Minutes of Bottisham Annual Meeting 24Th May 2017

MINUTES OF BOTTISHAM ANNUAL MEETING 24TH MAY 2017

Held in the Poppy Room at the Royal British Legion commencing 7.30pm

1.APOLOGIES:

Received from Cllr O’Dell, George Buchanan and John Overton and Mrs Johnson the Primary School Head.

2.MINUTES OF LAST MEETING:

The minutes from the 2016 Annual Parish Meeting dated 26th May 2016 had been distributed and were agreed.

3.REPORTS FROM:-

a) BottishamVillageCollege

Cllr Bryant opened the meeting and welcomed Mrs Rankine, the new Head of Bottisham Village College to the meeting. She talked about the new extension to the school and the new building being built at the front which will be the new Red2Green area. It was envisaged that the school and the community as well as Anglesey Abbey and other organisations could link up with Red2Green and it was hoped that there would be a coffee shop which the students will also be involved in on site. Mrs Rankine said the school currently had 1011 students; this was set to increase to 1500 by 2019 making it one of the largest Village Colleges in Cambridgeshire. This will also increase the teaching staff and support workers.

The first phase of the build has already begun which is the new bus area and Red2Green and the new astro pitch. She said there have been problems whilst the car park is being built with parking on the road and the school is trying its best to limit the problem. They have provided a temporary car park by the sports centre which it has asked staff to use and they have asked parents to drop off further away. The second phase will be on the site of the old Astroturf which will provide new classrooms and a new performance suite and adjoining this will be a dance studio, all of which will be available for the community to hire. There will also be a new music suite. The final stage will be the refurbishment of the current building which will include the corridors being widened, the stairways altered and a new dining room. There will also be a new library in what is currently now the main hall. Mrs Rankine thanked Friends of Bottisham Village College for their work and also mentioned that the school is providing a comprehensive list of adult and community learning courses. There were several questions from residents concerning mostly parking and parents dropping off children at school. She confirmed that the outside building work will be complete by September 2019 and that there will be a drop off area for car’s in the car park. There was also a question about flooding which D/Cllr Chaplin said he would address with the complainant after the meeting.

b) Police -PCSO

Annie Austin has been our PCSO since October last year but Bottisham was also her ‘patch’ about 9 years ago. 9 years ago she had 5 villages to look after; now after PCSO numbers at Ely have dropped from 25 to only 7 she has to look after 28 villages. After an audible sigh from the audience Annie proceeded to explain how she divides her days up. She recognised that there were problems with parking at both the Village College and the Primary School but with 28 villages she couldn’t possibly get round to all the schools in the area especially when they were all starting and finishing at the same time although she has issued tickets outside of the school and the shops in the village. It was also recognised that as soon as car drivers saw her in uniform or the police car they no longer parked on double yellow lines or dangerously which was difficult and frustrating for residents. She also mentioned that due to the current threat level more officers were being deployed in vulnerable areas such as shopping centres and Ely Cathedral and you would see an increase in police visibility. Annie also talked about the Force Priorities which firstly is emergency response then dwelling burglaries which have seen an increase in the area and there is an operation currently running to tackle this linking in with Norfolk Police. Domestic violence and child exploitation are also seen as force priorities. A resident questioned what the role of specials is and if they could be deployed in villages such as Bottisham. Annie said she will mention this but with the current threat level being high this would be difficult at the moment.

c) Bottisham Local Charities

Coral Hatley, the Clerk for Bottisham Local Charities gave her annual report for the year ended 31st December 2016. During the year the number of beneficiaries increased from 25 to 26. Each received the twice yearly distribution in the form of shop, hairdressers, lunch at the Bell or payments for utilities. Giles Bream quarterly cash pensions were provided to seven widows in the parish. Total income for the year was £14,451 and grants and pensions were allocated totalling £15,936. Two exceptional grants were made; one to pay for a school trip and one to help with travel costs for hospital visits. Donations were made at Christmas towards the Queen’s Court and Hilton Park Comforts Funds. Grants to students entering higher education for books or to provide equipment for apprentices are available but there were no applications in 2016. The trustees welcome applications, which are not means tested, from these groups. There are six trustees who meet at least three times a year.

d) County Council

Unfortunately our County Councillor Mathew Shuter was unable to attend the meeting.

e) District Council

Both of our District Councillors, Alan Sharp and David Chaplin were in attendance at the meeting. D/Cllr Chaplin briefly addressed the flooding problem in Lode Road. He said that the District Council only have a say in planning matters and the main responsibility lies with Highways and Anglian Water but he will look into the matter that one affected resident in particular was concerned about.

