Report of the meeting of the Parish Council of Castle Hedingham held on Wednesday, 24th March 2010 issued by the Clerk

Present: Mrs S Allfrey (Chairman)
Mrs L Moffat
Mr J Philp
Mr M. Scrivens
Mr J Cooke
Mr R Worley
Mrs W Scattergood

Members of the public:

Rev L Bond
In attendance:Mr K M King (Parish Clerk)

Action

1

Apologies for non-attendance: Mr F Swallow, Mr D Finch, Mr G Southgate, Mr G Pewter, Mrs J Beavis..

2

Declarations of Interest: Mrs Allfrey in respect of 10/00331/FUL 2 Castle Close. Property adjoins her property.

3

Public Forum: None. 

4

Police Information / Report: None. 
5Youth Council: None.

6

Minutes of the Previous Meeting: One amendment was made – item 9.1(a) “village design scheme” to “village design statement”.  The minutes were then approved; proposed by Mr Worley, seconded by Mr Moffat and signed by the Chairman.

7

Matters arising from Minutes:

7.1 Registering Parish Village Greens:  Mr Worley advised that this task was well in hand.

 KK/RW

7.2 Surface of Churchyard path:  Remedial work will now be carried out after Easter.

 JC

7.3 Noxious Smells pumping station Nunnery Street: No further problems have been reported. Clerk will ask Anglia Water for details of its monitoring of odours at the station in March.

 KK

7.4 Rubbish in River: The Parish Council noted that Sible Hedingham Parish Council had a meeting with the Environmental agency in February.  The Environment Agency had been unable at that meeting to give a comprehensive update on agreed actions to be taken in respect of the river and a further meeting organised by Sible with the Agency  is planned for April.

 KK

7.5 Potholes: A list of those reported in the village has been given and acknowledged by Essex CC Highways.

KK

7.6 Pylon Proposals:  It was agreed to discuss joining the Colne-Stour Countryside Association to fight the National Grid proposals at the next meeting.

 KK

8

Braintree District Council & Essex County Council Information:

Cllr Mr D Finch had sent a written report for Essex CC information:

Finance: IBM selected as strategic partner to help deliver services.
Adults, Health & Community Wellbeing:
1. Recent Annual Performance Assessment rated service as “performing well”.
2. Essex’s Adult Community Learning Service awarded national Beacon status for excellence.
3. Essex Cares, a trading company to improve delivery adult services, is launched.
4. Pledge of £4 million to offer Telecare equipment & support to all over 85s has been great success and more than 2,800 have taken up.  The scheme is now extended to over 80s.
Schools, Children and Families:
1. Major IT initiative across 470 primary schools provided to enhance secure e-mail and attendance reporting.
2. Skanska UK is the preferred bidder for Building Schools for the Future - secondary school building programme.  
3. Recruitment campaign launched for foster–carers.
4. Comprehensive Area Assessment gave Essex “red flag” for safeguarding children.
Transport:
1. Snow Summit to be held in March.
2. Not a single meal on wheels was missed during bad weather.
3.  “Winter twitter” service launched to give updates on road conditions.
4. Patrol service to clear accidents launched on A12.
Economy:
1. “Banking on Essex” operating.
2. Countywide apprentices doing well; initial 1,000 places expanded to 1,750 by 2012.
3. 10 rural post offices reopened.
4. £2m allocated to fund “Essex Community Foundation”. CC supporting Essex savers in a countrywide credit union.
Community Leadership:
1. Village agents launched in October.
2. Essex Rural Commission issued a report with 12 priority areas for action.
3.  Beacon status for encouraging communities to more active through 2012 Olympic Games legacy.

Mrs Scattergood had no report for Braintree DC. She said that no detailed proposals for development of the Primdor site in Sible Hedingham had yet been received.  The overall development plan for the site remained a mix of residential/ work/community.


 JB

9

Planning Recommendations: The Parish Council had agreed, without objections the following application:

10/00331/FUl. Erection of extension and alterations to existing dwelling. Demolition of existing garage and erection of new garage and provision of new vehicular access from private road at 2 Castle Close.

