Minutes of the Parish Council Meeting No. 198 – held on Wednesday 4th March 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

PRESENT: Chairman: Cllr R Jefferis Councillors: J Westbury, C Gurney, D Woulfe

CLERK: Cllr Westbury (acting in lieu)

1. To receive apologies for absence: None.

2. Public Participation: No members of the parish were in attendance.

3. To receive Declarations of Interest in any items on the Agenda: No declarations were received.

4. Receive report from Ward Councillor, Mark Versallion: Cllr Versallion reported that the preliminary work had been carried out on Nursery Lane and on a short section of the High Street (around Manor Farm) and he hoped that the remainder would be completed in June/July 2020. He also advised that he’d mentioned the condition of Clipstone Lane to the relevant Beds Highways officer, adding that he thought it a good idea to get the lane marked as a single-lane track with ‘Passing places’ (as had been suggested by Cllr Westbury a couple of months previously). Cllr Jefferis enquired of Cllr Versallion as to what was happening with the new road for Clipstone Park which, according to certain drawings supplied by the developers/CBC Planning, should have been handed over by now given the number of occupancies of Clipstone Park. Although Cllr Versallion was aware of these stipulations he asked if Cllr Jefferis would forward him a copy of the relevant document. Cllr Versallion then spoke about the situation regards the A5 in , adding that there was some issue with Bucks CC regards the A4146 being added to the A505 to replace the route used by heavy vehicles in place of the A5, hoping that this would markedly reduce the traffic flowing through Hockliffe. He advised that CBC were now pursuing a new link road from the A6 north of Luton, joining it to the M1 at Jct 11A. Cllr Jefferis questioned what ‘traffic management’ had been carried out in relation to Clipstone Park and the existing train service to London, since it was now proving difficult to find a seat even at 0615. Cllr Versallion said that documentation had been supplied at the time outline planning approval had been sought which had indicated that there would be adequate capacity on the train service to London, although he sympathised with Cllr Jefferis for the current inadequacies. However, the more recent additions in parking capacity at the station were welcomed. Cllr Versallion then outlined the current thinking regards the Boundary Commission’s view on the realignment of the ward boundaries in Central . It appeared (to Cllr Versallion) as if Eggington might be taken out of the existing Heath & Reach ward and added to North instead, so as to equalise the number of electors within each ward. He added that CBC Council were likely to make their own submission to the Boundary Commission which had a more ‘politically-driven’ accent. However, no changes would be made before 2023. Cllr Westbury questioned the wisdom of this move, expressing the opinion that Eggington was being conjoined with Leighton Buzzard’s wards simply to enable the town council to achieve their aim of taking over the housing in the Clipstone Park development. With nothing further to add to his report Cllr Versallion was thanked for his attendance, and he left the meeting.

5. To confirm the Minutes of Meeting 197: their adoption was proposed by Cllr Gurney, seconded by Cllr Woulfe: with all in agreement, it was Resolved that they be signed by the Chairman.

6. Update on matters arising from those Minutes: Cllr Jefferis apologised for not having made any headway in obtaining some new batteries for the VASI. He also apologised for not having made arrangements to have the new village noticeboard erected to replace the original which had been blown over by recent winds.

7. Financial Report : Cllr Westbury, as Acting Clerk/RFO, presented the Council’s financial situation as:

Community Account: £ 1,684.02 Business Saver Account: £12,320.35 Cllr Jefferis advised that he’d applied for the recovery of the VAT paid by the Council, advising that the notification of repayment would be addressed to the Clerk. Following a proposal by Cllr Jefferis, which was seconded by Cllr Woulfe, it was Resolved to adopt these accounts.

8. Planning applications received: No notification of any new applications had been received since the previous meeting. No decision had been reached by CBC Planning concerning the latest application for Claridges Farm.

9. To receive updates on Village matters: Cllr Jefferis informed the Council of the addition of the new picnic bench. Cllr Gurney said she was intending to continue with registering the Horseshoes public house (aka The Curry Garden) as a Community Asset, along with the Village Hall. Cllr Gurney also confirmed that she was still working on a new ‘Code of Practice’ for the Parish Council. Cllr Jefferis said he still intended to see whether the Parish Council could purchase the Telephone box (adjacent to Well Cottage) even though it was not on BT’s list of cessations.

10. To determine the continuation of the Grass-cutting contract: Cllrs agreed that Cllr Westbury should represent the Council and meet with Mr Malcolm Weaver (MW Agri Ltd.) to assist in surveying those areas requiring grass cutting throughout the village, such that he could provide a quote for cutting the grassed areas and verges. He was also to be asked to provide a separate quotation for cutting the grass in the churchyard. [The PC has now received those quotes.]

11. Progress of the new Parish Council website: Cllr Westbury informed the Council that the new [email protected] domain had been acquired and set up, and that Mr Mark Millmore (of Eyelid) had already offered the website (complete with some initial content) to the Clerk, with Cllr Westbury providing some initial pictures of the parish to adorn the site’s front page.

12. Clerk Update: Cllr Westbury informed the members that so far one enquiry regarding the role of Clerk had been received, electronically, although no CV had been submitted. Otherwise, there had been no ‘significant’ correspondence received, but added that the ongoing situation regards the acquisition and installation of a defibrillator still remained.

There being no further business to transact, the meeting closed at 2103.

This is a true and accurate record of the meeting.

Signed: (Chairman) Date: 1st April 2020