Minutes of a Meeting of Manuden Parish Council held in the Village Hall on Thursday 20th February 2013 at 8.15 pm

Present: Cllr L Atkinson (Chairman) Cllr J Archer (Vice Chairman) Cllr J Ellis Cllr F Womack In Attendance: Mr C Bartram(Clerk) C Cllr R Gooding 7 members of the public. Apologies Cllr C Forster; Cllr S Hannington; Cllr J Kershaw, D Cllr R Loughlin There were no Disclosures of Interest. Minutes of The minutes of the previous meeting were approved and signed. Previous Meeting Matters Arising Flooding: the work of the Environment Agency, Thames Water and ECC The Chairman began the meeting by expressing sympathy to all those residents who that had been affected by the recent flooding. He identified several points of real concern where attention was very much needed. These were the roadside bank at the northern end of the village, the drainage system at the top of Butt Lane; the centre and southern end of the village and the maintenance of and widening of the . There then followed a wide ranging discussion which focused on the works of the different agencies involved and the lack of maintenance of the river, ditches and drains and the inability of the drains to cope with the deluge. It was decided that an open meeting should be convened to which representatives of the different agencies would be invited in order to try to identify long term solutions. CCllr Gooding agreed to be fully involved in the meeting.

There was nothing further to add at the moment on the Almshouses. Cllr Womack said she would be writing again to the Chief Information Officer at CC expressing the irritation and frustration of the Council in not receiving a satisfactory answer regarding the delay the village was suffering in Essex’s Superfast Broadband Project. Feedback about the Village Newcomers Pack has been very positive. We now have a Defibrillator which is ready to be installed. Training sessions in the use of the apparatus will be organised. The idea of a Village Emergency Telephone System will be explored at these training sessions. Road Safety in Manuden: the clerk was asked to contact ECC regarding their lack of action in testing the slipperiness of the road near the Church which many councillors feel contributes to accidents there. The Council felt that bollards as proposed by Essex Highways in that area were more likely to cause serious accidents than reduce the risk. Other issues There was general disappointment that ECC had not listened to the Council’s comments regarding the positioning of a new Proposed 30 mph Speed Limit at the northern end of the village; Cllr Kershaw was asked to draft a letter of objection for the Council. The Village Clean- up is now set for the 22nd March. The councillors expressed no interest for Scheme.

1 MVCC. The Chairman reported some small delay to the construction work largely as a Sub result of the bad weather. Bookings are being taken for the centre from 1st May. Committee Pelham Structures will host an Open Day for all village residents on 26th April with a Reports more high profile formal opening at a later date. A General Manager and a Caretaker have been recruited MPFA Cllr Archer there had been very little soccer played because of the poor weather. There were no reports from Open Gardens or the Fun Run committees. Thanks were again made to Mr Wing for his efforts in having the bridge repaired at Uppend.

Plans Applications Received:

UTT/14/0303/LB 85A Mallows Green Mallows Green Road Manuden Bishops Stortford CM23 1BS There were no comments on this application

UTT/14/0199/HHF 79 The Street Manuden Bishop's Stortford CM23 1DW There were no comments on this application

UTT/14/0349/NMA 82 The Street Manuden Non Material Amendment to UTT/13/2038/HHF - Removal of projection to window in rear elevation, retention of existing tiles to garage and entrance porch, retention if existing render to 1st floor with repair and re-painting, sand/cement render to rear extension instead of synthetic render, columns to projecting bay at rear of property

It is not possible to comment on this application

Applications determined UTT/13/2786/FUL Land At The Street Variation of condition 2 (approved plans) of planning permission UTT/0692/12/FUL (Community/Sports Hall, car parking and 14 no. dwellings) to allow revisions regarding plot 6 (no. 6 Langlands), plot 3 (no. 3 Langlands), and the addition of three underground storage tanks adjacent to the village hall Approve with Conditions.

Finance The Council approved the following cheques The Community Heartbeat Trust …. £2020.00 Wilby and Burnett ………………….£8100.00 MC&SC …………………………….£810.00 PCC …………………………………£800.00 C Bartram ………………………..…£2400.00 PAYE ………………………………. £600.00 UDC for CA Skip …………………... £1614.58 Hewitsons …………………………… £1000.00

The Clerk had received a cheque of £750.00 from the Stansted Airport Trust and two cheques of £6750.00 and £840.00 from MC&SC. There is now a balance of £4529.70 with £2284.02 in the Business Account and £2245.68 in the Treasurers Account

2 Correspond The Clerk had received a proposal from a member of the public regarding the provision ence of Christmas Trees for the annual Christmas Carol singing. It was pointed out that this event is organised by the WI and that Christmas Trees for the event is not a concern of the Parish Council. It is clear, however, that the proposal to include Christmas Trees in the woodland of deciduous native species currently being planted on the Community Centre site would not be countenanced by the MVCC Steering Committee. The clerk reported that the proposed Bridleway at Uppend had now been approved. The Council decided not to enter the ECC Village of the Year contest.

Any Other There were questions about when the church wall would be repaired and regarding the Business amount of moss on some footpaths as well as, once again, the poor quality of the repairs to the pot holes in the village. There being no further business the meeting ended at 10:30 pm

Date of the next meeting 10th April 2014

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