Shillington Parish Council Was Held on Tuesday 3 March 2020 at 7.45Pm at the Congregational Church, Church Street, Shillington
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An ordinary meeting of Shillington Parish Council was held on Tuesday 3 March 2020 at 7.45pm at The Congregational Church, Church Street, Shillington. Members Present: Mrs Sally Stapleton (Chair) Mr John Clark Miss Tracey Petrie Mr Derek Turner Rev’d Angus McCormick Mr Mark Thyne Mr David Mott Mr John Hyde Mr Tony Howells Ms Alison Graham Also present: Sue Chalmers and Helen Smith (Clerk to the Council). 1) There were no apologies for absence. 2) There were no declarations of interest. 3) Minutes of the ordinary meeting held 4th February 2020 were agreed and signed with an amendment to the second bullet point in the Report of the Central Bedfordshire Councillor as follows: • Central Government’s desire to balance funding for less affluent local authorities means that Central Bedfordshire Council is considered a more affluent area. The 2% ring-fenced for social care is being reduced nationally. 4) Matters arising not covered by the agenda (Information only). The meeting was not adjourned as there were no members of the public present. Sue Chalmers had been invited to attend the meeting to speak on agenda item 6. 5) DISCUSSION WITH ARAGON LAND & PLANNING a) This item was deferred to the April meeting as the representative from Aragon was unable to attend. 6) NEW COMMUNITY BUILDING a) Sue Chalmers gave an update on the community building project which included: • All tenders are now back and there are preferred contractors on both schemes. The schemes had come in at £2.3million for the Community Building and £4.567m for the residential development. • Programmes of work have been developed for both the residential and community building schemes. These both have lead-in times of 10-12 weeks so the start of construction is likely to be delayed until the end of the Summer at the earliest. • There have been £69k savings which can be used to help fund internal works. • They are still waiting for the Land registry on the area in front of village hall. If it is not possible to register this land then title insurance can be obtained to cover this. • The Development Agreement and contract are with Settle – there is a meeting on 26/03/2020 to agree this. They are chasing Settle for the S106 agreement. • An application has been lodged with the Charity for the new combined charity – backlogs mean this is not likely to be considered until the end of March. • There was a meeting two weeks ago with the Chief Executive of Inspire (who are merging with Stevenage Leisure). They are interested in considering the management of the building along a similar agreement to Silsoe. There were some reservations expressed about an external organisation managing the building and where this would leave the Social Club. The response was that other buildings in the local area which were run by local volunteers had experienced issues with covering costs (especially in the early years when there is likely to be a loss). With an external organisation, the costs and liabilities for the building are with a 3rd party. Reassurance was given that Stevenage Leisure are a registered Charity with a Trustee Board which oversees the contract. The contract is renewable and has performance indicators built in. Stevenage Leisure/ Inspire are producing a business plan for consideration. [Addendum for clarification following meeting of 5th May 2020 - A Board of Trustees will be set up for the new community building charity which will include two representatives from each of the existing charities (Village Hall Committee & Playing Fields Management Committee)]. • The Social Club would still be able to hold music events etc, the bar would just be run externally. Having a Gym in the building is key to covering overheads and keeping the costs down. • There was a discussion about the need to consider alternative models as well e.g. employing a hall manager and other external organisations. • Cllr Clark expressed his thanks to Cllr Stapleton and Sue Chalmers for all their time and effort over many years to get the project to this stage. • Cllr Graham commented that Central Bedfordshire Council is using Silsoe as model for all new community buildings / sports facilities in the area. Silsoe has been very financially successful. 7) PLANNING (Next Development Management Committee meeting at Central Bedfordshire Council 4th March 2020): a) DECISIONS from Central Bedfordshire Council: i) CB/19/03767/FULL Change of use from a workshop / store to a GRANTED The Workshop, Hanscombe End one bedroom, two person C3 dwellinghouse. 28/01/20 Road, Shillington ii) CB/19/04034/FULL Rear side single storey extension & GRANTED 12 Church View Avenue, demolition of lobby. 