Boughton Parish Council May

Boughton  Parish Council.  Meeting 4th May 2012**.**

Councillors are summoned to a meeting for the purposes of transacting the following business.

Immediately followsAGM.

Apologies

1. Minutes meeting 20th January 2012 – D Horkan
2. Matters Arising
3. Retiring Chairman’s Report – F. Reid
4. Report from Councillors.

i.Fen Report                                                     M. Pogmore

ii.Highways                                                        D.Cooper

iii.Drainage                                                          G. Proctor

iv.Signs & Street Furniture                           P. Agate

v.Planning                                                          T. Madgwick

Financial Report                                       D. Horkan

As presented inAGM

1. Correspondence
2. Planning applications received since last meeting
3. Training

Meeting Closes

Open Questions

Date of Next Meeting                                       10th August 2012 –19:00

The Public are welcome to this meeting

Date held:                                   4th May 2012                                   Venue:  All Saints, Boughton

Present:

Dave Horkan (DHO)                 Clerk

Frank Reid (FRE)                       Councillor/Chairman

Mark Pogmore (MPO)            Councillor

Tim Madjwick (TMA)               Councillor

Peter Agate (PAG)                   Councillor

David Cooper (DCO)                Councillor

Geoff Proctor (GPR)                Councillor

Public Members                       5 & 2 number

No     Item                                         Action by                        Action  date

1.    Apologies:

2.  Minutes of the Meeting – 18th November 2011                                                                          FRE

Minutes of previous meeting, 20th January provided by DHO, agreed, signed and initialled     throughout byFRE, file to copy.                                                                                                                                                                   DHO               4/5/12

3.   Matters Arising   None

4.  Chairman’s Report – F Reid

We started the year with a new Council, and were happy to welcome  Tim Madgwick to our group. Also a new Clerk & Treasurer was appointed, Mr David Horkan. Councillor Madgwick has provided considerable planning expertise, and has significantly contributed to enhanced debate. In his role as Clerk / Treasurer Mr Horkan has instigated significant improvement to our processes and procedures.

Through David we now have; A very experienced independent Auditor in Mr John Cross, on whose advice we have compiled ;

A comprehensive Asset Register, Local Standing Orders, Activity Risk Assessment and Financial regulations.

We are still one Councillor short and are continuing our efforts to rectify this situation.

Recently we have had a candidate step forward, will advertise again, complete forms and vote on action next meeting in August

Role of Councillors.

We have continued our system of specific roles, and thanks to the continued commitment of all members of Council this has again proved to be a successful way of working.  There are a number of unresolved issues that we intend to action through this coming year.

Parking :      Church Lane,Chapel Rd.( Church Activity& Surgery )

Polite no parking signs to be installed.

Council to meet and discuss overflow car park with surgery MPO/TMA31/5

Pond water :  **Note – Written before rain - We anticipate further depletion this summer, and the Likelihood of turnover. There is little we can do about  water level, but with regard to pond life each member  has the Huntingdon emergency number and will make contact very quickly should the need arise.

WillowRegrowth.  Pond edge.

To be brushed with Aqua Roundup following cutting to discourage re-growth.

Excess Flora Pond Edge.    We sought the advice of the Environment Agency regarding pond water quality two years ago. They were impressed with general water quality and upkeep. But advised us to reduce the amount of Flora around the pond edges. Stating that normal encroachment would eventually progress to the point where the pond is much reduced in size and drastic action would become necessary. We have consulted with the IDB. And they would remove app. 2m of flora from East and North edges for £300. This work would take one day and would be undertaken in September.

ProposedFRE, seconded byTMA                                                                            FRE      31/5

Signs.           Purchase of direction signs for Church, to be sited

East & West corners of the Green.

1948 Olympic Torch Relay.

Nomination forms for runners were posted to every house in Boughton.

From the completed and returned forms a draw was held at the March Church Coffee morning. The draw winners were :

Chloe Short. Rory Coyne.

Reserves:  Ollie Short. Jake Langham.

The two reserves will run behind the Torch Carriers.

This event is on Sunday June 3rd. and Boughton Runners receive handover of the torch at3.20 pmon Cavenham Corner. They pass the torch to the Stoke Ferry runners at the Village sign onStoke Rd.

Following this there will be a Diamond Jubilee Celebration on the Village Green. Arranged as a joint effort between the Parish Council, Village Caravan, Cricket Club and thePCC.

Annual Challenge

We have again done what we normally do. That is to boldly announce the next year’s challenge at each presentation ceremony. Then change it when the New Year arrives.

