Minutes of the Meeting of Milton Parish Council
held on Monday 4 December 2000 at 7.30pm in the Community Centre
Present: RLE Waters (chair) EH Baker JE Coston R Day M Ellwood
B Jefferson DJ Lee IF May PK Oldham GM Richardson
TJ Siggs HM Smith RT Summerfield LC Twinn
The clerk SJ Daniels
three member of the public [part]
1 Apologies for absence RJ Farrington
566/00 2 Welcome to new councillors and signing of declaration of
(511/00) acceptance of office Elizabeth Baker and Tim Siggs were welcomed to
the Council and signed the declaration of acceptance of office.
567/00 3 Minutes
The Minutes of the meeting of 6 November 2000 were approved and
signed as a true record.
4 Clerk's Report (inc matters arising)
568/00 Regional Planning Guidance had been published [on www.go-east.gov.uk
(292/00) shortly].
569/00 River Cam - graffiti
(512/00) The Highways Agency had estimated a cost of £39400 to remove the
graffiti from the bridge. The clerk would ask the university
authorities to meet the cost.
No response as yet from the Conservators.
570/00 Land Purchase
(513/00) MPC now owned "County Council" verge off Coles Road opposite war
memorial. Solicitor was chasing Few & Kester and County Council to
complete purchase of remainder of verge and land off Ely Road
respectively.
571/00 Old Walls
(514/00) Conservation Manager SCDC was investigating
572/00 Multi-use Court
(516/00) Simon Gale [phone] reported that he did not want arbitration -
"costly for MPC and too much hassle for him". He was going to ask
the company that RJF discussed this with to give him a quote to do
the remedial works.
573/00 Village Map
(524/00) Mr Sylvester was investigating.
574/00 Cemetery
(528/00) The graves had been repaired at a cost of £20.
Quotation for tree surgery £480 received [see min 473/00]. The clerk
had accepted the quotation [standing order 74 (c) (i)]. Donation of
£240 already received from Milton Charities.
575/00 Impact Software
(550/00) PKO had looked at the accounts software. He and the clerk agreed
not to purchase and to continue with Quicken.
576/00 Consultations
(553/00) Mr Barnish Chief Executive County Council appreciated Council's
difficulties in responding within a month but the County Council
also worked within prescribed time limits imposed by government.
He would prefer to receive even a partial response rather than none.
577/00 Teenage Play Area
Lappsett were on site. Work would start the next day.
578/00 Bus Shelter Landbeach Road
A panel of the toughened glass had been kicked in. Replacement
ordered at £50 + VAT.
579/00 A10/Butt Lane Junction
Council supported the Highways Agency proposal to impose a 40mph
speed limit for the A10 by pass from the A14 interchange to the
Landbeach Road junction as part of the traffic lights scheme at the
Butt Lane junction.
580/00 Bowls Club Loan
£500 received from bowls club leaving a balance of £500.
5 Planning
581/00 Noted that the Planning Officers were looking into the blue
portakabin and advertisement at Kurser Cars [Bene't Garage]
582/00 Permission S/1498/00 - the clerk would investigate exact wording of
(486/00) planning permission [to be discussed at planning meeting December].
583/00 S/1968/00 BYW Ltd - land adjacent unit 270 Science Park - erection
(540/00) of office/research and development building together with car
parking, cycle and refuse stores. Noted that Planning Officers were
recommending approval subject to a reduction in the footprint and
car parking in accordance with policy guidelines and the re-planning
of the site's frontage.
Decisions Received
584/00 Mr & Mrs J Clark New Close Farm Butt Lane - conversion and change of
(450/00) use of 2 barns to Class B1 & B8 use - approved. Access road to be
minimum width of 6 metres for a distance of 15 metres from the
existing carriageway.
Any gates to be set back 15 metres. Permanent space on site to be
reserved for turning, parking, loading and unloading. Access to be
laid out to satisfaction of LPA. All external joinery to be painted
black or as agreed with LPA.
585/00 J Zamirski 30 The Oaks - extension - approved.
(489/00)
586/00 Mr & Mrs Pearson 50 Butt lane - extension - approved.
(491/00)
587/00 KP Stocker 5 Cambridge Road - vehicular access - approved.
(540/00)
New Applications
588/00 S/2042/00 Cambridge Silicon Radio Unit 28 Science Park - 3
portakabin office units - refuse [delegated].
