Godmanchester Town Council Minutes.

The Minutes of the Godmanchester Town Council are provided simply to increase ease of access for fellow residents here in GMC. The content does not necessarily reflect the views of the webmaster (Stuart Bond) or Godmanchester Community Association. The Minutes are released to the public once they are approved.

Please note that the financial details are not held on this website and that only the entire Minutes as recorded in the Minutes Book have legal standing. Hard copies are posted around the town on the noticeboards and also sent to Huntingdon Library. If you have any queries please contact the Town Clerk by e-mail or telephone / fax 388 870.

GODMANCHESTER TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD IN THE GODMANCHESTER TOWN HALL ON THURSDAY 21 APRIL 2005

PRESENT: W D BUTTERWORTH Town Mayor, M COHEN Deputy Town Mayor
Councillors: H R BUTCHER, J COXHEAD, Mrs C A GODLEY, A GOFF, L HOLGATE, C R HYAMS, E KYNOCH, Mrs A M LOOKER, Mrs B MOORE, Mrs E TREHARNE-JONES, C VANE PERCY
Town Clerk: A J WELTON

APOLOGIES: Cllrs: D BROWN, Mrs H HULL
Mace Bearer: M WILLIAMS

There were 5 members of the public present.

TOWN MAYOR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS.

The MAYOR advised that he had represented the Town on 7 occasions since the last meeting. The DEPUTY MAYOR had represented the Town on 2 occasions since the previous meeting.

The Mayor’s “End of Term” Charity Ball on would be held on 6 May 2005 at Wood Green Animal Shelter and he asked that all Cllrs made a note of the date in their diaries. The MAYOR reminded those Cllrs wishing to attend that he would like them to return menus to the Town Clerk by Monday 25 April 2005. He invited donations for the raffle.

It had been intended that the meeting would be “gowned” but because of unforeseen circumstances, the bank had been closed and the Mace Bearer had been unable to obtain the mace from the vault.

05/024 MINUTES OF TOWN MEETINGS.

The relevant Mayors signed minutes of the Town Meetings held in April 2004 and in April 2005.

05/025 MINUTES OF THE LAST MEETING.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2005 were APPROVED and signed as a complete and accurate record. The proposal to look at Smoke Free Godmanchester had been omitted from the last minutes. Cllr Mrs TREHARNE-JONES had undertaken to advise the Town Clerk of contact details for the Public Health team at the Government Office and this was still to be followed up. Cllr HYAMS had commented that it had been discussed at District Council but not taken further. There had been general agreement that it would be worth investigating and to learn from the experience of any other council that had taken similar action.

05/026 MATTERS ARISING.

The Outstanding Actions List, dated 21 April 2005 was reviewed. All the outstanding actions were with the Town Clerk and all were ongoing. The Town Clerk reported that there still had not been any applications for the post of part-time caretaker for the QES. The MAYOR asked all Cllrs to advertise the vacancy. The Town Clerk reported that the QES floor restoration would begin on 20 May 2005 and last the weekend.

05/027 SELECTION OF TOWN MAYOR AND DEPUTY TOWN MAYOR – 2005/06.

There had been nominations for the position of Mayor and Deputy Mayor. Cllr Richard BUTCHER had been proposed and seconded as Mayor for 2005/06. The Mayor invited comments and then formally proposed that Cllr Butcher be selected as Mayor. Seconded by Cllr HYAMS. APPROVED unanimously. Cllr Malcolm COHEN had been proposed and seconded as Deputy Mayor for 2005/06. The MAYOR invited comments and then invited a formal proposal. Cllr BUTCHER proposed that Cllr COHEN be selected as Deputy Mayor, this was seconded by Cllr Mrs LOOKER and APPROVED unanimously.

05/028 CORRESPONDENCE.

The correspondence listed at Appendix A, not covered by the WP reports, was addressed.

It was AGREED that the Town Clerk was to respond to the CCC request for information on “Halls for Hire” and include Judith’s Field as an additional facility in Godmanchester.

The Town Clerk was to respond to the HDC letter concerning “Access to Information” by including the intention to provide better access to the Town Hall.

The estimate from A D Plumb for the reglazing of the notice board outside the Town Hall was ACCEPTED in the sum of £270.

05/029 ACCOUNTS.

The accounts set out in Appendix B were APPROVED. The MAYOR and the Town Clerk signed the reconciliation of the accounts to the year ending 31 March 2005.

05/030 PLANNING APPLICATIONS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

The applications and correspondence set out in Appendix C were considered. The Town Clerk was to advise HDC of the Council’s recommendations. Cllr HYAMS declared an interest because of his representation on the Development Control Panel.

There was considerable discussion of the application for the development of Wigmore Farm (05/00997/FUL). Cllr Mrs GODLEY advised that she had held a public meeting at Judith’s Field to listen to the concerns of the residents adjacent to the proposed development. There had been many concerns expressed but several were emotive rather than sound planning objections. Cllr HOLGATE, the MAYOR and the Town Clerk were to formulate a formal objection for submission to HDC additional to the usual proforma return for each planning proposal.