**Note two members of public joined meeting

So, this years Challenge will not be the longest Carrot, but best Junior and adult home backed Pie. (Sweet or savoury ). Judging and presentation to be held during the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations on June 3rd.

Inter Village Challenge vs. Barton Bendish. Best home made Cakes.

To be held on 19th.August, at Barton Bendish.

Fly Tipping.

There have been a number of incidents during the year. Nathan Johnson and his Borough Council clear-up team have responded very well to our notifications. We thank them for their continued support. It is a great shame that a number of irresponsible, ill-educated, anti social louts continue to blight our countryside with their rubbish. I have appealed to Borough Council to make a greater effort towards catching and shaming them.

Pursuit of possible “spy camera location and availability” to be sought         FRE   NA

**Note – confirmed post meeting, service no longer available - closed

Anglian Water.

I invited a representative of Anglian Water to attend this meeting. To explain the frequent Supply water pressure drops. They declined this invitation.

Contact still awaited

In closing this report I wish to record my gratitude to Vice Chairman Peter Agate and my fellow Councillors, also to David Horkan for their excellent support throughout the year.

6.       Councillors Reports

i. Fen Report – M Pogmore

Since my last report, great progress has been made with the Boughton Fen Wildlife Walk.

We have installed over 150 metres of boardwalk during February and March with over twenty different people helping along the way.   Volunteers turned up almost every weekend over this period, with the exception of the big freeze, bringing their own tools and a willingness to pitch in with whatever was necessary. Everyone enjoyed these working parties, and they did develop the teamwork and community effort that was one of the aims of the original Lottery bid.  Special thanks go to Geoff Proctor for bringing his teleporter down to the fen each time we needed timber unloading  This not only saved us a great deal of time, but also cut down considerably on the distance we had to carry this very heavy timber to its final destination.

It is also worth noting that most of the materials came from our two very local suppliers, namely Stoke Ferry Timber, who were extremely helpful with their deliveries, enabling us to keep a minimum of spare material on site; and Bonnets from whom we had everything from small staples to purpose made steel driving caps, even if we did clean them right out of five inch nails one week.

So that you can now find your way around the walk, we have put up posts around the walk, with Boughton Fen Wildlife Walk direction arrows showing where to go.  Each marker has a silhouette of one of our very own Marsh Harriers within it.

As well as helping erect these posts, Community Payback did a litter pick for us in March.  Sad to say this, but they collected two loads full of my garden trailer.

Thanks to KLWN and Councillor Sampson for collecting this

Our contractor, Lee Roberts has continued work, with more areas of scrub clearance and cut some areas of reed, so we have been active on many points over the autumn and winter.

Apart from a few small bits of work, and the installation of our interpretation signs, we will leave the fen to the wildlife and walkers.

And now the legal bit – You are welcome to take your dog for a walk around the fen, but as it is a SSSI, you need to have it on a lead no longer than two metres.  That’s about six foot in old money, and, if your dog leaves a calling card, please pick it up and dispose of it appropriately.

Quite a number of birds and animals have been seen or heard in the last few weeks including a nightingale near the boardwalk, otters in stringside, cuckoos, cetti’s warbler, roe deer and many others.

Is this because more people are visiting the fen, or has word gone round the animal kingdom that you can now watch these strange humans walking around on a lot of planks?  I’ll leave you to decide.

Note - FREopened meeting post report to allow for specific questions.

1. It appears there a lot of vehicles parking in private access gateways and this could be alleviated by parking on green area alongside cottages. It was believed that this was owned by a third party but this was unclear and more information is to be sought. Signs will be erected to politely divert people from this area. TMA   31/5
2. Water management was raised due to the change in ground profile in August – WIP. Permits are required on this area for work from Natural England due to the SSSI nature, this may however attract additional funding.                 MPO   Next Meeting
3. Are AW dipwells still necessary? – Council to investigate           MPO   Next Meeting
4. Drain issues caused by highways culvert, this is to be researched and is WIP – MPO will invite highways to next meeting.                                             MPO  Next Meeting
5. Are signs to be erected regard dog control and ownership responsibility? MPO “

ii  Highways – D Cooper

The Roads are generally in good condition. We do have areas which are in    need of attention.

1.       Junction of Mill Hill Road and Wretton Road. The road is breaking up on both verges and is causing the road to flood during heavy rain. Also, there are pot holes in the road.

