BOTTISHAM PARISH COUNCIL
Chairman: Mrs. Hilda Buchanan
Clerk: Mrs C L Fullwood
26 Peacock Drive
Bottisham
Cambridge
CB25 9EF
Tel: 07914 219732
E-mail:
Website: www.bottishampc.org.uk
To Members of the Council
You are required to attend a meeting in the Round Room of Bottisham Village College on Monday 2nd March 2009 at 7.30pm for the purpose of transacting the following business:-
AGENDA
28. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
29. TO SIGN AND APPROVE MINUTES OF MEETING (dated 9th
February 2009) - Attachment 1
30. MATTERS ARISING
a) Gritting of roads
b) Speedwatch
31. MEMBERS’ DECLARATION OF INTEREST for items on the agenda
32. REPORTS FROM COUNTY AND DISTRICT COUNCILLORS
33. CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED
a) Bottisham Village College – Public Information leaflet
b) CCC – Countryside Access Issues
c) ECDC – 106 High Street proposed tree surgery
d) Thank you letter from Scout Group for grant
e) CPALC Bulletin
f) CCC – Summer activities
34. CORRESPONDENCE SENT OUT
a) Reply to Resident re. David Wilson Homes
b) Letter of thanks to John Green
c) Grant letters to Cricket Club and Bowls Club
d) Highways outside 16 Lode Road – Paul Butcher
e) ECDC re. building work in High Street
f) ECDC – graffiti
g) Complaint about rubbish in front garden to homeowner
35. CHAIRMANS REPORT
a) Conservation area – Cllr Jolley and Cllr Buchanan
36. THE BELL PUBLIC HOUSE
37. SUMMER HOLIDAY ACTIVITY PLAN
38. TO CONSIDER PLANNING APPLICATIONS RECEIVED
08/01146/FUL
Land West of St Petersfield
Installation of electricity sub station, foul pumping station and extension of road
APPLICATION WITHDRAWN
09/00078/FUL
First Copy
Additional Offices
NEW APPLICATION
David Wilson Homes – Reply to ECDC – Attachment 2
39. ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
a) Minutes from Meeting held 18th February 2009 – Attachment 3
40. CHURCHYARD AND CEMETERY
a) Update from Chair
41. FINANCE
a) to approve payment of outstanding accounts
Mrs C Fullwood – Salary 352.20
Mrs C Fullwood – Allowance 200.00
J Loh – Litter Picking 40.00
L Petley – Litter Picking 80.00
CCC – Street Lighting Maintenance 271.56
G J English Carpentry - Noticeboard 665.00
First Copy – Photocopying 5.00
42. DATE OF NEXT MEETING – Monday 6th April
FURTHER MEETING DATES 2009
11th May
1st June
6th July
C L FULLWOOD
CLERK/PROPER OFFICER
DRAFT ATTACHMENT 1
BOTTISHAM PARISH COUNCIL 02/09
MINUTES OF BOTTISHAM PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
Held on Monday 9th February 2009 in the Round Room at Bottisham Village College commencing 7.30pm
PRESENT:
Chair – Cllr Buchanan. Cllr’s Astill, Bailey, Boal, Bryant, Clark, Jolley, Morris, O’Dell and San Vicente. District Cllr Stevens and County Cllr Shuter also attended for part of the meeting. Cllr Bryant is both a District and Parish Cllr.
14. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE:
Received from Cllr Banks.
15. MINUTES OF LAST MEETING:
The clerk amended the figure on the County Council Report (Item 5) to read 300k of savings rather than 3k. The minutes from 5th January were then agreed and signed.
16. MATTERS ARISING:
a) Bus Routes through the village
Unbeknown to Parish Council villagers had asked that the bus come down Bell Road. The County Council has suggested to Stagecoach that they review this. The bus is currently coming down Bell Road and it was noted that it does mount the pavement in order for it to turn left towards Tunbridge Lane.
b) Neighbourhood Panel Meeting
There have been articles in the Cresset regarding the last meeting. Alan Williams (Chair of Panel Meeting) will in future be sending reports to village magazines.
17. MEMBERS’ DECLARATION OF INTEREST:
Cllr’s Buchanan and Morris declared an interest under planning. A new application at the Village College had come in which needed retrospective approval. Cllr Morris lives nearby and Cllr Buchanan is a School Governor. C/Cllr Shuter is also a School Governor.
