MINUTES OF THE HILTON PARISH COUNCIL MEETING 04-06 HELD ON MONDAY

 

8 May 2006 IN THE VILLAGE HALL 

 

Present: Cllrs Barradell (Chairman), Ashby-Swain, Fleming, Shardlow, Stott, Ward and Wright.

 

In Attendance: District Councillor Bates (from Item 14), Mr Thomas, Clerk to the Parish Council and three parishioners. 

 

 

1. To note Apologies for Absence. Cllr. Randall,

 

 

2. To Approve the Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held on 3 April 2006. 

 

 

Approved unanimously:  RESOLVED

 

 

3. Parishioners Open Session (10 minutes).

 

 

The Chairman closed the meeting:

 

 

Mr Blake advised that the production date for the Village Handbook shown on the village web site should be 1999 and not 2004 as shown. The Clerk was to advise the production coordinator. Mr Blake also asked whether the Parish Council were involved with the emerging ‘Visiting Scheme’. The Chairman advised that the Council was not actively involved but had supported the principle of the proposal.

 

 

The Chairman re opened the meeting.

 

 

4. Declarations of Interest.

 

 

Cllr Wright declared an interest in Items 14a and 14b due to her involvement with the Feast Week committee and left the room for the whole of the discussion.

 

 

5. To Authorise the Payment of Accounts.

 

 

a. £580 JCS Services (March)

 

b. £770  Conway, Tree Maintenance

 

c. £400.00 Spectrum Grant (S137)

 

d. £32.32 Handyman’s Wages April

 

e. £30.16 J A Thomas Stationery

 

 

In addition the Council authorised payment of the following invoices which were urgent but had arrived after closure of the agenda. These invoices will be presented to the June 2006 meeting.

 

 

f. Wicksteeds Leisure  £47.00

 

g. JCS Services (April)  £580

 

h. Allianz Cornhill  £1671.91

 

 

Payment of the above accounts was proposed by Cllr Wright, seconded by Cllr Ashby-Swain and approved unanimously. RESOLVED

 

 

6. Review of A14 Consultation Process. 

 

 

Cllr Wright advised that the Chief Executive of the Highways Agency had replied to Mr Djanogly’s recent letter on the A14 consultation process and she suggested that the village should respond robustly and as soon as possible. The Clerk had circulated a draft letter and Cllrs were asked to comment as a matter of urgency. Cllr Wright also stressed that the A14 Action Group’s priority was for further work was to establish its detailed position on those areas most likely to impact on the village in order to be able to respond to any external inputs. The Chairman advised that he hoped the replacement councilor would fill the vacant Council member on the A14AG. The Clerk to progress comments on the draft letter with Cllrs.

 

 

7. Update on Village Web Site.  

 

 

Cllr Ward advised that although there were still a few problems with data loading, the site was now fully functional. The Clerk was to stress the existence of the web site in Spectrum and also to see if the “Parish Council button” on the Home Page could be improved.

 

 

8. Planning Matters 

 

 

The Clerk was to write to Boxworth to offer support, if required, at the wind farm pre inquiry to be held on 5 June 2006. Cllr Fleming agreed to attend the pre inquiry if required.

 

 

9. Summer Activity Roadshow 

 

 

The Council noted that the Summer Roadshow would be held on 4 August and agreed that they would fund the £15 requested by the Village Hall for the provision of toilet facilities. The Clerk was to advise the Village Hall Committee of this decision.

 

 

10. New Councillor. 

 

 

There had been no formal applications for the vacant position made via the Returning Officer and the Parish Council had therefore been instructed by HDC to co-opt a replacement councillor. The Council had received one applicant, Mr Clive Robinson, who had met the Chairman to discuss the position. The Clerk was to complete the administration needed to formally appoint Mr Robinson.

 

 

11. Agenda for Annual Village Meeting. 

 

 

The meeting noted the arrangements and the agenda for the AGM to be held on 10 May 2006. The Chairman advised that he wished to use the AGM to publicise the proposals to register The Green and also to seek any further suggestions for spending the S106 grant arising from the

Scotts Crescent

development.

 

 

12. Burning of Straw 

 

 

The meeting noted that the Clerk had seen no evidence of burning straw during his recent visit to Monach Farm.  Nevertheless, the Council agreed by a majority to ask HDC for their view of what had happened in the past and what action they were taking to ensure straw was not being burned.

