Parish Council Minutes 6th September 2012

• Mr S McCarthy (Chairman)
• Miss D Frost
• Mr David Drane
• Mr J Sladen
• The Clerk

• Mrs Sara Scott
• Mr A Weedon
• Mr David Haylock
• County Councillor Simon Walsh

Before the meeting District Councillor Simon Howell addressed the Parish Council indicating that he was still talking to people about the footway issue and giving support where he is able. He was pleased to hear about the Community Speed Watch and even offered to volunteer if numbers dropped off.

At district level, progress was difficult on all fronts with constant budget cuts and little advance warning from government as to how much would be allocated to local government. An example was housing benefits, the smaller budget means only pensioners and the disabled would be eligible. No working people could be supported.

The Local Development Framework goes forward. Land usage would cascade downwards from larger to smaller settlements. The difficulty of developing the larger sites such as Saffron Walden and the ensuing infrastructure problems were discussed. The SIACO site was brought up by the council as an eyesore and Councillor Howell said that it was awaiting the finalisation of the Local Development Framework when it would be zoned for housing. Another issue raised was the likelihood of a bypass to ease the effect of the new housing in the town.

Miss Frost said the there seemed to be a mismatch between the Central Government’s desire to speed up planning and the sometimes overzealous attention to detail exhibited by local planners. Councillor Howell explained that this may sometimes be due to protection the historic centres of settlements as conservation areas but he agreed the process did need to speed up.

Waste and recycling moving from five to four day schedule was a change of culture that was gradually being worked through and the changes were mostly being successfully implemented.

Councillor Howell left the meeting and The Chairman opened the Parish Council meeting at 8.30 pm

60. MINUTES OF MEETING HELD ON 9 AUGUST 2012

    were taken as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

61. MATTERS ARISING

    There were none

62. CORRESPONDENCE

    Parish Emergency Plans
    needed to be updated by Christmas. Mr Sladen said that this was in hand and the clerk agreed to put it on the November Agenda.

    Community Achievement Form
    nominating Mr Haylock had been sent in.

63. ENVIRONMENT

    The view of the Church clock
    is being obscured from the Glebe by a large Ash tree. It was decided to plan its removal or reduction and put this into the budget for next year if possible.

    Village Green Registration
    is nearing the publication stage

64. POLICING

    Community Speedwatch
    Speed checks have successfully been started with checks on four occasions since 22 August. Several more are planned. The council thought that it may be worth asking the police if there are other site that could be used for the checks but were grateful for the work being done.

    Motor Bike Incident
    in Harvey Way. It was re-iterated that the public must use the 101 police emergency number to report incidents of this nature.

65. HIGHWAYS

    The Footway Project
    There was nothing concrete to report before the Highways Panel Meeting on 24th September.

    Subsidence on Anso Road
    Mr Drane had arranged for an item and picture in the local press to highlight the dangers of the situation. County Councillor Walsh raised the issue with Highways after being contacted by Mr Drane and the clerk. However Highways could only say that it would be done by the end of the year. It was again felt that the issue of heavy lorries using this road is causing difficulties.

    Hedges
    The clerk had written to the owners of two properties and received a reply form Mr Maxton. He had agreed to cut his hedge but it was felt that the clerk should write again emphasising a substantial amount needed to be removed because the hedge was apparently overgrowing the road as the original white line had possibly become obscured.

66. 
    

    FINANCE

    External Audit has been successfully completed and notices would be posted on the notice board and website.

    Cheques were signed as follows

    Radwinter PC Green Waste Skip £135
    Suffolk Acre Insurance Premium £523.6
    Julian Basham Grass cutting £600
    UALC Subs £25
    ESR Key Services (John Tupman) Keys £39.60
    Stop Stansted Expansion £15
    Martyn Long: Clerks Overtime £83.62
    Miss Frost Clearing of Hall Surround £20 (agreed by the meeting to be paid from Village jobs budget)

    Correction to last month’s Minutes: Balance of Gratuity Account was sent to the current account.

    Clerks Salary increase would be backdated to April 5th 2012.

67. MAINTENANCE

    Poster Miss Frost showed a poster produced by Cavendish Parish Council. Though the council was impressed by the quality, not having a suitable retail outlet in Hempstead would make it’s usefulness difficult.

68. PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY

    Miss Frost had walked all the footpaths and taken photographs to gauge the effectiveness of the ECC cutting programme. She had contacted the department responsible with her findings but had not received a reply as yet.

69. COMMUNICATIONS

    Update to website Miss Frost was meeting with Brian Kitchen and would report at the next meeting

70. PLANNING

    Cracknells/Dimmings: – No problems with these applications.

    Thyme Cottage – This was a retrospective application and no objections except to ensure that the garage accommodation was always sold with the house and not separately. The clerk would pass this on to the Planning Department at Uttlesford.

    Fence at Little Orchard – had been reported to the Planning Department but no reply received thus far.

71. VILLAGE HALL

    A decision on the grant applied for, to create a patio area to the rear of the hall, had been delayed. This was due to the many applications received and the matter had been referred to the Council Cabinet meeting on 17th September.

    Overnight parking in the Village Hall car park is still occurring. Mr Sladen is leaving notices on the offenders’ windscreens.

DATES OF FUTURE MEETINGS – Thursdays 4 October, 8 November and 6 December all at 8pm in the Village Hall.

The meeting closed at 9.30 pm