D/Cllr Sharp said that speeding was a problem which affected all 5 villages that they had responsibility for and this was being monitored. He reported that the District Council had had a balanced budget for the last 3 years which meant that once again this year there had been no increase in council tax. The County Council’s proportion of council tax had increased by 2% and this had been ring fenced for adult social care. The government has also committed an extra £8M to Cambridgeshire for adult social care which was recognised with an aging population that is living longer as being an area that desperately needed more funding. The new Ely Leisure Centre is near completion and the District Council has recognised that more sportingprovision needs to be provided elsewhere in the District such as in Bottisham and the Ellesmere Centre at Stetchworth and this is being looked into. The waste contract with Veolia expires March 2018 and this will be brought back in-house. The District Council has set up a local authority trading company which has recently also been awarded the grass cutting contract for Bottisham. All current Veolia staff will come across and the vehicles are mostly leased to Veolia from the District Council anyway although the vehicles will need replacing in a few years time which will be expensive. There was a discussion on the wheelie bins and why we didn’t have a bin instead of black bags for waste. D/Cllr Sharp said this would be because of the cost and to have them would mean an increase in council tax. Some residents present also felt that 3 bins were too many.

D/Cllr Chaplin spoke about the local plan. Over the course of the summer the District Council will be considering additional potential sites for development throughout the District. He also spoke about the transport infrastructure. He is currently discussing with James Palmer, the new Mayor of Cambridgeshire a long range project on how they can tackle congestion problems with new developments being built. They were looking at how they could improve the A14 junction with the A11, potentially putting a new junction in near Six Mile Bottom which would alleviate congestion at the Quy roundabout at key times.

f) BottishamPrimary School

Mrs Johnson, Primary School Head had given her apologies and had provided a written report which was distributed for residents to read.

4.REPORT FROM THE CHAIR:

Cllr Bryant then gave her report on the last year 2016/17.

“We've been hearing this evening about major changes and the expansion planned for the VillageCollege and I am sure many of us will be concerned about the impact that these will have on the village. Increased traffic, the parking issues and just the sheer numbers of people using the facilities within the village.

Parish Council is already grappling with the parking issues in the village as you have heard me say several times in the past. On checking previous Annual Parish meeting notes I saw that two years ago we made a bid for Local Highways Improvement monies to provide more parking spaces on the triangle. We were not successful. Parish Council have recently decided that we will tackle this issue ourselves – paying for the work to be done out of accrued 'development' funding. We recently had a meeting with the County Council to discuss the matter and await their suggestions about ways to resolve the ongoing parking and traffic problems in this area.

No doubt everyone has seen, and used, the raised table junction that has been provided at the developer's cost at the entrance to the Bloor homes development on Tunbridge Lane. This has been provided to replace one set of speed humps and was always planned to be installed once we knew about the development. Parish Council have vociferously made their views known to the County Council about the inadequacy of this junction to slow the traffic. We have been assured that improvements will be carried out. When the Bell Road planning application is received – that's more houses off Oxmeadow – a further raised table will be provided by the developer of that estate. Parish Council will watch carefully to ensure that it is provided to an adequate standard – to slow the traffic approaching the village along Bell Road.

I mentioned 'development' funding. This is money that comes to Parish Council when new developments take place in the village. This is no longer S106 money which could only be spent within defined criteria on improved or increased community or social infrastructure. We now receive monies from the Community Infrastructure Levy. This money comes directly to the Parish Council and can be spent on anything that needs improvement, or has to be provided, as a result of the development taking place. As you will know, we are currently looking at a site for a new cemetery on Lode Road and if a new play area goes ahead on the Ancient Meadow site then, this too, will need funding.

