Minutes of the of the Wimblington Parish Council held on Tuesday 9th February 2010in the small room at the Parish Hall, Addison Road Wimblington at 7.00pm

PresentCllrs P Crawford, M Davis, L N DiGiovanni, H J Moore, S Redhead, S Spurr(Chairperson),R Wright (Clerk),P Hart, B Coady, J Young,A Carlin.

Action

Apologies for Absence
Cllrs E Gowler, A Knowles, E Wright, & J Tuck, Mrs M Moulton
The Chairperson introduced Paul Randall and Nigel Russell of Fengrain to talk about the organisation and the proposed developments at their Eastwood End Site. Fengrain are a marketing and storage expert and have been established in Wimblington for 35 years. It is farmer owned with 850 members and employs 35 people and markets about 650,000 tonnes per year. The Company intake about 2,500 tonnes per day in peak season and vehicle movements can reach 225. Traffic congestion has been a concern along with storage issues so the Company are looking at a £2.8m expansion programme. Phase 1 – intake to be completed by June 2011and Phase 2 – processing by June 2001/20012. A planning application will shortly be submitted and it is hoped that work may commence in June 2010. Both Councillors and members of the public were allowed to ask questions, which the representatives answered. The Chairperson thanked Paul and Nigel for their attendance and the very informative presentation.
The Chairperson introduced Louise Smith - MobileGym Project Co-ordinator who explained about the scheme that had funding of over £200k and Wimblington had been chosen as one of the five pilot locations. The scheme hoped to encourage local residents to become more active by bringing a leisure service closer to hand and therefore increase the number of physical sessions being offered to rural areas. The mobile gym trailer would be supported by a support vehicle and would attend on a Tuesday and Friday from 10am to 8pm. Charges would start at £3.75 for the first five sessions and increase to £7.50 thereafter. Each person attending would be given a medical induction. The pilot scheme would operate for between 3 – 6 months. Councillors and members of the public were allowed to ask questions and areas of concern were the steep rise in attendance after five sessions. LS thought that the price may be reviewed if attendance was affected. LS agreed to supply a contact number for the Council and the Service Level Agreement would be discussed later. The Chairperson thanked LS for her presentation.
Pursuant to the National Code of Local Government Conduct Members are reminded that they must declare any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in respect of any item to be discussed at the Meeting
S Spurr Allotments 368/10. S Spurr Parish Plan 375/10 L N DiGiovanni Allotments 368/10
364/10 Confirmation of minutes – RESOLVED – That the minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday19thJanuary 2010 were accepted as being correctly recorded and were signed as being a true record.
365/10Police representative report
Psco D Williams presented a written report but could not stay on for the meeting. She reported that since the last meeting four crimes had been reported: - theft from a vehicle in King Street- theft of heating oil from an outdoor tank in Bridge Lane – attempted theft of a caravan in Chapel Lane and threatening caravan owner – drugs arrests Chapel Lane. Cllr Crawford was concerned over the attempted theft and threatening issue and would have liked to discuss it with the police representative. She felt that the police should attend on a regular basis; the Council were happy with the attendance of a police representative. It was agreed that the local Inspector be invited to attend the Annual Assembly.
366/10 Matters arising
a) Car park – Further to minute 353/10 (a) Fenland District Council have acknowledged receipt of letter and Mr Hooper the Council’s Valuer and Estates Surveyor is speaking to members
b) Eaton’s Educational Foundation – further to minute 353/10(b) Cllr Crawford is willing to act as a Council representative on the Foundation.
c) Hetty Thornton – Cllr Spurr reported that along with the Clerk she had a meeting with HT about facilities within the parish and it was informative and help was offered with events that the Council wished to undertake. The question of ownership of facilities was also raised.
d) Honey Hill Cottage 16th Foot Bank Stonea – the untidy land issue has been logged on a recent enforcement notice and is being investigated by FDC. / Clerk
367/10 Income and Expenditure
a) The members considered and approved the following accounts for payment
British GasGas – hall maintenance 20.00 3.50 23.50
R WrightSalary492.04 492.04
Mrs M MoultonSalary191.40 191.40
Cambs CC Clerks pension140.93 140.93
Wimblington News Advertisement - hall 50.00 50.00
PRS for Music Performing rights licence 55.40 9.52 63.92
T Hampson village work 120.00 18.60 138.00
EDF Energy Networks Ltd Supply new lights 31.73 31.73
B Gas Electricity at hall 61.46 3.07 64.53
FACT Donation 50.00 50.00
b) Risk Management & Health & Safety. Cllr DiGiovanni presented aGrievance and Disciplinary Policy and that would be circulated to all Councillors for approval at the March meeting. / Cllr Davis/DiGiovanni
368/10 Allotments
Cllr DiGiovanni reported that the Association had yet to comment on thedraft lease.
The lease would require a copy of a plan to denote boundaries etc and drawings were required to assist with the planning application.
Karen Kenny had approached Cllr DiGiovanni about a Radio 4 interview upon the development and success of the allotment project.