Comments: This would appear to be a large development on an open
grassed area. The application stated "temporary" but not for how
long. There was no covering letter explaining the need and time
scale. The development would be an eyesore, particularly the
portakabin at the side of the existing building.
Concerned about lack of parking for the extra staff employed to
work in these buildings.
Another example of the original concept of the Science Park being
eroded by the encroachment of buildings in green areas.
Noted by SCDC that a covering letter was not sent to MPC. Planning
Officers were recommending approval for 9 months.
589/00 S/2097/00 Cambridge Drug Discovery Ltd - land between Units 2 & 10
Science Park - 2 temporary buildings for 18 months for scientific
write up/meeting room/kitchenette/storage - refuse.
Comments: Concerned about the traffic issues and parking as the
problem of car parking existed on this site already. The current
car park was invariably full. Another example of the original
concept of the Science Park being eroded by the encroachment of
buildings in green areas.
590/00 S/2100/00 P Mannu 4 Coulson Close - garage extension - approve.
591/00 S/2125/00 Mr & Mrs Robinson 56 Butt Lane - two storey front
extension - refuse.
Comments: Concerned about the size of the proposed extension on
this site and support the comments of the neighbour at number
58 Butt Lane.
592/00 S/2166/00 Mr & Mrs F Butterfill 21 Butt Lane - single storey rear
extension - no recommendation.
6 Maintenance
593/00 The minutes of the Maintenance Committee meeting of 21 November
were received.
Quotation PC2236
(555/00) a) The maintenance committee proposed removing the Russian Vine as
it was strangling the pyracantha. The clerk had not yet obtained
another quotation.
c) RLEW put the case for removing completely the brambles by the
Post Office. After discussion Council confirmed the committee's
decision.
d) HMS explained that it was difficult to litter pick at The
Sycamores car park amongst the wild roses.
It was AGREED therefore with one vote against to accept the
quotation of £90 to grub out the roses.
(558/00) Footpaths
a) Northern Circular Route - Mr Joyce, County Council had identified
land owners adjacent to northern boundary [County Council]. He
intended to send Council a map.
b) Proposed Bund Footpath - The clerk had sent out letters to
residents adjacent to the bund about proposed path along the top.
Letters of objection had been received.
AGREED at 8.27pm to suspend standing orders to allow residents to
voice their concerns. The meeting resumed at 8.33pm.
The chairman promised that the maintenance committee would review
this matter and that the residents would be kept informed.
(558/00) Haling Way
Mr Joyce [phone call] believed that he could get part funding for
the haling way and hoped to persuade the Conservators to part fund
also.
7 Youth
594/00 The minutes of the Youth Building Steering Group meeting of 22
November were received.
(562/00) a) Matters arising
Letter - Adrian Williams Assistant Director intended to arrange a
meeting with "all relevant parties" to discuss the Drop-in. RLEW,
DJL, HMS and JEC would represent Council.
RTS expressed concern that one statement in the letter sent to
the Chief Executive seemed to be unsubstantiated.
If IVC Patch [or even another Patch] could not run the Drop-in
then MPC Youth Committee would consider organising it with the
help of Cambridge Association of Youth Clubs.
(563/00) Finances - AGREED that HMS should look after finances and hand
over cash to the clerk at the appropriate time.
b) Gate
A quotation of £925 for a gate at The Sycamores car park to
prevent "undesirable" cars from entering during youth evenings
was received.
AGREED to consider instead a chain and padlock. MCC to be
consulted.
595/00 8 Millennium Committee Report
JEC pointed out the Millennium Committee was set up to consider
allocatingngrants towards millennium events/projects.
Mementoes
AGREED to award a grant of up to £2500 towards 1000 mugs for
children of the parish aged 16 and under on 31 December 2000.
[Any remaining mugs would be sold].
13 votes in favour 1 abstention.
John Holder had agreed to design the artwork based on the drawings
done for the dovecote village sign idea of the 1980's.
Year Book 2000
BJ was investigating prices for printing a book of the photographs
taken throughout 2000. It was hoped to sell the book and recoup
some [possibly all] of the costs. Council supported the project in
principle and would consider a grant/loan towards it.
The committee would put a firm proposal with costings to the January
meeting.
596/00 9 Cycle Scheme - Report
An informal site meeting to look at problems associated with the
new scheme had taken place. RLEW, JEC and RTS then met with
J Richards, A Voyias [WS Atkins] and the foreman of Ringway
[contractors]. Most of the problems had been noted by J Richards
and would be rectified.
