A meeting of Croydon Parish Council was held on Wednesday 18 January 2006 in the Reading Room at 8.00pm.
Apologies: Mr Wheeler - away
Present: Mr Martin, Mrs Straw, Mrs Hurst, Mr Sole, Mr Wittey, Mr Hancock, DC & CC Kindersley, DC Elsby, one member of the public and the Clerk.
Minutes: of the last meeting, previously circulated, were agreed and signed.
Matters Arising:
Footpaths: Cllr Elsby has written to Karen Champion about the footpath and a reply is awaited. At the moment there is nothing the Coucnil can do, but will monitor the situation closely. It was suggested that Ms Champion is trying to use up her budget.
WRVS: Letter sent.
Croydon Sign: Need to ascertain which department to write to.
Cemex: Arrington is trying to organise a public meeting to discuss the proposed development of the Barrington Cement Works. Statistics being reported are horrendous – approximately forty-two 40 ton lorries per hour servicing the site and the incineration of “dubious” materials polluting the atmosphere. Also, construction of a new road across to join the A603 at the top of Orwell Hill.
Village Matters:
Cemetery: Mr Martin and Mr Sole to have a meeting with the Environmental Services regarding the ditch. Council needs to get a specification together in order to obtain comparable quotes for the work that needs to be done. Carter Jonas has marked the boundary, and are happy for concrete posts in the hedge at either end of the field. Clerk to find the last letter from the Environment Agency.
2006 Meetings: Clerk to post dates on the notice board – the December meeting will be decided nearer the date.
Fireworks: Complaints have been received about use of fireworks in the village. Fireworks may be set off on any day of the year, not after 11.00pm and not before 7.00am. The fireworks about which the complaint was made were being used in accordance with the law. The Chairman has reported back to the complainant.
Correspondence:
SC Local Development Framework: Filed
ACRE: Village of the Year launch at Over Community Centre on 7 February from 6.15pm – 8.00pm. No-one available.
Local Access Forum: Suggested that interested parties could look at the website. Meetings being held at:- Anglesey Abbey 31 January
Oliver Cromwell Hotel, St Ives 30 March
Hinchingbrooke 30 May
Standards of Conduct – The Future: Possible changes to the Code – circulated for any comments at the next meeting.
Police Budget Meeting: To be held at The Ark, Jeavons Lane, Great Cambourne on 25 January. No-one available.
Fire Service Meeting: Thursday 19 January – a breakfast meeting – no-one available.
CALC: Bulletin and notice of meetings received – distributed and circulated.
EVENT: Distributed.
Events Guide: Films on your doorstep - SCDC Elsby said it is quite expensive to hire the equipment. It has been tried at Gamlingay – one was successful – one was not.
CPRE: Planning Applications workshop – Saturday11 March – no-one available. The Chairman has attended one of these workshops and found it very useful.
Parish Newsletter: Details of contact requested. Passed to village correspondent.
Report from Cllr Kindersley
CCC Budget: Due to underfunding by Government there will need to be substantial cuts made in budgets for roads, libraries and other “soft” targets. The money CCC receives from Government is based on deprivation indices – Cambridge is not very deprived so gets a relatively smaller grant. Council Tax will only be allowed to increase by 5% again.
Cemex: Look on the CCC website, click on Barrington Quarry and see if there is enough information for an informed decision. Please let Cllr Kindersley know your opinion by 23 January. There is to be a meeting at the Cement Works in the Training Room – Mr Hancock will attend on behalf of Croydon.
Carers: Carers are allowed to claim through carers.org. There is extra financial help available, especially for full-time carers who are over 60.
SCDC Magazines: There is a new distribution company for the SC Magazine, as it has not been reaching all the households in the county.
Report from Cllr Elsby
Lower Road: Because of the double fatal accident recently, Cllr Elsby is organising a petition for road calming measures. Will go for visual impact, possibly with solid/hatched white lines up the centre of the road and/or a small roundabout at the bottom of Larkins Road. With enough signatures, the measures can go forward to a meeting at SCDC, at which a councillor from Croydon will need to speak,
Community Grants: A lot of these have been cut due to lack of funds.
Finance:
Subscriptions: CALC subs of £55-73 due, and ACRE subs of £25-00 due. It was proposed by the Chairman that cheques for these be signed. All in favour.
Precept: Following the circulation of the funds allocated for various nominals, Council discussed the precept for 2006-07 at length, with consideration being given to the financial situation of SCDC. It was decided that all little used nominals be grouped together as a General/Contingency nominal and the interest earned on the money put by for the Cemetery be brought into use. Money to be precepted for from SCDC could therefore be kept to a minimum.
The following amounts were agreed:-
Insurance £ 475
Rent £ 50
Clerk £ 900
Audit £ 50
SLCC £ 70
CALC £ 130
Clerk to send a request to SCDC for a precept of £1675-00. It was also suggested that £500 be granted to the Reading Room and £500 be used to get the website up and running, then the proposed funding from advertisers will not be required immediately. Proposed by Mr Hancock, seconded by Mr Sole, all in favour.
Planning:
Croydon Farm: Conversion of redundant agricultural buildings to holiday lets approved.
Beaugrove: Councillors have received complaints about the Seearo lorries servicing the site at Crail. Apparently, the lorries queue up, waiting for their turn to be filled, with the engines running causing a noise nuisance. There is a great deal of mud on the road and many of the verges are being destroyed by speeding lorries. Clerk to write with Council’s concerns.
Items for next agenda:
None put forward.
Date of next meeting - Wednesday 15 February 2006 at 8.00pm in the Reading Room.
As there was no further business the meeting closed at 9.47pm.
Signed Date