WINSTRED HUNDRED PARISH COUNCIL
Peldon Great Wigborough Little Wigborough Salcott Virley
Draft minutes of the meeting of Winstred Hundred Parish Council held at Peldon Village Hall at 7.30pm on Tuesday 10th May 2011.
Present: Lynne Simmons, Phil Gladwin, Jinny Gale, Jane Banks, Netty Knill-Jones, John Walker, Terry Sutton, Kevin Bentley and 3 members of the public
Apologies for absence: Charles Dymond, Nicky Ellis, Les Lapwood, Andrew Ellis
The Annual Parish Assembly
The chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited participation by all.
County Councillor, Kevin Bentley spoke of huge savings of around £300 million made by the County Council which was essential and predicted well in advance. £5.3 million was given to the County Council by the government for tackling the huge pothole problem which is being successfully implemented. It was with regret to hear that Norman Hume was stepping down from his position of Portfolio Holder for Highways and Transportation. He has proved to be a worthy holder of the position, always being helpful and willing to actually go out to see people when asked.
Kevin announced that he had been promoted into the cabinet for which we gave him our hearty and sincere congratulations.
Borough Councillor, Kevin Bentley expressed his congratulations to Andrew Ellis for winning the election so convincingly and we all joined in with that sentiment.
Abberton Reservoir works has not caused any major problems to date but more extensive works are to be carried out shortly. There was disappointment over the parish council grants being cut by CBC and next year would probably be worse but very few district or borough councils in the country do actually give money to parish councils. The flooding summit meeting focusing on Salcott had proved difficult to organise as certain members of ECC Highways have left positions but we are assured that it will take place hopefully in the not too distant future.
Kevin said that he and Andrew enjoyed the good relationship that they have had with their parish councils and hoped that we could continue working well together. We thanked them and returned the compliment.
Borough Councillor, Terry Sutton also offered his thanks and willingness to help us in anyway he could.
Parish Council AGM
Phil proposed, John seconded and all agreed for Jinny to carry on as Chairman for another year and thanks were expressed to her for her excellent job of chairing us through the last year. Jinny proposed, Jane seconded and all agreed for Nicky to carry on as Vice-Chairman for the next year. Phil proposed, Jinny seconded and all agreed for Sue to carry on as Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer for the next year.
Minutes of the last meeting were agreed and signed by the chairman
Chairman’s Report: Les and Netty, our two new members were welcomed again to the parish council. Thanks were given to the public for their input during the meetings and many more thanks will be given to people in a full chairman’s report that all the houses in our villages will be receiving soon. Many tasks have been successfully accomplished this passed year including commenting on nearly 50 planning applications, a huge amount of work towards the Village Design Statement, an Affordable Housing Survey to establish our needs or requirements, flooding matters, dog fouling issues, many meetings with other bodies attended and much more.
Financial Report – finances for the year were explained and had been internally audited by Steve Copeland to whom we are very grateful for carrying out this task for us yet again. Phil proposed, Jinny seconded and all agreed to accept this financial report as a true and accurate account of our finances for this last year. It was suggested and agreed that the fact that we are holding in our surplus funds a sum of nearly £2000 set aside for the completion of the Village Design Statement should have been included. We are also holding funds of about £4600 on behalf of the Wigboroughs Village Hall project until it is possible to open an account for that purpose.
Declarations of Interest – None
- Church Cottage, Peldon – a discussion took place as to how much involvement the parish council should take in people’s planning ideas before submitting an application. The majority thought it was not the pc’s place to advice at this stage and that consulting a Borough Councillor or CBC Planning Department was the proper course of action.
- Specialist interest roles for individual Parish Councillors – between now and next month parish councillors are invited to list the roles they would or would not like to take on.
- Playground Maintenance – due to absence this will be reported on next month.
- Distribution of the Annual Report – options were discussed but cost and delivery contributed to the decision that was proposed by Jinny, seconded by Jane and all agreed for this to be the same as last year in a Gold Edition of the Peldon and Wigboroughs magazine that will include Salcott and Virley and be delivered to all the houses by various volunteers and including our sponsorship on the front cover. The extra cost of £100 to produce this bumper edition will be shared with the Five Parishes Show.
- Dog fouling on Moss Hay – following much surveillance and paint spraying work by certain parish councillors the main perpetrator of this offence has been tracked down and with a named witness coming forward CBC Animal Control will be writing to the offender with the view of taking further action if necessary.