The clerk would ask J Richards to consider:
- A mandatory bus stop by the Apostolic Church [going towards
Cambridge] in order to prevent cars parking. Reason: parked cars
made it difficult for cyclists to access the cycle path at this
point as intended.
- A mandatory bus stop on the opposite side to prevent parking and
moved to a point opposite the bus stop near the church. Reason:
the present arrangement caused confusion for people wishing to
park in the lay-by. This proposal made the parking position in
the lay-by clear.
- 30 minutes waiting limit on both sides of the road outside the
shops in High Street.
- Signs on the pavement and cycle path at the blind corner of Fen
Road and High Street for pedestrians and cyclists.
- Putting down a surface on the cycle path north of North Lodge in
Ely Road the same standard as the remainder of the cycle path.
- Better reinstatement of the road surface after the removal of the
lighting/bollards in Cambridge Road.
597/00 10 A14 Multi Modal Study Strategies
JEC having queried why the exhibition had not been staged at Milton
received a reply from Caroline Bowdler of Go-East [Government Office
for East of England] that she "would be happy to come to Milton to
talk about the study one day or evening" and bring a set of plans
and that the deadline for comments had been extended to 19 January.
AGREED to raise the following issues with Go-East:
- Lack of publicity for public exhibitions as CHUMMS leaflets were
not distributed with free newspapers.
- Why exhibition was not staged at Milton especially as the
proposals would have a big impact on Milton.
- Lack of information to the Parish Council - an information pack
for each councillor needed.
- An extraordinary Council meeting arranged for 15 January to
discuss the four strategies. Representative[s] of Go-East/Mouchel
invited.
RLEW thanked JEC for her efforts.
In view of Strategy 3 - Northern by pass - the purchase of the land
off Ely Road would be reviewed at January meeting.
598/00 11 Northern Fringe - Council's Response
(546/00) Proposals for the Northern Fringe and A14 were linked. It was
AGREED therefore to respond to SCDC that:
None of the options for the Northern Fringe should be considered
until the result of the A14 Multi-Modal Study is known and that,
since the traffic problems already are immense, the A14 strategy
should be implemented before any development of the Northern
Fringe takes place.
599/00 12 MCC
It was understood that WREN were willing to pay the £10,000 grant
for the play equipment and £1,143 for work on the path from the
Community Centre to the Country Park to the Parish Council.
AGREED to increase the MCC grant by £11,143, as soon as guarantees
in writing were received from WREN that the money would be paid to
Council; and that MPC would pay the bills for this work.
600/00 13 Bills for Payment and Money Received
CONFIRMED payment of cheques 1940, 1942/3 and 1945/6
AGREED to pay cheques 1941, 1944 and 1947 to 1971 [1 abstention].
601/00 14 Crime Update
Crime figures for November were circulated.
602/00 15 County Councillor's Report
A10 - a meeting with Waterbeach, Landbeach and the County Council
had been arranged to obtain information from Officers and to agree
a strategy for improvements to the A10.
Bus Service - A Performance Review Panel was to look at the bus
service.
Cycle Lane to Ely - The Research Park at Waterbeach were employing
their own consultants to look at a cycle lane scheme to Cambridge.
Cycle Bridge over A14 - funding for the bridge had been approved.
Development at Waterbeach - a group to oppose the development at the
barracks had been set up at Waterbeach. The government had asked
the Environment Agency to report on all flooding/drainage issues
including this area.
Landfill - JEC was chairman of the Donarbon Liaison Group and had
also agreed to be part of the Milton Landfill Liaison Group.
Noted that PKO and RTS had not been invited to a meeting concerning
the Donarbon Section 106 Agreement.
603/00 16 District Councillor's Report
(552/00) Pi Access - RTS had not been able to persuade the Trees Officer
and Conservation Manager to agree to a beech hedge in front of the
leylandii. RTS had therefore asked that the scheme be implemented
as per the planning conditions.
(552/00) Electoral Review - Other villages were also not happy for Milton
to be linked with them. RTS would keep Council informed.
604/00 17 Correspondence
ACRE - Notice of AGM
Mouchel - CHUMMS Number 4 [see agenda 10]
County Council - Budget & Service Issues 2001/02
Rowing Trust - Bulletin
Fire Authority - Annual Report
CALC - Bulletin & Training
South Cambs Primary Care Group - Bulletin
18 Dates of next meetings
Planning 18 December
Council 8 January
Extraordinary Council 15 January
The meeting ended at 10.50pm.