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Parish Council: Meeting minutes 26 September 2006Last updated: Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 06:31 PM Members presentI. Storr (Chairman) Also present: L. Howells (Clerk to the Parish Council) Apologies for absenceThere were no apologies for absence. Declaration of Acceptance of Office – Tejinder Bhachu – this was signed and witnessed. Minutes of Meetings held 29 th August 2006 were agreed as a true and accurate record without amendment. Open sessionThe meeting officially closes for, and reopens after this session. There were no members of the press or public present. Matters arising from previous minutesMr Nick Finlayson-Brown of Mills & Reeve has been asked to help produce the statutory declaration for the Parish Land on which the Church Play Area is situated. He requires a scale plan and the names and addresses of two to three councillors able to assist the declaration. Jim Stewart, Ian Storr and Grenville Chamberlain agreed to have their names put forward. A scale plan is also required. The Church will have to make a separate registration of its land. The street light at Cahill’s Corner has not been repaired. The division of Ringway responsible for the electrics on the Recreation Ground has been taken over by Atkins. Jobs are in hand but not done yet. An answer from CALC is awaited about the bus shelter ramp on St Neots Rd. The Chairman has cut back the overhanging willow tree on the recreation ground. Other mattersA) Playground Inspections/Skate park Playground inspections have been carried out on all play parks. St Mary’s is in good order. At Grenadier Walk the uneven slabs near the bench are to be removed and be replaced with grass. At Egremont Road missing slats are to be replaced and the double gate lock repaired. Skate Park – The final test results have been served on SCDC and a response has been received from Richard Collman. This was read in full and the following comments were made by HPC: report point 2.2 – it had previously been agreed at court that the process to be followed was the erection of an acoustic screen followed by testing of the screen to establish that the agreed noise reduction had been attained. It is therefore not fully understood why Belair Research, on behalf of SCDC, did not test the screen. report point 3.3 – a leading UK noise expert undertook the test and was satisfied that correct procedure was being followed report point 3.4 – refer to the credentials of the tester report point 3.8 – we refer to the report showing a 14 dB performance of the barrier report point 3.10 – see above The correct process to be followed as determined by the court was to test the effectiveness of the barrier, supplied and paid for by HPC. If this had not achieved the required performance the next stage was for SCDC to source and fund additional measures for noise reduction of the ramps. HPC is satisfied from the expert report that the effectiveness of the barrier has been proven. B) New L E A P (playground) St Neots Road Following the site meeting at St Neots Rd it was stated by the site manager Chris Hazelwood that the storm cell was part of Taylor Woodrow’s legal and planning obligation, and the storm cell served a vital function in the event of flooding. Due to excessive weight on the storm cell of building a concrete base to accommodate raw bolted equipment, it was agreed a commuted sum be applied in lieu of the play area. It was suggested that the council draw up a wish list of applications off site where a commuted sum could be applied, one suggestion was to upgrade all the existing play facilities. However it was decided that it is preferable to seek the additional commuted sum and determine at a later date how best to use this money. Applications identified off site will need to the benefit the residents of the Saxon place development in the same way that the section 106 specifies for other monies to be received. Mills & Reeve who drew up the original section 106 agreement has been consulted and will look into the issue of what is a fair sum to commute for this LEAP. C) Maintenance/CCTV An external inspection of the pavilion has shown that there are two immediate maintenance jobs requiring attention. There are two roof tiles missing and or damaged, there are broken guttering joints. Quotes are being sought for this work. It was agreed this work should be undertaken promptly to minimise damage. The potholes on St Neots Rd have been filled. It was stated that the repair to the pothole near the manhole cover on St Neots Rd is still dangerous and presents a hazard to traffic. A full hot repair on this surface is to be requested. The road lines are still awaited on Egremont Road and Ellison Lane. They have been reported to Highways. Richard Gethin of Nuttall’s has raised the issue of the right of way at St Neots Rd approaching the Hardwick roundabout. HPC felt the current right of way is still the best option until all the A428 upgrade is complete and perhaps then a fuller solution should be sought if needed. It was agreed