PC Minutes – 9th March 2015
FULL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING ON MONDAY 9TH MARCH 2015 AT 8 PM IN THE VILLAGE HALL
Present: Mr Dalton, Mr Dinsdale, Mrs Glasse, Mrs Green, Mrs Handley, Miss O’Callaghan, Mr Prince, Mrs Pritchard, Mrs Spencer, and, in the Chair, Mr Tebbit.
Apologies for Absence: Cllr Kindersley
The minutes of 19th January 2015 were approved as a true and accurate record.
Open Forum for Public Participation
Mrs Tebbit said Bourn had recently held a litter picking exercise and asked if we were planning anything similar. It was suggested that we raise it at the Great Eversden Parish meeting and add to the next full Parish Council agenda. The general consensus was that it would be good to involve the young people of the Village and link back to the Connections Bus.
Mr Bidwell had attended the SCDC Planning Committee meeting and, although the result was not what he wanted, he felt very uncomfortable with the meeting and the unfair way Mr Tebbit was treated. He wanted to publically acknowledge the good work that Mr Tebbit did for the Parish and said he was serving the village in a good way. The decision had now been made and we should work towards building bridges and closing the divide. Mr Tebbit thanked Mr Bidwell for his kind words.
Mr Walmsley informed the meeting that the ditches in Ivetts Lane are not in great repair and the installation of pipes has done little to stop the water coming across the road. Mr Tebbit reported that the Parish Council had undertaken work in Ivetts Lane with a working party spreading road planings, unfortunately this had not solved the underlying poor drainage. Cambridgeshire County Council had assured the Chairman last year that they were writing to landowners but neither improvements have happened in either Wimpole Road or Ivetts Lane. The Recreation Ground meeting on Wednesday will also discuss the drainage from the Recreation Ground onto Bucks Lane.
No Declarations of Interest were received.
Matters Arising
Following Mrs Webster’s enquiry regarding Speedwatch signage, the Clerk reported that the signs were
£69 plus VAT for a minimum of 2. They would be added to existing street furniture. Mr Tebbit reported that there were forthcoming changes to the Speedwatch scheme and Charles Fraser will attend the next meeting to speak to the Parish Council and discuss in more detail.
Harry Stebbings had looked at the Village Sign and sent a report that afternoon. The Clerk will circulate to the Council for their information and a decision will be made at the next meeting.
The WEEE recycling collected 4598kg of material and earned £175.32 for the Village. The next collection will be on 3rd August 2015.
Mr Tebbit had received a report from F W Cook Funeral Services for repairing the War Memorial. The Council had not received the report so it would be circulated and actioned at the next meeting. Cllr Smith said that there were grants of up to £30k available from the War Memorial Trust. This discussion linked to WW2 commemorative events that Cambridgeshire County Council are proposing. Cllr Smith informed the meeting that the grant from CCC was heavily oversubscribed. The Chair said he understood an event would be run as part of the Church Fete.
The SCDC Planning Committee on 4.3.15 approved OSP 148 by 9 votes to 4.
For those of you unable to attend the meeting Mr Tebbit had circulated 3 reports, which are attached to these minutes.
- Two Parishes One Village, An Appendix to the Planning Officers report.
- March Redraft OSP148, The text from Paul Tebbit in support of Accent Nene application as read out to the Planning Committee.
- Response to Robin Page, Councillor Page had tabled a document to SCDC against the above proposal. You should read this. It is on the agenda of the planning committee meeting of 4th March. This document was inaccurate and the attached note, a supplement to the agenda, was prepared last Thursday by The Parish Council Chair and Vice-chair, to correct at least some of those inaccuracies.
Councillor Page spoke against the proposal.
After the result was declared he had a loud and very heated exchange with a member of the planning Committee. This prompted a response from the Chair of that Committee and also the SCDC senior lawyer who was in attendance. There have been further emails from Councillor Page since that planning meeting describing his opinion of our Parish Council which you will have seen.
