MINUTES of the Much Hadham Parish Council meeting held on Tuesday,
12 January 2010, at 7.30 pm in the Much Hadham Village Hall.

*Cllr Mrs A M Aranha               *Cllr B H A Morris
*Cllr W Compton                      *Cllr Mrs C Naughton
*Cllr W Bird                             *Cllr Mrs F Tate
*Cllr M L G Dillon (Chairman)    *Cllr J H A Williams
  Vacancy

* denotes present.

In attendance: 3 members of the public.
  Cllr M Carver (EHC)

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

None.

CO-OPTION OF PARISH COUNCILLOR

RESOLVED that Mrs Jane Fowler, 87 Windmill Way, Much Hadham, be duly co-opted to the office of Parish Councillor and that her declaration of acceptance be completed on or before the next meeting of the Parish Council.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

None.

MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING HELD ON 3 NOVEMBER 2009

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the last meeting held on 3 November 2009 be accepted as a correct record of the proceedings and be signed by the Chairman.

MATTERS ARISING

None.

RESIDENTS’ COMMENTS

1. Highways

A question was raised as to whether the lack of maintenance of the public highways in the Parish was County Council policy and an explanation was sought as to why no effective gritting had taken place on the footways and side roads.

PLANNING

(i) Planning matters

To note the attached planning matters as set out in Appendix A.

Members expressed their concern regarding the granting of planning permission in respect of the gymnasium and swimming pool at North Leys, which was an officer decision taken under delegated powers.  It would appear that the case officer had decided that the objection raised with regard to noise had been felt to have been overstated.  The Clerk was requested to obtain a copy of the officer’s report for members.  Cllr Carver stated that he had requested that the application be taken to Committee, but his request had been refused.

The Chairman informed members that a meeting had been arranged with the Director of Development Control, Mr Kevin Steptoe, for Monday, 25 January 2010 to discuss various planning matters and a report of the proceedings would be compiled and submitted to the next meeting of the Parish Council.

(ii) Draft Sustainability Appraisal Scoping Report

Members had been circulated with a copy of a letter received from East Herts Council seeking comments on the Sustainability Appraisal of the Local Development Framework Core Strategy undertaken for East Herts by Scott William Consultants.  The Sustainability Appraisal was a statutory requirement under the Planning Compulsory Purchase Act 2004.

RESOLVED that the above be noted.

COMMUNITY PLANNING AND PARTNERSHIPS

Members had been circulated with a copy of a letter from the Community Planning and Partnership Manager, East Herts Council, setting out briefing notes which had been completed from the feedback from the Rural Parish Conference held last May.

RESOLVED that the contents of the letter be noted.

PARISH PATHS PARTNERSHIP

Cllr Mrs Naughton expressed her concerns regarding the condition of the footways at the corner of Ash Meadow and the presence of a large tree on the grass verge, the leaves from which fell on the footway and were never cleared.  The falling leaves coupled with the icy conditions and the lack of gritting had compounded the problem of safety for members of the public accessing the Health Centre.  Cllr Mrs Naughton asked for the ownership of the grass verge to be ascertained and she questioned the reason for the lack of gritting.  Cllr Carver stated that gritting was only being undertaken on the main routes and minor roads and footways would not be gritted.  This was practice throughout the County.

Cllr Mrs Naughton informed members that the village map was now at the final proof stage and she requested members to view the proof at the end of the meeting in order for her to submit the agreed version for processing.  On the question of finance,
Cllr Mrs Naughton stated that there was sufficient money available to order three maps and she sought the Parish Council’s agreement to proceed.  Members were happy to sanction the purchase and they confirmed that, should there be a shortfall, then this would be met from the Council’s balances.

Cllr Mrs Naughton stated that now that the project was nearing completion, she was hoping to resign her position on the Parish Council and she informed members that Mr Robin Rogers had confirmed that he would like to continue to act as a liaison officer to the Parish Council.

With regard to the provision of benches, Cllr Mrs Naughton informed  members that these were now ready for delivery and three sites had been identified.

Work on various footpaths would be undertaken when the weather conditions improved in particular re-surfacing work on FP 19.

STANSTED AIRPORT RELATED MATTERS

The Chairman informed members that BAA had had a qualified success with its appeal to the Competition Commission which had upheld one of the grounds of BAA’s appeal relating to the apparent bias on the part of the Competition Commission in reaching a decision that BAA must sell three of its airports, including Stansted.  The appeal by BAA that the timetable for any sale was short, was lost.  With regard to the timetable for any sale it was now down to BAA and the Competition Commission to enter into further discussions.

