MINUTES OF THE PARISH COUNCIL MEETING HELD IN THE VILLAGE HALL ON MONDAY 10th NOVEMBER 2014 AT 7.30 PM

Present: Parish Councillors: Sandra Nunn (chairperson), Lindsey Squire, Ray Perrins, John Acklaw District Councillors: Sue White, John Archer Parish Clerk: Christine Wakeling 58 members of the public

92. Apologies for absence: Cllr Penny Channer

93. Declarations of Interest: None

94. Minutes of Parish Council meeting held on Monday 13th October approved and signed.

95. Talk Time: No speaker at this meeting

96. An invitation was extended by the Chairperson to anyone who would like to join the Parish Council following the resignation of Cllr Moss.

97. Clerk's Report: No report; all items included in the full agenda.

98. In accordance with Standing Order 13d, the meeting was adjourned for 15 minutes to receive questions or statements from the public. No comments or questions received.

99. Village Matters / Information

99.i District Councillor’s Report: Cllr White reported that the Norton Pub in has now been registered as a community asset. Following its purchase by the local community it has now been secured for village use for the future. She encouraged villagers to support and register for the Community Messaging Service on www.essexcommunitymessaging.org. (see minute no. 99.x). She finally confirmed that the public hearings for the LDP will commence on 23/1/15 at 3 Rivers Golf Club. Derek Lawrence has left the Council as Head of Planning; he has been replaced by Nick Fenwick as Interim Head. Cllr Archer confirmed that Mr Roe’s waste business will be moving in the near future from North Fambridge to Station Road Industrial site in

99.ii County Councillor’s Report: A full copy of this report will be posted on the village website www.essexinfo.net/northfambridge  Cllrs voted for more powers to be devolved from government to the County Council  Trading Standards are advising residents to beware of rogue traders and cowboy builders taking advantage of the winter weather and looking for storm damage.  The Essex School Library Service has launched the Essex Book Award, a county wide reading group aimed at KS3 students designed to create debate and discussion amongst young readers.  Get Active Essex is a campaign to encourage a more active and healthy county. Clubs and activities are listed on www.activeessex.org/getactive.  Essex has been granted a permit scheme. Anyone who wants to dig up the highway (including utilities, developers and Essex own works) will need to ask for permission from Essex, rather than just notifying that they are going to do it.  9 out of 10 people have backed the Council’s aims and ambitions for the future with regard to supporting local communities over the next 4 years.  £1m has been pledged by ECC for A14 improvements  ECC will be working with districts to help residents secure a better deal on the cost of gas and electricity bills. The aim is to establish a collective energy switching scheme.  A new Essex-China deal to set up a solar panel company could result in 150 jobs and a £100m economic boost for the County in the next 5 years.  New Superfast Broadband is aiming to reach 87% of Essex premises by the end of summer 2016; hopefully to include North Fambridge. More information is available on www.superfastessex.org.  3000 apprenticeships have been recruited since the launch of the apprenticeship programme 5 years ago.  The Essex Means Business Campaign run by ECC show cased the county as a place for innovation, skills and enterprise. See www.investessex.co.uk.  Potholes on main roads have fallen by 80% in 3 months by doubling the number of crews fixing the roads. Over 11000 defects have been repaired.  Following a public consultation ECC have confirmed that the Meals on Wheels service will be continued.  The percentage of primary school pupils achieving the expected level in reading, writing and maths has risen dramatically. Essex has improved on its ranking against all authorities.  The work on the Army and Navy Roundabout is progressing well. The works will create a wider footway and cycle path, an additional lane along Parkway, relocate the pedestrian crossing and extend the slip lane.

99.iii Highways Nothing to report

99.iv Recreation Ground/Jubilee Garden The clerk was asked to chase MDC for the maintenance quote for the play equipment at the recreation ground.

99.v Doctor’s Surgery The Nurse Practitioner is now running a surgery in The School House on Monday and Thursday mornings. Anyone attending must be a patient at the Burnham Surgery however.

99.vi First Responders Scheme Cllr Perrins reported that there are now only 4 members on the team and as such cannot be expected to give 24/7 cover. Ideally, more younger people are needed, even 19/20 year olds and this age group will be targeted in another request in In Touch.

99.vii Emergency Planning Files The update of the files is progressing well.

99.viii Station Planters MDC had given a quote of £152 to empty the planters at the station and refill with good soil. As the planters were originally sponsored by Yacht Haven, it was agreed that the clerk would write to them to see if they would be willing make a contribution. Alternatively another business may like to sponsor the planters. If this is not successful, Cllrs agreed that the MDC would be accepted.

99.ix Blocked Ditches at Hirtes Corner Cllr Squire reported that she had attended a meeting with local residents at Hirtes Corner and Lee Sensier from Essex County Flood Management team. Rangers had been asked to cut back the hedge and overgrowth. They will also clear the ditch on the front of Hirtes Corner as it is ECC owned but other ditches remain the responsibility of landowners.

