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FOXTON PARISH COUNCIL
Minutes of the Meeting held on Thursday 6th October2016
These are DRAFT minutes and have not yet been agreed by the Parish Council.
Present – Ron McCreery, Peter Sutton, Malcolm Bore, Jane Trevanion, Christine Eckersand Barbara Black. There were six members of the public present.
1Apologies for absence – Liam Elliott, Simon Buggey, Colin Grindley, District Councillor Deborah Roberts and County Councillor Susan van de Ven.
2 Members Declarations of Interest for items on the agenda – None
3 To approve and sign the minutes of the Meeting of 5th September2016–Proposed
Jane Trevanionseconded Christine Eckers.
4 Matters arising from these minutes –
Possible Twinning with Montigny, Franceby Jane Trevanion
The core group to take this forwardis made up of Jill Buggey, Anne Flemming and Peter Howell.
Anne Flemming is currently in Montigny visiting her friend Marie Loquet-Benaioun. As part of the visit she will meet members of Montigny Parish Council, who arevery positiveabout the prospect of potentially twinning with Foxton. She willreturn equipped with pictures and information.
On 31st October the core group and Jane Trevanion will meet. By then Jill Buggey will also have had a meeting with her friend from Shelford Parish Council to find out what they do with the town they are twinned with and how they manage things.
The core group is planning to go to Montigny in early December.
The key question is would there be any funding available via Foxton Parish Council to fund activities, travel, etc? Montigny Parish Council has set aside some money. Jill Buggey will find out what Shelford do. She has pointed out that, depending on the level of activity, fund raising will most probably be required.
5 Infrastructure Report by Ron McCreery
Network Rail
Ron McCreery is chasing for an update on the meeting with Paul Maynard, the Minister responsible for rail which was attended by Heidi Allen and Jeremy Smith and Ian Bates from Cambridge County Council on Monday 12th September.
Barrington Road crossing
Further to the second open meeting on the planned level crossing closure Susan van de Ven and Simon Buggey met with Network Rail staff at the crossing on 20th September. The Rail User group meeting was held that evening and the meeting was strongly against that crossing closure and the proposed Meldreth crossing closure on pedestrian safety grounds. After circulating a draft of his response, Ron McCreery wrote to Anglia Level Crossings again stressing the PC’s objections to the proposal to close the Barrington Road pedestrian crossing.
Patch Meeting
Simon Buggey was unable to attend this meeting due to train problems. Ron McCreery will try to get a copy of the Minutes.
Station Road Telephone Box
SCDC informed Ron McCreery that they were likely to recommend retention of the phone box due to its location next to the level crossing. He has replied that our preference would be for its retention, as it acts as an emergency phone for the level crossing and is signposted at the crossing. He also said that, in the event of closure, we would not wish to purchase the box.
Church View
Letters have been received from two of the residents regarding the ‘hedge’ planted on the Station footpath. A holding reply has been made whilst we await the planning details from Laragh homes. Laragh Homes wrote to the residents asking if they were prepared to maintain the hedge.
A letter will be written to residents when a response is received from Laragh Homes. Action RM
Parish Planning Forum
Ron McCreery will attend this on Monday when one of the subjects is ‘5 year housing land supply update’.
Malcolm Bore is to attend this with Ron McCreery. Action RM/MB
CEMEX
There have been issues with noisy shunting of trains well before 7 am. Liam Elliott has been in touch with Ian Southcott from CEMEX, who agreed that this has been happening but said not by them. The shunting has been taking place on the Network Rail sidings, which are not covered by the curfew. The matter has been passed on to the enforcement team at SCDC. Ross Pow is to keep a note of exact times and report back. Malcolm Bore will also contact Network Rail. Action MB
Road Signs
Malcolm Bore is to prepare a list of all road signs. David Salmons has some special cleaning fluid and the gardens association have offered to meet the cost of repainting.
6Committee and Working Party Reports:
a) Recreation and Amenities (including MAYD) by Barbara Black
Recreation Ground
E-mails have been received about vandalism on the Recreation Ground in various places. This has now ceased for the time being due to Police involvement. David Salmons has been mending fencing and removing graffiti. The plastic bench on the Skatepark has been partially burnt. Quotes to replace it will be obtained, but this will be put on hold for 6-9 months to see if behaviour improves. Action BB
David Salmons is to do the work highlighted in the Play Inspection Report. It was agreed to let the pub have a spare key to the Rec. Another container has been put in the compound. David Salmons willbe asked to make a ramp to aid loading of the container.
The Cricket Club has applied for a grant for the new scoreboard. They will own and maintain it.
The Barons Lane road sign has come off its post and has been bolted onto a nearby fence.
