FELSTED PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the 996Th Meeting Held on 7 August 2013 at 7:30 Pm in the URC Hall
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FELSTED PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the 996th Meeting held on 7 August 2013 at 7:30 pm in the URC Hall. Present: Councillors Graham Harvey (Chairman), Richard Freeman, John Moore, Caroline Scott-Bowden (entered during item 13/80.3), Alan Thawley and Chris Woodhouse. District Councillor Felton was also present along with 7 members of the public. 13/76 Apologies for Absence and Declarations of Interest. Apologies had been received from Councillors Nicholas Hinde, Fiona Hitchcock, Peter Rose, and Corinne Walker. Councillor Harvey declared a pecuniary interest in Item 13/94 and took no part in the discussion of this item. Cllr Thawley declared a non pecuniary interest in Item 13/80.4 (Stop Stansted Expansion group) and took no part in the discussion of this item. 13/77 Public Forum. The public raised the following topics – 77.1 Toilet signs – The Assistant Clerk informed the meeting that these had been ordered and would be erected very shortly. 77.2 Pothole in Bury Chase Car Park – The Assistant Clerk informed the meeting that the work was scheduled to commence during the week beginning 19 August. 77.3 Pothole outside Wilderwick, Hollow Road – The Clerk informed the meeting that a works order had been raised for this in May but that the work had not yet commenced. It was agreed that the Clerk should chase this long outstanding problem. Clerk 13/78 Minutes of the Meeting held on 2 July 2013 The minutes were approved and signed by the Chairman. 13/79 Matters arising from the Minutes 79.1 Winter Salt Partnership (13/58.2) - Cllr Harvey agreed to provide the Clerk with names Cllr of the volunteers for snow clearing, so that the necessary forms could be completed. Harvey 79.2 Flitch Green supermarket planning decision (13/58.3) – The Assistant Clerk confirmed that he had written to UDC to express the Council’s concern that the planning permission did not address the problems regarding access and parking. 79.3 East Anglia Children’s Hospice (13/58.4) – The Clerk agreed to establish if this organisation had any connections with Felsted families. Clerk 79.4 Affordable Housing allocation under UTT/13/0989/OP (Land to the east of Braintree Road, Watch House Green) – The Assistant Clerk had spoken to UDC Planners and established that the houses would be allocated under a cascade system commencing with the Parish Council. Councillors therefore agreed that they would need to compile a list of Clerk local residents who might be interested in the affordable housing. 79.5 Three Horseshoes, Bannister Green – Concrete blocks – The Assistant Clerk had spoken to UDC Enforcement officers and established that owners were entitled to protect unoccupied buildings ‘for a reasonable time’ provided that such protection did not extend onto Clerk the highway. It was agreed to consider this matter again in 3 months time. 79 79.6 Application to fell one oak tree at Chelsea Oak (13/69.6) – The Assistant Clerk reported that UDC had placed a temporary TPO on the tree and would be discussing the matter further with the resident. 13/80 Correspondence The list of correspondence was circulated to Councillors (see p8). Page 1 of 12 80.1 Newly elected District Councillor - The Chairman welcomed Marie Felton who was in attendance. 80.2 UDC Youth Initiatives Working Group – It was agreed to ascertain if either the Youth Clerk Club and/or Felsted Rovers Junior section would be interested in receiving such advise/support. 80.3 UDC Highway Rangers – The Assistant Clerk had already drawn up a list of potential Clerk work for the Highway Rangers and it was agreed that these should be submitted with the addition of the cleaning of the Felsted Village Sign and the various village/hamlet name signs. 80.4 Requests for donations from Uttlesford Citizens Advise Bureau and Stop Stansted Clerk Expansion – It was agreed to place these items on the Agenda for the next meeting. 13/81 Finance The list of payments shown on p 9 was approved. The Clerk informed Councillors that the cheque written in June 2013 to A and J Lighting Solutions for £121.20 had been lost in the post and never received by them. It was agreed to cancel the lost cheque and issue a replacement. 13/82 Clerk and Assistant Clerk’s pay and conditions 82.1 Revised National Pay Scales for Clerk’s (w.e.f. 1 April 2013) Councillors noted the increased pay scales and it was unanimously agreed that both the Clerk and the Assistant Clerk should move to the new scales from 1 April 2013 and receive the relevant pay arrears. 