Stow Maries Parish Council MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON MONDAY 18 TH FEBRUARY 2019 A in The Smythe Hall at 7:30pm

19/19 Council Members attending, apologies for absence and other attendees Chairman: Councillor Hollington. Vice-Chairman: Councillor Pilgrim Members: Councillors Chappell & Herriott ECC Member: CC Penny Channer Crops Mr . Bob Turner In attendance: Mrs Sarah Sayer – Parish Clerk/RFO Members of Public: 6 Apologies District Councillors Archer & White & Parish Cllr Gilmore. 19/20 Declaration of Interests Cllr Hollington made a declaration of interest regarding the Bridleway/Bridge and also declared that he was a Director of the Dengie Crops Ltd. 19/21 Minutes from Council meeting on 21 st January 2019 Resolved The minutes of the Council Meeting held on 21 st January 2019 were accepted and signed as a true record. Prop - Cllr Herriot and Seconded - Cllr Chappell. 19/22 Questions and points of interest from press and public Opportunity for members of the press or public to share relevant information with the Council. Decisions can only be made when associated with items on the Agenda. a) Mr. Bob Turner of Dengie Crops Ltd had kindly come along to the meeting to address the problems that had been highlighted in the letter send on 30 th October by Mr. Henry Harris. Unfortunately the letter did not reach Mr. Turner until December as it had been mislaid internally. The problems highlighted were that the vehicles were larger and that it was thought the 25mph speed was being exceeded. Mr. Turner stated that all the tractors owned by Dengie Crops Ltd have speed limiters installed and cannot go faster than 25 mph, this also helps stop crops blowing off the wagons as much as they used to. Lance Morgan is the new Transport Manager, but Mr. Turner will liaise with him to make sure that any complaints are dealt with and will try to work out a more satisfactory route one way through the village. Mr. Turner further stated that the drivers are trained and the tractors and trailers are all tested for roadworthiness. If you are not happy with the way in which a vehicle is being driven then please take the number from the side of the vehicle – 1-7 and when reporting the problem mention the number and the situation can be dealt with direct. There are also cameras fitted in the cabs which can be viewed. Mr. Turner also said he would give the Clerk a contact number/email that can be put on the Stow Maries PC website. The Chairman gave a vote of thanks to Mr. Turner for attending the meeting.

b) A member of the public brought to the attention of the council that the marker post on the bridleway still needed to be replaced. Cllr Hollington said that he would check this out as he thought the work had been done, but had a 4x 4 post that he could be utilised and the discs on the broken post can be transferred easily onto the new post.

c) The fact that the website was not up to date was raised and the Clerk informed everyone that her internet has been down, but would ensure that all the information would be up to date by the next meeting and going forward – providing no more hitches with the internet access.

Signed by the Chairman…………………………………………………………. Dated 18/3/2019 Page 1 of 6 Cllr Simon Hollington

Stow Maries Parish Council: Council Meeting – Minutes 18/2/2019 19/23 May Elections Members were reminded of the email that had been previously circulated detailing the timetable for completing their nomination papers and the deadline was 3 rd April 2019. The Parish Council papers can be downloaded on the District Council website. Clerk offered to download and print off and bring to next meeting. 19/24 County Council County Councillor Channer gave a brief summary of her annual report – the full report detailed below and will appear on the Parish Council website. Annual Report Regarding Essex County Council 2018-19 “The County Council exists to secure the economic, social and environmental well-being of Essex. Despite the difficult circumstances of a challenging financial environment the Council did not step away from the aims it set itself a year ago because the Members believe they were and still remain the key to Essex’s long-term well-being. And however difficult the circumstances we should never stop being ambitious for this great county and the residents of Essex that we serve. The aims reflected the Members’ focus on those larger ambitions that our residents have for themselves – a great education, a good job, a healthy life, a safe community, a stimulating environment to live, work, and enjoy in to old age : a. Inclusive economic growth – we believe the only guarantee of long-term well-being is a strong economy from which everyone can benefit. b. Helping people get the best start and age well – it is our fundamental duty to protect the most vulnerable and to maximise the opportunities for Essex people, whatever their circumstances, to make the best lives they can for themselves and their families. c. Help create great places – we are the guardians of the county for future generations and we will always act responsibly to address the growth needs of our population whilst maintaining the essence of what makes Essex great. d. Transform the Council – we know that none of the above can be achieved if the Council is not constantly pushing itself to be more resourceful and more efficient. The Council, focussed on those aims, achieved much during the year and the following are a small sample of its achievements:  Delivered more than 2,750 school places  Delivered a campaign to promote apprenticeships to employers and young people  Ensured there is a range of employment support services for people with disabilities, including those with mental health needs  Influenced the roll out of broadband in Essex to support businesses and invested £5m  Invested £120m of capital to improve and maintain the roads in Essex  Been inspected by Ofsted and HMIP who found our Children’s Services and Youth Offending Service to be outstanding  Continued to reduce the number of permanent admissions to residential care  Driven a truly collaborative approach with HS partners to health and social care integration to achieve best outcomes for Essex residents.  With partners, developed, a new Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy with clear objectives around improving outcomes for mental health; obesity; health inequalities; and long-term conditions  Developed a Green Infrastructure Strategy to take a positive approach to enhance, protect and create an inclusive and integrated network of high quality green spaces and green infrastructure in Greater Essex  Completed an efficiency review of existing waste infrastructure to ensure it remains fit for purpose and is optimised.

