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Minutes 2nd March 2023

Minutes Uploaded on April 3, 2023

Minutes of Castor Parish Council Meeting

Held on Thursday 2nd March, 2023 at 7.30pm in the Cedar Centre

 

  • PRESENT: Neil Boyce (Chairman), Cllr. Richard Anker, Cllr. William Baxter, Cllr. Steve Davies, Cllr. Jane Greene, Cllr. Fiona Rowlands, Cllr David Shaw, Cllr. Terry Young. seven members of the public were also in attendance.
  • APOLOGIES Dennis Surgeon had given apologies as being unwell and unable to attend the meeting.

 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST –

 MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS – We unanimously RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting, held on Monday 6th February 2023 -. These were duly signed by the chairman.

Proposed Cllr. Fiona Rowlands and seconded Cllr. William Baxter

 Matters arising from the previous minutes. – The chairman referred to the Armed Forces Covenant and the Swim Run event, both of which had been deferred to the April meeting in view of the length of this agenda.

 Public Forum – A representative of the cricket club gave an update on their plans for a cricket pavilion and the clubs intention to apply for grants. To be successful in their grant applications the current lease would need to be amended and for a longer period. We noted the clubs wishes and asked that the club preferred requirements for a lease be communicated to the Clerk for our consideration at a future meeting.

 

  • PLANNING and associated matters

 

  1. Joint Community Action Plan (JCAP) – We have no immediate actions to make or changes at this time but the JCAP will be reviewed again at the next joint meeting with Ailsworth Parish Council.

 

  1. Neighbourhood Planning (NP) – David Shaw reported no change to the current position regarding review by the city council and undertook to take this up again with the Planning department

 

  1. Status report – The clerk reported that the “PRIOR” application for 6 Clay Lane had been decided and the size reduction of a Hazel tree at 4 The Green had been permitted.

 

  1. Planning applications

 

  1. 23/00145/HHFUL – 10 Allotment Lane – 10 Allotment Lane – Replacement of original gazebo including render finish to side elevation of mono pitch building – retrospective. We considered the plans and documents on the planning portal and have no objections to make.

 

  1. 23/00111/R4FUL – Woodlands, Splash Lane – Development of a sports pavilion, multi-use games area (MUGA), storage facilities and associated infrastructure. – Cllr Shaw introduced this item and referred to the plans and other documents on the planning portal. We considered that sports facilities of this scale had no place in a rural setting; That football pitches wood be better placed in the urban parts of Peterborough. We also noted that the business plan, included in the application, forecast a permanent loss year on year which was against the planning policy requirement for sustainable development. We asked the Clerk to write to the planning authority with our objections and requesting referral to committee if officers were minded to approve the application

 

  1. Woodlands – Standing Item –
    1. Land swap proposal – No further developments or response to our formal approach.
    2. Tennis Courts and Bowling Green. No further developments or response to our formal approach.
  • Anticipated Planning application by the Tennis Club – we have no further indications of any planning application being forthcoming from the Castor and Ailsworth Tennis Club

 LAND & ALLOTMENTS:

 Ferryfields – Unstable City Council Tree – Cllr Baxter had negotiated with Willow tree service and obtained a quote of £2600 +VAT if a cherry picker required (£700 less if the cherry picker not required). The quote compared favourably to the Aragon quote of circa £6000. Given the urgency of this matter we RESOLVED to accept the Quote of Willow Tree Services on the basis that this would be rechargeable to the City Council.

Proposed Cllr. Boyce Seconded Cllr. Anker

 

  1. Allotment Lane Post – We agreed that the key to the access post should be given to the leaseholder of Tweentowns in exchange for a £20 refundable deposit.

 HIGHWAYS – No matters raised at this meeting.

  • Community MATTERS –

 Joint Parish Liaison Group (JPLG) – We approved the draft agenda circulated by John Hodder for the meeting to be held on 16th

 Langdyke Trust – Nature Recovery Project (NRP) – The Vice chairman reported on planting of three oak trees from Sutton Parish Council. Access to the Splash lane site was also discussed as was the subject of watering  for all trees and wildlife planting including a possible water harvester and water storage bags on trees. Further discussions were to be held with the leaseholder of the adjacent site to explore options with a report back to the April Meeting.

 Good Neighbours scheme (GNS) – The Chairman reported that the Good Neighbours scheme had been given a civic award and additional funding to run the rural warm hubs.

 Commemorative Copper Beech Tree – Greene reported on the approval of our application for the tree to be formally recorded as part of the Queens Canopy

 Climate Change Policy – Shaw reported on the results of the continued dialogue with Andrew Nash to agree a shortened version of a climate change policy for adoption by this parish council. We RESOLVED to adopt the policy as amended.

Proposed Cllr Rowlands Seconded Cllr. Greene

  1. Verge Bulb Planting – Cllr. Baxter suggested that in celebration of K900 residents might be persuaded to plant several hundreds of bulbs in Grass verges and we noted that this may involve discussions with the highway authority. We agreed to consider the matter again at the April meeting.
  2. Standing Stones
    1. Water Leak –Cllr Baxter reported the test holes now appeared to be dry and the repair appeared to have been successful.
    2. Information Boards – Nothing further to report at this stage, in the hands of the graphic designer.

 Governance Matters

  1. Operation Golden Orb – We noted that Ailsworth Parish council had rejected the possibility of sharing the cost of presentation commemorative mugs to be presented to the children attending the castor primary school and pre-school. The Clerk had identified an alternative supplier at a lower cost and what we considered to be a preferred design. We RESOLVED to accept this alternative quotation and authorised the Clerk to place the order with wording “Presented by Castor Parish Council”

Proposed Cllr. Anker Seconded Cllr. Davies

 

  1. Grant funding request – We considered a request for £2000 by the Coronation Celebration working Group in order for the group to be able to set ticket prices in the knowledge of some secure funding. We RESOLVED to approve the grant application as requested in full.

Proposed Cllr Shaw Seconded Cllr Young

  1. Grant Funding request by MAGPAS – We noted the round robin request by MAGPAS to parish council’s and as we had previously provided a small grant to this organisation declined to do so again on this occasion.

 official announcements & CORRESPONDENCE. –

 Castor & Ailsworth Coronation Party Big Help Out – We noted the request for support and agreed that the request should be publicised on FaceBook.

  1. Resident request for land to Rent – We considered the request for some land to rent by a resident for the purpose of keeping chickens – On considering the current use of parish council owned land we concluded that there was none suitable for the purpose

 Future Agenda Items

    1. Review of Cricket Club Lease
    2. Armed Forces Covenant
  • Swim Run event 2023
  • Date of next meeting – to be determined – subject to outcome of the public meeting on the Woodlands Planning applications and the availability of Cllr. Shaw and availability of the Cedar centre

Clerk & RFO 13th February 2023

Meeting Closed at 9.49pm