Meeting of the Parish Council

Wednesday 3 July 2024 at 7.30pm, Reed

Village Hall

Minutes

Download printable version (opens as PDF file) Present Cllrs: K Langley (Chair), E Kilby, B Blower and S. Aries. In attendance the Clerk Catharine Toms, Dist. Cllr. M Prescott, County Cllr. Hill and one member of the public. This meeting would be recorded for the purpose of the minutes. 1.07.24 Attendance. As listed above. 2.07.24 To receive apologies for absence. Cllr. Payne (medical emergency) – Apology accepted. 3.07.24 To receive Members Declarations of Interest and note dispensation granted. None received. Cllr. Kilby, for his period of office, a dispensation granted allowing him full participation at meetings in issues arising concerning The Cabinet public house including, but not limited to, planning matters. 4.07.24 To approve the Minutes of the Meeting of the Parish Council held on 8 th May 2024 and to authorise the Chairman to sign them as a true record. It was proposed, seconded and all voted in favour to approve the minutes. Resolved. Approved minutes to be posted on the website. Action: Clerk/Webmaster Standing Orders were suspended. 5.07.24 To invite Members of the Public to address the meeting – A member of the public asked the Parish Council if the pre-application discussion documents relating to site RD1 (Turney Trust land) could be made available to the public as he felt it would be in the public interest. It was explained to him that pre-application information was confidential between the Applicant and North Herts Council (NHC) and that NHC would not normally share information at that stage, not even with the Parish Council. Dist. Cllr. Prescott agreed that he would ask NHC if the information could be made available. The member of the public departed from the meeting at 19.40pm. The Chair agreed to suspend Standing Orders again during the meeting if members of the public wished to speak on agenda items. Standing Orders were resumed. 6.07.24 To receive Chair’s Report – ( See Appendix A ) 7.07.24 To receive report from District Councillor – Cllr. Prescott reported that he was a member of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at NHC. He had successfully recommended keeping the Learner Pool in Royston Leisure Centre, although it would still be up to NHC Cabinet to agree. He had objected to the new 8 year waste contract where bin collections would change to 3- weekly, but he was overruled. He emphasised that he was readily contactable to assist with any issues arising and mentioned that his predecessor Gerald Morris was still very much in evidence to help him with helpful background information. It was mentioned that there would be some free defibrillator training taking place at the Woodman Inn at Nuthampstead on 22 nd July and anyone could attend. Dist. Cllr. Prescott departed from the meeting at 19.55pm 8.07.24 To receive report from County Councillor – Due to a family matter County Cllr. Hill was delayed in arriving at the meeting. 9.07.24 To note mandatory Code of Conduct Training to be undertaken by all Councillors by 16 th August – This was duly noted. The Clerk to re-send the link to Cllr. Aries. Action: Clerk Cllrs. Kilby and Langley had already completed the training and had experienced problems with using the QR code to log completion. The training had given useful clarification between ‘Pre-determination’ and ‘Pre- disposition’. 10.07.24 To agree allocation of Parish Councillor responsibilities – (see Appendix B). Cllr. Blower to email the Clerk a list compiled. Action: BB 11.07.24 To review action points from meeting on 8 th May 2024 . The Clerk to check past records for the formal agreement in place with the Cricket Club. Action: Clerk An audit to be carried out of Parish Council assets, detailing where they are located and state of condition. Cllr. Aries volunteered to conduct this. Cllr. Langley to supply him with an Ordinance Survey map of the village. Action: SA/KL The Clerk to contact Herts Assoc. of Town and Parish Councils (HAPTC) regarding a new log in link for the training for Cllr. Aries. Action: Clerk 12.07.24 To receive report from the Clerk on current financial position A list of monies received and payments to be authorised had been previously circulated to all Cllrs. Accounts showed a bank balance of £30,970.53 of which, £10,133.35 was Push Energy Community Contribution (ring-fenced for special projects), £3,779.45 was Bonfire Night reserves, £690.75 was P3 grant balance, S106 Sustainable Transport Reserve was £651.87, Play Park Reserve was £5,265.47, leaving general reserves at £10,449.64. 13.07.24 To agree accounts for payment Payments to be authorised at the meeting were Clerk’s salary and PAYE, £17.00 to Herts Assoc. Town & Parish Councils – New Councillor Training and £9.00 to E Kilby for expenses for obtaining title documents for the Asset of Community Value application relating to The Cabinet. Proposed, seconded and approved by all. 14.07.24 To consider and agree to adopt new Financial Regulations based on the recommended NALC April 2024 version – Item to be deferred to the September meeting. Action: Clerk 15.07.24 To consider and make comment on planning application: Full Planning Permission : Erection of a biomass boiler including accumulator tank and chimney (Development already carried out) Hatch Pen, The Joint, Reed, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 8AZ Case Ref No: 24/01163/FP – After consideration of the application, it was proposed, seconded and agreed by all that there was no objection. Resolved. The Clerk to respond to NHC. Action: Clerk 16.07.24 To receive update from the Turney Trust regarding site RD1 – There was no update to report. 