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Hempstead in Essex
Resting place of William Harvey and Sir Eliab Harvey and birthplace of Dick Turpin

Parish Council Minutes 16th June 2016

16th June 2016

MINUTES OF THE HEMPSTEAD PARISH COUNCIL

Meeting at the Village Hall, Hempstead

Thursday 16 June 2016
Present:

 Part Time:

Members of the Public:

  • Mr Dan Hagman
The Parish Council Meeting was adjourned whilst Mr Hagman addressed the Council. He informed them of an intended planning application and the extensive steps he had taken to ensure that this and his helicopter flights caused as few problems as possible. The council was unable to make any formal comments until an actual planning application was available for scrutiny. The Chairman thanked him for his clear explanation and attendance. He stayed to observe the first few items then left the meeting.

The Parish Council meeting opened at 8.17 pm

  1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

    Mr Mark Welbourn

  2. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING MAY 19 2016

    were agreed as a correct record.

  3. MATTERS ARISING

    There were none not covered elsewhere.

  4. MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL VILLAGE ASSEMBLY MAY 20 2016


    There was agreement that the minutes were broadly correct subject to two minor revisions. They would be formally agreed at the next meeting.

  5. MATTERS ARISING

    There were none not covered elsewhere.

  6. PLANNING


    No comment was deemed necessary on the planning application for the proposed gates at Hollyhocks.

  7. HIGHWAYS AND PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY

    Footway The Chairman had written to Rissa Long and though he had not received a reply the team planning the tree work had visited the village. The arrangements for the diversion that involved both Cambridgeshire and Suffolk were still being worked upon.

    Mr. Drane reported that he was still chasing the issue of the poor condition of railings throughout the village with County Councillor Simon Walsh.

  8. ENVIRONMENT

    Flooding had been discussed at length during the Annual Village assembly. It was agreed that the clerk should write to County Councillor Simon Walsh to ask that his suggestion of a meeting with a county engineer be positively followed up.

    Mr Sladen had contacted a decorator and was awaiting a quote for the painting of the notice boards and Bus Shelter.

    It was agreed that the Clerk should ask Mr Basham to strim or cut with a flymo further around the edge of the pond.

    The poor visibility afforded of the newly refurbished church clock from the centre of the village was discussed. The Friends of the church had contributed £4500 towards the project. As it was not always clear which were the offending trees and their ownership it was agreed to incorporate this into the tree survey. The Chairman agreed to write to Chas Johnson and arrange a meeting with himself and Mrs Scott.

  9. FINANCE

    The clerk distributed an account of the expenditure of the £909 grant received for the implementation of the new financial transparency arrangements. He had purchased a laptop, printer, necessary software, virus protection for three years, a case and mouse from PC World. This amounted to £797.97 (£664.98 ex VAT). It was confirmed that the rest of the grant should be used to pay £120 each to the Clerk and Mr Kitchen to cover the work carried out in setting up the new financial information section on the website.

    The clerk also brought to the meeting the lifebuoy to be sited near the pond as a safety measure now that the depth was greater. Mr Sladen and the Chairman agreed to do the installation. The cost was of the equipment £155.40 (£129.5 ex VAT).

    Cheques were signed as follows:-

    £155.40 to M. Long payment to Marine Warehouse for lifebuoy.
    £797.97 to M. Long payment to PC World.
    £120.00 to Brian Kitchen (see above)
    £120.00 to M. Long (see above)
    £37.44 to HMRC PAYE
    £36.00 to CPRE Yearly Membership

    Banking Arrangements The Clerk reported his frustration with Barclays Bank. Another letter had gone astray that was apparently informing the Council that the process of updating the banking mandate would be further delayed. This was due to the fact that information provided by Mrs McNeill and Mr Welbourn was now out of date because the process had taken so long. The council agreed that the Clerk should write to the Head of Barclays to express the deep dissatisfaction felt by the Council.

  10. COMMUNICATIONS

    Mrs McNeill reported that work was in progress to upload pictures of the events held to celebrate the Queens 90th birthday on to the village web site.

The meeting ended at 9.15 pm

FUTURE MEETINGS – Thursdays July 14 and September 1 at 8pm in the Village Hall. NB. The previously planned date of August 18 is cancelled and there will be no meeting in August.