GREAT AND LITTLE EVERSDEN PARISH COUNCIL
A meeting of the Parish Council was held in the Village Hall on Monday 15th April 2013 at 8 pm.
Apologies: Cllr Page
Present: Mr Dinsdale, Mrs Glasse, Mrs Handley, Mr Huddleston, Ms O’Callaghan, Mrs Pritchard, Mrs Spencer, Mr Tebbit, Mr White, and, in the Chair, Mr Dalton.
Minutes: Minutes of 11th March 2013 and Planning minutes of 25th March agreed as a true records and signed.
Matters arising from the Minutes.
1 Road at St Helen’s. No further progress to date.
2 Eversden/Comberton Cycle Path Progress. No progress to date.
3 Emergency Planning. No further progress to report.
4. OSP 148 State. Confirmation of Planning Permission was received from South Cambridgeshire District Council today.
5 Liaison with Harlton re A603. Mr Dinsdale reported that Karen Nunn at Highways had now moved roles. He would continue to pursue with the Road Safety Department to whom the case has been passed.
6 Demand Responsive Transport (DRT). Mrs Spencer attended a Scoping Visit to Suffolk on 18th March to see how Suffolk run their DRT. Mrs Spencer gave the following report to the meeting.
A small group of 7 of us travelled by train to Stowmarket to pick up one of the ’Suffolk Link’ minibuses, which has been running approx. 10 years, to discover how their buses operated with a view to introducing it in our rural area to service the villages. There is a history of such buses since the 1970s in other parts of England. The Wiggly Bus in Wiltshire is the most established.
It was apparent that Suffolk Link is very adaptable to its customers, picking them up where and when they wanted, possibly at their homes or a mutually convenient place in the village, and helping regulars to access services. We met 3 travellers on the minibus and they said they use it all the time, the bus driver knew them well and one traveller called the service a ’life saver’ now he could no longer drive and his wife needed the car for her daily job. One of the lady travellers said she was suspicious of the service at first but now she really likes it! One went swimming that day, one shopping and the other to the doctor’s, this was in off-peak hours. We were on a 10-seater minibus with a lift at the back for wheelchairs and buggies, there were also removable child seats. The drivers’ shifts run from 7 am to 7 pm and Saturdays the minibuses are full.
Many local scheduled bus services in Suffolk have been discontinued, so although the minibuses feed into the bus services where they still run, they are adapting to some longer journeys where needed. Suffolk Link has 13 services (including Dial-A-Ride and Buzzabout) which are all the same in each defined area, they have a computer system which keeps a record of the names and addresses of the passengers, their particular needs and contact details. The DRT and Dial-A-Ride are run by Suffolk ACRE and funded by the County Council.
Regarding rush hour scheduling, DRT is not the best solution nevertheless they can pick up commuters from 7 am to 8:40, schoolchildren between 7:40 and 8 am and then return to commuters going in later. Concessionary passes can be used after 9:30 am but before that time bus fares are charged, which are in line with existing, i.e. Stagecoach, fares.
I would say I was impressed by the Suffolk Link service which seemed very community minded and invaluable to the passengers I spoke to and by the feedback from the control room staff where we ended the day.
Mrs Spencer was asked how the service was booked and replied it should be booked a week in advance, however due to the flexibility it can be possible to secure transport within 20 minutes.
The question was also asked if appointments run late. Mrs Spencer said that the bus would return if possible. Mr White indicated that the Eversden Car Scheme could also be used for appointment journeys.
Unfortunately no costings were available.
7 30 mph Speed Limit Stickers. Bin stickers are now available to Parishioners at a cost of 40p each. They can be bought from the School. The Clerk will produce notices for the village boards and also report this on Eversden Online.
8 Litter Picking. This was reported as a very positive event with 14 bags of rubbish being collected. SCDC provided the equipment and were very efficient in both the delivery and collection. Ms O’Callaghan and Mrs Spencer indicated they would be happy to litter pick regularly.
9 Great Eversden Parish Meeting, Lay Rectorship. Mr White, who had requested the item on the agenda following the GEPM addressed the meeting. He gave a brief outline of Chancel Repair Liability (CRL) and that some land with CRL has been registered for the parish church of St Mary’s Great Eversden. As the registration seems to be an incomplete list of lands with CRL for St Mary’s there are possibly other land parcels within the parish that have such a liability.
