Myland Community Council
Minutes of the meeting of the Community Council held on Wednesday 8th July 2015, 7.30pm, at Mile End Methodist Church Hall, Nayland Road, Colchester.
Present: / Cllr Pete Hewitt (Chair) / Cllr Jean DickinsonCllr John Stewart (Vice Chair) / Cllr Martin Goss
Cllr Evelyn Agyekum / Cllr Liz Gray
Cllr Richard Beauchamp / Cllr Carolyne Hurst
Cllr Dominic Cardle / Cllr Robert Johnstone
Cllr Catherine Clouston / Cllr Peter Pipik
Cllr David Clouston / Cllr John Sutcliffe
There were three members of the public present.
075-15/16 Apologies
Cllrs Dickson, Graham and McGonagle, and ECC Councillor Turrell.
076-15/16 Declarations of Interest
There were none.
077-15/16 Not used.
078-15/16 Have your say
Mrs White said that in the past she had challenged MCC’s procedure for making policies, but CBC Legal Department had confirmed to her that MCC was not obliged to involve members of the public in this procedure. She said she had made observations at other meetings about planning regulations. She said that when a planning application was decided conditions were attached. She said she recalled a monitoring report given at a meeting of the Planning and Development Policy Committee where comments about the size of ensuite rooms in a care home had been made. She asked whether that issue was related to regulations or conditions. She said she was repeating the observation that with regard to planning, regulations and conditions were two different things.
Mrs White said that she agreed that the Severalls Community Centre should be a new building.
The Chairman said that the Planning Terms of Reference had been raised at the last meeting of the Planning & Development Policy Committee and it had been agreed that no further amendment was required. The Chairman said Mrs White’s comments had been noted.
079-15/16 Minutes of the Meeting of the Council held on 10th June 2015 to be approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
Item 67 – “for the landing of the Air Ambulance attending an incident” was changed to “whilst the Air Ambulance was attending an incident”
Item 219 – The number of the Item was changed to 074.
074 – The time of the next meeting was changed from 7.15pm to 7.30pm.
Following the above amendments, the minutes of the meeting of the Council held on 10th June 2015 were approved as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
Proposed: Cllr Stewart Seconded: Cllr Johnstone (13 For; 1 Abstention)
080-15/16 Matters arising from the Minutes
Cllr D Clouston referred to Item 062-15/16 and apologised for his lack of response. He said he would send a draft letter to the Chairman before the end of the week.
Cllr Sutcliffe referred to Item 59-15/16 and asked if a report from CBC Enforcement regarding non-compliance with conditions by developers on Severalls Phase 1 and enforcement action taken had been received. The Clerk said no report had been received although she had chased it up. Cllr Goss said that a new Enforcement Officer had been appointed who had visited the site recently. He said she was due to report back on her visit shortly.
Cllr C Clouston referred to Item 071-15/16 and said that she had written to Weston Homes Community Stadium. She said the stadium would be happy for MCC to hold a meeting there for which they would not make a charge. She said she had also suggested Colchester United contributed to the August Bank Holiday Fete in some way and that again they had been happy to do this. The Clerk confirmed there had been correspondence between herself and Colchester United about their contribution to the Fete. The Chairman agreed with Cllr C Clouston that an MCC meeting at the Stadium could be arranged for Autumn.
081-15/16 Chairman’s Report
The Chairman reminded Councillors that the guest speaker at the August Council meeting would be Andy Leonard from Mill Road Surgery.
082-15/16 Clerk’s Report
The Clerk reminded all Councillors that they should have completed their Register of Interest following the email sent on 11th May 2015. She also asked any Councillors who hadn’t already done so to provide a photograph and a few words about themselves for inclusion on the website.
The Clerk said the Fete was still in desperate need of volunteers and asked all Councillors who were able to help in any way to let her or the Assistant Clerk know.
The Clerk said she would be taking time off for a few days from 20th August as she would be having an operation on her knee and more investigations into her ankle. She said this would mean she would not be able to move around as much as usual. She said this would especially be true at the fete, which would make it even more important that we had more volunteers.
