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Minutes 7th July 2022

Minutes Uploaded on July 15, 2022

Prior to commencement of the Parish Council meeting, Andrew MacDermott of Nene Park Trust (NPT) was given the opportunity to make a presentation of the NPT plans for Woodlands. Andrew declined to make a presentation but did offer some drawings which were provided to each councillor and also spoke of the traffic assessments and other matters considered by the trust to address some of the issues of concern to residents. David Shaw took the opportunity to restate the parish council wish to see the NPT plans in the context of other plans by Country Court Care (CCC) and the Tennis Club (C&ATC). David Shaw also reminded Andrew of the concerns raised by residents over landscaping and also of the decision by the planning appeal inspector regarding 45 Peterborough Rd. That decision would be influential in assessing the adequacy of soft landscaping proposals in the planning application when submitted. Cllr Fiona Rowlands asked if the traffic assessment included traffic arising from the plans of CCC and C&ATC.

 

 

Minutes of Castor Parish Council Meeting

Held on Thursday 7th July , 2022 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 Dennis Surgeon. Seven members of the public were also in attendance.

 

  • APOLOGIES – Terry Young absent through a prior commitment.

 

  • DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – Cllrs Richard Anker and Jane Greene as Allotment holders declared that as joint authors they would present the Allotment report on the agenda but take no part in voting thereon.

 

  • MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS – We unanimously RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 9th June, 2022 -. These were duly signed by the chairman.

Proposed Cllr. Jane Greene and seconded Cllr. David Shaw

 

  • Matters arising from the previous minutes. – Jane Green asked if there had been any response to the request for the Tree Officer and a Highways representative to meet on site to advise on the type and location of a commemorative tree to be planted on the Village Green. The Clerk undertook to chase a response.

 

  • Public Forum – There were no matters raised by members of the public in attendance and John Hodder reserved comment on the JCAP and JPLG matters until discussed on the agenda.

 

 

  • PLANNING and associated matters

 

  1. Joint Community Action Plan (JCAP) – We unanimously agreed the update drafted by John Hodder and circulated after the recent JPLG meeting.

 

  1. Neighbourhood Planning (NP) – Cllr David Shaw reported that he and John Hodder were to meet with the city council planning officer responsible for neighbourhood planning to explore the possibility of a minor amendment to the made plan to reflect that when drafted there was room for housing development at the Woodlands Site and since drafting that had been exceeded by the care home development equating to 56 units according to Peterborough City Council. When meeting the planning officer, they would seek to ascertain what was required by the city council in any review of our respective NP’s and report back to the September meeting of the Parish Council.

 

  1. Status report – the Clerk reported the one change to the position reported at the previous meeting.

 

  1. Planning applications

 

  1. 22/00916/HHFUL & 22/00917/LBC – The Cedars 32 Peterborough Road – Demolition of existing conservatory and erection of a masonry orangery, and various alterations internally and externally. We considered the detailed plans available to us on the planning portal and were of the opinion that the proposed changes to the property would not be seen from the road and that we would respect the views of the conservation officer. We therefore concluded that we would have no comment to make to the planning authority on this application.

 

 

  1. Woodlands – Standing Item – The Clerk reported that there had been no acknowledgement or feedback from the Nene Park Trust on the letter to their Chief Executive suggesting a possible land swap. The Clerk was asked to write to Matthew Bradbury to confirm that NPT had received the letter addressed to their Chief Executive.

 

Cllr. David Shaw reported on a discussion with David Hicks regarding the Tennis Club proposals and the conditions being placed on the Club by Sports England.

 

Cllr Shaw had also raised the issue of problems arising from Football tournaments and the unsatisfactory response regarding a dialogue with the parish council in advance of such events.

 

  • LAND & ALLOTMENTS:

 

  1. Allotment Working Group report
    1. We had before us the report of the Allotment Working Group. Cllrs. Jane Greene and Richard Anker introduced the report but took no part in the voting. Those councillors excepted; we accepted the proposed renumbering of the plots.

 

  1. We unanimously RESOLVED to approve the suggestion by our chairman and permit the joint tenancy of Plot 1 by Mr. Salters Daughter and the tenant of 14c Allotment Lane and furthermore agreed that this remains chargeable as a Full plot.

 

  1. We agreed to let a vacant plot to Sarah Besseling.

 

  1. By a majority vote of 5 against votes to 1in favour, we rejected the proposed Polytunnel proposal for plot 5 on the allotments.