The provision of affordable housing on this site has of necessity rather dominated our Parish Council agenda since the original application in 2012. There are deeply held conflicting views in our community. Debate has however been respectful and measured within our village. It is to be hoped that we can all now move on and look forward to the completion of another “Low Close” that has proved so satisfactory for us.
Mr Dalton congratulated Mr Tebbit on his speech at the meeting. He said he understood that a Councillor attending the planning meeting had changed their view after Mr Tebbit spoke. Mr Tebbit replied that he had simply made the same points as Mr White made in his initial speech at the time of te previous application.
Recreation Ground – This will be carried over to our April meeting as there is a meeting of the Recreation Ground Committee on Wednesday 11th
Overgrown hedges on footpaths
Mr Tebbit reported that both the Corner of Finch’s Field and 24 Wheelers Way were in hand.
Little Eversden Parish Meeting
Mrs Handley reported that the following items were discussed:
The Pavilion is in need of repair or complete replacement
New staging is being investigated for the Village Hall. The Clerk will contact SCDC to see if the S106 money can be used.
Little Eversden residents were in favour of the Connections Bus and felt it was money well spent.
Insurance Quotation
The Clerk reported that we had received a very competitive quotation from Zurich Insurance for bringing both the Village Hall and the Parish Council insurance onto one policy with a saving of £1050.64. Mr Dalton will check that the policy is like for like and the Council unanimously resolved to change the Policy.
Parish Council Bank Account
Due to several problems encountered recently with the Parish Council Bank Account with Santander the Clerk had investigated various Community/Treasurer Accounts. A proposal was then put to the meeting to change to a Barclays Community Account. The Council unanimously agreed that the Clerk could proceed with changing the Bank Account.
Planning
S/2647/14/LB, 18 High Street, Little Eversden, Mr Hesketh
The plans were discussed and Mr Dalton proposed that the plans be approved with no comments. This was seconded by Mr Dinsdale. The vote was carried with Mrs Pritchard abstaining.
Correspondence
SCDC Parish Liaision Meeting – Councillors to inform the Clerk if they are willing to attend on 11th March.
We had received information on the charity, Cambridge Bobby Scheme. Mrs Handley said that having been helped by them recently they were highly recommended. Posters with further information will be displayed on the Village noticeboards
Mr Tebbit informed the meeting that we had once again received money from Agricole. This will be added to next month’s agenda to decide on the recipient.
The Clerk asked the meeting for a resolution to pay an invoice from Cambridgeshire County Council received after the publication of the agenda. It was for £197.28 for our contribution for Local Highway Improvement to the speed limit at Harlton/Eversden. The payment had previously been resolved literally years ago to pay our share of the Highways invoice and the sum then agreed was £400. The Clerk explained she wished to pay the invoice for 2 reasons a) the payment is due by 1st April and we do not have a meeting beforehand and so that the payment would clear the bank account before the end of the financial year. The Council unanimously agreed to pay the invoice. It will be paid under HA 1980 s274a.
Report from Councillors
No report was received from Cllr Page.
In the absence of Cllr Kindersley, Cllr Bridget Smith gave the following report.
The Council have raised the tax by 1.99%, the maximum allowed. Cllr Smith reported unfortunately we were paying more but getting less, due to the County Council’s £0.5 billion debt.
Cllr Smith attended a presentation from the Chief Executive of Stagecoach. They would like to introduce sprinter bus routes into Cambridge and the P&R, however the orbital routes around Cambridge needed to be resolved before this could happen. They were also recommending a reserve list of rural long distance cycle routes.
Cllr Smith informed the meeting that she attended the Assembly meetings of the City Deal. Mrs Glasse asked if the University were part of the communication process as we had had ongoing issues with cycle and footpaths due to lack of permission from St Johns College. £6m had just been received into Cambridge for cyling and Cllr Smith said to watch the A10 cycle campaign
Next Meetings
Tuesday 7th April Planning, if necessary at 8 pm.
13th April Great Eversden Parish Meeting at 8 pm and 20th April Full Parish Council Meeting at 8 pm.