99.x Essex Community Messaging Service PC Sam Pateman has notified all Parish Councils and Neighbourhood Watch Teams about the new Essex Community Messaging Service. This has been created by and allows them to direct email, text and voice messages to specific areas within Essex. He asked that as many people as possible should be encouraged to sign up via the website www.essexcommunitymessaging.org. Details will be placed in In Touch.

100. Planning Matters

100.i New Applications: FUL/MAL/14/00836. Erection of a dwelling @ land rear of Clover Cottage, Stephenson Road. This application has been turned down twice on appeal. The main objection remains the same; that the access would be onto a farm track designed for agricultural use only, this is not a road. The Parish Council unanimously opposed the application.

OUT/MAL/14/01018 Outline application for up to 30 dwellings @ Manor Farm, The Avenue. Cllr Nunn explained that nothing had changed with this new application from the previous one submitted in 2013 (OUT/MAL/13/00473) which is currently under appeal. Residents who sent in objection letters last time, will need to re-submit their arguments under the new application number. There is more clarity on the sewerage arguments following the production of the Joint Position Statement from Anglian Water, the Environment Agency and the ECC Flood Partnership. It will require an investment of over £2million to upgrade sewerage facilities. The Parish Council voted unanimously to object to this application.

OUT/MAL/14/01016 Outline application for up to 75 market and affordable dwellings, a village centre of up to 1000 sq m of flexible commercial and community floorspace, a 1.8ha village green and public open space @ land west of Fambridge Road. The Chairman closed the meeting to allow members of the public to ask questions or put forward comments about this application. It was asked if these houses were to be in addition to the 75 houses allocated under the strategic allocation of the LDP i.e. windfall development. Cllr Squire explained that a definite answer could not be given until the DPD (rural allocation) had been decided in 2015/16. Cllrs considered this application to be premature as no decision had been received on the pre-submission of MDC’s LDP to the planning Inspectorate. It was felt that any development in North Fambridge should be considered as part of the rural allocation giving the people of the village, as in other rural villages in the District, the opportunity to say where and what type of development they would prefer. The ‘outline’ nature of the application was not good enough; issues like the sewerage infrastructure provision could not be ‘sorted out later’. 75 houses could be considered suburbanisation in a village of the size of North Fambridge. The CPRE support a government campaign not to build on agricultural land when there are still plenty of brownfield sites available. A full survey is required. The new traffic survey in the application does not take into account new traffic that will be generated from the new developments in Burnham and South Maldon. SUDS remain a problem as the clay soil in North Fambridge means that the water table in the village is very high and surface water does not drain away as demonstrated at Hirtes Corner and Franklin Road.

The Parish Council’s letter of objections was approved by all Councillors. Their objections were endorsed by 46 members of the public. A summary of the main points will be emailed to residents at their request and a copy posted on the village website and facebook page.

100.ii Decisions made by MDC: None

100.iii Deliveries have been made recently to residents in Rookery Lane addressed to the Mayfair Industrial Estate. Concern was raised about any potential industrial development planned and the Parish Council will make enquires of MDC.

101. Financial Matters

101.i Bank Balances Community Account as @ 31/10/14 £ 7065.69 Bus Res Account as @ 30/9/14 £ 4898.35 Total £11,964.04

101.ii Payments to be made and agreed by Councillors: £15 affiliation fee to Hundred Group of Parish Councils £3000 to North Fambridge Village Hall Management Committee for maintenance 2014-15

101.iii Payments received: None

101.iv Half year accounts approved

102. Council Matters Cllrs Squire and Nunn reported on a recent tour of 4 affordable housing schemes in the District which had been set up in areas like and the Hanningfields by the Parish Councils in conjunction with Housing Associations. All of the houses were of a high order, built to specified standards and often superior in quality to private developments. This can only be afforded if developers let them have the land fairly cheaply. All the schemes were for villagers and local people only and were to be kept for the local community to inhabit. All the schemes were wanted rather than being imposed and Parish Councils and local residents were heavily involved in their development.

The EALC had passed on information from the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2013 that each issue of a pamphlet, magazine, book or newspaper should be deposited with the British Library. The requirement to be deposited depends on whether or not it can be considered to have been published. A work is said to have been published when copies of it are issued to the public. The place of publication or printing, the nature of the imprint and size of distribution are immaterial. It is the act of issuing or distributing to the public in the UK which renders a work liable for deposit. The EALC is taking further advice from a NALC solicitor on this matter.

103. Councillor's Question Time None

104. Village Hall Management Committee Report No report

105. Media Contact In Touch will contain items as mentioned in these minutes, specifically First Responders and the Essex Messaging Service. / 106. Next Meeting The next Parish Council meeting will be on Monday 8th December at 7.30 pm in the village hall.

107. Clerk's salary and expenses approved £389.22