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HUNSBURY MEADOWS PARISH COUNCIL

Minutes of the monthly Council Meeting held on Wednesday 6th June 2018 at 7.15pm in the Community Room at Parsons Meade, West Hunsbury, NN4 9PS.

Present: Cllr. Stephen Hiscock (Chairman) Cllr. Debbie Hammond (Vice Chairman) Cllr. Stuart Hemming Cllr. Alan Maskell Cllr Mandy Caunt

In attendance: C. Cllr. Pinder Chauhan and 5 members of the public

The Clerk (Lalitkumar Patel) was absent, with prior permission from the Council

089-015. Apologies for Absence: Apologies from Cllr Sandy Hudson and Cllr. Steve Norton

were received and accepted by the Council.

016. Declarations of Interests: There were none.

017. Minutes:The minutes of the Council Meeting held on 2nd May 2018 were approved and adopted. Proposed by Cllr. Caunt and seconded by Cllr. Hammond

The draft minutes of the Annual Council Meeting and the Annual Parish Meeting, held on 2nd May were noted

018. Matters arising from the Minutes of 2nd May 2018: There were none.

019. Presentation by Alan Jones re upgrading of Ml Motorway: Mr. Alan Jones from Galliford Try in partnership with Costain addressed the Council with regard to the forthcoming upgrade of the Ml Motorway between junctions 13 to 16, to a "Smart" Motorway standard. This involves improving the hard shoulder road surface, installation of gantries to hold the matrix signs, permeant CCTV cameras and speed cameras. There will also be a solid concrete central reservation installed. Noise abatement fencing will be installed along sections of motorway near to housing. The work would be carried out in stages, starting at Junction 13 though there would be some work done out of sequence due to operational requirements. Ecological surveys have started with work of removing trees as needed in the autumn once birds have finished nesting etc. There will be a 50mph speed limit with average speed cameras and free recovery

He did not envisage any major issues but said that some minor delays might be expected at peak times. The whole process could take up to three years to complete, but it would be done in stages. Mr. Jones answered questions from the Councillors and from members of the public present. Mr. Jones was thanked for his presentation.

020. Presentation by Laura Clarke: Mrs Clarke addresses the Council with regards to her proposal to create a small nature reserve for children adjacent to the canal on the Pineham Lock side of bridge over Banbury Lane. She said that she was been in discussion with the Canal & Rivers Trust and IWA to help clear the area of some of the rushes and excessive vegetation to allow

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the pond to form again, but this would not be until the autumn when wildlife had finished breeding. She was hopeful in receiving support from local businesses regarding wild grass and flower seed and bird feeders. The Council unanimously welcomed her proposal and suggested some ways forward. Key issues were child safety, insurance and establishing ownership of the land where the Nature Reserve was to be set and setting up some kind of management group to look after the scheme. Mrs Clarke was thanked for her presentation and the Council wished her every success with her proposal

021. Public Participation: The following issues were raised by members of the public:

i) Grass cutting: Concern was expressed about the poor quality of recent grass cutting and the length of time between routine cuts, which causes a mess and looks unsightly. The Chairman reported that in the last 5-6 weeks of their contract with the Borough Council, Amey Enterprise had not been carrying out works as planned and that the Borough Council were looking to take legal action. However, this meant that the new environmental services contractor, Veolia had a substantial backlog of work. The new contract started on the 4th June, but that he had no knowledge of when the Parish would see its next grass cut.

ii) Concern was also raised about the weeds at the kerbsides and railing. C. Cllr Chauhan advised that this maintenance had been cut by the County Council. Cllr. Hemming suggested that this was something that the Parish Council could pay a third party for. Chairman said that if this was the case then the Parish Council would have to look at the costs of taking on this responsibility in the short term but was concerned about this setting a precedent for having this responsibility permanently. Cllr. Maskell pointed out this was the responsibility of Chamonix Ltd. on Pineham Lock.

