NORTHCHURCH PARISH COUNCIL

Mrs Usha Kilich Parish Clerk

Northchurch Parish Council

116D High Street

Northchurch

HP4 3QN

Tel. 01442 876911

email:

website:

MINUTES of theNORTHCHURCH PARISH COUNCIL held at Northchurch Social Centre, Bell Lane on Monday 4th September 2017, commencing at 7.30 pm.

Members present:

CouncillorsFantham (Chairman)

Godfrey (Vice Chairman)

Hooper

Pocock

Rees

Clarke

Clerk/RFOUsha Kilich

PresentCounty Councillor Terry Douris and Mr BShepherd Planning Consultee

MINUTES

10/17Apologies for absence

Apology received for Councillor Croxford.

11/17Minutes of the previous Council Meeting of the Northchurch Parish Council held on 24th July 2017

With no alteration, the minutes were signed as a true and correct record of the meeting held on the 24th July 2017 with all in favour.

12/17Chairman’s Report to the Council

(a)Thank you letter from Rev Gordon for £2000 donation

The Clerk informed the Council that a letter had been received from Rev Gordon thanking Northchurch Parish Council for the donation of £2000 towards the church roof.

(b) Rec Ground update

Councillor Pocock wanted to be informed of any one-off football games at the Rec Ground so he is aware when to lock the gates. The Clerk confirmed she would liaise with Councillor Pocock on any fixtures.

(c) Sunnyside Rural Trust

Councillor, Pocock informed the Council SSRT are doing a good job around Northchurch, however there are couple of dust bins that need replacing. Councillor Fantham suggested that new bins should be ordered with Key Industrial.

(d) Support 4 Dacorum membership

The Clerk informed the Council that Support for Dacorum have asked NPC for their support and taking out the membership. It was unanimously agreed that NPC will not be taking out the membership.

(e) Ashridge Monument Car Park

Councillor Fantham informed the Council that an email has been received from Jennifer Smith Project Manager – Ashridge Car Park Monument. Jennifer Smith and Susie Mercer would like to come to the Council meeting in November and brief the Council on the project aimed at improving current parking arrangements along Monument Drive on the Ashridge Estate. The project is in very early stage.

(f) Questions and Answers by Herts County Councillor Terry Douris

  1. Locality Donation £500

With thanks £500 has been received and Councillor Fantham will notify Adam Mega to commence the work.

  1. Path linking Recreation Ground with licensed footpath

In relation to Items 1 and 2, it is my understanding that this payment was approved by David Lloyd and was sent for payment by HCC to NPC on the 11th January 2017. Are you saying that you did not receive it? It is my understanding that NPC upon receipt of the payment would commission the work.

  1. Current position on speed sign near the Recreation Ground which hasn’t worked for approximately two years

Ian indicated that the new speed device had been ordered to be installed near the broken vehicle activated sign on the A4251 near the junction with Ashby Road. (It just shows how much your Herts County Council Officers know about this area. Ashby Road hasn’t been linked to the A4251 for some six years, hence there will be total confusion.) While I agree that Northchurch Parish Council would pay towards the cost of a replacement sign, I have still had no response to my request for information on how we got to this situation. The existing sign was installed some 4-5 years ago and for the last 3-4 years, has failed to work. In spite of many demands for information, I have failed to get any details from either Ringway or yourselves on this subject. Was the device incorrectly installed? Was it a faulty machine? Why has it taken some four years to get it mended? Why now, in spite of Ringway and Herts County Council incompetence, should we be requested to pay half of the total cost? As a generous gesture and to help the people of Northchurch, I am prepared to recommend to the Parish Council that we pay £1,000 towards this machine.

I will also arrange for the hedge at this point to be cut immediately and would be gratefulif you could ask Ed Fisher if he could make arrangements to remove the existing inoperable sign. Perhaps when you have taken it down, somebody could tell me where the blame lies and where we, between us, are forced to be spending some £4,850 for a replacement and whose fault this is.

  1. Hamberlins Lane tunnel – cost of covering existing graffiti with special paint

We have requested a price for the removal of the graffiti from the HCC Bridge and Structures team which has not yet been received and which will be chased up now the various holidays are over and new officers are in place.

  1. Drain cleansing – I think that we should have some form of programme for drain cleaning in this area. Failure to drain clean means flooding in the centre of Dudswell.

