MELBOURN PARISH COUNCIL
UNAPPROVED MINUTES
Minutes of a Parish Council Meeting held on Monday, 24th May 2010 at All Saints’ Community Hall at 7.15pm.
Present: Cllrs. D. Mowatt (Chairman), V. Barrett, A. Brett, J. Hales, A. Mulcock, M. Sherwen, P. Simmonett, C. Stead and M. Townsend
In attendance: The Clerk and C. Cllr van de Ven
23/10 Apologies for absence: Cllrs. Bloomfield, Gatward, Hardingham, Linnette and Wakerley
24/10 Declarations of Interest: Cllr. Barrett declared a Personal Interest in Item 36/10.
25/10 Minutes of the meeting held on 26th April 2010:
With the alteration to Item 751/09 (e) to the name “Saran” to “Sabin” it was proposed by Cllr. Hales and seconded by Cllr. Townsend that the minutes of 26th April be signed as a true record.
26/10 Minutes of the Annual Parish Council meeting held on 10th May 2010:
With the replacement at Item 4/10 of the name “Mr Peter Simmonett” with “Mr Dean Hardingham” and the alteration to the work “adopted” to read “co-opted” and at Item 7/10 (i) Cllr Barrett reported that she has had a meeting with Rob Mungovan should read Cllr Barrett reported that she had a phone call from Rob Mungovan it was proposed by Cllr. Barrett and seconded by Cllr. Brett that the minutes of the Annual Parish Council meeting held on 10th May 2010 be signed as a true record.
27/10 Matters arising:
Item 746/09 (Old Recreation Ground) Cllr. Brett reported that at the present time he was waiting to receive amended heads of term from David Goodson which would reflect what was agreed. David Goodson was also going to produce a Land Registry plan which can be used by the Council for the legal documents. When these documents have been received Cllr. Brett will instruct Mr Larcombe to carry out the conveyancing.
Item 747/09 (Pavilion) Cllr. Townsend enquired if any progress had been made with regard to obtaining hand driers for the Pavilion. The Clerk said that a quote had been received and that this was to be discussed under correspondence.
Item 762/09 (Urgent matters) Cllr. Sherwen is meeting with Cambridge Water Company on site at the Moor Allotment to see if a solution can be found to rectify the low water pressure.
Item 751/09 (Correspondence) Cllr. Brett reported that Kirstin Bicknell had produced a revised contract which had now been signed by Kirstin and the artist Jo Chapman.
Meeting held on 10th May
Item 7/10 (g) (Any other Business) Cllr. Brett had looked at the insurance documents and it was decided that the Council would go with Came and Company.
Item 7/10(b) (Any other Business) Cllr. Sherwen reported that it would be 5 to 6 weeks before the proposed boundary fence at Stockbridge Meadows would be in place. Cllr. Sherwen had taken photos of the old boundary fence. When the boundary markers have arrived the Clerk is to request Herts and Cambs Ground Maintenance to put these in place.
28/10 To receive the Minutes of the Planning Committee meeting held on 17th May 2010:
Item 17/10 (Co-operative Store) Cllr. Barrett said that the decision notice was dated 18th May and so the actions asked for by the Parish Council have to carried out in three months from that date.
29/10 Notification and Planning Consultation Documents:
There were no Notification or Planning Consultation Documents received.
30/10 To consider the following Planning applications:
(a) SCDC – Unit 2 former Plasmon Site, Whiting Way. Fuel Store. S/0682/10/F.
Recommend Refusal.
This need for a fuel store was not mentioned in any of the previous discussions and applications submitted.
This comment applies to the general conduct of this and other Back Lane applications and is not satisfactory.
The Committee would ask that delivery time conditions should be imposed to avoid “peak” periods.
No mention of capacity, number of tanks, safety feature, under or over ground, i.e. lack of information, what else will be applied for?
Refuse pending proper information.
(b) SCDC – 17 Greengage Rise. Extension. S/0713/01/F. Recommend Approval.
(c) SCDC – 36 New Road. Extensions to existing Bungalow. S/0703/10/F. Recommend Approval.
31/10 Heydon Grange Wind Farm:
There were no further developments at the present time.
32/10 Remarks on Annual Return by the Internal Auditor:
The Council noted the remarks made by the Internal Auditor.
