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Minutes 1st July 2021

Minutes Uploaded on August 4, 2021

Minutes of Castor Parish Council Meeting

Held on Wedenesday 1st July, 2021 at 7.30pm in the Cedar Centre

  • PRESENT:  Cllr Richard Anker, Cllr. William Baxter, Cllr. Neil Boyce (Chairman), Cllr. Jane Greene, Cllr. Fiona Rowlands, Cllr. David Shaw & Cllr. Dennis Surgeon; one member of the public was also in attendance.

 APOLOGIES – Steve Davies, John Haste, clerk – In the absence of the clerk at short notice, Cllr Fiona Rowlands took notes of the meeting, from which these minutes were prepared.

  • DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST –None

 MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS – We unanimously RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 2nd June, 2021 -. These were duly signed by the chairman.

Proposed Cllr. Fiona Rowlands and seconded Cllr. David Shaw 

  • PLANNING and associated matters
  1. Joint Community Action Plan (JCAP) – John Hodder had provided an updated Draft Action Plan arising from the joint meeting with Ailsworth Parish Council and this was approved without amendment.
  2. Neighbourhood Planning (NP) – We agreed to review this in September if draft planning legislation is by then available.
  3. Status report – We were unable to consider the latest update and will review again at our next meeting.
  4. Planning applications
    1. 21/00497/HHFUL – 59A Peterborough Road – Front porch extension, garage conversion, single storey rear extension, and new garage. We have no objections to make on this application.
  5. Woodlands – Cllr. Shaw gave an update on the events that took place on the site on 5th  A junior football tournament had been organised by NPT with inadequate parking, insufficient toilet facilities, no litter arrangements and a lack of staffing. This lack of organisation led to unacceptable parking in the village and Splash Lane in particular, the blocking of driveways, parking on private land and participants urinating in villagers’ gardens. Parish Councillors acted immediately and met with representatives from NPT who apologised, accepted their responsibilities to the village and assured the Parish Council any future events of such a scale would go through the accepted protocol of adequate parking arrangements with appropriate facilities and resources in place. This would include risk assessments and health appraisals. Parish council has also requested adequate notification of any future large-scale events.

A letter of apology has been received by all Splash Lane residents from Mathew Bradbury, Chief Exec NPT.

  • LAND & ALLOTMENTS:
  1. Water supply and Meter chambers– All works have been carried out and the water is back on. Meters have been read and it was noted that the Ailsworth Sub-meter readings are in litres not cubic metres.
  2. Allotment Lane Bollard. The bollard has still to be replaced and we noted that the city council will be replacing this and we agreed that this should be done as soon as possible.
  3. The Coppice – Cllr. Anker had requested a five year lease on this land to allow for the proposed nature recovery work to be completed. We readily agreed to this request. In discussion on signage for the area we agreed to allocate £500 of our nature recovery project as a guide on expenditure on approved signs.
  • HIGHWAYS
  1. Update on parish issues raised with PCC – Peter Hiller has been made aware of outstanding work to be completed. The continuing problem of drainage is being addressed in that the pipe work has been cleaned but the manholes need to be cleared in the Autumn to address falling leaves.
  2. Speed Indication Device – to be fitted by Cllr. Richard Anker. The position of the camera needs to be reviewed. The roundels in Ailsworth need to be changed before the Speedwatch initiative can take place.
  3. Parking issues – Cllr. Richard Anker to report at September meeting.
  4. d) Observations from Councillors – A large tree on the grass verge in Clay Lane needs severe pruning as it is interfering with cables. Cllr Neil Boyce agreed to deal with this issue. Cllr Mrs Greene will inform the clerk which Allotments need attention as some are becoming overgrown. It was suggested a letter would be sent to the allotment holder requesting whether or not they intend keeping the allotment and suggesting they have 4 weeks to clean up. The land must be left in a cultivated state if they no longer require the site.
  • Community MATTERS – Joint Parish Liaison Group (JPLG)- The notes of the meeting were approved with three amendments, roundels in Ailsworth need to be amended or removed to allow Speedwatch to take place. JCAP 4.1 Cycle West planning application has now been rejected and the next JPLG meeting will be on 28th September 2021.
  • Langdyke Trust NRP – Cllr Fiona Rowlands gave an update having received information on signage from Cllr. Richard Anker and Mike Horne. Benches have been installed in the Coppice. Bees are to be introduced and looked after by a villager. A September open day was discussed when signage will be in place. Cllr. Fiona Rowlands to complete Project Templates and costings taking the project forward by mid-July.
  1. Village Tribune – Cllr Fiona Rowlands agreed to contact the Editor to request costings to add telephone numbers and email addresses of the Chairman and Clerk to the Tribune Directory.
  2. Cricket Club Pavilion – Cllr. Steve Davies to continue working with the Club and requesting a business plan to be put before the next CPC meeting in September in order to take advantage of the monies available.

 Governance Matters –

    1. Update on Grant to 63rd Peterborough Scout Group – it was unanimously agreed that the parish council contribution initially approved for this very deserving project would remain the same.
  1. Annual Governance & Accountability Return – We received the report of the internal audit carried out over three days and noted that the auditor, David Lane MCICM, had signed off the internal audit page of the annual return.
  2. Internal Audit fee – we approved the payment of the audit fee of £175 to Mr David Lane.

Proposed Cllr. William Baxter Seconded Cllr. David Shaw

  1. Appointment of an Internal Auditor for the current year – We unanimously approved the appointment of Mr. David Lane, MCICM, as internal auditor for the current financial year.

Proposed Cllr. William Baxter Seconded Cllr. David Shaw

 official announcements

  1. The chairman had received one quotation from John Jenkins from Resin Installations to redo the path in the children’s play area. It was agreed the path needs extending round the play area and the chairman agreed to go back to the contractor for a revised quotation.
  2. The chairman will attend a zoom meeting to discuss and take forward suggestions for the Heritage Project List.
  3. Councillors were asked to think about initiatives to carry forward to assist with the Climate Change project.

 Future Agenda Items –

  1. Speedwatch – awaiting further updates
  2. Celebration Committee – awaiting updates

 Date of next meeting – Thursday 2nd September 2021

 

  • There being no further business the chairman closed the meeting at 9.30pm.