17.07.24 To receive update on Wisbridge Reservoir Project – works were proceeding on site to create a smaller reservoir and landscape the area. County Cllr. Hill joined the meeting at 20.26pm 8.07.24 To receive report from County Councillor - Cllr. Hill was working on the Armed Services Covenant to try and may it easier for Parish and Town Councils to sign up. She had attended some good D-Day events in the area. A speed and volume survey was now scheduled to take place in Jacksons Lane. For various reasons it was not proving so easy to organise this currently on other roads. The issues regarding the grass cutting of verges seemed to have now been sorted out. The Highways Locality Budget (HLB) was funding the siding out of the pavements along the A10. She was trying to get HLB to fund clearer road markings near to The Joint. She would report the pot-holes near The Joint. Regarding the dangerous junction of Church Lane and the A10, there seemed to be some discrepancies in the recording of events between those of residents and those of Herts County Council (HCC) Highways. Cllr. Hill to forward to Cllrs. Kilby and Langley the email received from HCC Highways and they would try and sort this out. Action: KL/EK 18.07.24 To receive update from Save The Cabinet Action Group (SCAG), including re-registration of AoCV – It was reported that in the last few days some material had been removed from the roof of one of the outbuildings. Photos had been sent to NHC. A reply was received from NHC on the same day requesting more photos to be sent. SCAG had been following up with the Planning Inspectorate regarding the status of the appeals. An application to re-register The Cabinet as an Asset of Community Value (AoCV) had now been submitted by the Parish Council to NHC. A decision would be made by 26 th August. 19.07.24 To receive update on Highways matters – (see item 8.07.24) 20.07.24 To receive update on project to preserve ponds and agree any action required – Cllr. Aries volunteered to pull out some bullrushes during the summer. Action: SA 21.07.24 To receive bi-monthly Parish Council play area inspection report and agree any action required – An inspection had been carried out by Cllr. Langley and it was reported that there was further minor deterioration to the equipment. Bolts on Aerial Slide had been re- torqued. The was an issue with the tyre swing which had since been fixed. The rot on Activity Trail bridge needed monitoring. Action: KL 22.07.24 To receive update from Play Area Working Party on grant applications and agree any action required – It was reported that Tesco had directed the Council towards ‘Tesco Stronger Start Grant Making’, Cllr. Blower was now working on that. Herts Community Foundation were unable to fund Parish Councils. Nothing had been heard from Johnson Matthey. Cllr. Hill suggested applying to the Royston and District Forum for some funding (contacting Becca Edwards at NHC). A difficulty being encountered was that grants were generally time limited, so the project might have to be split up into buying single pieces of equipment when appropriate funding was made available, rather than waiting to do the project in one go. Cllrs. Blower and Langley would continue to investigate possible grant funding avenues. Action: BB/KL 23.07.24 To receive update on arrangements with Probation Officer for maintenance of the ditches around the Green – (see Appendix A) 24.07.24 To receive update on renovation of Community Noticeboard (Push Energy Fund) – Item to be deferred to the September meeting. Action: Clerk 25.07.24 To agree proposal to plant replacement trees on the edge of the Green using Push Energy fund – It was proposed, seconded and agreed by all to purchase 8 different fruit trees to include apple and pear trees. Resolved. Cllr. Kilby to contact Caroline d’Ayala. Action: EK 26.07.24 To receive update on the setting up of a .gov.uk domain and migration of Council services – Cllr. Kilby reported that the .gov.uk domain had now been approved and set up. The cost of registration had dropped to £15 and hosting would cost £50 per year + VAT through ‘Netnerd’. A grant had been applied for and awarded to cover the costs for the 1 st year. All Cllrs. and the Clerk had been issued with new email addresses and Cllr. Kilby would migrate emails across in the next few days with the aim to shut down the .co.uk hosting at the beginning of Sept. He volunteered to assist anyone struggling to set up their new email accounts. He would advise Cllr. Hill of the new email addresses. Action: EK The Clerk would be the registrar of the new domain. The Clerk to notify HAPTC of the new email addresses and request new log in details for everyone for the HAPTC website. Action: Clerk Cllr. Kilby was thanked for all his hard work on this matter. 27.07.24 To receive matters for report or referral to next agenda. (Information only) Ponds Protection Project, Tree planting on the Green, Wisbridge Reservoir, Projects for Community Payback work, Speeding in Brickyard Lane, Play Area Project, Community Noticeboard, Turney Trust and Site RD1, Review of Financial Regulations, Audit of Parish Council assets, Bonfire Night, Succession planning. 28.07.24 To note correspondence received. (Information only) – A letter received from a resident regarding a missed mowing of a footpath. Cllr. Langley thought this matter had since been resolved. 29.07.24 To agree date of next meetings. Wednesday 4 th September 2024. Agreed. There being no further business the meeting closed at 20.56pm. APPENDIX A CHAIR’S REPORT The following to report since the last Parish Council meeting: 1. The Annual Parish Meeting was held on Wednesday 29th May in a new, experimental format and it is pleasing to report its success. Village or-ganisations and representatives of outside bodies each had a “stall’’ in the village hall and parishioners were able to circulate at leisure over a period of 2 to 3 hours. Councillors also attended and were able to meet with representatives and members of the public throughout the evening, which was of benefit to all. Refreshments were provided and were ap-preciated. As was the availability of the Pizza van which attended. At-tendance by parishioners numbered up to 60 and there was a refreshing and heartening ‘buzz’ to the evening, making it a successful Reed com-munity gathering. Representatives from organisations remarked on the effectiveness of the format, saying it provided occasion for better and more natural and useful communication with members of the public. The extensive pre-publicity contributed to the success as did nice weath-er. Of course, great thanks goes to the village organisations for their pos-itive engagement and great efforts to ensure a very worthwhile annual village meeting. 2. Councillors after the met informally in June to discuss issues and the dis-tribution of work between councillors following their number being joined by Simon Aries. It was a productive and valuable meeting. Thanks to Councillor Blower for organising and hosting. 3. In the period since May the village has benefitted from two visits by the Community Payback team. They have continued excellent work on ditches round the Green and in helped Councillors with maintenance work on the Cart Pond. The link with the Payback Team, established last year, is proving to be of great value. That completes the Chair’s report for the period since May 2024. ..