Brinkley Parish Council Minutes of Parish council meeting held on 20th July 2016 At 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Brinkley

Councillors present: Cllr. I. Monks, Cllr. N. Beamish, Cllr. H. Belsey, Cllr M Coley, Cllr J Mitchell

Present: Hayley Livermore – Parish Clerk. Alan Sharp- District councillor

Guests Present:

Item Action

16/07/1 Public Forum – LGA 1972, Section 100(1):

Cllr Eike Floettmann attended and gave his resignation. This was accepted by the council and Eike was thanked for his hard work.

Cllr beamish had been contacted by a parishioner concerned that there was no gate in the play area. This was discussed and it was agreed that no action was to be taken due to the fact that Rospa and ECDC had never highlighted this a safety aspect in their reports and half of the equipment at the play area was now outside the gated area.

16/07/02 1. LOCAL AUTHORITY REPORTS: i. Cambridgeshire County Council- No representative present and no report sent

ii. East Cambs District Council-

Cllr Sharp reported that travellers had recently occupied land at Anglesey Abbey and Bottisham village college and to be vigilant. Cllr Sharp to contact the clerk with details of what we can do should this situation arise in Brinkley.

On 28th June ECDC voted to move forward with the Cambridgshire/Peterborough devolution deal. This will give £20 million per year for 30 years for infrastructure. As part of this deal there must be an elected mayor.

Plans are going ahead for the rail station at Soham which may relieve pressure on the station at Ely.

The council confirmed to Cllr Sharp that we have received the Rural services grant.

iii. Cambridgeshire Police- No representative present and no report sent.

1 Brinkley Parish Council Minutes of Parish council meeting held on 20th July 2016 At 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Brinkley 16/07/03 Accepted Apologies for absence - LGA 1972, Section 85(1) & (2): Cllr. M. Shuter

16/07/04 Members Declaration of Interest (for items on the agenda) – LGA 2000 Part III: None

16/07/05 TO SIGN AND APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING.

The minutes of 18th May 16 were approved and signed by the chairman.

16/07/06 Update on allotment water account

The clerk has updated her details with Anglian water and is now receiving statements. Water usage for 15-16 was £79. The direct debit will therefore be increasing as of August 16 from £4 a month to £7 a month. Income for water received from allotment holders is currently £72.50 per year, however 2 allotments are vacant at present. It was agreed to leave the amount allotment holders pay for water the same at present and review in 1 year.

16/07/07 Update on boundary cottage footpath

The clerk spoke to John Troy who had been unable to reach this land due to wet weather. It was reported that the area has now been cut and the footpath is now mostly passable.

16/07/08 Overhanging tree branches on high street

A number of houses from Brinkley Hall upwards the high street have overhanging branches and hedges that are encroaching the footpath. It was agreed that the clerk will write to these properties asking them to maintain these as soon as possible.

2 Brinkley Parish Council Minutes of Parish council meeting held on 20th July 2016 At 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Brinkley .

16/07/09 VAT refund The clerk submitted a VAT refund to HMRC for £325 on 4th July 16. We await to hear from them regarding this.

16/07/10 Correspondence

The clerk had received a request from Suffolk accident rescue service. There is a SARS trained doctor living in Brinkley and the service is used in this area. It was agreed that Cllr Coley will look into this further and report at the next meeting

16/07/11 Planning applications

There is one planning application that has just been processed by ECDC at 3 Green Park, Brinkley. The clerk will advise of this by email.

16/07/12 Finance: Parish Council Bank Balances and reconciliation

The bank sheet and bank reconciliation was circulated before the meeting. As of 30 June 16 there is a total of £22078.77 across the 2 accounts. Spending is in line with budget.

Cheques since the last meeting

Resolved 16/07/12.02 Cheques payments since the last meeting. Signed by Cllr. N Beamish and Cllr. Harry Belsey.

312 Fenland leisure Playground works 22.80

3 Brinkley Parish Council Minutes of Parish council meeting held on 20th July 2016 At 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Brinkley 313 Fenland leisure Playground works 909.68 314 ECDC Play area inspection 24.00 315 Came and Company Insurance 368.25

Cheques for signing and approval Resolved 16/07/12.03 It was agreed to approve the payments of the following outstanding invoices and the cheques were approved and signed by Cllr. Ian Monks and Cllr. Nick Beamish. 316 Hayley Livermore Expenses £53.27

CGM change of bank details

CGM have changed their bank details and are also changing the amount of the standing order from £47.30 a month to £61.30 a month , due to the extra grass cutting we have asked for this year. Cllr Monks and Cllr Beamish signed a letter to this effect to go to Lloyds bank.

