PC Minutes: Monday 25th February 2019
MINUTES OF THE FULL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD IN THE PAVILION ON MONDAY 25TH FEBRUARY 2019.
Present: Mr Dinsdale, Mrs Edwards, Mrs Handley, Mrs Glasse, Mrs Mallows, Ms O’Callaghan, Mr Prince, Mr Watterson and, in the Chair, Mr Dalton.
Apologies for Absence were received from Mr Oliver.
Open Forum for Public Participation (10 minutes)
It was bought to the Council’s attention that there was a petition in Haslingfield Post Office against the forthcoming cessation of the No. 75 by the company A-B at the end of the March. The Parish Council were unaware of this and will investigate further, copying the County Councillor in.
Ms O’Callaghan asked if the Council would report all the potholes. It was suggested that it it much more productive if they are reporting individually via the Highways Fault Reporting website. The website is https://highwaysreporting.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/
Minutes of Last Meeting
The minutes of the Monday 14th January 2019 were approved as a true and accurate record. However the Clerk had recirculated the agenda, as opposed to the minutes, of the Planning meeting of Monday 12th February 2019. The Council therefore requested the minutes of 12th February be carried forward to the next Full Parish Council meeting.
Declarations of Interest
Mrs Mallows declared a personal interest in planning item 8(d).
Matters Arising & Clerks Update
Discussion and vote on Fossey Trust response
The Fossey Trust had confirmed that the PC will be responsible for maintenance and liability of the field and that it could also be used for recreational purposes, including event parking. It was agreed the Clerk would obtain 3 quotations for annual grass cutting and hedge cutting to see if it was viable against the £10 per annum rental of the field. It was also discussed putting sheep on the field part year to keep it trimmed.
Request for monetary contribution to Bikeability Training
The Clerk reported that 2 Year 6 childen attend the feeder primary from the Eversdens, therefore a contribution of £80 was agreed, £40 per child.
Sustrans
The Clerk explained that Sustrans does not run a membership scheme, merely a donation contribution. It was proposed by Carol Handley and seconded by Kieran O’Callaghan that we pay a one-off donation of £50 and revisit next year to see if this is worthwhile.
East West Railway
Mr Dinsdale will attend the forthcoming meeting and report back to the Council.
Pavement to SE of St Marys Church
Highways met with both the contractor and farmer on the 10th of January and secured a significant financial contribution towards the repairs to the damaged footway on Church Street, Great Eversden. The contractor admitted partial liability but was not willing to pay the full amount. Highways accepted the amount offered to avoid protracted legal/enforcement proceedings.
The shortfall was made up with additional government funding. The repairs have been scheduled to start on the 4th of March and will take four days to complete.
Neighbourhood Plan – Debate the pros and cons of a Neighbourhood Plan and combining both Parishes into one.
It was agreed to add the agenda item of “One Parish” to both forthcoming Annual Parish meetings.
The Clerk clarfied with the Councillors which day they were booked to attend the Parish Planning training.
The Clerk reported that the November request from the PCC for a £300 increase in funds had not reached her before the budget setting meeting due to an email problem. It had been manually added before hand but not agreed at the budget setting meeting and the Clerk asked for approval. Although in principle the requested precept will cover the shortfall the Council requested that the breakdown of costs received was not sufficient and asked the Clerk to request a further breakdown of hourly rate and time allocation.
Arrange Date for Litter Picking
It was agreed that the Annual Village litter pick will be on Saturday 16th March at 10 am. Litter pickers can meet at the Doctors Surgery on Harlton Road, Little. The Clerk will contact Paul Tebbit to check he is happy for the equipment to be delivered and then the rubbish collected from Red House Farm. On confirmation the Clerk will contact SCDC to arrange delivery of equipment.
Future of Handbells
Following an article in Tailcorn the Handbells still remain unused. The handbells were initially from the Ellis family and Mrs McCollum, in attendance at the meeting, felt that if the Parish Council no longer required them they should be returned to the family. It was agreed that Mrs McCollum and the Clerk would try and find proof of ownership before a final decision was made.
Planning
S/0316/19/VC
Variation of Condition 2, (Plans) 10, (Soakaway Drainage) and 13 (Car Parking layout) of planning permission S/2512/15/FL
12 Church Lane, Little Eversden, Cambridge, CB23 1HQ
Mr T Banks, Eversden Construction Ltd
These plans had come back to the Council as the last set did not show the silos in context. The Council voted to APPROVE the amended plans subject to the condition that the plot to the East remains agricultural and no further development takes place.