The meeting was adjourned at 9.00pm to allow questions from the public.

Rather than questions there were a number of statements from the general public and councillors alike. One member of the public averred that the plan for the Wigmore Farm development was well thought out, but only by the developer. He said that there was a greater density than had been expected and felt that the traffic flow on the development would have been served better by a series of cul-de-sacs rather than a circular road. He was also concerned that there were no gardens for the “affordable housing”, therefore there was no room provided for the storage of waste bins. Similarly, there was not adequate car parking provision.

Another member of the public was concerned that the plans did not convey the correct impression of the type of houses proposed. The “affordable houses” were all lumped together and backing onto existing housing.

Thanks were offered to Cllr Mrs GODLEY for her having called residents together for a meeting to discuss their concerns. One particular concern was the distance not only between existing and proposed housing. It was believed that the minimum should be 25 meters back-to-back but the plans suggested something less than this figure.

Cllr KYNOCH pointed out that there was only provision for 166 car parking spaces for the 94 houses and felt that this was not adequate.

The meeting reconvened at 9.17pm.

A number of Councillors had been approached with observations that parking on the double yellow lines on Old Court Hall was being rigorously penalised and had been asked to see what could be done to overcome the problem of parking whilst shopping at the local outlets. Cllr Mrs GODLEY had ascertained from CCC that the lines had been there since 1981 and the Highways department had no intention of removing them. Consequently it was proposed that no further action would be taken on this matter.

05/031 DISTRICT COUNCIL REPORTS.

Cllr Mrs GODLEY had made her contribution during the discussions on the Wigmore Farm planning application.

Cllr HYAMS informed the Town Council that he had shown the youth video to HDC to highlight the problem with the skate ramps. He had been advised that the ramps would be repainted this year and hoped that they would be resurfaced next year. HDC had promised a full response by 22 April 2005, with a copy to the Town Council.

Town Clerk’s note: No response to the Town Council received by 27 April 2005.

Cllr HYAMS also advised that both HDC and CCC had complained to the Highways Agency deploring the cancellation of the exhibitions concerning the proposed new A14. He also updated the Town Council on the vexed question of the pedestrian gate in Huntingdon and the Bluegate green space.

Cllr HYAMS confirmed that he had checked that there was only 1 bungalow at the Park Lane Caravan Park.

05/032 WORKING PARTY (WP) REPORTS.

Cemetery. Cllr COHEN advised that the recent Town Council sponsored litter pick had included the Cemetery. The area was looking neat and tidy and the only matter outstanding was the resurfacing of the car park area.

Environment. Cllr BUTCHER advised that the WP had not met since the last Town Council meeting. However, he was able to report that the two new litterbins had been installed at Judith’s Field. He further reported that the work on the Side Weirs was complete and the footpath to the Lock was open. Work was continuing on the Lock and its wooden jetties.

Cllr BUTCHER reported that the Traffic Calming scheme was almost complete. There had been a number of negative comments but he recommended that the Town Council should allow things to settle before any comments were submitted to CCC.

Cllr BUTCHER advised that he would be meeting on 9 May 2005 with the representative from Wicksteed Leisure at Devana Close play area to determine the type of equipment to be installed as a replacement for that removed recently.

Cllr BUTCHER expressed his disappointment at the lack of support for this years litter pick but proffered his thanks to those who had assisted, especially Mr and Mrs Hardy, members of the public, who had cleared Judith’s Field.

Cllr KYNOCH expressed his opinion that the Traffic Calming signage in the Town was inadequate.

Finance. Cllr Mrs MOORE advised that there had not been a WP since the last Town Council meeting. However, she distributed a spreadsheet of the financial situation as at the end of the Financial Year to each councillor.

Flood Defences. Cllr Mrs HULL had presented her apologies for absence and there was no WP report as there had not been a meeting.

Health & Safety. Cllr Mrs TREHARNE-JONES announced that the first meeting of the H&S WP would be held on Thursday 28 April 2005 in the Town Hall, starting at 7.30pm and asked that as many who felt they could contribute should attend.

Property/Judith’s Field. Cllr GOFF reported that the drainage ditch at Judith’s Field had been constructed but there had not been any heavy rainfall to test its adequacy. He reported that there had been further vandalism and the electronic lock on the safety grille at the rear of the building had been broken.

Other Representative Groups/Twinning/Youth Focus Group. The MAYOR announced that he had paid a visit to Salon with the Twinning Association. A number of Salon Association members would be visiting Huntingdon to celebrate Huntingdon 800.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS. There was no other business.

THE NEXT COUNCIL MEETING (MAYOR MAKING) WILL BE GOWNED AND WILL BE HELD ON 19 MAY 2005.

The meeting ended at 9.50pm Mayor