This is causing distress, anger and disharmony amongst residents who may not know that a liability exists on them especially as such land owners will be jointly and severally responsible. The person who has made these registrations with the Land Registry is not a Great Eversden resident but despite being requested has refused to withdraw them saying that the Parochial Church Council (PCC) can request the Charity Commission for permission to do so if it sees fit.
Mr White proceeded to identify Mr Dalton as being responsible for the registration and invited him to comment. Mr Dalton informed the meeting that the PCC had been requested by the Diocese to register the land charge in 2007 and this they had not done. In the knowledge of the 13 October 2013 deadline and the fact that anyone with the necessary evidence could register the charge with the Land Registry he had therefore registered the charge
Mrs Pritchard said this was not an appropriate discussion for the Parish Council as it is a PCC matter. The PCC are currently looking at all the land involved and are arriving at a decision. When this decision has been finalised registrations will be dealt with appropriately.
It was reported that this issue had only become a topic of discussion in the community because of the intervention of an unauthorised individual in the affairs of the PCC.
10 Footpath 14. A letter had been received that required urgent attention. A member of the public claimed that Footpath 14 had what appeared to be contaminated water on it. The Chair agreed to contact Environmental Health and to inform the sender.
PC/SCDC Liaison
11 No minutes were available for the workshop on 7th March.
Tree Planting
12 Mr Nicholson of Finch’s Field informed the meeting that the decision regarding new trees would be determined by SCDC this week and a decision was expected thereafter.
Notices in Finch’s Field about Dog Fouling are still required.
Training Course
13 The Council agreed to fund a forthcoming Clerk’s Training course for Mrs Easey.
14 Recreation Ground.
Mrs Glasse reported that a recent football match had to be diverted to CVC as there were divots on the pitch. The cause was due to persons playing golf on the Recreation Ground. The divots had since been replaced by an unknown but Good Samaritan within community.
In the light of this incident and other vandalism issues the Recreation Ground Committee would like to install Security cameras on the roof peaks of the Pavilion to cover the length of the recreation ground, the playground and the entrance. As the Recreation Ground belongs to the Parish it was suggested that the PC fund the cameras.
Costings had been received but it was suggested that a further quote be obtained from the security company within the Village. The idea would also be mentioned at the forthcoming Police Liaison meeting in Gamlingay.
15 Planning
Lords Bridge Farm, 3 x 5kw wind turbines. This was approved.
49 High Street, Little, Dormer Window. This was approved with no comment.
Rear Extension at 14 Bucks Lane. This was approved, as the plans are the same minus the
stables, which is what the Council objected to previously.
A member of the public gallery suggested that plans had been discussed prior the meetings. The PC indicated this was due to plans being available to view at The School to look at as well as on-line, as was Councillors preferences.
16 Finance
The Chairman informed the PC of the Annual Audit timetable.
A VAT return of £170 has been submitted.
The following payments were approved.
£252.00 to Harlton Parish Council LGA 1972 s142
£1000.00 for Eversden Churches, Graveyard Fund. LGA 1972 s214
Mrs Pritchard thanked the Council on behalf of the PCC.
£279.54 CAPALC Membership LGA 1972 s142(1)
£1742.39 For Village Hall Insurance LGA 1972 s133
17 Councillors Report:
As Cllr Kindersley had been in attendance at the Great Eversden Parish Meeting he did not go over previous points raised.
New information since then included the ’topping out’ ceremony of Cambourne Village College which had been held earlier in the day.
Cllr Kindersley said he had been asked why trees had been felled on Madingley Road, this is to make way for the temporary access road to a new development between the M11 and the Park & Ride Site. He also informed the meeting of 5,000 new homes in the M11/Girton triangle vicinity.
Finally, Cllr Kindersley informed the meeting that he would be putting forward a motion at a meeting next week that no money is given from SCDC via Council tax to fund the A14 toll road.
Cllr Page was unable to attend due illness but two reports had been circulated to PC members.
21 Correspondence in circulation.
22 Next Meetings Planning 25th April and Tuesday 7th May in the Village Hall at 8:30 pm
Annual Parish Council meeting 20th May at 8:00 pm in the Village Hall.