News Much Hadham Parish Council Much Hadham Parish Council Minutes - 3 Nov 2009
| Much Hadham Parish Council Minutes - 3 Nov 2009 |
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| Much Hadham Parish Council | |
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Meeting held at 7.30 pm in the Much Hadham Village Hall. *Cllr Mrs A M Aranha *Cllr B H A Morris * denotes present. In attendance: 4 members of the public. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Mrs Tate and Mrs L Newlyn (HCC). CO-OPTION OF PARISH COUNCILLOR RESOLVED that this matter be deferred until the next meeting. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST Cllr Dillon Personal Grant SSE MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING HELD ON 8 SEPTEMBER 2009 RESOLVED that the Minutes of the last meeting held on 8 September 2009 be accepted as a correct record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman. MATTERS ARISING None. RESIDENTS’ COMMENTS 1. North Leys Matters Cllr Carver stated that the swimming pool application might be taken to Committee for a decision. The matter concerning the footpath was with the lawyers to determine. The Parish Council had objected to the application to cut through the Georgian wall. 2. Oudle Lane An observation was made that the walking bus was a ‘hair-brained’ scheme and it was felt that in future it would be best to proceed with caution before embarking on such schemes, which did not materialise. This matter could be raised with the school. 3. B1004 – Road Condition Concerns were raised regarding the number of potholes in the highway particularly near the entrance to the Golf Club. Cllr Carver stated that no major work would be undertaken until the completion of the main work. However, Herts Highways would continue to carry out remedial work to potholes. 4. Malting Lane (Old Malt House) Extensive work had been undertaken. Cllr Carver confirmed that permission had in the past been granted with a condition that the garage could not be used in the future as a separate dwelling or in connection with any commercial activities. 5. Harlow North Cllr Morris stated that it was not known whether Land Securities had purchased the site owned by Ropemarker and no planning application had been submitted. There was as yet no indication of the precise area of land to be the subject of any future development or the number of houses. Cllr Morris urged members and residents to make use of the Harlow North website to voice their objections. Cllr Carver confirmed that East Herts Council was vehemently opposed to any development north of Harlow and any such development would be impinging onto the East Herts area. Objections would also be raised to the East of England Plan which referred to the development of Harlow North. The production next year of the East Herts Local Development Framework would include something relative to the proposed development. Cllr Morris reiterated his deep concerns regarding any proposed development north of Harlow and he continued to seek support for the work being carried out by the ‘Stop Harlow North’ organisation. Members recognised the financial demands placed on the organisation and approved a grant of £200 towards the funds of the organisation. PLANNING To note the attached planning matters as set out in Appendix A.
Cllr Mrs Naughton reported on the following: FP18 – The matter regarding the height of the stile had been reported and would be rectified. With regard to the production of the map an initial proof document had now been received which, unfortunately, contained a number of errors. Once the errors had been rectified and the final proof agreed, production of the map in its finished form would take approximately 6 weeks. It was anticipated that the document would be completed before the 20 January meeting of the Parish Council. The Chairman requested members to remain after the close of this meeting to view the proof. A cheque had been received in the sum of £700 being a specific grant under the Parish Paths Partnership agreement to provide benches at various locations in the Parish. STANSTED AIRPORT RELATED MATTERS The Chairman stated that there was very little to report. Both flights and passenger numbers continued to fall and there was every sign that passenger numbers in 2009 would be less than 20m. The appeal by BAA against the decision of the Competition Commission had commenced with an anticipated decision expected in January 2010. It was significant that during the appeal procedure the sale of Gatwick airport had taken place at a price of £1.5 billion. BAA had estimated the cost of providing a second runway would be £3 billion. The public inquiry into the second runway had stalled pending the appeal procedure and there was every hope that should BAA lose the appeal, then Stansted might be sold. With a general election in May 2010 and with both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties pledging not to support BAA’s proposals, there was every possibility that the public inquiry regarding the second runway would not proceed. HIGHWAYS MATTERS Cllr Morris informed members that Cllr Mrs Newlyn (HCC) had been trying to make contact with him with a view to updating him on a number of highways issues. When such information was made available he would e-mail the contents of the response to all members. Speeding traffic was still a problem, particularly in the High Street. The Chairman stated that he had been in discussion with the Chairman of Widford Parish Council and a meeting had been arranged with the Police for early December 2009 to discuss the problems of speeding traffic through both the Parishes