 

 

13. Parish Electoral Review. 

 

 

The Clerk explained that the Review took place every twenty years or so and was designed to harmonise the size and structure of Parishes with their communities. The Council agreed that no input was required from Hilton. The Clerk was to advise HDC accordingly.

 

 

14. Grants: 

 

 

a. Queen’s Birthday. The Chairman summarised the request from the Village Hall Committee for a grant towards the Queen’s 80^th birthday party. By a split vote, the Council agreed not to support the request on the grounds that it had not been budgeted and would create a precedent. The Clerk was to inform the Village Hall committee.

 

        b. Feast Week. The Chairman summarised the request from the Feast Week (FW) committee for a grant to help them overcome their current financial problems. The Clerk advised the meeting that a loan to FW was not permissible. The Clerk also briefed the meeting on the legal constraints of making a grant, including the impact on the village budget. The Council wanted to help FW if it could and agreed to seek an early meeting with the committee. The Clerk was to respond to the letter from the FW Chairman.

 

 

15. Registration of The Green 

 

 

The Clerk advised that Copleys Solicitors had been advised of the intention to proceed with registration. It had been ascertained from Mr Blake that in the past, a number of comments had been raised against the boundary line but there was no evidence to show if these had been incorporated. The Clerk was to seek clarification of this matter from the solicitor before the Council gave its final instructions. Cllr Fleming proposed, seconded by Cllr Stott and approved unanimously that Cllr Shardlow and the Clerk should attend the CALC workshop on Registration at a cost not to exceed £15.

 

 

16. Update on Feast Week.

 

 

Cllr Wright said that there had been a great deal of support for Feast Week following the recent rallying call from the Committee. There had been a number of fresh fund-generating initiatives as well as some economies which gave the expectation that much of the present deficit would be resolved.

 

 

17. Report from F&GPWG.

 

 

A meeting of the F&GPWG had been held on 4 May and in addition to topics covered elsewhere in this meeting, the Chairman advised the following:

 

 

S106 Candidates included a new permissive path and an uplift to the Cricket Pavilion.

 

 

A14 The F&GPWG recommended that the A14AG consider making

Fenstanton Road

restrictive entry.

 

 

Ponds & Ditches. More work was needed to clarify ownership and responsibilities for all the ditches and ponds in the village

 

 

Parish Plan. Cllr Stott sought money to print an update flyer for distribution to every household. 

 

It was proposed by Cllr ward, seconded by Cllr Shardlow and approved by a majority for Cllr Stott to spend up to £100 on printing a two-sided colour broadsheet. It was hoped that future information could be distributed via the website

 

 

Young Lives. This was the new name for CCYVS. Cllr Stott had recently signed a new “contract” with Young Lives to recognise their new title. The Young Lives’ organiser would brief the Parish Council on progress in the June Council meeting.

 

 

18 The Clerk’s Report on Parish Matters.

 

 

a. Parking on The Green. Work to identify suitable posts to define the edge of the Green continued. In addition, The Clerk was hoping Cambridgeshire County Council would shortly provide advice on how to prevent erosion of verges.

 

b. New Councillor’s Training. The Council agreed to fund a training course for Mr Robinson to be held on 8 July at a cost of £35

 

 

 c. Playpark Safety Survey. Wicksteeds have recommended in their annual safety survey that parts of the play park surface needs to be levelled and reseeded. The Clerk was to obtain a price for this work.

 

 

 d. CPRE Workshop-Local Development Framework The meeting agreed that the Council should attend this workshop to be held on Thursday 5 Oct 06 at a cost of £16. Cllr Shardlow agreed to be the Council representative

 

 

 e. Crime. The Clerk advised that two crimes had been reported to the Police over the past month: the theft of a bicycle outside The Prince of Wales on 23 April and an attempted break-in along

Church Lane

on 29 April.

 

 

 

19. Councillors’ Items  

 

a. Traffic Through the Village. Cllr Shardlow highlighted the potential for increased traffic, especially HGVs, along

Potton Road

following the completion of the Papworth Bypass. She also believed that the Council needed to address the subject with increased energy with the aim of seeking a 24 hour weight restriction. The Council accepted Cllr Shardlow’s points and agreed that this topic also needed to be included within the A14AG proposals. The Clerk was to seek advice from Cambridgeshire County Council on the parameters for Traffic Criteria along the B1040.

 

 

b. Chairman Parish Council. Cllr Barradell advised that he would stand down as Chairman and offered his place for election at the June meeting. Cllrs agreed to consider forwarding their names for the position of Chairman  

 

 

G M Barradell

 

Chairman of Parish Council 5 June 2006