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Castor Parish Council > Documents > Minutes > Minutes 23rd July 2023

Minutes 23rd July 2023

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Minutes of Castor Parish Council Meeting

Held on Thursday 20th July 2023 at 7.00pm in the Cedar Centre

  • PRESENT: Neil Boyce (Chairman), Cllr. Richard Anker, Cllr. William Baxter, Cllr. Steve Davies, Cllr. Fiona Rowlands, Cllr David Shaw, Cllr. Terry Young. Four members of the public were also in attendance.

 APOLOGIES – Dennis Surgeon had been given extended leave of absence for 6 months.

 

  • DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – David Shaw declared an interest in the planning application relating to 3 Carlton Court

 

  • MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS – We unanimously RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting, held on Friday 1st June 2023 -. These were duly signed by the chairman.

Proposed Cllr. Terry Young and seconded Cllr. Steve Davies

 

  • Matters arising from the previous minutes. – We agreed to Defer consideration of the Tweentown issues to the September meeting.

 

  • Public Forum – None raised at this point in the meeting

 

 PLANNING and associated matters

 

  1. Joint Community Action Plan (JCAP) – John Hodder had provided a revised draft of the plan arising from the joint meeting with Ailsworth Parish councillors on 13th The revised draft was unanimously agreed.

 

  1. Neighbourhood Planning (NP) – David Shaw reported that he had been in further contact with the local planning authority and had received assurance that a member of the planning staff would be in contact with him to take forward the planned revision to the NP

 

  1. Status report – The clerk reported that he had simplified the report and had removed the determined planning applications from prior years. There were no other changes to the report other than the addition of those planning applications on the agenda for this meeting.

 

  1. Planning applications –

 

  1. 23/00604/HHFUL & 2300605/LBC 16 High Street – Proposed ground floor extension. We noted the repositioning of a door from the rear to the road facing elevation of the building and also noted the comments of the conservation officer on the same point. We considered the proposal to be detrimental to the street scene and we are therefore obliged to object to the application but we wished it to be known that our objection is based on that door relocation alone and that in all other respects we have no objection.

 

  1. 23/00838/CTR – 24 Peterborough Road – T1 Yew Tree – Fell. We have no objections to this application.

 

  • 23/00857/HHFUL – 3 Carlton Court – Cllr. David Shaw left the room without comment whilst this application was considered. We have no material observations to make and asked the clerk to respond accordingly to the local planning authority.

 

Councillor Shaw returned to the meeting

 

  1. 23/00600/R3FUL – Castor C of E Primary School – provision of 1800mm high weldmesh fence with gates to two boundaries. – Whilst we have no objections to the planned works to the Peterborough Road frontage we are obliged to object to the application as the remaining proposals do not adequately address the issues giving rise to the increased fencing.

  

  1. Woodlands – Standing Item – Shaw reported that the care home application has been withdrawn; the Tennis club had not submitted their application and appeared to favour refurbishment and reuse of the existing tennis courts. Sport England had objected to the Nene Park trust proposals. In addition, Cllr Shaw was of the opinion that the recently erected equipment storage facility required planning permission. We agreed that a suitable letter be drawn up by Cllr Shaw in conjunction with the Clerk to address the Woodlands issues.

 

  1. Peterborough Local Plan – Peterborough City Council are consulting on the structure and process of revising the local plan. The consultation is scheduled to close on 15th September, followed by a call for development sites. It is the intention of this parish to respond to the consultation but to do so after conducting a public meeting to guage the views of residents and to possibly encourage the widest possible input to the consultation exercise

 

  • LAND & ALLOTMENTS:

 

  1. Cricket Club Lease – The Chairman had obtained copies of two recent updated leases from neighbouring parish councils; and he had circulated a Castor version of a draft lease. We asked the Clerk to seek quotes from Solicitors to conduct a review of the draft circulated and to act on behalf of the parish council in bring the lease with the Cricket Club to a satisfactory conclusion.

 

  1. Community Allotment – Cllr. Responsibility – arising from the resignation of Mrs Jane Greene, Cllr Terry Young agreed to take on those responsibilities.

