1 NEWTON ANNUAL PARISH MEETING MINUTES OF ANNUAL PARISH MEETING HELD ON 5TH JUNE 2019 IN NEWTION VILLAGE HALL AT 7.00 PM PRESENT:Councillors L Peden (Chairman), B Belson, C Eggleton Sally Walmesley (Acting Clerk) Members of the public: 1 1. TO ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Cllr Topping and Cllr Bradbury 2. FINANCIAL REPORT 2018/19 The following financial report had been prepared by the Acting Clerk, Ang Papworth, and this was presented to the meeting. The Financial Officer is pleased to report that the unaudited End of Year Accounts & Annual Governance and Accountability Return for 2018/19 otherwise known as the (AGAR) have been completed and are ready for approval by Members at the Council meeting to be held on the 5th June 2019 after this APM. Once approved they will be sent to the internal auditor for audit. The approved documents and the completed internal auditors report along with the Notice of Public Rights and Publication of Unaudited Annual Governance and Accountability Return will be on public display from 1st July 2019 The end of year accounts shows a general fund balance of £12,307.47. Funds of £5,040 are held in a Reserve account for the 2015/16 Traffic Calming costs (invoiced not received yet) to include S106 Monies. Funds of £2,500 are in a holding account to cover works on the Parish Plan when required. The Bank Balances of the Parish Council to be brought forward as at the 31st March 2019 are £19,847.47. Cllr Eggleton advised that there had not been a lot of expenditure during 2018/19 only routine expenses. The play area was likely to incur more expenditure this current year. The Chairman referred to a previous safety inspection by Playdale which -Clerk identified areas of concern. It was agreed that an up to date RoSPA report be obtained so that the repairs/replacement could be actioned. The Clerk to arrange for the inspection. Cllr Topping would be asked to oversee the play area. 3. CHAIRMANS REPORT The following Chairman’s report had been distributed to Councillors and was available at the meeting. This is a brief update on what we have achieved over the last year and also what we hope to be working towards achieving over the following year Firstly, we welcomed Councillor Eggleton to the PC and thanked outgoing Councillor Benson for all his work over the many years he has been on the council. Clerk to the council, Angela Papworth has also had to step down due to personal reasons. Ang is also thanked for her support to the council. Newton phone box library Most recently we had the grand opening of the phone box library. Councillor Bradbury and the other volunteers are thanked for the hard work that has gone into renovating the phone box and organising the library donations. There was an excellent turn out for the grand opening and it seems to be in regular use. We are hoping that this project will continue to be managed by a community group. Newton Parish Council Annual Parish Meeting Minutes 5th June 2019 2 Traffic – 5-way junction Our LHI application for improving safety at the 5-way junction has been approved and we are currently in talks with the highways service to agree start times for the works. We will let residents know of the planned work once the schedule is released. Playground and village green. As requested, by a number of parents, we have now fenced the area around the play equipment to allow greater security for small children playing in the area. Harston & district village warden trust. The PC have supported the warden service over the past year and will review it this year depending on whether it is used by Newton residents. We have previously had two people using it. Affordable housing CHS are still hoping to progress the affordable housing project on Harston Road and have informed us that they will be exchanging contracts shortly to purchase the land from the Ely Diocese. However, it has been a number of years since the original survey was carried out to establish the need for affordable housing in Newton so SCDC have requested that this be done again. We support this survey and will encourage residents to participate so we can establish what the need is currently for a development like this. Coffee Mornings The PC continue to host coffee mornings as part of the village Rota and we welcome residents to come and talk to Councillors if they have any issues to raise as well as taking the opportunity to eat excellent cake and catch up with their friends. This year we hope to look at the feasibility and costs of installing a defibrillator in the village. We would also like to establish a community group to help look after the war memorial. There are restoration grants available, but we need willing volunteers to put together bids and oversee the work. We also need to try and get more willing volunteers to help maintain the village village footpaths that are getting overgrown again particularly the Fowlmere Road path. Doing with work with the community will help us keep the precept down. Otherwise it will need to be increased to pay for work such as this. The Chairman read the highlights and provided an update on the Housing Needs Survey which was going to be carried out by ACRE in the next couple of weeks. The survey carried out over seven years ago was out of date and South Cambridgeshire District Council would not consider it now. Land had been earmarked for eight affordable houses but the current need was to be established before plans progressed. There had been a very successful litter pick in the village with good attendance by residents. It had been pointed out to the Chairman that work was required on the village green trees and branches needed to be cut back in order to get the mower under them. Councillors agreed that this work could be carried out by volunteers but the disposal of the branches would be a problem. Cllr Belson agreed to investigate to see if arrangements could be made for the removal and burning of the shrubbery. This would be followed up at the September Parish Council meeting. 4. COUNTY AND DISTRICT COUNCILLOR REPORTS The following District Council report had been received from Cllr Topping. Thank you for electing me as your district councillor in 2018. I also joined the parish council last year. As Newton parish council meetings take place two doors from my house, this is my favourite one to be at out of the 12 that I attend most months of the year. So, I feel very guilty and apologise for not being able to join this annual meeting, but I am working in Dundee this week with the Scottish Care Inspectorate. The number of councillors was reduced from 54 to 45 in 2018 so all the wards increased in size. Newton joined Whittlesford and Thriplow to form a larger district council ward. Planning and housing issues I am a member of the Planning Committee at South Cambs District Council, and I have also spoken at planning committee and at planning appeals as local member for the villages I represent. Newton Parish Council Annual Parish Meeting Minutes 5th June 2019 3 The Joint South Cambs and Cambridge City Local Plan, which the part-time planning inspector took so long to approve, came through in the middle of 2018. It has now been adopted by the District Council. The result is that it makes it harder for speculative housing development to be successful. There will be a mini review of the Plan in 2020, including a re- appraisal of the Green Belt policy. To prepare for that, the district council has issued a call for sites, asking landowners to put forward land they consider suitable for development. I am not aware of any sites around Newton, but we will know which sites have been considered as suitable in autumn 2019. There is a great deal of development taking place in this part of South Cambridgeshire, at Harston with plans for a big park and ride there, and over at Whittlesford and further south towards Hinxton. This latter area includes the bid to expand the Genome Centre at Hinxton, the Agri-tech business park nearby, proposals for an avionics site between Whittlesford and Duxford, the Huawei purchase of the old Spicers site near Sawston, and the proposals for Whittlesford Rail Station. There is also a bid in (that was rejected two years ago by the planning inspector) for a large thousands of graves cemetery at the M11 end of Newton Road, Whittlesford, and I am pleased that Newton Parish Council opposes it again, as some of the traffic would undoubtedly come through Newton, along the Whittlesford Road. Thriplow village has had the planning application for 36 houses along Lodge Road associated with the move of Thriplow Farms grain store. The issue has been contentious, raising issues of school capacity, car parking and road usage, Green Belt and the need for affordable housing. It awaits the decision of the planning appeal that was heard in April. I have also attended licensing committee at the district council where I got a condition placed on the IWM petrol station that was going to expand to a 24/7 operation that they had to clear the litter in and around their forecourt. You would think that the petrol station would do that anyway but boy, did they argue against it! Unlawful trespass and encampments The other major issue locally was the unlawful encampment at the field next to the Pet Crematorium at Thriplow Heath which lasted for three months and made life a misery for nearby residents.