Minutes of the Great Staughton Parish Council
held on 10 November 2022 – 7.30pm
Present:
R Jewell (BJ) H Glanville (HG) G Brittain (GB)
N Yates (NY) L Goody (LG) W Mumford (WM)
David Moore (DM) Helen Hopperton (HH) James Duberly (JD)
Ian Gardener (IG) Stephen Cawley (SC)
1. Apologies for absence –Jo Russell (Clerk) (JR)
2. Resident’s Forum – None present
3. Declarations of Interest – None.
4. Reports from District and County Councillors
IG:
advised that he had received a reply regarding the painting of the light poles on the pedestrian crossing. This is actually the responsibility of street lighting and not street maintenance. This will be attended to next year when the weather conditions are suitable for applying the paint.
Still no response regarding Footpath 40 and he is chasing the footpath officer.
IG will be meeting with the flood officer on 24 November at the site of the new house on Green Lane behind The Tavern to assess the risk of the culvert there flooding. WM and BJ will also attend.
The new scheme to apply for 20mph speed limits commences in January 2023 and confirm this is no longer within the remit of the LHI scheme. Therefore, any application for Dillington will have to be part of that new scheme. Any other LHI bid we may want to make to be submitted by 6 January 2023 with panel meetings scheduled for May 2023.
IG advised that Mayor Nik Johnson is to take a leave of absence as he is undergoing heart treatment and expressed his best wishes. Anne Smith will be deputising.
SC:
The consultation on bus services is open for responses and he recommends we all participate. SC will send the weblink for us to use. The main issue is the fact that no bus services are expected to come west of the A1 and go on to Cambridge. So far, there is no suggestion that the 150 or 400 services will be axed.
A Boundary Commission consultation closes on 5 December 2022 and again, SC will send the link should we want to comment.
HDC meetings, including committee meetings are now being streamed live. There is a link on HDC’s website for residents to observe meetings, which does include development and planning committees that may be of particular interest.
On litter minimisation, HDC is keen to engage with litterpicking events and has a facebook page called ‘Wombles’ to support events. Residents that currently benefit from assisted bin collection have been sent letters to ensure they still need the service. Any resident that would benefit from assisted bin emptying can access this via HDC’s website.
HDC has a current consultation/survey on their website for residents to access to express their satisfaction, or dissatisfaction with Council services.
There is a proposed price increase for One Leisure facilities to come into effect from 1 January 2023. This has been challenged and clarification is being sought as to what the extra cost is to cover i.e. is it because of increasing utility prices, for example.
5. Minutes of the meeting held on 13 October 2022 – approved.
6. Matters arising:
Green Close potholes – IG has a meeting with the highways officer on 1 December 2022 and will ask her to look at this again.
Tree in Moory Croft – the old tree stump is actually sprouting again so we will leave this, at least for the time being, to regenerate.
Blocked footpath (40) near 5 Acres Salvage yard – as above, IG is chasing the footpath officer.
Replacement of parish streetlights – The quote received from Balfour Beatty for £8,713.12 to replace all 12 of the parish streetlights that are either already considered in poor condition or are expected to need attention within the foreseeable future is to be accepted in full. It was agreed that an LHI bid would be put forward to buy another MVAS speed sign, potentially with a solar panel to power it, instead of making a bid to contribute towards the new streetlights as this would delay the necessary works being done and the PC would have to contribute at least 10% of the costs as part of any LHI bid in any event.
Trees in Moory Croft and Beachampstead Road – residents have reported a number of large trees that are now of such a height and size as to be impacting on nearby properties. These are located on either located on District Council land, or are affecting the public highway, so could fall under County Council remit to address. BJ will identify the trees in question on a plan/list and notify IG and SC so they can be referred to the relevant departments.
Bus shelter – JR has obtained a quote for works to overhaul the bus shelter. In her absence, to be carried forward to the next meeting when details will be available.
7. Attendance at other meetings – none.
8. Highways
Current LHI bid – halos. IG advised that the work for these to be installed is running behind schedule due to difficulties sourcing parts, but he is chasing this on our behalf.
Potential LHI bid for 22/23 – as 6(d) above.
Pedestrian crossing repainting – as per IG’s report above.