The Clerk said that she had been putting together all the responses from both Neighbourhood Plan Pre-submission consultations and that this would be completed this week. She said that she had also started compiling the additional documents required for submission to the examiner.
The Clerk said she had circulated June monthly finances showing actual income and expenditure from 1st – 30th June 2015. She said she had also circulated July draft finances showing actual income from 1st – 8th July and current predicted expenditure from 1st – 31st July 2015. She said if anyone wanted to go through the spreadsheets with her she was happy to do this.
The Clerk said she had been dealing with various residents’ queries.
083-15/16 Finance - To consider and possibly resolve to approve details of expenditure and income to date.
It was resolved to approve details of expenditure and income to date.
Proposed: Cllr Dickinson Seconded: Cllr Gray (11 For; 3 Abstentions)
Expenses
Date / Amount / Paid to / Type22-Jun-15 / 75.55 / CNG Ltd / Gas
23-Jun-15 / 13.99 / Titan Telecom / Phone
9-Jul-15 / 60.00 / M&K Gardens / Gardening
9-Jul-15 / 26.31 / Copy IT / Office Equipment & Mtce
9-Jul-15 / 33.00 / Mile End Methodist Church / Community Council Mtg
10-Jul-15 / 225.00 / BNP Paribas / Office Equipment & Mtce
15-Jul-15 / 20.00 / Contract Services / Cleaning
30-Jul-15 / 4.98 / H Harris / Public Meetings
30-Jul-15 / 27.33 / H Harris / Stationery
30-Jul-15 / 0.50 / H Harris / Community funding
30-Jul-15 / 3964.71 / Various / Staff costs
Income
Date / Amount / Received from / Type12-Jun-15 / 450.60 / Siemens Financial Services / Other Income
18-Jun-15 / 45.00 / Mayne Vets / Mylander
19-Jun-15 / 70.00 / M Buxton / Mylander
19-Jun-15 / 70.00 / Mr & Mrs Newton (Gravity Maintenance) / Mylander
25-Jun-15 / 45.00 / Carisma Bodytech / Mylander
6-Jul-15 / 70.00 / Sir Bob Russell / Mylander
6-Jul-15 / 45.00 / Mr JM Docherty & Mrs T Docherty / Mylander
6-Jul-15 / 45.00 / M&K Gardens / Mylander
6-Jul-15 / 45.00 / Mr M B Grainger (Fresh’n’Easy) / Mylander
6-Jul-15 / 90.00 / Mr T D Cordwell / Mylander
6-Jul-15 / 15.00 / Mrs D B Dixon (Dolly Sue) / Fete Income
6-Jul-15 / 350.00 / Stour Valley Care Group / Mylander
084-15/16 To consider and possibly resolve that a feasibility study for a multi-use crossing over the A12 at Footpath 39 should be produced by the 31st December 2015 – Cllr Pete Hewitt
With the proviso that feasibility study is agreed to mean an exploratory paper to establish MCC’s thinking on the concept, it was resolved that a feasibility study for a multi-use crossing over the A12 at Footpath 39 should be produced by 31st December 2015
Proposed: Cllr Hewitt Seconded: Cllr D Clouston (12 For; 1 Against; 1 Abstention)
085-15/16 If 085-15/16 is resolved to consider and possibly resolve to delegate responsibility for producing the feasibility study to the Footpaths Group – Cllr Pete Hewitt
It was resolved to delegate responsibility for producing the feasibility study to the Footpaths Group
Proposed: Cllr Hewitt Seconded: Cllr Goss (12 For; 1 Against; 1 Abstention)
086-15/16 To consider and possibly resolve to agree that the Severalls Community Centre should be a new build not a refurbished old building – Cllr Pete Hewitt
It was resolved to agree that the Severalls Community Centre should be a new build not a refurbished old building.
