GREAT AND LITTLE EVERSDEN PARISH COUNCIL
A meeting of the Parish Council was held in the Village Hall on Monday 21st January 2013 at 8 pm.
Apologies: Mrs Handley
Present: Mrs Glasse, Ms O’Callaghan, Mrs Pritchard, Mr Tebbit, Mrs Spencer, Mr Dinsdale, Mr Huddleston, Cl Kindersley, Cl Page and, in the Chair, Mr Dalton.
Minutes of the meetings of 10th December were approved and signed.
Matters arising from the Minutes.
1 Road at St Helen’s. The map is and signed declaration form SC3 now with Land Registry.
2 Eversden/Comberton Cycle Path Progress. No progress to date. Mr Dalton and Mrs Handley will write to St John’s College emphasising that the request is a safety issue for the children wanting to bicycle to school.
3 Emergency Planning. No further progress to report.
4. OSP 148 State. SCDC now have Counsel’s Opinion but are unwilling to share it with either the Parish Council or, indeed, with Cl. Kindersley.
5 Liaison with Harlton re A603. Mr Dinsdale will meet Harlton in a day or two and has a meeting scheduled next week with Karen Nunn at Highways .
6 Demand Responsive Transport. Mrs Spencer attended the ’Future Transport for Cambridge’ meeting on 17th January. Following this meeting Mrs Spencer volunteered to canvass opinions of the villagers regarding the Eversdens plan, Mrs Pritchard offered to help.
Clerk’s Contract
7 The current draft is with Mr Dalton together with Mr White’s comments. Mr Dalton will make some alterations and discuss with Mrs Easey.
Oil Rebate
8 Mr Huddleston informed the meeting that the villages have a rebate from the oil company. If individual households purchase 1,000 litres of oil per year they earn £5 towards the village ’pot’, therefore £125 has been accumulated. It was agreed that the expenditure of the £125 would be held over until the rebate could be advertised to other village groups so that they could put forward a case for the money.
PC/SCDC Liaison
9 The Parish Council had received an invitation from SCDC to the next Parish Council Liaison meeting for up to two people on 7th March. The Clerk will circulate the minutes of their previous meeting and Councillors who wish to attend should inform the Clerk by Monday 28th January.
Training Courses
10 Mrs Pritchard, Ms O’Callaghan, Mr Dinsdale and Mrs Spencer are due to attend the Harlton training course. Information has been passed to them via the Clerk.
Highways
11 The Clerk said that we are entitled to 120 free 30 mph bin stickers. It was agreed to purchase a further 120 at 80 p each, based on number of houses on Harlton Road x number of bins per household. Mrs Easey to order via SCDC. Parish Council to sell them at 40p each.
12 Mr Dinsdale will discuss the roundabout, estimated cost of £25k, at the High Street junction at his meeting next week with Karen Nunn of County Council Highways.
13 Following a request from the Recreation Ground Committee, a bid had been submitted under the Minor Highways Improvement Project for a footpath directly from Bucks Lane West side into the Recreation Ground.
Recreation Ground
14 Mrs Glasse circulated a sketch of the proposed area at the bottom end of the Recreation Ground. It included re-positioning existing equipment and the addition of new equipment. The Committee were keen to minimise the loss of any trees.
Planning
17 Merry’s Farm. In the light of information published in the Cambridge News following the approval of planning permission at Merry’s Farm, Jane & David Rolph wished it to be known they were happy to be contacted.
18 2 Bucks Lane. Mr & Mrs Fish had submitted an application for an extension. The meeting returned ’No Recommendation’ with a comment requesting consideration access by the builders as this is a single track road.
19 3 Wind Generators at Lords Bridge Farm. This was ’Approved’ with 3 abstentions.
20 Fulbourn/Lime Kiln Road Development. This item was to inform the meeting that a letter regarding this development had been received and we were to await further information.
21 Important Countryside Frontages (ICF) in Great Eversden. In the SCDC Local Plan the field in Great Eversden on the corner diagonally opposite from The Hoops is marked along its Church Street and its Wimpole Road frontages as an ICF. Mrs Pritchard asked for it to be recorded that she felt this item was very non-specific on the agenda and that villagers would have been unaware of the impact and therefore unable to voice any comment. Ms O’Callaghan was in agreement. The Chairman pointed out that SCDC were doing everything they could to solicit public views on their proposals.
22 25 Harlton Road. Mr Dalton indicated that he had received today an application for the renewal of a planning permission at Harlton Road. The Council had in the past agreed this application. Mr Dalton proposed that if the plans remained unchanged it was again approved. The Council agreed.
Finance
23 Cheque for £185.15 to Cambridgeshire County Council for Street Lighting PCA 1957 s3
24 Draft Budget. Mr Dalton informed the meeting that we need a precept for 2013/14 of £6k, a reduction to this year’s £9.5k Mr Huddleston expressed concern that we should not reduce the amount too much in case this set a precedent and SCDC felt we could manage on a reduced amount. Mr Dalton said there was not yet a cap on Parish Council precepts.
25 The meeting felt strongly that more money should be put towards the Connexions Bus so that they did not need constantly to fundraise. It was a well used resource and, although it may be under threat, we did not pay upfront so would not lose money. It was therefore agreed to increase the budget figure from £2k to £6k.
26 Mr Dalton would amend the budget and circulate for any further comment. Councillors were asked to acknowledge receipt and to report any errors.
Councillors Report:
27 Cl Page reported that SCDC had spent £45k on new furniture during the recession and were promoting a new SCDC Conference Centre. This cost of this would take 10 years to pay for itself.
28 There is currently a consultation underway to look at Councillors expenditure. Cl. Page felt that Councillors should not receive further money and even see a reduction in expenses.
29 Planners are again considering development on Bourn Airfield. Cl Page expressed concern regarding the drainage of the airfield and its effect on Bourn Brook. Comments and responses are open to all until 18th February and Cl. Page urged the Council to make representation against these plans.
30 Cl. Kindersley said that Barrington Parish Council had had an open public meeting with urban planners regarding the quarry. It was very well attended with 250 villagers present. The decision was unanimous that houses were not wanted on the site. Other possible uses discussed were the possibility of Bassingbourn Dry Ski Slopes or an outward-bound centre.
31 Cl. Kindersley said that the County council had agreed a 1.99% increase in Council tax and that the unions had been informed the Council were looking for 99 voluntary redundancies as part of the £32m saving they needed to find.
32 Mrs Glasse asked, following a meeting at Cambridge Professional Development Centre in Trumpington, why the large site had not been developed. Mr Kindersley was in agreement but unable to answer the question though poor access was mentioned.
33 Correspondence in circulation.
34 Next Meetings Planning 4th & 18th February in the Village Hall at 8:30 pm
Little Eversden Parish Meeting 4th March in the Pavilion.
Full Parish Council meeting 11th March at 8:00 pm in Pavilion.