82.2 Review of salaries/contracts/job descriptions following the change of roles It was proposed by Cllr Thawley, seconded by Cllr Moore and unanimously agreed that the new Clerk should be placed onto point SP20 of the National Pay Scales w.e.f. 1 August 2013. Cllrs Harvey It was agreed that a Working Party, consisting of Cllrs Harvey, Woodhouse, Hinde and Moore, would meet to discuss the new Assistant Clerk’s pay point before the next meeting. Hinde Woodhouse It was further agreed that the same Councillors would consider any necessary changes to the and Clerk/Assistant Clerk’s contracts and job descriptions following the changeover. Moore 13/83 Village Centre Toilets Councillors noted that there had been no further response from UDC Planning Department or the architect. Once the Playing Field toilets are properly signposted, the need for a second block of public toilets in the village was discussed at length. It was agreed that once the signs are in place the situation should be monitored and the need re-assessed. 13/84 Byelaws The Clerk reported that she had been in communication with the DCLG who had queried the name of the ‘Green’ at Bannister Green and this had now been resolved. The DCLG had suggested 4 other modifications to the wording of the Draft byelaws. Councillors accepted the revised wording for all but byelaw 17 regarding Children’s Play Apparatus. It was agreed that the Clerk would suggest an alternative wording for this as follows “No person above or below the age stated by a notice conspicuously displayed on or near any apparatus shall use that Clerk apparatus”. 13/85 Playing Field 85.1 Repair of public toilet drains Councillors unanimously agreed to accept the quotation from Arvon the details of which had previously been circulated. The cost would be £600 + VAT to reline the 8m section between the two manholes and £1200 + VAT to replace the pipe between the second manhole and the ceptic tank. The work would be carried out on 10 th /11 th August and the Clerk had placed a notice on the toilets giving advance notification of their closure on these dates. Page 2 of 12 85.2 Construction of car park The Clerk informed Councillors that she had registered an Expression of Interest with the Community Initiatives Fund (CIF) for a grant towards the cost but had been informed that work could not therefore commence until the CIF decision had been made. District Cllr Felton agreed to investigate the possibility of also allocating her UDC Members Grant towards this project. 85.3 Additional playbark on Children’s Play area The Clerk informed Councillors that since the play area was constructed, the level of playbark had been eroding and that the original 12”+ was now down to 1-2” in places. This had Assistant exposed the concrete fixings at the bottom of some of the posts and an urgent top up of Clerk playbark was required. The Assistant Clerk had obtained costings and advise which recommended that between 55 and 92 cu metres be spread over the area. It was proposed by Cllr Thawley, seconded by Cllr Freeman and carried by a majority (with one abstention) that 55 cu metres of playbark be ordered urgently at a cost of £2900 to include installation. If this proved insufficient a further load, giving a total of 92 cu metres, should be ordered. 13/86 Bannister Green road naming Cllr Councillors would be speaking to residents about the result of the survey before the next Moore meeting. 13/87 Parish Plan Councillors noted that a local graphic designer had been engaged to assist with the layout of the final plan document. 13/88 Book Boxes (Adopted Telephone Kiosks) Councillors were pleased to note that the display shelves had been installed and that books and leaflets had been placed into the boxes which were now operational. It was agreed to notify the Dunmow Broadcast and BBC Essex who had both previously featured the Book Clerk Boxes. 13/89 Allotments 89.1 Extension of water supply Councillors were pleased to note that UDC had awarded a grant of up to £3,300 (subject to 50% matched funding) for this project. A decision was awaited regarding an ‘Edible Essex’ grant of up to £1,000 from RCCE. Councillors noted that the mains connection by Affinity would cost £1448.31 +VAT and that the six water tanks would cost £95.71 + VAT each (total £574.26 + VAT). A second quotation had now been received for the on site work but a revised quotation from the original tenderer was still awaited (to include laying the pipework at a depth of 750mm instead of 500mm as originally stated and the provision of a standpipe). It was proposed by Cllr Thawley, seconded by Cllr Freeman and unanimously agreed to accept the lower of the Assistant two final quotes, up to a maximum of £4745. Clerk 89.2 Maintenance of access track Councillors considered two quotations to resurface the access track to the allotments and unanimously agreed to accept the quotation from Contour Landscapes to carry out the work at a cost of £6018, to include the installation of a dropped kerb.