Blocked drains – Green Lane and The Green/Highway – it is believed that the drains had been cleared, but they have blocked up with leaves again. IG will ask the highways officer to schedule them to be done again. There is another drain on Moor Road that is also now blocked. HH to confirm exact location so this can be added to the worklist.
Blocked highway in Perry – still awaiting appointment of new footpaths officer – c/f.
Footpath from Dillington to The Green – IG advises that the best course of action is to have a highways officer look at viability and to cost a scheme if it is possible. We can then look at an LHI bid, potentially in conjunction with a CIL application if we can establish a direct link to development and perhaps tie this in with a cycleway as ‘active travel’ is a current theme that local councils are keen to pursue.
20mph speed limit in Dillington – as per IG’s report above.
9. Planning
Staughton Moor planning enforcement – monthly updates – no further report.
21/01016/FUL – Little America, Moor Road – 8 business units – objections submitted – response still awaited. SC will chase this again.
Wyboston Garden Village/developments in Beds near A1 – ongoing.
21/02698/CLED – The Cook House, 14 Little America Industrial Estate – Lawful Development Certificate B2 and B8 – application has been refused and no further appeal has been made. We can now remove this from the agenda.
Appeal Against Enforcement Notice 21/00092/ENUCO – 11 Little America Industrial Estate – still ongoing – this is with the Planning Inspectorate and will be some months before any update/decision is received.
22/00807/CLED Lawful Development Certificate B2 for Car Repair – consultation – 12 Little America Industrial Estate – no change, SC to chase again.
22/02117/HHFUL Beacon Farm Moor Road – single storey extension – no comments or objections.
10. Cashbook – approved. It was agreed to leave the clerk’s salary at the current scale point level for the forthcoming year.
11. Budget and Precept 23/24 – the PC voted 8-1 in favour of keeping the precept at £22,000. There was some discussion as to whether the level could be reduced in view of the current cost of living crisis, however in view of the fact that the PC needs to spend in the region of £12-14,000 over the coming year to replace the parish streetlights, contribute towards the cost of a second speed sign and overhaul the bus shelter in addition to usual expenditure and ensure there are available funds for any unexpected expenditure, it was sensible to precept at the same level.
12. Correspondence
– trees in Moory Croft overhanging pavement and number 12 – as per 6(e) above.
HDC have written to remind the PC that councillors are entitled to allowance payments for their work – no councillor wished to make any claim and this response has been sent back to HDC.
13. Affordable housing update – BJ reported that an agreed plan to resolve the drainage issue with the neighbouring landowners has been made. The build schedule is a little bit behind due to a delay in the final water connection being made as Anglian Water are not yet satisfied with the water quality. This is being resolved and then the groundworks can be completed. In terms of take up, there is an excess of interest in the rented properties, these will be advertised about a month prior to their available date and 2 of the 3 shared ownership properties have active local interest.
14. Three Villages Sustainable Heat Scheme update – no report.
15. Neighbourhood Plan – BJ reported that grant funds have been received to fund consultant support and a grant has been approved to support the call for sites. 8 responses were received and have been sent to the consultants to assess suitability against the required criteria. The three key documents (introduction, spatial strategy and townscape and landscape document) have been considered by our planning consultant and BJ has a meeting with them next week to discuss so the documents should be available for circulation for further review by the end of next week.
16. Reports from:
a. Village Hall Committee – HG reported that the hall is fully booked and there has been no need to increase the hire costs. The kitchen re-fit is scheduled for 1 & 2 December. The VH Committee has agreed not to claim the usual annual grant from the PC this year.
b. Playing Field Committee – no report as AGM still to be held on 24 November.
c. Speed Watch – no report.
d. Community Hub – LG reported that the monthly meets have been fun, but not well attended. There was a good turnout for the wine tasting session and there is a good number booked to attend the wreath making session, however the reality is that these sorts of special events are not what the hub was aimed at achieving and it is therefore almost certain that the hub will not continue into next year as there is no apparent need.
17. Parish Matters
DM – is hoping to be able to arrange the Santa Sleigh round for Christmas this year, though this would not be aimed at raising funds as in previous years, but rather intending to collect donations for local foodbanks or something similar. DM will look into this further and ask for support to manage this over the coming weeks.
18. Meeting dates for 2023 – TBC when BJ and JR have been able to consult and consider their availability.
Meeting closed 9.17pm
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