33/10 Annual Return for the year end 31 March 2010:
It was proposed by Cllr. Hales THAT THE ANNUAL RETURN FOR THE YEAR ENDING MARCH 31ST 2010 BE APPROVED AND SIGNED. Seconded by Cllr. Stead and CARRIED.
34/10 Internal Auditor:
It was proposed by Cllr. Townsend THAT THE POST OF INTERNAL AUDITOR TO THE PARISH COUNCIL BE OFFERED TO MR BRUCE HUETT. Seconded by Cllr. Sherwen and CARRIED.
35/10 Financial Report as at 30th April: Noted
36/10 Condition of All Saints’ Churchyard wall:
It was proposed by Cllr. Sherwen THAT THE QUOTATION RECEIVED FROM PAS BUILDING SERVICES LTD AT A PRICE OF £884.00 PLUS VAT FOR REPAIRS TO THE BOUNDARY WALL BETWEEN ALL SAINTS’ CHURCHYARD AND NO 2 STATION ROAD BE ACCEPTED. Seconded by Cllr. Hales and CARRIED with one abstention Cllr. Barrett who had declared a Personal Interest in this item did not vote.
[Cllr. Stead left the meeting at this point the time being9.00pm]
37/10 Dog fouling in Clear Crescent Play Area:
Cllr. Townsend will visit the Play Area to see where she believes a sign stating “No Dogs Allowed” could be erected.
38/10 Cheques to be signed:{See Attachment}
The Clerk recommended the transfer of £17,000 from the Business No Notice Account to the Current Account.
The Clerk recommended the transfer of £53.68 from the Magazine Account to the No Notice Account.
It was proposed by Cllr. Townsend that the cheques be approved and signed, seconded by Cllr. Stead and Carried.
39/10 Correspondence:
(a) Letter from SCDC – Riverside Public Art Project. Noted
(b) E-mail and revised map for proposed yellow lines on Station Road from David Lines.
The proposed yellow lines as marked on the map by the entrance to ESSE’s car park need to be extended by a least one car length towards Meldreth.
(c) E-mail from Cllr. Benfield – informing the Parish Council of his resignation from the Council. Noted
(d) NHS – Opportunity to meet the Governors of Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Would the Parish Council be interested in a Governor attending one of its meetings?
The Council would like to take up this invitation and request that a Governor attends one of its full Parish Council meetings. It requests that a presentation, lasting no more then 45 minutes, be given and to facilitate this the meeting (when chosen) will commence at 6.45pm.
(e) Letter from Michael Galley – Condition of boundary wall between All Saints’ Churchyard and 2 Station Road. Noted
(f) Letter from Chris van Vliet – seeking permission to remove 4 Elders from All Saints’ Churchyard.
The Council gave its permission for these trees to be removed.
(g) Letter from Aran Services Ltd – Information for Parish Councils. Noted
(h) E-mail from Tracy Hobbs – quote and brochure for hand driers.
The Clerk is to forward the brochure to Cllr. Mowatt.
(i) Request from Circus Tyanna – to hold the circus on the Old Recreation Ground form 17th to 20th June 2010.
It was proposed by Cllr. Mulcock THAT THE CIRCUS TYANNA BE ALLOWED TO HIRE THE OLD RECREATION GROUND FROM THE 17TH TO 20TH JUNE 2010. Seconded by Cllr Sherwen and CARRIED.
The Clerk was asked to contact the owner of the circus and inform him that the circus must leave the ground in plenty of time for it to be used in conjunction with the Village Fete which is to be held on 26th June.
(j) No further correspondence was received.
40/10 Report from C. Cllr. Susan van de Ven:
1. Back Lane Liaison Group: I’ve chased this up again with Gareth Jones at SCDC for the third time, and liaised with our district councillors to help give a push.
2. Fix My Street.com: This website allows anyone to track a detailed picture of the current state of any road and to identify and report needed repairs such as pot holes. Through word of mouth it seems that many residents are using this site to report defects on the Highways, but County Council insist that the best means of reporting is to send a detailed email to street.scene@cambridgeshire.gov.uk, because their system is apparently incompatible with fixmystreet.com. This means that if the sender is not specific enough in their use of language, the item cannot be identified. We’re hoping to get this situation sorted to enable the better website to be used. It would certainly make the job of parish clerks much easier.
