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STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET PARISH COUNCILDRAFTF&GP
MINUTES of a meeting of the FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE held at 7.45 pm on Wednesday 21May 2014 in the Council Offices, Crafton Green House, 72 Chapel Hill, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex
PRESENT:Cllr P L Jones (Chairman), Cllrs MCaton, B Gott, J Hudson, J O’Brien,G Sell
ATTENDING:Cllr J Savopoulos,
Mrs R Clifford – Clerk. Mr Trevor Lloyd-Assistant Clerk
41APOLOGIES-none
42DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST-none
43MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 30Aprilwere signed by the Chairman with two amendments (i) Date corrected to 30 April (539) should read “lighting maintenance”
44MATTERS ARISING
Cllr Sell said he was pleased that Farnham School would not be relocating to Stansted and was now looking forward to a “bespoke” school for Stansted.
Cllr Jones suggested that it might be appropriate to plant a shrub/tree in memory of all 72 names on the war memorial and to place a plaque with their names. It was agreed to seek advice and then consult with the Royal British Legion. Cllr Sell informed the committee that the Parish Council has provided copies of Glyn Warwick’s book” They Sleep in Heroes Graves to village schools, Library and day Centre.
45CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
The Chairman read extracts from a letter Sir Alan Haselhurst MP had written to Cllr Gott on the subject of the Barclay’s Bank Closure. Sir Alan had received very few letters from constituents on the topic and was not optimistic about getting Barclay’s to respond to the Parish Council’s campaign. The Chairman stressed the importance of securing a continuity of service from Barclay’s even if we have to settle for some kind of “pop-up” service. Concerns about the long term viability of YZ and access problems to post office services were expressed.
46FINANCE
a)The list of cheques for authorisation was approved.
b)The accounts which will be presented to the next Full Council meeting were available for inspection. Members were urged to let the Chairman or Clerk have any questions they wished to raise in advance of the meeting
c)We have been subject to an internal audit during which during no issues were raised.
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47FORESTHALL SHOP
Cllr Savopoulos related the history behind The Foresthall Residents Association fight to ensure that the original planning requirement for a shop on the estate was upheld. A number of options were
discussed including a community shop. It was agreed that we should not set a precedent by using public money to subsidise a private sector business. Members felt that a number of issues need to
be clarified and the Chairman proposed that we should seek a meeting with the UDC Planning Department and a finance officer Simon Jackson for advice on:
(i)Planning Issues
(ii)Use of S106 Money
This was seconded by Cllr Caton and agreed unanimously.
The Clerk was also asked to contact Savill’s who are the estate agents handling the retail unit to establish land values and get information on how they are marketing the unit.
48 LIGHTING
a)2 outages have been reported
b)A lantern in Rainsford Road has been replaced
c)The timer in the Memorial Garden needs attention and one light needs to be cleaned.
d)A light on the corner of Croasdaile Road needs attention
49 WINDMILL- They still need to recruit a new secretary.
50CCTV
There is a site meeting next week and Martin Ford has indicated that installation of the cameras will start in the near future. The camera pole in the recreation ground which will no longer be needed will be removed. It was still felt that a ANPR Camera in Cambridge Road would be a useful crime prevention measure and the Clerk was asked to send a letter to UDC asking them to cover the cost of the camera.
51FLOOD WORKING GROUP
Mr Woodcock has been investigating a flood protection scheme in Cumbria which he thinks may be an affordable alternative to the £1m scheme the Environment Agency had presented but was unaffordable. The group are meeting next Wednesday to consider his report. They will also be looking at a procedure to put in place an alert should there be any risk of flooding. In addition they want to explore ways that Lower Street can be closed if it floods. Cllr Hudson has contacts in universities who have expertise in this field and he will contact them to see if they can offer any support.
52WEBSITE
Work on the new website is almost complete. We hope to meet with the developers in the near future and all being well we should be able to demonstrate the new website at a Full Council meeting in the near future. Cllr Caton reported an approach from Christine Hope about the way minutes are posted on the website. The Clerk agreed to contact the EALC to ascertain if it was possible to post minutes that have not been approved by the Full Council. These would need to be clearly marked as draft minutes which could be subject to amendments.
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53 CRAFTON GREEN PROJECT
Stuart Molder from Lambert Smith Hamilton is calculating the rent payable by Essex Library Service. It is likely a ten year lease will be signed soon. A bat survey is being scheduled as soon as possible in order to avoid any further delays.
54 YOUTH SERVICE
The Clerk reported a frustrating lack of progress on funding issues. County Cllr Gooding is arranging a meeting with Julie Saggers. The Clerk has submitted a bid for funding. UDC should be encouraged to provide guidance on making applications for the funds they manage. Linda Barnes may need to revise her bid to provide further details showing how she will meet the key objectives set by Essex County Council for youth services and Cllr Caton agreed to support her in doing this.
55ECONOMIC DEVEOPMENT WORKING GROUP-TERMS OF REFERENCE
This was deferred to the full council meeting by which time the group will have met and can recommend any changes they feel are needed.
Meeting closed 9.02 pm