Signed by the Chairman …………………………………………...….. Dated: 18/3/2019 Page 2 of 6 Cllr Simon Hollington

Stow Maries Parish Council: Council Meeting – Minutes 18/2/2019  Worked with district colleagues and counter fraud experts to deliver £700,000 through identifying fraud in Council Tax and Business Rates  Delivered £5m of receipts through sales of surplus assets which has helped to fund the capital programme and identified £7m more next year  Delivered £59m savings and through a review of 720 fees and charges across all services, generated an extra £10m over 2 years to 2020/21 The success of some of the achievements was by working closely with partners across the county. This will become more necessary in the coming years. In February the Council agreed the 2019/2020 budget which totals £939.9m in revenue to continue to deliver quality services to Essex residents, and £249m in the capital programme to fund investments to ensure the long-term financial stability of this council. The Council has delivered £311m of savings in the last 4 years by improving value and will be making a further £60m of savings and efficiencies in the 2019/20 Budget. The budget contains an increase in Council tax of 2.99% and 1% for the Adult Social Care Precept. These increases recognising that we are a low tax council, having only increased Council Tax 3 times in the last 9 years and also do this balancing the needs of the taxpayer with the need to provide our vital services and ensure they are on a sustainable footing. Additional funding, for repairs to footpaths /pavements; mental health schemes; prevention of homelessness and rough sleepers; for partnership work to help children at risk of County Lines, was announced. Essex’s ambition to be the leading Council in innovation and efficiency is at the heart of its budget proposals and Essex was recently rated in the top ten most productive councils in the country”

ii) It was decided to take the Highways devolution pilot item off the agenda.

19/25 Council

MDC have reduced the grant to the Citizens Advice Bureau from £74,000 to £63,000 but the CAB should through efficiencies and other savings be able to maintain all their current services.

Funding for Burnham and Maldon Tourist Information Office’s is being withdrawn. Although tourism is on the increase and the official figures state that 4.3 million visitors come to the district each year only 20,000 use the information offices which cost £140,000 to run. The number of Tourists visiting the Website has increased massively over the last few years and as a result the Council will be investing more in its digital platforms including ticket sales. It is hoped that volunteers and other third parties could take over the running of the TIC’s.

Phase One of Full Council Transformation (FCT) has been completed. Phase two has started and it is anticipated that overall the staff levels after FCT will reduce by 15%. Case Workers who are multi- tasking will now deal with any general queries. Monitoring of performance and service delivery which remains strong is ongoing.

Phase two starts now and will continue until October 2019 after which time the whole council will be digitalised making the customer experience and service better and overall more accessible. Full Council Transformation will ensure that Maldon District Council remains sustainable and autonomous for the foreseeable future.

Signed by the Chairman …………………………………………...….. Dated: 18/3/2019 Page 3 of 6 Cllr Simon Hollington

Stow Maries Parish Council: Council Meeting – Minutes 18/2/2019 19/26 Planning i) o new planning applications to review. ii) DC Penny Channer stated that DC Sue White and she had an appointment with the Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome Consultative Committee in March and Cllr eil Gilmore is the Parish Council Representative on that committee. iii) There is an examination being carried out regarding the Local Plan. The Recreational Avoidance and Mitigation Scheme is a supplementary planning document that will provide additional guidance to policies laid down in the plan.