The Chairman referred members to the following statistical information for the year 2009 compared with 2008.

Passenger numbers were down from 22.3m to 19.95m – a reduction of 10.7% (the lowest since 2003).  Air traffic movements were down from 177,157 to 156.242 –
a reduction of 11.8%.  Cargo transport was down from 199,487 movements to 183,608 movements – a reduction of 8%.

Overall the twelve months comparable figure for the year showed that the situation in economical terms had declined considerably.  Stansted was not doing well and was the least successful of all the airports in the ownership of BAA.

The Chairman expressed an opinion that BAA might now decide to sell Stansted, as it did not make commercial sense to contemplate further development.  Cllr Carver stated that BAA had now put back their forecast for the development of a second runway to 2020.

HIGHWAYS MATTERS

A resident, who had raised the matter earlier under ‘Resident’s Comments’, again  expressed concern regarding the lack of gritting and highway maintenance, particularly the increasing number of potholes in the Parish.  He questioned whether it was merely a lack of salt, whether it was strategy to abandon villages or merely incompetence in not undertaking remedial work.  Cllr Carver reiterated his earlier remarks that gritting was prioritised for mainly A-roads with no priority given to minor roads or footways.  However, Cllr Carver would make a personal plea to Hertfordshire Highways to endeavour to secure an agreement for remedial work to potholes to be undertaken as a matter of urgency.

Members felt that what appeared to be County Council policy was both ill-conceived and of a disadvantage to the general public and such views should be made known to the leader of the County Council.  Cllr Carver agreed to action this matter.

Cllr Carver made reference to the Local Transport Plan for the County which would shortly be out for public consultation.

PARISH PLAN – UPDATE

Cllr Williams stated that no further meetings of the Working Group had taken place and, therefore, no progress had been made.  However, every effort was being made to arrange a meeting in the coming month.  Cllr Williams further stated that to date half of the grant money to undertake the work on the Plan had been received.

PROVISION OF PLAY EQUIPMENT

Cllr Mrs Naughton informed members that no money had been expended on purchasing any equipment at present, but a concerted push would now be made in identifying the equipment required.  There would also be a big push towards securing maximum grant aid.

SPEED RESTRICTION SIGNS

The Chairman addressed a comment to Cllr Carver confirming that the Parish Council was desirous of providing speed restriction signs in the High Street, Much Hadham, and had made a financial commitment towards the purchase.  However, it had not been possible to obtain from Mr Robin Noades (Herts Highways) a realistic cost for the installation.  An unsubstantiated sum of £30,000 having been quoted.

Cllr Carver stated that he would discuss the matter with Mr Noades at the earliest opportunity.

PRECEPT 2010/2011

Members had been circulated with a copy of the draft precept for consideration.

The Chairman stated that the document had been compiled by the Clerk in close liaison with him and it took account of the internal auditor’s recommendations contained in his report regarding the high level of the Council’s funds.

Cllr Mrs Aranha made reference to the Minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2009 concerning the Council’s desire to contribute to grasscutting on the Recreation Ground which had not been reflected in the document.  The Chairman confirmed that such expenditure would be met out of general maintenance (£500).

RESOLVED that the precept for 2010/2011 be confirmed at £24,000.

PAYMENT OF ACCOUNTS AND CURRENT FINANCIAL STATEMENT

(ii) Payment of Accounts

RESOLVED that the accounts as set out on the attached schedule (see Appendix B) be duly authorised for payment.

(ii) Financial Statement

RESOLVED that the contents of the attached statement be noted.  (See Appendix C)

ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDA

None.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

The Chairman stated that this year would be the first year in which both the annual Parish Meeting and an Ordinary Parish meeting would be combined and he hoped the change would prove successful.  The Stansted Airport Security Team had asked to give a presentation at a Parish Meeting and, as a majority of the members had been in favour of the presentation being made at the annual Parish Meeting, the Chairman had invited the Team to make their presentation at that meeting.

Cllr Morris gave members an update on the recent developments in Harlow North.

CONFIRMATION OF DATE OF NEXT MEETING

It was confirmed that the next meeting would be held on Tuesday, 9 March 2010, at 7.30 pm, in the Much Hadham Village Hall.