Parish Council Minutes: 29th June 2015
FULL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING ON MONDAY 29th JUNE 2015 AT 8 PM IN THE PAVILION
Present: Mr Dalton, Mr Dinsdale, Mrs Glasse, Mrs Handley, Mrs Hoar, Mr Prince, Mrs Pritchard, Ms O’Callaghan and, in the Chair, Mr Tebbit.
To approve minutes of 1 June 2015; 11th May 2015 and 20th April 2015
The minutes of the 20th April and 11th May had not been approved at previous meetings as Mrs Pritchard asked whether comments raised after the meetings should be included. The Clerk sought clarification and confirmed that comments should not be included. These will be shared under the Clerks Report and have been removed from both sets of minutes.
All three sets of minutes were approved as an accurate and true record.
Open Forum Public Participation
Mr Bridgewater informed the meeting that his land was available to be considered for affordable homes and the land belonging to Mr Beresford is also now available, since he had heard the Beresford`s plan to farm Alpacas had been abandoned. Mr Bridgewater again questioned if all land had been investigated fully. In previous minutes in answer to a question from Mrs Webster, Mr Tebbit had incorrectly reported that Mr Bridgewater’s land had been withdrawn. Mr Tebbit explained that at Mr Bridgewaters request this was corrected at the time with a note after the minute concerned. The Clerk had subsequentially prepared new minutes now approved at this meeting.
Mr Nicholson thanked the Parish Council for all their hard work on No. 11 Finch’s Field as the decision had been rejected. Mr Nicholson said that he did not like the idea of having front gardens concreted over. He also expressed his thanks in getting the hedges cut, Finch’s Field was much safer to exit as a result.
Mrs Sach recorded thanks to Mrs Spencer for all her hard work as a Parish Councillor.
Declarations of Interest
None received.
Matters Arising & Clerks Report
Great Eversden Annual Parish Meeting
Following the meeting Mr Bridgewater contacted Mr Tebbit and informed him that the land had not been withdrawn. Mr Tebbit therefore asked Mr Bridgewater to contact Beverley Hill at Accent Nene with details of the land.
Following the meeting the Chairman wishes to make it plain that Cllr Page’s accusations are unfounded. No other sites were offered. Although one site had often been quoted as available it was never offered to the developers. The attempt to divide our community is deplored. The two Eversden Parishes have worked as one since the formation of Parish Councils in 1949.
Parish Council Meeting: 20th April 2015
Following a conversation after that meeting, Mr Bridgewater informed Mr Tebbit that his offer had not been withdrawn. This will be made clear when the Parish Meeting minutes are published.
Speedwatch Signage – The Clerk asked for clarificiation of where the signs should be erected as it required this information on the order, along with photographs. It was agreed that the signage should be added to the existing 30 mph signage at either end of the Village. The Clerk will take the photographs and place the order.
Village Sign: The sign will be removed in late summer by Mr Tebbit and collected later in the year. Once the post has been removed, Parish Council volunteers will be sought to wire brush and oil the remaining post. Ms Sach asked that the company were careful with the carved wheatsheaf and the plaque, Mr Tebbit said that these would go with the sign for renovating. A post will be put on Eversden online to say what is happening to signage once it is removed.
Transparency Code for Smaller Authorities: The Clerk informed the meeting that all the relevant information to comply with the Act was now available on the website.
Revision to Freedom of Information Act: The existing FOI document on the website is outdated. The Clerk had circulated a revised version and it was resolved that this would replace the old one with immediate effect.
Permission request to gate Mare Ware Bridle Path via Wimpole Road
Edd Banks had requested permission to gate the bridle path leading to the Mare Way. People driving along the top of the hill and rubbish being dumped was becoming an issue. He proposed a suitable system of posts to allow horses and people to go around the gate but not vehicles. Members of the public questioned whether it was indeed a bridle way or by-way. It was agreed it was a bridle way, but Mr Dalton had maps that could confirm this. Concerns were also raised as to where it would be gated as this would prevent equestrian use for carriage drivers and also vehicles currently servicing the water tower, if gated before this it could cause traffic problems. It was resolved the Clerk would contact Mr Banks and request a sketch map of his proposal and exact position.