2.       Bell Corner to the telephone box on Chapel Road. Verges are being eroded away and pot holes appearing, this is due to parking for people visiting the Doctor’s Surgery. Councillor Agate and Pogmore will meet the surgery manager to see if the overflow car park can be opened.

3.       Where the main sewer runs through the village subsidence is beginning to appear. Is this Anglian Water or Barhale responsibility?

Copy to Highways Department.                                                                            DHP        31/5

ii. Drainage – G. Proctor

We have had some rain!

Ditches seemed to have coped also, all have noticed that the level of the pond has increased and hopefully we should not have problem we experienced in 2011 with low water level causing problems for the fish.

Mention made of problem atCrab Laneculvert, this is due to collapse and council believe this is to be rebuilt.

iii. Signs & Street Furniture – P. Agate

The circular bench on The Green has had a clean-up, rubbed down and treated with a preservative.

No other actions have been necessary in the last period

iv. Planning – T. Madgwick

The Borough Council has made decisions on two planning applications that affect the Boughton Parish.

The first is the refusal of a dwelling on the site adjacent to Grassmere, and which the Parish Council has given the Borough its support, Notification has been received that this has been refused

Secondly, the approval of further peat extraction on the land adjacent to Boughton Fen, which Boughton Fen Committee was opposed to.

Notification has been received that this is now passed.

A further planning consent has been given for cattle rearing sheds next to Stoke Ferry Timber, which does not come within Boughton Parish, but which may have some adverse impact on the Parish environment.

7.       Financial Report – D. Horkan

Balance at Handover (inc precept listed below)                                 £1,816.90

Income and Expenditure Account for 3 months ending 31.7 2011

INCOME

Precept

Donations                                                                                    05/05/2011                    £10.00

Bucket Challenge                                                                      31/05/2011                    £265.00

Playground Account

PCC                                                                                                 28/06/2011                    £900.00

BPCC 2                                                                                            06/10/2011                    £300.00

PCCbalance                                                                                20/12/2011                    £300.00

Solicitors Excess                                                                        28/06/2011                    £30.00

Marquee donationBCC                                                          08/07/2011                    £35.00

F Reid training                                                                            21/07/2011                    £12.50

BCCdonation                                                                              29/07/2011                    £35.00

Donation K Fisher                                                                     09/08/2011                    £30.00

BCCdonation marquee donation                                      22/09/2012                    £35.00

Wishing Bucket                                                                          12/12/2011                    £18.85

Wishing Bucket                                                                          22/03/2012                    £14.33

Mower service donation - Mark Solomon                      01/02/2012                    Direct not ACC

Sub Total                                                                                                                            £1,985.68

EXPENDITURE

Stationery and Postage                                                                                                      £0.00

Playground inspection                                                                                                       £0.00

NALC Subscription 8-4-11                                                       08/04/2011                    £85.60

Marquee repairs -20-5-11                                                       20/05/2011                    £50.00

Insurance 26-5-11                                                                      26/05/2011                    £297.44

J Cross audit 16-7-11                                                                 16/07/2011                    £15.00

New Marquee                                                                            20/08/2011                    £537.91

NALC Training                                                                             30/09/2011                    £37.50

Churchyard Grass Cutting                                                       16/07/2011                    £216.00

Playground hedge cutting                                                      12/12/2011                    £45.00

Bucket prizes                                                                               19/08/2011                    £39.00

Churchyard Grass Cutting balance                                      06/01/2012                    £216.00

Audit Commission fees                                                           09/01/2012                    £144.00

Mower fuel                                                                                  various                            £157.48

Christmas Lights                                                                         05/01/2012                    £25.00

Mower service                                                                                                                       Direct Not Acc

Litter Pickers                                                                                                                           21.42

Sub Total                                                                                                                                  £1,865.93 21.42

Total                                                                                                                                           £1,936.65

Balance as bank statement                                                                                              £1,936.65

Forecast Total                                                                                                                        £1,915.23

Savers Acc                                                                                                                                £1,866.61

Total available                                                                                                                       £3,781.84

8.       Correspondence

1. Diamond Jubilee Olympic Torch Trail Memorabilia

2. Sign Restoration

3. NALC Training

4. Bank Statements

Meeting closed

Matters arising

1. DHO raised matter of clerk training and requirements of expensive courses and CILCA membership, this was confirmed as “nice to have” but not legal statute. Proposed DHO attend one evening class on overall role at cost of £40        DHO       Next Meeting

Date and Venue of Next Meetings:         10th August  2012- 19:00AGM

All saints Church Boughton