If the reference here is to the area of Boswick Lane and Dudswell I can confirm that Paul Trustram, the Ringway District Service Agent will take another look at two drains identified that could do with jetting near the junction with Dudswell Lane. Apparently, there is a lot of history here of which Paul Trustram has informed Alan Fantham of previously. In effect, whilst Highways are responsible for the drains, the ditches are the responsibility of the residents and are causing a lot of the issues. I am advised that works have taken place relatively recently.

  1. Speed Limit Advice – I believe there should be speed limit signs situated in Hamberlins Lane and Pea Lane advising traffic that they are entering a 40mph road.

I acknowledge that there is a missing 40mph / National Speed Limits sign at the junction with the A4251. As the sign has never been there (Ian Thompson could not see any

evidence of it when he visited in July/August this year) Ringway would not replace it from their Category 2 budget. When you get to the junction with the A4251 you can clearly see the national speed limit sign to the left, and it is not far to the 30mph speed to the right. Technically a sign should be there but this would be a low priority for Ringway but if NPC want it installed more quickly it would have to be funded from my Highways locality budget which would mean that other activities could not be funded.

  1. Darrs Lane – Current position on proposal to install yellow lines near the junction with Darrs Lane and Northchurch High Street South.

I refer to Alan Fantham’s email dated 10th August and our meeting to consider the possibility of additional parking in High Street South. I am awaiting the detail of who owns the land and whether it is regarded as Common Lane. I have no funding left for such a scheme this year but could it be possible for DBC to consider this as part of their Verge Hardening project? Alan Fantham, as DBC councillor would need to follow that line of approach through but I will also continue my investigations.

  1. Current position on installing the warning sign which shows that Darrs Lane is unfit for heavy goods vehicles

I have authorised the works, which I am funding, for the new sign to be installed. Subsequently, in a conversation between Alan Fantham and Ian Thompson it was noted that the sign at the bottom of Darrs Lane had been hit and turned around and we have asked for this to be corrected when the do the new sign.

  1. Norcott Footpath – Update on the pedestrian footpath and general footpath closed by Miss Claridge 12 years ago

I am still in discussion about this with the Rights of Way people at County Hall. Whilst I understand the frustration at the delays, I am aware that these issues can take years to resolve and sometimes their position in the ‘queue’ can be amended depending on the current nature and status of the issue.

  1. New Road signpost

I understand that a solution, below, has been agreed directly between Alan Fantham Ian Thompson and that the quotation for £500 and the sign details were sent to NPC on 25th August for their response. This will be a direct relationship between NPC and HCC.

  1. Current position on Two Pond Lane

The signing of Two Pond Lane has been passed to DBC for consideration of a Street Name sign incorporating the pedestrian information. As it is with DBC Alan Fantham would be best placed to follow it up with them.

  1. Progress on the link road

I have raised this with HCC and DBC and all the information that I have been given is that there is no plan or facility to develop a road as suggested.

  1. Double yellow lines in Darrs Lane

I think that this relates to Item 7 above but if it is the wish of NPC that I follow it up I am happy to do so but I must advise you that these are not quick delivery items.

Additional Items

  1. High Street South. The order has been placed for the bollards, cycle racks and resurfacing of the junction by the side of the Tesco shop which was promoted by Cllr Edwards.
  1. At the request of a resident, I have arranged to have a speed and volume count undertaken in Westfield Road.
  1. A resident has requested that the double yellow lines in The Meads be extended by 1 cars length. There would be a significant cost for this and it may well elicit some objections and therefore I am not proposing to proceed with this.
  1. Following a request, I am having the footpath outside 46 Douglas Gardens repaired with a contribution from Social Services.

Finance

Budget v Actual for 16/17

(a)The Clerk informed the Council that Finance Committee met for the first time on the 24th August. The Committee discussed the first quarter Actual against Budget there are no adverse variance to report. It unanimously agreed by councillors that NPC will go ahead and renew the insurance with Came & Company. A meeting has been scheduled to work on Budget for 2017/18 in November.

(b)Schedule of Receipts and Payments, the Clerk answered questions relating to income/expenditure and it was proposed by Councillor Godfrey and seconded by Councillor Pocock and RESOLVED that the schedule of receipts and payments including bank reconciliation for Aug 2017.

The Chairman declared the meeting closed at 8.15pm.

Signature of the Chairman------

Date……………………………………………………………………

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