18. REPORTS FROM COUNTY AND DISTRICT COUNCILLORS:
County
C/Cllr Shuter confirmed that the council tax rise would be 3.7%, which was felt to be good considering the poor settlement from central government. Cambs County Council had also come top in a most improved council in the country survey. It was reported that the Transport Commission had started work. Parish Council had recently received a letter from them asking for comments and Cllr Buchanan asked that the clerk forward this onto all Cllr’s so they are able to send individual replies. The County meet this week to discuss their budget and this will be reported on at the next meeting.
District
A report was attached to the agenda. Cllr Buchanan thanked D/Cllr Bryant for her help with the delegated review panel concerning change of use of the shop.
The District Council part of the council tax has been confirmed at 4.5%.
19. CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED:
Correspondence as listed to 28th January was noted. Extra correspondence received:-
Cambridgeshire Transport Commission – Cambridgeshire Transport Commission
Cllr Jolley – Letter opposing to David Wilson Homes development
Mr Rayment – Diagram and quote for rustic steps
Resident – Letter opposing to David Wilson Homes development
ECDC - Tree Surgery 106 High Street
Domestic Violence Awareness Day
20. CORRESPONDENCE SENT OUT:
ECDC have replied to say they have removed graffiti. Clerk will check it has all been done.
21 CHAIRMANS REPORT:
Hastoe Housing will be at the British Legion on Thursday 26th March 4-7pm for people who are interested in applying for one of the new homes. This has been advertised on the Parish Council Website and flyers will be sent to us. Cllr Buchanan asked that cllr’s check the website once a week as information is regularly being put on the scrolling headline page.
Following on from her comments regarding the police Cllr Buchanan now has regular contact with the PCSO who rings once a fortnight with updates.
Gritting of the roads had been raised at the Neighbourhood Panel Meeting. County Cllr Shuter is asking that Lode Road be gritted as it is a school bus route. A parent had complained to Parish Council. Cllr Buchanan had contacted Paul Butcher at Highways and C/Cllr Shuter who will contact them. He confirmed that all gritting routes are being reviewed
22. SPEEDWATCH:
Cllr Jolley had submitted a report. He has booked the kit for the week of 14th-22nd February. Some villagers had expressed an interest in helping and this would be pursued. He asked that Cllr’s specify areas in the village that needed to be targeted. It was suggested Bell Road and Tunbridge Lane going out of the village and also the High Street should be looked at. Cllr Jolley agreed that all entrances to the village were a priority.
23. PLANNING APPLICATIONS:
08/01090/FUL
6 High Street
Change of use from A1 shop to A5 shop
This application had been approved by the District Council. Cllr Buchanan had already thanked D/Cllr Bryant with her help. She reported that Cllr’s and residents could not understand why this had been allowed. Social reasons had not been taken into account. Cllr Buchanan has taken advice and has been told that social reasons should be taken into account in a small village. Cllr’s are very disappointed, they felt that their views were ignored for ease of ticking boxes and that it was time we wrote to ECDC expressing our concerns. Social cost should take precedent in a small village over planning laws. Cllr Buchanan proposed writing to ECDC, this was supported by Cllr Clark and Bailey.
E/03001/CC
Bottisham Village College
Provision of 2 x 6 bay mobile classrooms
This is a retrospective planning application for 2 teaching mobiles. Although Planning Committee had viewed the plans they had not yet met to discuss. It was hoped that this could be done at full parish council to save time as the building work had been halted. Capita and Land Lease who were commissioned by the government had forgotten to include the mobiles in their original application. School governors feel they are getting poor value for money, the building work has now been put back by 3 months. The mobiles have been up for 2 months with no permission to be there. No one had realised it was a designated area of open space. They plan to write to the government, hoping that a financial penalty may be imposed on them. Cllr Buchanan proposed that we give approval so that the project can get under way. All agreed to this. Parish Council will also write to County Council, the local MP and the government Minister for Schools outlining their concerns and disappointment re. the management of this project.
09/00018/FUM
Land off Bell Road
Construction of 46 dwellings, roads and sewers.
Cllr Jolley had written a letter objecting to the proposal which all cllr’s had seen and this is on file. A letter has also been received from a resident which Cllr Buchanan will copy to the Chief Executive of ECDC asking for clarification on points made.
All cllr’s had seen the planning notes from a recent meeting to discuss the application (attached). The village had also been given the opportunity to see the plans at a display. Considering the short notice given, it was well attended. Cllr Buchanan will be writing reply to ECDC with our concerns about amenities being overstretched, adding the LDF comment as a preamble. Parish Council were also not prepared to take on the Ancient Monument as future maintenance costs could be high. There was a discussion on flooding as the ditches at this site do currently flood. The Planning Officer has said that a flood assessment was not felt to be necessary and this was a concern. It was asked that D/Cllr Bryant take this to Committee, she has confirmed that she has done so. Cllr Buchanan proposed that we outline our numerous concerns regarding this application to include also our comments on the local development framework where we feel the village has been developed enough. Parish Cllr’s voted. There was one objection and 1 abstained.
24. ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE:
The minutes from the last meeting were attached to the agenda. Cllr San Vicente confirmed that John Green had installed the kissing gate and the clerk had written to thank him. The noticeboard is being installed this week. Sanctuary Hereward have asked that it be recorded how many residents are concerned about the pathway from Jenyns Close to Lode Road and this is underway. Parish Council has received a letter from a new resident to the village concerning dog bins in Ancient Meadows. This had already been reviewed by Parish Council and was not felt to be a priority. Cllr’s also felt that once Ancient Meadows was fully occupied a Management Committee, similar to that on the Beechwood Estate would be convened.
Cllr Buchanan has been approached concerning bus stops at Lode Road. Outside the entrance to Northfields Farm there is an area of concrete where people get on the bus. Elderly people had asked for a patch of concrete to be put on the grass verge opposite where the bus stops as the grass is slippy. This will be discussed by the Environment Committee.
25. CHURCHYARD AND CEMETERY:
Cllr Morris discussed her report. Cllr Buchanan stated that we needed to write to some relatives of unsafe gravestones.
26. FINANCE:
a) Minutes from Meeting held 20th January 2009
Minutes were attached to agenda. Cllr Clark went through the grant applications. It was proposed that Parish Council give £175 to the Cricket Club who had not used their grant approved from last year. This had therefore been resubmitted. £500 was also proposed to be given to the Bowls Club. Cllr Clark asked the Parish Council for approval. This was agreed by all, seconded by Cllr Jolley.
b) to approve payment of outstanding accounts
Cheques were signed and verified by Cllr Clark and Buchanan.
Mrs C Fullwood – Salary 352.20
J Loh – Litter Picking 40.00
L Petley – Litter Picking 80.00
Bottisham Scout Group (Grant) 150.00
East Cambs District Council – Speedwatch 220.00
27. DATE OF NEXT MEETING:- Monday 2nd March 2009
Cllr Bryant complained that she had asked for the future of the Bell Public House to be discussed and this will be on the next agenda.
The meeting closed at 9.30pm
ATTACHMENT 2
Reply to Planning Application Ref 09/00018/FUM
Parish Council has had several meetings to discuss this proposed development. Villagers have also contacted us with their views and concerns. We are aware some will contact you but others are expecting us to represent their concerns. Below are the issues which were raised:
The visual aspect of this area has a large impact on the entrance not only to the residents in the area but to the village and will be visible to those driving past on the A1303. A previous application for a minor development in the area went to appeal and the Planning Inspector stressed the impact that any build could have on an important entrance to the village.
Previous planning applications elsewhere in the High St have been refused because of the visual impact on the environs of the area.
Housing Mix
Councillors query whether provision should be made for bungalows as has been the case with the Hastoe Housing development 2nd stage at St Peters Field. Councillors were surprised that the mix included so many 4 bedroom houses and asked if this could be reduced to more 2 bedrooms. The style of the dwellings and layout of the development were praised.
Parking
Councillors want to make sure there are enough parking spaces and talked about the practicalities of 4 bedroom houses needing more than one parking space which is what is legally required. The majority of households have more than one car.
Future Expansion
We are all concerned about the future development expanding in this area if this initial application is approved and built. Our comments which have already been sent concerning the local development framework are enclosed in particular to this area.
Ancient Monument and Play Area
The proposed plans had a play area and a large green area which was the ancient monument. Councillors are concerned it is or could be too much of a liability and responsibility for Parish Council. Councillors were also concerned what the financial liabilities could be for the parish council in the future. Parish Council do not want the responsibility of the upkeep and future maintenance costs of the ancient monument and it was proposed that David Wilson Homes know of our concerns. Concern was also expressed that the play area would be for residents of the new development only. If this was the case, then it was felt that the residents of the development should have responsibility via a management committee for the upkeep of these amenities and not Parish Council.
Footpaths
It is important that the existing Golden Ball footpath is linked to the area so the village itself is not estranged from the new development.
Flooding
ECDC have said that a flood risk assessment is not required. Parish Council does not agree with this statement. It is common knowledge within the village that this area does flood and in fact the day of our meeting excess water was shimmering in the sun in this area. It is also known that the spring in the field next to the Ancient Monument has been known to flood.