LW and SMB Annual Parish Meeting 10th May 2017
Little Wilbraham & Six Mile Bottom Parish Council
Minutes of the ANNUAL PARISH MEETING 10th May 2017 at 7:30pm in St John’s Church, Little Wilbraham
Present:
Cllr Humphrey, Cllr Stead, Cllr Clifford, Cllr Brunner
District councillor Robert Turner
7 members of the public
17/1: To approve Minutes of the previous Annual Parish Meeting held on the 11th May 16
The minutes of the meeting held on 11th May 16 were approved and signed by Cllr Humphrey.
17/2: Apologies for absence:
Cllr Carter
17/3: District Councillor’s report
Local Plan
The Local Plan and its supporting documents were submitted for independent examination to the Planning Inspectorate on 28 March 2014. The examination is to establish whether the Local Plan is ‘sound’, taking into consideration representations made during public consultation.
The planning inspectors wrote to the Council on 7 September 2016 asking for clarification on the progress of a number of areas of work, including the provisional modification to allocate land south of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. South Cambs responded on 23 September 2016, by providing schedules outlining the specific work being undertaken, relevant committee dates and the target dates for submission of the work to the Inspectors.
Stephen Kelly, the Joint Director – Planning & Economic Development (Cambridge & South Cambs), believes that the Local Plan is unlikely to be adopted until late 2017 or early 2018. The lack of a Local Plan and lack of a 5 year land supply encourages speculative applications with South Cambs receiving many more applications compared to other district councils because of its economic prospects, quality of life and historic environment. Planning applications therefore have to be guided by the National Planning and policy Framework.
Boundary Commission
Since the last boundary review, about 10 years ago, some areas in the district have grown faster than others resulting in an imbalance in the number of people being represented by their local councillors. There was a proposal to reduce the number of councillors from 57 to 45, for there to be a mix in the number of councillors that represented the Wards and for there to be all out elections every 4 years. After a period of public consultation, and receiving representations from the council, the Boundary Commission confirmed that the District be represented by 45 Councillors (12 less than current) serving 26 Wards (8 less than present) which break down to five three-member wards, nine two-member wards and twelve single-member wards across the district. All out elections of District Councillors will be in May 2018.
Devolution
The Government, through an Act of law, seeks to encourage devolution, whereby it is able to devolve housing, transport, planning and policing powers to a Combined Authority with a directly-elected mayor.There was a proposal for a Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority that required South Cambs to be a member. A Vote was taken at Full Council for South Cambs to be a member of the Combined Authority. This Combined Authority will be the first non-metropolitan Combined Authority in England.
James Palmer of the Conservative party was elected mayor on 4th May.
Planning Performance
Over a number of years, and for a variety of reasons, the planning performance of the Council had slipped. To remedy this, a dedicated team was put together, and a five point plan was implemented. Taking these steps, the planning performance made a 30% jump in the number of applications determined within national targets such that decisions have been issued on time for 91% of major and 79% of non-major applications over the last five months.
For a 24 month rolling period up until September 2016, the Council had determined 47% of major and 63% of non-major applications within 13 weeks and eight weeks
17/4: County Councillor’s report
Over the past 12 months there was a further squeeze on County Council frontline services as the council decided by a majority vote not to increase council tax by the full amount allowed by the Government.
As a result the county was not able to deliver a standard of highway maintenance that is acceptable to me and pressure on adult social care remained extremely high.
We were however able to reverse planned cuts to rural bus services, street lighting and winter road gritting. With regard to the 18 bus service the departure from Little Wilbraham to Fulbourn has now been extended to Cambridge and I’m hoping I can get the afternoon return journey from Cambridge which currently terminates at Teversham extended to Little Wilbraham giving the Wilbrahams an off peak service with the city.
So far as Little Wilbraham and Six Mile Bottom are we have at last seen the arrival of fibre optic broadband to Little Wilbraham (I will not insult you by claiming that its “superfast”) and the publication of a Greenway cycling routes study which brings the prospect of linking the Wilbrahams to Cambridge by a safe cycle route a bit closer.
For Six Mile Bottom I’m hopeful that following discussions with county highways we can see the possibility of a weight ban to stop the heavy lorry rat run along Wilbraham Road.
As the highway maintenance budget remains tight it is not always possible to get repairs done and damaged signs replaced as quickly as I and you would like to see. For example it took three years to get a new road sign at the junction of Wilbraham Road and Primrose Farm Road, which is unacceptable to my mind. And we still haven’t had the road markings refreshed at the cross roads in Six Mile Bottom.
17/5: Great Wilbraham Primary School report
No representative present and no report sent
17/6: Johnson Bede & Lane Charitable Trust report
- The Financial Report for the year ending 31st March 2017 showed the Income Reserve for the Trust was good with interest up on the previous year.
- Mr Duncan Wells was appointed Chairman and Mrs Gill Clifford secretary of The Johnson, Bede & Lane Charitable Trust.
- The JBL Trustees have amended the logo related to all published information by removing the wording ‘JBL Charitable Trust’ to JBL Trust. It is hoped that this might encourage more people from a wider age range in LW and SMB to apply for financial support. The Trust is keen to provide financial assistance for equipment and materials for young people applying to university/college as well as apprenticeships.
