Minutes of Parish Council meeting 11th November
HASLINGFIELD PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of meeting held on Monday November 11th 2013
Present –Tony Adcock, Trina Bachurst, Bob Branch, Lucian Hatfield, Jenny Jullien, Christine Kipping, John Offord, Rebecca Ridley, Ron van der Hoorn, Sue Watson. Sebastian Kindersley was in attendance
There were no members of the public present
1 Apologies for absence –Julie Coxall, Robin Page, John Pym
2 There were no declarations of interest
3 Open Forum – None
4 Minutes of meeting held on October 14th were agreed and signed.
Matters to be reported from these minutes – Wet pour repair in Play area now completed. CGM have been requested to cut the pathway on the recreation ground. Football posts in the long grass should be moved this week
.Arboricultural survey, the second person has not come back to me so I still have only one quote.
RB is still trying to contact the tennis club re arranging a long term lease. The weeds from around the School House and the hedge have still not been removed. Negotiations are still going forward about the Governance review. Feedback is awaited from Grantchester
5 Planning – S/218/13/FL – two storey side extension, 69 New Rd – recommended
S/2001/13/FL – two storey rear extension and dormer windows, 17 Watson’s Yard – recommended
S/1948/13/FL – single storey front extension 34, Church St
Tree work at 29 High St, felling of ash tree near the moat – agreed
7 Additional Matters for discussion –.The dog waste bin near the skate park has been vandalised, a replacement has been ordered. The meter reading has been accepted for the Feed-in Tariff from the Solar Panels on the Village Hall. A cheque is expected shortly. It was suggested that a sign be placed on the Old Vicarage wall to indicate that it is 3 Broad Lane and a sign with an arrow pointing to Broad lane. Regarding the land designated as the footpath between The Hemlocks and the school, the PC re-confirmed their support for the principle of the footpath in accordance with the condition of the original planning consent for the Hemlocks development. The PC also noted that the concerns and welfare of those affected by the proposed footpath should not be overlooked.
8 County Councillors Report – the new constitution for CCC is to go before the full council in December and will be published in May 2014. It will be e mailed to all councils. There are 4 Service Committees with a possibility of one more ‘Healthy Agenda’ being added. SCAMBS have set up a limited company to build new council houses. There is no more news on the CEMEX development. South Cambs has the 13th lowest council tax in the country. Unfortunately this means that future cuts in funding hit us especially hard. The council will be looking to make a further £1,7m in savings in the next 6-18 months. South Cambs is having huge difficulty in recruiting and retaining planning officers, which means that targets are not always being met. Any difficulties should be reported to SK. Changes are to be made to services offered to elderly people living in their own or sheltered housing to enable them to stay in their own homes and avoid going into care. Homelessness is becoming a much bigger problem. SCAMBS is looking at ways in which it can provide temporary homes for people to avoid using expensive B&B’s. If you have a spare room you would consider renting out please get in touch with the homelessness officer at SCDC. There are 4,000 families on the housing list for local authority accommodation.
9 District Councillor– Robin has resigned for Barton Parish Council in order to devote more time
to the Eversdens, Harlton and Haslingfield. He is concerned about the proposal to turn Bourn
Airfield into a planned site for a new town. RP is also totally opposed to the plans being raised
by CEMEX now.
10 Committee and Working party Reports
A – Environment – There is more rubbish to be burnt in Wellhouse Meadow. A working party to be organised to deal with this. 30 children came after the Remembrance service to sow poppy seeds inWM. The ecology officer for SCAMS has suggested planting Alder trees to replace the dead ones felled in WM, he has some self-seeded saplings around 1 m high which he will provide. LH will oversee this project. One large tree stump covered with ivy in Church Way is to be removed and a second one will be removed next year. Sue Watson volunteered to join the Environment Committee
B – Village Hall – a draft requirement for refurbishing the cloakrooms at the Village hall had been circulated. Quotes to be obtained now for the work to be done in the New Year. The Village Hall cleaners have resigned with effect from 30th November. A deep clean is to take place before Christmas. Tony Adcock to become a cheque signatory for the Village Hall account. Brian Gott has requested a hedge to be cut along the edge of the recreation ground.
C Allotments – all rents have been collected. Four plots are available, applications to Jon Spain,
01763262007. The AGM will take place on 2nd December in the Village Hall at 7.30pm
D Trumpington Meadows – there are some problems with families integrating at the new
school. Help is needed with getting them settled and receiving appropriate support.
E Play Area – no problems
F Website/C & V – C & V is profitable at the moment with printing costs having been reduced.
Decisions have yet to be made about advertising on the web site
11 Correspondence – letter from Insurance Co re snow clearing procedures. Advice from CAPALC is to do nothing to make the situation worse. This information to be given to the
insurance co (AON) and copied to Andrew Lansley
Letter of resignation received from Rebecca Ridley, thanks were expressed for all her hard work
12 Cycle path from Grantchester to Haslingfield – LH has surveyed the route and various materials for the surface of the cycle path have been discussed, but no decision has been reached.
There is money coming available in the Spring and this project should be in line for a good chunk towards this project. LH is preparing a report which should be available in the next two weeks
13 Report on Road Safety Initiative – the council supported the report. There will be additional costs to those originally calculated. A firm proposal will be submitted within two weeks.
14 Report from Village Energy Day November 9th – good attendance 60+. 30 Feedback forms were completed, and 30 people visited the Solar Farm. 20 people signed up for thermal imaging and 30 for training on thermal imaging. Congratulations to RR and her helpers
15 Report from Police Panel – no report
16 Alarm System for Village Hall – to be discussed at a future date
17 Parish Clerk replacement – interviews are taking place on 12th November
18 Election of vice chairman – Trina Backhurst was proposed by RB and seconded by RR. Trina was duly elected
19 Site for plaque on Village Hall – this to be placed on the side of the hall facing the car park at least 10 – 12 feet high. The plaque to be unveiled on New Year’s Day before the walk
20 Table Tennis Table for recreation Ground – other items to be considered at the next meeting
21 Finance – Repayment of PWLB to be deducted at the end of November £5285.98
Half yearly report from N W Brown balance £24.073 – £133 increase since March
Date of next meeting Monday December 9th at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall