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Minutes 7th March

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Minutes of Castor Parish Council Meeting

Held on Thursday 7th March 2024 at 7.00pm in the Cedar Centre

 

  • PRESENT: Neil Boyce (Chairman), Cllr. William Baxter, Cllr. Steve Davies, Cllr. Gary Elliott, Cllr. Fiona Rowlands, Cllr. Dennis Surgeon, two members of the public were also in attendance.

 

  • APOLOGIES – Richard Anker sent apologies for his absence as did Cllr. David Shaw. Apologies were recorded for Cllr. Terry Young attending the Climate Change group meeting as this council’s representative.

 

  • DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST –

 

  • MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS – We unanimously RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting, held on Thursday 5th February 2024 -. These were duly signed by the chairman.

Proposed Cllr. Fiona Rowlands and seconded Cllr. William Baxter

 

  • Matters arising from the previous minutes. –

 

  1. The Chairman Confirmed that our approval of use of our land for the Swim Run event had been conveyed to the organisers and that the risk assessment and confirmation of public liability insurance will be provided to the Clerk in due course.

 

  1. The Clerk Confirmed that James Collingridge had agreed to try to set up a meeting including Anglian Water to consider possible solutions to the perennial problem of Blocked Drains on the Peterborough Road.

 

  • The Chairman informed the meeting that he would be meeting with Mrs Curtiss and the Head of the primary School, and Chair of Governors to discuss inconsiderate parking around the start and finish school times.

 

  1. The chairman also confirmed receipt of a request for grant funding for K900 celebrations and that he had responded that the parish council had agreed in January to provide a grant of £1000 and a Loan of £1000.

 

  • Public Forum – No Matters raised by those members of the public present

  

  • PLANNING and associated matters

 

  1. Peterborough Local Plan (LP) – D Shaw although absent had sent in an email and reported a meeting in the coming week with Milton Estates.

 

  1. Joint Community Action Plan (JCAP) – We noted the revised version of the plan arising out of the meeting with Ailsworth PC on 29th February and confirmed that the version reflected the changes agreed at that meeting.

 

  1. Castor Neighbourhood Planning (CNP) – In the absence of Cllr. Shaw the clerk confirmed that the consultation of Stakeholders of the Woodlands site is underway and responses are required by 19th To date, two consultees had responded with no observations to make on the proposed minor amendment.

 

  1. Status report – The clerk had circulated with the agenda an up to date record of Planning applications. We noted the content of the report and in particular that the tree works at 17 Church Hill had been permitted; the entrance door at 10 Allotment Lane had also been permitted and that the tree work at Castor House had been withdrawn by the applicant

 

  1. Planning applications –

 

  1. 24/00227/CTR – 6 Church Hill – T1 Robinia – reduce by3m to previously reduced height – We have no objections to these tree works

 

  1. Woodlands – Standing Item – Shaw emailed the Clerk prior to the meeting and confirmed that there had been no movement on applications for this site since the last meeting of Parish council. David Hicks has offered to be present at our April meeting.

 

  • LAND & ALLOTMENTS:

 

  1. Tweentowns – The chairman reported that following our February meeting PECT had provided a letter of intent and we indicated our agreement to proceed on that basis. In view of the imminent growing season, we agreed to allow immediate access to the site in the expectation that a satisfactory lease will be agreed in the very near future. We approved Cllr. Baxter’s request to obtain two further Keys & to allow PECT immediate access to the site.

 

  1. Homes England Land adjacent to the Castor allotment site-The Clerk reported the exchange of emails on the allocation of legal representation. The Clerk had indicated that the City Council legal team would not act for the parish council in this very simple conveyance. Any further progress in this matter will depend on the Homes England response.

 

  • Other Parish Councillors Observations on Land & Allotment related matters

 

  1. Baxter reported on the actions of Anglian Water in tackling a major sewage leak up by the heritage site, caused by a collapsed drain 40metres from the Standing Stones. A clean-up operation is currently taking place.

  

  • HIGHWAYS & Public Rights of Way – Councillors Observations –
  1. Cllr Baxter also reported that with all the movement on R21, old A47 access road to Ferryfields there is a need to get two further keys cut. We readily agreed to approve that action,

 

  1. Collapsed Bank Splash Lane – Cllr Baxter was of the opinion that there had been further slippage. We asked the Clerk to seek clarification of responsibility for the reinstatement of this access route.

 

  1. A47 litter Clearance – We recorded our appreciation of the litter pickers work and asked the Clerk to Convey our appreciation if the group responsible could be identified.

 

  1. A47 litter Bins. The Chairman reported that he and Ward Cllr. Peter Hiller had met with the Highways Agency and that agreement had been reached to replace the litter bins and to arrange regular emptying of those bins.

 

  • Community Matters:

 

  1. Anti-social Behaviour. Graffiti, speeding & inconsiderate parking. The Clerk reported that the city council (PCC) deployable cameras were in use to fight fly tipping. PCC had provided a link to the supplier of some cameras but we would need further advice on the legal implications and requirements before purchasing our own cameras.

 

  1. The Police surgery is scheduled for 11th April and we noted that both the Village Hall and The Cedar Centre are booked. We asked the Clerk to notify the police that the Church would be used for the surgery between 6pm & 8pm. We also agreed to invite Clair George to our next meeting to discuss the issues and offer advice.

 

We were also reminded that the next Parish Liaison group meeting is to be held on 21st March and open to attendance by all councillors from parishes within Peterborough city Council area. The police and Crime commissioner will also be present.

 

  1. Joint Parish Liaison Group (JPLG) – We agreed the notes of the meeting held on 29th

 

  1. Langdyke Trust Nature Recovery Project – We retrospectively approved a grant application made on our behalf by Mike Horne, and agreed by the chairman and vice chairman because of the short closure date. The grant application is for £12,000 grant to provide tools and equipment to enable the nature recovery work in Castor to be maintained.

 

  1. Standing Stones Information boards – Baxter reported approval of the final content and identifying source of graphics. We approved the cost of £756 plus Vat and the brackets and were advised that the boards were about to go into production. We expressed our Gratitude to Cllr. Baxter for his persistence in seeing these information boards produced.

 

  1. Climate Change Group – We noted that the meeting of the group clashed with this meeting and that Cllr. Young is attending on our behalf; we anticipate a report from him to our April meeting.

 

  • Governance Matters:
    1. Conversion of our emails to Flexmail, with greater storage capacity. We agreed to ask that the conversion take place on Tuesday 26th March and noted that we will be without access to our Castor-pc emails on that day. We agreed to provide the Clerk with an alternative address for him to provide us with access details and one-time passwords immediately after conversion.
  1. Defibrillators – we noted the outcome of the discussions at the JPLG meeting and agreed to continue support and agreed to notify Halls Chemist of our decision and noted that Halls were happy to carry out the necessary checks and maintenance.

 

  1. Assets Of Community Value – we noted that completed forms had previously been sent in to the city council for registration but had all been rejected. We asked that Cllr. Shaw be requested to meet with City Council Officers to ascertain the precise requirements for registration and to place the matter on the agenda for the April meeting.

  

  • To receive official announcements, correspondence of note, notices, or; reports from chairman, clerk, or councillors. None at this time

 

  • Future agenda items
    • Assets of Community Value
    • ASB and deployable cameras- plus Clair George advice

  

  • Date of Future Meetings
    1. Next meeting– scheduled to take place on 4th April
    2. May Meeting – as agreed at last meeting, now scheduled for 9th May.

Clerk & RFO 13th March

 

Meeting Closed at 8.19pm