Minutes of the Meeting of Milton Parish Council
held on Monday 7 January 2002 at 7.30pm in the Community Centre
Present: RLE Waters (chair) RJ Farrington R Day M Ellwood B Jefferson
CJ Lock PK Oldham TJ Siggs HM Smith RT Summerfield
LC Twinn
The clerk SJ Daniels
1 Apologies for absence - EH Baker JE Coston DJ Lee IF May
1/02 2 Minutes
The minutes of the meeting of 3 December 01 were approved and signed
as a true record.
3 Clerk's Report (inc matters arising)
2/02 Tree Surgery Cemetery
(585/01) Tree work had been done. £500 received from Milton Charities.
3/02 SCDC Issues Report
(594/01) Council confirmed responses made by the ad hoc committee - to be
sent to SCDC.
4/02 Highways
(615/01) J Richards had promised a response "within the month". Ed Thornton
would arrange for necessary maintenance work to be done in the new
year.
It was reported that J Richards was moving to a new post. The clerk
would send Council's congratulations on his appointment and ask that
the arrange to remedy the cycle lane faults before moving.
5/02 Community Minibus
(616/01) Applications had been submitted to the Countryside Agency, County
and District Councils.
6/02 Drainage
(618/01) A map showing the awarded watercourses in Milton was received.
According to the Environment Agency "the maintenance of any ordinary
watercourse is the responsibility of the individual land owners
through whose land the watercourse flows and that the responsibility
to ensure that the watercourse is maintained under The Land Drainage
Act 1991 lies with the EHO of SCDC".
The ditch causing concern appeared to be blocked between Old School
Lane and Fen Road. The clerk would find out from Ed Thornton exactly
what drainage work was done by him at Fen Road. The drainage manager
SCDC suggested that Council ask the adjoining owners (both Milton
House) to clear the ditch.
The clerk would ask if Council should have a copy of the legal
document detailing the awarded drains in Milton.
7/02 Local Government Act 2000
(619/01) - Quality Councils
- Model Code of Conduct
Meeting date to be arranged.
8/02 Sewage Works
(620/01) Agreed to try to arrange an evening site visit in April/May.
Letter from EHO received. He confirmed that AWA were still
investigating odours and expected the work to take about two months.
9/02 Play Equipment
(621/01) Noted that a resident had asked that the fence around The Rowans
play area be replaced. The Play Committee would discuss and make a
recommendation.
10/02 Land at War Memorial Green
(631/01) Taylor Vinters were unable to give an estimate of costs without
more information. Council might consider a land swap if it could be
achieved at no cost to Council.
The clerk to inform the resident.
11/02 Electoral Review
(637/01) Copy of draft recommendations made by the Local Government
Commission (LGC) had been received (see minute 637/01).
An attempt by Council in 2000 to involve Chesterton Fen at Parish
Council level had failed. Doubts were expressed as to whether the
LGC proposal would be any more successful.
AGREED to send the following to the LGC: (copy to SCDC)
"We accept the recommendation to combine Milton with
Horningsea to form a two-member district ward (para 92);
We propose that the status quo for Milton Parish be maintained thus
leaving Chesterton Fen as part of Milton both for district and
parish purposes. As there are approximately 50 electors in
Chesterton Fen we believe that this would not affect greatly the
variance from the district average (para 95).
If the Commission feels that this is unacceptable then we propose
an alternative: that Chesterton Fen be treated as a separate parish
not represented upon a Parish Council but represented at a parish
meeting."
12/02 Trees by River Cam
The clerk would inform the Conservators and J Hellingswoth of
Council's concerns about the state of the willow trees alongside
the towpath from Baitsbite to Clayhithe.
13/02 Chesterton Fen
A resident of Chesterton Fen had asked JEC for a site visit to
discuss:
Street cleaning, drainage (road and sewage), street lighting,
footpath and ditch clearing, signage.
JEC to arrange visit (with RTS).
14/02 Parish Paths Partnership
RLEW intended to look again at the proposal for a permissive path
along the northern boundary of the village. Noted that the Parish
Paths Partnership scheme made grants to improve existing footpaths.