Parish Matters 16/05/13 Allotments

There are now 2 and a half vacant plots at the allotment. These were advertised earlier on in the year but no interest was shown. The standard of upkeep at the allotments was discussed and it was agreed that this is not satisfactory. It was agreed that the clerk will write to allotment holders to ask them to maintain the plots as well as the areas around them. If the standard is not raised the allotments may be in jeopardy as the landowner can reclaim the land. It was also agreed to ask Robert Barber to cut down the overgrown vacant plot in the entrance to the allotments and mow between all plots as he did last year.

Playground works

1. Fenland Leisure Products complete the refurbishment work in June viz:

Supplied and fitted new rope ladder, Supplied and fitted new scrambling net, Repacked the slide support timber and put in bolts to make it stable, Shortened the chain on the log walkway 4 Brinkley Parish Council Minutes of Parish council meeting held on 20th July 2016 At 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Brinkley so that there is no gap in the walkway, Retensioned the aerial walkway cable, Supplied and fitted new centre strap on kiddies swing. Cllr Belsey has signed off the formal acceptance of the work done. Fenland Leisure Product submitted their invoices: £19 ex VAT for the replacement centre strap on the kiddies swing, £758.07 ex VAT for the rest of the work. These invoices have been settled in June

2. Cllr Belsey has completed the post project review paperwork to the Wadlow Wind Farm Community Fund who contributed £600 to the cost of the refurbishment, including photographs of the completed work at the end of June.

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Robert Barber offered to trim the play area for £50, the work comprises: Trimming the two hedges on each side of the play area, Trimming the Willow tunnel, Putting down weed killer around the Col. Kaye memorial seat. Cllr Belsey has asked him, on behalf of the Parish Council, to proceed with the work. He has not finished the work yet but soon will.

3. Work that needs to be done:

The Col. Kaye memorial seat needs treatment. It has been varnished and some of that is peeling off, exposing the bare wood. Cllr belsey thinks the bench probably needs treating with a coloured preservative but will need to speak with somebody more knowledgeable on the subject. We need to retreat the seat, or whatever, before winter 2016.

The retaining wood/ toe guard keeping in the bark needs attention. This is the ‘trip hazard’ in the ECDC inspector’s reports. The wood has begun to deteriorate. Cllr Belsey plans to consult with the ECDC safety inspector to arrive at a mutually agreeable outcome, rather than a straight replacement. A suitable solution to be advised for implementation in Summer 2017

LHI Funding and proposed works

The council were given the news in June that following an additional allocation of funding, we were to be given £6500 of the £9000 requested from the LHI. We were also given a rural services grant of £2900 from ECDC which was agreed to be spent on speed measures if needed. The clerk was contacted by Jacob Hobbs, technician at ECDC with 2 proposals for the village. The first included a raised platform at Beechcroft and 2 sets of speed cushions, at a total of £14,000. The second included 3 sets of speed cushions along the high street at a cost of £6500. It was discussed and the council agreed that this needs to be discussed at a more in depth site visit with highways before the September PC meeting. Clerk to try to arrange. Councillor Mitchell had been looking into applying for a grant from the Cambridgeshire Community fund towards speed measures and agreed to submit this. Clerk to assist with documents needed.

5 Brinkley Parish Council Minutes of Parish council meeting held on 20th July 2016 At 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Brinkley

The date for the next meeting was agreed as Wednesday 9th September 2016 at 7:30pm to be held in the Memorial Hall. There being no further business the Chairman thanked everyone for their attendance and declared the meeting closed at 21:25pm.

Signed______Date______

6 Brinkley Parish Council Minutes of Parish council meeting held on 20th July 2016 At 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Brinkley

7 Brinkley Parish Council Minutes of Parish council meeting held on 20th July 2016 At 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Brinkley

8 Brinkley Parish Council Minutes of Parish council meeting held on 20th July 2016 At 7.30pm in the Memorial Hall, High Street, Brinkley

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