Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held 14th September2017 at 7.30pm at Parish Council Office
Present: R. Tickle (chair), B Muller, P Pedersen, J Peverell, S Reger, L Ho, S Payne
R Brough (Clerk),A Foster (Bedford Borough Council)
Apologies – S Holt, R Barrett, D Brough, D Mercer, G Lloyd
Public forum
No members of the public were present.
- Disclosure of Interest – No disclosures.
- Approval of Minutes from the Parish Council meeting held 12th July 2017. Minutes approved unanimously.
- Matters arising from meeting held 12th July 2017 – for information only
- Clerk report on the month’s Action List
- Clerk met with Andrew Prigmore to discuss the following issues;
Highways will write to the residents on Odell who were unhappy to receive a letter from HPC regarding parking on the grass verges. BBC is worried about damage to the grass and any underground pipes which may be located under the parked cars. This has been done. Highways considering placing bollards along the verge of Odell Rd if residents do not stop parking their cars on the verge
Highways are moving forward with painting double yellow lines on the roads within the Green. Once this has been completed the unneeded parking signage will be removed. Council received the map indicating where the yellow lines would be. Clerk fed back to Highways the councils comments about the plan. Council is now waiting to hear back from Highways.
Letters have been sent to the owner of the private footpath between Eagle Way and the High St. Letters were sent to three separate addresses asking the owner to repair the damaged footpath.
The council had a playground consultant look at the issues which were marked of medium importance on the last ROSPA report. The consultant will come back to the council with a price to repair areas in the Harrold Centre playground. Action Clerk
- Finance Report:
The following payments were approved.
6. Police report: Crime statistics and information and intelligence exchange
(Provided to council prior to meeting via email)
- Borough Councillor’sreport for Harrold Ward.
Councillor Foster informed the councilthat residents could appeal against paying the increased cost in school transport if they cannot afford to pay the increase to £800 a year. Cllr Foster updated the council on reports of the East midlands train changes. East midlands trains are in consultation aboutceasingthe fast service to London stopping at Bedford.
- Planning applications
Application No. 17/02254/FUL Full Planning Application
Proposal- Two storey side extension incorporating integral garage
Location- 13 Wood Rd, MK43 7BS
Response due by Sept 4th
Application No- 17/02281/FUL Full Planning Application
Proposal- 1.5 storey side extension to replace existing extensions and garage and raising height of existing bungalow to form 1.5 storey dwelling
Location- 20 Meade Way, MK43 7DR
Response due by Sept 7th
Council received applications via email as the response date was before council meeting date. Council had no objections to either of the above planning applications.
- Update from Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee.
The Steering committee reported they received over 370 responses to the recent questionnaire which was sent to all the residents in Harrold. The committee is now busy compiling the data they have collected from the responses. They are working on getting a date in the diary for a Steering Committee meeting in early October. They would like to invite the planning consultant they have contracted to help them move forward with the next portion of developing the Harrold Neighbourhood Plan.
10. Cllr Tickle to brief council on the meeting which took place in Bletsoe regarding the Twinwoods
Development.
The meeting in Bletsoe was very well attended by members from Bedfordshire Parish Councils. One of the speakers was a specialist in transport. It has been predicted that if the planned developments occur our area is looking at an extra 16,000-20,000 vehicle movements. So far none of the proposed developments have planned for building a new bypass. Wyboston was the favoured site. CBRE have an issue with the way the borough has calculated the number of houses we need. They take issue with the fact they did not use the data collected in the 2011 census and added an extra 4500 houses to the number of houses needed. Parish Councils would like to arrange a meeting with the mayor. A letter will be generated to request a joint meeting with the mayor and parish councils together. Councils are also being encouraged to send a flyer out to residents to encourage residents to put pressure on the mayor. A public meeting is also going to be arranged during half term at Lincroft School Hall. The Mayor will be the oneto decide the location of the developments so it is important residents get their concerns and views heard. The sentiment was that adding more sites along is A6 corridor is not sustainable. Cllr Reger offered to write a proforma letter which residents could use to help draft a letter to the mayor. Action Cllr Reger
- Grant application from Friends of HOCP.
The Friends of Harrold Odell Country Park have applied for a £3000 grant. This money will be used towards constructing a new pond dipping platform. The platform will be used for school groups and others visiting the park to enable them to have a closer look at the wildlife living with in the lake. Cllr Tickle proposed the council awards the HOCP the £3000 grant. Cllr Reger seconds the motion with the council unanimously voting in favour of awarding the grant. Action Clerk
- Council to discuss the land at the rear of 43 – 51 Roman Paddock.
The Parish Council discussed the land owned by Taylor Wimpey behind 41-53 Roman Paddock. The land is currently being neglected and residents are struggling to get any action from Taylor Wimpey in both maintenance and repair of the broken fencing. Taylor Wimpey have received quotes for the work needed but no work has been started yet. Taylor Wimpey has approached the Parish Council and asked if they would be willing to take on ownership of the land. The land cannot be used by the residents as there is a high voltage underground cable under the footpath next to the fence. The land has been left there as an access point if works ever need to take place on the underground cable. The legal requirement is 3m left clear on either side of an underground cable. Council discussed how the land could be used and if it was feasible to use parish funds to maintain this area. As the land cannot be used or given to the residents the council felt the best decision was to leave the ownership of the land with Taylor Wimpey. This was done by a vote. All members of the council present at the meeting voted in favour of not taking over ownership of the land
12. Any other business –
- Fly tipping is still occurring by the clothing bank at the rear of the Harrold Centre.
Council discussed the possibly of helping fund cctv on the Harrold Centre which will hopefully deter people from fly tipping. A new sign will be in place informing people fly tipping is an offence and the fines if caught and prosecuted. Action Clerk
- Council would like to put signage on the bottle bank asking residents to be courteous and use the bottle bank during reasonable hours as it is very noisy for residents who live near the bottle bank. Action Clerk
- Council would like to discuss how we can make improvements to a deteriorating Saxon House playground.
- Council would like to write to a company in theThurleigh business park about the car transporters which drive through Harrold to reach Thurleigh. Action Clerk
- Council would like to contact Western Power to discuss if the remaining overhead electric cables will be removed and replaced with underground cables. Action Clerk
- Council has noted the Christmas light cables attached to the Buttermarket need to be tacked up again. Action Clerk
13. Correspondence –
- Council received an email from a resident regarding flooded drains on the High Street near Peach’s Close. The same resident would like the portion of footpath between Peach’s Close and Dove Lane which was not paved last year to be paved. Clerk spoke to Highways regarding both issues. The drains have been cleared. The footpath will be looked at and Highways will let the council know if this portion is due to be repaved. This portion of footpath has since been repaired.
- Council received an email from a resident regarding a tree on The Green which is possibly over hanging onto their Thatched roof. This is causing water to drain onto their roof and in turn more moss is growing which is damaging the roof. Clerk has asked Heritage Arboriculture to have a look at the trees.
- The resident on Wellocks Path who requested the trees on the lower Green to be cut back because they are interfering with his satellite dish signal would like the council to reconsider having the trees cut back.Council will contact Heritage Arboriculture for advice and quotes to complete the work. Action Clerk
14. Summary of actions
The Chairman will summarise the actions required
Date of next meeting
Wednesday 11th Oct 2017
7:30pm 72 High Street