Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting held at Kensworth Village Hall on Thursday 14th February 2019

Present: Chairman P Mitchell, Parish Councillors I Lowery, G Blackburn, P Woods, J Worboys, J Bradley, Clerk Maxine Whiting, 1 member of public

1. APOLOGIES Apologies for absence were received and accepted from Parish Councillors C Browne, J Murray, Ward Cllrs R Stay & K Collins.

2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declaration of interests.

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES It was RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting held 10th January 2019 were a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

4. PROGRESS UPDATE FROM LAST MEETING Dovehouse Lane cones and road closure signs have been removed.

5. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Complaint regarding cars parked on footpaths. Cllr Lowery has put CBC notices on vehicles found to be doing this. Cllr Lowery also pursuing CBC regarding HGV and TRO signage for footpath parking and will investigate mini bus regulations for parking on highways. Complaint regarding rubbish in garden of 110 Common Road. CBC housing are aware & investigating. Clerk to forward to Environmental Health to investigate also.

6. POLICE Clerk circulated Police crime data spreadsheets link to Cllrs. 15 offences reported in December and 11 in January. Letter received from Beds Police & Crime Commissioner on 31st January advising Town & Parish Councils can fund their own PCSO’s for £31,200pa. It was agreed that this was a poorly timed request due to CBC precept deadline of 31st January, it would not be viable to small villages and those without large reserves, and more details would be required to consider such a proposal. Cllr Mitchell attended the Community Priority Setting meeting on Tuesday 22nd of January 2019 and details are in Chairman report.

7. CENTRAL COUNCIL CBC recruiting 12 new community safety officers to work alongside police and communities to help tackle community safety issues. Aiming to have officers by end of summer. Great British Spring Clean and Great Big School Clean can take place between 22nd March and 23rd April. CBC will send further information and guidance shortly. Defer to March agenda & Cllr P Mitchell to speak to School. CBC Road Closure at Lynch Hill 19th-20th March for patching. Cllr I Lowery attended a drop-in meeting with Highways.

8. PLANNING CB/19/00099/FULL Jockey Farm, , Caddington, LU6 3QP Two storey side & front extension plus ground floor canopy roof OBJECT on grounds of overdevelopment of site within Greenbelt, not in keeping, overcrowded business run site.

CB/18/04472/FULL Land Adj To North Of Beeches, Watling Street, Caddington Change of Use: To land to provide for two residential caravans laying on hardstanding. OBJECT on grounds that this an additional and unnecessary gateway/opening to the site and also object to the removal of the hedges at that location. Oppose additional opening, request hedges be reinstated and enforcement action to be taken on outstanding conditions from previous application won on appeal. Object also to the repositioning of caravans as these will be more prominently situated and visible from both the road and Kensworth public footpaths.

8:20pm Cllr J Bradley left the meeting

1 Signed by Presiding Chairman ------14th March 2019 Minutes of the Kensworth Parish Council Meeting held at Kensworth Village Hall on Thursday 14th February 2019

CB/18/04420/FULL Unit D, Kensworth Ind Estate, Common Road, Kensworth, LU6 2PN Ground and first floor extension Concerns raised regarding shortage of parking and shared access with Lutts. Conditions may need to be applied to cover these issues.

CB/19/00064/FULL Grasmere, Hollicks Lane, Kensworth, LU6 2PL Retrospective application for a timber outbuilding OBJECT on grounds excessive size of outbuilding and closeness to neighbours and boundary.

CB/17/04831 Site at Land rear of 100 to 114 Common Road: Appeal reference APP/P0240/W/18/3217523 This site has been the subject of numerous applications by the owner over the past few years. The parish council object to any development on this site as it is within both Greenbelt and AONB. In particular, this site overlooks the beautiful landscape known locally as the golden valley. The parish council wish to preserve the existing building line for the whole length to the North of Common Road. The stables were built without planning consent and have never been used to stable horses and the owner has also used the land to dump spoil from other sites.

9. NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN Cllrs I Lowery and P Mitchell agreed to assist Cllr J Worboys with the production of the Neighbourhood Plan. 8:30pm Cllr J Worboys left the meeting

10. PLAY AREA UPDATE Cllr Murray emailed the below report: We have received payment of £10k from the national lottery which brings our total funds raised to £23.5k. Based on this success, we have added additional equipment to our most recent plan and submitted an application to the Airport near neighbours fund for a further £10k. We expect to hear back during the first week of April and if successful would be in a position to proceed with the larger plan immediately. If our application is unsuccessful, or only partially funded, we would revert to our previous plan and commence work with the smaller scheme. This may require a small contribution from the 2019/20 precept up to a maximum of £2.5k. Either way we are hopeful that the work will get underway in the spring.

