Minutes of a meeting of Wimblington Parish Council held on Wednesday 13th January 2016 in the small room of the Parish Hall, Addison Road Wimblington at 7.00 pm.

Present M T Davis (Chairman) J Clarke, J Dent J Rose, R Wright, Mrs M Moulton, E Wright, P Crawford, Mrs P Amos (Clerk)

Number / Title / Action
0001/16 / Apologies for Absence / Cllrs G Bellard, S Coulson; A R Knowles; Ian Moll
0002/16 / Confirmation of minutes / RESOLVED – that the minutes of meeting held on 8th December 2015 were correctly recorded and that they be signed as being a true record. Proposed. J Rose, Seconded J Clarke.
0003/16 / Crime report from Ian Moll / 3 crimes have been reported – theft of a number plate, theft of diesel and theft of a can of lager from an outbuilding, no pattern to location or dates.
24 incidents - lots of these are road related, accidents, abandoned vehicles etc.- no patterns to any of them.
Ian Moll reported that he was in the village the other afternoon, when someone was letting off fireworks – he was told off and sent home, as an adult he should have know better. Patrols have continued to deter hare coursing in the area. Tentative plans for a warrant to be executed in the village, were considered as the person had moved away.
Pcso Carol Holloway will make contact with the Council due course as he will no longer be covering the village out of Whittlesey and is to go back to being March.
0004/16 / Fenland District council / Report by Cllr M T Davis: Cllr Davis attended the cost savings review meeting which lasted from 14.00 to 22.00. Cllrs managed to reduce spending by approximately £1.6 million. This will affect WPC as the concurrent grant will now be paid proportionate to the tax base, we are likely to loose approximately £4,000.00 pa. Even though Cllr Davis explained to the meeting that we have a large geographical area ratio to our populous, which incurs greater costs, especially from grass cutting, this made no difference to their decision.
0005/16 / Cambridgeshire County Council / Cllr Davis reported that CCC had reversed their decision to do away with all lollipop persons and had decided to turn off their street light between the hours of 0200 and 0600 now instead of the previous decision of between midnight and 0600.
0006/16 / Matters Arising / a)  Street lights -further to minute 1030/15(a) Of the 6 Cat 2 street light which were inspected by SKANSKA, 1 of them is a Cat 3. There is to be a meeting of Chairmans with FDC on 29.1.16 to seek a better deal for Parishes.
b)  New Cemetery – further to minute 1030/15(b) Cllr Wright said that Mick Knight will do the hedge cutting, but is reliant on the weather. He cannot meet up at the Cemetery on Monday mornings. Russell to e-mail Cllr Wright to arrange meeting date / MD
RW
0007/16
0007/16 cont’d / Payments
Payments cont’d / The members to consider the following: accounts for payment:
a)
Payments / NET / VAT / £
HMR&C / PAYE / 2.20
Mrs M Moulton / Booking Clerk / 98.30
Lisa Duff / Hall cleaning / 134.00
BT / Telephone / 64.33 / 12.89 / 77.20
British Gas / Hall gas / 34.76 / 1.73 / 36.49
Fenland Fire App / Servicing / 59.85 / 11.97 / 71.82
Citizens Advice / Outreach worker / 236.10
S J Wright / Duties / 159.40
P Amos / Clerk
b) Budget for coming year: R Wright reported upon income and expenditure, explaining the figures. Any under spend will go towards paying for the street lighting as the Cat 3’s will need to be done in 3 years time.
c) Precept for 2016: After a discussion there was a unanimous vote to increase the precept by 25%. Based on a band D property this would represent an increase of approximately £15.00pa per household. This took into account the fact that FDC are reducing the concurrent grant and that Parish Council will have to pay for the street lighting.
d) Risk management/H&S: Cllr Clarke reported that work was still progressing on reviewing policies.
0008/16 / Planning / The Chairman reported that the Planning application from Knowles Transport at Manea Road was discussed and refused.