iii) A resident asked how long the roadworks on Banbury Lane and the temporary traffic lights would continue for. Chairman explained that the delay had been caused by the Highways Agency needing permission from the Environment agency to work on the damaged bridge which crossed a tributary if the River Nene. It was believed that work had started on repairing the bridge and it would not be long until the temporary traffic lights removed. Chairman said he would check of the completion date.

iv) Concern was expressed by residents from the Pineham Lock Estate about the poor quality of service they were receiving from their managing agents, Chamonix; issues raided included neglect of surface water drain cleaning; lack of weed control of roadside gutters and general poor quality horticultural maintenance throughout the Pineham Lock Estate. Residents were advised that these were matters that they need to raise with Chamonix.

v) A question was raised about Refuse Collection. As explained in point (i) the new environmental services contractor Veolia started work on 4th June and there has been no direct information received from the Borough Council as to any change in bin collection rota. The Chairman said that according the Borough website the current weeks bin collection was a brown bin and that the normal alternating black and brown bin collection was still in force. The only change was that all dry recycling was collected together now so there was no need to separate out paper, tins, plastic and glass. Only food waste was to be kept separate. New wheelie bins will be issued later in the year.

022. Northamptonshire Constabulary Report: There was no police presence and no written report received.

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023. Principal Authority Reports: There were no Borough Councillors present

C. Cllr. Chauhan reported on the progress towards two Unitary Authorities for Northamptonshire and some possible repercussions. Matters at this time were at a very early stage. There are to be no Borough elections in 2019 as there will be Unitary elections in 2020 and she indicated that there might be changes to Parishes. The Chairman said that he had heard nothing regarding this and there had been regular communications from Danny moody at NCALC on the Unitary situation. There will be Question Time debates held by the Borough Council and the Parishes were urged to attend.

She also reported on the flooding that has occurred in recent days causing problems in nearby Briar Hill and Far Cotton. She confirmed that the flooding problems had been caused by very heavy rainfall in a short period of time. Investigations have started as to whether the problems had been caused by blocked drains or was it just the volume of water. Chairman said Hunsbury Meadows had been unaffected to his knowledge and thanked Cllr. Caunt for getting the Environment Agency to clear the debris from Wotton Brook last month or the Parish may well have had problems.

She also referred to the proposed withdrawal of the subsidy for the local No. 87 Bus Service which would result in it stopping. See later in these minutes (28g)

024. Councillor Vacancy: In view of the likely extension of the Parish boundaries to include Pineham Village and the Parish elections in 2019, it was decided not to actively continue to try and fill the current vacancy. It was felt that the Parish Council should try and recruit a member from Pineham Village when the boundary change occurs. If, however we receive an application, it will be considered it on its merits.

025. Planning: There were no new applications to consider.

026. Finance: i) Due to the absence of the Clerk, the Internal Control Councillor (ICC) reported that

he had not been able to physically confirm monthly figures with the Clerk. However, from the financial statements submitted by the Clerk, prior to his absence, and the current Bank Statement, the I CC was satisfied that the figures presented are correct and that all is in order.

ii) Monthly payments: Cllr. Hammond expressed concern that the landscape contractor, NRP Landscapes, did not seem to be doing enough work to warrant the payment to be authorised. There had been no bulbs planted in the spring and the current flower planting was poor. As Cllr. Hudson who normally deals with this matter was not present it was resolved to defer the payment to allow enquires to be made The Clerk's salary at £269.55 was approved. Proposed by Cllr. Hemming, Seconded by Cllr. Hammond

iii) The reconciled bank balance was noted.

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027. GDPR Regulations: Due to a number of typographical errors on the submitted documents and the absence of the Clerk, further consideration of this matter was deferred until the next meeting of the Council.

028. Reports from Councillors & Clerk:

a) Party in the Park 2: Due to the absence of Cllr. Hudson, no progress report was available. It was agreed to hold an ad-hoe working party meeting on 14th June at the Chairman's house to update the Councillors, to which all Councillors are invited. The outcomes from that meeting to be reported back the July meeting of the Council

1. Cllr. Hemming is to produce the design for the large railing banners to be approved at the next meeting.

11. As the Councillors will need to man the 1 st Aid point, a new polo shirts need to be produced using the new Council logo.