- The JBL Trust Charity Commission documentation outlining the scheme continues to remain incomplete due to several legal changes the Trustees would like to make.
The JBL Trust comprises seven trustees. Historically one is an ex-officio trustee and is the serving incumbent for Little Wilbraham Parish. Unfortunately the current ex-officio trustee has not attended any meetings in over 4 years. The Trust has made enquiries through The Diocese of Ely requesting permission to amend the requirements for the ex-officio trustee role.
- Grants and donations given 2016-2017 included:
A donation of £100.00 was given to Great Wilbraham PTFA towards the creation of a sensory garden for the use of pupils in their school. This was possible based on the fact a number of children attend the school from Little Wilbraham and Six Mile Bottom.
A donation of £50.00 was given towards the Queen’s Birthday party held at The Wilbraham Memorial Hall
A grant of £100.00 was made to the Over 60’s Club.
Ten Christmas grants totalling for £1250.00 were given out in December 2016.
A grant of £150.00 was made to a Little Wilbraham resident to cover his travelling and physiotherapy costs.
A donation of £100.00 was given to The Wilbrahams and Six Mile Bottom Youth Group.
Ten heating grants totalling for £1250.00 were given out in March 2017.
A donation of £100.00 was given to The Wilbraham Memorial Hall Trust towards a Christmas children’s party and adult social event on the 17th December 2017 on the understanding children from both Little Wilbraham and Six Mile Bottom would be invited.
17/7: Warbler Magazine report
During 2016 we published four editions of the Wilbrahams’ Warbler of about 68 pages each, with a total of 2070 copies printed. The Spring and Summer issues featured construction progress and opening of the Wilbrahams’ Memorial Hall. We then concentrated on the many activities in the hall such as choir, bridge, scrabble, country western music, tea dance and the rededication of the memorial to those who served in the First World War. There were reports of other important well attended meetings such as the Annual Parish Meeting and the Brexit discussion. Regular items continued including the farming news, common rights holder reports, the popular crossword, Medical Practice items, contact details and the Parish Councils’ reports. We continue to have coloured covers with some unusual pictures along with photographic links to articles.
With the help of the Parish Councils we’re planning to hold a celebration of the Warbler in early July to thank all our many contributors, deliverers and advertisers.
We entered a national competition for village magazines which had over 600 entries, and we’re pleased that the Warbler was in the top 15% in the country. We’re keen to keep improving and always welcome suggestions.
A financial summary for the year revealed a cost of £2,132.40 and income of £2,070 from advertising leaving, a net cost of £61.40 to the two Parish Councils which results in the net cost of 3p per copy. We have an informal target of no more than 15% advertising.
Thanks go to the many contributors and our eight deliverers. The editors are John Bramwell Martin Gienke and John Torode. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading the Warbler.
17/8: Wilbrahams’ Memorial Hall report
The new Hall was formally opened on Easter Monday 2016 at the end of March. Since then the Trustees and the villages have been getting used to the new Hall and its potential. We have had over the last twelve months a Right Royal Strawberry tea to celebrate Her Majesty’s 90th birthday, the annual Flower and Produce show, a Christmas party and a Pudding Night, all of which have been very well attended. At the same time, private bookings have been running at a higher level than for the old Hall so that at present the Hall is paying for itself on a running costs basis.
Inevitably there were snagging issues with the new building, and these have now been dealt with. We have discovered that the original soakaway was inadequate for the roof area so that when it rained heavily the carpark flooded. That has now been significantly enlarged. Also, the large Hall has a problem with echo and the Trustees have committed to proceeding with acoustic attenuation to reduce the echo time significantly so that it becomes more comfortable to hold a conversation when there are lots of people in the Hall. This will be completed over the next few months.
The one big sadness is that although most of the old village groups have returned, and new ones have formed – for instance choir, yoga, scrabble and bridge – there are no organised activities for children beyond the weeny warblers and the community youth group have not restarted.
An events committee has formed consisting of all those who helped with the organisation of village events over the last year or so. This has been busy putting together a programme of village events for the year. So far, we have seen a Pudding Night and a Table Top Sale. Both have been well attended. There is to be a Barn Dance on 30th June, the Flower and Produce Show in July, a further event in September and a Christmas party in December.
It also became apparent that the play equipment in the children’s play area needed significant maintenance and is nearing the end of its life. Immediate maintenance has been carried out with help from Sarah Fordham and Stephen Gooch from Little Wilbraham. The Trustees have therefore decided to start a two-year project to raise funds to enable replacement equipment to be purchased and to be installed to modern health and safety standards. This will be an improvement to the open space areas in the villages.
One unfortunate occurrence has been the growth in the number of people who walk dogs on the Recreation Ground, and indeed in the children’s play area, and fail to pick up after their dogs. There is a sign on the play area entrance saying dogs are not permitted in that area. We have drawn attention to this problem in the Warbler and at the Great Wilbraham Parish Meeting. This is an issue that that applies beyond just the recreation ground
17/9: Weenie Warblers report
No representative present and no report sent
17/10: Close of Meeting
The meeting was closed at 7:45pm
Signed _______________________________________ (Chair)
Date ___________________ LITTLE WILBRAHAM & SIX MILE BOTTOM PARISH COUNCIL