26

A meeting of the Parish Council was held in the Village Hall on Monday 26^th February 2007 at 8pm.

Apologies. Mrs Handley

Present Mrs Clemmow, Mr Ellis, Miss Sach, Miss Hayes, Mr Blatch, Mr Bane, Mr Tebbit, Mr White and, in the Chair, Mr Dalton. D.Cl. Mrs Heazell and C.Cl. Mr Kindersley were also present

Minutes of the meeting held on 16^th January 2007 were agreed and signed

Matters arising from the Minutes

1 Footpath 13. Ivett's Lane. BT pole still there.

2 Nixon's Hall Tablet. A member of the Conservation Committee had inspected the tablet, but had unfortunately decided that it was not of historic interest, so could not help financially. The Fitzwilliam Museum would now be approached.

3 Land Registration of Parish Property The survey is now completed and the necessary drawings will be sent shortly.

4. Hedge cutting Letters have been sent to owners and action is now awaited.

5. Report on anti-social behaviour meeting with police at Harlton. Mr White and Miss Sach attended this meeting and found it most interesting. The parents of the children concerned have been written to and there was an improvement in behaviour. Cl. Mrs Heazell was hopeful that it would be maintained.

6. Report by Audit Commission on SCDC. Cl. Mrs Heazell spoke on this.

The only member who was named with any credit was Cl. Kindersley, who had been leader of the Council for a short time. Bad behaviour by Councillors was not to be tolerated and members would have to work together to improve matters. The general feeling was that members did want to pull together to improve all aspects of their work. She too paid tribute to Cl. Kindersley's work as leader and announced that he had been adopted as a parliamentary candidate for South Cambridgeshire at the next election.

7. Cl. Kindersley reported on County Council matters. An increase of 5% in Council Tax for Band D housing is proposed. There will have to be a substantial reduction in social care services. The budget for road repairs will be drastically reduced and there will be other cuts all round.

8. Village Plan. A short lecture with slides was given by Miss Melanie Baker, a member from ACRE seconded from SCDC (melanie.baker@scambs.gov,uk). This covered all aspects of setting up a Village Plan. About 1/3 of villages were doing or had done a plan and they were of all sizes. Comberton were said to have attracted £1.2 million of funding by this route. A plan would take 12 to 18 months to do, should be compiled by a very representative group and take input from all Village sources. A subsidy is available which must be applied for by the P.C, who should also adopt the plan. Plans need refreshing about every five years.

This information will now be considered by the Parish Council in detail. Thanks were expressed to Miss Baker for coming.

9. Milton Country Park. Before writing to SCDC about its proposed closure it was agreed to ascertain what the present situation was. Mr Ellis mentioned that he had heard that £75,000 had been given to keep it open. The Chairman agreed to make enquiries.

10. Wimpole Road. Potholes and its condition in general had been reported to the Highways Authority. Also agreed to report the potholes outside Manor Farm.

A603 bridge over M11 – failure said to be due to overloading by concrete dividers, now removed.

11. Footpaths 17, 18 and 23. Diversions had been completed and were being advertised.

12 Footpath 25. All parties except one have agreed to the proposed diversion submitted and agreed by the PC at their meeting in November. The Chairman will write to Mr and Mrs Sale.

13. Monitoring Notice Boards. It was agreed the policy should continue to be that old notices should be removed, and, should there be insufficient space for new notices, those from outside the village would be removed.

14 Litter bin at Bus Shelter. It was reported that the litter bin at the bus shelter opposite the Hoops had disappeared. Mr Blatch reported that the missing bin was broken and that the new fence had been moved to prevent access to the back. The Chairman to enquire about a replacement bin. and the moving of the fence.

15 Representative on Tennis Club Committee. It was unanimously agreed that Mrs Clemmow should act as a representative of the Parish Council. Miss Sach asked Mrs Clemmow if she would be willing to represent the Tennis Club on the Recreation Field Committee. Mrs Clemmow agreed.

16 Affordable Housing. The protocol on consultation circulated electronically to members had been agreed.

17. Finance: S.Cambs Youth Bank Support. Agreed to discuss this at the next meeting

18. Planning

Mr Kilker, 9 Lowfields. Fence approved by SCDC

Mr & Mrs Aubrey-King, 44 Wimpole Road, Gt. Eversden. Conversion of listed barn to an annexe for elderly parents. Refused by SCDC

Mrs Perrot, Rear of 6 Lowfields. Development of 2 houses. Objections sent

E and L Wood. Gt Eversden. Conversion of Barn. Agreed Mr Tebbit to inform neighbours, liaise with Chairman and pass on relevant comments to SCDC.

19. Car Parking at Recreation Field. Mr Ellis spoke about the number of cars parked down Bucks Lane when only four were in the Car Park. Miss Sach replied that this was because there was a lot of rubble on the car park waiting to be dispersed.

20. The Hoops. Mrs Clemmow asked if the Hoops had been sold. January say 'a pub/restaurant operation, subject to contract'

21. CEMEX. Thanks were expressed by the Chairman to Mrs Rutland for attending meetings at CEMEX at Barrington and for writing up the notes.

22. Correspondence. In circulation.

Date of Next Meeting Monday 16^th April 2007 at 8pm in the Village Hall