to try and get the new marking redone and obscure the old linage better. The fence between 124 Limes Road and the path has been reported damaged and upon inspection needs repair before it collapses completely. It was agreed to attend to this as it is a parish Council fence. Secura-cam has installed the two new cameras on the central car park lamp post. The anti vandal guard is being fitted this week. The electrical problems have been sorted out by Isaacson Electrical. The whole system is not yet up and running because the 16 channel facility digital hard box is still to be re-installed. At present the replacement 8 channel facility is still in use. The tarmac on the footpath running adjacent to the church hedge towards the portakabin is breaking up. This is to be reported to highways. D) HSSC/Parish Cleaner CRB issue at HSSC. For their own personal licence staff at HSSC are CRB checked. However it is clear that any children using the computer facility during club at opening hours are the responsibility of their parents/siblings and it is not the responsibility of the HSSC staff to supervise them. HSSC sent in a copy letter to HPC of a letter that is to appear in the Hardwick Happenings. This was in response to the comments made by the HPC Chairman made in his Chairman’s 2005/6 report. This was noted. Better liaison is to be sought. HPC welcome the snack meal service that is to be set up at HSSC. Ashley Yeomans leaves his post to go to university and adverts are up for a replacement village cleaner. The advert has also been placed in the Hardwick Happenings and on the Hardwick web site. CorrespondenceHoward Baker – SCDC – allotments Meeting on progress to date on allotments is taking place on 26 th Sept at Blue Lion. It is necessary for this organisation to set up a constitution, committee and bank account in order to be able to apply for funding. The cost of establishing allotments has been referred to Susannah Harris. HPC is supportive of the allotments initiative and will try to do its best to support the association when it is up and running. Chris Burns – Histon & Cambs Neighbourhood Sgt has responded to the HPC letter to the Chief Constable of 18 th August. There were a number of points in the HPC letter which need addressing: The main one being the perceived rise in crime and ASB within the village. Having looked through the reports made from within your village since the 1st July 2006. A breakdown of those is as follows: Crimes: 12 crimes recorded in this time. These relate to 5 criminal damage, 2 thefts from a shop, 1 deception, 1 theft of a cycle, 1 theft from a vehicle, 1 assault and 1 shed burglary ASB: 7 reports within this period of which 5 relate to youths drinking and acting in a disorderly manner within the areas of Limes and Egremont Roads. This level of reports is quite low in comparison to the average. However, the problems which have been reported (including the perceived threat from youths hanging around) are understood, and it has been requested that the new community officer, PC Carly English, looks into these areas in order to reduce concerns. An extra officer will improve the visibility of those officers within the locality whilst at the same time reducing the number of issues reported. Councillors cannot become trained in the use of the ‘Speed Gun’ it is possible to authorise a representative to accompany local officers when they conduct this type of work. Jim Stewart confirmed the crime statistics from his experience of attending the Crime Reduction Partnership meetings in which these problems are rising sharply in other villages within Cambridgeshire. Speeding is now to be logged as an incident. Factual evidence of this is to be reported. Speeding is not restricted to cars. Neighbourhood Policing – Parish Questionnaire Grenville Chamberlain volunteered to be the Hardwick representative for this new policing initiative to be adopted by Cambridgeshire Constabulary. Highways Agency – Supplementary Side Order The new footbridge and change to the right of way to access north of the A428 was viewed. The biodiversity zone alongside Callow Brook was noted. PARC evaluation/Councillor for Project Champion HPC completed the PARC questionnaire stating that they prioritised spending the money effectively on young people’s provision; reducing anti social behaviour and helping young people understand the role of the community and parish council to be of key importance. A project champion from amongst the Parish Council was sought. Richard Grenfell agreed to attend a PARC session in the near future to help explain the role of Parish Council to the young people. Other councillors said they would attend some PARC sessions when possible. The dates of these sessions are to be circulated. Correspondence Table ReviewCALC – The Bulletin PlanningS/1658/06/F Mr & Mrs Dixon 231 St Neots Rd Account presented for approval for PaymentA) £651.93 Clerk’s salary Sept Income receivedA) 99.88 NSIB Any Other Business (Councillors & Clerk comment for future discussion)
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