15/02 CALC/Parish Plans
CALC Bulletin and Notice about "Parish Plans evening" on 26 February
received.
16/02 Waterbeach Meadow Project
A project to create a local nature reserve on 50ha of land between
the railway line and the river near Clayhithe had been set up. Local
support needed - an open meeting for this project was scheduled for
15 January at Waterbeach pavilion.
4 Planning
17/02 The minutes of the planning committee meeting of 17 December 01 were
received.
Notice of Appeals
(370/01) - Mr & Mrs S Hanson extension at 18 Humphries Way.
(503/01) - Camstead Ltd 8 houses at Fen Farm. RLEW to attend.
(601/01) - RG Cave bungalow on land rear of 63 Cambridge Road.
Decisions Received
18/02 Mrs L Gaskin Lomas Farm Chesterton Fen Road gypsy caravan site for 3
(538/00) caravans - approved. No more than 3 caravans to be stationed on
site. Caravan site to be used by persons of a nomadic habit of life.
19/02 Astex Technology Ltd 250 Science Park - portable office building -
(604/01) approved - till 1 June 2003.
New Applications
20/02 S/2323/01 Ionix Pharamaceuticals Ltd Unit 184 Science Park -
(646/01) amendment - reduction in ground levels to accommodate building. No
recommendation (comments as before).
21/02 S/2389/01 EP and J Clark - land at Chesterton Fen Road - use of land
as gypsy caravan site (16 pitches). No recommendation. Concerned
about the drainage implications and the sewage treatment.
23/02 S/2420/01 Heraeus Noblelight Ltd Unit 161 Science Park - canteen
extension. No recommendation.
5 Youth
24/02 The minutes of the Youth Committee meeting of 17 December 01 and
MYCMG 14 December 01 were received.
(639/01) 2.1 - Two drop-in workers were attending IVC staff meeting.
(653/01) Outreach Workers - Y Kuch was liaising with K D'Arcy.
A detailed report on the first 12 months (as required by the
Business Plan) was submitted by HMS.
Noted that D Norman a volunteer worker was to attend the drop-in on
Tuesday 8 January.
HMS had applied for a grant from SCDC for the cost of the graffiti
artist.
Rates for the building were due -£139.75 (see cheque 2248).
In order to progress the transfer of the building to MCC HMS would
put written proposals to the MCC Buildings Committee.
Noted that Kids'R'Us were likely to hire the building as from
February. It was agreed that there should be a written "conditions
of use" between Kids'R'Us and the Youth Committee/MCC.
Thanks to HMS for the informative report.
The youth committee would discuss arranging for an external
evaluation of the youth centre in readiness for preparing a lottery
bid for a permanent building.
Noted that modifications to the car park were scheduled to take
place in January.
25/02 6 MCC Update
Nothing to report.
26/02 7 Bills for Payment and Money Received
Noted that the printer would cost at least £100 to repair. The clerk
had therefore ordered a new laser printer at £241 from World of
Computers.
£46.94 (cheque 2233) for toner for original printer had been
recovered.
Cheque 2240 MPC and MCC were sharing costs of a laminator.
£300 received from Milton Charities towards trolley bus.
Current account had now been changed to a Treasurers Account.
The clerk would ask Fuller to inspect the bus shelter lighting in
High Street again at no cost (recently repaired - cheque 2231
refers).
AGREED to authorise payments of cheques 2235 to 2258 - 3 abstentions.
27/02 8 Crime Update
Noted that had been 182 reported crimes in 2001.
28/02 9 County Councillor's report
No report.
29/02 10 District Councillor's report
Bungalow Chesterton Fen - a bungalow was being built without planning
permission at Sunningdale Caravan Park. The Enforcement Officer had
required that the work stop.
(511/01) Highway Minor Improvements - the bids had been unsuccessful. The
Pinch Point Ely Road came 7th (1-5 were successful).
30/02 11 Correspondence
Age Concern - re research project involving over 50's
12 Dates of next meetings
Planning - 21 January
Finance - 21 January
Council - 4 February
The meeting ended at 9.30pm.