The position as regards to the shared access originally with FDC had been investigated and taken up with Roddens who were under the impression that they owned the right of way. The Clerk was waiting a response from Roddens once they had resolved the issue with FDC. / Cllr DiGiovanni/Redhead
Clerk
369/10 Planning
Observations on the following application
FYR10/00541/F J Clark Farmhouse Nix Hill – extension – no objections
FYR10/0048/EXTIME Mrs Forrest Vine Cottage Eastwood End – extension of time – no objections
370/10Highway Matters/Street Lighting/Transport
a)New lights – The Clerk reportedVolker had been contacted on several occasions but had failed to provide a quote for the two columns for Doddington Road. RESOLVED – That the quote from MHB Services Ltd for £737.52 for each column is accepted and an order placed.
The Chairperson raised concerns over the lighting of the car park area and this was also covered in the service agreement. It was stated that a risk assessment would have to be undertaken by FDC before the mobile gym was in place. RESOLVED – That a sensor or timer light be fitted to improve the lighting of the car park area.
b) Footpaths and Highway issues – Cllr DiGiovanni had spoken to Cllr Wright and the original leaflet for the Woodsman way had been located and FDC may have a pdf on their website that could be used. Further investigations would be made
At 20.41 Cllr DiGiovanni apologised that she had to leave the meeting. / .
Clerk
Cllr Wright/Davis
371/10Recreation Grounds –The Clerk reported that RoSPA would be undertaking the annual inspection in April on all sites.
a) War Memorial Playing Field –The Clerk reported that flooding of parts of the field and play equipment area was evident. The safety matting place under the seat in the play area had been lifted and thrown about. With the assistance of T Hampson the |Clerk reported that it had been replaced. T Hampson had also trimmed the low hanging branches from the tress and removed the wire and posts.
b) Parkfield – No report was available.
c) Eaton Estate – The Clerk reported that Roddens assumed that the play equipment on site was owned by them and had undertaken repairs and even included it on their RoSPA list for inspections. The Clerk had spoken to Roddens who were investigating the matter.
372/10New Cemetery/Churchyard
a)New Cemetery –. The Clerk reported that the seat requested by Mrs Robertson had been purchased and once the plaque had been inscribed the seat could be fitted along the approach road to the cemetery. Areas within the cemetery were affected by water.
Cllr Spurr was concerned over the condition of the approach road from the cemetery gate to the allotment gate and felt that its condition was down to the Allotment Association. The question of its maintenance needed to be addressed and referred to in the Management Agreement. Cllr Spurr would talk to Cllr DiGiovanni.
b) Wimblington St Peters Churchyard – No problems had been reported. / Cllr DiGiovanni
373/10 Parish Hall
a)The Clerk reported that Stanair had undertaken a six month service to the shutter.
CATS had enquired whether they could install a cupboard similar to that of the Bowls Club and if they could use the shed to store their equipment. RESOLVED – That a cupboard could be erected and they could use the shed for additional storage. The Clerk would contact the group as they had an electrican to ascertain whether they would install the outside lighting approved under 370/10a
b) The Chairperson reported that FDC had produced leaflets for the showing a film during half term, Cllr Crawford was concerned that the leaflet produced was not very clear and when contacted the person was not that well informed. The Council felt that action was required and Cllr Spurr would talk to the appropriate people. / Cllr Spurr
374/10Correspondence & Other matters
a)Anglian Water – Sewerage Scheme Eastwood End – An area in Eastwood End from the A141 to Hill View is currently 60mph and to facilitate the safe construction and operation of the planned sewerage scheme they intend to apply to Cambs CC Highways to reduce it to 30mph. Anglian Water were asking for the Council to support their application. RESOLVED – That a letter of support be sent
b) FACT – Request for donation – at present 31 individual members in parish use their services. RESOLVED that a donation of £50 be made.
c) Community Payback – Probation Service scheme – Alan Moore confirmed that he would be willing to give a presentation at the next PC meeting. RESOLVED - That he be invited to give a presentation at the March meeting.
d) Thomas Eaton School – letter of thanks for donation approved last month.
e) Dog Walking – E Gowler had e mailed a report that with the recent closure of dog walking facilities at Ely more people were walking them around Stonea. To assist Skylark were allowing walkers to use the grass field at the rear of the garden centre.
f) NSPCC – campaign to raise awareness of NSPCC helpline. Details were circulated about the campaign.
g) Service Level Agreement with FDC Mobile Gym. RESOLVED – That the agreement be signed.
375/10 Parish Plan
Cllr Davis had looked at collating the 132 returned forms and 16 on line forms but problems were experienced and it was impossible for her to complete. If an outside body was approached it would cost about £1200 which was not justifiable. It was felt that the form was too complicated although assistance was given by ACRE
376/10 Date of next meeting
9thMarch2010 The meeting was closed at 21.08
PUBLIC TIME No matters were raised by the members of the public.