S/0349/19/LB
Clunch Cottage, 16 Wimpole Road
Great Eversden, CB23 1HR
Internal re-ordering of 20th Century extensions, reinstatment of orginal firepaces, new bi-fold doors to rear elevation and upgrades to thermal performance of the building
Mr Dinsdale proposed to ACCEPT the plans, this was seconded by Mr Prince and approved unanimously with no comments.
S/0481/19/LB & S/0481/19/FL
Merrys Farm House, 17 Wimpole Road, Great Eversden, CB23 1HR
Mr Tom Jack
Amend Listed Building approval ref S/1172/15/LB to omit an oil fired boilet and oil takand include an air source heat pump.
Mr Dinsdale proposed NO RECOMMENDATION. This was seconded by Mr Prince and the decision unanimously carried with no comments.
S/0611/19/FL
Erection of Side Extension
29 High Street, Little Eversden, Cambridge, CB23 1HE
Mr M G Gaillard
Mr Prince proposed to ACCEPT the plans, this was seconded by Ms O’Callaghan and carried unanimously. Mrs Mallows abstained from voting due to personal declaration.
Finance
Zurich Municipal (Insurance) £1910.33 LGA 1972 s.111
Clerks Salary & Expenses £505.98 LGA 1972 s.111
Cambridgeshire County Council (Street Lighting) £355.96 LGA PCA 1957 s.3
J Sutton Telephone Box Cleaning £60.00 LGA PCA 1957 s.51
Correspondence
Public Access Field: Winrose Farm
The Clerk read the recent letter from Mr & Mrs McCollum regarding Winrose Farm. A copy is below for reference:
“Public access to the field parallel to Buck’s Lane has been available for the last 10 years as a result of an arrangement with Natural England. This agreement concluded on 31 January 2019. The area is to be returned for agricultural use and therefore public access will no longer be permitted. The area is now fenced and gated. I will place informative signs at the former authorised access points.
The Community Orchard is also part of a similar arrangement, and this also concluded at the end of January 2019. Public access to this area will also terminate, however, I am prepared to issue individual annual permits to Eversden residents who wish to harvest the fruit from the trees in the Autumn. They may do so by contacting me directly.
I would appreciate it if the Parish Council could disseminate this information as widely as possible, perhaps by including it as an agenda item for the next Council meeting. I consider that it is important that as many Eversden residents as possible are aware of the change in policy, so that the potential for misunderstanding are reduced. I plan to submit a similar article for publication in the Tailcorn Magazine.
Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. I would also be happy to attend the next Parish Council meeting to clarify any issues.”
Since this letter the Clerk had received a further correspondence from Winrose Farm following vandalism of the above mentioned signs in and a further email from friends visiting Winrose Farm who witnessed the vandalism with their children. Mr & Mrs McCollum have no doubt that this was done deliberately, as a petty display of disgruntlement, because they are returning the field to agricultural use, and as a result are reconsidering their offer.
Mr Nicholson asked who would now be responsible for the ditch line that back on to the properties in Finch’s Field. Mrs McCollum confirmed it is her responsibility.
It was agreed to put the orignal letter informing residents of the change in access onto Eversden online and it will be published in Tailcorn.
Community Security
The Clerk had received an email regarding Government funded security systems for urban areas to help with property security. The Council has recently been approached by the police to hold a surgery within the village and this is currently being arranged. It was agreed to ask if security could be a topic at this surgery. There is a Neighbourhood Watch scheme within Little Eversden and this is to be added to the agenda for both Annual Parish meetings to see if this can be promoted and more volunteers recruited. Eversden Online was highlighed as a very good source of disseminating information around the village. However several members of the public gallery said they had requested to join but had been unsuccessful. The Clerk will contact the administrator to see if there is a problem.
March Close Update
Mr Archer had asked for an update on the Council’s position regarding his plans for housing. SCDC had advised that although the site is Brownfield site it is also in Greenbelt. In order for it to be an exception site we have to prove a housing need in the village. Cambridgeshire ACRE are currently in the process of undertaking a further survey for the benefit of OSP148, the long term affordable housing site in Great Eversden. SCDC confirmed that this has never been flagged up as an additional site in the OSP148 discussions and no plans have as yet been submitted to SCDC. The Council therefore suggests that Mr Archer pursue his plans through SCDC and the Council will accept that the Parish may loose local housing, albeit a long way outside the village with no direct link via road.
Dstrict and County Councillor Reports
Cllr Nieto’s report was circulated via email. There was no report received from Cllr Van de Weyer.
Next Meetings: Little Eversden Parish Meeting on Monday 4th March in the Pavilion; Planning, if required, on March 11th and March 25th; Great Eversden Parish Meeting on Monday 1st April in the Village Hall.
The meeting was closed at 9.34 pm.