Councillor Vacancy
Mrs Spencer has resigned from the Parish Council as she is leaving the Village. The Parish Council unanimously recorded their thanks to Gemma, she has been a stalwart of the Parish Council with knowledge of planning and her tireless efforts on the Village Hall Committee. We will be sorry to see her leave the community.
The Clerk informed the meeting that the Vacancy notice had been posted and a copy sent to SCDC for their information. If there are no requests for an election by 10 electors or more by 14 July 2015 the Parish Council can co-opt a new Councillor to replace Mrs Spencer. Any expressions of interest should be forwarded to the Clerk.
Financ
The following payments were approved:
Zurich Insurance £52.24 LGA 1972 s111
SCDC Rental of Car Park Chapel Road £50.00 LGA 1972 s.133
Planning
S/0725/15/FL: 23 High Street Little Eversden, CB23 1HE, Juxta Properties. No decision to be made but to note this will be discussed at SCDC Planning Committee on 1st July.
S/0586/15/FL: Plot 1,23 High Street Little Eversden, CB23 1HE, Juxta Properties
S/0585/15/FL: Plot 2, 23 High Street, Little Eversden, CB23 1HE, Juxta Properties
Mr Jerry Otter, the developer attended the meeting and clarified various points that Councillors had regarding the plans. The Council informed Mr Otter that if granted, they would prefer hedge frontage to the properties as opposed to the planned wall and railings. A vote was taken, 3 voted to recommend No Objections and 6 voted for Refusal of the plans. This was carried. The recommendation was to REFUSE the plans because, whilst acknowledging the attention paid to the comments of neighbours and the PC, we stand by our original objections to the outline proposal of this site.on the grounds of over development.
S/1172/15/LB: Merry’s Farm House, Wimpole Road, Great Eversden, CB231HR
Following discussion it was agreed to APPROVE with no comment.
Councillors Report
Cllr Page was not in attendance and no apologies or report had been received.
Cllr Kindersley reported that now the new Electoral Divisions have been agreed, Eversden will no longer be within the Gamlingay Division but will move to the Hardwick Division.
There are several consultations currently worth responding to, one is the Consultation for Post 16 transport and also the Flood and Management Act consultation.
The new 75 bus timetable is soon to be launched and unfortunately is hopeless for Eversden residents!
The County Council suffered unwanted media attention recently over the propose Enterprise Centre/Café on the 3rd Floor of the Cambridge Library. A company called Cora were due to manage the Centre however it came to light that the Cora Manager was in fact a disqualified director!
Further poor PR surrounded the Daily Express article about the County Council Chief Executive claiming 20p per mile cycling allowance!
The Planning Inspectorate decision to write to SCDC and County Council to suspend local plan asked why they were planning 33,000 and not 43,000 homes. The inspectors want to see evidence that alternative options of building extra homes on the edge of Cambridge have been considered to the same extent as proposed allocations for more homes in new towns and new villages.
This decision has created open season for development in SCDC. One Planning Officer reported having planning applications for over 1,000 homes currently on their desk. Waterbeach has all been granted consent, Foxton has been refused but they have appealed and the CEMEX site at Barrington has been given outline permission for 220 houses. The difference at Barrington being it is a Brown Field Site. The only saving grace is that the Section 106 agreement will secure £5m, nearly £23,000 per house with 40% being affordable housing. Unfortunately 40% affordable housing does not always come about and Northstowe have only been awarded 20% due to viability, however Trumpington Meadows appealed and received 40%.
Cllr Kindersley reported that he has written to the Planning Inspectorate to make them aware what is happening in the South Cambs with opportunistic developers.
Mrs Glasse asked if any of the proposed small development could count retrospectively on 5 year plan, Cllr Kindersley said if we can get 1,800 through they would count, however the local plan has been suspended. Mr Tebbit said that no mention had been made of Bourn Airfield, so was this likely to take the pressure off? Cllr Kindersley responded that this had already been included in Local Plan numbers.
Correspondence Received
The Clerk had circulated a report to all Councillors showing all correspondence received since the previous meeting. It highlighted the type of correspondence, date received, who from, the subject and who it had been sent on to. Mrs Pritchard said this was a very useful document and asked that thanks to Clerk was recorded in the minutes.
Next Meetings
13 July and 27th July, Planning, if necessary at 8 pm
10th August 2015, Full Parish Council meeting at 8 pm
The Chair closed the meeting at 9.46 pm.