A Community Chest grant has been obtained for the new drinking fountain.Theagreement to conditionsneeds to be completedbefore the grant is paid. Action RM
David Salmons has now signed his new contract, which will be £16 per hour for normal warden duties and £20 per hour for extra duties, utilising his own equipment.
Trees
There have been several requests for pruning work to be carried out on some of the larger trees in the village, for which the Parish Council is responsible. These are the protected Oak in Hall's Close and the two large trees in the recreation ground car park. Quotes will be sought for these along with any other remedial work on other trees that was recommended in the last Tree Survey. The Protected Oak will also be assessed to see if another Picus test should be carried out. Action JT
Play Area
Three quotes are to be obtained for professional work to clear the undergrowth behind the play area. Action JT
The residents of 48 Illingworth Way are to be contacted about the trees in need of cutting back. Action BB/JT
MAYD by Christine Eckers
There was no meeting to report. The next one will be on 18th October 2016.
b) Finance – Report sent by Peter Sutton (see appendices attached)
It was agreed to transfer £11,200 from the Current Account to the Deposit Account.
Proposed PS, seconded RM.
Npower have overestimated their invoice again, despite being supplied with regular readings, and have not off-set the credit due of £93.55. It was agreed not to pay them and to consider moving the account next year. Action PS
c) Neighbourhood Planning by Ron McCreery
A meeting was held on 12th September and the notes from that meeting are on the web site. Unfortunately a number of members were absent.
Progress has been made with a number of the tasks in preparing the evidence base and a follow up meeting on this will be held on 18th October.
Conservation Area
The Parish Council is awaiting an update from Colin Grindley.
7Planning –reported byMalcolm Bore(see appendices attached)
Three planning meetings took place during September.
SCDC requested a meeting to discuss possible Section 106 payments, should the Station Road development for 22 houses be given the go ahead. The PC doesn’t have a projects list at the moment, but will discuss the possibility of extending the Recreation Ground. The S106 officer told Susan van de Ven at CCC and confirmed that the proposal would go to Planning Committee. Malcolm Bore said that this development was contrary to the emerging Local Plan.
A letter was received from Mr Holmes saying he would like a meeting to discuss the benefits of the scheme to the village, although he knows residents are against it. Ron McCreery and Malcolm Bore will meet up with him on 25th October. Action RM
Malcolm Bore invited members of the PC to look at the plans on the website and attend the next Planning meeting on 17thOctober to discuss another application for a house next to the Post Office.
Malcolm Bore will reply to James Francis regarding sports club facilities. Ron McCreery is to give him contact details of sports club officials. Action MB/RM
8County Councillor’s report by Susan van de Ven (see appendices attached)
9District Councillor’s reportby Deborah Roberts–None received.
10Police Liaison Report sent by Simon Buggey–Simon Buggey spoke to a PCSO about the criminal damage in the area of the skate park last Wednesday.
11Recreation Ground Trust reportby Peter Sutton–
Peter Sutton is preparing the annual accounts to March 2016, which will be ready by early November. The kitchen contractor is to return to amend the counter, which currently protrudes into the lounge itself.
12Correspondence –A questionnaire on flooding was received by the Clerk. The main issues have been problems with drains on Station Road, by the War Memorial, and Mortimer’s Lane Corner. No other flooding problems were reported. There is currently no Emergency Plan in Foxton.
13Open Forum for Public Participation –It was asked who was paying for local road works. It is CCC. Geoff Barnes said there had been flooding on Shepreth Road corner towards the A10. This was due to poor drainage as there is no drain in situ.
Caroline Illott asked if the PC was employing Philip Kratz to stop the Station Road development. Malcolm Bore saidMr. Kratz had been consulted but this proposal was different as there was no strong planning case for opposing it and it would have to be opposed on local issues, not planning issues. A new petition has gone in citing traffic issues and we will know the results after the planning meeting. SCDC owns the grass verge and Endurance Estates have made approaches to buy it. The application is an indicative design only. If outline planning permission is granted, a house builder will have to take on the project.
It was reported that recent grass cutting has damaged the verge on the slope in front of the press houses. This now needs reporting and repairing. Action FL
14 Any Other Business – Ron McCreery read the County Councillor’s report about Foxton being moved out of the Melbourn district. The request for a contribution of £700 towards the rail partnership paid post will be considered, and a response given by the next meeting. This post is to start from Feb/March 2017. Action All Councillors
Liam Elliott received a report from a neighbour that they posted a letter in the small post box in front of 1 The Green. This mail eventually arrived at its destination, but was chewed up around the edges and there was an apology from the post office written on the envelope that the edges had been eaten by a snail. He believes they found snails in the post box, which had got in due to the bush around the post office getting overgrown and the snails being able to enter the letter box. The neighbour reported that she was not the only one who had experienced this as someone else she knows had posted a letter in the same letter box, with the same effect.