It was agreed that at the November the minutes should have shown that there were three abstentions to the vote: Cllr Knowles, Cllr E Wright and |Cllr Dent
F/YR15/1130/F – 8 March Rd.– new vehicle access – no objections
F/YR15/1102/F – 58 March Rd. – not supported as not in character with village development.
0009/16 / Highway matters/Street lighting/
Transport / a) Street lights reported issues: Cllr Davis had received 1 reported issue, they were going to ring her back with the exact location of the light not working.
b)  Footpaths and highway issues : On 21st January there is to be a meeting of the cabinet at FDC to consider the application by Marstons to stop up an area at the Anchor Public House. This would allow highways not to have to maintain this area. Cllr Davis has complained to Highways about the condition of Woodmans Way, which they are now considering.
Cllr Clarke reported that Bridge Lane and Blue Lane are still awaiting repair/tidying up. Cllr Davis will contact the Community Pay Back Team / MD
00010/16 / Recreation ground / a) WMPF – nothing to report
b) Parkfield –There were no issues to report. The Xmas parties were variable, whilst the earlier party for the younger age group was well attended (approx 40 children) the later party for the older children had only 1 person attend. This to be reviewed for 2016.
0011/16 / New Cemetery/ Churchyard / a) R Wright reported that an extra 50 paving slabs, creating an additional two new rows/areas had been created, this should last for approximately 5 years. A Knowles had kindly removed the surplus soil. (Clerk to send thank you letter) RW reported that the grass in the cemetery was already quite long and would need cutting as soon as possible. (Clerk to contact CGM). It was agreed that the grass after the first cut in the cemetery must be picked up. Also it was agreed that an earlier cut to the verges should be made so as to avoid grass lying around the village. Nothing has been done yet regarding the drainage in adjacent garden, due to Christmas and bad weather.
b) Wimblington St Peters Church – nothing to report / PA
0
012/16 / Parish Hall / General matters:
RW reported that the PRS return had been completed. The drains from the ladies toilets have been unblocked and the car park tidied up. It was decided that Cllr Clarke would investigate the cost (agreed spend of up to £100.00) of buying electric hand dryers for the ladies toilets, which hopefully should alleviate the problem of blocked toilets. Whilst at the Parish Hall it was also noticed that that there may be insufficient smoke alarms and that two of the emergency exit lights need to be replaced. Cllr Clarke to ask the Fire Brigade for guidance.
Carbon Monoxide alarms were also discussed as it was thought that they should be fitted at least in the boiler room. No conclusive decision was made.
Cllr Davis has spoken to FDC regarding sharing the cost of resurfacing the car park. She is waiting to hear back form them. The recycling bins are overflowing, despite the company having been telephoned and asked to come and empty them. Cllr Davis will ring them.
Mrs Moulton asked if any further contact had been made by the builder regarding the roof – there has been no further contact from them. PA to get further quotes. Mrs Moulton reported that one of the thermostat covers had been removed, despite there being a notice attached to it expressly saying not to remove it. RW reported that when the CCTV cameras are installed, a locked cover will be fitted on the thermostat.
Wi-fi installation was discussed – Cllr Clarke to investigate the cost. / JC
JC
MD
PA
RW
JC
0013/16 / Fun Day/Christmas Lights / Cllr Rose to report: Cllr Rose reported that they have a new member on the committee. All Christmas lights are now packed away. Storage is still being discussed – all Councillors went into hall and looked at the possibility of re-building the cupboard currently used by the short mat bowls. Cllr Rose to get a quote to rebuild it, incorporating the unused space. It would be shared between the bowls and Christmas light storage. There will be a race night on 20.2.16 and a dog show on 12.3.16 also a leaflet drop at the end of March and a bacon butty morning. The committee has a full programme of events. As the valuation of the Christmas light was £6846.00 insurance company to be asked for quote to insure them.
0014/16 / Correspondence/other matters / Cllr Davis to buy new clock for small hall, also to arrange meeting re. Summer show. It was decided after discussion to nominate Cllr Wright to attend the garden party at Buckingham Palace / MD
0015/16 / Date of next meeting / Tuesday 9th February 2016