GREEN HAMMERTON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on Tuesday 21 April 2015 at Green Hammerton Village Hall, Harrogate Road, Green Hammerton at 19:30
14/128 Present
Cllrs Bailes (Chairman), Andrew, Chelton, Leather, Taylor and Tegerdine.
14/129 In Attendance
Cllr Savage (NYCC) and twenty members of the public.
14/130 Apologies for Absence
Cllr Lewis (HBC) sent her apologies.
14/131 Declarations of interest
Cllrs Andrew and Tegerdine declared pecuniary interests in the possible access routes to the Shepherd development site.
14/132 Confirmation of Minutes of previous meetings held on 17 February and 11 March 2015
RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meetings held on 17 February and 11 March 2015
be accepted as a true record. The chairman signed the minutes.
14/133 Public participation
The chairman said that he would take any questions and comments on the development proposals when the agenda items came up. The chairman asked if there were any other matters to be raised.
Sean Harland asked if anyone had written to Yorkshire Water about the sewage capacity. The clerk has written two letters. The first one about the sewage capacity of the village and what would happen in the event of a new development - no reply received yet. The second letter asked about sewage overflows – a letter had been received saying that following very heavy rain some ‘heavily diluted storm water’ may overflow into rivers but that any water reaching households has been treated by a clean water treatment works and is safe to drink.
Simon Mack asked about the temporary barrier on the A59 ‘safe’ crossing. The clerk wrote to NYCC some time ago and received a letter saying that the barrier (which had been removed to enable a wide load to pass) would be restored ‘within a week’. Two weeks later the clerk wrote again and was told that another wide was due in early May. The clerk wrote a third time saying that the delay was too long and that a barrier that could be removed and replaced quickly would be a better solution. A reply had been received today saying that the barrier would be replaced by a new barrier that could be removed and replaced ‘within hours’.
14/134 Reports from District and County Councillors
Cllr Savage said that NYCC had to find cuts of £166m between 2010 and 2020. Government funding was likely to reduce further in the future. The Care Act has now come into force. Cllr Savage has written to David Bowe to ask about A59 access from Green Hammerton but had not yet received a reply. It was likely that NYCC would not provide any money for a roundabout – the money would have to come from the developers. The new roundabout at Flaxby cost £4.2m and was all paid by the developers. A roundabout at the B6265/A59 junction might cost £0.75m.
14/135 Report from the Clerk to the Parish Council
1. Contacted all the groups in Green Hammerton for their agreement to speak at the APM (or send reports)
2. Put up notice about Redrow consultation evening
3. Printed and helped to deliver leaflet to village about Redrow evening
4. Printed and helped to deliver Chairman’s letter for Annual Parish Meeting
5. Wrote an initial response to the Redrow proposal and consultation.
6. Arranged extra Parish Council meeting on 11 March to discuss Redrow proposals
7. Printed and delivered village survey on new housing
8. Completed annual accounts for auditor
9. Collected and collated survey results
10. Published survey results
11. Wrote to Yorkshire Water about the provision of water and sewage.
12. Wrote to Whixley Parish Council informing the members of the development plans and possible impact on school places.
13. Contacted Area 6 about New Lane footpath (twice), A59 Barrier and rusted signs
14. Contacted JohnsonBrook (Redrow) about survey results and Shepherd development
15. Printed and delivered letter to Bernard Lane residents about Shepherd development
16. Put Shepherd development proposal on the Noticeboard and sent information to Steve Ross for the website
14/136 Approval of Payments
Cheque
100828 Paul Whelan – February salary and allowance £238.09
100829 SLCC Subscription £ 77.00
100830 YLCA subscription £264.00
100831 Paul Whelan – March salary and allowance £238.09
100832 Stationery and postage £ 69.47
100833 Amy Lax – A59 corner maintenance £ 80.00
100834 Printer ink for survey on Redrow development £ 78.69
100835 GHRC room hire – meeting 11.03.15 £ 20.00
100836 Thorpe Trees – planting for Helenfield £127.56
RESOLVED that the payments listed be approved.
14/137 Redrow development proposal and Shepherd development proposal
The chairman said that development at Green Hammerton had been considered by HBC for over ten years. There was a major consultation five years ago to which the Parish Council had submitted a detailed response. The HBC Local Plan which proposed 390 houses per year was thrown out by the Inspector and 1,000 houses proposed. This figure has now been reduced to 621 houses and HBC can meet their five year target. Included with in the HBC five year housing plan are 65 houses for Green Hammerton. The PC undertook a survey to decide how best to support the village.
Cllr Chelton said the survey results and comments would be used as a guide. There was strong opposition to the proposed full build of 112 houses. There was a significant minority for no build. There was an acceptance for some build, qualified by a reduction in the number and density of the houses.
Brian Halling felt that the survey had not been detailed enough and that special consideration was needed for the two households in the middle of the proposed development.
Chris Turner asked if there would be another survey. Cllr Chelton said that we would need more detail from the developers.
The chairman proposed meeting with the developers and their advisers (JohnsonBrook). This was supported by Cllr Leather who felt that such a meeting should be held as soon as possible.
Andrea Barnes had sent a detailed response to the HBC consultation five years ago. She wanted to keep the village as it is. Her background is education and her experience was that it was very difficult to get funding for school expansion or for any infrastructure. It would be better to resist any development.
Cllr Taylor said that under the present planning regime there was a presumption in favour of development. Our target was to get the best outcome possible.
Stephen Phillipson had been in touch with JohnsonBrook. They are waiting for more detailed plans from Redrow within the next 6 to 8 weeks then a planning application would go in. He proposed that the new build could start with ‘phase 2’. Mr Phillipson had also examined the 2010 responses to the HBC consultation – Yorkshire Water had said that there was no sewage capacity for extra houses. There may be an upgrade in 2019 but anything before that would have to be paid for by the developers and would include expansion of the treatment works.
The chairman said that the upgrade of sewage capacity would be a condition for planning approval.
Sean Harland asked if the PC could legally tell the developers to ‘go away’. The chairman said that the PC is a consultee only and do not have that power.
The chairman went on to say that Redrow had no idea about the Shepherd proposal. Shepherds themselves said they were not willing to work with Redrow and use the Redrow access route to their site. Their plan was to use Bernard Lane.
Dougie Mack said that Bernard Lane was too narrow an access and unsuitable.
The chairman raised the point that there are other developments proposed further up the Boroughbridge Road – in particular there was a rumour of development at Queen Ethelburga’s. There will be no roundabout unless someone pays and it may be that several developers share the cost.
Stephen Phillipson asked about the next steps. There would never be a better opportunity to oppose the plans since they would change the character of the village. He has kept our MP, Nigel Adams, informed
Andrew Russell said that the cost of upgrading the sewage capacity may make the development uneconomic.
Cllr Taylor felt that developers were getting plans in quickly before the HBC Local Plan is adopted. The Local Plan would stop the current ‘free for all’.
The chairman said that he would arrange a meeting with Redrow as soon as possible. He would also invite Shepherd to a meeting.
Resolved that the Parish Council delegate authority to any two of Cllrs Bailes, Chelton, Leather and Taylor to represent the views of the Parish Council in meetings with the developers and their advisors.
14/138 Annual Report and Accounts
The Annual Accounts, Annual Return and supporting financial statements were circulated in advance of the meeting. Cllr Leather has reviewed the records and financial controls. The Internal Auditor had completed his work and there were no adjustments to make.
It was resolved that the Accounting Statements and Annual Governance Statement
be approved and that the chairman should sign Section 1 Accounting Statements and Section2 Annual Governance Statement.
14/139 Payment for Website
Resolved that an amount of up to £25 per month be approved for the payment of the website.
14/140 Vacancy on the Parish Council
The clerk reported that a notice from HBC was now on the noticeboard. Ten electors may request an election. If this does not happen then the vacancy should be advertised. The clerk was asked to investigate if the number of councillors could be reduced to six.
14/141 Election of chairman, Appointment of Members to Committees and Outside Bodies and Allocation of ongoing tasks to Members
Election of chairman
Cllr Bailes was proposed as chairman for 2015/16 by Cllr Tegerdine, the proposal was seconded by Cllr Leather. All were in favour.
RESOLVED that Cllr Bailes be Chair of the Parish Council for the year 2014-15.
Appointment of Members to Committees and Outside Bodies and Allocation of ongoing tasks to Members
RESOLVED that the appointments of Members to Committees and Outside Bodies and Allocation of ongoing tasks to Members would remain the same (per minutes 14/010 and 14/011 form the meeting on 24 June 2014 subject to the following changes:
Cllr Andrew to become a YLCA representative
Bank Signatory
Following the resignation of Cllr Bowe, the Parish Council needs another signatory to the Barclays Bank accounts
RESOLVED that Cllr Ivan Andrew should become a cheque signatory
14/1421 Report on street lighting and A59 barrier
The chairman reported the difficulties he has had in getting NYCC to fix the lights on the A59. The clerk will take over this responsibility when the chairman is away.
The A59 barrier has already been discussed under minute 14/133 above.
Dates for future meetings
At 7:30pm in the Village Hall
TUESDAY
2015
May 19
June 16
July 21
September 15