mr Huddleston, Cllr Kindersley,
Present: Mr Dinsdale, Mrs Handley, Ms O’Callaghan,
Mrs Glasse, Mrs Pritchard, Mrs Spencer, Mr Tebbit, Mr White and, in the Chair, Mr Dalton.
Minutes: There was some confusion about the procedure for challenging the minutes but after discussion the minutes for 21st January and 18th February 2013 were approved as true records and signed. It was agreed to make sure that the Agenda would be more clearly expressed in future.
Matters arising from the Minutes.
1 Road at St Helen’s. Land Registry’s record of area formerly owned by Amber Developments did not coincide with area applied for. Area applied for modified.
2 Eversden/Comberton Cycle Path Progress. No progress to date. It was agreed that when the drier weather arrived permission would be sought from Mr Banks to have planings delivered for the first 100 metres of the path. Mr Tebbit indicated that he may be able to purchase planings at a reduced cost and would inform the PC if this became an option.
3 Emergency Planning. No further progress to report.
4. OSP 148 State. SCDC are legitimately refusing to share Counsel’s Opinion but also refusing to give any indication of when they will proceed to implement the decision taken by the Planning Committee to develop the site for affordable housing. It was resolved that Mr Dalton would write to the Chief Executive of South Cambs District Council.
5 Liaison with Harlton re A603. Mr Dinsdale reported that he had a very good meeting with Karen Nunn at Highways. Comprehensive paperwork had been forwarded by Mr Dinsdale to the PC, However due to the timescale of distribution many members had not had time to read them fully. It was agreed that the matter be discussed in more detail at the next meeting. In the meantime it was resolved that Mr Dinsdale would write to Ms Nunn to affirm their discussions in favour of a 50 mph speed limit and refuge island before she left the Department in April.
Ms O’Callaghan wished it to be noted that she was unhappy with the refuge from a safety point of view. Mrs Spencer and Mrs Handley also expressed preference to retain the long slip lanes.
6 Demand Responsive Transport. Mrs Spencer said that questionnaires had been distributed to 328 households in Little and Great Eversden. Their were two separate questionnaires, one on behalf of Cambridgeshire County Council and one regarding Demand Responsive Transport, they received 46 and 25 replies respectively.
Many replies were received from car users but others indicated that if there were reliable, inexpensive services available they may be interested, especially off-peak. Mrs Spencer also said that she was visiting a Demand Responsive Transport Scheme in Suffolk on 18th March. She will report her findings at the next meeting.
A member of public asked whether the Eversden Car Scheme had been part of the survey as she felt the scheme needed a raised profile. It had not been part of the survey as it was classed as a local initiative. The scheme had been mentioned at the Little Eversden Parish Meeting, it was on the website, articles appeared in Tail Corn and it was popular with its users.
7 30 mph Speed Limit Stickers. The Clerk reported that bin stickers should be available by the end of the month, the printers have the order, and SCDC are awaiting a delivery date.
8. Connexions Bus Timing. The timing of the visit by the Connexions Bus has recently been changed from 7 to 9 pm to 4 to 6 pm. There was concern that this time change would greatly affect numbers attending the bus. As the PC has an ongoing concern as they are funding the Bus, Mr White agreed to contact the Connexions Bus to see if anything could be done to reinstate the old timing. Mrs Glasse was going to find out the appropriate person for this and e-mail John White with it.
9 It was resolved to split the £125 Oil rebate. £65 would be given to the Brass Band and £60 to the Mothers and Toddlers Group.
10 No-one from the PC had attended the workshop on 7th March. Mr Dalton agreed to obtain the minutes.
11 Further to the Little Eversden Parish Council, Mr Nicholson of Finch’s Field had requested Statement Trees as mentioned in the SCDC Magazine. Mr Dalton reported that although this was a recent article the scheme had in fact finished. However, SCDC are happy to provide trees if residents plant and maintain them. Mr Nicholson agreed to this and Mr Dalton will resolve to try acquiring two trees for Finch’s Field.
Mr White asked, whilst on the subject of Finch’s Field, whether one of our notices about Dog Fouling could be erected at the entrance as residents had spoken to him about the matter. This was agreed.
12 Mrs Pritchard, Ms O’Callaghan, Mr Dinsdale and Mrs Spencer attended the training course that Haslingfield had organised. Items discussed included, pecuniary Interest; informed agendas; PC responsibilities, powers and liability; behaviour towards each other. They all felt it would be beneficial to all PC but especially new Councillors and Clerks. Mr Dinsdale to circulate a precis of the course.
13 The recent Recreation Ground report is available through Tail Corn. It was worth mentioning however that the recent drainage of the Recreation Ground had been a great success.
14 11 Finch’s Field: application withdrawn.
3 Wind Generators at Lords Bridge Farm. This was refused by SCDC, one of the reasons citing insufficient checking on possible bat jeopardy.
16 The following payments were approved.
£265.32 to Mrs K Easey LGA 1972 S 112(2)
£890.00 for Land Registration LGA 1894 S 6 (c) iii
£60.00 for Telephone Box Cleaning POA 1953 s 51
£20.41 for What’s on Calendar LGA 1972 s 142
Councillors Report:
17 Cllr Kindersley sent apologies due to a long meeting in Haslingfield.
No report received from Cllr Page.
18 Litter picking was raised by Mr Dalton. He asked if the PC thought it was a good time of year to carry out Litter Picking or whether it should be left until next winter. The PC resolved that a date should be found in April. The Clerk will contact SCDC for resources.
19 Miss Sach informed the meeting that Mr Ellis and herself were stepping down from the Unknown Donors Charity. Two members of the younger generation had volunteered and this was currently with the Charity Commissioners.
20 The Chair informed the PC about a Sustainable Workshop in Coton on 26th March. Mr Dalton and Ms O’Callaghan will attend.
21 Correspondence in circulation.
22 Next Meetings Planning 25th March & 8th April in the Village Hall at 8:30 pm
Great Eversden Parish Meeting 8th April in the Village Hall.
Full Parish Council meeting 15th April at 8:00 pm in the Village Hall.