 

  • Parish Councillors observations regarding Land & Allotment – Cllr. Davies asked about consideration of a land management tender and we agreed to revising the tender to incorporate matters arising from the parish walk. The tender document to be issued in September for consideration at the October meeting.

 

  • HIGHWAYS – No Matters considered

 

  • Community MATTERS –

 

  1. Joint Parish Liaison Group (JPLG) – We approved the draft summary of the meeting held on 13th July as circulated by John Hodder.

 

  1. Langdyke Trust – Nature Recovery Project (NRP) – Fiona Rowlands reported that in discussions with Mike Horne and Gary Archer there should be further developments on the project by the end of August. Cllrs Boyce and Rowlands together with the Clerk to meet with Mike Horne to agree the scope of works still required to conclude all work scheduled within the Section 106 agreement with the City Council. We agreed that the meeting with Mike Horne could explore the possibility of him acting as lengthsman to maintain the NRP areas subject to his obtaining Public Liability insurance and agreeing satisfactory terms against a schedule of work required.

 

  1. Standing Stones & Information Boards – Baxter reported that following the amendments referred to at the previous meeting the work on the information boards were now in progress.

 

  1. Castor & Ailsworth Fete – 8th July – The Chairman reported that the fete had been well attended and that interest in the parish Council stand had been greater than in previous years. General feedback was that there is not enough provision at the fete for young children.

 

  1. Playground re-instatement – we noted that the old material and Fire debris had been removed by Aragon, Fences and stakes for the grass seeded area obtained and would be erected at the weekend by councillors Baxter and Boyce and the play area re-opened. Insurers had agreed that the order could be placed with Kompan to install new play equipment on a like for like basis.

 

  1. Short term CCTV rental – We agreed to include this on a future agenda and meanwhile seek further information from potential suppliers.

 

  1. D-Day 2024 – We asked the Clerk to write to the events committee to see if they had any plans for commemoration of D-Day as part of the national commemorative activities.

 

  1. Community Transport – We noted that £2000 from the Mayor had been received and banked £500 of that was due to be paid over to Wittering and Wansford parish councils to make their own transport arrangements. The chairman is to obtain the bank details for each of those parishes and the remaining £1000 for Castor & Ailsworth to be passed to the Good Neighbours scheme to organise transport for those in greatest need within our two parishes.

 

  • Governance Matters –
    1. Banking arrangements – No change from the position reported at our previous meeting namely that we received a report on the balances held in our accounts at Unity Trust Bank and Metro bank on 95day notice. We considered the balances available for immediate access at Unity trust bank were adequate for the time being and agreed to regular monitoring at future meetings.

 

  1. Insurance renewal. The clerk reported on the escalation of insurance premiums in the last two years to nearly double that in 2021. We agreed that despite there being a current ongoing claim we would ask the clerk to conduct a tendering exercise in conjunction with a review of the insurance cover required.

 

  • Co-option to Vacancy – Parish councillors had been notified of the interest of Mr. Gary Elliott in becoming a parish councillor by co-option. We asked the Chairman to invite Mr Elliott to the next meeting as an observer and to meet councillors with a view to potential co-option at that meeting.

 

  • official announcements & CORRESPONDENCE. –

 

  1. PKF Littlejohn – The Clerk reported that the External auditor had asked for clarification of a simple error in the paperwork submitted with the annual return.

 

  1. Holmes England enquired about a gate erected at the entrance to their land. The gate is erected on Parish council owned land and replaced a rotten structure that had been historically in place for decades. The Clerk was instructed to reply to Homes England and enquire why their interest at this time.

 

  1. Highways England – regarding upgrading A47 from Sutton to Wansford and advising that grants are available.

 

  • Future Agenda Items
    1. Review of Cricket Club Lease
    2. Tweentowns
  • Banking

 

  • Date of next meeting – scheduled to take place on 7th September at 7pm in the Cedar Centre

 

Clerk & RFO 8th August 2023

 

Meeting Closed at 9.22pm