of Much Hadham and Widford. Cllr Morris reported on an incident which had occurred at Tower Hill on 19 October 2009 when a child had been injured. There was, he felt, an urgent need to provide some form of safe crossing from the school to the sports ground, although being on the brow of a hill, this might present a problem. Cllr Morris agreed to discuss with Cllr Mrs Newlyn the feasibility of providing a pelican crossing at this location and to revisit the work previously instigated by former Cllr Mrs M Bayes in trying to secure a 20 mph speed limit in the vicinity of the school. Reference was made to the blind bend on the northern section of Oudle Lane which was a traffic hazard for motorists. Cllr Bird agreed to discuss this matter with PARISH PLAN Cllr Williams informed members that an initial meeting of the newly formed group had taken place with members having been given various tasks to undertake before the next scheduled meeting to be held in early December 2009 at which the questionnaire would be formulated. Unfortunately, there had still been no satisfactory outcome to the application to open a new bank account for the group with NatWest proving extremely difficult in progressing the application. The Clerk was requested to chase this as a matter of urgency. PROPOSALS FOR PLAY EQUIPMENT Cllr Mrs Naughton informed members that Play Much Hadham had received the sum of £5,500 from the Recreation Trust which would be utilised in providing a new climbing frame. Reference was made to the quotations received for the provision of a Multisport football wall, goal and basketball net and further discussions were being held with Wickstead Leisure with a view to securing a reduction in their original quotation of £6,972. It had also been learned that Broadmead Leisure could provide play equipment. Cllr Mrs Naughton stated that she would like the Parish Council to commit to providing financial support over a number of years in order to provide a complete replacement of the existing equipment. This would also show the Parish Council’s gratitude to the members of Play Much Hadham who were working extremely hard to fund raise. RESOLVED that a grant of £5,000 be made available. A quotation had been received from Mr Brett to carry out repairs to the seesaw. As this was routine maintenance it was agreed that the expenditure be met by the Parish Council.
A letter had been received from BT inviting the Parish Council to consider adopting for £1 each the three red telephone kiosks as listed below: Telephone 01279842312 Yes o/s Yew Tree Cottage Perry Green Much Hadham SG10 6EF 01279842382 o/s Orchard Cottage Station Road Much Hadham SG10 6AX 01279842599 Yes Pco Tower Hill Much Hadham SG10 6DL Adoption, essentially, would mean that BT would remove the equipment and ownership and maintenance of the kiosk structure would be transferred to the Parish Council. RESOLVED that the Parish Council agree to adopt the three red telephone kiosks. POSSIBLE GRANT TO THE VILLAGE HALL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE The Chairman referred members to a letter which had been received from Mr P Appleton (Hon Treasurer) of the Much Hadham Village Hall seeking reimbursement of the cost of external decoration of the Village Hall. No notice had been given to the Parish Council of the intended work and an assumption had been made that the Parish Council would provide such sums out of its current budget. Members were reminded that the precepted sum of £3,000 had been provided as a specific reserve and was not intended to defray routine maintenance expenditure. Nevertheless, accepting the lack of courtesy shown to the Parish Council, the wrong assumption regarding the utilisation of the specific reserve and recognising the need to maintain a good working relationship with the members of the Management Committee, it was RESOLVED that as a gesture of goodwill a grant of £3,000 be approved. The Chairman agreed to discuss the matter with Mr Chris Prout prior to releasing the cheque. STOP STANSTED EXPENSION – REQUEST FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT A letter had been received from Stop Stansted Expension seeking a financial contribution in support of the organisation’s ongoing work in seeking to maintain the opposition to the proposed development of Stansted Airport. RESOLVED that a grant of £400 be approved. EXTERNAL AUDITOR’S REPORT AND 2008/2009 ANNUAL RETURN The Clerk informed members that BDO Stoy Hayward LLP had completed the external audit of the accounts of the Parish Council for the financial year ended RESOLVED that the annual return be approved and accepted. PRECEPT 2010/2011 – PRELIMINARY DISCUSSIONS Members had been circulated with a copy of the 2009/2010 (current) budget for information. Following a discussion on the various heads of expenditure and possible items for inclusion in the 2010/2011 precept it was generally agreed that the precept should be held at £24,000. The Clerk would liaise with the Chairman in completing a draft budget and recommended precept for the next meeting of the Parish Council. PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS AND CURRENT FINANCIAL STATEMENT (i) Payment of Accounts RESOLVED that the accounts as set out on the attached schedule (Appendix B) be duly authorised for payment. (ii) Current Financial Position RESOLVED that the contents of the attached statement (Appendix C) be received. ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDA (i) Co-option of Parish Councillor. ANY OTHER BUSINESS None. CALENDAR OF MEETINGS 2010 Tuesday, 12 January 2010 Ordinary Parish Council meeting
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