Parish Council Meeting – Monday 17th October 2016
FULL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING ON MONDAY 17th OCTOBER 2016 AT 8 PM IN
THE VILLAGE HALL
Present: Ms Carolyn Alexander, Mr Clive Dalton, Mrs Sue Glasse, Mrs Carol Handley, Dr Patrick Sinnett-Smith and, in the Chair, Mr Matt Prince
1. Apologies for Absence
Dr Colin Russell, Mr Steve Dinsdale.
2. Open Forum for Public Participation (10 minutes)
It was reported that two area of the Village were still cordoned off with barriers awaiting BT reinstatement work. The Clerk will follow up both sites opposite the Recreation Ground and Finch’s Field.
3. The minutes of Monday 5th September and Planning Minutes of 19th September and 3rd October 2016 were approved as a true and accurate record.
4. There were no Declarations of Interest
5. Matters Arising & Clerks Upate
a. Emergency Planning: no further action at present.
b. Councillor Training: Booked for Tuesday 6th December at 7 pm. Existing Councillors to let the Clerk know if they would like to attend for refresher training.
c. Consultation on the removal of BT Payphones: The Eversdens: SCDC has submitted an Objection from the Eversdens to remove the payphone with the comment; “19% of residents living in social or privde rented acommodation (2011 census). There is poor mobile coverage despite statistics suggesting otherwise.
d. Hedge Complaint: The Clerk has been unable to ascertain ownership of the hedge. Mr Tebbit has agreed to cut the hedge once he has the hedgecutter on the tractor later in the year. (Following the meeting Mr David Rolph informed the Clerk that he would manually cut the hedge)
e. OSP 148 Update: The planning application that has been submitted is now subject to a judicial review which will be on going into the New Year. We are therefore looking to submit a new planning application to address some of the issues that have been raised as part of the judicial review. This will involve some design modification and we will submit revised plans to you in due course. We are also looking for alternative sites across Great and Little Eversden and have produced posters with the aim of encouraging people with land available to come forward.
f. A603 Update: A meeting took place with the owners of the Wheatsheaf and representatives of Harlton & Eversden Parish Council, Andre Chabot from Cambridgeshire County Council as well as District Councillor, Doug Cattermole and County Councillor, Sebastian Kindersley. Various speed reduction measures were discussed including a mobile camera, verge cutting and whether we can use the LHI bid for a design study. The Clerk and Mr Dinsdale to move forward.
6. Debate regarding the subject of Communal Spaces in the Parish: Village Hall; St Mary’s Church; New Pavilion
Mrs Glasse informed the meeting that the Pavilion could no longer be refurbished and needed rebuilding, with grant funding being the main way forward with the project. Plans have now been computer generated, however plans can still be changed with the opportunity to enlarge the project to possibly include a shop.
Mr Pritchard informed the meeting that the air source pump at St Mary’s has been approved meaning instant heat for the Church. Once the roof has been completed thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund the Church will be encouraging community use. There will be toilet and a kitchenette facility as well as good acoustics. The intention is not to be in competition with the Village Hall but it will not be charging to use the Church facilities.
Mr Prince opened the meeting to the public gallery. General feeling was that continuing to heat and maintain the Village Hall had cost implications and would it not be better to accommodate village hall functions within the new pavilion and have a bigger and better community facility, funded by selling the Village Hall??
Peter Mallows, who has recently written an article in Tailcorn, informed the meeting that we must consider that what happens in village hall must happen in Pavilion. Two buildings cannot be maintained and the Pavilion would break the divide between the two villages as it is in the middle and could provide extensive car parking.
It seemed bringing the Village Hall and Recreation Ground together as one body was a positive step forward.
It was agreed the Clerk would investigate a feasibility study and valuation on the Village Hall and the two Committees would meet to discuss the way forward.
7. Finance
CPALC £420.00 LGA 1972 s.142
PKF Littlejohn LLP £240.00 LGA 1972 s.111(i)
K. Easey £381.87 LGA 1972 s.112(2)
NS&I (S106) £4678.19
8. Correspondence
a. Cold Callers: The Parish Council have been asked if they would consider becoming a Cold Callers Zone. The Clerk will circulate further information and add this to the agenda for next month to discuss in detail.
