Great Bardfield Parish Council  

'ESSEX VILLAGE OF THE YEAR 2009'

Mrs J Newton was present and welcomed to the meeting.

Cllr Hayward declared his interest under Finance in respect of his involvement in the purchase of the title Lord of the Manor on behalf of the Parish Council

There were no apologies

Item 7e was clarified in that a "maximum figure of £12,050 was agreed" by the Council in regard to the purchase of the Lord of the Manor of Great Bardfield. The Minutes would be amended accordingly. They were then approved as a true record of the meeting, proposed Cllr Ruffle, seconded Cllr Hutchinson.

The adoption of the Code, including paragraph 12(2) with immediate effect, was proposed by Cllr Walsh and seconded by Cllr Hockley, and unanimously agreed.

As required under paragraph 12 of the Code of Conduct for Members this form has to be completed by all Councillors; completed forms are then passed to the Monitoring Officer.

Members confirmed they had received the main guide and the pocket version.

Members confirmed they had received a copy of the Order.

Community Transport Survey: Arrangements had now been made with BDC and the volunteer driver (Mr Philip Clark) for the first trip to be on 17 July, which as well as visiting the Blue Egg will also visit Dunmow on market day.

Speed Indicator Devices: The Clerk hoped to have definitive information from Traffic Technology in time for the Three Fields meeting, outlining the procedure for running the device.

(a) The Memorandum of Contract: This was circulated which confirmed that the Parish Council purchased the title on 24 May 2007 at a cost of £14,500. On the day of the sale Cllr Hayward paid 20% Deposit of £2,900, 10 % Buyers Premium £1,450 and VAT on that Premium of £253.75. Item 18 of the Financial Statement is reimbursement of this expenditure. Cllr Hayward outlined the events of the sale and also that several private donations had been made towards the purchase cost which would be passed to the Clerk when details were finalised.

(b) Abbey National Transfer: A figure of £10,000 will be transferred from this account to the Councils Business account at Lloyds Bank to offset the cost of the purchase. As there were sufficient funds available immediately there would be no delay in meeting the completion date of 22 June and avoiding any unnecessary interest penalties.

(c) CHAPS (Electronic) Payment: This document was signed by Cllrs Dyson, Hutchinson and Hockley in order that the Clerk could transfer the sum of £11,600 to Holmes and Hills, the Council’s solicitors, on 21 June.

(d) Engrossed Transfer Deed: This was signed by the Chairman and Clerk and witnessed by Mrs Jackie Newton. The Stamp Duty Return had also been signed by the Clerk.

The Chairman wished to record the Council’s thanks to Cllr Hayward for undertaking the purchase, on the day of the auction, on behalf of the Parish Council.

01190/FUL & 110/LBC Cross Farm, Walthams Cross, Remodelling of 2 storey extension and proposed single storey extension. There were no objections to this application. The existing footprint was extended by just a few feet and some of the proposed changes would in fact be an improvement.

01076/TPOCON The Vine PH, Removal of trees to prevent damage to garden walls. No objection.

01197/FUL Pavilion, Playing Fields. The Council’s application is now out for comment and it was reported that there had already been positive feedback from residents leaving near to the site. A copy of the plans would be kept in the CIP.

Pavilion: Once the published application was approved, assuming there were no problems, funding opportunities would be explored. There was concern that the Youth Club may close as the existing leaders were standing down after many years and the Chairman comment on this in her BT report.

Skate Park: Cllr Ruffle said she had been approached by some young residents regarding the possibility of a skate park installation and she explained about the costs etc and the need to have some input from the youngsters themselves; it was agreed to arrange an informal meeting with them for further discussion. The Council felt that this type of activity should be included in the overall pavilion project with the possibility of gaining separate funding for such items.

Playground Repairs: The Village Handyman is continuing to work on the removal of old bark which is a very labour intensive job. He reported that it is disappointing to find that fences continue to be damaged and bottles broken. Regarding the latter, the Clerk was asked to contact BDC again requesting a different design of bottle bank, to help address the problem.

The Clerk attended a presentation at Loughton Town Council offices, given by two companies, promoting digital mapping. She felt that Pear Technology provided the style that would best suit Great Bardfield and enabled identification of council areas, street furniture management, playingfield layout, contract preparation and so on. It also enabled the measurement of land areas on screen. The basic software cost £275, annual support and updates £75.00 p.a. digital maps and ordnance survey fee is £100 p.a. (although this aspect could be shared with a neighbouring parish). Initial map preparation which would cover the whole parish, is £100. A half day’s training, if required, would cost £400 and this could also be shared if, for instance, Finchingfield purchased the same software. The Council agreed to give this some further consideration and make a decision at the July meeting.

The Clerk had received a letter – which was circulating – thanking the PC for their comments. Cllr Hayward outlined the discussions that had taken place and that one of the initial problems is that the document issued to Councils was not ‘user friendly’. Also, it had been issued only to Quality Councils and Cllr Hayward had spoken to both the Leader and the Chief Executive of BDC who agreed that a meeting of all parish councils should be arranged. He had attended a meeting of PACT which was felt to have an urban bias and to be un-representative of rural areas. 70 people were present including a number of District and County officers. A further meeting will be held in the autumn. Associated paperwork would be circulated.

Farleigh Hospice: The parishes had been asked to promote the Cycle for Life event to be held in September. Reference would be made in the BT report and note that forms were available from the CIP.

Army Presentation Team: An invitation has been received for a member of the Council to attend a reception and briefing at Towerlands on 26 July. Cllr Hockley said he would attend on behalf of the Council.

St Mary’s Church: A letter of thanks for the grant of £230 in respect of churchyard maintenance and the sum of £60 for the sale of china mugs via the CIP.

Mobile Library: Details of the service review have been received confirming that Northfields has been removed from the route, thus the reducing the locations at which the bus stops, to two.

Tenants’ Forum: Posters had been received advertising this event for 21 June 2007.

Village Maintenance: It was agreed that the Clerk would contact a contractor to deal with the trees and weeds over the footbridge, the brambles along the ‘school ditch’, the overgrown tree on the School Green that obstructs walkers and any other area that needs attention.

Pipers Meadow: This is still under the care of the Essex Wildlife Trust in relation to the Oxlip Project. The Clerk would contact Ray Tabor of EWT to establish the position as the area was in need of attention.

This would be held on 18 July 2007

There being no further business the meeting closed at 9.40 pm

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