- Affordable Housing – Moira Groborz, the Affordable Housing Enabler will be contacted in due course if we do not have an answer to our letter explaining our position on this matter following the completed survey.
- Salcott crossroads bus shelter alterations – contact and therefore delivery of the timber has proved difficult to date but will be addressed as soon as possible.
- Actions and Reminders – our list was updated
Planning:
110662 Proposal: Prior notification for installation of Schott solar panels on two central roof section of a pair of grain storage buildings at Newpots, Newpots Lane, Peldon
110482 Proposal: Change of use from C3 dwelling house to A2 offices at 2 Abbotts Hall Cottages, Maldon Road, Great Wigborough
110636 Proposal: Erection of 50cm freesat dish on chimney facing east, top to be less than 60cm above ridge of roof. Resubmission of 110185 at Sampton Wick, Peldon
110534 Proposal: Change of use of land to domestic equestrian use, construction of manege and retention of store building at 2 Sherwins Cottages, Abbots Wick Lane, Great Wigborough – amendment to plans, comments to CBC by 17th May 2011
Notice of Planning Decisions:
110058 Proposal: Erection of five houses with garages at Former Peldon Garage – Permission Granted subject to additional conditions
Finances:
101605 – R S Pullen – clerk’s fee for May £353.53
101606 – Peldon Village Hall – hire £114.00
101607 – T Simmons – grass cuts x 2, play insp £110.00
The next meeting will be held at Salcott Village Hall on Tues 14th June 2011 at 7.30pm
41 members and 18 visitors, in a wonderful creation of hats, attended our July “Great Britain Night” on the 26th July. We were welcomed with a glass of Pimms before being entertained by Singer Helen Abbey (pictured right) and Ted Beameant on the Piano with renditions from Summertime, Down at the Old Bull and Bush, A Nightingale sang in Berkeley Square and Roll out the Barrel to name but a few. Hopefully something for everyone.
Between the music sessions we had a lovely selection of sandwiches and cakes made once again by talented member of the committee. The best hat, as judged by Helen and Ted, went to Marianne Smith in her own creation as seen on the left. It was another lovely evening.
46 members and 6 visitors attended our May meeting when Jane Maylon (right in the photo) told us all about “Adopting an Attitude”. It was a most intriguing title and most of us had guessed incorrectly when Jane proceeded to tell us all about her Adoption in the mid 50’s, at the tender age of just 6 weeks from the “Waifs and Strays” now known as “The Childrens Society.” She talked about the change in attitude to adoption relaying many amusing stories along the way. She also told us how she had tracked down her birth Mother in Canada, and having written to her for several years, finally meeting her. It was a very uplifting experience and Jane was a delight to listen to.
44 members and 3 visitors attended our April meeting when Brian Curtois told us all about his “30 years with the BBC.” Brian started his early career as a Reporter with a small newspaper in Hornchurch before progressing onto the Ilford Recorder. He then moved to Nottingham before returning to London as part of the Press Agency. He covered a number of major events including the Great Train Robbery and the wedding of Peter Sellers to Britt Ekland. On his first attempt at joining the BBC he got a rejection letter but one year later his second attempt to be offered the post of General News Reporter. For 3 years he covered the Middle East and then Northern Ireland. Over the years he has interviewed numerous people including Ian Paisley, Margaret Thatcher, Mohammad Ali and Bruce Forsythe to name but a few and worked with people like Alan Freeman and Terry Wogan on Late Night Extra and David Dimbleby when working as the Political Correspondent at Westminister. He saw lots of changes over the years with the change from radio to television and relayed several amusing stories. Another very enjoyable evening.
42 members, in a variety of wigs and waistcoats, attended our AGM in March when we appointed a new President, Gen Fretwell, from the re-elected committee. Gen takes over from Julia Dymond who had a very “enjoyable year” despite her original misgivings. Once the business side of the evening, which included reports from both the President and Treasurer, had been conducted, we then had a lovely supper of shepherd’s pie followed by a choice of sumptuous deserts made by various members of our very talented committee. The evening was rounded off with a Quiz.
The Parish Council has been awarded a grant from the project’s Community Fund to help improve the Parish Council website and to incorporate up-to-the-minute Reservoir Development news within it, so keep checking on