Minutes of the Annual Meeting and the

Meeting of the Parish Council meeting held

on 14 May 2019 at 7.30pm at Reed First

School

Downloadable/printable versions (open as PDF documents) Annual Meeting Meeting of the Parish Council

Annual Meeting

Present: Cllrs. Langley, d’Ayala, Lawrence, Higgs and Kershaw and the Clerk. Also in attendance: Dist. Cllr. Morris, County Cllr. Hill and Dist. Cllr. Hunter In addition, 2 members of the public were present 1. To appoint a Chairman of the Parish Council for the ensuing Council year. Proposed, seconded and all voted in favour that Ken Langley be Chair for the ensuing Year. Cllr. Langley took the chair. Resolved. 2. To receive the Chairman’s Declaration of Acceptance of Office. Signed. 3. To receive apologies for absence. None received. 4. To approve the minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 30th May 2018. Proposed Cllr Lawrence, seconded by Cllr d’Ayala. Agreed and signed. 5. To appoint a Deputy Chairman of the Parish Council for the ensuing Council year. Proposed, seconded and all voted in favour that Cllr. d’Ayala be Vice Chair for the ensuing year. Resolved. There being no further business the meeting closed at 7.35pm

Meeting of the Parish Council

Present Cllrs: K Langley (Chairman), C d’Ayala (Vice- Chair), P Lawrence, M Higgs and J Kershaw. In attendance the Clerk Catharine Toms, County Cllr. Fiona Hill, Dist. Cllr. Gerald Morris, Dist. Cllr Tony Hunter and 2 members of the public. 1.5.19 To Receive the Councillors Acceptance of Office Declarations – all signed and received. 2.5.19 To receive apologies for absence. None. 3.5.19 To receive Members Declarations of Interest. Cllr. d’Ayala (item 14.5.19). Cllr. Lawrence (item 15.5.19) 4.5.19 To approve the Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on 6th March 2019 and to authorise the Chairman to sign them as a true record. The minutes were approved. It was proposed, seconded and all voted in favour. Agreed. 5.5.19 To invite Members of the Public to address the meeting. It was agreed to suspend standing orders at various points in the meeting to allow contributions from members of the public present. 6.5.19 Chairman’s Report. The Council had carried out its routine responsibilities for care and upkeep of village amenities and facilities over the past year and had submitted responses to planning applications affecting the parish. Much time had been spent on matters relating to The Cabinet. This was ongoing. The Council had obtained borrowing approval from the Government to buy The Cabinet as a community asset and had placed a bid to purchase the whole premises in line with the business plan. The bid remained lodged with the owner, having been neither accepted nor rejected. A successful application was made to relist The Cabinet as a community asset for a further 5 years from April 2019. Push Energy reserves held amounted to £10,435. Ideas were invited from parishioners as to community projects that could be funded. The Precept rise requested by the Council for 2019/20 had shown as a 28.6% increase on the Council Tax bills. This had been queried with NHDC as the Precept increase had only amounted to 19.6%. NHDC informed that it was due to a reduction in the number of properties paying Council Tax in Reed. As there had been 12 new builds in Brickyard Lane, further clarification was being sought on the matter. Information to be placed on the website as a means of explanation. Action: Clerk 7.5.19 To note review of Governance documents (including effectiveness of its system of internal control) and to agree any proposed amendments – The Chair and Clerk had reviewed all documents and it was proposed, seconded and agreed by all that no amendments were required. Resolved. 8.5.19 To approve the Annual Governance Statement 2018/19 – It was proposed, seconded and all voted in favour to approve. Resolved. 9.5.19 To approve the Summary Accounting Statement 2018/19 – It was proposed, seconded and all voted in favour to approve. Resolved. 10.5.19 To complete, sign and date Exemption Certificate – It was proposed, seconded and all voted in favour to complete, sign and date Exemption Certificate. Resolved. 11.5.19 To receive report from the Clerk on current financial position – Copies of the accounts and list of monies received and payments to be authorised were handed to all Cllrs. Accounts showed a bank balance of £15,866.66 of which £10,435 was Push Energy Community Contribution (ring-fenced for special projects), £945.37 was Bonfire Night reserves, leaving general reserves at £4,486.29. The 1st half of the Precept had been received from NHDC of £2,500.00. Since the last meeting donations had been made of £125 each to Friends of Reed Church and Friends of Reed School as agreed. 12.5.19 To agree accounts for payment. Including insurance renewal - Payments for the Clerk’s salary, PAYE, broadband, hall hire, litter picking 2018-19, annual subscription to HAPTC, and refreshments for the Annual Parish Meeting were agreed. The insurance renewal at a cost of £222.37 was discussed. It was agreed not to enter into a long-term agreement and to check that the value of the playground equipment cover was adequate. Action: Clerk 13.5.19 To apply to MHCLG for extension for a further year of the loan approval granted in respect of The Cabinet – It was proposed, seconded and agreed by all to apply for an extension of the loan approval before 17th May. Action: CD/Clerk 14.5.19 To receive a report from Save The Cabinet Action Group (SCAG) – Standing Orders were suspended to allow a member of SCAG to update the Council. It was explained that the owner had recently applied for a premises licence and was currently in negotiation with a third party regarding a lease arrangement. The licence application would be determined sometime after the end of the consultation period on 4th June. It was possible to attend the hearing if thought appropriate. There were also two listed building applications dating from 2016 & 2017 that were still undetermined. NHDC had indicated that they were mindful to approve these applications and that by doing so would not undermine their position having refused the application for change of use. SCAG was very concerned that the listed building applications did not contain sufficient information for NHDC or other consultees to make an informed decision. It was considered that an independent survey needed to be commissioned to establish if the unauthorised changes made had caused harm to the structure and fabric of the building. Cllr. Morris agreed to talk to Mr Ellis at NHDC and put across points raised. Standing Orders were resumed. The Council did not consider that it was necessary for NHDC to rush into determining these long outstanding applications when there was clearly a lack of information supplied. 