111. A new pull-up sign detailing the Council's activities is needed.

b) Boundary Review: No further information at this stage

c) Emergency Planning and Pathfinder II: No further information at this stage.

d) Extension of Towpath at Wootton Brook: Work will take place between 18th - 21 st

June. Volunteers from Network Rail and Cummins will be carrying out the work and Cummins have paid for materials and plant hire. The towpath access will be restricted during period of work.

e) Grass Cutting: As discussed in the Public Participation, it is hoped that the new contractor will soon clear the backlog of uncut grass

f) Fallen Trees on Pineham Lock Play Park: The trees have now been cut down by Chamonix and left on site. No further action to be taken by Parish Council.

g) No. 87 Bus Service: With the withdrawal of the County Council subsidy the No. 87 bus route will stop on the 21 st July. The Chairman reported on discussions and exchanges of correspondence he had had with members of Parish Councils through which the No. 87 route goes. There is a proposal that the route could be funded by the four Parishs and one Town Council that the route serves. This could be in the region of £5000 per council and funded by Section 106 monies available within the various Parishes. The proposal would have to be agreed by the 25 th June.

There was an animated discussion by the Councillors on the subject. The Council's opinion was th.:it there were too many questions unanswered at present for a meaningful poll of the residents to be undertaken. Because this proposal will involve substantial financial commitment, approx. 25-30% of the annual precept of the Council, the residents will have to be consulted upon and approval sought. It was felt that the timescale of the 25 th of June is unreasonable to allow for consultation.

There was concern raised about whether this would be an appropriate use of Section 106 funds. There was also discussion that the Section 106 funds from the small development within the Parish had been already allocated to projects of higher importance and greater benefit to more members of the Parish. However, the developer has withdrawn, and the land put back up for sale and a new developer sought which will mean delay further negotiations on Section 106 funds. Thus, it is unlikely that there will be any available funds.

C. Cllr Chauhan made clear that if this route was to be funded by the Parishes then it was very unlikely that it would be funded by the County again.

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Concern was raised that the number of residents using the service is low and that no overall usage figures had been supplied to the Parishes. If the funding were to be agreed from the Parishes, then it should be on a pro rata basis of population and/or usage. Also, that there should be no free or concession fares.

Finally, there was concern raised that none of the Parishes had seen any draft agreement between the Parishes, NCC and whoever the operator is to be. There has been no discussion of the length of any proposed contract, terms etc. The general view was that this whole process is rushed and that there was far too tight a deadline for things to be managed properly. It would be better to allow the route to stop and then restart after the negotiation had happened in a controlled and timely manner.

The Council ' s response was that this time and without considerable further information, it was unable to commit to assist in funding this scheme. Proposed by Cllr. Maskell seconded by Cllr. Hammond and agreed by Councillors.

h) Parking on Riverstone Way: Nothing further to report

i) Speedwatch - Session Report: Cllr. Hemming reported on the latest Speedwatch campaign. The temporary traffic lights and extended light times had affected the total number of vehicles travelling along Banbury lane and resulted in large groups of cars moving through in a procession. However there are still a significant number vehicles travelling at 35mph or higher on Banbury Lane; the highest recorded in the current session is 57mph in a 30mph limit.

j) Report on water damaged property in Narrowboat Lane, Pineham Lock:This property in Narrowboat Lane has been reported to Midlands Heart Housing Association on numerous occasions as being seriously damaged by water. It was first reported to them for attention well before last Christmas. Such is the concern that Councillors recently agreed that a letter be sent to Environmental Health at Northampton Borough Council. Despite further promises by Midland Heart that they will attend the property, as of today, nothing has been done and the property continues to deteriorate. Midlands Heart will be contacted again.

029. Correspondence not circulated prior: None.

030. Date of Next Meeting: 4th July 2018 at Parsons Meade Community Centre.

Meeting Closed at 21 : 18

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