15 Date and time of the next Parish Council Meeting – Monday 7th November 2016 at7.45 pm in the Village Hall.
The meeting closed at 8.55 pm.
Frances Laville
Foxton Parish Clerk
19/10/2016
Foxton Parish Council Appendices:
Foxton Parish Council, October 2016, County Councillor Report by Susan van de Ven
Congestion Control Points – City Deal Consultation closes October 10
The Greater Cambridge City Deal consultation on traffic congestion in Cambridge, affecting South Cambridgeshire residents too, concludes on 10 October:
Very few people attended the consultation event on September 14, held at Melbourn Village College. I would encourage people to respond if they have not already.
Boundary changes – to clarify
- County Council Division boundaries have now been announced: From the May 2017 elections, our area is split in two, with Melbourn and Meldreth joining Whaddon and Bassingbourn-cum-Kneesworth in a new ‘Melbourn/Bassingbourn Division’, while Shepreth, Foxton, Heydon and Great and Little Chishill move into a new ‘Duxford Division’ together with Fowlmere, Thriplow, Duxford, Whittlesford, Pampisford, Chrishall Grange, Ickleton and Hinxton.
- District Council Ward boundaries are now being considered by the Boundary Commission, for change in 2018. Currently the proposal is for Melbourn, Meldreth, Shepreth and Whaddon to join into one two-member ward, and Foxton, Fowlmere, Heydon and Great and Little Chishill to join into one one-member ward.
- Parliamentary constituency boundary proposals, to take effect in 2018, have now been announced and are out for consultation until 5 December. These add yet another dimension to the mix: Melbourn, Great and Little Chishill, Heydon, Whaddon, Bassingbourn and Kneesworth and other villages from south-west South Cambridgeshire would join together with Royston and North Herts villages to form a new cross-county border constituency called ‘North East Hertfordshire.’ Foxton would be part of a new ‘South Cambridgeshire’ constituency. More information about how to respond to the proposal is available here:
Network Rail level crossing closures
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the consultation. Cambridgeshire County Council is objecting to the two proposed closures in our area – Meldreth and Foxton – on the basis that new risk is created for pedestrians who in both cases would be forced to cross busy roads twice over.
Network Rail has now come back to me asking if I would meet them on site to discuss ‘solutions’. I’ve said yes but only if with reps from Foxton PC and County Council. No reply.
A10 pedestrian cycle path - Work to complete the pedestrian/cycle path around Foxton Level Crossing is underway, after finally receiving permissions from Network Rail. To clarify, this is nothing to do with Network Rail’s proposal to close the Barrington Rd gate. In the last week of October, work is scheduled to begin at the Frog End/A10 junction on the upgraded pedestrian/cycle path leading into Melbourn along the Cambridge Road. The next meeting of the A10 Corridor Cycling Campaign is due to take place at Royston Tesco on 20 October, 7 for 7:30.
County Council budget consultation closes on October 14. Please respond:
As a guide, for each 1% increase an average band D property would pay approximately an extra 23p per week or £11.67 a year. A 1% increase would yield approximately £2.56 Million.The council will have an opportunity to increase council tax by 1.99% (general) plus 2% for social care. Last year, the general increase was rejected by the Conservative and UKIP groups. My view is we desperately need that rise this year.
Current County Council transport budgets for information
The concessionary bus pass fare scheme is a legal requirement by national government, and it is funded – reimbursements to bus operators – by local authorities (Cambs County Council). Spend in 2015/16 was £6,056,877. The 16/17 budget for local bus and community transport is £1,959,342, of which £284,480 is Community Transport – these are non-statutory services and therefore subject to cuts. There is no other lifeline transport available to vulnerable people.
Community Rail Partnership
Case for funding attached; next meeting Nov 3rd morning. I was reminded today that the Foxton Parish Plan of several years ago contained an aspiration for some type of rail user group, which was then formed – so I suppose the aspiration here is to ensure that the rail campaign is embedded.
Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Community Rail Partnership
Case for paid post
As Chair of the Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Community Rail Partnership (CRP), with the agreement of its members, I am approaching the parish councils of the four villages with most direct access to the three stations (including Melbourn) seeking financial contributions to create a paid administrative post to help run the Partnership’s work. The members of the CRP include the Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton Rail User Group, South Cambs District Council, Cambs County Council, Network Rail, and the Train Operating Company (currently Govia Thameslink Railway).
Background
A community rail campaign for better access to rail services at Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton began in early 2009 when the train operator at the time, First Capital Connect (FCC), imposed sudden restrictions on access to rail services without any consultation with the local community; specifically: