Minutes January 21st 2020

·         A resident commented that in his opinion the pedestrian crossing at the junction of high street and Lincoln road caused a lot of grief at the start and end of the school day. He felt that a pelican crossing would be more appropriate – We agreed to ask the highway authority to carry out a further review.

·         The same resident thanked the parish council for the meal at the Bluebell given by draw of participants in the village hall questionnaire.

·         Cllr. Kirt reported that he had received negative comments about the state of the grass in the play area and generally in the playing field

·         A Rectory Lane resident drew our attention to the state of the verge at the southern end of Rectory lane. He was concerned that manhole covers could be damaged if the problem was not addressed. He was of the opinion that posts, far more substantial than those already in the lane, Would force drivers of larger vehicle to manoeuvre in the head of the cul de sac rather than short cut across the verge. The chairman responded that he was meeting an officer of highways in Rectory lane the following day and discuss the state of that verge.

clerk to write

a)    Minutes of meeting held on 17^th December 2019

We unanimously RESOLVED to approve the minutes and these were duly signed by the Chairman.

Proposed by Cllr. Spendelow Seconded by Cllr. Lane

a)    The clerk reported that the local PCSO was unable to make our meeting but that he was working up a schedule to meet all parish councils in his patch

b)   (info only) – There were no other matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting.

a.    The clerk introduced the report on current planning applications circulated with the agenda. This was noted without further comment.

b.    19/01831/HHFUL – 23 Welmore Road – proposed first floor side extension Parish council had no objection to this application but wish to draw the attention of planning officers to the changing street scene where semi-detached properties could become a row of terraced houses. Furthermore, given the experience of previous works parish council asked that any permission granted be conditioned with restrictions on noise and hours of work.

c.    19/01896/CTR – Peakirk cum Glinton VA Primary School – we noted that this application had been withdrawn by the applicant.

d.    20/00061/CTR – Welmore Road – T3,T4, T5, T6 and T7 Lombardy Poplar Trees- reduce height by 30% approx to just below previous cut line and reduce bulk/Crown reduce T3 as it is out of balance with other poplars and about to encroach on the highway T1 -Flowering Cherry Tree- crown/reduce to reduce bulk and density on N side nearest house and thatched roof Conifer hedge – reduce to 50% current height on garden side – to match cutline on South side. Parish council supported this application.

e.    Planning Appeal – 24 Peakirk Road – We noted that the appeal had been dismissed by the planning inspector

Clerk to notify Planning

a)    Commemorative activities & church events – We were not aware of any planned activities by other parties.

b)    The clerk reported that David Ogilvie engineering had reduced the price of a VE day commemorative bench to £995 +VAT and delivery and provided a design. Having considered the designs of both benches we remained of the view that the WW2 bench was the most appropriate and asked the clerk to confirm an order for that bench and approved the cost of £905.50 +VAT and delivery.

c)    Cllr. Randall reported that he was still in discussion with the commonwealth war graves commission regarding protecting the memorial stone from Strimmer damage. He had provided the CWGC with a few suggestions which were under consideration.

a)    Waywardens & Good Neighbours Scheme – A public meeting had been arranged for Tuesday 28^th January to be attended by Cate Harding from Peterborough city council. Cllr Wilde reported that so far they had received a small but positive response and hoped to attract more volunteers at the planned meeting

b)    Clare Lodge – Cllr. Bysshe reported that the meeting with Clare Lodge would take place later in the month or early February.

c)    New Village Hall Working Group – Cllr. Bell reported that 3 councillors and the clerk had visited Duxford Village hall which is in the final stages of completion. The highly informative visit was hosted by the chairman of Duxford parish council. Lessons learnt from his perspective was that the project made progress once they had the finance in place from the PWLB and once they appointed an experienced project manage r who had looked after their interests. In the opinion of those on the visit the Duxford approach was perhaps a blue print of the methodology that should be applied by ourselves

Proposed Cllr. Kirt    Seconded Cllr. Randall

In doing so we asked the clerk to formally minute the parish council’s grateful thanks to Cllr. Kirt and the working group including Mr Staines for the graphic work in the finished document

a)    Budget Proposal for 2020/21 to 2024/25  – We gave further consideration to our proposed budget for the coming year and noted the revised values for the amount raised from Glinton residents by a £1 charge at Band D. We also approved the addition of £2000 in the budget for the VE day commemorative activities.

We therefore RESOLVED to approve the budget of net expenditure £27347 (after £9355 income) and to increase the parish precept By £3 at Band D to £32, raising an expected £19,767.68. We anticipated that this would require the use of £7579.32 from our general reserve in order to balance the budget for the coming financial year.

Proposed Cllr. Randall     Seconded Cllr. Kirt

b)    CPRE Membership – Cllr Bell recommended membership of this organisation and we noted that we gained knowledge from the organisation particularly in relation to our consideration of a new village hall. We unanimously RESOLVED to approve membership at a current annual cost of £57.

c)    Clerks paid hours. The clerk left the room during discussion of the item. We unanimously RESOLVED to increase the paid hours to 15 per week effective from 1^st January. In doing so we informed the clerk that he was not obliged to undertake extra activities such as those of the New Village Hall working group and that if he did so it would be voluntary.

a)    Email from Rectory Lane resident requesting substantial posts to protect the verge – This matter had been covered in the public forum earlier in the meeting.

b)    Email from a resident urging the parish council to plant  more trees in the playing field – we agreed to consider this at our next meeting with a view to consider a budget for a VE day commemorative Oak.

c)    Further email from that resident urging the council to declare a climate change emergency – We were sympathetic to the views expressed in the email and agreed to promote the formation of a C. C. E. group within the village, preferably to work with other villages. The group to be tasked with producing an action plan for presentation to the parish council. We asked the sender of the email to join that working group.

d)    We noted the receipt of correspondence from AMVC regarding the change in arrangements to deal with out of hours intruder or fire alarm including publication of a telephone number for use of residents.

e)    LITTER PICK – Cllr. Mrs Bysshe informed us that a litter pick had been arranged for this coming Saturday morning. We noted, with appreciation, that McDonalds were sending a team to participate in the event. All volunteers would be welcome .

b) Clerk to include on the agenda & Cllr Kirt to research costs

§  We noted that the unofficial footpath across the field at the northern end of North Fen Road had been closed off and the official footpath could be joined a short distance further up the road.

§  Cllr. Kirt observed that having reported potholes via PCC website they had been done very quickly.

§  Cllr Holdich reported that work on the roundabout in Lincoln Road was due for completion by 6th March.

§  Cycle path/footpath Lincoln Road North towards Northborough is in a poor state and we asked that this be reported.

§  Pot holes in North Fen Road also needed to be reported