 

  1. We considered the issue of children cycling across the plot adjacent to the allotment Lane access and the footpath alongside the plot. We were asked for our views about the erection of a fence and rejected that suggestion but indicated that we would not object if the allotment Holder planted a hedge. If this was the tenants wishes we advised contact with PECT to provide the advice and possibly the Shrubs fit for the purpose.

 

  1. Tree Safety Report – The Clerk reported that John Wilcockson had advised the parish council that we were due for a safety report to meet our common law obligations in respect of tree safety inspections. Mr Wilcockson had offered to do the inspection for a reduced fee of £675 including travel time and costs. The inspection could be carried out on 22nd August. We unanimously agreed to accept the quote and instructed the Clerk to inform Mr Wilcockson.

 

  • Land Management Tender -The chairman referred to the extensive works carried out to erect fences and clear some hedges. The effect of these works is that the specification of work required in the tender document needed to be reviewed. We agreed that the chairman and Cllrs Fiona Rowlands, Steve Davies and William Baxter should meet and jointly agree the changes to be made to the tender document for the parish council to consider at our September meeting, by which time we would also know if any tree work is required as a result of the Safety report agreed in the previous item in these minutes.

 

 

 

 

  • HIGHWAYS – Cllr David Shaw reported that in a recent downpour it was apparent that the drains were still blocked despite the respective claims of the Highway Authority and Anglian Water. We asked the Clerk to write to our Ward Councillors seeking their assistance in getting both parties to meet on site to determine responsibility and a resolution.

 

  • Community MATTERS –

 

  1. Joint Parish Liaison Group (JPLG) – We agreed the summary of the meeting held on 8th June and noted the date of the next meeting as set for 29th

 

  1. Langdyke Trust – Nature Recovery Plan (NRP) – Fiona Rowlands reported on the open day at the Coppice and the huge amount of voluntary work carried out by Mike Horne in preparation for the open day and at the event itself. Without his help the event would not have taken place and we would not be as advanced as we are in the Nature Recovery Project. We agreed to consider again at our September meeting how best to acknowledge the work of Mike Horne. We also approved a proposal to purchase some hosepipes at an approximate cost in the region of £60 and authorised Cllr Rowlands to make the necessary purchase.

 

  1. Removal of Fallen Tree at Ferryfields – Baxter reported that the tree had been removed and although there was some clean-up work required it was estimated that the final bill would be well within the estimate provided in advance of the work. Furthermore, we approved the repair work to the damaged fence on the basis of the quote received for £270.

 

  1. Play Area Equipment – The chairman reported that he had again been in contact with the supplier, Kompan, and that they were going to send an engineer to examine the roundabout to establish what work is required to get the equipment back in to operation.

 

  1. Standing Stones
    1. Water Leak – Cllr Baxter reported that Anglian water were on the case and that the drain run was in a different direction to that first thought by AWA.
    2. Information Boards the specification and potential art work etc had been considered by a number of people and was now in the hands of the person who had designed other information boards in the parish. Cllr Baxter is pursuing the Landscape artwork required to relate the current view to that of centuries ago.

 

 

  • Governance Matters

 

  1. Financial Report. – The Clerk Reported the Financial position as at the 30th June including all transactions for the year to date, The current balances in each of the four bank accounts (totalling £141,255.68) reconciled to the balances in our General Reserve together with the balances in Earmarked Reserves. We RESOLVED to note and accept the financial report before us.

Proposed Cllr. Richard Anker Seconded Cllr. Fiona Rowlands

 

 

  • official announcements & CORRESPONDENCE.
  1. David Shaw reported the request for a QR code to be placed on the side of the bus shelter for the use of participants in the Nene Park Trust “Trail”.
  2. We were informed of an advert again appearing on the Peterborough Road but this had been removed after only one day. Councillors agreed to monitor this situation to ensure prompt action should the nuisance recur.
  3. The Clerk informed us that he had received the signed agreement from the detectorists granted permission by this parish council and that they had been issued with authority cards to be used in conjunction with Photo ID.
  4. We expressed our concerns over the potential safety hazard of the structure of Cadman’s Barn in Clay Lane and asked the Clerk to again write to planning enforcement to enquire of any inspections or actions taken.

 

 

 

  • Future Agenda Items –
    1. The chairman reported that the Parish Liaison group were pursing the prospect of a “Climate Change Summit” involving all parish councils and the City Council. We noted the report and the need for this to be on our agenda when agreed.

 

 

  • Date of next meeting – this is scheduled for 1st September unless an earlier meeting is required for Planning matters and in particular for any “Woodlands” planning application if time was of the essence prior to the scheduled meeting.

 

 

  • There being no further business the chairman closed the meeting at 9.41pm.

 

Clerk & RFO 8th July, 2022