3. Compost availability at Thriplow and all Cambs Recycling Centres:
You may remember that some months ago, we asked Cambs County Council if they could arrange for Donarbon, who collect and process our waste and run the Recycling Centre at Thriplow. Currently they could make loose compose available free of charge only at their Waterbeach depot, which is a long way to drive. This was intended to start if February. I’ve queried this as the new arrangement has not yet started and have been told that “However, we have now decided that it would be much more convenient for residents if the compost was bagged and provided for a small charge. To that end, Donarbon are currently sourcing a company to bag the compost. I have contacted Donarbon for an update and will let you know once I have the latest.” I would like to know what this small charge will be. The original idea was to have an honesty box on site and for funds to go to local charities. What do people think?
4. PSG – The Practical Solutions Group:
The PSG is continuing to make progress on various projects. We have decided unanimously that in light of our constructive approach to community building, the name of our group needs updating, and have agreed to call ourselves the Practical Solutions Group – therefore still the PSG. We are very pleased now to be holding our meetings at Melbourn Village College, and this enables us to have greater input from the youth worker and arts development officer who are based at the college. We are looking forward to a get-together with young people to be organized by the youth worker and young people – and this we hope will be the beginning of a new phase of our work. We’d like to understand better what the world looks like from their perspective.
5. I am sending a thank you note to Kier for their quick response in moving the construction site barrier back, in order to allow access to the rest stop bench. This has been noted with appreciation by a number of residents.
41/10 Cemetery and Churchyard Inspection Record:
Cllr. Townsend reported that New Road cemetery looked fine.
She reported that at Orchard Road cemetery there should be 3 watering cans and at the present time there only seemed to be one.
42/10 New Road Cemetery:
Cllr. Sherwen reported that a meeting had been arranged for Tuesday 25th May with Matthew Lane Sanderson to discuss the progress made with the gates and mound.
Cllr. Hales reported that the newly planted beds were in need of weeding and he had asked Herts & Cambs Ground Maintenance to carry out this task
Due to the failure of the turf in hot weather it was decided that in future not to turf graves in Spring but to wait till Autumn.
It seems that when cutting the grass MD Landscapes are not blowing the cut grass from the graves. The Council are not happy with the standard of work of MD Landscapes and would like to have a meeting with Mark. Before this meeting is arranged Cllr. Hales is going to check the entire area of his work.
[As the time was approaching 10.00pm it was proposed by Cllr. Hales and seconded by Cllr. Barrett that the meeting continue until 10.15pm]
43/10 Further Developments to Village Car Park:
Following the joint meeting on 12th May Cllr. Brett said that the lease was very nearly there subject to 2 or 3 points. There is to be a revised plan for the right of way to the garages and it is hoped the lease will be ready to sign very soon.
44/10 Update on BMX Trails:
Cllr. Barrett reported that Andrew Philips from SCDC Planning Department is on holiday now and will be back on 2nd June. It is hoped that when he returns the planning application will be processed.
45/10 Problem Solving Group:
This has been dealt with in C. Cllr van de Ven’s report.
46/10 Village Plan:
Cllr. Sherwen showed the meeting a black and white sample of the questionnaire. These will be distributed by volunteers and collected back again 2 to 3 weeks later.
Cllr. Mulcock will attend the next meeting of the Village Plan Committee, where he will ask questions relating to the weightings of the results.
[As the time was approaching 10.15pm it was proposed by Cllr. Hales and seconded by Cllr. Simmonett that the meeting continue until 10.30pm]
47/10 Neighbourhood Panel:
The next meeting will be held in July at Bassingbourn.
48/10 Committees:
(a) Urgent reports from Committee Chairmen: There were no urgent reports from Committee Chairman.
49/10 Future Meetings.
(a) 7th June – Planning
(b) 14th June – Conservation + Cemetery
(c) 21st June – Planning
(d) 28th June – Parish Council
50/10 The Clerk’s Holidays:
The Parish Council agreed to the Clerk’s holiday dates
51/10 Urgent Matters:
Cllr. Sherwen asked if the Parish Council was going to being represented at the Village Fete. Cllr. Sherwen offered to book a stand and this will be manned by Cllrs. Barrett, Hales, Mowatt and Townsend.
There being no other business the chairman closed the meeting at 10.30pm