9. Report from County and District Councillors
Doug Cattermole – District Councillor
Ice Rink: Council approved a £1,850,000 loan repayable over 25 years to support the Cambridge Leisure and Ice Centre. This is the new ice rink to be situated near the park and ride near Cambridge Airport. We were given assurances over the security of the project and recognised the fact that the council will actually make money on the loan (the difference between the rate of interest to the Council and the rate charged to CLIC) which can be ploughed back into supporting local services. Given that this will add a popular fixed local leisure facility that can be used by the residents of South Cambs then this was seen as something worthy of Council support.
Chief Executive: Jean Hunter, the Chief Executive of the Council, has resigned and Alex Colyer, Corporate Services, has been appointed to the role in an interim capacity.
Greater Cambridge City Deal: Council noted an important distinction, agreed for the target of 1000 affordable homes to be built on rural exception sites under the GCCD, that priority will be given to those with a local connection. Consultation is still on-going over the GCCD with concerns being raised over the congestion plans, road improvements and the strategy (or lack of it) put together by the GCCD Board.
Grosvenor Sporting Village: The planning application for the new sporting facility and additional housing on the green belt next to the Trumpington Meadows development has been lodged with South Cambs and comments can be made on the website in the planning section.
There remain concerns about building on the green belt, the expansion of the City out towards the villages on this side of the city and the traffic problems consequent to these developments. Another factor that will further add to traffic at the M11 junction is the future move of Papworth Hospital to the Addenbrookes site. This will put further pressure on the roads here with more traffic movements for both staff and patients travelling to the new site.
Devolution: Election of a Mayor for Cambridge & Peteroborough: The special Council meeting scheduled for 26th October has been moved to 17th November. Few details of the consultation are available but there is a sense that this will go ahead because of the wider political structures in place in the region which has stifled any meaningful debate. One has to question whether having a District Council, a County Council and then a Mayoral Authority really makes sense in terms of clarity, accountability and cost for taxpayers.
Sebastian Kindersley – County Councillor
Budgets: Cambridgeshire County Council is currently doing general consultation with the public – please have your say at http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/budget2017 It includes a short animation outlining the Budget Challenges and people are being urged to give their views by filling in the survey at http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/CambsBusinessplan2016 .
Policing in South Cambridgeshire: South Cambs Policing Team are introducing an Evidence Based Policing Model in order to ensure that they are appropriately targeting those areas that are most affected by crime. The Evidence Based Poling Model is based on research, enabling officers to make rational, evidence-based decisions while patrolling and carrying out investigations. The result is that the policing provided in one part of South Cambridgeshire will look very different to the policing in another area. The reason for this is that the types of offences vary within different locations along with the number of offences that are committed.
Northstowe: Affordable housing quotas continue to be a big issue at Northstowe where the first 90 houses are being built with no affordable homes included. Government had previously announced that Northstowe would have 40% starter homes (which is a home to buy – not to rent). However, the final housing mix is still under discussion so we hope to bring you better news before too long.
City Deal – Cambourne to Cambridge: The A428 ‘preferred corridor’ has been announced and will soon be out for consultation. In a nutshell this plan puts a new park and ride by the Madingley Mulch roundabout and runs a busway into central Cambridge from Cambourne. This is very damaging to the Green Belt and to the villages lying in the busway’s path including Coton, Caldecote and Hardwick. Once we have more detail we will be encouraging you to participate in the consultation. In the meantime, you can attend the A428 Local Liaison Forum meetings to participate in the residents’ debate with details on the City Deal website.
Cambridge Ice Rink: South Cambs District Council has agreed to lend £1.83 million through prudential borrowing to build an Ice Rink on at the end of the Cambridge Airport runway – believe it or not, the roof has to be lower at one end to avoid it being hit by aircraft!. The 56 metre by 26 metre permanent rink, with room for up to 1,000 spectators, will be built to international standards on land leased from Marshall next to the Newmarket Road Park & Ride site. We were very concerned about this initially but have been reassured that there will be no cost to residents and no risk to the Council.
10. Next Meetings
Tuesday 1st November & Monday 14th November Planning, if required. Full Parish Council Meeting on Monday 28th November 2016 at 8 pm.
The meeting was closed at 9:28 pm.