As the development on Tunbridge Lane is completed, we expect the planning application for more homes on the Oxmeadow site. Both of these sites, along with a site for industrial use on Tunbridge Lane, have been recommended by Parish Council for inclusion in the Local Plan. This Plan will be the blueprint for development in this village, and the district, for at least the next 20 years. We rejected two proposed sites on Bell Road put forward by Peterhouse College and resist efforts to include a site – the meadow fronting the High Street - where we have recommended a 'green space'. Of course, the local plan is at an early stage but be assured that Parish Council will resist any attempt to re-instate any of these developments. Quite apart from that, we are surrounded by Green Belt which, for the time being, affords protection from further development on the outskirts of the village.

Residents have been aware over the past several months that Anglian Water are having to 'tanker' effluent from the disposal works on Tunbridge Lane. Fortunately, or maybe not for him and his family, one of our newer councillors lives where he could see exactly what was going on – and alerted Parish Council to the problem. Anglian Water assures us that this matter is under control and that the tankering is a temporary solution to improve site performance and reduce the risk of future tankering requirements. We constantly raise with East Cambs the adequacy (or otherwise) of the disposal facilities here and have expressed out concerns as yet more housing is built in the village and elsewhere in areas serviced by this works.

Anglian Water were also the agency responsible for the subsidence in the High Street. This matter took six months from the initial reporting to the County Council until a satisfactory repair was carried out. We have been given no reason for the delay in carrying out this important repair.

During the past year, Parish Council had a presentation from Cambridgeshire ACRE about Neighbourhood Plans. A Neighbourhood Plan is a document into which the community can have a large input. Indeed, the content of the Plan should be dictated by the community. It will enable people to choose where new housing should go and what it should look like; encourage new employment uses; protect and enhance the High Street and other important streets; decide how community infrastructure levy money is spent; protect and enhance green spaces and define and secure local heritage. It provides a blueprint for how the village and community will develop over the coming years. But it cannot be done without your help. The active input of the community is crucial. It is not a document that Parish Council alone can put together. We have taken the process so far – in designating a Neighbourhood Area – but now we need your help. What does anyone here think about whether this community should have a Neighbourhood Plan? Do you think it is important that the community itself should decide how the community should grow and flourish over the coming years? If you don't want to speak now, please let me know after the meeting what you think about this. We cannot take it forward without the support and input of the community.

We welcome input from residents of the village at any time and you can, of course, come along to Parish Council meetings to ask questions about any matter relating to Parish Council and its responsibilities. Or come along to a meeting to find out what happens! Our meetings are frequently lively and you may be surprised at some of the issues that we talk about. Please remember, though, that after a Bank Holiday, we now hold our meetings on the Tuesday and do not wait until the next Monday. Dates of all the meetings are posted on the website and on the Parish notice board.

Once again, I would like to thank parish councillors for their time and input into this community over the past 12 months. Sadly, two of our newer councillors stood down earlier in the year. Julia Latif, whose business goes from strength to strength, and Sarah Brown who stood down for family reasons. Thank you both, especially for your input into the new parish council website. In their places, we welcome Lino Di Lorenzo and Mike Bacon both of whom are relative newcomers to the village and will bring a fresh perspective to many of the issues that we grapple with monthly, and annually and also Claire Walton who filled a remaining vacancy. We are well served by our district and county councillors who regularly turn up for parish meetings, and are happy to take any questions from members of the public who also come along.”

D/Cllr Chaplin commented that weneeded some evidence on tankering etc. regarding Anglian Water so this could be presented to them at planning stage for new developments as the standard response from them was that the water capacity was fine. Cllr Bryant said after writing to them Anglian Water had written back acknowledging recent problems and saying they would be carrying out maintenance work which was programmed between now and 2020. She also pointed out that the Core Strategy mentioned capacity improvements were needed.

Bottisham Parish Council

Community & General Purposes Committee

Report for 2016 - 2017

The Community and General Purposes Committee or C&GP, (formerly known as the Cemetery and Environment Committee) works to maintain those village amenities forming part of the general infrastructure of the villagethat are within the committees delegated powers. In a nutshell this involves most matters not covered by Planning and Finance or by Special Projects or specific Working Parties.