Proposed: Cllr Hewitt Seconded: Cllr Stewart (13 For; 1 Abstention)
087-15/16 To consider and possibly resolve to purchase two dog waste bins for Tower Lane, one to be placed at each end of the Footpath. Cost £521.54 plus £100 installation (total £621.54). To be funded by Street Furniture & Maintenance earmarked reserves – Cllr Hurst
An amendment to the resolution was proposed as follows:
To consider and possibly resolve to purchase two dog waste bins for Tower Lane. Cost £521.54 plus £100 installation (total £621.54). To be funded by Street Furniture & Maintenance earmarked reserves – Cllr Hurst
Proposed: Cllr Hewitt Seconded: Cllr D Clouston (Unanimous)
It was resolved to purchase two dog waste bins for Tower Lane. Cost £521.54 plus £100 installation (total £621.54). To be funded by Street Furniture & Maintenance earmarked reserves.
Proposed: Cllr Hurst Seconded: Cllr Hewitt (Unanimous)
088-15/16 Items raised by Community Councillors
Cllr Goss asked if the £6,000 S106 money due from Crest Nicholson has been received. The Clerk said it had not.
Cllr Goss asked if the draft minutes of full Council meetings could be put on the MCC website as soon after each meeting as possible. The Assistant Clerk said this was already being done. Cllr Goss asked if the draft minutes could be circulated to Cllrs at the same time. The Clerk said this would be done.
Cllr Goss asked if the Clerk had made progress on the CiLCA qualification. The Chairman said the Clerk’s performance management review would take place shortly where this would be discussed.
089-15/16 To receive reports from Working Groups – maximum two minutes each
Community Group – Cllr Hurst said the Community Group would be meeting on 13th July 2015.
Footpaths Group – Cllr Johnstone said he had sent a letter to Ian Vipond, copying in Gary White of ECC, detailing footpath problems in the parish. He said to date he had received no reply from either. He said that Jason Botelho, PRoW Inspector for Colchester, had attended a meeting of the Group. He said Mr Botelho had accepted there were problems on the footpath network and had been very open and honest, for which the Group had been very grateful. He said Mr Botelho had advised there was action that could be taken by the public over problems with footpaths, such as serving with injunctions and Freedom of Information requests. Finally Cllr Johnstone said the next organised walks would be on 15th July and 26th July 2015.
Neighbourhood Plan Group – Cllr Hewitt said that comments received from both pre-submission consultations were being analysed. He said the next stage of paperwork had begun. He said the Group was also working on the list of Assets of Community Value. He said they were trying to relate the List to items emerging from the Neighbourhood Plan.
090-15/16 Reports by Ward Councillors
Cllr Goss said that he would like feedback on ECC’s proposal to name the road to the new Severalls School Whitmore Drive, after Frank Whitmore, architect of Severalls Hospital. Cllrs present were in general agreement to this.
Cllr Goss said that work on the outdoor gym equipment at Mill Road Recreation Ground had begun.
091-15/16 Report by County Councillor
The following report had been received from Cllr Anne Turrell.
A few points from ECC and Essex Fire
Colchester Fire Station open day is on 15th August.
Essex and all Districts and Boroughs are working on Devolution. Essex is a long way behind most of the Country, some areas will have some Devolution by early next year. If you want any details please ask.
ECC should be keeping all Community and Parish Councils updated on Health issues.
Please e mail me about any particular local issues that you need updates on as there are a large number of ongoing -enough for a book!!
092-15/16 Relevant information from meetings attended by Councillors and Clerk
Cllr Johnstone said he had attended a meeting of CALC on 11th June 2015 where the guest speaker, Chris Stephenson, had spoken about Neighbourhood Plans. He said he had attended a meeting of ELAF (Essex Local Access Forum) and would forward the minutes to the Clerk when he received them. He said ECC PRoW team were meeting bi-monthly with Network Rail to work on removing all footpath rail crossings.
The Chair said he had been invited to get an update from Ian Vipond on the Northern Gateway. He said Mr Vipond supported the Neighbourhood Plan and thought the focus was right. He said Mr Vipond had asked if the Neighbourhood Plan would support the Northern Gateway development, in particular the retention of Rugby Club green space. He said he had told Mr Vipond that the Neighbourhood Plan could only agree to support an evidenced agreed plan version which included as much retained green space at the Rugby Club as possible.