15.5.19 To consider and make comment on planning application: Full Planning Permission : erection of two 3 no. bedroom detached bungalows with garages and one 4 no. bedroom detached bungalow with garage, following demolition of existing house. Access via retained vehicular and pedestrian driveways, with all associated landscaping and ancillary works. Red Lion Stud, London Road, Reed, Hertfordshire, SG8 8RP Case Ref No: 19/00728/FP – It was proposed, seconded and voted in favour of objecting to the application for reasons of overdevelopment of the site and hazardous access onto the A10. Action: Clerk 26.5.19 To consider and make comment on planning application: Full Planning Permission : Erection of detached plant room The Chapel, Church Lane, Reed, Hertfordshire Case Ref No: 19/01064/FP – It was proposed, seconded and all voted in favour that there was no objection to this application. Action: Clerk 16.5.19 To note and agree any action re: maintenance of play area following inspection report – it was agreed that Cllrs d’Ayala and Lawrence would meet at the play area and in conjunction with the inspection report, decide any action required. The matter would be deferred until July. Clerk recommended that the regular play area inspections were documented. A check list to be drawn up. Action: Clerk 17.5.19 To receive report regarding Pitty’s Pond renovations – Countryside Management Services had come out and inspected the pond. Their report indicated that it was in quite good order. It was recommended to wait until later in the year to do some further maintenance work as within the locality there was evidence of great crested newts. Grass and other vegetation would be allowed to grow around the banks to prevent soil being washed into the pond. Ringway had inspected the trees and a report was expected. It was agreed that professional help was not necessary and that any maintenance could be done as a community activity. The Parish Council to organise an annual maintenance of Pitty’s Pond, as and when required. Agreed. 18.5.19 To receive update re: Duke’s farm reservoir and movement of spoil – an invitation to meet to look at the plans and licences had been received from the owner of the company carrying out the work. Cllr. Morris in the meantime had raised the matter with the Planning Dept. at NHDC. This activity had initially not needed planning permission as it could be done under Permitted Development Rights as it was only moving material from within the farm. Now that material was being exported and imported it had become a waste transfer activity and needed full planning permission. This would also involve obtaining a visual impact statement, an ecological appraisal and an archaeological appraisal. In addition approval would be needed from the Environment Agency and the Water Authority. It was unclear from where the water could be sourced. It was agreed that an arrangement would be made (in conjunction with Barkway PC) to meet with the developer to ascertain more information. Action: Clerk 19.5.19 To report on issue of owners of The Mission Room preventing usage of footpath 005 – A sign had gone up in eastern corner of The Mission Room field indicating that it was private property. Since then the matter had been resolved. Anyone had a right to walk diagonally across that field as it was a public footpath. 20.5.19 To receive update on possible advisory speed limit for Reed village – Cllr. Hill was due to have a meeting with the Highways Officer to discuss this further and would report back if criteria was met. Speed surveys would be needed. They would also look at the Reed section of A10 with a view to try and reduce speed along that stretch. 21.5.19 To consider the most popular ideas for the expenditure of Push Energy funds – A survey had resulted in 20 responses. Most popular ideas were a Tom Duke memorial, informative signage, a speed sign, a large flower display, more play equipment. A decision made by the Council previously was that the money should be spent on something new for the village. Standing Orders suspended to allow a member of the public to speak. It was asked if money could be put towards a community library project. The idea of only spending the fund on something new was challenged. It was requested that, as with the decision made to seek permission to borrow money to buy The Cabinet, the process should be made democratically with many more people able to vote on the matter. Standing Orders were resumed. It was proposed and agreed to set up a working party to liaise with the community with a proper consultation process to decide how to spend all or part of the Push Energy fund. The aim would be to have a decision by November. Three Councillors agreed to be part of the working party. A first meeting to be arranged. Action: CD 22.5.19 To finalise arrangements for ‘Crime Awareness’ event on Sat 15th June – The Police would be attending along with a Police van. They would be giving away free security equipment and offering security advice and encouraging people to sign up for the Online Watch Link (OWL). The event was also open to residents of nearby villages. It would be advertised in The Diary and a leaflet drop would be done within Reed. Action: CD/Clerk. Reed Church and Friends of Reed School would be laying on refreshments. 23.5.19 To receive matters for report or referral to next agenda. (Information only) Playground report, Push Energy money, The Cabinet and SCAG 24.5.19 To note correspondence received. (Information only) – Nothing not already covered elsewhere in the meeting. 25.5.19 To agree date of next meeting. 3rd July 2019. Agreed. There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.48p.