Parish Council Meeting: Monday 22nd February 2021
Minutes of PARISH COUNCIL meeting held via Zoom on Monday 22nd February 2021 at 8:00 pm
Present: Mr Brown, Mr Dalton, Mr Dinsdale, Mrs Edwards, Mrs Glasse, Mrs Mallows, Mr Oliver, Ms O’Callaghan, Mr Watterson, Cllr Van de Weyer and, the Chair, Mr Prince.
1. No apologies for absence were received.
2. There were no declarations of interest.
3. Approve Minutes of 11th January 2021, full Parish Council and 8th February 2021 Planning and Extraordinary meeting.
11th January: there is a spelling error in Section 11 Para 3 should be “not” instead of “no”. The minutes were then approved.
It was agreed that individual names would not be used in voting and numbers used instead to record the vote. The Clerk will change the minutes accordingly and clarify recorded votes. The minutes of 8th February were approved unanimously.
4. There were no items raised under public participation.
5. Matters Arising & Clerks Report
a. PC Email Account and Website: Further Information
The Clerk reported that having spoken to the independent contact he had no concerns about the package that was being offered by Vision ICT. He questioned the email platform and asked if it were their own. On receiving the information from Vision ICT the independent was happy that this could be moved if necessary in future to Microsoft 365. He also suggested that I back up the external hard drive that I use and also encrypt it. The Clerk will ask Aaron if there is a cost implication for his advice. It was agreed to proceed so that our emails were as secure as possible. The cost of the package will be £1178. Mr Dinsdale proposed that the Clerk had a mandate to proceed with the website and emails transfer. It was unanimous to proceed with the proposal.
b. Asset of Community Value Update
The Clerk has submitted the updated application along with the parish testimonials and it will be decided on the 22nd March 2021.
c. The Clerk has asked contractors to look at the bus shelter on Harlton Road and also the re-felting of the shelter opposite Cam Spice. Mrs Edwards will circulate examples of new bus shelters to compare pricing once the repair estimate is received. We do not need planning permission if the old one is taken down as long as the footprint is the same.
6. Discussion of suggestions received from Parishioners regarding use of Fossey Field
Following the request for suggestions for the Fossey Field the following information had been received:
Tennis Court; BBQ/Fire Pit; Outdoor Fitness; Car Parking; Swimming Pond; Wildlife Pond; Community Events; Playing Field; Wildlife Habitat; Wildflower Meadow; Picnic tables; Secure Dog Area; Orchard
Collated Comments:
• One of the first issues that needs to be looked at and addressed is the hedge/trees on the South of the field, which need urgent attention, with more and more dead and poorly rooted trees falling into the awarded drain.
• There is strong support for an orchard, especially the Eversden Gauge.
• Wildlife habitat to include childrens areas e.g. bug boxes, inset hotels etc.
• In terms of the wildflower meadow, although this appears an easy option there are a couple of quite extensive emails regarding the type of soil and soil needed, although the management and maintenance will need looking at quite extensively. This could also incorporate a sensory garden and maybe children’s veg patch.
• Re the swimming pond and wildlife pond, there is not huge demand for this but I think this should be very carefully thought about in terms of H&S, public liability and ongoing maintenance and cost.
• Comments regarding dog walking exercising are mixed. I think we need to keep the right to walk across the field, although there are calls to ban it completely given the other walks in the village but a separate exercise area could be considered.
• There was a request to recognize the Meridian Line with a bench
It was suggested that businesses in the village could be asked to sponsor a community garden and to use the money to pay people to maintain them. The Chair clarified that if a maintenance contract was put in place it would be a professional contract as opposed to volunteers.
The overwhelming view of the Council was to defer the decision on what to do with the Fossey field until further information is circulated and we are sufficiently informed. We will revisit after the Annual meeting.
7. Future of Online Meetings after May 2021
There is no guidance from the Government to extend the temporary regulations to hold remote meetings after the 6th May 2021. SCDC have been lobbying hard to make a further temporary extension as this is not in line with the roadmap and it is hoped that guidance will change shortly. It was voted unanimously to move the Annual Parish Council to May 4th unless the guidance changes and the meeting will still be held on the 24th May 2021.
8. Reference: 21/00258/HFUL
Proposal: Demolition of existing garage, single storey front side and rear extension, porch extension, insertion of dormers into existing first floor roof, associated internal alterations.
3 Church Lane, Little Eversden, CB23 1HQ
The neighbours notified list was quite substantial and we have received no representations from neighbours. There is a minor increase in the footprint. There was a majority vote in favour with 2 abstentions.
9. Finance
Cambridge Approaches £4,000.00 LGA S137
10 Creative £806.80 LGA 1972 S137
Mr M Edwards £116.90 LGA 1972 S137
Mr M Prince £89.05 LGA 1972 S137
PKF Littlejohn LLP Audit £240.00 LGA 1972 S111(i)
Cambridgeshire ACRE Membership E57.00 LGA 1972 s.143(1)
All payments were approved for payment unanimously.
10. Correspondence received
Received an email from a resident in Lowfields to install a dog bin. They come of the footpath and hang the bags on her hedge line. The Council were in principle in favour of a new installation of a dog waste bin at Lowfields. The Clerk will contact SCDC and ask for costings and request a new installation at Lowfields, St Mary’s car park area and also to move the bin on the corner of Harlton Road/Wimpole Road where the children wait for the school bus.
11. County & District Councillor Reports
Discussed issues regarding calls for sites. SCDC have now developed a process for submitting comments on sites for the end of the month. It would be helpful to complete to get local views. The Chair indicated that the Vice Chair and himself would complete the form.
Government published a document on the OxCam arc spacial framework this week. It could have quite an impact on South Cambs and it is not clear how this currently relates to our Local Plan so there is still a lot to work out. There are positives regarding the environmental gain and it does link with the EWR proposal therefore worth looking at the document.
There is a large project to do with gully clearing and flooding in the area. Mr Dinsdale said there were a large amount of gullies that need jetting and it was agreed Mr Dinsdale would speak to Cllr Van de Weyer outside of the meeting to discuss problem areas.
Elections are taking place in May and we have 3 votes for County Council, Police and Crime Commissioner and the Mayor.
12. Next meetings: Planning, if required, Monday 8th & 22nd March 2021, Monday 12th April
2021 Little Eversden Parish Meeting & Full Parish Council meeting.
It was agreed to move the Great Eversden meeting to 22nd March before the 6th May remote meeting cut off.
The Chair closed the meeting at 21.03 pm.