11. VILLAGER OF THE YEAR After discussions, it was agreed to award to Jeremy Pearce for his continual efforts and commitments to keeping the village tidy. Jeremy will be invited to the Annual Parish Meeting and presented with a framed certificate.

12. 2019/20 GRANTS £2000 is allocated in the 2019/2020 budget under Section 137. It was RESOLVED to award the following: Group Purpose Awarded Flower & Vegetable show rosettes & trophies £ 200.00 Methodist Church Burial Ground maintenance £ 200.00 Kensworth School PTA Upgrading toilets £ 200.00 Keech Cottage Therapy sessions (supporting 6 in Kensworth) £ 150.00 Parish Link Parish Council contribution £ 100.00 Beds Autism Support to families (3 in Kensworth) £ 150.00 TOTAL £ 1,000.00

13. ANNUAL PARISH MEETING The Annual Parish Meeting will be held on Thursday 11th April 2019 8:15pm, following a full council meeting at 7:30pm. Grant recipients will be invited to collect their cheques and Villager of the Year award presented at the Parish Meeting. Cllr Mitchell to purchase and provide refreshments and be reimbursed.

2 Signed by Presiding Chairman ------14th March 2019 Minutes of the Kensworth Parish Council Meeting held at Kensworth Village Hall on Thursday 14th February 2019

14. CLERK SALARY It was RESOLVED as per contract to increase the Clerk’s salary scale by one salary scale point from 1st April 2019. Clerk advised she had resigned from Parish Council and is now employed by Caddington Parish Council.

15. CHAIRMAN REPORT I attended the quarterly Community Police Team meeting in January at Police Station where members of Parish Councils and Dunstable Town Council set the priorities for the coming quarter. This has previously been Drugs and ASB. We have Inspector Craig Gurr in overall control of the Community Policing team which covers , and Dunstable. For the Dunstable town and surrounding villages area we have Sgt Louise Bates who has 3PCs, 5PCSOs and the PASB (Anti Social Behaviour team) 2 PCSOs plus one Police Student. There is a further PC expected to join the team in March as well as a new Sgt in Dunstable in January and Detective Constable Ben Craven. In the last quarter they have recorded 28 arrests for Class A drugs and 15 arrests for Class B. They have closed down a brothel in Dunstable which was used for trafficking people into the UK as sex workers. They have also had ASB issues with a Gypsy brothel. They are receiving intelligence of various County Lines (Project Cuckoo) in Luton and surrounding areas. They asked us all to be vigilant for this type of activity as they prey upon the needy and known addicts to take over their homes to run as a place for distribution of drugs and often use disadvantaged youngsters to deliver drugs. Please be aware and report any intelligence to the Police on 101. CBC have stated there are very few crimes reported around G&T sites. Residents complained that they were now suffering a lot of crimes of theft of vehicles and theft from vehicles. I was pleased to learn that following shared information between Bedfordshire and Police, the vehicle that had been seen at various sites where thefts had occurred was apprehended. At the meeting the statistics showed that ASB issues had fallen slightly but the theft of vehicles, mainly keyless vehicles stolen from driveways using an enhancer of the mobile signal from the key to the car, and also thefts from vehicles, mainly tradesmen’s vehicles had risen. We agreed the main areas for the next quarter would be Drugs and the theft OF and FROM vehicles. We still have issues with vehicles parking on pavements on Common Road for several days at a time. CBC Highways letter concerning Parking on the Verge/Footway is put on offending vehicles. If parking infringement persists then we should contact CBC Assistant Director Highways, Paul Mason, for him to pursue with owner. I have been notified by an allotment holder of damage to their greenhouse and covered area.

16. CORRESPONDENCE BATPC spring/summer training programme CBC Great British Spring Clean 22/3 to 23/4 – email fwd 8/2 CBC recruiting community safety officers – email fwd 8/2 RBL Poppy Appeal Thank you for wreath donation

17. AUTHORISATION OF PAYMENTS It was RESOLVED by full council to authorise the following accounts for payment and two authorised signatories were instructed to sign the below cheques: 01/02/2019 SO Maxine Whiting Clerk salary & expenses £ 720.00 14/02/2019 102153 Maxine Whiting Clerk balance salary & expenses £ 104.65 14/02/2019 102154 Bedfordshire Pension Fund Pension contributions £ 276.47 14/02/2019 102155 HMRC PAYE & NI £ 171.53 14/02/2019 102156 Village Garden Services Invoice maintenance & recreation £ 713.30 14/02/2019 102157 Village Garden Services Gritting x 7 £ 1,302.00 28/02/2019 SO Anthony Bishun Litter picking £ 121.36

18. ITEMS FOR INCLUSION IN “THE PARISH LINK” Reporting crime & ASB to Police and CBC.

Meeting closed at 9:20pm

3 Signed by Presiding Chairman ------14th March 2019