Widdington Parish Council
Minutes of the Widdington Parish Council Meeting held on Thursday,
3rd March 2005
Chairperson Colin Taylor Clerk: Doreen Robson
Present. Colin Taylor. Anne Cline. Muriel Dennison. Ken Kemp. Jeremy Wilson.
Apologies for Absence :- Andrew Gardner. Juliet Bickerton . Bill Bowker.
Peter Wilcock.
In Attendance. Richard Wallace. 2 members of the public.
Declarations of Interest. None.
Minutes. The minutes of the meeting held on 3rd February 2005 were approved and signed.
Public Participation
Matters Arising from the Minutes.
Theses will be in 2 parts. First matters arising directly from the minutes and secondly matters arising from the circulated information.
1a) Bottle Banks. There will be a meeting at Shire Hill Depot on 17th March at 3:30pm to inspect the noise reducing bottle banks.
1b) Car Park Lease. This has been received and is to be circulated for comment.
2a) Best Village Competition. It was decided to enter the competition again this year and the Clerk will fill in the necessary application.
2b) Annual Village Meeting, Thursday, 7th April 20005. The meeting will commence a 7:30pm for essential business. The speaker for the evening at 8pm will be Alan Prentice from Sport Outreach. A flier has been printed for inclusion in the magazine. It was agreed that an update on the Airport situation would be helpful and Peter Sanders would be approached on the matter.
2c) Items for May Agenda. PP3, Christmas Event, Notice Boards, Clerk?s position, and Co-option of new councillor.
Finance.
The Statement of Accounts and the cheques to be paid were approved by the council.
The Clerk had queried the Invoice for £117 for the connection to the Christmas lights on the Green. This will now be reduced to approx. £53. The council approved the payment of this amount when the new invoice is received.
The Clerk estimated that there would be approx. £1,100 in hand at the close of the financial year, including £325 v.a.t. to be claimed. The council approved £500 being made available to match a grant for the notice board for the Definitive map if this grant is approved. Any remaining funds would be added to the contingency fund to build up a better reserve.
Agenda Items.
1) Airport. Nothing to report.
Grants & Agenda 21. Cllr. Gardner sent his report. The Grant application towards the cost of a notice board for the definitive map had gone to the Small Grants Board as the closing date for application was 1st March.
3)Car Park. Nothing further to report.
Playground. Cllr. Dennison reported that following the circulation of the Wicksteed report and their quote for work to be done a quote for this work has now been received from Tim - £150 plus materials ( the main material item being bark approx £150). She proposed that this quote should be accepted and the work put in hand as soon as possible. This was seconded by Cllr. Cline and approved by the meeting. Cllr. Denison will make the necessary arrangements.
3)Ponds. Nothing to report.
Neighbourhood Watch. Nothing to report.
4) Greens. A letter has been sent to the company whose lorry has been presumed responsible for damage to the Green. Cllr. Kemp reported that a letter had been received re. the Plane tree on the Green. The work can be put in hand in 6 weeks if there is no objection at an approx cost of £80.
5) Highways & Road Safety. The sign has now been replaced at the Beadle Lane triangle. Some of the rubbish had been removed from Hollow Lane, but there was still some in the culvert and by the railway.
6)Planning. There were no objections to the planning applications from 1 Brick Cottages, Clare House and Brookside.
The rubbish has been removed from the Bluebells Site. Inspectors have visited the Oxcroft site but no information has been received.
7)Social Issues. The response to the East of England Plan is due by 16th March 2005. Cllr. Wilson will liaise with Cllr. Gardner to make the council response.
Cllr. Wilson will also liaise with Cllr. Taylor to move forward the setting up of a free website through Local Channel.
Cllr. Wilson raised the problem caused by the tenant landlord leaving the Fleur de Lys and the council awaits further information on the matter.
V.H.M.C. The next meeting will take place on 10th March 2005.
.
D.O.N.M. 7th April 2005 at 7:30pm followed by the Annual Village Meeting at 8pm.