WINSTRED HUNDRED PARISH COUNCIL
Peldon Great Wigborough Little Wigborough Salcott Virley
Draft minutes of the meeting of Winstred Hundred Parish Council held at Salcott Village Hall at 7.30pm on Tuesday 14th April 2009.
Present: Frances Fergus, Nicky Ellis, Jinny Gale, Robert Davidson, Phil Gladwin, Jane Banks, Lynne Simmons, Kevin Bradshaw, Sam Knill Jones, Andrew Ellis and approx 25 members of the public.
Apologies for absence: Kevin Bentley
Minutes of the last meeting were agreed and signed by the chairman with an alteration at Item 3. last sentence ‘We also decided that in future……’ was discussed but was to be proposed and decided at the following meeting.
Borough Councillors: There had been no particular issues reported. ECC Highways have been consulted about the missing 30mph sign that should have been replaced in Salcott Street. Why there is an empty council house in Salcott will also be looked into.
Public – Have Your Say: Several people had come about the flooding in Salcott and were asked to wait for when that subject would be discussed at Item 2 later in the meeting.
Two property owners in Salcott expressed their dissatisfaction at length with the parish council for not backing their planning applications. The chairman explained planning procedures and that the planning decisions are made by qualified officers at Colchester Borough Council. He suggested people come to our meetings to explain what they are hoping to achieve with regard to planning applications before submitting them in an attempt to clarify requirements.
There was a request for the Salcott meadow grass to be cut before school holidays.
Declarations of Interest: Depending on the discussion Sam for Item 2 and Jinny for No. 8 in correspondence
Items for Discussion
- Clerk’s salary adjustment in line with the national pay scale was discussed and the increase of £0.029 backdated from April 08 was proposed by Phil, seconded by Jinny and all agreed.
- Flooding at Salcott – was discussed and there had been a number of suggestions and proposals for improving matters but as we have a meeting with the Environment Agency at the end of the month it was considered the best option is to wait for professional advice. A list of questions and queries has been compiled for the meeting. We must determine whether or not the Grove Road and any new development on the jam factory site, both in Tiptree, has any impact on the flooding problems of Salcott. It was suggested that Section 106 for obtaining compensatory funds may be appropriate when or if the jam factory site is developed. The flooding of Wigborough houses has been dealt with by ECC Highways.
- Emergency Plan – update is being compiled with any new contact details. A list of boat and dingy owners will be added. Enquiries will be made about sand bags.
- Communications Committee – our website design is to be decided keeping within our budget. Local groups have and will be asked if they would like to have a link. Essex and Suffolk Water will also be approached.
Our Freedom of Information declaration is almost complete but a course will be attended in June by a parish councillor on this subject so it was thought prudent to wait until after then. We are covered now by a blanket declaration.
Jinny proposed, Phil seconded and all agreed for any correspondence to us by a member of the public or body by telephone, letter or email be acknowledged by letter or email within 7 days of receipt adding that the matter, if it cannot be dealt with immediately, be discussed at our next parish council meeting and a reply within 10 days following.
We will review how we look at planning applications and how our decisions are made. Also we will look at how we keep planning applications as these are on the CBC website.
Jinny proposed and Phil seconded and all agreed for us to abide by the new protocol for emails. Names can be added to our emailing services of useful information and forthcoming events run by Jinny which will probably be incorporated into the website when it is up and running.
Our responses to consultations will be listed electronically for easy access. - VDS – with great team effort by the volunteers and Nicky for organising it the questionnaires were distributed to all households in all our villages. Thanks were expressed to those volunteers. Volunteers are needed for evaluating the results. Some forms have been completed and returned already. Everyone is urged to fill in and send off their questionnaire in time to be entered for prizes to be drawn at the Peldon May Festival. When completed the Villages Design Statement will be considered in decisions for the future of our villages by CBC for the next 15 years so it is very important for everybody to have their say.
- CACL Meeting – was attended and there was a presentation from Playing Field Association. A couple of other presentations had been cancelled. Their next meeting will be attended by one of us.
- Annual Report – suggestions re content to be emailed to Jinny who is in the process of putting this together for our next meeting.
- Vice chairman – for the next two years will be from the Peldon parish councillors and decided between them for proposal by our next meeting.
Correspondence: No 8. Jinny Gale would like it on record that she completely refutes all the allegations made against her in Martin Parmenter’s letter.
Planning:
090342 Proposal: Application for temporary use of mobile home as monitoring accommodation for free range chicken unit, siting 3 mobile chicken houses, erection of tractor shelter, brood and feed shed at Bellwood, Colchester Road, Great Wigborough
090322 Proposal: Extensions and alterations at Beckton Farm, Barnhall Road, Salcott
090357 Proposal: Replace existing internal glazed door and side panels with timber-framed glazed double doors at Cobb Cottage, The Street, Salcott
090467 Proposal: Agricultural determination for erection of machinery/workshop shed at Virley Hall Farm, Mill Lane, Virley
Notice of Planning Decisions:
090165 Proposal: Building to house agricultural machinery and implements to support agricultural use. Resubmission of 082140 at Beckton House Farm, Barnhall Road, Salcott – Permission Granted
090049 Proposal: Form a new annexe within an existing Essex barn, form new gym area, cinema room and change of use at Abbots Wick Farm, Abbots Wick Lane, Great Wigborough – Permission Refused
Appeal on the refusal of construction of wind farm at Hockley Farm, Bradwell has been quashed by the High Court
Finance:
101463 R S Pullen – clerk’s expenses (paper, ink, etc.) £127.81
101464 R S Pullen – office use (heating, lighting, etc.) £250.00
101465 Zurich Insurance Company – annual insurance £3046.59
101466 R S Pullen – clerk’s fee for April £349.02
101467 A Moore – play area inspection and clearance under shelter £48.00
101468 Mrs N Ellis – printing and envelopes for VDS questionnaire £421.09
101469 Terry Simmons – play area insp and repairs, 2 grass cuts £140.40
The next meeting will be the Annual Parish Assembly, AGM and Parish Council Meeting at Peldon Village Hall on 12th May 2009 at 7.30pm.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice please contact Nicky Jackson on 01223 205181. It is a charity for children with life threatening conditions and their families.
