Minutes of the meeting held on 4

December 2019 at 7.30pm at Reed Village

Hall

Downloadable/printable version (opens as PDF document) Present Cllrs: K Langley (Chair), C d’Ayala (Vice-Chair), P Lawrence, M Higgs and J Kershaw. In attendance the Clerk Catharine Toms, County Cllr. F Hill and Dist. Cllr. G Morris 1.12.19 To receive apologies for absence. Dist. Cllr. Tony Hunter and PCSO Chris Brabrook – apologies accepted. 2.12.19 To receive Members Declarations of Interest. Cllr. d’Ayala (item 10.12.19). Cllr. Lawrence (Village Hall) 3.12.19 To approve the Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on 6th November 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. 4.12.19 To invite Members of the Public to address the meeting. Standing Orders were suspended to allow members of the public present to address the Council. Concerns were raised regarding the poor state of the footpaths around the Reservoir development site. As there was no planning application, there would have been no conditions attached to maintain accessibility to footpaths, etc. It seemed that there was an inadequacy of law in place to deal with situations such as this. Standing Orders were resumed. 5.12.19 Chairman’s Report. 1. The Environment Agency had been contacted detailing Reed Parish Council’s ongoing concerns regarding the Wisbridge reservoir works. No acknowledgement or reply had been received, as yet. 2. NHDC had informed that the planning application for The Kilns development had carried a ‘Unilateral Undertaking’ dated Jan 2015. Contribution payments had been made in full by the developer under the agreement for ‘Waste and Recycling’, Middle Education’, ‘Youth’, ‘Childcare’ and ‘Library’. There was no S106 money available for Reed as a result of that development. Cllr. Langley to ask NHDC (Simon Ellis) for clarity on how much money was paid and how this was spent and what the time frame had been. Action: KL Cllr. Lawrence queried why Reed Village Hall had never received £500 that he understood had been allocated to them as a result of the Hatchpen development. It was agreed to investigate this matter with NHDC. Action: Clerk 3. A ‘Highways Together’ meeting was held in Reed with the intention to evolve a parish plan of Highways works. This was followed up a week later by a detailed walk around the village with Mr Jerrard of Ringway (see item 13.12.19). 4. A written representation had been submitted regarding the current appeal lodged against the enforcement order for non-residency of The Cabinet. The letter asserted that the appeal was without merit and that it should be dismissed. 6.12.19 To receive update on setting up of Parish email distribution list – Item to be deferred to 2020. Action: CD It was noted that the Webmaster would shortly be setting up a password protected area on the website to store certain Parish Council documents, to enable them to be easily accessible to all Councillors. 7.12.19 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 £16,440.42 of which £10,195 was Push Energy Community Contribution (ring-fenced for special projects), £900.50 was Bonfire Night reserves, £661.00 was P3 grant balance, leaving general reserves at £4,683.92. Income received since the last report was £1,105.33 from Bonfire Night. 8.12.19 To agree accounts for payment – Payment made since the last meeting £595.00 to R & S Haydon for grass cutting. Payments at the meeting were £166.80 to Herts Timber for the P3 bench seat, £258.34 to NHDC for dog bin emptying and £100.00 to E. Kilby in recognition of his work managing the website. All were agreed. 9.12.19 To consider budget for 2020/21 – The Clerk had prepared a draft budget. If the Precept application was kept the same as the previous year at £5,000, according to the Tax Base figure issued by NHDC, the Parish Council element of the council tax would be reduced by 6.69%. After some discussion, the Councillors were all requested to take time to study the draft budget and come back to the January meeting with any comments in order that the budget could be finalised in preparation for the deadline for the Precept application of 17th Jan 2020. Action: All 10.12.19 Save the Cabinet (SCAG) – It was reported that SCAG had submitted a written representation to the Inspectorate recommending that the appeal against the enforcement notice to stop using The Cabinet as a domestic dwelling should be dismissed. Dist. Cllr. Morris had arranged a meeting at NHDC with the CEO and members of SCAG to discuss the current situation with The Cabinet and to begin exploring the idea and feasibility of NHDC considering compulsory purchase. There were three listed building consent applications relating to The Cabinet which remained undetermined. 11.12.19 To consider and make comment on planning application: Full Permission Householder : Proposed wall following remedial work. Wisbridge Farm, High Street, Reed, Hertfordshire, SG8 8AH Case Ref No: 19/02683/FPH After consideration of the application it was proposed, seconded and agreed by all that there was no comment or objection to be made on this application. Resolved. 12.12.19 To receive latest play area inspection report and agree any necessary action – An inspection had been carried out by two Cllrs. Three items were identified as needing monitoring. 1) Upright post – tyre obstacle course. 2) Rust on chain of multi swing. 3) Step posts on obstacle course. It was proposed, seconded and agreed by a majority to word and produce a disclaimer notice to be displayed. The aim was to protect the Parish Council from people not using the equipment appropriately. Cllr. Kershaw to put together draft wording for the January meeting. Action: JK Cllrs. d’Ayala and Higgs to carry out next inspection. Action: CD/MH 13.12.19 Highways – to receive update following Highways Together Meetings in November – It had been a positive meeting and hopefully a productive way forward by developing a parish plan for Highways works needed. Although Cllr. Lawrence was disappointed with Highway’s approach to the blocked drains in the village. Ditches were no longer a priority and it resulted in flooding. Highways had agreed to blast out the pipes within the next financial year. It was noted that the loose man-hole cover by the access path to The Kilns development had still not been fixed. Cllr. Morris would contact the Planning Officer at NHDC. 14.12.19 To acknowledge receipt of signed agreement for use of the Village Green – all received. Dist. Cllr. Morris and County Cllr. Hill departed from the meeting at 9pm. They were thanked for attending. 15.12.19 To receive matters for report or referral to next agenda. (Information only) – Budget 2020/21, Email database, A10 speed sign, Push Energy expenditure, Play area sign, Annual play area inspection report, Village informative sign, Review of monthly meetings. 16.12.19 To note correspondence received. (Information only) – Nothing not already covered elsewhere in the meeting. 17.12.19 To agree date of next meeting. Weds 8th January 2020. Agreed. 18.12.19 To consider that the press and public should be excluded from item 19.12.19 of the Agenda of this meeting in view of confidential nature of the business to be transacted – This was proposed, seconded and agreed by all. Resolved. 19.12.19 To conduct the Clerk’s annual review – A review was conducted. There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.30pm