03/02/20 Shillington b) NEW/REVISED APPLICATIONS: i) CB/TCA/20/00053 Works to trees within a Conservation Area: T3, SUPPORT – 5 Hanscombe End Road, Hornbeam Tree, Crown reduce to previous unanimous Shillington reduction points, reduction of approximately 3m. Lift crown to approximately 3m. T4, Plum tree, Reduce in height by 2 to 2.5m and bring sides into shape. T5 Cherry tree, Crown reduce close to previous reduction, reduction of approximately 2.5m. T6, Purple Plum tree, Reduce in height by up to 3.5m and shape. Comments by: 27th February 2020 – extension requested. ii) CB/20/00444/LB Listed Building: Demolition of attached single SUPPORT – The Old Rectory, Higham storey garage; two storey front & side extensions unanimous Road, Higham Gobion (over part existing footprint at side); single storey front, side & rear extensions; first & second floor alterations; new garden wall and gates; & residential oil tank and boiler store behind garden wall (amended to include realignment of front bay window and additional window at ground floor to front elevation) Comments by: 16th March 2020 iii) CB/TCA/20/00062 Works to trees within a Conservation Area: No comment - Shillington Village Green, Remove dead wood of Ash Tree (1), remove dead Application High Road, Shillington wood of Lime Tree (2), remove dead wood of Ash made by Parish Tree (3) and remove hanging dead wood and the Council two lowest branches on the south side of Ash Tree (4) Comments by: 5th March 2020 iv) CB/TCA/20/00079 Works to trees within a Conservation Area: Pyrus None - War Memorial Garden, Calleryane x 2 – Reduce crown height and Application High Road, Shillington formative prune the rest of the crown. made by Parish Comments by: Council v) CB/20/00728/RM Reserved Matters: (following the Outline approval DO NOT Land adjacent to 129 Bury CB/16/04240/OUT Erection of 3 bedroom SUPPORT – Road, Shillington detached dwelling with single garage with addition Unanimous, on of paddock land as an extension to the rear grounds of garden) Reserved matters sought to Appearance inadequate and Landscaping. parking Comments by 30th March 2020 provision. c) INFORMATION: i) Notification received from Central Bedfordshire Council of Enforcement Notice served regarding the siting of a mobile home without planning permission on Land at Bury Road, Shillington. d) APPEALS: i) Appeal Reference APP/P0240/W/20/3245286. Notification received of a planning appeal submitted on behalf of Lancot Developments Ltd. in relation to CB/19/03476/OUT - Erection of two residential chalet type dwellings at Land off Gravenhurst Road, Shillington. Representations to Planning Inspectorate by 23rd March 2020. Clerk to respond to the Planning Inspectorate re-iterating the Council’s comments to the application. 8) REPORT OF CENTRAL BEDFORDSHIRE COUNCILLOR (5mins): Ward Cllr Alison Graham gave a verbal report which included: • Speed control measures at High Road / Upton End Road - the average cost to install a raised table is £10-15k, for average speed cameras it is £50k plus ongoing maintenance of 5% of the installation costs per annum. • Rural Matched Funding Scheme is on hold until 2021-22 to catch up with back log. • Local Plan – The latest version shows 12 houses in Shillington rather than the original 40. • Boundary changes – Due to the increase in the numbers of residences in some areas, the Boundary Commission has requested for changes to Ward boundaries so that there are 3600 dwellings per ward member. This will increase the number of Central Bedfordshire Councillors from 59 to 63. Silsoe and Shillington is too big to be single member ward – it is the largest and is 27% above the 3600 residences. Central Bedfordshire Leadership team have created a plan which has been submitted to the Boundary commission for a 3-member ward (“Wrest Park Ward”) which includes Barton, Silsoe, Gravenhurst, Shillington and Stondon. This has been based on numbers and does not seem to take account of whether there is any affinity between the communities and any natural boundaries. The Independent opposition Councillors have submitted an alternative proposal for a 2- member ward for Barton and Silsoe (with the A6 forming a natural boundary) and a 2-member Ward for Shillington, Gravenhurst and Meppershall. There will be a public consultation and the Parish Council can comment. There was a discussion about this and the majority consensus among Councillors was that the 2-member ward model would be preferred, although one Councillor abstained from expressing an opinion without further details being available. 9) POLICE MATTERS: a) January Crime statistics emailed to Councillors 6th February 2020. b) February 2020 newsletter from Bedfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Kathryn Holloway emailed to Councillors 10th February 2020. c) Notification received of Police and Crime Commissioner’s Annual report launch event 19th March 2020 in Luton – Cllrs interested in attending to contact the Clerk for details. 10) FINANCE: a) Council agreed not to pay the invoice for cutting War Memorial grass because the work was undertaken outside of the contract schedule and without an additional instruction.