It was noted that from April planning applications will be received electronically. The Parish Council asked that a scale be shown on drawings/plans to aid comprehension when these were printed.  Mrs Scattergood said she would take this up with Braintree District Council planning officers.

 KMK

10

Correspondence: No issues arising.

11

 Accounts to be paid.

11.1 Bank Balances:

The following balances were noted:

Current account
Playing Field Account
14 Day Account		 £2,284.56
£5,205.92
£39,457.76

11.2 The following accounts were proposed by Mr R Worley seconded by Mrs L Moffat:

Payments:

1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
DD
DD
DD
DD
DD		 E F Mayes
R Meuriss
A&J
K King
Castle
Hedingham Club
Mortimers
HMRC
A&J
BDC
Hedingham School
EoN
M Rainbird
A Carr
A Edney
K King		 Tree Work
Entertainment
Monthly Maintenance
Expenses
Rec Field Lease
Room Hire – March Meeting
Grass Cutting
Tax& NI
Lighting
Rates Pump House
Materials for concert
Monthly Elec
Salary -
Salary-
Salary-
Salary-		£380.00
£550.00
£9.01
£70.40
£37.50
£20.00
£633.34
£195.19
£139.00
£16.48
£25.00
£11.39
£177.95
£244.03
£111.92
£397.14

Receipts:

Mr & Mrs Tiffs
Mr & Mrs Scrivens
Mr & Mrs Wheeler
G Deeks
Cash/cheques		Tickets-R Meuriss
Tickets- R Meuriss
Tickets- R Meuriss
Headstone- Plot 266
R Meuriss
£16.00
£32.00
£16.00
£99.00
£457.60

12

Pay 2010/11

12.1 The Clerk left the meeting for this item.

The Parish council agreed:
  1. Clerk to move to salary point 28 on the National Association Local Councils pay rates for 2010/11.
  2. Other employees to receive lump sum payments of 1.5% for 2010/11 but no increase in basic pay rates.
Total increase for the Parish Council for 2010/11 will be £480:96 and the Memorial Hall £32.
KMK

13

Highways

13.1 The Chairman signed the application to Braintree District Council for street partnership grant for 2010/11.


14

Purchase of Display Boards

14.1 This item was discussed but it was felt that insufficient information on the boards and their potential use and benefit to the Community was available to enable a decision.  It was agreed to discuss this again at the next meeting.

RW

15

Any Other Business:

15.1 Mrs Moffat reported from the cluster meeting she attended at Gestingthorpe on 18 March:
a) Highways Rangers forms now online and parishes can now use it to be submit further work requests.
 b) Braintree District Council will stock salt bins; parish councils would be required to pay the capital cost of purchasing salt bins.
c) Join an organisation such as Colne- Stour Countryside Association to increase impact of comments on proposals such as National Grid’s pylon plans.

15.2 Mr Scrivens reported that the R Meuriss concert had been a great success and enjoyed by all who attended.  The Parish Council expressed its thanks to Mr Scrivens for his hard work in bringing top quality entertainment to the parish.
Mr Scrivens also reported that a St Georges day parade on 23 rd April starting from the De Veres School at 1500.

15.3 Mr Philp reported that the hedge on Rosemary Lane between Rosemary Farm and Yeomans is encroaching onto the highway.   Essex CC Highways has cut this hedge before and it was agreed it should be asked to cut this hedge as soon as possible.

 KK

15.4 Mr Cooke raised the possibility of enhancing the appearance of the village for example by planting spring flowers.  It was agreed to discuss this at the next meeting.

15.5 Mrs Allfrey raised the issue of a serious water leak on Sudbury Road opposite Bayley Street.  The Clerk was instructed to notify Anglia Water.

 KK

16

Dates & Times of Next Meetings.

Annual General Meeting: 21 May 2010 at 20:00 at the Memorial Hall.

Parish Council Meeting: 21 April 2010 at 19:45 Memorial Hall.

Signed:

Mrs S. Allfrey

Chairman

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