19/27 Highways and Public rights of way The clerk provided an update in regard to all outstanding highway defects – six in all • Church Lane Footway Defect – Ref No. 2542097 ECC have investigated, risk assessed and recorded this issue and we are in the process of scheduling works. Clerk to try and find out when.

• Church Lane –Carriageway Defect – Ref No. 1658530 ECC have investigated and risk assessed, it will regularly be monitored and future inspection may result in re-prioritising this defect.

• Church Lane – carriageway defects – Ref No. 20228454 As above.

• Lower Burnham Road – Signing Defect – Ref No. 2542177 As above

• The Street – Signing Defects Ref No. 2542188 ECC have investigated, risk assessed and initial works to make it safe have been carried out. A further assessment will be carried out to determine if a permanent repair is required in the future.

• Bridleway Bridge No. 24 – Furniture on PRoW – Ref: 2542192 – works completed .

The Clerk spoke to Matt Irvin who is the engineer who has been dealing with the Railway Bridge on Bridleway 24 (Church Lane) on behalf of the Historical Railways Estate (on behalf of the Department of Transport). HRE are responsible for the upkeep of the structure of the bridge and ECC are responsible for the roadway going over the bridge. Matt Irvin told the Clerk that a huge restructuring was going on as three quarters of their Inspection Staff were employed by Carillion Group who went into receivership on 15/1/19. It was hoped that they would have carried out the assessment during the course of this financial year, but has now been put back to the next financial year (2019/20) HRE have provisionally carried out a temporary repair. The bridge is down to be inspected every 3 months. A date of assessment and when that happened the timeline that the work would be carried out. However he did say that it is a possibility that as it is a 3-span bridge that they might infill the two outer spans, leaving the centre over, this was just a guest as it has been done on several other bridges, but obviously no plans can be made until the full assessment is carried out. Also the following a meeting with some ladies from the Bridleway Association, it was thought that they would organise a survey.

Signed by the Chairman …………………………………………...….. Dated: 18/3/2019 Page 4 of 6 Cllr Simon Hollington

Stow Maries Parish Council: Council Meeting – Minutes 18/2/2019 19/28 Financial matters i) Members approved the payments for the month in the total amount of £659.54 – Clerk requested that Cllr Hollington transfer a total of £769.54 into the current account with immediate effect so that the cheques raised could be sent out and this amount included £110.00 for The Smythe Hall approved in the previous month. ii) Clerk unable to present bank reconciliation as did not have copy of current bank statements. iii) Members approved signing the mandate in order to allow the Clerk access to the telephone banking system. iv) Members approved introducing an on-line banking system, so that transfers and payments can be made on line reducing the need for cheque payments and introducing a feeder account keeping the current account topped up to £500.00. Clerk to obtain appropriate forms to action. 19/29 Defibrillator for the Village i) Members discussed the dates for training– Clerk to liaise with CHT regarding what dates they were able to do that coincided with the availability of The Smythe Hall. The First Aid Trainer who will run the second part of the course said Wednesday’s was good for him. ii) Cllr Herriott updated those present, that everything had been confirmed with the ambulance service and site checks had been set up in readiness for the equipment to be used.

19/30 Correspondence i) o further correspondence to distribute other than that already circulated via email or placed as an item on the agenda. 19/31 External Meetings

The next Dengie Hundred Group of Parish Council’s meeting to be held on 20 th March 2019, any items you wish to go on the agenda to be sent to the Clerk or direct to Miriam Holden the Clerk for the DHGPC.

19/32 Information Exchange and Items for the next meeting

Clerk to ascertain information pertaining to the cost of a Bridleways Survey if this was possible.

19/33 January Blues Buster

Clerk had misunderstood at previous meeting and this item was not meant to be on the agenda. Clerk to remove.

19/34 Next Council meeting on 18 th March 2019 - Cllr John Pilgrim sent his apologies for this meeting. 19/35 Exclusion of Press and Public Under the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960, the public and representatives of the press and broadcast media be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business as publicity would be

Signed by the Chairman …………………………………………...….. Dated: 18/3/2019 Page 5 of 6 Cllr Simon Hollington

Stow Maries Parish Council: Council Meeting – Minutes 18/2/2019 prejudicial to the public interest because of the confidential nature of the business to be transacted. 19/36 Clerk’s contract The changes had been made and members agreed and the Chairman signed the contract of employment for Mrs Sarah Sayer.

Meeting closed at 8.50 pm

Signed by the Chairman …………………………………………...….. Dated: 18/3/2019 Page 6 of 6 Cllr Simon Hollington